AE's DOS Grandfather

[Alfred]

Every 12 months or so I do a quick pop in to the 1990s DOS Pacwar forum which can be found at the bottom of the Matrix forums board.

Seems like a significant update was released last month by Rich Dionne. Some will remember him as the creator of the original 1990s editor for the game. I haven't downloaded this update so no idea how smooth is its integration. Also I'm pretty certain that Win7 and Win 10 users will need to run the game in DosBox. Still for those who find AE to be too demanding on their time or the learning cliff too high to climb, it may be worth their time to investigate the suitability of AE's grandfather. There are a couple of well known AE forumites (yes I'm looking at you Sardauker and IanR) who have kept themselves more abreast of that game than I have.

Alfred

[fcooke]

Crikey - even though I am retired I haven't managed to launch an AE game recently. Pacwar got me into this in the first place. I have been tidying up stuff recently and bumped into my original Harpoon game. Of course it is on 5 1/4 floppies and I don't have that tech anymore. Also now have a hankering for CIV, Caesar and other 'rule the world' games - thanks forumites!

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: fcooke

Crikey - even though I am retired I haven't managed to launch an AE game recently. Pacwar got me into this in the first place. I have been tidying up stuff recently and bumped into my original Harpoon game. Of course it is on 5 1/4 floppies and I don't have that tech anymore. Also now have a hankering for CIV, Caesar and other 'rule the world' games - thanks forumites!

You can get Harpoon and a lot of other great old games at the Steam or GOG (good old games) sites. They have DOSBOX free to get the downloads to run. The prices are extremely cheap and the old access "protections" like keywords or rune translations have been removed. I had a bunch from GOG until my hard drive crashed and I haven't had time to get back to them. My account is still there because I get e-mails from them.

[Ian R]

ORIGINAL: Alfred

Every 12 months or so I do a quick pop in to the 1990s DOS Pacwar forum which can be found at the bottom of the Matrix forums board.

Seems like a significant update was released last month by Rich Dionne. Some will remember him as the creator of the original 1990s editor for the game. I haven't downloaded this update so no idea how smooth is its integration. Also I'm pretty certain that Win7 and Win 10 users will need to run the game in DosBox. Still for those who find AE to be too demanding on their time or the learning cliff too high to climb, it may be worth their time to investigate the suitability of AE's grandfather. There are a couple of well known AE forumites (yes I'm looking at you Sardauker and IanR) who have kept themselves more abreast of that game than I have.

Alfred

Yes, Rich's latest update works very smoothly. You do need doxbox to run it.

The May 1942 scenario has been set up very well to give some nice variable starts to Coral Sea and the PM operation.

[CaptBeefheart]

I may need to fire that up. I used to play that game quite a bit, along with War in Russia.

Cheers,
CB

[Ian R]

ORIGINAL: CaptBeefheart

I may need to fire that up. I used to play that game quite a bit, along with War in Russia.

Cheers,
CB

You will find a very neat ship wear and tear model has been put in place. Ships accumulate about 2 points of damage per week at sea, but up to about 8 points they shed those quickly when parked in port (without using the port's repair points). This slows the whole thing down to something more resembling historical pace. If you go past about 8 points of damage, the repair time per point also goes up. In other words, it imposes proper yard periods.

[RangerJoe]

Can you still load division on cargo mode then unload them at an enemy base with no amphibious assault?

[Ian R]

No.

Rich nixed that.

[John 3rd]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: fcooke

Crikey - even though I am retired I haven't managed to launch an AE game recently. Pacwar got me into this in the first place. I have been tidying up stuff recently and bumped into my original Harpoon game. Of course it is on 5 1/4 floppies and I don't have that tech anymore. Also now have a hankering for CIV, Caesar and other 'rule the world' games - thanks forumites!

You can get Harpoon and a lot of other great old games at the Steam or GOG (good old games) sites. They have DOSBOX free to get the downloads to run. The prices are extremely cheap and the old access "protections" like keywords or rune translations have been removed. I had a bunch from GOG until my hard drive crashed and I haven't had time to get back to them. My account is still there because I get e-mails from them.

Can you get Great Naval Battles of WWII on Steam?

[RangerJoe]

Great Naval Battles: North Atlantic 1939-43
DOS - 1992

https://www.myabandonware.com/game/grea ... 939-43-1o6

[RangerJoe]

Great Naval Battles 5 Download (1996 Simulation Game)

Great Naval Battles V: Demise of the Dreadnoughts: 1914-18 is the final entry in SSI's long line of good World War sea battle simulations. The game is essentially the same as GNB 4, but with WWI ships instead of WWII, and no aircraft. There is a wide range of scenarios, plus a surprisingly easy to use scenario generator/editor.

https://www.old-games.com/download/4288 ... -battles-5

[RangerJoe]

Great Naval Battles - North Atlantic 1939-1943

Great Naval Battles of the North Atlantic (GNB-NA) is set during World War II and covers the convoy engagements between the surface fleets of the British Royal Navy and the German Kreigsmarine. You control one of the fleets in all its facets, from the grand strategy down to the aiming and firing of the guns. Luckily for us most of the most mundane tasks in GNB-NA can be left to the computer (like the aiming of those guns). GNB-NA focuses solely on the big surface ships in the war. The German U-boats are uncontrollable in the game and that is pity. Not that submarines do not have a role to play but they are handled by the computer and you are notified only of the results. Not even all surface ships have been included for either the British or the Germans. The Germans especially have gotten the short end of the stick. Many of their cruisers are nowhere in sight. The ships the Germans captured in their conquest of Europe are also never added to your total. This was not done out of spite however. The computers of that time had only very limited memory capacity and tough decisions had to be made.

What you are left with as the Germans is a very small amount of heavy ships and a handful of destroyers. With those limited resources you need to take on the mighty Royal Navy and sink as many ships as you can. As you attempt to do so you will see just what kind of a precarious mission that was. Sailing out of Kiel the Germans had slip past the British main naval base at Scapa Flow (on the North tip of Scotland) and past their patrols around Iceland. Only then they would reach the open waters of the Atlantic.

Once your ships have reached the Atlantic their job is just beginning. During the course of the game you get reports of convoy locations and you can then send your task forces in pursuit of those convoys. Your ships can travel much faster then the British convoys so you can catch them fairly easily (convoys have to travel at the speed of their slowest ship).

Battle takes place on a separate level. A dull top down view shows your ships and the enemy ships that are visible to you. No fancy graphics here just the bare minimum you need to control your ships. This leaves a lot processing power to calculate all the variables that are in the simulation. Winds, light level, distance and rain are just a few of the many variables you have to content with while fighting. Damage can be repaired by damage controls teams. When a ship on fire or taking water these teams race to the scene and start combating the fire and plugging the hole. If left uncontrolled fires will spread and (obviously) take on to much water and your ship will sink or capsize. Ships guns have accurate range and ships take damage to specific sections so damage will begin to diminish the ships fighting capability even though it is not about to sink. As I said earlier many of the functions onboard a ship can be manually controlled or left to the computer. It is best to leave everything but the plotting of the course and the choosing of your targets up to the computer since it can handle that very well and it leaves you free to direct the course of the battle.

I am not a naval strategist and I cannot comment on how well the battles represent the niceties of actual naval combat during the Second World War. My strategy was simple but effective. Always have more big ships then your opponent. Even with such a bland strategy combat is fun. Manoeuvring to get your broadsides onto your opponent and steering your ships that are taking a beating out of harms way keeps you occupied and entertained. There is an option that allows for battles to run in real time to add that final level of realism. It takes over an hour at least to complete a single battle like that.

http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/200/G ... -1943.html

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe


Great Naval Battles - North Atlantic 1939-1943

Great Naval Battles of the North Atlantic (GNB-NA) is set during World War II and covers the convoy engagements between the surface fleets of the British Royal Navy and the German Kreigsmarine. You control one of the fleets in all its facets, from the grand strategy down to the aiming and firing of the guns. Luckily for us most of the most mundane tasks in GNB-NA can be left to the computer (like the aiming of those guns). GNB-NA focuses solely on the big surface ships in the war. The German U-boats are uncontrollable in the game and that is pity. Not that submarines do not have a role to play but they are handled by the computer and you are notified only of the results. Not even all surface ships have been included for either the British or the Germans. The Germans especially have gotten the short end of the stick. Many of their cruisers are nowhere in sight. The ships the Germans captured in their conquest of Europe are also never added to your total. This was not done out of spite however. The computers of that time had only very limited memory capacity and tough decisions had to be made.

What you are left with as the Germans is a very small amount of heavy ships and a handful of destroyers. With those limited resources you need to take on the mighty Royal Navy and sink as many ships as you can. As you attempt to do so you will see just what kind of a precarious mission that was. Sailing out of Kiel the Germans had slip past the British main naval base at Scapa Flow (on the North tip of Scotland) and past their patrols around Iceland. Only then they would reach the open waters of the Atlantic.

Once your ships have reached the Atlantic their job is just beginning. During the course of the game you get reports of convoy locations and you can then send your task forces in pursuit of those convoys. Your ships can travel much faster then the British convoys so you can catch them fairly easily (convoys have to travel at the speed of their slowest ship).

Battle takes place on a separate level. A dull top down view shows your ships and the enemy ships that are visible to you. No fancy graphics here just the bare minimum you need to control your ships. This leaves a lot processing power to calculate all the variables that are in the simulation. Winds, light level, distance and rain are just a few of the many variables you have to content with while fighting. Damage can be repaired by damage controls teams. When a ship on fire or taking water these teams race to the scene and start combating the fire and plugging the hole. If left uncontrolled fires will spread and (obviously) take on to much water and your ship will sink or capsize. Ships guns have accurate range and ships take damage to specific sections so damage will begin to diminish the ships fighting capability even though it is not about to sink. As I said earlier many of the functions onboard a ship can be manually controlled or left to the computer. It is best to leave everything but the plotting of the course and the choosing of your targets up to the computer since it can handle that very well and it leaves you free to direct the course of the battle.

I am not a naval strategist and I cannot comment on how well the battles represent the niceties of actual naval combat during the Second World War. My strategy was simple but effective. Always have more big ships then your opponent. Even with such a bland strategy combat is fun. Manoeuvring to get your broadsides onto your opponent and steering your ships that are taking a beating out of harms way keeps you occupied and entertained. There is an option that allows for battles to run in real time to add that final level of realism. It takes over an hour at least to complete a single battle like that.

http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/200/G ... -1943.html

I had that game. I ran the Rodney vs Scharnhorst scenario, trying different strategies. All Rodney had to do was stand off as much as possible and lay 16" broadsides on the Scharnhorst and it was an easy victory for the British, but if Rodney tried to close to where Scharnhorst's 11" guns were effective, it was a real slugfest. Fairly good damage modeling IIRC.

[John 3rd]

What about the other GNB Games?

[John 3rd]

Nevermind. Got on the website!

[Podolano]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: fcooke

Crikey - even though I am retired I haven't managed to launch an AE game recently. Pacwar got me into this in the first place. I have been tidying up stuff recently and bumped into my original Harpoon game. Of course it is on 5 1/4 floppies and I don't have that tech anymore. Also now have a hankering for CIV, Caesar and other 'rule the world' games - thanks forumites!

You can get Harpoon and a lot of other great old games at the Steam or GOG (good old games) sites. They have DOSBOX free to get the downloads to run. The prices are extremely cheap and the old access "protections" like keywords or rune translations have been removed. I had a bunch from GOG until my hard drive crashed and I haven't had time to get back to them. My account is still there because I get e-mails from them.

Gee,

That reminded me of the beloved Carriers at War, from SSG, that I used to play a lot on my Apple IIe in the 80’s!
It was the best of its kind at that time.


Podolano

[DD696]

I spent endless hours playing this along with "War in Russia" during my seven years spent on my sailboat in Mexico. When a company named "Matrix" started updating them, I would spend time in an internet cafe in Loreto, Mexico, asking a friend to download the latest update and send them to me. Then came Uncommon Valor, War in the Pacific and War in the Pacific Admiral's Edition. A great time in the history of wargaming. Then along came Slitherine, and the Matrix beauty quietly laid down and expired.

Such is progress.

[fcooke]

Used to like to play Strike Fleet (or something close to that name) on the C64 in the late 80s. A bit of a pain to load - IIRC you had to flip the floppy over during the load. But the graphics were pretty good for their time. And then all the counters games that my Mom trashed when I went to college....all those Avalon Hill games gone to waste.

[John 3rd]

DD696--Don't despair!

[PaxMondo]

ORIGINAL: DD696

I spent endless hours playing this along with "War in Russia" during my seven years spent on my sailboat in Mexico. When a company named "Matrix" started updating them, I would spend time in an internet cafe in Loreto, Mexico, asking a friend to download the latest update and send them to me. Then came Uncommon Valor, War in the Pacific and War in the Pacific Admiral's Edition. A great time in the history of wargaming. Then along came Slitherine, and the Matrix beauty quietly laid down and expired.

Such is progress.

WIR was a favorite of mine for a long time ...