A Plea: North Atlantic '86

HirooOnoda · Post by **HirooOnoda** » Wed Jul 03, 2002 4:08 pm

Little is mentioned of this great, great Grigsby game from 1983. North Atlantic '86 was the third game in the series started in 1982 with Grigsby's "Guadalcanal" followed by "Bomb Alley". Unquestionably, it was the best of the three.<p>

I pray to the gaming gods that after Mr. Grigsby completes War Against Japan that he will do an update of North Atlantic '86.

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Wed Jul 03, 2002 4:24 pm

Accoring to some rumours, the third game after WITP should be a Med game.

A remake of North Atlantic 86 would be interesting but is there really a market for hypothetical modern naval warfare ?

Even if WWII is quite popular it is quite difficult for Matrix to sell a lot of copies for an excellent wargame such as UV ... Jane's Fleet Command was not really a huge success ... so I think 2by3 will take a very close look at the forthcoming Harpoon 4 sales before taking such a decision.

Spooky

HirooOnoda · Post by **HirooOnoda** » Wed Jul 03, 2002 4:33 pm

Originally posted by Spooky
Accoring to some rumours, the third game after WITP should be a Med game.

A remake of North Atlantic 86 would be interesting but is there really a market for hypothetical modern naval warfare ?

Even if WWII is quite popular it is quite difficult for Matrix to sell a lot of copies for an excellent wargame such as UV ... Jane's Fleet Command was not really a huge success ... so I think 2by3 will take a very close look at the forthcoming Harpoon 4 sales before taking such a decision.

Spooky

NA'86 was far, far superior to Bomb Alley. I don't know if you ever played it, but the tension level surpassed anything in either Guadalcanal or Bomb Alley.

I discount H4 since it is being done by UBi.

BA's action centers around Malta and basically only Malta. Once Malta falls the game is essentially over the the allies. NA'86 has many, many elements to keep the game interesting once and if Iceland fell.

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Wed Jul 03, 2002 4:40 pm

Yep - I played NA'86 ... and I remembered the Missiles launched by the Backfires closing on my convoys ... It was really a great game

I agree with you - I would love an remake based on the UV engine ... the point is that I am afraid that most of the grogs are not that interested by an unhistorical wargame ... and the game would be too complex for the casual PC gamer ... but I hope I am wrong

Scouters · Post by **Scouters** » Wed Jul 03, 2002 5:48 pm

Oh yeah - I remember chewing my nails while AS-6 missiles swarmed over my carrier group, or a resupply convoy. How about the little text cascade that would appear when the Soviets would drop airborne troops from Cub transports? Or the daily duels between your hodge podge of fighters in Scapa Flow and the horde of Floggers and Fencers? That would be very cool if they remade it.

-Scouters

U2 · Post by U2 » Wed Jul 03, 2002 6:42 pm

Hi

My plea would be to make another Carrier Strike by Grigsby.
Dan

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Wed Jul 03, 2002 7:12 pm

Maybe a poll would be a good idea ? With a question like "After UV and WITP, what is the next Gary Grigsby game you are looking for ?"

With choices as :
- A WWII Mediterranean Theater game
- "War In Russia"' remake
- "North Atlantic 86 remake
- "Carrier Strike" remake

Do you see any other good suggestion for this poll ?

Spooky

Beckles · Post by **Beckles** » Wed Jul 03, 2002 7:40 pm

I'd buy a new North Atlantic '86 in a minute (even though I've never played the old one ... can't find it anywhere now of course ...), but even I'll admit I'm not sure if such a game is commercially viable. HPS Sims seems to be doing alright with their Modern Campaigns series from John Tiller, but I think those games are very similar to each other and require a relatively small amount of changes to the core from game to game.

I'd be interested to hear if the developers think that a NA '86 game could be based on the UV engine ...

At first I was thinking no, but maybe it could work ... obviously missiles are the one big thing that would have to be added, but given the scale, it might work ...

pad152 · Post by **pad152** » Wed Jul 03, 2002 9:36 pm

I would to see a modern war game using the UV or WITP engine, that would include North Atlantic, Med and Falklands. Then a modern game covering the pacific with China, India, Russia, and US. I don't think Harpoon IV will ever see the light of day.

But 2by3 games from what I understand only does WWII games.

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Wed Jul 03, 2002 9:42 pm

Yep - I read that the "2" in 2by3 means WWII ... but who knows ?

Spooky

RobertMc · Post by **RobertMc** » Wed Jul 03, 2002 11:48 pm

Oh yeah!!! North Atlantic '86 was the first great game I ever played on my Apple computer. It was a super-tense game. I still play it occasionally, using an Apple emulator. It still holds up as being fun and exciting.

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Thu Jul 04, 2002 12:05 am

Since Joel browses quite often the UV forum, maybe we will have a hint about the possibility (or not) of a "modern time" UV ?

Spooky

U2 · Post by U2 » Thu Jul 04, 2002 12:11 am

Hi

This NA'86 sounds great! Too bad I was 5 years old at that time:(
Ah the stuff I missed during the 80's.
Dan

Panta_slith · Post by **Panta_slith** » Thu Jul 04, 2002 1:23 am

NA 86 was a great game. I hotseated it with a friend for weeks. We played also BA during a long time and it helped me to understand the logistic problems of the campaign. Carrier strike was also great, albeit in an operational level. I still have all three of them and my Apple II still works fine. perhaps I´ll give a look at those little jewels with a glass of wine in my hand, toasting for the sake of good old times, when computers were less powerful, but I was younger and more naive . BTW, I also have all land-based Apple II Grisby games. Sometime ago, I tried to replay Panzer Strike, but I missed the mouse interface too much...
IMHO, a remake of NA 86 with UV engine and interface would be too much like the (very good) first Harpoon (although with logistics), so I vote for the Mediterranean Campaign.
Cheers,
Panta

Gustaf · Post by **Gustaf** » Thu Jul 04, 2002 6:02 am

I, for one, have been waiting a long time for H4 and hope I'm not disappointed when and if it gets released. Anyone hear any release dates being thrown around?

My other favorite was Action Stations! I haven't played it for a while and I'm not even sure I'll be able to run it now that I'm using WinXP. Many, many hours spent with that game :p

Gus

mjk428 · Post by **mjk428** » Thu Jul 04, 2002 6:24 am

I, for one, have been waiting a long time for H4 and hope I'm not disappointed when and if it gets released. Anyone hear any release dates being thrown around?

Hi Gustaf,

The official H4 site says Fall 2002. I've heard rumors that it was dead but if that's so, I'm surprised they keep the site up. The developers have a site running on it as well.

There is no game that I've ever spent more time playing than the original Harpoon and it STILL holds up well. As far as H4 goes, my expectations are low but my hopes are high.

MK

HirooOnoda · Post by **HirooOnoda** » Thu Jul 04, 2002 6:28 am

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Gustaf
I, for one, have been waiting a long time for H4 and hope I'm not disappointed when and if it gets released. Anyone hear any release dates being thrown around?</i>

Believe me, any H4 released by that trash outfit UBI, would and will pale in comparision to NORTH ATLANTIC '86, despite the fact that it is 19 years old. The tension was beyond anything that exists in any of today's games.

I know 2By3 could do it, after seeing how great UV is.

mjk428 · Post by **mjk428** » Thu Jul 04, 2002 6:44 am

The following is from 2 By 3's web site:

"World War II by Three Guys"
2 By 3 Games was founded by three game industry veterans, Gary Grigsby, Joel Billings and Keith Brors, to produce highly detailed computer wargames that are fun to play. Our primary focus is on games covering WWII, and thus, the name 2 By 3. What can you expect from 2 By 3 Games? Thoroughly researched games that put the player in the role of a battlefield commander. If we do our jobs right, you will enjoy spending hundreds of hours contemplating the kinds of problems that Patton, Rommel, Montgomery and Zhukov faced during the largest war this planet has ever known.

-------------------------

As far as NA '86 (or maybe '06) being made by 2by3. It would almost certainly be the best modern naval computer game ever made. Since they say that WWII is their PRIMARY focus, that leaves the door open at least slightly.

Ron Saueracker · Post by **Ron Saueracker** » Thu Jul 04, 2002 7:46 am

I could see them doing a global war scale game after the Med version. Possibly even a 19th/20th century version of a Europa Universalis style game to satisfy all those "what if" historical revisionists out there.

Gustaf · Post by **Gustaf** » Thu Jul 04, 2002 4:42 pm

Originally posted by mjk428

Hi Gustaf,

The official H4 site says Fall 2002. I've heard rumors that it was dead but if that's so, I'm surprised they keep the site up. The developers have a site running on it as well.

There is no game that I've ever spent more time playing than the original Harpoon and it STILL holds up well. As far as H4 goes, my expectations are low but my hopes are high.

MK

I agree, the original was easily the best Harpoon and, like you, I spent loads of hours with it. All this talk about the older games gives me the urge to dig them out and try and install them with XP

So I guess I won't hold out much hope for H4 by the sound of the posts here

Gus

A Plea: North Atlantic '86

A Plea: North Atlantic '86

North Atlantic '86

Great ole times...