OT: Tactical Naval Warfare Game? (now including a list)

[herwin]

ORIGINAL: hartwig.modrow

ORIGINAL: RHoenig

ORIGINAL: sfbaytf

This isn't WW2, but I've heard some pretty good things about it. I haven't bought because the period doesn't appeal to me, but they may someday come out with a WW2 theme.

http://www.stormeaglestudios.com/public/home.html

Beware, the DRM is unbelivable there!

You might want to check out comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.war-histrical first
Look for the threat:
JUTLAND Press release and
Jutland released

A little quote:
"or you have been away from home for a while and miss your games, all
you have to do is wait 7 days at most, and you can re-activate your
License(s) on any PC you wish without having to request another via
email! Because Seven days have passed, the old License(s) no longer
function!"


Excuse me? You gotta be kidding me!!!


From what I gather:

You have to be online to play (yes, even for single player)
If you don´t play for 7 days, your activation ceases and you have to reactivate, which can take up to 7 days
support is said to be horrible
Lots of issues with their DRM scheme

Personally, I wouldn´t touch this thing with a 15 foot pole, no matter how good it is as a game

Ralph Hoenig, Germany

I agree this approach sounds at first quite strange and having to be online is disturbing, but may be related to the way they try to market their product.

You download the full game for free and are able to play two scenarios as a demo and look into the other scenarios for a few minutes. IMHO this is a fair approach, you can really get an impression of everything you get if you buy.

If you want to buy, as I understand it you buy, get an activation code by e-mail and are ready to go for the full game.

The way I understand things, to make sure you don't use that code on multiple machines, share it with your 255 friends etc etc, if you want to use that code for an installation on a different machine, you have to wait for a couple of days. That's what the travel and miss your game comment relates to. I know a similar approach from a number of professional databases, which do not allow you to enter with block a password if it has been used from a different IP-address within a certain period of time before the request to enter. I think (but don't know) that as long as you play on one computer, I think you won't have to wait for a week for reactivation.

I agree that there may be reason to feel uncomfortable about that from a customer's point of view. At the same time, I think it is legitimate for a publisher to attempt to avoid sharing of serial numbers etc and don't know how to do that if you distribute the full package via internet so everyone can look into it.

I did touch it as I wanted to have a look at the demo... to me, it seems a lot like fighting steel in a WWI scenario with an updated graphics. Not my kind of game. Thus, I won't buy and I will kick it off my harddrive again.

Regards

Hartwig

That sort of DRM is totally unacceptable. My laptop dual-boots as a windows or a mac machine, and I can also run windows in a virtual environment in the mac. It has up to 5 IP addresses that it can use on a given day, three simultaneously. About the only thing that stays constant is the mac address.

[Sarconix]

Thanks for all of the replies! I have updated the original post with a list of the options. Please reply if you think of any more.

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

There will be "Carrier Force" tactical game based on "Uncommon Valor" game engine for strategic portion and brand new 15 minute for tactical portion!

[:)]


Here is the link for info on this forum:

tm.asp?m=1194230





Leo "Apollo11"

[modrow]

I don't want to go off topic here either, thus a last reply for clarification:

ORIGINAL: RHoenig


Unfortunately not.

There is a "Check every 7 days if you are still a legit user" routine within the game. If you don´t play for a week, the game can´t check and your activation will go belly up.
Then you can re-activate, but not right now, it will take up to 7 days until reactivation.

If this is the case, I agree that this is not acceptable. I was just talking based on impression, not based on knowledge what is actually going on which you seem to have.

This is also true for the question whether the IP address or whatever else is used. I just downloaded the demo, which was very useful for me to form the decision not to buy -which cannot be said for all demos I ever downloaded- and removed it again.

...DRM on mainstream titles, but for hardcore wargames? Oh, all those pirates are just WAITING to pirate WitP/HOI... [8|]

Again, I am not an expert in this field. I just believe that for a mainstream title breaking even on the development cost is much more easy than for a title directed at the interest of a smaller audience, thus the same percentage of illegitimate use may represent more of a problem for the developer.

Enough said

I agree. On with on topic posts...

Hartwig Modrow

[sfbaytf]

Can't exclude Navy Field...

http://www.navyfield.com/

[JuanG]

ORIGINAL: sfbaytf

Can't exclude Navy Field...

http://www.navyfield.com/

Yeah, but abandon all sense of realism if you intend to play this.

Still good fun if you dont mind the arcadeishness.


My personal recommendations goes to Fighting Steel (with NWS improvements), it still remains the best surface combat sim I've encountered.

[Midnight19D]

Dont have time to read everything but has anyone here checked out navyfield.com ?

online multiplayer WWII naval combat. I played it for a year, quit for 2, then came back again for 4 months before i quit again a few months back(*gave* my account to a friend - no time for the grind)
I was a original SONS founding member there also [;)] (survivor of nevada's suckiness)

anyways, good game, just way too many jerks that play and too many high level players that farm you (especially on arizona server)
Also, in order to really compete its a money sink, although you can play completely for free. Check it out. fun game just a bit long with grinding and having ultra high level players kill you in 3 seconds.
I made Iowa, Colorado, Tenny, and Yorktown on the US line (including a New York!), and Nagato. sub, and Kitakami on the IJN side.

just thought that i would mention it [:)]

[Sarconix]

Added Navy Field... thanks!

I played it for a little while, and I will agree with the difficulty for newcomers. Many dislike the sprite-based graphics, but I find it very appealing, especially the isometric pixel art in the shipyards. All the ships (especially the big ones) look great there.

[ChezDaJez]

SSI and Gary Grigsby also had "The Guadalcanal Campaign" which is a distant forerunner of UV. I spent many an hour on deployment playing that game. That was an Apple II game though. Not sure if it was available in DOS.

Chez

[pasternakski]

ORIGINAL: Sarconix
[*] Action Stations! (1991, DOS): This is a mostly text-based simulator covering surface combat from 1922 to 1945, in great detail.

[*] Task Force 1942 (1992, DOS): Surface and air combat in the Guadalcanal campaign in the South Pacific. A recent review can be found here.

[*] Carrier Strike (1992, DOS): Carrier-centric combat in the South Pacific, with a look-and-feel similar to Gary Grigsby's Pacific War.

[*] Great Naval Battles: North Atlantic 1939-1943 (1992, DOS): Surface combat in the North Atlantic.

[*] Great Naval Battles Vol. II: Guadalcanal 1942-43 (1994, DOS): Surface and air combat in the South Pacific.

[*] Great Naval Battles Vol. III: Fury in the Pacific, 1941-1944 (1995, DOS): A continuation of the previous title, covering the entire Pacific theater.

[*] Great Naval Battles Vol. IV: Burning Steel, 1939-1942 (1995, DOS): Similar scope as the first GNB game, with some alternate history scenarios.

[*] Great Naval Battles V: Demise of the Dreadnoughts: 1914-18 (1996, DOS): As the name implies, this covers WW1. This was only available as part of a GNB package.

[*] Reviews of the first GNB game and the rest of the series.

[*] Fighting Steel: World War II Surface Combat 1939-1942 (1999, Windows): A successor to the GNB series, focusing solely on surface combat. This has been extensively enhanced by NWS as described here; they also sell the game itself.

[*] Carriers at War (2007, Windows): Most of you know about this one, but it bears mentioning: carrier-centric combat across the Pacific theater, focusing on finding and striking opposing task forces. It was preceded by two DOS titles in 1991 and 1993, by the same team. Long live SSG!

[*] Distant Guns and Jutland (2006, 2008, Windows): These cover the Russo-Japanese War and WW1 (respectively), though apparently they have some pretty restrictive DRM (see below).

[*] Navy Field (2006, Windows): A multiplayer online game developed by a South Korean company. Encounters consist of several player-controlled ships which can gain experience in battle and be upgraded. Very unrealistic (by design), but free to play with premium (paid) content available.

[*] Pacific Storm and Pacific Storm: Allies (2007, 2008, Windows): These cover the entire Pacific theater with a strategic layer and tactical combat resolution, similar to the Total War series. They are not very polished or realistic, but fun and only $15 for both on Steam.

[*] Battlestations Midway and Pacific (2007, 2009, Windows): Real-time naval and air combat in the Pacific in WW2. You direct several ships and planes, but can directly "jump into" individual units and control them directly. Quite unrealistic, but fun.
[/ul]

I wouldn't have a single one of these games stuck up my butt sideways, even if it felt good.

[Sarconix]

ORIGINAL: pasternakski
I wouldn't have a single one of these games stuck up my butt sideways, even if it felt good.

If that is the case... what would you recommend in this category?

[skrewball]

1942: Pacific Air War is a great game with alot of replayability.
 
http://www.mobygames.com/game/1942-the-pacific-air-war
 
Very hard to find though.

[John Lansford]

SSI sold a pair of naval surface warfare games for the WWII Pacific and WWI North Sea battles; the WWI game was called "Battlecruiser" and I don't remember what the WWII Pacific game was called.  You could create your own scenarios in either one, and I had several for the early WWII battles such as Java Sea and the possible fight between Repulse & Prince of Wales vs the two IJN ships sent to intercept them.  The graphics weren't much but they were still fun to play.

[MikeBrough]

ORIGINAL: John Lansford

SSI sold a pair of naval surface warfare games for the WWII Pacific and WWI North Sea battles; the WWI game was called "Battlecruiser" and I don't remember what the WWII Pacific game was called.  You could create your own scenarios in either one, and I had several for the early WWII battles such as Java Sea and the possible fight between Repulse & Prince of Wales vs the two IJN ships sent to intercept them.  The graphics weren't much but they were still fun to play.

John, I think the WWII version was Warship. Excellent games for their time. I think I had Warship on the Atari ST 20 years ago - memory's getting a bit hazy so it might have been on the PC.

[rockmedic109]

ORIGINAL: MikeBrough

ORIGINAL: John Lansford

SSI sold a pair of naval surface warfare games for the WWII Pacific and WWI North Sea battles; the WWI game was called "Battlecruiser" and I don't remember what the WWII Pacific game was called.  You could create your own scenarios in either one, and I had several for the early WWII battles such as Java Sea and the possible fight between Repulse & Prince of Wales vs the two IJN ships sent to intercept them.  The graphics weren't much but they were still fun to play.

John, I think the WWII version was Warship. Excellent games for their time. I think I had Warship on the Atari ST 20 years ago - memory's getting a bit hazy so it might have been on the PC.

I played the heck out of Battlecruiser. The Battle of the Falklands got played so much I think I saw every conceivable result {and a few that were inconceiable}. The binary graphics {pixel is lit or it isn't} was positively pre-history compared to graphics seen with GNB, let alone now.