My fondest 8-bit memories will always have to be Gary's "Carrier Force"......My first wargame. A fine piece that introduced me to the dyanmic combat environment known as carrier warfare. And it delivered, just as the intro stated.....allowing the player to experience the fatique, tenseness, fear, excitment, and at times bordom of groping around, looking for the unseen enemy...wondering where he was....and what he was up too.
heh, the first game was one of the most classic examples, as, for me as with the historical commanders, it was my "first time" I had no previous lessons to draw upon and the game resolved itself in a manner very reminiscent of that often underrated fact.
I never quite knew where the enemy was.......and only by sheer chance ended up finding the enemy carrier force. I managed to get off one attack which scored a mere two hits according to the pilots.
I spent the rest of the turn maneuvering and biting my teeth waiting for the inevitable counter-attack...which never came (i also lost sight of the enemy and didn't know where they were.
The result was that the invasion force got through, jerking me out of my seat when suddenly after seeing many a "blue screen" during the combat phase which signified zero action. then suddenly ENEMY TF BOMBARDS PORT MOROSBY, followed by numerous "hits" then in big inverse letters.... ENEMY TROOPS COMING ASHORE. 'Doh'
Oh man did that shock me. With my lack of "clear picture" and worrying over the enemy carriers, i had completely forgotten about the invasion TF. But the biggest irony was when the game ended and i found out "why" the enemy had never counterattacked. I had indeed scored two hits.......one each on Shokaku and Zuikaku....which happened at the time to have fully loaded strikes on their decks when i attacked.
The two carriers were still afloat, but had massive and uncontrollable fires raging on their top decks (50+ fire levels each.....a death sentence in Carrier Force.....any FL over 10 in that game was a serious threat to the ship due to the fact that the higher the FL, the greater the chance that additional FL's would score at the end of the damage resolution phase so the DC teams just couldn't keep up)
I had scored a massive carrier victory....and never knew it till after the fact.....+ not knowing this fact, i had allowed the invasion TF to slip by and complete it's mission.
Tactical victory...strategic defeat. Heh....a memory i will always cherish. Thanks Gary for making it possible for me to walk a similar path of those who had gone before....where all the facts had yet to be written postscript Many more carrier battles were fought, ironically with ever increasing knowledge and skill in the game and the tactics needed.....but i never again caught the AI with it's pants down the way i did during "my" first command of a carrier battle.
Thanks Matrix, 2b3, and Mr Grigsby for producing a game of unparalled quality in UV. A game which already is producing good memories of its own. I await WitP with great anticipation.....credit card itching to be Ka-ChING'd
