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Duke Malcolm
03-11-2004, 21:16
After quenching my hunger for land war games (Medal of Honour/BF1942 & Medieval:Total War) and air war games (Jane's USAF thing) and space war games (Star Trek:Dominion Wars), I now feel a lust for naval warfare, and was wondering if anyone here knows of any good naval warfare games.

Sir Moody
03-11-2004, 22:46
depnds on which age - there are few good Age of Sail full navel sims tho there are a few good Pirate sims

on the other hand Destroyer command and Silent Hunter 2 are exelent navl sims for the second world war

The Scourge
03-11-2004, 23:36
Age of Sail 2 ,in it's first release looked beautiful ,but was full of bugs.
I read somewhere ,that there's an expansion pack ,and that got a good review ,so maybe they've fixed it up.If so ,should well be worth a look.

Spino
03-12-2004, 03:50
If you want a WWII era simulation of surface naval warfare Fighting Steel cannot be beat. Since its release the game has been adopted by a dedicated group of fans and modders and been greatly improved in the form of a mod called 'Fighting Steel Project'. The modders even went so far as to get full permission from the original publisher/developers (SSI/DBZ) to make this mod.

You can find info on the Fighting Steel Project along with tons of stuff for many other naval games right here...

http://www.naval-warfare.net/

The actual FSP mod, manual and miscellaneous files are found here...

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NWS-FSP/

Mouzafphaerre
03-13-2004, 03:36
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Hello,

My recommendations are from the age of sail era:

Sea Dogs (much recommended, play with mods);
Pirates of the Carribean (the sequel to Sea Dogs; play with mods);
Cutthroats (oldie but a classical indeed, once you can get it to work);
Port Royale (principally a trading sim but you can fight battles with 10 ships vs. 10 at max.)

I'm monitoring Akella's upcoming PT Boats for the WWII era. I hope they fix a publisher for the Western market.

You can also check my My Favourites thread.

http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/cheers.gif
_

Efrem Da King
03-13-2004, 04:21
AOS2 Sux.

Beirut
03-13-2004, 05:17
Jane's Fleet Command.

Lightweight, but easy to play and pretty to look at. Well worth the $10 it will cost in the bargain bin.

But I hear their are some community realsim patches that bring it up a notch.

Antalis::
03-19-2004, 18:55
Pirates was the best game ever in this category in my opinion http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif


Antalis

Kekvit Irae
03-19-2004, 20:40
Enigma Rising Tide is a great naval simulation, for both surface and sub command. That is, if you dont mind the pseudo-WWII alternate history. It's also one of the only games I know of that's 100% voice activated

Nelson
03-22-2004, 15:24
The best naval game I ever played was Task Force 1942 by Microprose (1993). It is a first person surface combat game set in the Guadalcanal campaign. The dynamic campaign was excellent. The graphics are dated now of course but if you knew what a Mogami class CA looked like you would easily recognize one in the game. TF1942 included night actions with flares and search lights. It was fun to manually operate the guns from the director station and the torpedo mounts from the deck launchers from such a variety of ship classes.

Sjakihata
03-22-2004, 15:55
Quote[/b] (Beirut @ Mar. 13 2004,05:17)]Jane's Fleet Command.
I can only recommend this one http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/bigthumb.gif

Forward Observer
03-23-2004, 07:27
Age of Sail 2 was indeed an absolute bug fest, and almost unplayable except for on-line. It was actually voted a one of the top 5 worst games of 2001 by at least two major gaming magazines.

Later Akella reworked it somewhat, had it repackaged, and put out by another publisher under the name Privateer's Bounty--AOS 2. This time they added some fantasy Jules Verne elements with hot air balloons and primitive submarines.

I was so hacked off about getting stuck with the first crappy version of the game that I never even considered getting the repackaged edition.

Speaking of Sid Meier's Pirates, you all should know that he is working on Pirates 2, which is due out late this year or early next. I have heard that it will use a reworked version of the Morrowind game engine although I couldn't find it mentioned in any articles.

It appears that he is going for a stylized Disney animated film look for the game, which I actually find quite appealing. From the preview and the screens shown, I am really looking forward to this one.

Check it out here:

Pirates 2 (http://www.gamespy.com/articles/march04/pirates/)

Cheers

Nelson
03-23-2004, 16:53
The new Pirates looks great. I did see this in the preview though:


Quote[/b] ]Although there's a lot to do in the game, it's easy to dive right in. The game mechanics are simple and friendly: when you're sailing around, you don't have to worry about tacking against the wind, you pretty much drive around like you're in a car.

Steering in Pirates was always easy but the wind direction had a huge effect on the map and in battle. Hopefully it still will.

AoS2 was a bust, no doubt about it.

Forward Observer
03-23-2004, 19:10
Quote[/b] (Nelson @ Mar. 23 2004,06:53)]Steering in Pirates was always easy but the wind direction had a huge effect on the map and in battle. Hopefully it still will.
Having to realistically tack against the wind would really get old after a while and probably kill much of the fun factor.

Hopefully they will do it like the original SeaDogs did and PTOC did. (and from what you are saying like the original Pirates also)

In those games you can sail into the wind, but it is quite slow compared to sailing before the wind. This affects both you and your adversary, so it still leaves the tactical element of wind in the game while being a fairly good compromise between realism and fun game play.


Cheers

Sjakihata
03-23-2004, 20:43
Im not much into sailing, especially not with a pirateship, but I have heard of a method to sail more or less directly into the wind, or corss so wind comes in a little angled, then cross back. This should be really fast as the wind hit the sail still and produces a thrust forward.

kiwitt
03-23-2004, 22:07
Naval Ops looked good and then I realised it was for a PS2.

If it came out on PC I may consider it.

Kekvit Irae
03-23-2004, 23:51
Quote[/b] (kiwitt @ Mar. 23 2004,15:07)]Naval Ops looked good and then I realised it was for a PS2.

If it came out on PC I may consider it.
Good old Koei. Never lets me down ^_^

Forward Observer
03-24-2004, 01:35
Quote[/b] (Sjakihata @ Mar. 23 2004,10:43)]Im not much into sailing, especially not with a pirateship, but I have heard of a method to sail more or less directly into the wind, or cross so wind comes in a little angled, then cross back. This should be really fast as the wind hit the sail still and produces a thrust forward.
Tacking is the nautical term that describes exactly what you are talking about. It is still a slow process compared to sailing in front of, or with, the wind.

While it is necessary in real life sailing, I think it would be pretty boring and monotonous in a combat sailing or pirate game.

There is a mod for realistic sailing for both Seadogs and PTOC fo those that want it, but implementing it really seemed to dampen the fun and purpose of the game--at least for me.

Cheers

spmetla
03-24-2004, 03:33
Erasing the past...

Kekvit Irae
03-24-2004, 04:34
Quote[/b] (spmetla @ Mar. 23 2004,20:33)]Anyone know of any good WWII naval games? both first person in charge of one ship/boat or fleet commanding style?
Again, I recommend Enigma: Rising Tide, if you dont mind the pseudo-WWII alternate history storyline.

dlundie
03-28-2004, 14:44
fighting steel is a good one if your into WW2 Battleships and stuff, Janes Fleet Command is good entertainment as well.

Mouzafphaerre
03-28-2004, 19:15
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Anybody mentioned Akella's upcoming PT Boats? http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif
_

Sir Zack de Caldicot
03-28-2004, 20:09
Not sure If it has been said, couldn't read it all. I have a Fantastic game called Age of Sail 2: Privateers. This is very enjoyable game (well I thought)and should be added to any Pirate sailing game collection lol

Sjakihata
03-28-2004, 23:52
Silent Hunter

a submarine (sim?) that I played some years back, maybe a Silent Hunter 2 has been released?

well, it's fun

Mouzafphaerre
03-29-2004, 02:58
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I believe there's a SH2 but don't quote me on that. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-curtain.gif
_

RisingSun
03-29-2004, 05:11
Sub Command. Very realistic -guess what- submarine sim. You can format your own voice commands, IIRC.

Forward Observer
03-29-2004, 19:20
Quote[/b] (Mouzafphaerre @ Mar. 28 2004,16:58)]-
I believe there's a SH2 but don't quote me on that. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-curtain.gif
_
Silent Hunter 2 was released about two years ago, after being delayed by corporate mergers and take-overs for about 3 or 4 years before that. SH II is strictly about U-boats in the North Atlantic and is only played from the German side. The original Silent Hunter was played from the US side in the Pacific.

SH II was to be followed by Destroyer Command, so the two games could be played together on-line. There were problems with this, which really hurt the sales of the latter Destroyer game.

Since Silent Hunter II was actually started about 5 or 6 years ago, it was graphically a bit dated by the time it finally got released. Max resolution was only 800 X 600.

Since that time fans of the genre have completely overhauled both games, fixing the on-line problems, adding new missions and a random campaign generator to SH II ,adding all kinds of damage effects like oil slicks or better explosions, adding sounds from Das Boot, plus increasing the ability to bring the resolution up to 1024 x 768,

Just recently some of these same modders have introduced a completely new mod that transfers the whole game back to the US sub campaign in the Pacific.

Also Ubisoft just recently announced that there will be a Silent Hunter 3 with state of the art graphics and effects released in the 4th quarter of this year.

It will once again be about the U-Boat war in the North Atlantic.

You can buy either SH II or Destroyer command for less that $10 which is a lot of gaming value if you like the subject matter.

Be advised that a submarine game is not all action and takes a tremendous amount of patience.

Even with time compression, you will spend literally hours maneuvering your sub into just the right position for a kill.

You will also spend a lot of time running silent and trying to dodge depth charges when the enemy destroyers get on your butt.

Just watch the movie Das Boot and you will get an idea of what the game can be like.

Anyway, here is a great site for all things about naval warfare gaming and particularly submarine games.

Subsim Review (http://www.subsim.com/)

You can buy the game plus many other naval games directly from them and get all of the mods and downloads there. Be sure and check out the forums since they have boards on all types of naval warfare including pirate games.

Lord Godfrey
03-30-2004, 17:29
The first computer game I ever bought was Harpoon in the mid-90s for my Mac. NATO vs Soviets in WWIII. Developed in part by Larry Bond who helped Tom Clancy with his book Red Storm Rising.

Bought Harpoon II a few years later for a new PC and it wasn't as good. Heard rumors that the developers were trying to release a new version but haven't seen or heard anything in a while. I would still play the original if I had a Mac.

Nigel
04-05-2004, 20:10
Chain of Command is a naval battle game from the age of sails which allows customized multiplayer battles with up to 20 players or so, each one controlling his own ship. You could also set up MP battles with several human and AI players in the same game.

I never played it myself, but there was a group which did amazing things with it, basically creating a MMORPG ín Pirates style http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/cool.gif. Great fun.

chunkynut
04-20-2004, 13:21
Quote[/b] (Antalis:: @ Mar. 19 2004,17:55)]Pirates was the best game ever in this category in my opinion http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif


Antalis
http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-yes.gif