Naval combat

[Kraxis]

Thanks... A Jutland would be some experience. Though I expect I would sail the High Sea Fleet to its glorious doom.

[Kraxis]

I can just imagine it... Me sitting furiously trying to get some semblance of order out of my jumbled mess of a fleet while reports keep flying in about ships in dire straits, overwhelming me, while a continuing roar of guns makes the background a prelude to hell.

ARRRRGHHH!!!! Scheer give me back my dreadnoughts!!!!

[Kraxis]

Just imagine when the battle goes on into the night, as it did historically.

No way!!! I would simply have managed to destroy my fleet by nightfall.

But yes, a linebattle at night would be most impressive. I can only imagine how true Scheer's words "the entire horizon seemed aflame" would be.

[CBR]

Yuuki and I tried Fighting Steel MP last night and apart from me having problems joining his games while he could join my games it worked fine...well Yuuki did have a crash at the end of the battle. But it was fun and interesting enough for us to try it again.


CBR

[Puzz3D]

CBR and I played another Fighting Steel historical scenario Saturday. It was a night battle where several US cruisers and destroyers intercepted a bunch of IJN destroyers delivering supplies. We ended up with nearly the historical result except I lost two more cruisers than were lost historically because I thought the IJN destroyers had used all of their torpedoes late in the battle. The battle took about 1 1/2 hours. We did have a problem near the end of the battle where three of CBR's destroyers teleported to another part of the map. This is a bug that can occur once in a while despite efforts to find and fix it.

[Degtyarev14.5]

The game is developed by Norm Koger. He's legendary in wargame development. According to a post on usenet, Norm responded to a recent email that the game is finished and ready for release, and he's working on the legal contracts to get it released. In the past, he's been prevented from patching his games by publishers, and it would be nice if he could find a way around that problem even if it meant self-publishing and charging more for the game. This is where Fighting Steel Project excels because it has gotten 10 major revisions and many minor revisions over the last 4 years because SSI relinquished some of their legal control and allowed the source code to be modified.

I am sooooo pleased to read these words!

A.

[Puzz3D]

I figured this would happen. The first two times out in Fighting Steel I lost to CBR, and then the 3rd time out his Japanese fleet looked like what was left after the battle of Surigao Strait. Since then he hasn't wanted to play again.

[CBR]

Omg what lies!

Just give me as many BB's as you have and then Im ready I never got a chance to show off my leet torpedo skills in that battle heh.


CBR

[Pericles]

Destroyer Command is actually quite an enjoyable game. You take command of a squadron of DDS and can stand on the bridge of a DD and watch the action and actually fire the guns and torps...

In addition there are several mods out right now that allows the player to take command of CAs, BBs, etc from any navy and where you are actually ON the ship in question.

Scenarios have been created to re-create both WW1 and WW2 battles. And yes, you can fight the Battle of Jutland...

Unlike Fighting Steel which gives you a third person perspective; Destroyer Command actually places you IN the ship (or FPS)...

[phred]

The game is developed by Norm Koger. He's legendary in wargame development. According to a post on usenet, Norm responded to a recent email that the game is finished and ready for release, and he's working on the legal contracts to get it released. In the past, he's been prevented from patching his games by publishers, and it would be nice if he could find a way around that problem even if it meant self-publishing and charging more for the game.

Here's some news and screenshots from the wargamer.
The game is called Distant Guns due late Fall 2005
http://www.wargamer.com/news/news.asp?nid=2730#

here's the game's website

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

and here's a quote from a press release

"The Distant Guns 3D render engine is the key to the next generation of leading edge gaming. We have laid out a path of development that will deliver gaming experiences that are beyond your wildest dreams. Some have managed to deliver hot looking historical games, with only surface historical accuracy. Others have served up extremely historically accurate games, but only average graphics.
The Storm Eagle is committed to delivering both!"


the screenshots look nice

[CBR]

Ah finally some news on this game and good news indeed! It looks very promising.


CBR

[English assassin]

If it does what it says it does this will be worth getting. Interesting choice of campaign (presumably they are still working on subs and aircraft...)

[Puzz3D]

Interesting choice of campaign (presumably they are still working on subs and aircraft...)

The time period is 1904 - 1905.

[English assassin]

The time period is 1904 - 1905.

That's what I mean, AKAIK they won't have to model subs and they certainly won't need aircraft. I guess they are still developing the engine and will put them in later and expand the periods they can cover at that point.

I'm not complaining, I think its sensible to get the engine out now and some income coming in and then refine it later, and there's no reason why this campaign wouldn't be a good one.

[CBR]

On a newsgroup Norm Koger said:

We aren't swearing off on WWII. It's a nice place to visit, I just wouldn't want to live there. I'm guessing on the mix right now, but depending upon response to things like RJW we'll probably alternate between "popular" and "obscure" topics. The next major installment of the Distant Guns engine will probably be Pacific 1942. Once the operational/campaign module is complete (no promises on release dates for that), I plan to lobby for the Spanish American War. Guess I have a thing about dense clouds of coal smoke

We plan to follow this title reasonably quickly (not just data and art, considerable additional coding will be required) with WWI and WWII period releases. An operational-campaign element is in the works, on the side, as an eventual add-on. We also have an operational land campaign engine ("project Ivan") at an advanced stage of development. It's nowhere near as ready as the RJW title, but it's coming down the tracks - and while it is quite different in many respects, it could be considered a competitor to Classic TOAW

CBR

[phred]

Here's a preview of 'Distant Guns' from the Wargamer

http://www.wargamer.com/reviews/distant_guns_preview/

here's a quote:

"OK, here comes the sweetest part of this preview, "The Grognard Corner". So, how deep is this game, what is modeled, what isn't, and how realistic it is?

In short, grogs will not be disappointed."