Naval sims?

[Rodion Romanovich]

Are there any good naval sims in any subperiod of 15th to 20th century. I'm looking either for a first/third person game with a dynamic campaign, or a strategy game (with a dynamic campaign of course). Which ones are worth checking out?

[Androo]

Well I have spent a little time with Enigma: Rising Tide and quite like it. It is a first person sim set in an alternate history 1930's. Understandably, a lot of people shy away from it because of its rather farfetched context [Germany won the Great War and occupied France and the UK; the remnants of the Royal Navy and the British Empire have allied with the Japanese; so the three factions are 1) Imperial Germany, 2) Japan/Royal Navy in Exile and 3) the USA]. One can play a campaign, linear I believe, for any of the factions in either their surface or submarine fleets. This alternate history was not for me, but no problem: thanks to the efforts of a member of the community ("timetraveller") textures in the game are easily moddable (if I can do it, anybody can do it). The first day I had it, I exchanged the Sino-British flag (ugh!) for a proper RN White Ensign of my making. I'm not an expert, but I believe the ship models are quite accurate. Several former Naval types are members of the community and though they debate the minutiae of ship performance in the game, overall they seem tolerant of its modelling. Stalwart fellow that he is, Timetraveller has also produced a brilliant mission builder. Now, one can build missions with random events, so the mission can have an incredible number of permutations and possible results. And then these missions can be scripted into campaigns, complete with briefings which sport newspaper front pages with headlines written and photos provided by you. The story-telling possibilities are pretty impressive.The gold edition has extra ships and is also ready for the addition of the mission builder without patching.
1) screenshots at Gamespy
2)screen shots of Gold Edition at Gamespy

3)E:RT community forum.

If anybody wants more info, let me know.

[Watchman]

As far as modern naval warfare goes, there's always the legendary Harpoon family. Something of an aquired taste; I've tried one of them and while it was quite immersive, I decided it wasn't really my thing. Taught me a whole lot of the whys and hows of modern navies in a very short time though. Most of the scenarios I've seen center around late 20th century, many of them "what ifs" that for the most part suggested that while their makers may have had a very good grasp of the dynamics of naval strategy, their understanding of world politics in general sucks quite horribly...

India goes to war with the UK over dominance of the Indian Ocean ? The EU and the USA at loggerheads over, well, something quite ridiculous ? S-u-u-u-u-re... I think you can see what I mean. Frankly, the "Cold War goes hot" ones (plus redos of actual historical incidents) were by far the most tolerable of the lot.

Aside form the often atrocious alternate-history or what-if scenarios though it's a very nice game. The earlier games of the series ought to be available in those cheap collections too.

[Spino]

Silent Hunter III is the best naval sim I've ever played and easily one of the best sims in recent years. SHIII has phenomenal graphics, gameplay and depth in addition to four different u-boat types to command, crew management & training, numerous u-boat upgrades and the coolness factor of being able to physically move around inside the submarine amongst your 3d animated crewmen (ok, you're limited to a few compartments and the conning tower but hey... every gauge rendered in 3D actually works!). A stellar dynamic campaign rounds out the list and keeps you coming back for more. Last but not least the user mods for SHIII are both impressive and numerous.

[Nelson]

The best naval sim I’ve ever played is an old title from Microprose called Task Force 1942. It is a tactical surface warfare sim covering the Guadalcanal campaign. One can play the IJN or the USN.

The real time campaign includes all of the surface combatants that were in the Pacific at the time, sans carriers. When surface groups encounter one another you fight the battle much like in Rome. It has night and day actions and weapons include primary and secondary guns and torpedoes, each of which can be directed by the player for any ship during any engagement. The graphics were terrific in 1993. Aircraft and subs are handled abstractly on the campaign map but do effect play. The campaign was dynamic and different every time. I have yet to see its’ like since. With a face-lift it would be spectacular.

Silent Hunter 3 is excellent but I much prefer handling big guns to sneaking around in a sub. Going in harms way and spotting shot fall from the gun director is the fun way to fight!

[The Marcher Lord]

I played Enigma Rising Tide too - nice storyline driven campaign, but its not dynamic. Good graphics for the time though and the later sea battles in the campaign could be pretty intense.

I'm looking forward to the release of Distant Guns. A 3d naval RTS set during the Russo-Japanese War 1904-5. Here's the website for more info.http://www.stormeaglestudios.com/public/home.html