Article Type: Review
Article Date: February 28, 2002
Product Info
Game Title: Destroyer Command
Category: Naval Combat
Developer: Ultimation
Publisher: SSI / Ubi Soft
Release Date: Released
Files / Links: Click Here
Getting Going
The good installation smoothness engraved the 890MB program on my hard drive with no hitches. Preferred system requirements are modest with a 600 MHz PII equivalent or faster emphasized with 128MB RAM, a 32MB 3D accelerated video card, and 8X CD-ROM and a DirectSound compliant audio card. It will run on Windows 95/98/ME. You get a real hard copy of the 72-page manual too!
Direct X 8.0 is included on the CD as well as QuickTime 4.0 for viewing still images of the destroyer DD-661 USS Kidd museum ship. The actual web site is here so you can make a slightly smaller install to your hard drive and save 100MB. Resolution may vary from 640 X 480 16- and 32-bit to 1024 X 768 16 and 32-bit. At the maximum 1024 X 768 32-bit video rendering most systems should not be taxed to perform, but the lower resolution looks okay. Hi-res looks much better! Sound configuration channels vary too and you can adjust all the ingredient levels: master volume, effects, voice, and music.
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The Yamoto specs  |
The vessels included in SSI's Silent Hunter II (SH II) appear in Destroyer Command (DC) since they are meant to be used compatibly in multi-player. But with the Pacific Theater campaign you get tons of Japanese vessels and planes too. They can be viewed from any angle and distance by using the mouse. Detailed specifications and statistical info accompanies them exactly as with SH II. In addition there are detailed destroyer class histories with lots of background information. I couldn’t get the viewer to work but found from Ubisoft that the file TRserverdll.dll needs to be copied from the ‘shell’ folder to the ‘viewer’ folder. It’s a ten second fix.
Again, the mouse and keys control everything. You can use a combination to your best advantage since I found the long mouse travel required the same as on SH II. I don’t like to go from a crisp, responsive mouse setup to a lethargic one so I mostly hit the keys.
Missions
There are five shakedown missions just for the virtual skipper to get familiar with the sixteen stations and attack types. Simple helm control is covered to allow you to learn steering. Another gets your feet wet in operation with a squadron directing multiple ship operations. You get your hands on the 5-inch gun stations and the AA weapons. Torpedo attacks are practiced along with anti-submarine activities.
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| Heavy AA mount |
At every station you can set it to function manually or automatically. In certain areas like the 20 mm and 40 mm AA mounts if you take manual control the other AA guns will fire on auto around you adding to the feel of things. Until you become practiced in all these stations auto is safer. From any station on deck and in the depth charge control room it is possible to point the ship to the heading desired by one keystroke so it isn’t necessary to rush back to the bridge and steer. From the 5-inch gun view ports it can be done as well.
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| Depth charge station |
Fourteen historical missions are present covering all the theaters, Atlantic, Pacific and Mediterranean. Each setup shows the boat involved that you will skipper and background on the actual engagement. You may do better or worse than history reflects.
Custom mission setup is as varied as those in SH II with three theaters, six times of day or night and early through late war time era. Variation of the ships met is more intricate than SH II in that you can meet any combination of warships, submarines and cargo vessels along with aircraft. You can encounter aircraft carriers only in the Pacific. In the Mediterranean you’ll only meet destroyers and cruisers on the surface. Subs and aircraft can mix in all fronts. The size of the merchant convoy and defense groups can vary in size with few escorts and lots of cargo ships or few cargo vessels and many escorts. You can choose to meet up to three air wings only and no ships. Friendly assist forces can vary equally well. The combinations will keep you interested.
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| From main battery director at night- a hit! |
Realism is adjustable so you can work your way up into higher percentages of difficulty. I hate dud torpedoes so left them off. I gave myself the option of full target data too. At 89 percent overall it is a challenge. If you give yourself invulnerable status realism will drop to 54 percent. Fuel, ammo, realistic sailing and run-aground all toggle on/off as well.
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| Escort duty- tanker & DD seen through optics |
There are two campaigns—Atlantic and Pacific. You begin with older class boats and progress forward if you live. Promotions and medals are awarded and the virtual skipper can look back at his mission tonnage of war and merchant vessels. Each mission becomes not more difficult but varies from escort duty and air attacks to tin can vs. tin can slugfests.
I found it best to direct things initially from the lookout’s station that gives a full 360-degree field of view and order targets to be attacked. You can then jump to the Main Battery Director station or AA mounts and do some personal shooting. Magnification of targets is accomplished with one key. Seemingly all enemies are not as talented or gung ho as others and the AI foes you meet will vary. It is possible to avoid torpedoes by constantly turning sharply and still fire back. An enemy tin can takes a surprising amount of rounds to die. If you aren’t “into” naval simulations you may get bored with the repetitive firing and slowly resulting damage.
In SH II, damage on enemies progressed in percentages on the screen, which helps. In DC you get “undamaged” for what seems like a long while till your 5-inchers take effect to “minor damage.” You will see and hear your hits as vessels get closer and “major damage” occurs. Then it is a good wait to hear a crewman say, ”Target destroyed.” You think “whew!” and take on the next task.
The navigation map parallels that in SH II almost exactly. If you are familiar with it you’ll need no practice to set waypoints and navigate. The 2,048 times normal speed assists travel time. When ships are close you are limited to 32X.
Multiplayer
There are nineteen missions many of which parallel the historical ones in DC and SH II. Neither sim is playable on the Ubisoft game site but should be soon, no doubt. It is possible to host and join games yourself.
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| External view |
Jim “Bismark” Cobb and I did just that in what he called the first non-test, real world match up. His Type IX U-292 sank my DD-391 USS Henley in short order near Gibraltar. Everything was smooth and functioned properly. While I had no sonar or radar readings on him he seemed to have data on me. Only when he once surfaced did the map icon show his boat even after it submerged. Hauling fantail to depth charge him I smacked into one of his fish, or vice versa! So all considered, the multi-play aspect seems functional and quite a redeeming feature.
Shades Of Silent Hunter II
The graphic effects are not super strong. Some of the explosive hit fireballs are too transparent. Experimenting on a merchantman with the 40 mm AA shows no visible damage at 150 yards range. As in SH II the decks are devoid of human figures. You can ultimately sink the vessel but with no explosions or drama. The ships all sink pretty much the same way. They will list and roll then submerge but with no break up or steep angle with the bow or stern jutting up characteristic of real life on some occasions.
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| You're hit! |
Damage modeling from heavier weapons is equally mild. There is discoloration to the superstructures from some fire but no broken or twisted steel parts. Your own ship may suffer damage and get a good roast going on the foredeck turret but the flame is very transparent and not that dangerous looking. Get out the virtual wienies to roast.
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| Fires on your boat- external view, night |
Firing the guns at night looks pretty good with the illumination reflecting on the deck very correctly. As you ply the seas the water is the same deep blue no matter where you are and how shallow the waters are. Same as SH II, I feel it would be proper to illustrate the different colors of reef water in the South Pacific at times. On both sims there are three water textures/color .TGA files but they just do not have enough contrast to look that different. Structures on land are identical to those of SH II, which is to say bland. The land is equally devoid of features and highly variegated color. If flight sims can have better terrain and water effects when used as a semi-important backdrop to air combat shouldn’t a water-based sim have spectacular visuals?
This brings us to rain modeling. In SH II the rain .TGAs were white and never appeared on the screen. So it is in DC. But there is an easy fix available at NavalWarfare.net where a third party group of files named RainEnable will give you visible rain done simply by adding an aqua color to the rain .TGAs. It was originally made for SH II.
Sounds are modulated pretty well. The guns firing from deck sound adequate compared to the below-deck stations where they sound correctly muffled and distant. Voiceovers are good and no later adds seem to have been made with a different voices and sound level ambiance as is the case on SH II. All effects are good though I’m certain there will be modifications by third party people to enhance some. Nothing sounds tinny or just flat bad though with the exception of aircraft. The singular engine effect sounds like a personal massager. In SH II there are different sounds for bombers and fighters and they are better.
Again, these are in .WAV format and can be easily improved by an enterprising modder but shouldn’t have to be. Some players won’t mind them “as is” and others will want to enhance lots of the sounds, no doubt.
DC was in development for a long while along with SH II. I remember seeing them in embryonic “first look” stage nearly three Mays ago at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) extravaganza. This emphasizes how long games and sims take to flesh out.
An RTS game may not need knockout features and graphics to work but most developers are doing that. Simulations are another story. A PC sim is supposed to mimic the real thing with some compromises, of course. If superb visuals are not there, what’s the point? When DC and SH II were conceived the system specs listed above were almost cutting edge. Nearly three years later they’re not but should be taking advantage of the hardware that exists today.
I’ll end this review as I did that of Silent Hunter II. “Will you get some fun out of Destroyer Command? Yes, but don’t expect the flight sim graphics quality of Combat Flight Simulator 2 or IL-2 Sturmovik on the water.”
- Mobo: ASUS A7V133 200/266MhZ FSB
- RAM: 256MB PC-133 RAM
- CPU: Athlon T-Bird 1.3GhZ CPU
- Audio: SoundBlaster PCI 128 w/Yamaha YST-M7 speakers
- Video: nVidia GeForce 2 Ultra
- OS: Windows ME w/ Direct X 8.1
- Display: 17” Envision monitor .27mm dp
- Media: Samsung 52X CD drive
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