From Silent Service to GNB to Task Force to 688 II: naval warfare sims have been with us since the PC could barely crawl. As CPU power has increased we have seen an increase in detail levels as well as realism. Where have we been, and where are we going? As Janes 688 Attack Sub II just goes to beta, this article will attempt to address these questions...

Recently I reinstalled an old Microprose product on my PC. It wasn't an easy task. My wife opposed me. My computer opposed me. My neighbors opposed me... Finally, after posting a few questions to the naval newsgroup, I discovered that this old sim needed a solid 600 K of base memory in order to run! In fact, I still dont have sound; it doesn't seem to like my Tropez setup on IRQ 10, and there is no provision to select another IRQ in the sound setup.... ah well.

Why revisit this old territory? Because somewhere in the deep recesses of my liquid mind was this ancestral memory of floating on the sea.... while the 16" guns thundered. Yes, back in 1992 when TF was released I spent a lot of time pursuing the defence of my base at Guadalcanal and taking on the best of the IJN. I especially remember the night encounters. At three miles distant my guns would blaze, sending their incandescent tracer shells high into a fiery arc, to descend on distant destroyers and cruisers. The whiz of the shells as they dropped near my ship into the sea; the outside views of my cruisers launching salvos; the huge "WHUMP" like the sound of a gigantic tin can being hit by a huge rock when my ship took a hit; the increased frequency of the engine humm as my ship increased speed.... Microprose did it right!

Compare Task Force to Great Naval Battles II and III. Sorry, but neither of these kept my attention for more than a week! Despite the strategic realism, neither of the SSI simulations made me feel like I was there. I didn't believe my actions mattered, other than in a statistical sense. I resold both of those sims(?) within a week. (Thankfully, with Silent Hunter SSI finally achieved not only realism but also believability!)

Task Force had a variety of modes: single missions, historical missions, task force encounters, and even a campaign mode! Aircraft were a threat, as were torpedos from the destroyers. About the only thing missing was submarines, but then they were not much of a factor in these south pacific battles anyway.

The interface too was exceedingly well done. The screens between selections switched to digitized photos of destroyers and battleships, huge guns reaching out over the water. User friendly was the name of the game, with all controls managable via mouse, much like the present incarnations in Silent Hunter and the like.

Actual gameplay was just as neatly executed. I expect that Microprose was a pioneer in this area, allowing the player to control as much or as little as he preferred. One could play from the charts at the strategic level, or divide the task force into its smaller groups and guide one group. Or one could take over an individual ship and make a suicide run. Then again, when that single destroyer had managed to get in close enough to lay torpedos, one could jump into that very station and manage the salvo personally. The AI was very flexible, and the sim really was ahead of its time.

Sure, I can load this up today and go to the outside view and say to myself, "These ships look like crap, just ghostly apparitions of the real thing." But the various stations on board look fantastic, and the controls do what they ought to do. Not only that, but with the later patch (1.42 I think) the targetting and weapons systems behave very nicely.

So what did Task Force lack? Well, it wasn't connectable. The detail level was not great, at least in the binocular or outside views. There were no submarines. One never could shell land targets. There were no comms with other ships, and no radar (probably not available in 1942 anyway). So what if we brought Task Force into the future? What might it look like if Janes or Microprose/SH took it on today?

First, one would expect awesome detail in the actual ship graphics, more like those in Fast Attack or in the up and coming 688 II. Game play graphics would be more like the video sequence that introduced Task Force: a destroyer wheeling into action while the shells splash around her. The intro to Task Force is absolutely awesome! The environment in a reincarnation might look more like Silent Hunter: the roll of the sea, the swish of the waves at the bow, the beautiful colors of dawn... suspension of disbelief is NOT a factor when on the deck in SH.

The deck gun in Silent Hunter: note the peeling paint.

Second, connectability would be a given. I expect that one could network at least eight players, with one acting as admiral and the others skippering individual boats. Or maybe there would be two possible configurations:

1. an admiral and three other skippers, with up to four more players manning individual stations, at two players per ship. Thus one player would skipper and give the orders, setting speed and heading and determining the targets. The other would actually fire guns and torpedos, and run damage control and smoke and the like. This would mean eight players against AI opponents. Or:

2. Eight to twelve players manning individual ships, with AI executing orders on targets and damage control, etc. This would mean four to six players per side, humans against humans, with AI taking care of radioed airstrikes etc. It would be great to allow humans to actually man the AAA of course!

What would be the next step in this grand connectable production? The virtual battlefield of course! Suppose the aircraft were NOT AI, but actually manned by that Warbirds crowd! And suppose too that submarine warfare were integral in this picture, with actual humans commanding and connecting via comms to organize their wolfpacks. I know, I know, cut it out, you are drooling on your keyboard!

Comms would be a major feature. Suppose that a destroyer group spots a pair of battleships with a large cruiser and destroyer contingent 100 miles north of the main defense force? They would radio for an air attack and for backup. A player commanding a cruiser and battleship group to the south would have to rendezvous with the first group to combine forces.

Or suppose that one of four human pilots in an air sweep spots the Japanese Task Force first. He would radio to base, who would radio the position and heading to the American naval force, who would then have to plot an intercept and engage the enemy. Yeah, this could be fun!

Integration of the land battle would mean that other players might man the land based guns in defense of their base, while the Warbirds guys scramble the aircraft. Course if the cruisers and battleships get in range of the base before those overhead in the search aircraft spot me, I will make mincemeat of those runways and hangars! Yes, it sounds like a grand simulation. I can't believe that SOMEONE out there doesn't have this on the back burner! Maybe a confession will be forthcoming... =8-D

The forward torpedo room of a surviving untersea boat: U505...

Now what about the new Vesa features and 3d hardware? With S3 new ViRGE/GX2 and other accelerators coming out with support for dual monitors, and with the load taken off the CPU allowing for this to happen without major impact on sim play, we could see some other intriguing features in naval sims. For example, one could have the chart view on a 14" monitor to the side, while maintaining the main station on the 17" monitor to the front. Or one could have a radar display on the side and the main station on the front. Nice!

Or, with the PC/TV out of these new chipsets, one might play the sim on the 29" home TV, while using the standard SVGA monitor for charts, radar etc. I think many of us could live with that!

In the meantime, we have the next generation of naval simulation about to arrive at the dock in the form of Janes 688(I) Hunter Killer. Janes will take us far beyond the limits of Fast Attack into a whole new era of realism in the silent service. Watch for this one in June, 1997.