Jutland Options

[CaptBeefheart]

I just finished reading Massie's excellent "Castles of Steel" and it inspired me to find a Jutland game that worked properly. I checked the Koger version (Storm Eagle Studios) and from the forum over there it looks like the game is fatally flawed and the developers are AWOL. I then tried to find something about the HPS version by Norm Tiller but couldn't find anything during a ten-minute search (if anyone knows a forum where HPS games are covered please provide a link).

Does anyone have any good suggestions for a WWI surface ship simulation?

Cheers,
CC

[mrfeizhu]

go to the hps web site, the game is old and the interface is so so. Its not worth the price if you pay the full amount.

[salazarus]

Try Steam and Iron. There was topic about that game some time ago. From what I heard it is a good game, a great one with expansion. You can get demo from Naval Warfare Simulations site.

[Jim D Burns]

Think the only place that covers the HPS stuff regularly is the Blitz. It's not an official site though, just a club that plays the games made by HPS among others.

http://theblitz.org/

Jim

[radic202]

Maybe this can help:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gIWnTmnX2o

http://www.stormpowered.com/stormcloud/ ... /index.asp

http://www.hpssims.com/pages/products/n ... tland.html

[Curtis Lemay]

For what it's worth, note that I did create a Jutland scenario for TOAW. It can't be released yet but I did post an AAR on it:

tm.asp?m=3696037

[Davekhps]

FYSA, I read the Massie book years ago and really enjoyed it, but just this past spring I discovered Andrew Gordon's "The Rules of the Game"-- Gordon's book predated Massie's by only a few years, but it makes it clear that Massie simply summarized the trail that Gordon blazed. Hands-down one of the best studies of command and military culture I've read to date.

[Aurelian]

ORIGINAL: Commander Cody

I just finished reading Massie's excellent "Castles of Steel" and it inspired me to find a Jutland game that worked properly. I checked the Koger version (Storm Eagle Studios) and from the forum over there it looks like the game is fatally flawed and the developers are AWOL. I then tried to find something about the HPS version by Norm Tiller but couldn't find anything during a ten-minute search (if anyone knows a forum where HPS games are covered please provide a link).

Does anyone have any good suggestions for a WWI surface ship simulation?

Cheers,
CC

I have SES Jutland and Steam and Iron. IF you like graphics, the former is it. I never had a problem playing it. But have seen the AI do dumb things. (Like doing a 270deg course change so it sailed through its own line...)

Steam and Iron. There is an AAR I was doing (abandoned due to lack of interest.) Like Jutland, if you want a campaign, you need the expansion. For Jutland, you get the whole of 1916 in the North Sea. SAI you get one for the Baltic, one for the North Sea. But they run the entire war.

One thing I noticed about SAI is that though you're stuck around England or the Baltic, you can zoom the map out to see the entire planet. makes me wonder if some day they'll come out with a game that covers the entire war at sea. (And don't know why, the the map is current day. Not that it affects the game.)

Jutland is detailed. And yes, you can get a demo. Actually it's the whole basic game, but you have to buy it to get beyond the demo. Very impressive graphics.One of these days, I'll load it up again.

SAi is also detailed. The ships are not impressive. All top down view. Not a bad thing, the old RAW Entertainment game Action Stations! used blobs for land, and circles/squares of different sizes for the ships. But the combat/damage/misc details are superb.

I had HPS Jutland. I played it for an hour, and tossed it into the trash.

All in all, if I had to choose one, it would be SAI with the expansion.

[Fallschirmjager]

SES Jutland is fun but a mess in the larger battles. It just becomes uncontrollable. And every battle descends into a mass of ships closing to within knife fighting range and blasting one another.

In the real war both sides were loathe to ever commit to battle. In the game both sides toss away ships and lives with abandon.
In the campaign game I have never made it past three months without losing over 100 ships and inflicting as many losses on the enemy.

[OldSarge]

SAI+Expansion is pretty good provided you can get past the graphics. If you can, you'll find a decent wargame under the hood. The modelling is good, the AI is decent and you can use it to offload micro-managing too may ships. The graphics, well, you'll have ot decide that for yourself.

A playable demo of the base SAI can be found here: Steam and Iron Page

[Zorch]

ORIGINAL: OldSarge

SAI+Expansion is pretty good provided you can get past the graphics. If you can, you'll find a decent wargame under the hood. The modelling is good, the AI is decent and you can use it to offload micro-managing too may ships. The graphics, well, you'll have ot decide that for yourself.

A playable demo of the base SAI can be found here: Steam and Iron Page

+1 An accurate assessment

[CaptBeefheart]

Thanks, gents! I'll try out the demos of Steam and Iron and SES Jutland for now.

Cheers,
CC

[wodin]

Steam and Iron..but get the campaign expansion aswell as it totally enhances the game 1000%