WW1 Naval Games

[Speedysteve]

Hi All,

Any recommendations for the best WW1 Naval PC games out there? Strategic, Operational or Tactical but would prefer realistic and detailed if possible.

Thanks

[rwenstrup]

Strategic - Naval Warfare Simulation's Rule the Waves, Operational - Perhaps John Tiller Software's Jutland, Tactical - Perhaps Storm Eagle Studio's Jutland...

There are naval representations in other pretty much land based games...but I don't recall other naval focused ones...

[Aurelian]

Have Distant Guns Jutland and NWS Steam and Iron.

SES doesn't own Jutland anymore, and my understanding is that the last update broke it.

Steam and Iron is a much better game. Not least because if you get the campaign expansion you can fight the whole North Sea campaign, while DG:J gives you only 1916.

Tiller's Jutland ended up at the rifle range

[Agathosdaimon]

If you use Dosbox - there is Software Sorcery's Jutland too which is like the Great Naval Battles games, but a different layout, different graphics and a WW1 focus - GNB also had an unreleased volume 5 which is WW1 based; this was bundled with a pack that contained all of the games in the series

the John Tiller game is okay but it doesnt offer alot of options like say in Rule the Waves or Steam and Iron, it is a bit like the Ironclads ship games from a top down perspective, where you really dont do more than just steer ships and try not to make them run into each other, as the AI on your side doesnt do anything to prevent collisions themselves - that is probably my complaint with the John Tiller game, that i spent too much time just trying to avoid my own ships going all Mr Magoo into each other.

[warspite1]

A real shame no one has thought to do a game to coincide with Jutland's 100th anniversary.... 250 ships involved, four commanders, different strengths and weaknesses, different goals - the stage is set for a brilliant game (like war in the Med 1940-43) but I guess its more profitable to bring out yet another East Front or D-Day game.....

[Jagdtiger14]

A real shame no one has thought to do a game to coincide with Jutland's 100th anniversary.... 250 ships involved, four commanders, different strengths and weaknesses, different goals - the stage is set for a brilliant game (like war in the Med 1940-43) but I guess its more profitable to bring out yet another East Front or D-Day game.....

I agree Warspite! We can always hope for the 200th anniversary[>:]

Maybe we could crowd fund, buy the rights to SSI's Fighting Steel, and Aces of the Deep and start from there? They had pretty good graphics and maneuvering. Make it real time multi-player 2 or 4 players.

[Speedysteve]

Thanks guys. By the sounds of it then not a lot of options out there and nothing new/that recent!

[Speedysteve]

Quite like the look of SAI and especially with the expansion pack as Aurelian pointed out! Assume it will work fine on Windows 7/8?

[Aurelian]

ORIGINAL: Speedy

Quite like the look of SAI and especially with the expansion pack as Aurelian pointed out! Assume it will work fine on Windows 7/8?

Yes it does. Somewhere here is a short AAR I did. It should run on Win 10 as well.

Found it: tm.asp?m=3699237&mpage=1&key=steam%2Ciron&#3699237

[operating]

ORIGINAL: Aurelian

ORIGINAL: Speedy

Quite like the look of SAI and especially with the expansion pack as Aurelian pointed out! Assume it will work fine on Windows 7/8?

Yes it does. Somewhere here is a short AAR I did. It should run on Win 10 as well.

Found it: tm.asp?m=3699237&mpage=1&key=steam%2Ciron�

That was interesting, however, like the Tiller game, no close up visual scenes, which I felt made the map look a little dry. Again, I don't have the game.

[Speedysteve]

Thanks for the AAR link. How would you say it plays overall? Realiatic? Lots of options and flexibility? Did you always play at admiral level or chose the lower levels to give you more granularity too?

[Aurelian]

ORIGINAL: Speedy

Thanks for the AAR link. How would you say it plays overall? Realiatic? Lots of options and flexibility? Did you always play at admiral level or chose the lower levels to give you more granularity too?

I think it plays really well. It plays a lot like RAW Entertainments' Action Stations!, which I've played more any other naval wargame.

Realistic, yes.

Options? Quite a few.

The lower difficulty levels give you more control.

Here's a link to a demo: http://www.navalwarfare.net/steam&iron.html

And the manuals and things: http://nws-online.proboards.com/thread/ ... on-updates

The only thing that I wonder about is why they use a modern map. Not that it affects anything, but strange none the less.

[Speedysteve]

I used to love Action Stations! I'm in. I'll be buying this.

Thanks for taking the time to reply and give your views.

[Aurelian]

ORIGINAL: Speedy

I used to love Action Stations! I'm in. I'll be buying this.

Thanks for taking the time to reply and give your views.

Keep in mind that it's single player only.

Rule the Waves is pretty good too. With the addition of watching your starting fleet improve over time as you research.

[wodin]

Has to be NWS Steam and Iron with the campaign expansion.

[Speedysteve]

Yup. I'm aiming to purchase it this coming weekend[8D]

[OldSarge]

Good choice, I think that you'll enjoy it!

[Speedysteve]

Can't wait to get home and download it! On holiday at present so no access to my PC[;)]

[wodin]

You definitely need the campaign expansion though. It transforms the game.

[Fallschirmjager]

Rule the Waves is utterly fantastic. One of the best wargames I have played in a very long time.

Steam and Iron is fantastic as well. I messed around with the campaign editor and it is difficult to use but can be done.
Steam and Iron takes a while to understand what is going on. I am not super sure I like the 'Ops points' notion.
It seems like this could have been done away with and in it's place a 'wear and tear' function built in to keep you from just constantly creating missions.
But it is a fantastic game to be so simple. The UI is not very elegant but gives you what you need.

Rule the Waves I cannot say enough good things about. The game itself I think is only like 11 MB but so much is packed in.
Research, ship design, budgeting, ship construction and of course combat.
It is a stressful game, keeping ships on foreign station, choosing to scrap ships or send them for rebuild.
Keeping obsolete ships in service or removing them to save money.
Waiting on ships to be built. Pulling the trigger on a new design and by the time it comes into service being technologically behind.

Designing ships yourself and having them be successful or disasters or just very average.

I have created some designs I thought were great but were disasters.
I have also had some late night ideas that turned into real successes.

For example, as Italy your resources are limited so you have to be creative.
I designed and built a class of two very large armored cruisers.
Mounting 12 9" guns and 14 7" guns
They were in double turrets with four wing turrets.
They were expensive and slow to build but were extremely successful for such a weird design. They were almost 20,000 tons and had decent speed and good armor.
I rebuilt them 3 times and they served almost 30 years.
I went to war with France 4 times and they served me incredibly well and were damaged numerous times but also damaged and sunk a huge number of enemy ships.

I also loved the names I game them.
Gladius and Pila
Named after the classical Roman weapons.

The design was weird but they ended up working.
I have designed other ships both weird and conventional that have been disasters.

I fondly remember those two ships as they fought against long odds time after time after time.

The fact that I remember moments like that is what makes a game for me.
I cannot recommend Rule the Waves more highly.