Sectorgame

Welcome the submarine simulator game to beat up all other submarine simulator games. I don't care about your fancy Silent Hunter crap. We're going back to the days when Tandy built home computers and VGA 8-bit graphics were the cat's meow, folks.

You think I'm kidding?
I am not kidding.
This is the time period menu. This game was released in 1990 or even earlier, so it projects some things that didn't happen, like the non-collapse of the Soviet Union. However, for our purposes, it only matters that it projects a few things which never actually made it onto the boats (that's what they call submarines in the USN, kids). These include the Sealance standoff ASW missile (which is actually a missile with an encapsulated Mk50 torpedo on the end, similar to surface ship ASROC) and mast-mounted Stinger missiles. Also the design of the Seawolf class had yet to be finalized, so the Seawolf is basically the ultimate in submarine badassery, eight torpedo tubes, huge weapons stowage...except for the fact that in reality, it's faster than thirty-five knots. (That's nautical miles per hour, though I kinda suspect most of you already knew that.)

If the reference to the Toshiba/Kongsberg scandal goes over your head, that's 'cuz you're not old enough. I'm not either, but I looked it up ON PAPER back when I first played this game, lo those many eons ago in 1992: Toshiba sold some advanced computer equipment and Kongsberg some advanced milling gear to the CCCP, and all this added up to crap suitable for making quiet submarine propellers. Toshiba as a company barely survived the results.

See kids, gaming is informative. I bet you've never heard of the Sturgeon and Permit classes either.
I'm still not sure what the NMPC is though. If I had the manual (which was frankly one of the awesomest manuals ever written) I could check. However I don't. I'm guessing it's Naval Management Personnel Command, however, or something close to it.

We're taking an Improved Los Angeles, because my torpedo-dodging skills and the SeaWolf's deep and abiding awesome (even if it's more awesome at this in real life) would make this game awful boring.

And because you know the VLS Tomahawk tubes that the Imp. LA has and the SeaWolf doesn't? Those things are CRAZY MOTHERFRAKKING AWESOME.
The submarine name is not the same every time; the program draws from a random list of actual names, except for the Seawolf. (I think.) I happen to consider drawing the Newport News lucky, as my father served aboard the cruiser of the same name on his Midshipman Cruise.
This is the mission select screen. (I missed the difficulty screen, but I'm doing it on Normal.) Yes, it's a little bassakwards doing it this way, selecting your time period and ship before you select the mission, but in practice I don't think it actually matters.

Training Actions are 100% what you see is what you get. They're laughably easy, though I sometimes like to try and sink the Kashin with Sealance missiles simply because it's an absurd way to go about it. The other ones are fairly WYSIWYG, as the title describes them well, but there are many classes of ship in this game and they don't always have the same number or class of hostiles. Each battle plays out somewhat differently. Chance engagement randomizes an encounter out of the above non-training options.

The bottom option there is the campaign game. That's were we're going.

NICE. Reminds me of the Michael DiMercurio and Tom Clancy books. Looking back on it, I've actually read a shitload of submarine books.

You might notice we have a new submarine now. I had to restart Dosbox to get its built-in screenshots functioning, then I discovered it takes unacceptably small pictures, and had to go back to GIMP and regular screencaptures. It's the same, functionally, and the Chicago starred in the novel of the same name as this game, so it's probably also lucky.
This is the loadout/repair screen for when you're in port. You'll notice the times. You're ordered on missions via a message form I'll show later, and have to take time off from your missions unless you're badly damaged or flat out of weapons to come back here to Holy Loch, Scotland (Hey Aldo, would you know where that is?) and get your boat fixed up and rearmed. If you are badly damaged or out of weapons, you'll get orders from COMSUBLANT (Commander, Submarines, Atlantic Fleet) to come back home for repair and/or rearm. Otherwise, you're always on the clock with another assigned mission, but rearm and repair is at your discretion if you think your boat is getting too beat up or running low. However the time means enemies are still moving while you're doing this, and it takes time to return to Holy Loch to rearm/refit and time to transit back to operational areas.

We have room for 26 weapons in our torpedo room, and 12 Tomahawks of either land-attack (TLAM) or antiship (TASM) variaties in our VLS tubes. We have 20 Mark48 ADCAP torpedos aboard. (ADvanced CAPablities, by the way. The ADCAP is several knots faster and has nearly twice the fuel of the original Mark48; the game also includes a theoritical version of the Mark48 called SWIMOUT for the Seawolf, which does exactly what it says on the tin, rather than being noisily expelled from the tube in a blast of compressed air. Such a version was never made because swimout option is now standard and ended up being unworthy of a designation change.) These are how you kill hostile submarines and they work nicely on surface ships too. Only a Typhoon can take more than one Mark48, and no surface ship is going to be able to handle 2,000 pounds of Torpex detonating under his keel. They also have wire guidance to direct them, but only under certain conditions I'll point out in combat.

I've already removed the four Harpoons you're automatically loaded out with, because frankly Harpoons suck compared to the glory that is the Tomahawk Anti-Ship Missile (TASM). Nobody takes a hit and lives, though on rare occasions they'll intercept the missile just before impact. The TASM also has a very long reach, far longer then Harpoons or our ADCAPs. The all-TASM fit in our VLS tubes is how it came, but later on we may be ordered to load TLAMSs for a land-attack mission.

We also have six SeaLance aboard. I'm not terribly fond of the weapon, it's difficult to use, but we'll keep them since they're much longer ranged then our Mark48 ADCAPS. And they may provide a chance for lulz later.

IF YOU WANT ME TO TRY AND USE THE SEALANCE ON THE FIRST SUB I COME ACROSS, SAY SO NOW. IF YOU WANT ME TO TRY TO USE IT ON A SURFACE SHIP, WHILE IT WOULD BE EXTREMELY LULZWORTHY, NOT GONNA HAPPEN...in this update or the next, anyways.

We also have the mast-mounted Stingers. They're not useful against ships or fixed-wing aircraft (of which there are none you can engage or be engaged by in this game), and of course they're no good against submarines. What they do allow you to do, however, is wreck some ASW helicopter pilot cockjockey's day. We may not get the chance, you have to have your periscope up or turn on your radar to see a helo, but we'll see.

And lastly there's the damage section at the bottom. You usually get damaged in roughly that order for each light torpedo or RBU hit. (RBUs are ASW mortar bombs, short ranged, but they fire lots of them and you can't dodge them. We're not getting that close to a Soviet surface ship if I can help it though.) Heavy torpedos such as those launched from submarines or non-standoff versions from surface ships, however, can take out more than one, or do it out of order. Losing your towed array is a big damn deal, as it makes you blind for about 75 degrees behind you and majorly cuts down on your sonar performance. If your passive sonar goes too, you're stuck running active sonar or radar to find targets. This is basically sticking up a big "FIRE TORPEDOS IN THIS DIRECTION" sign, as well as warning all non-combatant ships, SSG/SSGNs (cruise missile subs), or SSBNs (ballistic missile subs) in the area to run the other way as fast as they can. You can still fight this way, if you have mad torpedo dodging skills, however. Torpedo tube damage reduces you to two working tubes, from four in our case. Annoying, but not critical. Propeller linkage damage, on the other hand, is a big damn deal. You're reduced to seven knots at maximum power, two at minimum. You can't dodge torpedos at that speed, and your mobility to intercept enemy task forces on the theater screen is greatly reduced.

Once all these things are damaged, the next hit sinks you. Hopefully, that's not going to happen.

These are our current orders:
It's a relatively simply task. You know the saying about how there are only two kinds of ships, submarines and targets? We're going to be proving that.
This is the theater screen, seen only in campaign. You'll notice some stuff moving around. I'll detail it all here, though not all of it's in the shot; you'll probably see it later.

We're the v with a dot centered thing, all done up in yellow.

The straight-wing yellow plane thingies are P-3 Orions and friendly. They'll find targets for you. The little yellow starburst is a SOSUS sensor, which will also find targets for you. (In reality they extend between the UK, Iceland, and Greenland, and also between the tip of Norway and the icepack, though those usually get knocked out as the Soviets take that part of Norway. You only see one here because they flash.) The swept-wing red planes (none visible right now) are TU-141 Bear F ASW aircraft. Fortunately, they don't actually drop torpedos on you. Unfortunately, they detect you and some hostile ships will proceed to that location in an effort to beat you up, take your lunch money, and sink your submarine.

There are also other x-like starbursts which run across the screen pretty quick to represent Western and CCCP satellites (you can see a CCCP one over there past the UK and Iceland), which will respectively find targets for you, and find you. (How that works for the Soviet ones, I'm not quite sure, since non-acoustic ASW is a crock of ****. Oh well.)

The little thingie with red borders and a yellow center dot on the Scottish coast is Holy Loch, our base. You'll also notice the red/green land bits. That's territory respectively controlled by NATO and the USSR.

The Soviets have two task groups at sea, unless you sink one, one of which will be a decoy for your target group. (Of course, this does not prevent you from sinking them both anyways for the greater glory of your score.) Both are visible here, each as a diamond with a dot in the center. They're close, so they overlap. Those are Soviet surface groups, and without engaging them, there is no way to know which is the target group. (A diamond with no center dot is a submarine group.) As for us...we're on our own. No friendly submarines or surface ships will appear in this game. They're out there, mind you, and you will occasionally be told about their handiwork, but you're not going to see them.
Here we have the prebattle screen. It tells you about the local conditions, including shallow water and surface pack ice if it's present, and what direction to expect the enemy in. It also gives you a chance to check your torpedo tube loadout, remaining weapons, and damage via the "XO, Report Ship Status" line (we currently have 4 Mark48 ADCAP in the tubes, 16 more in the torpedo room, and full magazines of VLS TASMs and Stingers; it basically looks just like the port screen minus times and options to load/unload), check your mission orders, and save (the "Computer Log" line). The "All Hands, Battle Stations" takes our Imp. LA to General Quarters and we transition to tactical battle.

You can giggle at the displays being so very wrong for sonar or anything else if you like. I know I do.

And no, I've got no clue if I'm about to engage the 'phibs or a dummy group. We're very close to the Norwegian shore in central Norway, but we were recently detected by a Bear (I can't take too many screenshots of the theater screen while still making the intercepts, sorry), so it's anyone's guess. We can only find that out in tactical.

So what'll it be, folks? Attack with torpedos, or unleash the fury of our 12 VLS tubes?

I guess the satellites have some unimaginably powerful MAD on board... And yeah, I'm kinda curious for the SeaLance.
And, err, I say VLS tubes; you may need the torpedoes if you come across USSR subs later. Shouldn't you be able to determine what ship class the sonar contact is though?

*FSF wants this game as well

Holy Loch Ness Monster Batman!

I'll second the VLS tubes.

This first part is going to be a brief one. The good news is, survival. The bad news is, I got myself bushwhacked by a surface ship.

A freaking surface ship. Real pro. That's what I get for running at flank speed to try and catch the 'phibs. It wasn't even one of their escorts. We ran into the decoy group and it turned rapidly into a them-or-us.

Everything happened too quickly to get screenshots, but the game does have a built-in replay feature and so I have a movie (Huzzah!) of things. I'll try and narrate it as best I can. For now, have the only screenshot I took.
This is your main tactical display, you do most of your work on this particular screen, though hitting other function keys will bring up others (we'll check those out in another update). We're currently at zoom scale 6, and we have three contacts.

You'll also note the contacts, particularly that Kanin, seem relatively far away. Passive sonar at work; you don't get solid information immediately. It can take some time to obtain solid information on which to shoot. As your solution gets better, the contact grows brighter. Bright red ones are solid. Until then, they're only approximations of enemy posistions, and they can jump around quite a bit.

Here's the replay. I apologize for the crappy quality PB inflicted on it. I'll have to look into a youtube account or something. It's about 4x speed of the actual events, but this was a very short battle.

Light blue is our track. Grey is the track of hostile ships or subs. Green tracks represent hostile weapons. Dark blue is our weapons.

The Kanin was unfortunately a lot closer than I thought. I gave the order to bring us up to 500 feet, but no course change as I assumed I was on a closing course.

I was. Much too closing. And got an active sonar pulse bouncing off the hull for my trouble.

That's the point where the Kanin launches a torpedo at our beloved Imp. LA (Hereby rechristened the USS SECTORGAME ROCKS) and I turn due west and accelerate to 30 knots. (It is possible to give direct rudder commands or simple turn to bearing ones; in this case, I only gave bearing commands: come to heading 270 here.) I also released a decoy, which isn't shown in the replay sadly; a little stretch on the game's part as decoys of this particular behavior have never been carried on US SSNs to my knowledge. The decoy assumes a straight-line course at 20 knots. It fools torpedos, but not ships or submarines. I got lucky; the only torpedo that even came near finding me turned the wrong way when it failed to make contact and the decoy entered its search cone before I did.

It was apparent at this point that evading would involve an inordinate amount of dodging torpedos, so I turned on my own active sonar and gave the order to come to 300 feet (300 feet being the deepest depth to launch Tomahawks), and

You'll also notice the Kresta II (just offscreen now) fired a rocket-boosted torpedo our way as well. (It's the very widely dotted line coming up from that direction, converting to a less-dotted one as the torpedo enters the water.) He missed; I was already headed due north to let the decoy do its job, and he apparently didn't know it. The torpedo went for the decoy, discovered said decoy was not a submarine when it failed to make contact, turned, and ran out of gas. Rocket-boosted weapons like this are small and don't have much endurance.

The first Tomahawk should have been fired at the Kanin, but he was inside the minimum range, so it was instead fired at the Krivak II. A second was then fired at the Kresta II. (You can see their tracks, very close together, as widely spaced blue dots near the bottom of the screen.) Neither ship intercepted the inbound missiles, both were hit, neither survived. Fairly quick and clean as engagements go.

The Kanin, however, was still out there, so I fired a Mark48 at him. (The fairly solid blue dark blue line.) Given our speed and the fact I was firing it nearly over the shoulder, it had to be a snapshot as the wire would instantly break. Notice that the Kanin fired a snapshot of his own down the bearing of the incoming torpedo? Because we were sprinting at 30 knots and en route to 900 feet after launching the Mark48, it never came near us, but hostile ships will automatically do that.

The Kanin, however, never altered course, so he ran smack into the Mark48. This was too much for a mere destroyer to bear, and he sank too. His torpedo ran on, never having a hope of finding the SECTORGAME ROCKS, and when it ran out of gas the battle ended.

End result: two TASM, one Mark48 ADCAP, and one Soviet destroyer, frigate, and cruiser expended. No hostile weapon ever started homing on us.

Now to chase down the 'phib group.

Heh, good job. A "mere destroyer" does sound odd when you're into FS...