homepage Forums Miscellaneous Naval Simulations What a kick!

This'll sound kinda soppy, but I just wanted to post how much fun I've been having since I discovered the naval surface sims, Ticonderoga and Janes Fleet Command.

When I was a kid, during and after the Vietnam War, cruisers and destroyers were still cool. I remember the Navy recruiting cards in my Dad's Popular Mechanics mags and just staring at them. My passion for them was at least equal to my kicks and giggles over jet fighters. But as I grew up and "Naval Aviation" took over, the Navy became less and less interesting (although I still retained a passion for the Tomcat- another subject for another time).

A decade or so ago I found a game "AEGIS" and played it, but it was too arcadey. Then I discovered Ticonderoga where you're a virtual skipper on a CG. IT was fun, tho the graphics quickly got old. Now I'm playing Fleet Command (interlaced with TICO) and it's loads of fun. I checked out Dangerous Waters, but, awesome as it is, I simply don't have time to learn all those controls.

Anyway, having a ball. Just wish there were a few more graphics mods for it to adjust water colors, ship graphics, etc. Lots of DB mods, but I'm not there yet.

Anyway, how cool it is! Thank programmers, wherever you are!

Jane's Fleet Command was interesting and I too lost many hours accomplishing those missions.

Hey iamfritz. Did you get the Naval Warfare Project for Fleet Command? I forget all what it adds but I believe it adss a bunch of new weapons/units/missions and such.

I've been reading about it. Not sure how much modding and so forth I want to get involved with...had enough of that with Janes F-18 and Falcon 4. When things slow down I'll stick my nose deeper in that forum.

Its a painless install if I remember correctly. I believe it comes with two self-installers.

Fritz: once you try NWP for Fleet Command, you'll never want to play it any other way. It adds a whole new layer of realism in terms of ESM, ECM, weapons modeling, aircraft and loadouts...I could keep going.

Dies it include new 3-D models, like for the new flight 3 DDGs? Does launching a helo take longer? Things like that too?

You guys definitely have me thinking more about it now.

Here's the website that has the NWP mod. Naval Warfare Simulations

The NWP mod for Fleet Command is the on the fourth thread down with all the info.

Here's a link to the pdf manual that's from the same location.

NWP manual

Did they ever fix all the bugs with it? I loved the NWP mod, but Fleet command was so buggy to me that it made some of those missions nigh on Impossible, so I stopped playing.

I used to have Aegis and Ticonderoga. Another good one from the same developer (Software Sorcery)
was called Fast Attack and is a simulation of a Los Angeles class sub. I still have my copy and see it is worth $113.94 according to amazon. I have issues trying to get it to run now because it is one of those pseudo dos/windows games. I can get it to run but without sound.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EX1YDU/qid=1146191074/sr=11-1/ref=sr_11_1?n=468642

http://www.subsim.com/ssr/fastattack.html

Use dosbox, should run fine:

TO INSTALL:

mount c c:\mydosbox (or whatever folder name you want to use)
mount d d\: -t cdrom (or whatever the letter is for your cd/dvd drive)
d: install

TO RUN: This assumes you have made an image of your original disk, and mounted it! Use whatever drive letter you have mounted your FA image on - mine was "m". So running it is a little more complex than some dos games.

A bat file that only mounts your directory above the Fast Attack installation should work just fine. Here are the contents of my bat file:

dosbox.exe C:\mydosbox fast.exe -c "MOUNT m m:\ -t cdrom" -fullscreen

From the resulting dosbox "c:" prompt:

cd sierra\fast
fast

You would alter the path for your own install and directories. Mine is "mydosbox\Sierra\fast" Note that this bat fails to execute the fast.exe command for reasons unknown to me. The bat file is in the dosbox main directory, wherever you installed it. So you would manually launch from your prompt.

I've been playing it when I get the chance and it seems to be working pretty well. I got mine back a decade ago- Janes ad said if you've bought Janes USAF, JF-18 or Janes Fleet Command in the last year then send us the UPC and for shipping alone we'll send you the other two. I'd bought USAF, so I got JF-18 and FC for free. Now, FC sat in my box for almost all that time, but I play it now and it seems fine for a decade old title. I have no idea which version it is. Tons of fun. I'd do a complete switch to Dangerous Waters, but the only US surface ship they have there is the Perry FFGs, and I'm more a lover of the Ticos and Burkes, so it's hard for me to commit.

OK, now I've been through the NWP forums for FC, and haven't found anything on sea textures, or ways to up the gamma on the 3-D screen.

When I run the game in software mode, the sea and sky are lighter, but text is garbled and FPS is rock bottom.

Any suggestions?