Fleet Command
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Fleet Command | |
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| Developer(s) | Sonalysts Combat Simulations Inc. |
| Publisher(s) | Initially Electronic Arts, later Strategy First |
| Designer(s) | Sonalysts Combat Simulations Inc. |
| Release date(s) | Janes's Fleet Command 1999
SCS-Fleet Command 2006 |
| Genre(s) | Strategy, Real-time tactics |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: E (Everyone) |
| Platform(s) | Windows |
| Media | CD-ROM |
| System requirements | Jane's Fleet command: Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000[1] or Windows XP,[1] 200 MHz Pentium, 32MB RAM, DirectX 6.0 compatible, 8x CD-ROM drive, 2MB PCI or AGP video card. SCS-Fleet Command: Windows 98SE, Windows 2000 and Windows XP Recommended -550Mhz processor, 128MB RAM, 8x CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drive, Direct 3D compliant Video Card with 32 MB RAM and Sound Card both with DirectX 9.0c compatible drivers, Desktop Resolution of 800x600 @ 16-bit color depth, 1GB hard-drive space for full installation. Internet or LAN connection required for multiplayer. |
Fleet Command (FC), also known as Jane's Fleet Command is a real-time tactics naval warfare simulation computer game released in 1999. It was developed by Sonalysts Inc. and published by Electronic Arts (EA). The game licensed parts of Jane's Information Group's military information database, which was used as an in-game "Jane's Library"; reference material the player could refer to while in-game. Jane's also licensed to EA the "Jane's" name and the "Jane's Combat Simulations" logo, and the game was marketed under the "Jane's" name, much like the previous "Jane's Fighter's Anthology", which was also published by Electronic Arts. However, the copyright that appears on the CD and in the documentation shows that the actual name of the work is, in fact, "Fleet Command", as does the name of the Windows executable that is at the core of the game.
The game supported 3D rendering by either D3D or 3dfxGlide, but not OpenGL or software rendering. Fleet Command was written primarily for the use of the now defunct Voodoo brand video cards that used Glide. D3D rendering is slower then the native 3dfxGlide rendering of the same map, even when using the newest D3D-capable cards. The game was written for Windows 98, although it would run (albeit slightly less stable) on Windows 95. On Windows XP the game had serious stability and installation issues until the 1.34 and 1.38 patches and the XP installation utility/patch. However, the game has always had (and continues to have) an unresolved memory leak issue that will cause the game to crash to desktop eventually, no matter what you do. This memory leak will cause the game to display odd behavior, such as units mysteriously vanishing, units being killed when no attacker is in the vicinity, etc. This behavior is usually the precursor to an imminent game crash. However, it should be noted that the game will often run stable for six to eight hours before such bugs will manifest.
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[edit] Re-release
On October 26, 2006 Strategy First re-released Fleet Command as SCS-Fleet Command, without the "Jane's" branding. It was released as part of a three-game retail package called Naval Combat Pack(NCP), which also included 688(I) Hunter/Killer and Sub Command and also includes a video CD "A Century of Silent Service." The changes in the new release are as follows:
- Removal of all references to the name "Jane's" in both text and art work
- Data revised using unclassified sources
- Reworked rendering engine to be DirectX 9.0c and Windows XP compatible
- Minor code improvements to make it Windows XP compatible[2]
The SCS-FC re-release has so far been quite reliable, stable and crash free. The graphics are smoother then before, but not using the Direct3D video mode instead of the 3dfx results in a darker 3D video display. The 3dfx compatibility was retained and some players have reported better graphics using a Glide wrapper.
[edit] Gameplay
In terms of gameplay, as a real-time tactics game it is a realistic military simulator and does not involve resource management of any sort. The scenario defines the units that a player has at the beginning of the scenario, and the player can never have more than what they started with until the scenario ends. Like other real-time tactics games, losses cannot be replaced, which emphasizes the value of units and the judicious use of them (though some scenarios make it impossible to save a particular unit). The military realism is emphasized further by such means as using some authentic NTDS symbology on the 2D tactical planning map. Much of the game and mission events are presented in the form of full-motion video sequences.
[edit] Setting
The game is set in the modern world, on Earth. The game focuses exclusively on contemporary units. Units that were in service when the game was released were featured, and units that were out of service or not yet in service were not featured. Because some of the world's military forces are more advanced than others, the game reflects that. The game is flexible enough that one could, conceivable, write a Vietnam-era scenario for it, but that's about as far back as one could realistically go (and even that would be a bit of a stretch).
[edit] Realism
The game is basically a naval combat strategic training simulator. It covers the full spectrum of modern naval operations, including submarine warfare, surface warfare, naval aviation, and electronic warfare. Air force, marine corps and army units are also modeled in the game, although the army units are generally static. Although the initial release focused mainly on the US military, it did include a wide variety of forces from nations around the world including the UK, India, Russia, China, Japan, and others. The actual forces under a player's command can include units from several nations (a multi-national force), or it may be limited to a selection of forces from just the one nation's military Arsenal.
The game includes both aircraft carriers and land-based air bases. It maintains a level of realism in that aircraft that are limited to land-based operations in real life are similarly limited to land-based operations in the game. This prevents the player from having heavy bombers (like the B-52) taking off or landing from aircraft carriers, something that never happens in the real world. Moreover, only aircraft that are actually assigned to a particular class of aircraft carrier in real life are available on in-game carriers. This concept of realism in units carries through to the weaponry, ordinance, speed, accuracy, radar coverage, detectability, and survivability of all of the units and weapons in the game. The game, as initially released, did have some units or weapons that were not entirely realistic, but these unrealistic features would not be apparent to the layman. One feature that was deliberately kept out of the game was nuclear weapons. The representation of the Phalanx CIWS has some drawbacks. While in real life, these are designed to effectively engage all hostile aerial targets, most of the time they are disastrously ineffective against missiles launched from many kinds of vessels. Similarly, the game does not model any sort of electronic countermeasures (which is something usually found in a modern naval formation).
[edit] Mods
In 1999, right after the initial release, the Naval Warfare Simulations group (a company not associated with either EA or Sonalysts) began to produce a series of freely available mods for Fleet Command. Their primary goals were to improve the overall realism and expand the in-game unit selection. This series of mods is known as the Naval Warfare Project for Fleet Command or NWP-FC for short.
[edit] Game Dynamics
In a single-player game, the player starts by selecting a stand-alone scenario or a campaign scenario. Campaign scenarios are linked in that if the player successfully completes a scenario in the campaign, this unlocks the next scenario in that campaign for play. However, the game is limited in that it can only ever have the one campaign available to the player at any one time. In fact, the original version of the game only included one campaign (since then, several replacement campaigns have been made by FC and NWP-FC enthusiasts). A stand-alone scenario is not linked to other scenarios like the campaign scenarios are, although they may be related in terms of setting, theater-of-war, combatants, alliances, fictitious or historical conflicts, etc.
Once the player is in the scenario, a 2-D representation of the forces available is presented. This display also shows a representation of the sensor (radar, visual, sonar, etc.) ranges that any of his units have. Individual units are shown in a 3D rendering. If the player has selected the EMCOMS option, none of his units start the game with active sensors on; only passive sensors will be engaged. This can be an effective strategy for keeping the player's ships undetected, but it also blinds their GCI and leaves them "groping in the dark", so to speak. If the player has AWACS aircraft and/or fighter jets available, these are often the first units deployed; it is important to find the enemy before they find you.
[edit] Trivia
The United States Naval Academy actually had the game installed in computer labs and used it to introduce prospective students to the concepts of fleet level decision making during its Summer Seminar program.
[edit] External links
- Sonalysts Combat Simulations
- Sonalysts Combat Simulations Forums
- Naval Warfare Simulations Naval Warfare Project (NWP)for Fleet Command
- Naval Warfare Project(NWP) for Fleet Command Forums
To purchase:
[edit] References
- ^ a b To install the Janes's FC on a Windows 2000 or XP system you need to use the 2000/XP Installer
- ^ Discussed on a Subsim.com forum
