X-Vmsmail-To: CCSVAX::SMTP%"mmarshal@IUS.INDIANA.EDU"
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.games-l
Date:         Mon, 28 Dec 1992 09:07:37 -0600
Reply-To:     News from the SSEC Dungeon <"TAM::KOMP"@CCSVAX.SSEC.HONEYWELL.COM>
From:         News from the SSEC Dungeon <"TAM::KOMP"@CCSVAX.SSEC.HONEYWELL.COM>
Subject:      RE: Game review please

MMarshal writes:

><Great Big Hack>
>
>Harpoon - The ultimate modern tactical warfare game.  Every missile, torpedo,
>ship, airplane and helicopter is represented to the Nth detail.  Every ship
>is rated for equipment quality and capability plus hit points etc.  Much like
>the minitures game.
>
><Snip>
>Harpoon II - Complete rewrite of harpoon.
>

<Minor stuff deleted>
>     From what is said here, Harpoon appears to be a great game for those of us
>who like tactical wargames. Could any of you give me a more in depth review of
>Harpoon? And what if any are the main differences between Harpoon and
>Harpoon II?  Which one would be the best to get.

First, when I first wrote the above review of Harpoon, I got into a bit of
trouble with some of the netters over the use of the word ultimate.  I didn't
neccessarily mean the absolute, can't be improved, run out and buy this game
form of ultimate but instead I meant it was a game of the highest detail I know
of.  I haven't seen any of Simulation Canada's stuff but I would bet that
Harpoon kicks the stuffing out of them from the detail aspect.

A longer short review then before:

Harpoon is basically a tactical naval warfare simulator of modern combat.
Each ship from the largest american nuclear powered carrier with a full
complement of aircraft and helicopters down to the lowest missile boat are
represented along with any land based aircraft that might be available.  Each
starts in a task force of some sort and you are given orders to execute such
as deny passage of all enemy subs through a point, delay an enemy task force or
convoy protection.  From this point on you are free to do what you want.

Task force control is centered around a formation editor window.  Here you
place all ships, combat air patrol, anti-submarine warfare units and AWACs
in their patrol areas.  These areas may be as large as 250 nautical miles
in distance from the main task force body.  From then on, your staff works
to get all units into position and then works to relieve aircraft when their
fuel has been exhausted.  If a ship has two helicopters for example and you
only place one on patrol, your staff will alternate the two helicopters so the
patrol sector is always covered.

Combat is handled mostly by you.  Sometimes CAP will automatically shoot down
enemy aircraft and helicopters but not always.  They seem to be blind at times.
When an enemy unit is within range of the weapons carried on one of
your aircraft or ships, your staff presents you with a weapons allocation plan
which you may accept or cancel.  This plan allocates the available weapons to
specific targets, say two harpoons at target 1 and three at target 2.  You can
rearrange these allocations in any manner.

Airwarfare is highly detailed in you must determine the balance of CAP versus
strike planes.  You determine the load out of your planes from long range CAP
to short range land strikes.  Each load out has its own specific weapons, ECM
and extra fuel tanks.

Subwarfare one of the most important aspects of the game and has gotten better
since the release of version 1.3 for the PC or 1.2 for the Mac.  Acuostics are
now very important and a sub has a very good chance of evading detection.
A lot of time is spent nursing the ASW assets in order to assure yourself of
getting your convoy through.

Finally, the game has detail, detail, detail.  Each unit is fully detailed with
a short description of the unit showing original country to build it, approxi-
mate cost, any upgrades, service years, problems and strengths, weapons platform
firing directions and loads and sensor capabilities.  Not exactly a complete
replacement of Jane's fight ships but a good reference non the less.

The game is not without its problems.  The AI likes to piss away it's air
assets.  If you load up all your aircraft for CAP early in the game you can
usually kill off most of his aircraft, gain air superiority and then kill off
his ships at your leasure.  The interface is tough to work with also at least
for me being a Mac-head.  Sometimes ships or aircraft are right on top of each
other and you can't seem to select the unit you want.  I've had an enemy unit
right on top of one of mine and I was unable to select my unit to attack.

I really can't comment on what the differences between Harpoon and Harpoon II
as I have not seen Harpoon II yet.  All I know is that the interface and AI
are to be improved.  Beyond that, I really don't know much yet.

-John
Komp@ms-mail-gw.ssec.honeywell.com
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.games-l