Active radar range 40nm. It may be carrying Sea Eagle missiles capable of hitting ships at 60nm. Bells and whistles Submarines are well represented, as are land bases which may be ports, airfields, or installations. The overall feeling of the power present in any one mission is generally very impressive. You certainly have the knowledge that the arsenal of weaponry available on both sides is potentially very deadly.
Options are many and varied.
Each scenario lets you choose whether certain features are turned on or not, like nuclear release, weather, maintenence failures, whether full ordnance is available, etc. Then just turn them off. You can also set staff reminders, ie. get a typed reminder note given back to you after a set time. There's online data on every ship, sub and aircraft in the game, with photos of most of them, brief text, and radar and weaponry details. This is very useful for those of us who don't know a Sea Eagle from a sea horse.