Naval War: Arctic Circle Message Board

Dominate your enemies above and below on the open seas in Naval War: Arctic Circle.

You can’t save during a mission, and while that’s not all there is to say about Naval War: Arctic Circle, it’s an astonishing oversight that speaks volumes about this bumbling entry-level wargame. There are times it succeeds at being a far more accessible Harpoon-style wargame, which is no small thing considering how arcane modern navy sims and and wargames can be, but its achievements are put in the shade by the ways Naval War fails to meet even basic standards for functionality and presentation.(more…)

1.0.4.3 (04-20-2012)

Sound:
- Added: New background sounds for dialog scenes in campaigns.

Gameplay:
- Updated: Land installations already known to opponent sets active radar automatically at start of game.
- Fixed: Rare crash related to group movement.
- Fixed: Bug in visual and IR sensor logic that reduced range.
- Fixed: Aircraft not moving forward when changing elevation.
- Fixed: Unable to redesign detection as Undetermined after it has been marked as Foe due to mission settings.

Database:
- Added: 'Battle of Jutland 2030' multiplayer and skirmish scenario.
- Added: TLAM weaponload for Astute submarine.
- Updated: Moved location of subs in '01S06: Peekaboo in the Fjords'.
- Updated: 'C01S03: Show of Force' made easier. Carrier group moved north, added extra P8's on Easy.
- Updated: Increased limitation on IR range.
- Updated: Increased range and resolution on Visual (binoculars added!)
- Updated: Taurus KEPD-350 name updated, model changed, range tweaked.
- Updated: Increased refueling tanks on F-35C and F/A-18 Super Hornet.
- Updated: Increased fuel on KC767 and Midas tanker planes.
- Fixed: Victory condition description in 'C02S10: Rear Guard'.
- Fixed: Helicopters can no longer be refueled in-air.
- Fixed: JAS-39 Gripen "Strike (Maverick)" loadout had wrong weapon.

Input:
- Added: Keybinding for toggling what view is maximized (map or 3D). Default key is 'Tab'
- Added: Framework for customizable input bindings. No GUI yet, but can be changed in NWACPrefs.ini
- Updated: Increased time mouse button has to be pressed before it's considered to be a drag command in the satellite map.

Misc:
- Fixed: Memory leak caused by terrain loading.

1.0.3.3 (04-16-2012)

GUI:
- Fixed: Changed font in Victory/Defeat screen when using Norwegian language to handle special characters (æøå).

Gameplay:
- Fixed: Weapons that can target surface units can now target submarines that's on the surface.

Database:
- Added: Localization of "Tutorial 5: Radar"
- Updated: 'C01S11: Wings of Retribution' scenario difficulty increased. Added more enemy air, reduced own offensive units and added spotter for enemies.
- Updated: Reduced effectiveness of torpedo decoy.
- Updated: 'JAS-39 Gripen' Air superiority Amraam load increased from 4 to 6. Air superiority (LR) added 2 Amraam.
- Fixed: 'C01S07: Baltic Breakout' victory condition for enemy could never be met.
- Fixed: 'C01S12: Ragnarok Armada' victory condition.
- Fixed: 'C02S06: Hide and Seek' victory condition for destroying airport.
- Fixed: Removed trailing dialog entry in dialog before 'C02S07: Northern Lights'.
- Fixed: Broken newspaper body before last Russian campaign mission.
- Fixed: StrengthPercent is changed to percentages for jammers.
- Fixed: Patriot SAM Base misnamed.
- Fixed: Ronneby spelling.

Input:
- Fixed: Mouse wheel and keyboard not working for people that had previously played other Unity3D games that required DirectInput.

Misc:
- Fixed: Several causes of game crashing removed. Also added more logging to track down harder to identify ones.

1.0.2.3 (04-12-2012)

GUI:
- Fixed: CultureInfo not set when running French version of game causing GUI to fail to initialize.
- Fixed: Scenario names and descriptions that's not localized will now fallback to English instead of just showing LOCID.

Gameplay:
- Fixed: Crash related to missiles targeting aircraft that lands on a base.
- Fixed: Error in hitpoint damage calculations (damage will now be higher)

Database:
- Updated: Changed weapon trajectory on 'AS-4 Kitchen' missile from sea skimming to high altitude.
- Updated: Increased terminal speed range on 'AS-4 Kitchen' missile.
- Updated: Increased minimum weapon range and highest operating height on 'AS-4 Kitchen' Missile
- Updated: 'RIM-67 Standard ER Missile' can now target surface and also be targeted itself.
- Updated: Increased effective weapon range on 'RIM-67 Standard ER Missile'
- Added: 2 'AIM-9 Sidewinder' missiles default weapon load in 'F/A Super Hornet'
- Fixed: Name on 'Sikorsky SH-60B Seahawk'
- Fixed: Name on 'Pyotr Veliky'

Input:
- Added: Keyboard bindings for zooming in satellite map (PageUp and PageDown)

Sound:
- Fixed: Stopped playing menu music when opening Credits screen from main menu.

Misc:
- Updated: Upgraded to Unity 3.5.1f for improved memory management.
- Updated: Properly unloaded textures created in memory during runtime.
- Updated: Improved memory management to avoid fragmentation.
- Fixed: Cleared object pools when exiting game to menu.
- Fixed: Stopped trying to re-initialize game when exiting to desktop. Fixes FileNotFoundException reported in output log.

The fine smell of a cold sea breeze is in the air as the Paradox published, Turbo Tape Games developed Naval War: Arctic Circle demo docks at port. A sea-faring RTS featuring modern-day fleets and aircraft, the demo includes the first two NATO-led story missions, a skirmish map and multiplayer to battle other freeloaders on the high seas. You can download the demo on Steam, while the full game released earlier in the week and is available on Steam and elsewhere.

The release trailer, made with Paradox’s usual carefree glee, is bunking below deck.

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Naval War: Arctic Circle is Now Available on Steam!

Purchase by April 17th (10am Pacific Time) and receive a free copy of Commander: Conquest of the America's!

Strategic and tactical battles for world domination on, under and above the open sea. Take command of the contemporary navies and air forces of all the powers in the North Atlantic region to defeat your enemies.

If you’re a budding naval commander who was planning to blow all his ready money on chocolate ovoids in celebration of a resurrected rabbit, I’d suggest you keep your wallet sealed just a little longer. Rising from the waters as if preparing to sink all of your battleships, Naval War: Arctic Circle will be released surprisingly soon. Consulting various charts and staring at a sexton for a while has led me to the conclusion that April 10th is the date the waters will be troubled by this accessible game of high stakes tactical hide and seek. Tim Stone describes it as a game “that teaches you to be afraid of little crimson arrows”. Read his thoughts here, an interview here and see explosions below.

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The Flare Path knows what it takes to plod across plateaus of pristine whiteness for day after day. Perhaps that’s why he has a picture of Robert Falcon Scott marmaladed to his fridge door, and a stuffed Avro Shackleton dangling from his bedroom ceiling. It could also explain why he’s decided to visit both the the Arctic and the Antarctic in the deep-frozen hunk of seal blubber that is this week’s column.

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People of Argentina, people of Britain, for the past week The Flare Path Strategic Studies Institute has been conducting detailed simulations of a possible Second Falklands War. Using Custer II – an engine built with the assistance of Bohemia Interactive, Battlefront.com, Turbo Tape Games and PopCap – we’ve run over 1000 separate conflict scenarios. Of these, 54% ended in stalemate, 19% were won by the defence industry, 12% by TV news networks, 8% by politicians, 5% by oil companies and 2% by anthropomorphic sunflowers. The FPSSI boffins are still analysing defeat data, but preliminary findings indicate that the biggest losers in any future Falklands bust-up would be hapless civilians and servicemen and their families.

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I had a look at Naval War: Arctic Circle when I was over at the recent Paradox Convention, and I have to say I was impressed. It’s an austere sort of affair – a real-time strategy that takes place mostly at the level of a tactical map encompassing most of the Arctic, with visuals of ships and other naval participants on various screens (depending on which views you’re working with). You can see some of that in action in the developer diary below, where the team talk about some of the design choices they made, and also admit their love for a particularly large boat from the Russian fleet. So sleek. So buoyant.(more…)

Fancy watching the developers of Paradox’s Naval War: Arctic Circle play their game? I know Super Bowl vs Wrestlemania is on tonight, while they’re also projecting the World Cup final onto the full moon and fixing the Earth’s rotation so the moon stays overhead for the duration of the game. But if you can’t make it to the Battle of the Megashows AND if it’s cloudy, Paradox are streaming a live demonstration of their strategic ship simulator. You won’t even need 4D specs to see it.

Nope, all you’ll need to do is point your browser to this address at 7pm UK time tonight (11am PST/2pm EST/8pm CET)and the developers will be playing their game and answering questions via the magic of chat. It’s a neat little bit of interaction, I think. And I hear if you pay enough credits, they’ll take you to a private show and show you they’re frigates! I’ve a made a Google Calendar link, so click this to add it to your packed schedule of streamed online game demos. I’ve gone to the trouble of making it, so you better bloody use it: Google Calendar.

Here’s every video they’ve ever released to get you in the mood. A Developer Diary.

And the Gamescom 2011 teaser.

And an interview with the lead designer.

Paradox’s near-future naval war scenario got its first developer diary last night, and you can see that below. Naval War: Arctic Circle pitches modern navies against each other in a battle for resources at the top of the world, and judging by this video it’s going to go pretty heavy on the strategy. And that’s good, because we don’t want any of this strategy-lite, with half the mind-calories of normal strategy. We want it all-encompassing, choking our neural pathways with nothing-else-to-think gloopy challenge. Mmm.

The game is out in the Spring.(more…)

What is Naval War: Arctic Circle? Paradox reckon it’s a “Real Time Strategy (RTS) game where the player battles enemy naval and aerial forces for power and ultimate world domination,” and I believe them. Those of you for whom world domination, and also meticulous naval strategy, is of interest, might fancy some time trying it out in the beta test, which can be signed up for right here.

Naval War: Arctic Circle is out in “Q2″ of next year, and there’s a trailer in the icy depths below.(more…)

Fight over natural resources and shipping paths in this real-time strategy video game.

Promising real-time strategy with modern naval vessels in the frigid Arctic Circle!