Sea Power: Naval Combat in the Missile Age appears to be a great game to bridge the gap between in-depth strategic simulations a-la Command: Modern Operations and others with limited scope but more intuitive and immersive such as Cold Waters.
The price has not been disclosed yet, but a 10% discount has been mentioned in the official announcements on Steam.
Since the lift of the NDA, a plethora of videos have been released by many content creators. The surface-to-surface and… undersurface? layer looks very interesting. Unfortunately, I am less enthusiastic about what I have seen in the Air-to-Air compartment. Aerial warfare is not the main purpose of the game, but similar to Command: Modern Operations, the lack of depth in this aspect tainted my excitement a little.
I opened a post on Reddit a few days ago but I did not get a clear answer from Triassic Games, the brilliant developers behind Sea Power.
A user posted the video of a scenario featuring Tomcats intercepting Su-24s, and what was displayed confirmed by initial feeling. These are some of the points I raised in the comment I left.
- the frequency of employment of the AIM-54s as the Tomcat does at 05:10 is not possible. There is a longer delay between each shot (remember, we are dealing with 1960s tech).
- the AIM-7 is a SARH missile, and the 54 is an ARH. Although, in theory, the Tomcat can switch to STT after the WCS has activated the Phoenix, the 54A is an analogue and quite simple missile and support for the AWG-9 was beneficial as the missile can revert to the radar. What is shown in the video is more 54C stuff, so 1986+, I guess?
- Is the 54 at 0629 going after a bunch of flares, or is this a graphical simplification?
- At 0709, we see a Tomcat skating (launch and leave plan) post-missile activation, but, out of conversations with former RIOs, they tended to hold it there until timeout. Also, why is no one banzai (proceed to the merge plan)? Is this something the player can define? For instance, I would expect FOX-3, then FOX-1, then a conversion for a FOX-2 shot from the rear quarter of the bombers. Is something like this doable?
- At 0733, one Tomcat got splashed. The AIM-54A seemed to be active already. However, if the Tomcat goes down before it activates the Phoenix, the missile should go dumb (the 54C should activate itself instead). Is this implemented?
So, definitely nitpicking here, but I would love to see more depth in what appears to be a neat game from a small but passionate and capable team.
Speaking of capable teams, Armoured Brigade II is getting closer to release. The NDA has been recently lifted, and the first impression is that the 3D engine, simple and effective, adds a ton of immersion and eases tactical decisions, especially when it comes to better visualising and determining lines of sight.
At the moment of writing, the launch is expected somwhere in the early 2025.