Hardcore Gamer Resource Kit/Hardcore Gamer Resource Kit - Disc 2.iso/Pc/F_J/GNB_12.ZIP/DISK1.ARJ/TUTORIAL

Text File | 1992-12-21 | 28KB | 483 lines

QUICKSTART TUTORIAL
12/22/92

An Engagement
=============
    The simplest situation you can play is the scenario that pits the
British battleship Prince of Wales against the German battleship
Bismarck. To get started playing Great Naval Battles: North Atlantic
1939-1943 quickly, just play along with the following directions.
These introduce you to the major features of the tactical levels of
the game.

    After the opening routine finishes, select "SCENARIO" from the
"CHOOSE GAME" menu, then select "GERMAN" from the "CHOOSE SIDES"
menu.  "LOAD" the first Engagement offered, "Gunnery Practice: The
Bismarck Toe-to-Toe with the Prince of Wales." If you want some
background on this Engagement, read the description on p. 28 of the
manual.

    The first station you see is the Flag Bridge, with its large map
dominating the center and left of your screen, and the Ship Control
Area on the right. The game is automatically paused when you get to
this point (as indicated in the upper left of the map), so feel free
to take a minute to look around.

    First of all, take a look at the map. In the center you see a
blue line with a white tip and a red square around it. That is the
currently active ship, the Bismarck You can tell this by looking in
the upper right of the screen, at the top of the Ship Control Area
where the Name Plaque shows the name. Or, you can move the cursor to
the box containing the "N" in the upper left portion of the map frame
(fourth one down), and click the left mouse button. This turns the
name filter on, and the ship's name is displayed next to the icon on
the map. The other boxes with letters in them are other "filters"
that turn on and off other kinds of information. We'll check out a
few others in a bit.

    Before we do, though, take another look in the upper left of the
map. Above the word "Paused" you see that the time of day is 8:15 in
the morning (the game uses a military clock, so 8:15 in the evening
would be 20:15 hours), and the speed of play is at 1:1 (x1).  This is
"real time"; one second on your watch equals one second of time
simulated in the game. If at some points the action seems too slow
for your taste, you can speed the game clock up by selecting the
"SPEED" item of the "OPTIONS" menu on the menu bar.

    "What menu bar?" I hear you cry. Why, the one you call up by
pressing the right mouse button. Do this, move the cursor over the
"OPTIONS" menu, and click with the left mouse button. You should now
see the various items you can select here, the game "SPEED" among
them.  However, it's probably better to take things slow at this
point, so click the right mouse button again to get rid of the menus
without selecting any item.

    Looking back at the map, there are two other items of interest
right now. First, in the lower right is a number. This shows the wind
speed. If the wind speed is greater than 0 knots there would be an
arrow associated with this number. These are useful because a strong
wind can affect the accuracy of your gunnery. If you are firing at
long range perpendicular to the wind direction, your shells tend to
drift in the direction the wind is blowing. If you are firing into
the wind, the spray it whips off the waves degrades your gun's
accuracy in less predictable ways.

    The second thing to look for on the map is the grid, the square
mesh superimposed on the blue of the water. You can turn it on and
off using the "G" filter in the upper left of the map frame. Go ahead
and try it!, but leave it on for now. Each line is 10,000 yards from
its neighbors. Since battleships can fire about 40,000 yards, the
grid makes it easy to tell whether an enemy ship is in range.

    You may wonder, "Where is the enemy ship?" The easiest way to
find it is to zoom the map out, so that it shows a larger area of
ocean. You can do this by pressing the up arrow in the very upper
right of the map frame. You can tell that the map has been zoomed out
because the grid lines are closer together. They are still 10,000
yards apart, so the area of ocean displayed has gone from 70,000 x
70,000 yards to 140,000 x 140,000 yards. And there, about 20,000
yards south of the Bismarck, lies the Prince of Wales. You can tell
it's British by its color, and you can tell it's the Prince of Wales
because it says so right there on the map (you did leave the name
filter on, didn't you?).

    We have met the enemy, but he is not ours. Yet, anyway. Before we
unpause the game so the ships can start blowing the stuffing out of
each other, let's explore a bit further and form a plan of action.
The first question is whether the two ships are within range of each
other, which we can learn by turning the "M" filter on (on the left
side of the map frame, remember?), which displays two circles showing
the maximum range of each ship's big guns. No question here, both
ships are well within range of the other. Turn that filter off, and
try the next one down, the "S" for the secondary armament. Here's
something interesting! The Bismarck is just within range of the
Prince of Wales' secondaries, but our secondaries have a somewhat
greater range. Since the British ship has ten main guns to our eight
(albeit 14" against 15"), we can gain some advantage by moving a bit
farther out so that our six port-side 5.9" guns can harass His
Highness while his 5.25" popguns can't touch us.

    Okay, so how do we do this maneuver? It's time to look at the
Ship Controls on the right side of the screen. First of all, check
the Control Mode Selector, to make sure it's set to "M", for manual
control (if it's set to "A", or automatic mode, none of the controls
below have any effect; the computer is in complete control of the
ship until you switch the selector to "M" ["No, I don't think that's
a good idea, Dave. I really think you should reconsider, Dave. Daave,
oi dooond theengk eu shuud ...  ]).

    Whew, that was close. Anyway, now that you have control of the
ship, the question is what to do with it. First of all, you want to
make sure that the main guns are targeted on the Prince of Wales, so
when you unpause the game your gunners will begin firing their guns
immediately.  Move the cursor over the upper box below "Main Target"
and click. A dialog box appears at the top of the map, listing the
"Pr Wales". Point and click on that, and look for two things. First,
the name of the enemy ship should appear in the box right below "Main
Target", and second, a diamond should appear around the enemy ship on
the map. (If these don't happen, click on the box below "Main Target"
again and be careful in pointing and clicking on the "Pr Wales".
There are no points for sinking "NO TARGET".)

    Next, you should set up the maneuver that brings you out of the
enemy's secondary gun range. You can do this by using the "Course"
controls a little above the "Main Target" control you just used. Find
the number "270" with the arrows pointing in either direction away
from it and click on the right arrow. The number will change to
"271", which means that the Bismarck will alter its course just to
the north of west (remember, 270 is due West, 180 is due South, and
90 is due east, and 0/360 is due North on a compass). Since this
brings us out of range only ever so slowly, keep clicking on that
left arrow until it reads "300" (if you overshoot, use the left arrow
to bring the number back down). This course should bring the Prince
of Wales' guns out of range quickly, while still keeping it within
the range of fire of the Bismarck's secondary guns.

    One final thing before you unpause the game. Click on the right
arrow under "SPEED" until the number reads "30". There's no point
poking along.

    Now you're ready for the action to begin. Click the right mouse
button to get the menu bar, click on the OPTION menu, and choose the
item PAUSE GAME. Note that in the future you can also pause and
unpause the game by pressing the hot key combination Alt-P.

    Almost immediately, you will hear the sound of gunfire, but not
much else will happen. This is because the main guns have fired, and
the shells are in the air. At 20,000 yards, it takes some time for
them to reach their target. To get a better view of the action, let's
go to the main gunnery station. Click the right mouse button, then
click on the STATIONS menu, and then on the MAIN GUN item. As soon as
you see the new screen hit Alt-P to pause the game for a minute.

    As you look at this station, note the small version of the map in
the upper right corner. Since it looks pretty crowded, press twice on
the down arrow in the upper right of the frame, which zooms it to
about the right level. Checking out the overhead view at the bottom
of the station you can see that the main guns are pointed south,
which is good, since that's where the enemy is. On the other hand,
there's nothing to be seen in the binoculars in the upper right. The
reason is that they're pointed due north, directly away from the
Prince of Wales. You can see this from the bearing readout above (it
points to "0"). Fortunately, the director has already targeted the
Prince of Wales, as you can see by its name in the lower portion of
the binoculars, so click on the black "L" just to the left of the
outside view, and when the "L" changes to white, the binoculars
automatically center on the enemy ship. (This automatic lock is a
handy feature, but it may cause you problems in future games with
multiple enemy ships to watch. The left and right arrows on either
side of the outside view normally swing the binoculars to the left
and right, but not when the lock is on. Keep this in mind when you
have to move between two or three enemy ships in other scenarios!)

    (By the way, the same is true of the "C", or center, filter on
the map and the up/down or left/right scroll arrows (triangles) on
the bottom and right of the frame. While the "C" is on, the map tries
to remain centered between the active ship and its target. When the
"C" is off, you can scroll all over the place. For now, just leave
the "C" on.)

    You can tell the binoculars' automatic lock-on has worked because
the readout above the binoculars now points to "180". But you still
can't see much out there! Press the down arrow (triangle) just to the
right of the outside view, and you will see the "X1" in the
binoculars change to "X2". This means that their magnification has
been increased. Sure enough, there in the middle of the outside view
the black dot changes into a ship!  Press the down arrow again, and
the ship becomes larger ("X4"). Two more clicks and you'll see a full
sized ship there. Your enemy awaits.


    Before you unpause the game, take a moment to see how your crew
has the gunnery set up. The left hand knob below the binoculars is
set to "BSIDE", which means "Broadside", or that all main guns are
firing together at the same target. Depending on the number and
location of the enemy, you can also set this knob to control the
forward ("FWD") and aft turrets separately. The knob on the right
side is set to "SPOT", which means that the gun crews wait for each
salvo to hit before firing another.  This avoids wasting ammunition
before the exact aim has been determined.  Later, this is switched to
"FULL", so that each salvo will be sent on its way as soon as it is
loaded. The time to reload is given in the readout to the right of
"Ready", while the time left before the salvo in the air hits is show
under "TOT" (for "Time on Target").

    Now unpause the game and watch the TOT number count down. When it
reaches zero, you will see splashes around the Prince of Wales, and
you can also see green markings near it on the map. You will probably
also see splashes near the Bismarck; these are made by the enemy's
shells aimed at you! Immediately, you will hear the roar of your
guns, and see the tongues of flame shoot out from them in the
overhead view. You may also see the burst of flames in the binoculars
as the enemy fires back at you. Watch your TOT count down again, and
also keep track of your reload time. As your director acquires the
target, the right hand knob should switch to "FULL", and your guns
will begin firing steadily. You may begin to score some hits, and you
may begin to suffer some damage as well.

    Looking at the overhead view, you will notice that your guns are
begin to point somewhat backwards. This is because your ship is
heading to the northwest, just as you ordered it to. Turn on the "S"
filter if it is not still on, and check how close you are to that
goal. Watch your gunnery and messages about the enemy while you wait
for the Prince of Wales to close the distance between the two of you.

    Once the enemy ship has closed that distance, his secondary guns
open up. Pause the game and use the menus to go to the Navigation
Station at this point. You want to turn the Bismarck away from the
Price of Wales' secondaries' range. At the navigation station, switch
the Control Mode (to the left of the ship's name) to "M" for manual,
and then click on the control labeled "BRG" just below the "HDG"
readout, which should change the letters from gray to red, while the
red letters "RDR" below it change to gray. This changes your control
mechanism from the rudder ("RDR") to the bearing controls, which are
both the compass and the readout with the arrows at the bottom of the
station labeled "BRG". You can use the bearing controls to enter the
exact course you want the ship to turn to, but at this point use the
compass instead. Click on the "W", and the blue line in the compass
points to it; the "BRG" readout changes to "270". Now that we have
closed the gap between the two ships just enough, it is time to
switch back to heading due west. The "HDG" readout of "300" indicates
that the ship is still headed northwest, but once you unpause the
game, it gradually swings to the desired direction.

    Before you resume the battle, this would be a good time to check
for damage. Use the menus to switch to the Damage Station, which
shows the condition of your ship. At this point you should leave the
station on automatic, but return here periodically to keep tabs on
the health of your vessel.

    Now go to the Air Ops Station to arm your float plane. Once this
plane is launched (in about 30 minutes) this both improves the
accuracy of your gunnery and reduces the danger of the plane going up
in a burst of aviation fuel from a shell hit. Click on the left-most
box above the airplane information and illustration, and select the
Prince of Wales to be the target. Next, click on the box just to the
right of the first box (which now should say "Pr Wales") and it will
change from "NONE" to "SHADOW". Press "READY", and the button will
change to "ARMING". Once you unpause the game the crew preps the
aircraft for launch. When the plane is ready, you must come back here
and click on the "LAUNCH" button (the "ARMING" button changes names
on this screen depending on the status of the aircraft). When
launched, the plane circles around your enemy and reports on the
accuracy of your guns.


    After resuming play, return to the Main Gunnery screen and watch
the action. You should be able to follow the exchange of gunfire,
while seeing your ship move to a westerly course on the map. You
should eventually see your plane move toward the enemy, and your guns
shift to point off the beam. The two ships will continue to pound at
each other, and you can watch the rhythm of reloading, TOT, and the
gradual expenditure of ammunition. Try moving to the various stations
listed in the menu, and try out some of the other choices listed
there too. Remember that the game pauses while you read the
background material contained in the "BRIEFINGS", so you may want to
sample some of these as well. If you want to become more involved in
the action, switch more stations to manual (the Damage Control
Station usually requires considerable attention). Or, if you want,
just turn up the speed to "X8". Depending on the fortunes of war, it
should not be too long before one ship or the other slips to a watery
grave.




An Operation
============
    To help get you started quickly with the Operational and Campaign
level games, this tutorial walks you through the first portion of a
sortie by the battleship Bismarck.

    After the introductory routine finishes, select "CAMPAIGN" from
the "CHOOSE GAME" menu, the select "BRITISH" from the "CHOOSE SIDES"
menu, and then click "Next" to "LOAD" the Operation named, "Operation
Rheinubung: the Bismarck Sets Sail." If you want some background on
this Operation, check out the description on p. 39 of the manual.

    Once again, as the game begins, you see a large map, but this one
is on the wall of the Admiralty building. Since the game is paused,
you should take this opportunity to become acquainted with the
displays and controls before the action starts.

    Looking at the map, you can see that it encompasses the entire
North Atlantic. Surrounding it are the familiar controls in the
frame: the scroll arrows on the right and at the bottom, the zoom and
unzoom arrows in the upper right, and the filters in the upper left.
Don't bother with the scroll and zoom controls at the moment -- they
work like the ones on the tactical map -- but the filters are worth a
look. Three are already selected: "B", "C", and "T", which stand for
Bases, Convoys, and Task Forces. Click on "B" a few times and see how
the squares turn on and off; these are yours and the enemy's bases.
Do the same with "C", and you can see where your convoys are and how
they're represented. The same goes for "T", although you may not see
much happen. There is a Task Force already in Gibraltar, which is the
British (red) base in the lower-right side of the map, between Spain
and Africa. The Task Force is the bright red "T" against the darker
red of the square representing the Base.

    When you toggled the Bases on and off, another set of icons
toggled as well, the "P"s in the ocean between Greenland, Iceland,
and Northern Scotland. These are Patrol Zones, areas where the Royal
Navy keeps ships constantly on station to intercept any German
raiders trying to move through these gaps into the North Atlantic
shipping lanes.  Together, these four elements -- the Bases, Task
Forces, Patrol Zones, and Convoys -- are the primary elements of your
command. They contain individual ships, of course, and you will often
move vessels between them, but they are the units with which you
mainly work. You will almost always want to keep all three filters
on.

    Before you begin giving orders to them, however, there are a few
other filters worth examining. Specifically, the "S", or Search
filter, shows the range of air searches from each base. As you can
see, by May, 1941, the entire northeastern section of the ocean was
pretty well covered, but if the enemy breaks out, there is plenty of
ocean down south for him to hide in. And remember, the searches are
most effective near the center of a circle, and become less useful
towards its periphery. Again, by May, 1941, the immediate area
between Greenland and the UK is pretty well covered, but even the
hinterland south of Iceland and west of Ireland is less well
patrolled than it first appears.

    Turning off the "S" and turning on the "A" filter shows you a
number of much smaller circles. These depict the range of shore-based
attack aircraft. Any ship venturing within these circles quickly find
itself at the center of a swarm of angry aircraft. Avoid these places.

    Okay, now it's time to assess the situation. Since the Germans
will be coming out of the North Sea, there's no point viewing the
whole North Atlantic, so click on the Zoom-in (down) arrow in the
upper-right of the map frame one time, which zooms your view in on
the area from Norway in the upper-right to Germany in the
lower-right, with the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Normandy coast
between in the middle. It is through here that the Germans must move.
(The English Channel between southern Britain and the European
continent is guarded by mine-fields, coastal craft, and airplanes,
symbolized by the colored blotch on the water. Similar defenses guard
other areas of the map, with the color of the blotch indicating who
is defending, and thus implying who will be hurting if they enter.)
We'll come back to this close-in view later, for now, zoom back to
the original view of the whole North Atlantic.

    Begin by checking on your Patrol Zones. To check on all ships
assigned to patrol duty, call up the menu bar by clicking on the
right mouse button, click with the left button on REPORTS and select
the PATROL POOL item. This brings up the Patrol Pool Report, showing
that five cruisers are currently available for patrols. Two each are
assigned to the western and central gaps, and one supplements the air
patrols and strike aircraft covering the east. Click on "EXIT" to
return to the map.

    To get another view of the patrol situation, click on the
left-most Patrol Icon itself. This brings up the Control Display for
the Greenland-Iceland gap. Since two cruisers is plenty for the
moment, there is no need to make any adjustments, but this is where
you can specify more or fewer craft of each type in future games, and
where you go to take ships away from the zone in an emergency.

    Returning to the main map, it's time to get down to business. You
know that the Bismarck is about to sortie, so it would be good to get
some of your ships at sea. The question is, where are they? Go to the
menu and call up the ALL SHIPS report, and you will see that most of
your battleships are at Scapa Flow (with some at Gibraltar/Force H),
while many of the lighter craft are already at sea, but are committed
to patrol duty and escort service.

    The question now is, "Where is Scapa Flow?" Hit "EXIT" to return
to the map, and turn the "N", name, filter on. Now you can see Scapa
Flow, conveniently located at the entrance to the North Sea. Click on
the square icon, and you move to the Base Overview Display. At the
top you can see that the base has 10 Swordfish ready to attack if the
Bismarck should stray within range, and 10 Catalinas with which to
search. In the middle of the screen is the long list of ships based
here, and at the bottom are the buttons used to undertake various
activities.

    At the moment, you want to get a Task Force under way, so click
on the "FORM TF" button (the others let you add ships to the Patrols
and Escort Pools or send ships into repair). The screen now divides,
with the ship list on the left and a blank list labeled "NEW TF" on
the right. To begin forming the new Task Force, click on the
battleship Hood (a BB), and it will jump from the left-hand list to
the right. Click again on the Prince of Wales (BB), the Kenya (CA, a
cruiser), the Electra (DD, a destroyer), and the Aschates (DD), and
leave the rest.

    Now click on "ORDERS", and you move to the Task Force Overview
Display, exactly the same Display you would see if you had clicked on
a Task Force icon on the map. This is similar to the Base Overview
Display, showing the aircraft controls at the top (which would have
airplanes were there an aircraft carrier with these ships), the ship
roster in the middle, and the activity buttons below.

    Since we want to order this Task Force out to sea, click on
"PLOT". This brings up the strategic map again, but this time with
some controls on the right side. But the main control is the map
itself. To order the Task Force (the bright red "T" on top of the
darker red square for Scapa Flow) to move, simply point at the map
and click. Specifically, point to a place just below the "V" in
"Reykjavik" in Iceland and click, and a yellow line appears. This is
the path the Task Force will follow.  Furthermore, the number next to
"Waypoint" in the controls to the right goes from "0" to "1",
indicating that one leg of the journey has been plotted. Each Task
Force can be given up to ten waypoints, and if you make a mistake and
want to start over, you just have to click on "CLEAR".

    In this case, the move to Iceland should suffice, so click on
"DONE" and return to the Task Force Overview Display. There is one
more thing to do here; in the upper left area are controls for the
Task Force's speed. It is now set for cruise speed, 14 knots, which
is economical, but may not get us there in time if the Bismarck
dashes for the Greenland-Iceland straits. Therefore, click on "MAX",
and the speed should jump to 28.

    Before you start the game, there is one other assignment you
should make. Click on the Convoy icon (the flattened "C") to the west
of Ulster, which brings up the Convoy Overview Display. You can see
that five destroyers are escorting this convoy. To increase your
chances of catching the Bismarck, click on "DETACH", which brings up
the New Task Force Display. This process works just like forming a
Task Force at a base; just click on each ship in turn to transfer it
from the Convoy to the Task Force. Once all five ships have been
transferred, click on "ORDERS" to move to the Task Force Overview
Display, and then click on "PLOT". Point to a position just southwest
of the little island about half-way between Britain and Iceland and
click; this becomes the Task Force's destination.  Click on "DONE" to
return to the Task Force Overview Display, set the speed to "MAX",
and "EXIT" to the main map. Now would be a good time to zoom in again
on the North sea.

    You are now ready to unpause the game. Hit Alt-P and watch as
time begins to pass. You will get messages indicating when the enemy
has been spotted and see icons marking their location. You will also
get various messages about the status of your own forces. Turn on the
"M" ("Movement") filter, which shows where you have plotted your Task
Forces to move, and watch as they move toward their destination.
Before much time passes, click on Scapa Flow again and make another
Task Force including the King George V, the Repulse, the Victorious,
the Edinburgh, the Anthony, and the Echo, and plot it to move at
maximum speed to a point in between the destinations of the other two
forces.

    If the Forces reach their destinations without the Bismarck
having been spotted, immediately order Force B (the one with the
Hood) around to off the coast of Reykjavik, and order the newest one
(Force D) to where Force B had been. Now all you can do is wait for
the German to show himself, This he will do eventually, most likely
to one or two of your patrolling cruisers. When he does, order them
to "SHADOW" him, and plot your Task Forces to intercept. Remember to
zoom the map in steadily; what appear to be minor distances at the
higher zoom levels take on a whole new aspect when viewed close-up.

    Once one of your Task Forces intercepts the enemy, the game moves
to the tactical level. If you succeed in sinking the Bismarck, the
game will be over and you will have won; if it gets by, he may well
bag one or more convoys, and at the least you will have to play
cat-and-mouse across the wide North Atlantic. You can still win, but
the struggle will be much tougher. Whatever happens, though, you
should be able to take the lead from here.

Tutorial written by Ed Bever PhD
Revised for Version 1.1 by Tom MacDevitt