Tides of War

Salute All!

Well, thats what I get for giving up hope on seeing another naval game. After Fighting Steel.......and a go with an online group called "Raider Operations", I felt that I had seen the last naval sim. I was told by several designers that this genre appealed to only a "niche" group of fanatics, such as myself, and that there wasn't enough interest to produce sufficient sales. So, three years ago I joined an online flight sim squadron...........and then started my own, cause that was the best I figured I could do in the multiplayer world. I had since given up checking the net for new naval games.............and then, two weeks ago, I ran smack into a display at Best Buys with a game that had warships and planes all over it. That game, of course, was ERT. I bought it on the spot, without even checking the reviews online, as I always do. Rats, I wish I had been involved with this from the start, but better late than never. Now, I'm a dedicated simer, with many years of gameboard naval sim experience, as well as dabbling in minitures, and I prefer a less arcadish style, but this game is a blast.

Flight sims are great and I have loved my time in the air, and I'm a fair pilot, but I was always in awe of might warships. So much so, that I ended up in the USN for a four year tour, lol.

If I can get a KLM squadron together, or find one to join, I would quit both of my flight sim squads, post a nice website and devote full time to this game. If you are interested in a combined KLM surface and sub taskforce formation, please post a reply.

Some newbie questions:

1. I have tried to come up to speed by scanning your forums (what, 4 of them?) and I gather that the community still is waiting for the Multiplayer version of the game to be released. Any idea when that will happen?

2. Is there any project, such as beta testing that I can join in?

3. Is the history of this alternate world from WWI to 1937 written out, or still to be completed? I'm a fair writer with a fantastic imagination, could I contribute there?

4. I have gotten hints of the world situation and location of bases, etc, but not a clear picture of this alternate world. Is there a world map that shows this infomation?

5. Will capital ships, cruisers and Aircraft Carriers be available to command in the multiplayer game?

6. I understand this will be a persistent online world. Does this mean that there will be a linear, continual war going on? A war that develops and changes as it is impacted by the actions of the factions and individuals involved? I sure hope this is the direction you are heading.

7. Is the "b" patch ready yet?

Thats all I can think of right now, but there will be more questions later, Im sure.

As far as the unit I would like to form. Although ERT Multi has not yet started, we could get the squad together, share information, and organize to be ready to go on the first day.

SeaWolf

A few quick answers:

1. This is the official forum for Multiplayer, when it arrives

2. Tides members have in the past been asked to help out with beta patch testing. This may occur again in the future.

3. See this post.

4. The whole world will eventually be mapped. I've not seen a map as-yet showing the strategic locations of all the forces in Enigma's alternate history...maybe that's a cue for someone to produce one?

5. Battlecruisers are in the singleplayer already and will be in Multiplayer. Carriers will be in multiplayer, but may be AI controlled for initial release(s).

6. Yes, that is indeed what TAG has in mind.

7. There are various patches, with different letters depending on which country version you have. Look here for the complete list.

Finally, I applaud your efforts in starting a KLM battlegroup. Tides is here to support & promote such groups!

/bux

S! Bux, thanks for your response. No answer on the "when" part of that question yet, ehh. If you need volunteers for any form of testing, please put me on your list.

I have been a big military history buff all of my life and have a large library of Naval and military history and reference books, including Jane's Fighting Ships, Breyer's Battleships and Battlecruisers, etc. My constant fascination with the subject, reading and researching , along with 4 years personal acquaintance with the USN rolleyes: , has provided me with a good base of knowledge that I'd love to put to use. Really useful R/L knowledge I don't have, but this stuff I know, lol. If others could provide me with all the known basic facts about the 1937 world situation that is presently available, such as USA in Singapore (now, that's gonna be hard to explain!) and the Empire controlling the Falklands, I will try to use information from the historic situation in 1916 and project the alternate world as it could possibly exist on a world map. Perhaps this would give us some sort of starting or reference point.............or light a fire under someone's rear to show us what they actually had in mind. At least it might provide a pool of information at one place where we could more accuratly construct the 1937 world.

Great to hear about the BB's planned presence in the multiplayer game. As far as I'm concerned, you can leave the CVs out, lol, they spoiled the big ships reign anyway. But I'll take it as it comes. I certainly hope that you are planning on cruisers being included ASAP. Those ships were the true workhorses of that time period and need to be represented, imho. Really, they should have been included before the BB's. I also hope that more modern Imperial DD's and ships are planned, they seem to be stuck at the WWI design level. What with a world wide empire and dangerous naval enemies, the Huns would have been forced to develop the KLM more than what it seems has been done in this game. They would also have gained the perspective of the ship designers of other nations, including the English and the French. The Emden was a fine ship in its day, but would not have been more than a training ship by 1937.

I would like to add my voice to those others that have asked you guys for a scenario editor and some ability to alter or add on to the existing game. The online communities I have come from were all successful because the maker provided their fans with these tools. I'm no programmer, but It is absolutely amazing how many talented people there are out there that can make major contributions and keep a game alive for years after it's natural lifetime. Sometimes after the company that produced the game itself has bitten the dust. Games that do not become woven into their community fabric by furnishing such tools can come and go very quickly. I do like the attitude you have taken so far in regards to the companies integration and being an active, vital part of the community itself. This will go a very long way to insuring ERT's success.

Any plans on providing a TDC?

About voice command. Wow, this is a super idea and it sounds like it works well. Unfortunately, I have yet to get mine working, but haven't put any effort into it yet. Can you direct me to a FAQ or thread that would help me get this working. I am used to using Roger Wilco for communication during a muliplayer game. How would such a coms system work with the voice command system..........or will it? How is communication between ships and sides in the multiplayer game planned? Typed Chat?

About the makeup of my proposed KLM unit, It will be named the 1st Imperial Battlegroup, "The Kaiser's Own". Right now I have it penciled in for a battle squadron of 4 BBs, a DD/escort flotilla and a submarine flotilla. Sort of a self contained, naval, combined arms team that can function on it's own or be plugged into other similar battlegroups to form a large, line of battle, fleet. Cruisers, CVs and aircraft would be added as the patches provided them. I am working on a website and will post the url as soon as I have something to show you. I may base it in Scapa Flow (ahhh, how sweet that would be, hehe) I may be dreaming and never get enough recruits to fill all the slots. If so, we can just morph into a smaller unit and see how things shake out as the game goes along.

Thanks for providing an old salt with a fantastic naval game to play. Although there are some things I would change, overall it is excellent. The modeling of the ocean and it's effects on objects is very lifelike and brings back memories. I love the tongue in cheek approach and the alternate world provides a very interesting new world to explore and provide constant "what ifs". By doing this you have also avoided the unending arguments about the accuracy of historic ship and gun data, penetration, armor, engines, weaknesses and strengths of various navies, such as the deluded English mistakenly thinking they produced the best warships. (LOOK OUT, INCOMING!!!) :lol:

I look forward to sharing the virtual oceans with all of you future captains, commodores and admirals.

SeaWolf salutes you!

Splendid. I'll make sure to take out your steering with my Swordfish when we meet.

Those ships were the true workhorses of that time period and need to be represented, imho. Really, they should have been included before the BB's.

Agreed

I would like to add my voice to those others that have asked you guys for a scenario editor

This is in progress, I believe.

Any plans on providing a TDC?

This has been discussed - it may come in for multiplayer, but not likely in its first iteration (thats true of most feature requests!)

/bux

Fair enough, Sub Lt. D. Abramczyk! But launch those torpedoes quickly...........before your ship's magazine blows up.

Thanks for the response, Buxton

SeaWolf

The Fairey Swordfish, you fool , known as the "string-bag", the RN torp-bomber that crippled the Bismark.

No need for insults, m8. 8)

You mean the same plane that sank the Italian Fleet at Taranto? I know the Stringbag well. You pointed out a weakpoint and I was merely responding to that.

Regards,

SeaWolf

I'm still working on this. R/L has been busy lately and I haven't had the time. I've decided to change the name of the unit to the 4th Atlantic Fleet. Nearly destroyed at Scapa Flow, we hope to scrape up enough ships to form a small unit........at least until the promised replacements arrive.

Regards,

SeaWolf

About voice command. Wow, this is a super idea and it sounds like it works well. Unfortunately, I have yet to get mine working, but haven't put any effort into it yet. Can you direct me to a FAQ or thread that would help me get this working. I am used to using Roger Wilco for communication during a muliplayer game. How would such a coms system work with the voice command system..........or will it? How is communication between ships and sides in the multiplayer game planned? Typed Chat?

Currenly I dont know of any FAQ to help you, but you might need to give more information on your system (WinXP? sound card?) and version of ERT so someone can diagnose the problem. Do you have USA version wth patches? What are the symptoms?

There has been talk of combining Teamspeak voice chat software into a future version of ERT or something similar.. but at the current time the voice commands should work on a USA version installed and patched by simply going into ERT preferences and enabling the microphone option assuming you have a mic connected and all sound card functions are normal. You should test your mic with the windows voice recorder by going to your start button etc.. start/programs/accessories/entertainment/voice recorder or some other program to see if your hardware works elsewhere.

Additionally, you can get the free download from www.teamspeak.org for pc users win32 client version to chat on our voice server, just enter into the ip address box (www.connectvoice.com) to log in and ask for help or tips. More detailed info on how to log in the voice server is located in the multiplayer forums..

Playing with voice chat during the game depends on your sound settings, quality, and background noises etc.. but I know your friends are going to try to yell commands to your sub to mess with you... 8)