Modern Naval Warfare - Navy Log Book #1

Modern Naval Warfare - Navy Log Book #1

Ever wondered what controlling almost 8000 tons of one of the most lethal machines ever invented? With Modern Naval Warfare you will get your chance to command some of the most advanced submarines in the world: The Virginia class fast attack (or hunter killer) submarines.

Your very own Virginia class sub idling on the surface.

However, as many navy veterans say, a ship is never better than its crew and that is certainly true in Modern Naval Warfare. Despite the cutting edge sensors, weapons and quieting technology it is you, the captain that decides the outcome of each mission.

In this first log book we will make a quick tour around the sub, see how the interface works and see the difference between the various blocks of the Virginia class submarine.

Getting to know your boat MNW includes the following rooms/areas for the player to move around:

• The control room

• The radio room

• The ESM room

The various areas for a block 1 Virginia class submarine. From left radio room, control room and ESM room.

Within these areas there are several stations that the player can take control including:

• Pilot station

• Command station (where the captain and the officer of the deck usually stand)

• Sonar suite station

• Photonics station

• Fire control station

• Radar station

• Nav station (the large digital table at the center of the control room)

• Radio station

• ESM station

• Most of these stations span several displays and include many modes and submodes.

The player can also monitor several working displays and gauges scattered around that include:

• The two large displays in the control room

• Analog anglemeters

• Analog depth gauges

• Digital ownship status displays

• Analog and digital UTC clocks

In contrast with previous classes of US submarines the sonar room (or sonar shack) is not in a separate room but is integrated in the control room (on the port side).

As the Captain you can move freely around the various rooms interact with the various stations, monitor information displays and gauges and give orders. In real life the radio room and especially the ESM room are considered off limits for the majority of the crew.

How to interact with your surroundings As a hardcore simulator MNW does not include any health bars, magical god view minimaps, underwater radars and other game like mechanics. The player has to collect information and assemble the tactical picture from the ship's sensors through the various stations just like real captains do.

We wanted to make the user interface as seamless and fast as possible while keeping the controls familiar. After a lot of trial and error we settled to a combination of FPS controls with world space interactions as you move around the ship and a basic mouse driven control when the player is working on an actual station.

With the player located at the command station a quick look around can give him/her all the vital information for the ship. The information includes speed, heading, depth of your ship and the whereabouts of the various contacts (that means the possible targets) if a geoplot or a time bearing plot are open on the large displays.

Then if the player wants to dive further (pun intended!) most stations, displays or gauges are just a left click away.

Monitoring an analog anglemeter.

On the other hand a right click will open a station relative