SSN-21 SEAWOLF by Electronic Arts

Captain OverKill's Log

Afteraction Battle Report

The Russian task force, 8 ships in all, now rests at the bottom of the Adriatic Ocean, sent there by the Seawolf and her crew in just under two hours; (2) Mirka II FFL's, (2) Sovremenny DD's, (2) Kresta CG's, (1) Ivan Rogov LPD and the Kirov, a BCGN.

The battle was joined when we fired missiles at two ships, a Kresta I CG and a Sovremenny DD. We immediately dropped a noisemaker and turned 90 degrees in a crash-dive, anticipating SS-N-14 SUBROC's. The Kresta was hit and sunk without getting off a shot, but the Sovremenny managed to get off a shot before eating a Harpoon and sinking. The sonar chief says both ships sank in less than a minute with most of their crews. We evaded the SUBROC Torp.

Approximately 10 minutes later, we came up to periscope depth and fired on a Mirka II FFL, which sank in less than a minute. A Kresta II CG fired another SS-N-14 at us, and we spent the next half hour evading that torpedo before heading off toward deeper water to set up our next ambush.

Just after the hour, we again rose to periscope depth, and despite ASW helos in the area, fired a TASM missile at the Kirov and a pair of long-range Mk48 ADCAP torpedoes at an Ivan Rogov LPD. The Kirov was hit and sank quickly, followed by the LPD which took 2 hits and was gone.

We spent the next 52 minutes evading what remained of the task force, a Kresta II CG, a Sovremenny DD and a Mirka II FFL, before finding a deep hole in the sea floor. We settled down in that hole for what we thought would be a side shot, but just as it seemed they would go past, they echeloned right and began sweeping toward us. The torpedo room loaded all six tubes with Mk48 ADCAP's set for high-speed configuration.

At a range of less than two miles, we fired all tubes and crash-dove to 1400', turning away from the oncoming ships. They never knew what hit them, only the Kresta II having time to begin evasive manuvers. Each ship took two hits apiece and rolled over, sinking with all hands.

Admirals Clancy and Bond have put the crew up for commendations.

Report ends.

Captain OverKill, USS Seawolf SSN-21

The preceeding is a blow by blow account of a battle I just fought off the coast of Greece with the help of Electronic Art's latest offering, SEAWOLF SSN-21, the sucessor to 688 Attack Sub. To say that this submarine warfare simulation is awesome would be like referring to the Mississippi River as a minor water leak.

This simulation consists of 33 "Canned" missions which take place all around the world, and can be fought singly or in campaign mode. If you get tired of battling the computer opponent, you can play via modem or network with a friend, cooperatively or head to head in an underwater knife-fight. As the missions go along, they get tougher and tougher, and only the very best captains will have any chance at all of surviving the final scenarios. One mid-range scenario I particularly enjoyed involved tracking down and sinking a pack of Iranian Kilo-class attack boats engaged in sinking tankers in the Gulf. In another, I had the distinct pleasure of sending a Japanese task force to meet their Honorable Ancestors.

Let's talk hardware for a moment....a 386/25 is recommended, and 3 MB of EMS RAM are required. PC Speaker sound is NOT supported at all. Owners of Sound Blaster 16/Pro audio cards or the Advanced Gravis Ultra are in the best shape here, as both sound FX and music will run on these boards. Proaudio Spectrum 8/16 and fully-compatible SB Clones are also supported by SEAWOLF. Adlib and Roland boards will only play the sound track. It comes on 5 HD 3.5" disks, and requires *20 MB* of HD space to install, but only 14MB after the install is finished. Bill "Berserker" Waldheim informs me that a CD-ROM release of SEAWOLF is imminent.

For this shakedown cruise, I was driving a 486DX/2-50 with DOS 6.2, 8MB RAM, SVGA and an 8-bit Adlib card, which means I could not hear the sound FX (Explosions, sonars, etc...), just the soundtrack. (Bummer)

The graphics in SEAWOLF are very, very nice, better than those of it's predecessor, 688 Attack Sub, some external/periscope views approaching photographic quality. Internal control panels are nicely done as well, although sub drivers familiar with the layout of a 688-class attack boat are going to have to get used to those of the Seawolf class. I got used to it quickly and was kicking serious butt in no time. New to the Seawolf class is the circular "waterfall" sonar, which really gives an edge over the old Los Angeles-class boats.

Test depth for the Seawolf is 1400'. Flank speed is 57kts (anybody wanna waterski??) The Seawolf class has six torpedo tubes and carries 24 Mk48 ADCAP torpedoes and 24 Mk48 wake-homing torps, as well as 2 Harpoon ASM's, 2 Tomahawk ASM's, 2 Sea Lance standoff torpedoes and 6 noisemakers -- that's enough ordnance to get yourself into (and hopefully out of) Harm's Way, big time.

Unlike 688 Attack Sub, Seawolf has no difficulty setting, although as I stated earlier, the early missions are easier than the later ones. The late missions are a sub drivers' worst nightmare, due in part to the number and variety of surface, airborne and submarine forces arrayed against you, but also because the AI of the compuuter opponent is generally very good. I have occasionally seen the computer do stupid things, but rarely. One such instance occured during a scenario where the computer fired missiles against a neutral merchant ship instead of a U.S. Navy battleship group, which quickly took care of my light work and made my job oh-so much easier.

In another scenario, I was closing on a Typhoon class "boomer", sneaking up in her baffles and was about to fire when suddenly an Akula class attack boat announced it's presence by firing a full spread from MY baffles! Yikes!! In a glorious turn of quick thinking, I dumped my towed array and slammed the boat into Flank speed, heading directly at the Typhoon which by this time was taking evasive manuvers. I stole a cue from Admiral Clancy and went right past the Typhoon, which was broadside to the Rooskie torpedoes chasing me, and the Red Oktober went bye-bye, taking four fish in succession. Nothing like a helping hand from the opposing team....mighty neighborly of them!!

One thing I found particularly nice was the random starting placement given ships and subs in Seawolf, such that the scenarios can never be memorized as every time is different. I haven't found a modem or network opponent yet, so I cannot comment on head to head play, but modem speeds of up to 9600 baud are supported. Another nice feature is the action log, which will allow you to find out who killed you, should you be overwhelmed and sunk. It prints to an ASCII file, and looks like this:

                      "Indian Ocean Melee"

Current Mission Report, April 12, 1994: Captain "OverKill"  Page #1
=====================================================================
Captain OverKill, completed this mission successfully.
Played: 4-12-94   Time:22:43
Mission time: 00:40:30
Ships destroyed: 1
Subs destroyed: 0
Torpedoes used: 7
Torpedoes hit: 2
Torpedoes evaded: 0
Torpedoes hit us: 0
Noisemakers used: 0
Active Sonar: 0
Ident. right/wrong:0/0
00:04:12 = Slava CG fired a Anti-Ship Missile at Knox FF
00:04:14 = Iowa BB fired a Tomahawk at Slava CG
00:04:18 = Moskva CGH fired a Anti-Ship Missile at Knox FF
00:04:32 = Knox FF was hit by Moskva CGH's Anti-Ship Missile
00:04:34 = Slava CG was hit by Iowa BB's Tomahawk
00:04:38 = Knox FF was hit by Moskva CGH's Anti-Ship Missile
00:04:40 = Knox FF was destroyed by Moskva CGH
00:04:54 = Slava CG was destroyed by Iowa BB
[Stuff Deleted]

00:29:40 = OverKill fired a Mark 48 HS at Alfa SSN
00:30:18 = Alfa SSN dropped a noisemaker
00:35:20 = Ticonderoga DDG dropped a depth charge
00:39:38 = Ticonderoga DDG dropped a depth charge
00:39:46 = Alfa SSN was hit by Ticonderoga DDG's Depth Charge
00:39:56 = Ticonderoga DDG dropped a depth charge
00:40:06 = Ticonderoga DDG dropped a depth charge
00:40:06 = Alfa SSN was destroyed by Ticonderoga DDG
00:40:30 = logbook entry and status report: mission successfully completed
------------------------

I found some minor bugs and errors here and there. The Ticonderoga or "Tico" class are CG's, not DDG's, and the Kirov is incorrectly identified as a CGH, when it is a BCGN. I've had a 2 or 3 unexplained lockups, but other than that, it seems to run smoothly.

One MAJOR screwup with SEAWOLF is that each scenario has a 3 hour time limit. Leave it to Electronic Arts to "screw the pooch", by taking a perfectly good simulation and tacking a time limit on it, just like they did with 688 Attack Sub. Any sub driver can tell you that upon receiving a CZ (Convergence Zone) contact, especially the 3rd CZ (up to 100NM away) contact, it may take literally DAYS to work your way in close enough to ID the target and get in attack postition. The artificial and unrealistic time limit imposed by EA forces the player to hurry, moving faster than is prudent in an effort to kill all targets before time runs out. More than once I have wound up very dead because of this.

Otherwise....this is a serious contendah' for the title "1994 Warfare Simulation of the Year", despite the time limit, and for the serious naval/submarine wargamer, SEAWOLF is a must-buy proposition.

This review is Copyright (C) 1994 by Steven L. Hildebrand for Game Bytes Magazine. All rights reserved.