Forum > Games Discussion
Sea Power : Naval Combat in the Missile Age
Asid:
From the lead designer of Cold Waters, Sea Power lets you control NATO and Warsaw Pact forces in modern naval conflict campaigns. Use your advanced naval weaponry and sensors to respect rules of engagement and defeat the enemy forces in a tense fight for initiative and air/naval supremacy.
Home
Steam
Forum
Youtube
Single-player
Sea Power Announcement Teaser
About
After hostilities have broken out in Central Europe, the race is on as a pressured US Navy escort force battle off Soviet bomber and submarine attacks on a perilous quest to reinforce NATO defenders in Europe. Meanwhile, in the Persian Gulf, the conflict between Iran and Iraq risks escalating into a larger confrontation between superpowers as both sides indiscriminately attack neutral merchant shipping. And in the Norwegian Sea, an outnumbered Soviet surface force challenges the might of a massive US Navy amphibious force bound for occupied Norway...
Brought to you by the lead designer of Cold Waters, Sea Power lets you control NATO and Warsaw Pact forces in a modern naval conflict. Whether it's gunning it out with Boghammars in a surface duel, fighting off aerial attackers armed with long-range missiles, or hunting for enemy submarines with aircraft and surface ships, advanced weaponry and sensors are at your disposal. Can you successfully hide your forces while detecting and tracking theirs? It is up to you to play an advanced game of cat and mouse on the high seas, to seize the initiative and attack with the advantage of surprise on your side. And at all times, you have to observe rules of engagement and take care not to cause an unnecessary incident that could lead to escalation. After all, you cannot really be sure just who that radar contact at 30.000 feet is, can you?
Features List
• Cold war era between the '60s and '80s
• Theatres including North Atlantic, Persian Gulf, Gulf of Tonkin and Mediterranean Area
• Dynamic campaign - theatre scale
• Historical and fictional single scenarios
• Dynamic time of day and weather per engagement
• Dynamic soundtrack
• Realtime combat
• Advanced flight and ship physics
• Scalable realism such as weapons malfunctions, advanced sensor modeling
• Pausable real-time, time compression
• Full user scenario editor and quick mission builder
• Advanced in-game tutorial
• Save games everywhere/every time
• Detailed and accurate 3D graphics
• Over 50 original ships and more than 30 original aircraft
• Land facilities and real-world terrain
• Post-battle replay
Asid:
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Sea Power?
Sea Power is a cinematic tactical and strategic naval simulation game set in the Cold War era. You will take command of NATO or Warsaw Pact forces in a modern naval conflict. The scope and gameplay is inspired by games like Jane's Fleet Command and EA's Strike Fleet.
When is the release date?
This has to be determined. Sea Power is still in development, a release date will be announced as soon as we are happy with the quality of the game.
How much will it cost?
Pricing has not been defined yet.
Is Sea Power a real-time simulation game like Cold Waters?
Yes, Sea Power is a pausable real-time simulation game with a dynamic campaign.
Which factions are playable?
You can control forces from the NATO and the Warsaw Pact.
Can I control single units like submarines, ships and aircraft?
You can give orders for single or multiple units or - if you like - take over control of every single unit like ships, submarines and aircraft.
Will there be a scenario editor?
Yes. The scenario editor is an important element of the game. Scenarios can be exported and exchanged between players.
Can Sea Power be modded?
Modding is a very important aspect of Sea Power and so it will be heavily modable. All ingame objects like models, textures, sounds, etc can be replaced or even added. We use so called asset bundles for that and will provide tutorials and templates for you to guide you through this. Behavior and AI will be scriptable. Additionally there are data files which describe every single unit so you can not only alter the visual things but also the physics and behavior. All text messages are exposed in files as well so the language can be changed too.
Will multiplayer be available, either PvP or Co-Op?
Not initially with the release. But we want to add it with an update depending on how well Sea Power is received by the community and how much interest for multiplayer is there.
Asid:
Dev Diary #4 - Widened Horizons
Thu, 4 February 2021
The global vistas of Sea Power
Originally we had designed the game around a compressed-distance concept where 1nm = 1km. While the intent was for faster gameplay, we quickly found some issues particularily pertaining to the speed with which engagements happen at modern speeds. This approach also necessitated some internal recalculations particularily as we use a global world with longitude/latitude coordinates for reference, and generally became rather confusing, so the decision was made to scrap distance compression altogether and simply make the world 1:1 scale. We originally had a rather short draw distance, and this had the unintended side-effect of making our environments look a lot more bland due to the fact that terrain features are now spread out over twice the distance. The solution was to increase draw distance two-fold, and it became necessary to rethink the way we approach our terrain.
As previously mentioned in the very first dev diary, we use publicly available Digital Elevation Data that comes in 30 arc second resolution, which works out to about 1km per pixel. There is a 90m per pixel SRTM (Shuttle Radar Topology Mission) available, but this dataset is known to be noisy, doesn't cover the polar regions at all, and would severely increase the size of the game on disc. One of the issues with the raw data is that coastlines end up jagged, and very low coastal areas end up a mess of artefacts. Again, maybe acceptable through a periscope, but awful when seen from high altitude:
Nils and Martin tried several code-based approaches to fix the coastlines, but in the end the solution turned out to be some manual editing of the raw data in photoshop and a much better interpolation function:
To solve the problem with featureless scenery, we elected to use publicly available landclass data employed as per-tile splat maps, with elevation being used to determine onset of permanent snow and the upper tree line – which is also modified by latitude, so you will find that in Norway, mountains show snowcaps and vegetation ends much lower than in the Vietnamese highlands, which are forest-covered. The farmland and vegetation differ between regions, and Przemek has been painting some really nice fields to fly over, and the vegetation system was adapted to differentiate between 'wild' vegetation and agricultural areas, so where there is farmland we can now have nice hedgerow landscapes where appropriate:
The final features to be added to the scenery are waterbodies such as lakes and rivers, and cloud shadows on the terrain. We'd like to think the final result looks better than what we had before:
We also took the step to implement ingame terrain and scenery editing tools. These allow us (and you!) to edit the terrain heightmap and place scenery objects at runtime, aiming for what you see is what you get. Note that the editor UI will be reworked in the style of the game UI prior to release:
But that's not all, folks!
We've also implemented our radar model, and I will let Martin take over from here on:
Being a former radar operator who worked both with Soviet search radars (P-35) and later RRP 117 (a variant of the US AN/FPS-117 Long Range Solid-State Radar) this felt like coming home!
Proper sensor modelling is one of the most important topics for any war game as it makes the difference between survival or loss of your own units. As real sensor computation is pretty time consuming we decided to go with a model using so called RCS values (Radar Cross-Section). Those RCS values basically measure how detectable an object is by radar. It depends mainly on factors like material, the size of the target and the angle to the radar transmitter plus some other things I don't want to go into detail here. Every object in game will have such a RCS value.
Radar image creation
So how is that radar image created using RCS?
For every search radar on any vessel/aircraft we collect all RCS values of objects which are in range. In range means here the radar horizon based on the height of the radar plus the height of the target plus minimum and maximum reachable height values for the radar itself.
These raw RCS values are now altered depending on the distance to the target where the reflected energy is multiplied with 1/distance². Additionally the heading of the target in relation to the radar transmitter is taken into account - the so called target aspect. Meaning that a broadside ship will reflect more than a bow/stern angled one. The used frequency band is another factor taken into account, especially when it comes to things like OTH (over the horizon) radars which use low frequencies which obviously comes at the cost of accuracy.
Now all these radar echoes are filtered in a way that the radar resolution is taken into account. There are two main factors:
a) the beam width which is responsible for the angular/lateral resolution
b) the pulse length which is responsible for the range/axial resolution
The axial resolution will be always the same, no matter how close the target is while the lateral resolution depends on the distance as well due to the beam width. At larger distances the lateral resolution becomes worse.
Using that information the previously collected radar echoes are now clustered/merged into "real" radar echoes that each particular radar system would see. That means that it's very possible that your radar just shows one new contact where there are actually a cluster of 2 or 3 real contacts. Launching a Harpoon at that contact could lead to the situation where the active radar seeker of the Harpoon suddenly sees more than just one contact when closing the range. In that case it will use the brightest echo as the target which might not be the one you actually wanted to hit!
Data link
In your task force you will have data links so all sensor imagery of all your taskforce units will be combined into one sensor image. This has the big advantage for you as some of your units could be within the radar resolution to distinguish between close together contacts, so the limitations of just one radar will be resolved that way. This is done automatically for you so you will always see the best possible sensor image of your entire task force - of course based on your EMCON settings. Yet it could very well be that you cannot resolve all real targets or even see all of them.
Here's an example of how you will see contacts on the minimap. You can see two contacts initially and then a third one appears which actually was there all the time but too close to the right one.
As you can see as soon as the new contact moves close to the left one it is now recognized as just one. But as there already was a known contact it's now visualized in grey and the last movement is extrapolated for another 30 seconds. If it doesn't re-appear after that time, that contact is considered to be lost.
Outlook
That’s it from the active radar side. Active sonar will be handled kind of similar, even though there are some different parameters like speed of sound and thermal layers. Passive radar and sonar will play an important role as well as ECM to jam your enemy.
Thanks for reading, more to come soon!
Asid:
Dev Diary #5 - Silent threats and measures against them
Sat, 16 October 2021
...and lets not forget the sounds!
Dear readers, first sorry for the long pause between the dev diaries. We know it's been a while and it's overdue. This time we want to cover anti-submarine warfare and sound effects more in general and this time with some more video footage instead of too much text. Enjoy!
Anti submarine warfare
Let's start with submarines which are a major threat for every task force. Since WWII many weapon systems have been developed to attack that hidden danger. One of the successors of the quite successful hedgehog (a forward-throwing-anti-submarine weapon) was the RBU-6000 (Реактивно-Бомбовая Установка) which is a Soviet anti-submarine rocket launcher. It fires salvos of up to 12 unguided depth charges in a horseshoe-shaped pattern to maximize the probability of a hit.
Here you see a Kresta 2 class cruiser attacking a Sturgeon class submarine:
Those rocket propelled depth charges are quite effective having a hit ratio of about 80%. Beside classic torpedoes there is another interesting option to attack submarines: torpedoes which are fired using a missile launch. One famous example is the ASROC (which stands for Anti-Submarine ROCket), here on a Spruance class destroyer. The attached MK 46 torpedo will start a spiral search after entering the water, going up and down within its search window to actively seek for a submarine:
Sound effects
To create a convincing atmosphere for the entire environment it's crucial to add proper sound effects and music. Propagation of sound is a quite complex matter, there are doppler effects, sonic absorbtions and reflections, different dampening parameters for different frequencies based on the distance to the source of sound and even more.
For our game Sea Power we want to create an environment that feels realistic. The Unity implementation of the sound engine already allows for some basic behavior, like simple volume fading of a sound source based on distance as well as some filters and doppler effects. But we wanted more! Take an aircraft with a jet engine for instance. Depending on your observer position such an aircraft will sound different from the engine intake than from the engine exhaust. To show that effect, here's a short video about how that will sound in Sea Power for a jet engine...
...and a turbo prop engine...
So far so good but there's another aspect of sound for such aircraft. You know how it sounds when there's an aircraft far away. More often than not you can hear its kind of growling sound but cannot see it.
As you can see, our own sound system allows for aspect sound effects additionally to the already pretty nice Unity sound features. Combined for an aircraft it looks and sounds like that:
A good usage for filters is the water itself, you already heard it in the video above where the submarines were attacked.
That's it for now. Actually or plan is to roll out more dev diaries with interesting topics in a shorter interval to not let you wait for too long! So this shouldn't become another months break till the next one!
/Martin
Asid:
Dev Diary #6 - Torpedoes and counter measures
Sat, 29 January 2022
Hello, everyone!
In this part of the dev diary we’re diving deep into the underwater realm to look at new additions regarding torpedoes and acoustic countermeasures in Sea Power made recently.
First, let’s discuss the torpedoes. In Sea Power, a torpedo can use both passive and active sonar seekers, detecting targets using our acoustic model. Torpedo acoustic detection is modeled just as other types of sonar in the game are, considering how much noise a target makes, how that noise is transmitted to the torpedo, and the torpedo’s own ability to detect said noise. Noise produced or reflected off of a target is dependent on the aspect and distance to the target, as well as the target’s type and class. Transmission then depends on the local speed sound profile (SSP), alongside layer and surface duct effects, controlling how much of the generated noise can get to the torpedo’s position. Finally, each torpedo has its own detection threshold. Wake homing torpedo guidance, as originally developed by the Soviets in the 1960’s, is to come soon.
Active and passive torpedoes use proportional navigation guidance to intercept a target detected by their sensors, allowing them to efficiently close with a target faster than a pure-pursuit approach would. This is particularly important in crossing or head-on engagements, where simple guidance requires torpedoes to engage in time (and fuel!) consuming stern chases, improving effectiveness.
With these newly en-lethalized torpedoes, one might hypothesize that submarines and surface ships are dead meat. Not so! Submarine and surface ship skippers in Sea Power will be able to exploit the very same acoustic model as a defense via sonar countermeasures, producing false targets to defend themselves against torpedo threats.
Countermeasures against acoustic homing go back as far as acoustic homing itself. The development of acoustic self-guided torpedoes by Germany in WW2 went hand in hand with the invention of the first acoustic countermeasures, such noisemakers and towed false targets. Post-war, and beginning in the 1960s, a new kind of sonar countermeasures, the self-propelled torpedo-like decoys was developed. Based on the ideas started with the WW2 era “Sieglinde” German noisemaker, these were equipped with a small electric motor allowing them to present a more realistic acoustic and motion profile to an attacking torpedo.
Even simple noisemakers evolved considerably since the end of the war. Originally, noisemakers were devices filled with chemical compounds that, on contact with sea water, react to produce tons of bubbles and noise. This air and sound creates both a plausible active and passive target for the simple acoustic homing torpedoes of the time - but as acoustic homing technology improved, so too did the countermeasures. Modern noisemakers now produce mechanical noise and even can jam active sonar with false high frequency acoustic pulse. These are relatively compact but short-lived devices that can be launched either from small torpedo tubes on a submarine (usually positioned aboard the hull) or from on deck countermeasure launchers on a surface ship.
Self-propelled decoys exist in Sea Power as well: decoys such as the MG-44 are essentially torpedoes with no warhead and reduced speed, substituted for equipment designed to imitate a submarine. Using narrow and broadband noise emitters, preprogrammed movement patterns, and even active sonar jamming, these decoys provide an even more realistic false target than their unpowered brethren. Today, Sea Power implements these as mobile noisemakers, using the aforementioned logic, but we plan to expand on this further.
In Sea Power the noisemakers have high noise and active sonar reflection parameters assigned to them, usually greater than can be expected from a real target, thereby presenting a torpedo with a shiny big acoustic signature to home on. Counteracting this, each torpedo also has a chance to recognize the false target and reject it based on the respective tech level parameter. The more modern and sophisticated the torpedo is, the higher its level of countermeasure rejection is, but each countermeasure also has a countervailing tech level. Thus, the electronic protect versus electronic attack continues the age-old shell and armor struggle in Sea Power.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page