Sea Power Gameplay: Do I Suck at Naval Combat?

[@callmethreeone]

I think for people who truly love this genre of game, watching a content creator dive in, watching them progress is the best. You're doing an awesome job. I wish I could leave you a super thanks for sharing your time with us.

[@TheBlackSnake88]

I promise your comment means a lot!

[@kiii001]

I'm someone struggling to get into this game as a first naval warfare game, and I really appreciate you showing the process! These videos give me hope! Thanks for making them!

[@Tamburello_1994]

@@kiii001 as someone that's at the other end of the spectrum let me say to all of you "new mates" to just need to keep at it -- read and learn as much as you can tolerate -- then read some more even -- until it becomes second nature -- an extension of oneself. Plenty of resource at your fingertips -- one thing I wish I had back in the day. One thing I will stress is know what you're working with. Learn weapons, learn sensors. Learn what SARH -- or Semi-Active Radar Homing is / does and how those affects you. Just listening to the OP struggle through because he's unaware of the systems he's attempting to utilize is frustrating to player and viewer. Everyone has to start from somewhere, but having a basic understanding of what it is one is trying to operate will greatly enhance the learning, and overall player retainment. Just plain fun, I guess. Lastly -- you're going to get a firehose of advice here in the comments -- do's and don'ts. I have found there is no one-set piece solution when it comes to naval warfare as it's never a cookie-cutter affair. Flexibility is key. Good luck, gentlemen.

[@TheBlackSnake88]

⁠@@kiii001 I’m happy to help!!

[@ziggelito]

@@kiii001 if you want to learn check out stealth17 or jive turkey, the have excelent tips and tricks

[@Raptor762_]

Thank you for playing this not many people play this and it is hard to find these kinds of vids

[@TheBlackSnake88]

Absolutely no problem! 😝

[@wittay]

"You ever just get your ass beat in life?" Dude, I felt that.

[@TheBlackSnake88]

@@wittay 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@knightphaeton3744]

That was so fun to watch you play 😅 Please continue!

[@TheBlackSnake88]

I got you!

[@bourbonbrigade]

Its fun to watch someone learn a game while i am trying to learn it as well. Its nice to see that someone is struggling with the same things I did. I know from watching others that the Rim-8 used the Mk 12 Twin-arm launcher, the missiles are employed from below main deck magazines. so it takes a while for them to load and then you could only fire 2 at one time. I just got the game as well and I have noticed that naval warfare is extremely slow going until stuff pops off then its overwhelmingly fast paced. I have found that sometimes giving a "cease fire" order to your units can help when you are telling them to go somewhere and they are ignoring you but doesn't work all the time for whatever reason.

[@LovLance]

I like these long style video cause there are good to watch while eating or trying to go to sleep🔥

[@TheBlackSnake88]

I do the exact same thing!

[@havoc1482]

Always glad to see new people jumping into the game. There is a learning curve for sure! But take it in small bites. This is one of those games that gives you a huge payoff in cathartic entertainment in exchange for patience.

[@TheSod70]

Your missiles take a little while to load onto the rail. There may also be a limit to how many can be used at once, older radar had severe limits on how many they could guide. Not sure if that is modeled in the game. Glad I found your channel, mellow and enjoyable. Thank you for making content for us to enjoy!

[@gandythegreen]

I can tell you from experience, It's just alot to take in and knowing the right way to calculate course predictions and whatnot help. Just having that general knowledge helps. I'm playing U-boat rn before I come to this and the info dump even there is quite alot. I can't even imagine what it is here.

[@cjkajl]

Your doing a great job and it was fun to watch. Keep it up.

[@HelixWek]

Other people have pointed out a lot of useful things. Another tip: If your weapons aren't behaving the way you expect, and you mouse over them and they don't say "preparing" or "loading" or "inoperable" and the ship doesn't say "moving to engage" on the bottom left, and you're certain they aren't inside your minimum range--so basically if it feels truly broken...then right click the unit -> "Cease Fire" and then re-issue the command. The game does have some bugs and commanding Cease Fire, then waiting 1-2 seconds for them to receive and confirm the order before you re-issue the attack will often fix problems. This can happen where they won't obey your move orders because they are stuck on an attack vector, as well!

[@TheJeyR]

To add a bit on what the other comment already explained (I know its a lot of information overall, you will start getting it bit by bit once things gradually click once you see them in action): Semi-active missiles are guided by your ship's radar lock instead of carrying their own radar system (advantage of this being that they are much harder to notice, since the missile itself is not pinging the enemy, and the radar system on a ship is much more accurate and precise than anything that can be fitted in the limited space of a missile, which is why you will see most anti air missiles here use semi active homing), if they lose connection to your ship or if your radar loses its lock on target the missile wont be able to do much. Because they work by radar lock, the range shown when you click on a semi-active missile is basically the horizon (which is as far as some radars can detect a surface target, but also because the horizon would cut the link between the missile and your ship) but if its an air target then the semi-active missiles can go way farther, you can hover your mouse over an incoming aerial target with the missile selected, as if you are going to launch it, and the range should update on the map so you can check if its truly within range or not. The higher something is flying the farther it can be spotted by enemy radar as a rule thumb, but it can also get visual spotting on enemies from farther away so they can spot enemies for you without using radar, doing this from the start is usually fine since the enemy normally starts with their radar off as well, but if you spot enemies and they have an ellipse around them then that meansthey are using radar and the ellipse shows their probable location, but that doesnt mean they have seen you yet, since you can spot enemies using radar from like 4x the distance they need to spot you with it. If you want your aircraft to be sneaky and you already know where the enemy is at you can send them flying low so the horizon covers them from radar and enemy visual range as much as possible. But if you need your planes to go REALLY far away, then flying at max height is useful because Also, some missiles take maybe 20-30 seconds to be loaded since they dont have a dedicated launcher, but instead use a multipurpose launcher. Once you select the type of missile you are going to shoot at a target they start loading that missile type into the launcher but it takes a bit. Harpoons tend to have dedicated launchers, so the ships that use harpoons can launch those basically as soon as you give the order. Edit: as for situations like the one at 40:48 where the ship is not moving to the waypoint, you can see on the UI at the bottom, left of your weapons, theres a "status" field, and it says "Engaging with RM 8" which is the missile you ordered the ship to attack with, so the ship will try to, first and foremost, get in range and into position to execute that attack, and any other attack command you gave it since those take priority, and once that is done it will start following the waypoints and navigating normally. To prevent this you can right click on it and order "cease fire" so it goes back to following its usual navigation orders.

[@TheBlackSnake88]

Thank u! I was wondering why I couldn’t get them to respond, this makes sense!

[@nathenstewart9225]

Use your large map. Click on your ship, and whichever button allows you to interact with the desired object, you can pick which weapon to fire at that target. I can confirm it works. You are not bad this game has a learning curve that is not terribly intuitive. Forgot to mention when ships go unresponsive turn their weapons off temporarily.

[@toothfairyofdeath8494]

The reason your missiles wasn't launching is that you have assigned the ships to fire on targets that were out of range and then on the targets inside your range The weapons orders are basically queued based on the time you clicked if you missclick a fire order on an out of range target just press crease fire that cancels all queued fire orders and the reprioritise fire Example I want to fire on two ships within range and the on a target farther away out of range I would choose weapon type and number fire on the ships and then on the away target the ship would fire and then move in range and fire Also learn the number of weapons you can track It was not a bug but good job learning

[@tomarmadiyer2698]

Thank you for that radar tip

[@lrmunro]

The ROE in the first mission is a pain. Basically guarantees you lose destroyers. You need air search on to detect them in time to kill all of them before they nail your destroyers.

[@lrmunro]

And don’t fire until fired upon makes no sense when you’re attacking a base and MIGs fly out of it.

[@s1nek17]

Nice gameplay mate! :)

[@havocsquad1]

To utilize naval weapons, one must first understand the criteria to fire them and guide them to the target. Naval gunfire is rather straight forward, you have in range of the weapon a clear position contact with no estimation of variation shown by that yellow circle of the contact. For certain other games/situations, one must make sure the arc and path of the gunfire will reach the target. That comes into play with high land mass trying to aim at something beyond it. You would hit the land in front, not the target. For missiles and torpedoes, it starts to get muddy. For most anti-ship missiles and surface to air radar guided missiles, they either are active guidance or semi-active. Semi-active guided missiles require you to obtain a lock on the target before firing if in range. Active guided missiles for the most part are fire and forget. On active guided missiles you have a definite range that the target is at and you fire with that data if within range. Active guidance missile will turn on that seeker usually well early enough to find it given that range and attempt to destroy the target. You can tell if a track has a radar lock by looking at the letters under the target will have an R. In the information box of the track, it will list what units are detecting it and by what means. Ships will not navigate the direction you want if you give them orders to attack a track usually. They are usually maneuvering to fire the weapons in the best outcome/manner. If you want it to stop, need to choose cease fire in the unit actions menu. I believe the F-4 Phantoms in this scenario are a consquence of an AI update for aircraft to make them actually a real threat. I suspect when possible they will be updating the scenario when they can to reduce the number of possible aircraft in the scenario.

[@TheBlackSnake88]

I’d be lying to say my head isn’t spinning 😵‍💫 lol n yeah the number of aircraft was crazy!

[@SKYST0RY]

Naval officers require degrees to become officers, and they undergo constant training. There is a reason. Naval combat is very complicated. It really is important to understand it. Study some of the tutorials by ryo, Stealth17 and even the old Command: Modern Operations (this game's predacessor). Sea Power does not have great AI right now, and it's pretty easy. But you have to know how naval warfare works to do it well.

[@johnmumford76]

So... Couple of pointers: 1. Use plane and helo sensors instead of your ship's. That way you can see incoming threats without giving away your position. 2. Don't use weapons free unless it's an emergency. You are much more efficient if you pause often and assign specific attack orders. 3. Note where your ships PDC (the R2D2 with a blick) are located and make sure they can see incoming missiles.

[@ThinkingFingers]

Just randomly found your channel but I do gotta say this game doesn't look easy by any means.

[@reddeadlycreeper]

Understand that you have a limited time to respond to each threat from the time they are detected and until they reach you. This determines the amount of shots you get. It’s generally best to engage the threats from outside the range they can threaten you whenever able. I almost always prefer to go loud with the sensors on the best capable ship except when fleet-killing P-700s get involved or I’m severely outnumbered. It helps learn to defend your ship and helps avoiding being surprised. The air defense of American ships is very capable. But sometimes you will need to use every second and everything in your arsenal to do multiple launches to defend. Get used to assigning weapons to shoot down weapons with your own missiles. Helicopters can extend your time to react against sea-skimming missiles I also like to mark the air defense ranges of my ships so I know the safe regions for my helis to operate in as well as when they can engage. Assigning targets manually is almost always better than letting ships target on their own as ships will often heavily overkill targets and target the same threats. Understand the amount of targets each ship can track at once with their missiles. And at what range so you know which ships to use for what range. Try to engage as many different targets at once as you can. Good luck though. It’s all about stacking as many things in your favor as you can. Watch your CIWS angles and be sure to pop chaff. Half of missiles can be defeated with a good burst of chaff. Tighten your screen if you need to as well. The sparrows and ciws have tiny range. Also I wouldn’t worry too much about the sensors generally unless trying to exploit them as a submarine. The weapons each ship carries are almost always the important thing to understand the threat and capabilities. Try to get familiar with common ones. You have a lot more defensive missiles than most fleets have planes and offensive missiles.

[@TheBlackSnake88]

I’m definitely trying to find that balance between stealth n loud!

[@reddeadlycreeper]

@@TheBlackSnake88 I hear you there! Speaking purely for ships The main advantages of stealth is identifying your targets before your enemy so you know what you're shooting at and what they're capable of. You don't want to start swinging into the dark and suddenly be surprised when 24 highly lethal missiles get fired back your way when it's not expected. It also allows you to close the range advantage a lot of the larger Russian missiles have so less ships shoot back later. But that's mostly it. Most of the time you'll end up having to bite the bullet anyway no matter what. And the moment you engage you'll be counter-fired on. For sonar it's a different story. As long as you're cruising at a decently slow speed (~15 kts) it's generally better to refrain from active sonar. I should also mention once you're already being fired on there's no point in staying stealthy anymore. Power up your sensors. Hopefully my point about drawing the range circles for the defensive missiles helped. Drawing these on ships make it so much easier to understand the battlefield at a glance and where you and the enemy can act.. Missile defense in order: 1. Always be shooting missiles. Prioritizing your longest range first which usually has the highest hitrate. Shoot at as many separate targets as your tracking allows and split targets among the fleet. When those missiles hit or miss, fire another. 2. Once you have your first missiles going out, turn your ships side-on to the missiles. This will help your chaff and CIWS (Minigun missile defense) better engage the missiles. 3. Target the missiles with your naval cannons and CIWS. The cannons aren't the best against missiles but anything to thin out the herd helps. 4. Pop chaff at the last moment when the missiles get close.

[@tomarmadiyer2698]

Awwww heck yeah

[@morrit33]

Press F10, open the dev toopls. It allows you to cheat, but sometimes when a mission goes pear shaped , spawning 1- Kiov's brings some satisfaction in a childish sort of way...

[@TheBlackSnake88]

I never knew this!!

[@morrit33]

@TheBlackSnake88 literal game changer and very satisfying! But also great to tweak playing in mission editor. Infact, I hope they leave it in the final game.

[@Cammdnd]

Road to 300 subs ❤🎉

[@TossACoinToYourWitcher]

Your missing to enable Radar to launch missiles. Your not getting targeting info. If you targeted something and your holding back your targeting info they will go for the target for guns. To fix.. Select cease fire to get back control of your ship. It will then turn otherwise it will just do the attack order.

[@robynhiggs4379]

I love this game, but I am terrible LOL Former AAV Crewman USMC

[@robynhiggs4379]

Also Semi-Active Radar Missiles, have to have a contact "painted" with radar, so if you're emcon you may not be able to fire it. as it cant follow the "beam" of radar to the target. Atleast that's how it was explained to me

[@TossACoinToYourWitcher]

It has been funny your your own worst enemy when it comes to targeting. Even the helicopter didn't have radar enabled.

[@TossACoinToYourWitcher]

Your last missing you should have used the RGM-84 not the SM-1 and SM-2. You could have shot much farther away. Plus you missed turning on the surface search radar. This would have given low flying radar data to the missiles for defense. That was a hard mission. Not to lose tankers and combat ships. You notice the missiles had yellow circles around them. The surface search would have been better to detect them so low.

[@Tamburello_1994]

I'm going to sub you barely twenty minutes in the first video of yours I've ever laid eyes on, why? Because I'm curious to see if you stick with it and help you through -- I'd feel like I'm paying forward the knowledge I've accrued over the decades to my younger brother. So, get at it.... Signed -- #266

[@ronaldmatthewssr1837]

Don't you want to use Airborne radar not sonar buoys? I just downloaded this game and I;m gonna have to see what mistakes you make and try to avoid them.

[@TheBlackSnake88]

I used the Buoys just to make sure there were no Subs, n I’ve been told if I turn on Radar I become a flashlight for everyone to see, so trying to find a balance! Tell me what u think of the game!!

[@Tamburello_1994]

@@TheBlackSnake88...and if you graduate on to sub-surface warfare the fundamental lesson(s) are the same. Going "active" (or pinging) with sonar is the same as "turning on your radar" -- whereas using "passive" sonar is analogous as "leaving your radar off" Once missiles and whatnot start flying -- and / or the enemy has a pretty good fix on your location, staying at EMCON is only hampering your own situational awareness and targeting ability when you probably need it the most. If the jig is up, light 'em up.

[@Mike_Y.]

Didnt the instructions say to not engage unless fired upon? 😂

[@tomarmadiyer2698]

They looked very aggressively. They wanted to touch your boats.

[@Mike_Y.]

@tomarmadiyer2698 hahaha good enough