From: Doug Murphy Subject: ShipBase III: Review (Long) It's rare for a single game to have a profound influence on my gaming preferences or style. ShipBase III (SB3) v.1.1 by ArmourSoft is one such game. For an individual who enjoys naval miniatures, this game will open up all sorts of new possibilities of play. SB3 is game software and ship databases which free players from the paperwork and calculations which are required to play most naval miniature rulesets. You get a nice sturdy AH-sized box, a 47 page rulesbook, 112 page ship data book (along the lines of that provided by Harpoon MIN), a floppy disk and 2D diskette with the program, and in a nice touch: 219 cardboard counters for those without miniatures to begin play. the 156 ship counters are rectangular and contain an overhead view of the ship, ship name and an ID code, other counters are for a/c squadrons, mark torpedo launch points, spreads, target attitude, wind and north markers. Furthermore, for a product from such a small firm, SB3 is idiot-proof. I am known as the ten-thumbed wonder when it comes to anything computerized. But I was able to load SB3 onto a primitive 286 with a monochrome monitor and plunge into play 10 minutes after opening the box and barely skimming the manual. It works like a demon on a 486 with color monitor as well. And ArmourSoft has an honor-system approach to copy-protection (which is valuable for me in creating a backup copy to cover the inevitable moment when I ruin the game disk). You play SB3 by moving about on menus. You can choose one of six provided scenarios (Santiago, Tsushima, Jutland, Denmark Straits, Komandorski Isle, Coral Sea) or make your own. A sequence of play is suggested but you can literally do anything you'd like. Let me take you through the menus which are pretty self-explanatory, especially for those of you familiar with computers. At the Main Menu you get Game Setup with: create scenario (choose year, weather, ships), load scenario file, save as scenario, delete scenario (you can keep 300), set scale, set year, set to-hit level (sets the damge light guns do); file save level. Environment with: display current envir. (has sea state, wind dir, all-important visibility range translated to inches in the proper scale), set envir. Information with: list of all ship vital stats or display ships by nation, specific ship, edit a ship's data, display gun ranges (very handy), display torp. ranges, update torp types, print data sheets, and a nice touch, optional morale rolls for all ships in scenario (fine, sunk, withdraw, abandon ship). Movement with: display move rates (in inches), resolve ram/collision. Gunnery (more on this later). Torpedo with launch torps, display tracking info, resolve torp attack, delete spread. Anti-Sub, Mine, Air, Search, Dice (roll d4,6,8,10,12,20,100), End of Turn (update results, damage control, etc., Scoreboard (tonnage sunk thus far), Exit Game. The heart of this game is Gunnery. Choose the firing ship and target, then range in inches, relative angle of target (in 0-30, 31-60, 61-90 degree chunks), note any evasive manuevering or smoke (funnel or chem), type of ammo (HE or AP) and fire away. You can also designate how many of the avail. guns will fire. The program keeps track of everything including damage in%. A chart shows location of hits and fires. Ships at 100% are announced as sinking and taken off the board as it were at the End-of-Turn phase. The Air menu gives you 142 types of a/c and lets you activate squadrons, adjust a/c type and values, choose armaments, combine and split squadrons, fight air-to-air, take AAA, bomb or torp ships, and even kamikaze. You can also add up to 300 custom a/c. The Search menu is fascinating albeit abstracted. The world is divided up into simple coordinates based on nm from reference points. You can designate searching "groups" of ships or plays, give and change orders to them to move about, even get intell reports from the computer at several changeable degrees of accuracy. Even for a monochrome screen, the situation maps are very clear. I'm going to have fun with Pacific games with this option. The first night I set it up, within 2 hours, I had solitaired a smashing of the Spanish at Santiago and sunk the Bismarck in the Denmark Straits. Last evening, I engaged a spirited nightime wolfpack attack on a convoy complete with a ramming that sank both corvette and Uboat, and attacked Vittorio Veneto with Swordfish, Akagi with SBDs, and Invincible with a Zeppelin. Ship values come from Janes and represent the ship at launch. As Jane's has its inaccuracies, you can update ship capabilities as you wish or create custom ships, including a 99,000 ton, 50 kt hybrid behemoth with 20 inches of armour, 200 20 in. guns, 100 torp tubes, and 200 a/c... This game makes it so easy to play I'm expecting to wear out my dusty miniatures. Well worth the price. And yes, I paid $ for the game and aren't beholden in any way to designer David Ferris or anyone else at ArmourSoft. Doug Murphy