In Civilization 6, Age of Empires, and a lot of classic strategy games, you experience combat at the macro level. Victory in battle means sending mass-produced units into the meat grinder of war until your opponent runs out of money, people, or both. It’s suitably savage, but there’s also something compelling about the finer details – some of the most compelling strategy games, like Cities Skylines 2 or XCOM, take place at the micro level. Enter Sea Power Naval Combat In The Missile Age. Boasting a gigantic map, fastidiously recreated real-world vehicles, and tense, minute-to-minute milsim-style combat, it’s finally hit early access, and feels like a more realistic alternative to the beloved War Thunder.
Set during the Cold War, a typical mission in Sea Power involves escorting civilian merchant ships through Soviet-controlled waters. You’re in command of multiple battleships, each of which houses small fleets of helicopters, fighter jets, torpedoes, and missiles. The North Atlantic, Persian Gulf, Mediterranean, and other enormous swathes of the ocean have been faithfully rebuilt in Sea Power, and for all intents and purposes, it feels as if you’re fighting on the entire world map. There are more than 150 units, every vehicle uses advanced physics models, and missions are partly based on actual events. It’s a simulation and strategy game combined.
At the beginning of a mission, you cruise along in relative peace, keeping a close eye on your radar or sonar readouts to try and detect any enemies early. If you’re commanding a battleship, you can launch your helicopters or your jets to go and scout ahead. If you’re piloting a submarine, you might come to the surface to take a look around, before plunging back to undetectable depths. Everything seems steady.
Suddenly a pair of MiGs are closing on your position at high speed. Every system on board your ship is modular, and controlled individually. Do you launch flares and chaff to pre-emptively shield yourself from incoming fire? Should you order the crew to launch a missile in return? Or do you issue a recall order to your helicopters, to try and protect them from harm?
Making the choice for you, a missile slams into the stern of your ship. Now it’s all about damage control. You need to put out the fires and shut down any systems that might malfunction as a result of the damage. This is Sea Power at its best, when you’re making small-scale, moment-to-moment strategic decisions that nevertheless have big consequences.
If you want to try Sea Power for yourself, it’s just hit Steam early access for $44.99 / £37.79. Developer Triassic Games has also shared a huge roadmap, outlining dozens of additions and new features that are scheduled to arrive in the next 12 months. You can find the game right here.
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