In the first game, the player picks a campaign for one of the sides and certain settings affecting the difficulty level (e.g. radar precision and volley dispersion). The American campaign is generally recommended for first-time players, as it is easier. Each side has advantages and disadvantages. For example, the US Navy has submarines, stronger aircraft, and, eventually the atomic bomb with poor torpedoes as a disadvantage. The IJN has excellent torpedoes, Kamikaze aircraft (including the Ohka superweapon), and the mighty Yamato.
During the campaign, the player goes through missions one-by-one. Most missions have the same goal: sink the enemy ships. There are also missions that involve destroying island bases, while under attack by enemy air forces. The missions start with anti-merchant shipping operations (pretty easy, since they don't shoot back) and escalate to, eventually, battleship and carrier engagements. The player can buy and upgrade ships of different types with Renown points earned by completing missions (points are given for sunk enemy ships and are taken away for heavily damaged or lost own ships). The maximum number of ships the player can bring into any battle is 3.
During battle, the player controls one of the sides. During the turn, each ship is controlled in order. A ship's turn consists of two phases: movement and action. During the movement phase, the ship can maneuver. During the action phase, the ship can fire (most ships), perform air strike operations (carriers), or deploy superweapons (late in the game, once per mission). Guns are fired by setting the desired direction and elevation. Not all turrets might be able to aim in a particular direction. Carriers can launch three types of air strikes: bombing runs, torpedo runs, and Kamikaze runs (Japan only). There are no fighters to attack or defend other aircraft. Carriers are unable to carry out flight operations at night. Ships can disengage by selecting that option during the movement phase three times (no action is possible during this), but only if their speed is at least 10 knots. Critical Existence Failure is averted to an extent by ships losing speed, have reduced anti-air defenses, and start taking on water if damaged in certain areas. A ship with enough holes below the waterline can still sink even if it still has HP, and successful torpedo hits are very good at doing that.
Atlantic Fleet revamps the graphics, modifies the game mechanics, and adds several game modes. Ships can now be permanently lost during campaign missions, if sunk or damaged sufficiently enough to be scuttled. However, new ships of the same class can be purchased for Renown points (if available; some classes only have a few ships). Subsystem Damage is in full effect, and successful and powerful hits on particular parts of the ship can result in damage/destruction of that system, turrets being the obvious target. Carrier mechanics are now different. Before performing air strikes, carriers now have to ready and launch fighters and/or bombers (2 turns). After all aircraft have finished their strikes (or have been shot down by AA defenses), they need to be recovered (1 turn) to start the cycle again. Additionally, only one side (the Royal Navy) has carriers. Disengaging from a battle now covers the ship in smoke, which obscures it, preventing accurate weapon locks (making it that much harder to keep enemy ships from escaping). Destroyers are now more effective at anti-submarine warfare. Torpedoes no longer stray from the target but can take several turns to reach it, depending on the distance; they can also be fired in volleys in several directions.
There are now historical battles that can be played out from either side.
The new Battle of the Atlantic Dynamic Campaign puts the player in a more strategic role. The goal of the Allied campaign is to protect merchant shipping, while hunting down and sinking German ships. The Axis campaign requires the player to sink Allied merchant ships, while avoiding losing too many warships.
Both games are sure to satisfy any World War II naval buff, but be warned: the game is not designed to bring absolute realism. Both sides in each game are balanced, and there are some creative liberties, such as the presence of tactical nukes in Pacific Fleet and planned but never completed battleships in Atlantic Fleet.
The games provide examples of:
- 100% Completion: Each campaign mission can be completed for a maximum of 3 stars (all enemy ships sunk with no losses). However, only 1 star is necessary to advance to the next mission. Since the number of stars tends to be dependent on the amount of Renown points earned, it's beneficial to strive for a 3-star completion.
- Anti-Frustration Feature: Since so many dynamic campaign battles for Germany in Atlantic Fleet involve sinking merchant ships and their escorts, the developers have added a feature that allows the player to end the battle with all merchant ships sunk, provided that there are no more escorts remaining. This not only saves the time (and frustration), but also saves ammo, especially for U-boats.
- Arbitrary Headcount Limit: In Pacific Fleet, the player can select no more than 3 ships for each battle. In the campaign, the ships must be of different classes (e.g. can't put 2 Iowa-class battleships into one fleet). Custom battles don't have the latter restriction (e.g. you can fight a battle of 3 Iowas facing off 3 Yamatos). In Atlantic Fleet, the restriction of 3 ships per fleet still applies in the mission-based campaign, although the player is allowed to purchase and use 3 ships of the same class (as long as that class has that many ships available) and is limited to a total of 10 ship pool to choose from. In the dynamic campaign, the player starts out with the maximum of 30 ships spread out all over the Atlantic. The number of ships per battle has been increased to 10. If ships are lost, more can be purchased for Renown points (gained by sinking enemy warships; merchant ships don't count) up to the 30-ship limit.
- Artistic License – History: Each side in Atlantic Fleet has access to a class of battleship that were never built in Real Life. The Royal Navy has the Lion class (Lion and Temeraire), and the Kriegsmarine has the H-39 class (Hutten and Berlichingen). In reality, four of the six Lion-class battleships (the only four to receive names) were laid down but eventually scrapped before completion, while the H-39 class never went past the drawing board. Even the names of the latter were never even agreed upon. The closest we have are notes by Hitler suggesting naming them after medieval German knights Ulrich von Hutten and Götz von Berlichingen. To be fair to the developers, though, they do give the option of disabling non-historical ships.
- Artistic License – Ships: Despite the realistic-looking models, the game takes a number of liberties for the sake of gameplay. For example, all ships have the same exact rate of fire, regardless of class or size. So a destroyer's 5-inch guns can fire once per turn, just like the Yamato's 18-inch guns. In reality, of course, a destroyer can fire its guns much quicker than a battleship due to the significantly reduced reload time. The only exceptions are torpedoes, which take several turns to reload. Submarines can also dive and surface much quicker than the Real Life subs of that time period could.
- Bigger Is Better: Played straight. Bigger ships also tend to have bigger guns and be able to soak up more damage. While they're also slower, speed is not such a big factor in the game. Battleships tend to rule the seas here, as it can be difficult for carriers to flee outside the range of their huge guns (they never spawn outside the range), and a single lucky hit from those monsters can disable or destroy the flight deck. In Pacific Fleet, the Yamato is the king of this trope. Atlantic Fleet has many battleships and battlecruisers (mostly on the British side), including two battleships classes that were never built in Real Life (the H-39 class for Germany and the Lion class for Britain). At the same time, a lucky submarine torpedo can sink a powerful battleship or a carrier.
- Boring, but Practical: In Atlantic Fleet, U-Boats for the Germans. You're not going to be getting into exciting gun battles with them, but they are very good for taking out convoys. In fact, they can border on being a
Game-Breaker, because you can sink the Royal Navy's capital ships without fear of retaliation. By the time the AI notices your torpedo spread, you'll have long since dived out of range of the bombers' depth charges (not those of destroyers, though). It gets even better with Type XXI subs, which can move at their full 18 knots underwater and can reload torpedoes much faster than others. On the other hand, if you've let the game get to this point, it may be too difficult to win. - Bottomless Magazines: Played straight in Pacific Fleet. Averted in Atlantic Fleet, where each ship has an counter of a particular type of ammunition (e.g. 11" shells, 5.9" shells, torpedoes). Except for the torpedoes (usually a low number), there is rarely a need to conserve ammo in single battles of mission-based campaigns, since battles usually end before a ship runs out. However, it becomes important in the Battle of the Atlantic dynamic campaign, where it's fairly easy, especially for submarines, to run out of ammo in several battles. The Royal Navy has several ports on the map where ships can resupply. The Kriegsmarine initially has only one area (several more are added as the campaign progresses), but there are two resupply ships in the Atlantic which can be used in the same manner.
- Breather Level: In Pacific Fleet, some missions feel that way, although, as a rule, the difficulty of the campaign increases progressively with each mission. For example, you might be fighting heavy cruisers, and then one mission will once again have you going after unarmed transports with a meager escort. Additionally, any mission where you're facing carriers or an island base at night automatically becomes a cakewalk, since aircraft can't operate at night in this game (just make sure to bring something other than carriers into this battle).
- Brits with Battleships: The Royal Navy is one of the sides in Atlantic Fleet. True to the trope name, the Royal Navy has 5 classes of battleships available to the player (Queen Elizabeth, Revenge, Nelson, King George V, and the never-completed in Real Life Lion), not to mention 2 battlecruiser classes (Renown and Admiral). There are also 2 carrier (Courageous and Illustrious) and 2 escort carrier (Attacker and Bogue) classes. Additionally, some of the available ship classes are American, including the Bogue-class escort carriers and the North Carolina-class battleships.
- The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: In the Atlantic Fleet dynamic campaign, the AI will keep on replacing lost warships and subs, even if you haven't lost any of your own ships, which is, according to the rules, the only way the enemy is supposed to be able to earn Renown points (the only currency in the game). If the AI played by the same rules that bind you, it should not be able to keep buying more ships/subs without any Renown points. The only thing the AI is most definitely not allowed to do is to re-use destroyed ships (unless enabled in Settings).
- AI controlled ships have the physics-defying ability to go from full-ahead to full-astern the next turn, even if they haven't collided with anything. It's not such a factor for gunnery, but if you were relying on that destroyer being hit by your last torpedo ...
- Cool Boat: The Type XXI submarine for Germany is twice as fast as the other two types (VII and IX) when submerged, is much more maneuverable, and has 6 forward-launching torpedo tubes instead of 4. Additionally, it can reload 1 torpedo per turn, while the others can only reload 1 every 3 turns. It does have some disadvantages, such as the lack of a deck gun (meaning, it can only rely on its fairly limited number of torpedoes) or rear torpedo tubes. Unlike the other sub types, the XXI never needs to surface, as it does not increase its speed. It's also much more expensive (15,000 Renown points vs. 2100 and 2600 for VII and IX, respectively). Additionally, during the Dynamic Campaign, the sub type appears fairly late in the gameplay (3rd week of September, 1943).
- Critical Existence Failure: Played mostly straight in Pacific Fleet, although ships can sink if hit enough times below the waterline even if they still have HP. Averted in Atlantic Fleet, which uses Real Life buoyancy physics to determine if a ship will sink or swim. A ship can even stay afloat longer if the enemy keeps hitting it below the waterline on both sides, as this prevents capsizing. Although, if you manage to hit a magazine, this trope does apply.
- Experience Points: In Atlantic Fleet Campaign and Dynamic Campaign modes, ships earn experience points for sinking enemy ships, with XP directly affected by the total tonnage sunk. All player ships that participate in a battle share XP, even ships that are sunk. At higher levels, ship have increased damage resistance, better fire extinguishing methods, a reduced risk of a magazine explosion, faster subsystem repair, increased aircraft durability (for carriers), and more effective anti-air guns. Sunk ships lose all XP.
- Fog of War: In Atlantic Fleet, there is an option to reduce visibility based on the time of day and weather conditions. This allows for Real Life-like beyond-visual-range targeting via radar only (although the game still allows you to switch your POV to the target ship and adjust the direction to hit a specific part). When firing at a target BVR, adjusting the angle is more difficult since the game no longer provides hints due to splashes being so far away. However, if a ship is on fire, it automatically becomes visible at any range. Additionally, battles at night automatically have a reduced visual range, with enemies frequently being visible only as radar blips unless fairly close. Exceptions include ships on fire and ships illuminated by star shells (which only last a few turns). Also, subs that are submerged beyond periscope depth can only track enemies using sonar (provided it hasn't been damaged). However, the players still see all the ships in the combat area, with the main difficulty coming from being unable to see ship names on the radar/sonar map.
- Friendly Fireproof: Averted in Pacific Fleet. Played straight in Atlantic Fleet. In fact, in Atlantic Fleet, torpedoes will simply pass through friendly targets as if they weren't there.
- Glass Cannon: From the viewpoint of battleships, the North Carolina-class battleships in Atlantic Fleet are heavy hitters (16-inch shells) with sub-par armor (12-inch), though the 1.11 update states that they have been "made a little more resilient". The same can be said for British battlecruisers (Renown and Admiral classes) and German Deutschland-class heavy cruisers (the so-called "pocket battleships"), which feature battleship-grade weapons and cruiser-grade armor.
- Submarines can dish out a lot of hurt in the form of torpedoes but can barely take a single hit.
- Hot Sub-on-Sub Action: Averted in Pacific Fleet, as the IJN completely lacks submarines. Can be played straight in Atlantic Fleet, as both sides here have subs, and it is much harder for subs to avoid being hit by a torpedo (although diving deeper is an easy counter, as torpedoes can only hit them if they're at periscope depth or surfaced). Averted in the dynamic campaign, though, where submarines will never engage one another on the campaign map and the side with warships in the same area will only use the warships in the battle. Germany has a slight advantage with Type XXI U-boats, the first type of modern submarine (i.e. a vessel designed to stay submerged for long periods rather than a surface ship that can dive). They are fast (for a sub), maneuverable, and reload every turn rather than every other turn (i.e. they can spam torpedoes more than the other sub types). Their disadvantages come from a lack of a deck gun and aft torpedo tubes and a steep price tag (as much as a light cruiser).
- Katanas of the Rising Sun: The Imperial Japanese Navy is one of the sides in Pacific Fleet. The main differences from the US Pacific Fleet include much better torpedoes (less prone to Misguided Torpedo antics or becoming duds), lack of submarines, kamikaze aircraft, and the addition of the powerful Yamato battleship in addition to the Kongō battleship that is the normal counter to the American Iowa.
- Killed Off for Real: In Atlantic Fleet, sunk or scuttled ships cannot be re-used in either the mission-based campaign or the dynamic campaign, although it can be enabled in the latter (the creators actually recommend disabling this trope in the dynamic campaign for Germany due to its lower number of surface ships). Identical ships can be re-purchased, provided there are ships of the same class still available.
- Lead the Target: Averted for the most part due to the game's turn-based nature. Instead of shooting while moving, ships, effectively, move then shoot at stationary targets. Shots always hit the same turn they're fired. Played straight for torpedoes in Atlantic Fleet, if launched from beyond about 2000 yards (the distance a torpedo typically travels per turn). This requires anticipating where the target is likely to be in 2 or 3 turns. Launching multiple torpedoes simultaneously at different vectors increases those odds.
- Macross Missile Massacre: In Atlantic Fleet, ships and submarines can launch several torpedoes at the same time (up to 8 for a sub and up to 10 for one destroyer class) at different bearings. Given that it frequently takes several turns for torpedoes to reach the target, this is a necessity to leave the enemy no room to maneuver out of the way. This is balanced by slow reload times (usually 1 torpedo per 2 or 3 turns), although German Type XXI U-boats are able to reload 1 torpedo per turn.
- Misguided Torpedo: Torpedoes in Pacific Fleet don't always swim straight. In fact, they tend to curve and can often miss the target if launched far enough away. It will continue traveling for a short distance and may hit another ship (including yours). The accuracy can be improved with upgrades. Also, torpedoes can fail to detonate when hitting the target, resulting in a dud. This tends to happen with American torpedoes. There are upgrades to decrease the likelihood of that happening as well. In Atlantic Fleet, torpedoes always swim straight, but, since it can take them several turns to reach the target, the target can maneuver out of the way. Also, torpedoes always detonate when hit, but they will not arm if the target is too close.
- Mutual Kill: A possibility in Atlantic Fleet with the You Are Already Dead mechanic. For example, a ship receives a critical hit but is still able to function the next turn. During that turn, she sinks the enemy but blows up or sinks just before the battle ends. It's also possible for a ship to be too damaged to be repaired, which results in the game automatically scuttling it after the battle. Additionally, since torpedoes can take multiple turns to reach a target in Atlantic Fleet, it's possible for a ship or a sub to launch torpedoes and then be sunk the following turn. If there are more ships/subs of that side in the battle, then the torpedoes have a chance of completing their run and sinking the target.
- Nazis with Gnarly Weapons: The Kriegsmarine is one of the sides in Atlantic Fleet. Unlike the Royal Navy, it has 3 types of U-boats (since the main goal of the dynamic campaign for Germany is to sink Allied merchant shipping). On the heavy side, the Kriegsmarine has 3 battleship classes (Scharnhorst, Bismarck, and H-39) of 2 ships each. The Kriegsmarine has no carriers or battlecruisers, although the Deutschland-class heavy cruisers fit this role with their 11' guns (same as on the Scharnhorst class).
- Nuke 'em: The American superweapon in Pacific Fleet is the atomic bomb. It appears to be a tactical nuke dropped from a bomber. Any ships in its direct blast radius is destroyed, and those nearby are damaged.
- Point Defenseless: Ships tend to have fairly decent anti-air systems, which automatically attempt to shoot down any bomber bearing in on them or friendly ships nearby. This encourages ships to stay together to boost one another's AA defenses. However, they're also typically the first system to get damaged.
- Ramming Always Works: One way for larger ships to sink smaller ships is to ram them, although the AI is generally pretty good about avoiding collisions. It's also a reliable way to sink submarines, since most anti-submarine weapons (only available on destroyers and some smaller ships) are only facing forward or backward. Plus, torpedoes won't arm within a 1000-foot range, so a ship within that range is pretty safe from the sub. However, once again, the AI tends to dive the sub if it notices a ship bearing down on the boat.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: In both games, AI-controlled ships will attempt to disengage if heavily damaged. Leaving the battle requires the ship to execute the "Disengage" command 3 turns in a row, during which time the enemy will try to pound the ship, attempting to damage the drive systems, as leaving the battle is only possible at speeds over 10 knots. Carriers (even those with turrets) usually attempt to leave if their flight decks are rendered inoperable. In Atlantic Fleet, the "Smoke" command replaces the "Disengage" command. The ship still has to use it 3 times in a row to leave but now has the added advantage of the smoke interfering with accurate target locks. Subs must break sonar contact in order to disengage (their submerged speed is always under 10 knots, except for Type XXI). This can be done by diving deeper, but enemy depth charges can also result in sonar interference. There is an option to prevent enemy surface ships from disengaging (subs can still leave if not under sonar lock), although that tends to remove some of the challenge. Unarmed ships are unable to disengage or employ smoke. However, they will automatically leave if the nearest enemy is 40,000 yards away.
- Subsystem Damage: Mostly absent in Pacific Fleet. Fully present in Atlantic Fleet. Subsystems have 4 states, which are Color-Coded for Your Convenience: gray - undamaged, yellow - light damage, orange - heavy damage, red - destroyed. Some subsystems cannot be destroyed and can be repaired after a while. Damaging a ship's propulsion temporarily reduces its top speed (heavy damage reduces it to zero). Damaging a ship's steering results in the ship losing the ability to affect course, which includes continuing to turn, if the ship was turning the previous turn. The "Pumps" subsystem can never be repaired in-battle and indicates that the ship is taking on water. At this point, it's generally recommended for the ship to disengage in order to avoid sinking from either being hit again or simply with the passage of time. A sonar-equipped ship can lose the ability to detect submarines, if the sonar is damaged or destroyed. Weapons can only fire if they're undamaged. A carrier with a damaged or destroyed "Aircraft" subsystem cannot launch or receive planes, although fighters/bombers that are already in the air can still be used. A submarine with a damaged "Pressure Hull" has a chance of sinking when surfacing or diving.
- Suicide Attack: In Pacific Fleet, IJN carriers can perform suicide air strikes. The Japanese superweapon is the Ohka, which slams into the target ship, dealing tremendous damage.
- Timed Mission: In Atlantic Fleet, the entire game is one for the Germans. If you don't defeat the Brits by 1941, then the United States will enter the war and the tonnage you must sink vastly increases. And if you don't defeat the Allies by 1944, they will execute D-Day and it's game over.
- Turn-Based Tactics: The games largely focus on the player commanding a small group of ships rather than a strategic view. Atlantic Fleet's dynamic campaign adds a limited strategic layer, requiring the player to carefully position ships around the Atlantic in order to accomplish the campaign goal (sink/protect merchant shipping, depending on the side).
- We Win, Because You Didn't: All the Royal Navy needs to do to win the dynamic campaign in Atlantic Fleet is to survive until 1944, at which point the game announces that Britain now has enough supplies to launch D-Day, meaning the Battle of the Atlantic is over. However, Brits can win faster if they sink German warships and subs. If they sink a certain tonnage of enemy ships, the game will end with the message that Germany's heavy losses force them to stop trying to sink Allied shipping, meaning D-Day will go on as planned.
- Yanks with Tanks: The US Pacific Fleet is one of the sides in Pacific Fleet. One of the carrier classes available to the Royal Navy in Atlantic Fleet is the Bogue-class escort carrier, which can be seen waving the American flag. A later patch also added American North Carolina-class battleships for the Royal Navy.
- You Are Already Dead: Occasionally, a ship might not sink immediately upon being hit and may appear to have survived at first, only to sink and/or blow up the next turn. This is usually the result of the game calculating the effect of the hit.
