Last November I got a chance to go hands on with a preview version of Sea Power: Naval Combat in the Missile Age. The naval combat simulator then moved into early access and has been available for purchase though Steam since then. The developers, Triassic Games AB, have been busy updating the experience ever since and I thought it was well past time to once again have a look at how things are going.

Enhancing those missile duels

For months now, Triassic Games has been releasing regular updates for Sea Power. They have been roughly following their roadmap (with a few detours) while also working to rectify some of the games shortcomings while adding new content and experiences.

One of the biggest features that I was waiting for was the ability to save and load up scenarios. Sea Power missions can be long and sometimes a full gameplay timeslot just isn’t possible. Being able to save, load it back up again, save, and continue when you can just makes a lot of sense. The feature has been planned for quite some time but back in March the developers released an initial version of it. Since then, its been through several iterations and although its still sometimes unreliable in saving scenarios, it does sound like recent improvements have sorted some of that out. I didn’t have a great time with it the last time I checked but they may have fixed that bug since then.

The sim has gradually been adding in new assets too. Japan’s JMSDF was added in April bringing eight ships, the Japanese specific F-4EJ and the HSS-2.

With such an extensive list of vehicles in the sim already, its inevitable that fixes would be needed and so many of the patch notes have been focused on solving major and minor glitches. A weapon system not working as it should, a helicopter launch animation clipping through a solid object, the wrong ammo count on a tank, and… you get the idea.

The developers have not been blind for the need for new content either. The first official campaign, Calculus of Conflict, was released in July exploring a conflict between the Warsaw Pact and NATO with scenarios set in both the Atlantic and Pacific. The campaign makes use of a new linear campaign system with branching missions with player action affecting the future outcome. It reportedly helps the devs set the stage for a future dynamic campaign which, like other dynamic campaign projects in other sims you may have read about, has been set back on their timeline while the developers tackle more core issues.

Community created campaigns have started to come out together with various mod packages that add even more aircraft and ships to the experience. The devs themselves have also added some new categories of object with one of the most interesting being the “biologic” aka whales. What are whales doing in naval sim? Well they make your underwater environment more interesting. Is that sonar contact an enemy submarine at the edge of your scanning range or a pod of whales? It adds to the fog of war experience.

Future plans

Sea Power is approaching its first year of public release and it seems clear that while the project has not quite reached its fully release status, there is a lot of work going on to develop and improve the experience.

Two areas I’ve not yet touched on are AI and the game engine itself. Triassic Games have made it clear that they intend to do a Unity 6 game engine update. The roll-out started earlier in the year and the aim has been to improve performance, especially in asset rich environments (ships, planes, dozens of missiles and thousands of bullets could all be on screen at once). It sounds like the process will continue to occur and hopefully it will provide the necessary performance enhancements to make large scale engagements more viable for more players.

The AI is the other big plank of what the team are working on. The developers plan to unify their own AI logic, add the ability for mods to extend capabilities, and ultimately allow for a better overall AI experience. Sea Power’s AI is capable in specifically scripted environments but there are parts of the AI system that don’t seem to handle evolving scenarios well and players are naturally hoping to see more of a challenge from their opponents. Aerial battles leave a fair bit to be desired right now too and while I think it has gotten better from initial launch, the AI does do some things that just seem off and a lot of micromanagement is needed if you want to come out ahead.

Of course, the developers still intend to offer an expansive dynamic campaign with branching missions all built on a core scenario that you then evolve as you play it. It sounds incredible and also seemingly difficult to implement. In the meantime, a mix of community and developer scenarios seems to be offering quite a bit of opportunity to have fun with the still early access title.

How is early access going?

Early access as a concept remains controversial but it is commonplace nowadays for developers to release and iterate on the product during that early access period. It comes with risks too as a bad update or a series of intractable problems can sour opinions. Still, Sea Power seems to have dodged most of those issues and reviews on Steam remain in the Very Positive range out of 115 recent reviews and 2,535 total English language reviews. The game is already fun and has a lot of features and now has quite a bit of content to enjoy as well. Some of that comes from the community and some from the official developers but in either case, its a lot more than during the early days.

This is all a great sign for what amounts to a small development team published by MicroProse and tackling a genre of game that no major developer has tackled in many years. Sea Power remains impressive even in its unfinished state offering lots of tension, interesting and challenging gameplay, and fistfuls of Cold War era assets to throw at the enemy… or have thrown back at you.

Triassic Games intended for their early access period to last approximately 8-12 months according to their Steam statement. Ten months into that process, I’m not sure if they will hit their stated goal, however, Sea Power does continue to evolve in a positive direction and while some features like Dynamic Campaign have been extended from initial estimates, other parts of the experience are tightening up nicely. I hope they continue to succeed and deliver ultimately on their goals.

Learn more about Sea Power: Naval Combat in the Missile Age from their Steam Store and Steam Community sections. The game is $49.99 USD with no expectations of a price increase post launch. Sea Power has also participated in various Steam sales over the last 10 months offering up small discounts if you like to hunt for a bargain.