THE SPECTRUM GAMES DATABASE

OCEAN CONQUEROR

PUBLISHER
Rack-It

AUTHOR

YEAR
1987

CATEGORY
Strategy

DESCRIPTION
This game is a submarine simulator.

CONTROLS
Keyboard, Kempston, Cursor

 KEYS :  Throttle up               - Q
          "      down              - A
          Rudder left              - 5  }
          right               - 8  }
      Hydroplanes up          - 7  } Joystick controls
      Hydroplanes down        - 6  }
      Fire missile            - 0  }
      Fire torpedo            - 9
      (Fire torpedo           - 5  - Kempston only)

      Missile up              - 7  }
         "      down          - 6  } Joystick controls
      Missile left  *         - 5  }
         "      right *       - 8  }

      * Pressing fire (0) turns faster

      Toggle ballast inlet valve   - W
         "      "    outlet valve  - S
      Toggle radar range           - R  (5 or 10 miles)
      Increase periscope mag.      - P
      Decrease     "      "        - O
      Periscope left/right         - 1/2     (faster with CAPS
                                                        SHIFT)
      Toggle diesel/electric engine- B
      Air compressor on/off        - V
      Rudder lock on/off           - 4
      Toggle map                   - M        
      Toggle time acceleration     - SYM SHIFT

      Toggle motor sound on/off    - N
      Pause                        - H


INSTRUCTIONS
As the commander of a submarine, it's your job to destroy four
convoys, each consisting of a freighter and two destroyers.
 
Having selected the difficulty level (Captain is easiest, Admiral
is hardest) and the weather conditions (press F if you want fog
to appear), press ENTER to start the game.

You start the game docked on a friendly island. The top third of
the screen shows the view through the periscope, while the bottom
two thirds are taken up with four windows showing various pieces
of information. The left-hand window shows, from top to bottom:

 1) Torpedoes remaining (the blue circles).
 2) Missiles remaining (the magenta star-shaped objects)
 3) Torpedoes and missiles currently loaded in the tubes.
 4) Sub status - the graphic of the submarine changes colour to
show the area and severity of damage.
 5) Ships sunk - little graphics of the enemy casualties appear
here.

  The central window shows:

 1) BTTM - Depth of water (in feet) below the submarine.
 2) PA     - Periscope angle, relative to the bow of the sub; 0
             is straight ahead.
 3) MAGN - Magnification of the periscope (from x1 to x8)
 4) BRG    - The bearing in degrees, clockwise from north.
 5) RDD    - Rudder angle, in degrees. To the right a sign
             illuminates it if the rudder is locked. Initially
             0 and unlocked.
 6) VSI    - Vertical speed indicator, showing the rate of climb
             or descent. To the left a sign illuminates if the
             radar/sonar display is set to five miles.

The central bottom display is the radar/sonar display, which has
a range of five or ten miles, initially ten miles. To the right
of this is a display showing:

 1) BTT    - A graph shows battery power remaining.
 2) FUEL - Another graph shows fuel remaining.
 3) DPT    - Depth gauge "fills up" to show how deep you've gone.
 4) BLST - Angle of hydroplanes and amount of ballast on board.
 5) THR    - Thrust meter.
 6) SPD    - Speed.
 7) Status lights: BATTFUEL - which is in use at the moment.
             ELECTRIC - electric engine running.
             DIESEL   - diesel engine running.
             AIRCOMPR - air compressor running.
             TIME       - time remaining.
 8) AIR  - Compressed air remaining.

Your first task will be to locate an enemy convoy, indicated on
the map screen. As your sub only has a top speed of 22 mph,
you'll need to make use of the accelerated time feature (which
speeds up the game by about 30 times) to cross the large map area
quickly. Having sighted a convoy, you need to be within 1.5 miles
to be able to hit them with a torpedo. The torpedoes travel twice
as fast as the sub. Alternatively, you could fire a wire-guided
missile, but this is rather harder to control.

Once you've attacked, of course, the destroyers will be alerted.
If you're on or near the surface they'll shell you; if you dive,
they'll depth-charge you. Sitting on the sea bed with your
engines off is a good way of fooling them into thinking you've
left the area. However, you need to have enough compressed air
on board to be able to blow the ballast tanks and return to the
surface; if you run out of compressed air, you're stuck.
Compressed air is produced by a compressor attached to the sub's
diesel engine (which also recharges the batteries), but  this can
only be run on the surface. Underwater, you can only use battery
power.

You only have a limited amount of ammunition and fuel on board,
so you'll need to return to a dock to rearm and refuel. The map
gives the location and co-ordinates of your two docks. Docking
is quite tricky and needs some practice! (Hint: going in slowly
is a good idea...). You also have a time limit before the four
enemy convoys cross the map and reach their destination.

SCORES RECEIVED
Crash: "The best submarine simulation in the fleet". RATING : 77%
(CRASH #45, October 1987)