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Review: S.C.S. - Dangerous Waters
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At the bottom of all the various stations
is the Task Bar. In common with all platforms, it has access
to the various stations, orders menu and damage report. It
has the history window, the time and accelerator display,
course and speed. Some information displayed here is platform
specific such as wind speed and direction to depth below keel.
You can also perform course, speed, depth/altitude changes
on the task bar.
Controlling where your platform goes
is done either via waypoints on the map, a general heading
or by clicking on the compass. In addition, the submarine
and ship can also control direction by use of the rudder.
Controlling the height and speed of
the MH-60R Multi-mission Helicopter and the P3-C Orion can
be done via selecting predetermined heights and different
speeds. Additionally, in the P3-C you have the ability to
control each engine individually. Of course playing with these
during normal flight can have some very interesting effects
on your plane. (Note: A joystick can be used. See Tom Cofield's
Aircraft Review included later in this review).
Some platforms may contain more or
less functionality in a station compared to another platform;
however, I will only cover the main function on each station.
F1 will take you to the Bridge on
the FFG, the Ship Control station on the submarines, and the
Pilot station on the MH-60R and the P-3C Orion.
F2 will take you to the Acoustic station
on the FFG, the Sonar Suite station on the submarines, and
the ATO station on the MH-60R and the Acoustic station on
the P-3C Orion.
F3 will take you to the ASTAC station
on the FFG, the Radar station on the submarines, and the Acoustic
station on the MH-60R and the Radar station on the P-3C Orion.
F4 will take you to the Hull Sonar
station on the FFG, the Radio-ESM station on the submarines,
and the Radar station on the MH-60R and the MAD/ESM station
on the P-3C Orion.
F5 will take you to the Navigation
station on all platforms.
F6 will take you to the Towed Array
station on the FFG, the Fire Control Suite station on the
submarines, and the MAD/ESM station on the MH-60R and the
TACCO station on the P-3C Orion.
F7 will take you to the Electronic
Warfare station on the FFG, the TMA station on the submarines,
and the Dipping station on the MH-60R and the Infrared Camera
station on the P-3C Orion.
F8 will take you to the Weapons Coordinator
station on the FFG, the Periscope-Stadimeter station on the
submarines.
F9 will take you to the TMA station
on the FFG, the Sail Bridge station on the submarines.
F10 will take you to the Weapons Control
station on the FFG.
F11 will take you to the Torpedo Control
station on the FFG.
F12 will take you to the Machine Gun
station on the FFG.
All stations and functions are there
for the player to control if you desire to do so. If you find
this overpowering or there are just some tasks that are too
mundane for you to care to do, you can invoke the Autocrew.
The Autocrew for each station or function can be turned on
and off at whim. This allows the player to jump in and out
of a station as he or she sees fit.
The various stations are laid out
in a manner that is uncluttered and easy to use.
Submariners have always rightly believed
that they have been hard done by compared to the more illustrious
branches of the navy, and this tradition continues in Dangerous
Waters. OK, so I might be slightly exaggerating.
All platforms excluding the submarine
come with the old-fashioned Mark 1 eyeball. When a submarine
is surfaced and you are on the bridge visual contacts seen
by the Mark I eyeball will not be registered in the submarine
Navigation station.
I also found several irritating factors
when using the Periscope-Stadimeter stations. In the Stadimeter
station (a subset of the Periscope station F8) to select the
reference platform you are first required to select the country
and then the platform. The process to select the United States
Harpers Ferry will take in total 25 mouse clicks. 16 to arrive
at the United States and another 9 to arrive at the Harpers
Ferry. Drop down menu's would have been far more practical.
 The
perspective of the image used in the Stadimeter (as the reference
against the image from the photo) is different to that used
in game and can make it difficult to gain an accurate AOB
(Angle On the Bow).
None of these issues will stop me
choosing a submarine; they are however, annoyances that are
out of place when compared with the rest of the stations.
I do have one complaint about the
implementation of the view system aboard the Oliver Hazard
Perry's Bridge station, the MH-60R Multi-mission Helicopter's
Pilot & ATO station and the P3-C Orion's Pilot station.
At these stations, you are unable to pan your view; instead,
you are limited to a narrow field of view either directly
in front or to the sides. When in the wings of the Oliver
Hazard Perry's Bridge station you have the ability to pan
from the bow to the stern with the view over the bow being
at 45 degrees. If you wish to go from the port side to the
starboard side it will take 3 clicks going through each of
the Bridge stations sub stations.
 The
time compression is from 1x, 2x, 4x, 8, and a maximum of 16x.
I feel that this battlefield environment does not lend itself
to 1024x time compression; however, there were times that
I felt that 64x compression could have been useful.
The full-fledge weather system had
to be cut. It had been planned that the weather could change
over time for the duration of a mission (with subtle states
between to lead into each other. The result being that if
the mission weather is set to rain, it will rain over the
entire 600 nm mile region for the entire mission.
There are no options for toning down
the AI. Sonalysts have allowed the player some benefits such
as quick reloads and repairs and the ability to be able to
'show truth'. Fear not, the Autocrew are quite good and the
use of them allows the player to grow and expand into the
various stations.
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