QUICKSTART TUTORIAL
12/22/92

An Engagement
=============
    The simplest situation you can play is the scenario that pits the 
British battleship Prince of Wales against the German battleship 
Bismarck. To get started playing Great Naval Battles: North Atlantic 
1939-1943 quickly, just play along with the following directions. 
These introduce you to the major features of the tactical levels of 
the game.

    After the opening routine finishes, select "SCENARIO" from the 
"CHOOSE GAME" menu, then select "GERMAN" from the "CHOOSE SIDES" 
menu.  "LOAD" the first Engagement offered, "Gunnery Practice: The 
Bismarck Toe-to-Toe with the Prince of Wales." If you want some 
background on this Engagement, read the description on p. 28 of the 
manual.

    The first station you see is the Flag Bridge, with its large map 
dominating the center and left of your screen, and the Ship Control 
Area on the right. The game is automatically paused when you get to 
this point (as indicated in the upper left of the map), so feel free 
to take a minute to look around.

    First of all, take a look at the map. In the center you see a 
blue line with a white tip and a red square around it. That is the 
currently active ship, the Bismarck You can tell this by looking in 
the upper right of the screen, at the top of the Ship Control Area 
where the Name Plaque shows the name. Or, you can move the cursor to 
the box containing the "N" in the upper left portion of the map frame 
(fourth one down), and click the left mouse button. This turns the 
name filter on, and the ship's name is displayed next to the icon on 
the map. The other boxes with letters in them are other "filters" 
that turn on and off other kinds of information. We'll check out a 
few others in a bit.

    Before we do, though, take another look in the upper left of the 
map. Above the word "Paused" you see that the time of day is 8:15 in 
the morning (the game uses a military clock, so 8:15 in the evening 
would be 20:15 hours), and the speed of play is at 1:1 (x1).  This is 
"real time"; one second on your watch equals one second of time 
simulated in the game. If at some points the action seems too slow 
for your taste, you can speed the game clock up by selecting the 
"SPEED" item of the "OPTIONS" menu on the menu bar.

    "What menu bar?" I hear you cry. Why, the one you call up by 
pressing the right mouse button. Do this, move the cursor over the 
"OPTIONS" menu, and click with the left mouse button. You should now 
see the various items you can select here, the game "SPEED" among 
them.  However, it's probably better to take things slow at this 
point, so click the right mouse button again to get rid of the menus 
without selecting any item.

    Looking back at the map, there are two other items of interest 
right now. First, in the lower right is a number. This shows the wind 
speed. If the wind speed is greater than 0 knots there would be an 
arrow associated with this number. These are useful because a strong 
wind can affect the accuracy of your gunnery. If you are firing at 
long range perpendicular to the wind direction, your shells tend to 
drift in the direction the wind is blowing. If you are firing into 
the wind, the spray it whips off the waves degrades your gun's 
accuracy in less predictable ways.

    The second thing to look for on the map is the grid, the square 
mesh superimposed on the blue of the water. You can turn it on and 
off using the "G" filter in the upper left of the map frame. Go ahead 
and try it!, but leave it on for now. Each line is 10,000 yards from 
its neighbors. Since battleships can fire about 40,000 yards, the 
grid makes it easy to tell whether an enemy ship is in range.

    You may wonder, "Where is the enemy ship?" The easiest way to 
find it is to zoom the map out, so that it shows a larger area of 
ocean. You can do this by pressing the up arrow in the very upper 
right of the map frame. You can tell that the map has been zoomed out 
because the grid lines are closer together. They are still 10,000 
yards apart, so the area of ocean displayed has gone from 70,000 x 
70,000 yards to 140,000 x 140,000 yards. And there, about 20,000 
yards south of the Bismarck, lies the Prince of Wales. You can tell 
it's British by its color, and you can tell it's the Prince of Wales 
because it says so right there on the map (you did leave the name 
filter on, didn't you?).

    We have met the enemy, but he is not ours. Yet, anyway. Before we 
unpause the game so the ships can start blowing the stuffing out of 
each other, let's explore a bit further and form a plan of action. 
The first question is whether the two ships are within range of each 
other, which we can learn by turning the "M" filter on (on the left 
side of the map frame, remember?), which displays two circles showing 
the maximum range of each ship's big guns. No question here, both 
ships are well within range of the other. Turn that filter off, and 
try the next one down, the "S" for the secondary armament. Here's 
something interesting! The Bismarck is just within range of the 
Prince of Wales' secondaries, but our secondaries have a somewhat 
greater range. Since the British ship has ten main guns to our eight 
(albeit 14" against 15"), we can gain some advantage by moving a bit 
farther out so that our six port-side 5.9" guns can harass His 
Highness while his 5.25" popguns can't touch us.

    Okay, so how do we do this maneuver? It's time to look at the 
Ship Controls on the right side of the screen. First of all, check 
the Control Mode Selector, to make sure it's set to "M", for manual 
control (if it's set to "A", or automatic mode, none of the controls 
below have any effect; the computer is in complete control of the 
ship until you switch the selector to "M" ["No, I don't think that's 
a good idea, Dave. I really think you should reconsider, Dave. Daave, 
oi dooond theengk eu shuud ...  ]).

    Whew, that was close. Anyway, now that you have control of the 
ship, the question is what to do with it. First of all, you want to 
make sure that the main guns are targeted on the Prince of Wales, so 
when you unpause the game your gunners will begin firing their guns 
immediately.  Move the cursor over the upper box below "Main Target" 
and click. A dialog box appears at the top of the map, listing the 
"Pr Wales". Point and click on that, and look for two things. First, 
the name of the enemy ship should appear in the box right below "Main 
Target", and second, a diamond should appear around the enemy ship on 
the map. (If these don't happen, click on the box below "Main Target" 
again and be careful in pointing and clicking on the "Pr Wales". 
There are no points for sinking "NO TARGET".)

    Next, you should set up the maneuver that brings you out of the 
enemy's secondary gun range. You can do this by using the "Course" 
controls a little above the "Main Target" control you just used. Find 
the number "270" with the arrows pointing in either direction away 
from it and click on the right arrow. The number will change to 
"271", which means that the Bismarck will alter its course just to 
the north of west (remember, 270 is due West, 180 is due South, and 
90 is due east, and 0/360 is due North on a compass). Since this 
brings us out of range only ever so slowly, keep clicking on that 
left arrow until it reads "300" (if you overshoot, use the left arrow 
to bring the number back down). This course should bring the Prince 
of Wales' guns out of range quickly, while still keeping it within 
the range of fire of the Bismarck's secondary guns.

    One final thing before you unpause the game. Click on the right 
arrow under "SPEED" until the number reads "30". There's no point 
poking along.

    Now you're ready for the action to begin. Click the right mouse 
button to get the menu bar, click on the OPTION menu, and choose the 
item PAUSE GAME. Note that in the future you can also pause and 
unpause the game by pressing the hot key combination Alt-P.

    Almost immediately, you will hear the sound of gunfire, but not 
much else will happen. This is because the main guns have fired, and 
the shells are in the air. At 20,000 yards, it takes some time for 
them to reach their target. To get a better view of the action, let's 
go to the main gunnery station. Click the right mouse button, then 
click on the STATIONS menu, and then on the MAIN GUN item. As soon as 
you see the new screen hit Alt-P to pause the game for a minute.

    As you look at this station, note the small version of the map in 
the upper right corner. Since it looks pretty crowded, press twice on 
the down arrow in the upper right of the frame, which zooms it to 
about the right level. Checking out the overhead view at the bottom 
of the station you can see that the main guns are pointed south, 
which is good, since that's where the enemy is. On the other hand, 
there's nothing to be seen in the binoculars in the upper right. The 
reason is that they're pointed due north, directly away from the 
Prince of Wales. You can see this from the bearing readout above (it 
points to "0"). Fortunately, the director has already targeted the 
Prince of Wales, as you can see by its name in the lower portion of 
the binoculars, so click on the black "L" just to the left of the 
outside view, and when the "L" changes to white, the binoculars 
automatically center on the enemy ship. (This automatic lock is a 
handy feature, but it may cause you problems in future games with 
multiple enemy ships to watch. The left and right arrows on either 
side of the outside view normally swing the binoculars to the left 
and right, but not when the lock is on. Keep this in mind when you 
have to move between two or three enemy ships in other scenarios!)

    (By the way, the same is true of the "C", or center, filter on 
the map and the up/down or left/right scroll arrows (triangles) on 
the bottom and right of the frame. While the "C" is on, the map tries 
to remain centered between the active ship and its target. When the 
"C" is off, you can scroll all over the place. For now, just leave 
the "C" on.)

    You can tell the binoculars' automatic lock-on has worked because 
the readout above the binoculars now points to "180". But you still 
can't see much out there! Press the down arrow (triangle) just to the 
right of the outside view, and you will see the "X1" in the 
binoculars change to "X2". This means that their magnification has 
been increased. Sure enough, there in the middle of the outside view 
the black dot changes into a ship!  Press the down arrow again, and 
the ship becomes larger ("X4"). Two more clicks and you'll see a full 
sized ship there. Your enemy awaits.


    Before you unpause the game, take a moment to see how your crew 
has the gunnery set up. The left hand knob below the binoculars is 
set to "BSIDE", which means "Broadside", or that all main guns are 
firing together at the same target. Depending on the number and 
location of the enemy, you can also set this knob to control the 
forward ("FWD") and aft turrets separately. The knob on the right 
side is set to "SPOT", which means that the gun crews wait for each 
salvo to hit before firing another.  This avoids wasting ammunition 
before the exact aim has been determined.  Later, this is switched to 
"FULL", so that each salvo will be sent on its way as soon as it is 
loaded. The time to reload is given in the readout to the right of 
"Ready", while the time left before the salvo in the air hits is show 
under "TOT" (for "Time on Target").

    Now unpause the game and watch the TOT number count down. When it 
reaches zero, you will see splashes around the Prince of Wales, and 
you can also see green markings near it on the map. You will probably 
also see splashes near the Bismarck; these are made by the enemy's 
shells aimed at you! Immediately, you will hear the roar of your 
guns, and see the tongues of flame shoot out from them in the 
overhead view. You may also see the burst of flames in the binoculars 
as the enemy fires back at you. Watch your TOT count down again, and 
also keep track of your reload time. As your director acquires the 
target, the right hand knob should switch to "FULL", and your guns 
will begin firing steadily. You may begin to score some hits, and you 
may begin to suffer some damage as well.

    Looking at the overhead view, you will notice that your guns are 
begin to point somewhat backwards. This is because your ship is 
heading to the northwest, just as you ordered it to. Turn on the "S" 
filter if it is not still on, and check how close you are to that 
goal. Watch your gunnery and messages about the enemy while you wait 
for the Prince of Wales to close the distance between the two of you.

    Once the enemy ship has closed that distance, his secondary guns 
open up. Pause the game and use the menus to go to the Navigation 
Station at this point. You want to turn the Bismarck away from the 
Price of Wales' secondaries' range. At the navigation station, switch 
the Control Mode (to the left of the ship's name) to "M" for manual, 
and then click on the control labeled "BRG" just below the "HDG" 
readout, which should change the letters from gray to red, while the 
red letters "RDR" below it change to gray. This changes your control 
mechanism from the rudder ("RDR") to the bearing controls, which are 
both the compass and the readout with the arrows at the bottom of the 
station labeled "BRG". You can use the bearing controls to enter the 
exact course you want the ship to turn to, but at this point use the 
compass instead. Click on the "W", and the blue line in the compass 
points to it; the "BRG" readout changes to "270". Now that we have 
closed the gap between the two ships just enough, it is time to 
switch back to heading due west. The "HDG" readout of "300" indicates 
that the ship is still headed northwest, but once you unpause the 
game, it gradually swings to the desired direction.

    Before you resume the battle, this would be a good time to check 
for damage. Use the menus to switch to the Damage Station, which 
shows the condition of your ship. At this point you should leave the 
station on automatic, but return here periodically to keep tabs on 
the health of your vessel.

    Now go to the Air Ops Station to arm your float plane. Once this 
plane is launched (in about 30 minutes) this both improves the 
accuracy of your gunnery and reduces the danger of the plane going up 
in a burst of aviation fuel from a shell hit. Click on the left-most 
box above the airplane information and illustration, and select the 
Prince of Wales to be the target. Next, click on the box just to the 
right of the first box (which now should say "Pr Wales") and it will 
change from "NONE" to "SHADOW". Press "READY", and the button will 
change to "ARMING". Once you unpause the game the crew preps the 
aircraft for launch. When the plane is ready, you must come back here 
and click on the "LAUNCH" button (the "ARMING" button changes names 
on this screen depending on the status of the aircraft). When 
launched, the plane circles around your enemy and reports on the 
accuracy of your guns.


    After resuming play, return to the Main Gunnery screen and watch 
the action. You should be able to follow the exchange of gunfire, 
while seeing your ship move to a westerly course on the map. You 
should eventually see your plane move toward the enemy, and your guns 
shift to point off the beam. The two ships will continue to pound at 
each other, and you can watch the rhythm of reloading, TOT, and the 
gradual expenditure of ammunition. Try moving to the various stations 
listed in the menu, and try out some of the other choices listed 
there too. Remember that the game pauses while you read the 
background material contained in the "BRIEFINGS", so you may want to 
sample some of these as well. If you want to become more involved in 
the action, switch more stations to manual (the Damage Control 
Station usually requires considerable attention). Or, if you want, 
just turn up the speed to "X8". Depending on the fortunes of war, it 
should not be too long before one ship or the other slips to a watery 
grave.




An Operation
============
    To help get you started quickly with the Operational and Campaign 
level games, this tutorial walks you through the first portion of a 
sortie by the battleship Bismarck.

    After the introductory routine finishes, select "CAMPAIGN" from 
the "CHOOSE GAME" menu, the select "BRITISH" from the "CHOOSE SIDES" 
menu, and then click "Next" to "LOAD" the Operation named, "Operation 
Rheinubung: the Bismarck Sets Sail." If you want some background on 
this Operation, check out the description on p. 39 of the manual.

    Once again, as the game begins, you see a large map, but this one 
is on the wall of the Admiralty building. Since the game is paused, 
you should take this opportunity to become acquainted with the 
displays and controls before the action starts.

    Looking at the map, you can see that it encompasses the entire 
North Atlantic. Surrounding it are the familiar controls in the 
frame: the scroll arrows on the right and at the bottom, the zoom and 
unzoom arrows in the upper right, and the filters in the upper left. 
Don't bother with the scroll and zoom controls at the moment -- they 
work like the ones on the tactical map -- but the filters are worth a 
look. Three are already selected: "B", "C", and "T", which stand for 
Bases, Convoys, and Task Forces. Click on "B" a few times and see how 
the squares turn on and off; these are yours and the enemy's bases. 
Do the same with "C", and you can see where your convoys are and how 
they're represented. The same goes for "T", although you may not see 
much happen. There is a Task Force already in Gibraltar, which is the 
British (red) base in the lower-right side of the map, between Spain 
and Africa. The Task Force is the bright red "T" against the darker 
red of the square representing the Base.

    When you toggled the Bases on and off, another set of icons 
toggled as well, the "P"s in the ocean between Greenland, Iceland, 
and Northern Scotland. These are Patrol Zones, areas where the Royal 
Navy keeps ships constantly on station to intercept any German 
raiders trying to move through these gaps into the North Atlantic 
shipping lanes.  Together, these four elements -- the Bases, Task 
Forces, Patrol Zones, and Convoys -- are the primary elements of your 
command. They contain individual ships, of course, and you will often 
move vessels between them, but they are the units with which you 
mainly work. You will almost always want to keep all three filters 
on.

    Before you begin giving orders to them, however, there are a few 
other filters worth examining. Specifically, the "S", or Search 
filter, shows the range of air searches from each base. As you can 
see, by May, 1941, the entire northeastern section of the ocean was 
pretty well covered, but if the enemy breaks out, there is plenty of 
ocean down south for him to hide in. And remember, the searches are 
most effective near the center of a circle, and become less useful 
towards its periphery. Again, by May, 1941, the immediate area 
between Greenland and the UK is pretty well covered, but even the 
hinterland south of Iceland and west of Ireland is less well 
patrolled than it first appears.

    Turning off the "S" and turning on the "A" filter shows you a 
number of much smaller circles. These depict the range of shore-based 
attack aircraft. Any ship venturing within these circles quickly find 
itself at the center of a swarm of angry aircraft. Avoid these places.

    Okay, now it's time to assess the situation. Since the Germans 
will be coming out of the North Sea, there's no point viewing the 
whole North Atlantic, so click on the Zoom-in (down) arrow in the 
upper-right of the map frame one time, which zooms your view in on 
the area from Norway in the upper-right to Germany in the 
lower-right, with the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Normandy coast 
between in the middle. It is through here that the Germans must move. 
(The English Channel between southern Britain and the European 
continent is guarded by mine-fields, coastal craft, and airplanes, 
symbolized by the colored blotch on the water. Similar defenses guard 
other areas of the map, with the color of the blotch indicating who 
is defending, and thus implying who will be hurting if they enter.) 
We'll come back to this close-in view later, for now, zoom back to 
the original view of the whole North Atlantic.

    Begin by checking on your Patrol Zones. To check on all ships 
assigned to patrol duty, call up the menu bar by clicking on the 
right mouse button, click with the left button on REPORTS and select 
the PATROL POOL item. This brings up the Patrol Pool Report, showing 
that five cruisers are currently available for patrols. Two each are 
assigned to the western and central gaps, and one supplements the air 
patrols and strike aircraft covering the east. Click on "EXIT" to 
return to the map.

    To get another view of the patrol situation, click on the 
left-most Patrol Icon itself. This brings up the Control Display for 
the Greenland-Iceland gap. Since two cruisers is plenty for the 
moment, there is no need to make any adjustments, but this is where 
you can specify more or fewer craft of each type in future games, and 
where you go to take ships away from the zone in an emergency.

    Returning to the main map, it's time to get down to business. You 
know that the Bismarck is about to sortie, so it would be good to get 
some of your ships at sea. The question is, where are they? Go to the 
menu and call up the ALL SHIPS report, and you will see that most of 
your battleships are at Scapa Flow (with some at Gibraltar/Force H), 
while many of the lighter craft are already at sea, but are committed 
to patrol duty and escort service.

    The question now is, "Where is Scapa Flow?" Hit "EXIT" to return 
to the map, and turn the "N", name, filter on. Now you can see Scapa 
Flow, conveniently located at the entrance to the North Sea. Click on 
the square icon, and you move to the Base Overview Display. At the 
top you can see that the base has 10 Swordfish ready to attack if the 
Bismarck should stray within range, and 10 Catalinas with which to 
search. In the middle of the screen is the long list of ships based 
here, and at the bottom are the buttons used to undertake various 
activities.

    At the moment, you want to get a Task Force under way, so click 
on the "FORM TF" button (the others let you add ships to the Patrols 
and Escort Pools or send ships into repair). The screen now divides, 
with the ship list on the left and a blank list labeled "NEW TF" on 
the right. To begin forming the new Task Force, click on the 
battleship Hood (a BB), and it will jump from the left-hand list to 
the right. Click again on the Prince of Wales (BB), the Kenya (CA, a 
cruiser), the Electra (DD, a destroyer), and the Aschates (DD), and 
leave the rest.

    Now click on "ORDERS", and you move to the Task Force Overview 
Display, exactly the same Display you would see if you had clicked on 
a Task Force icon on the map. This is similar to the Base Overview 
Display, showing the aircraft controls at the top (which would have 
airplanes were there an aircraft carrier with these ships), the ship 
roster in the middle, and the activity buttons below.

    Since we want to order this Task Force out to sea, click on 
"PLOT". This brings up the strategic map again, but this time with 
some controls on the right side. But the main control is the map 
itself. To order the Task Force (the bright red "T" on top of the 
darker red square for Scapa Flow) to move, simply point at the map 
and click. Specifically, point to a place just below the "V" in 
"Reykjavik" in Iceland and click, and a yellow line appears. This is 
the path the Task Force will follow.  Furthermore, the number next to 
"Waypoint" in the controls to the right goes from "0" to "1", 
indicating that one leg of the journey has been plotted. Each Task 
Force can be given up to ten waypoints, and if you make a mistake and 
want to start over, you just have to click on "CLEAR".

    In this case, the move to Iceland should suffice, so click on 
"DONE" and return to the Task Force Overview Display. There is one 
more thing to do here; in the upper left area are controls for the 
Task Force's speed. It is now set for cruise speed, 14 knots, which 
is economical, but may not get us there in time if the Bismarck 
dashes for the Greenland-Iceland straits. Therefore, click on "MAX", 
and the speed should jump to 28.

    Before you start the game, there is one other assignment you 
should make. Click on the Convoy icon (the flattened "C") to the west 
of Ulster, which brings up the Convoy Overview Display. You can see 
that five destroyers are escorting this convoy. To increase your 
chances of catching the Bismarck, click on "DETACH", which brings up 
the New Task Force Display. This process works just like forming a 
Task Force at a base; just click on each ship in turn to transfer it 
from the Convoy to the Task Force. Once all five ships have been 
transferred, click on "ORDERS" to move to the Task Force Overview 
Display, and then click on "PLOT". Point to a position just southwest 
of the little island about half-way between Britain and Iceland and 
click; this becomes the Task Force's destination.  Click on "DONE" to 
return to the Task Force Overview Display, set the speed to "MAX", 
and "EXIT" to the main map. Now would be a good time to zoom in again 
on the North sea.

    You are now ready to unpause the game. Hit Alt-P and watch as 
time begins to pass. You will get messages indicating when the enemy 
has been spotted and see icons marking their location. You will also 
get various messages about the status of your own forces. Turn on the 
"M" ("Movement") filter, which shows where you have plotted your Task 
Forces to move, and watch as they move toward their destination. 
Before much time passes, click on Scapa Flow again and make another 
Task Force including the King George V, the Repulse, the Victorious, 
the Edinburgh, the Anthony, and the Echo, and plot it to move at 
maximum speed to a point in between the destinations of the other two 
forces.

    If the Forces reach their destinations without the Bismarck 
having been spotted, immediately order Force B (the one with the 
Hood) around to off the coast of Reykjavik, and order the newest one 
(Force D) to where Force B had been. Now all you can do is wait for 
the German to show himself, This he will do eventually, most likely 
to one or two of your patrolling cruisers. When he does, order them 
to "SHADOW" him, and plot your Task Forces to intercept. Remember to 
zoom the map in steadily; what appear to be minor distances at the 
higher zoom levels take on a whole new aspect when viewed close-up.

    Once one of your Task Forces intercepts the enemy, the game moves 
to the tactical level. If you succeed in sinking the Bismarck, the 
game will be over and you will have won; if it gets by, he may well 
bag one or more convoys, and at the least you will have to play 
cat-and-mouse across the wide North Atlantic. You can still win, but 
the struggle will be much tougher. Whatever happens, though, you 
should be able to take the lead from here.

Tutorial written by Ed Bever PhD
Revised for Version 1.1 by Tom MacDevitt
