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An item to keep in mind, if you already own Harpoon Ultimate, you have Harpoon 97 already (and a lot of other versions) via the 20th Anniversary launcher pictured below.

Below is an installer that should bring any copy of the game purchased from Matrix Games up to the current build. https://www.harpgamer.com/downloads/HC2025.025_ComprehensivePatch.zip When you get to selecting an installation directory and Start Menu group, please double-check that they are correct before proceeding.

AAR for this scenario, I hope it's in the right place. Thanks for this, it was very fun. I got Minvic with 60 A/C shot down, and 5 ships sunk. After that, it seemed like I was just making the rubble jump, so I moved on. What I found out is that the F-35 is almost invincible, even with the shorter range C7 AMRAAM.

Following a suggestion from someone else on the Steam forum, I was able to find an almost 30 year old fix! Dr. Who's Harpoon Pages https://www.harpoonpages.com/harpoon1.htm The 4/04/97 update can be downloaded and imported into the Harpoon Classic 97 folder to replace the NAVC.res file (I created a backup of the original file just in case). When I ran the scenarios using that updated file, the ships all appeared correclty as Okean class instead of Kalinin class. The website also includes an update for the EC2000 scenarios. Were there any old bugs you can remember from those scenarios - anything I should look out for before deciding whether to apply that update as well?

There aren't many sims that can claim the longevity of Harpoon. As TonyE has said, the community has been the key factor to both its success and long life.

I like that the Discord link is more visible but to your point, Downloads are less visible. I see them in a Browse menu.

Yeah, in general I think that as long as the annex ceilings exist, more focus is better. For example, e.g. a battleset that focuses on the Persian Gulf from 1990 to 2002. And its usually easier to be backward looking in historical context when developing a DB (and a battleset that employs it) than trying to predict the future.

Demo version 2025.025 has been uploaded.

Thanks for the idea, but the possibility of a Russian convoy clearing the Kattegat against even light opposition is zero. However, how about a Russian convoy to reinforce Kaliningrad from St Petersburg while NATO (with no USA) is distracted elsewhere? I could cook up something like that pretty soon.

"And this brings on an even bigger question, how many people still want to play this game? " That's something I sometimes wonder. Certainly the download of new scenarios isn't what it used to be but there is still obvious interest. Also time will tell but the Steam addition to the equation might well bring a new surge. I think HC is still a unique simulation, where the new programs are more a game. Taking into account current limits to database size when pondering this question I've wondered whether there's now a need to start a new (series 3?) DB from a more recent start date - an issue is that many nations still use quite old platforms. The main issue to my mind is the sheer size of the job of starting from scratch.

*** SPOILER ALERT*** Well while I got my total victory, the sinking of a damaged merchantman in reprisal for a UAV incursion on my airspace, I suffered a large loss and the opinion rating in the polls are pretty bad I spent about 4 hrs for 10 hrs game time. I decided to try and occupy the mid and east Black Sea and to weed out and sink anything that Russia had in the area. Maintaining air cover by F-16 proved costly. Keeping up good surveillance without AC loss proved difficult (OK I didn't manage it). Not waiting for Poland to bring in better AC for ASUW attacks proved costly, in the end a flight of three F16 and a pack of mavericks was all I needed. Well trimming the number of Russian fighters patrolling the area before hand did help but at a worse than 1:1 loss ratio. I'm going to have another go at this gem, after a bit of wound licking, and with a much more conservative strategy. I'll certainly be trying tho dodge their Su-35S Flanker E and maybe let their naval patrols have their end of the Black sea for themselves Thanks heaps for this Patrick. Stats: [Victory Summary] Time=05 Jan 2026, 06:14:02 The RED side has met their minimum victory conditions Time=05 Jan 2026, 10:50:02 The BLUE side has met their minimum victory conditions Time=05 Jan 2026, 10:50:02 The BLUE side has met their total victory conditions [Kill Detail Blue Side ] F-16CM40 Falcon 15/Plane=6 MQ-8C Fire Scout 17/Helicopter=3 F-16CJ50 Falcon 14/Plane=5 CN-235MSA/Plane=2 Super Lynx Mk110 05/Helicopter=1 Heybeliada/Ship=1 S-70B28 Seahawk 12/Helicopter=5 Gediz (FFG7/11)/Ship=2 E-737 Peace Eagle/Plane=2 [Kill Detail Red Side ] MiG-35 Fulcrum F 18/Plane=8 Il-38 May 92/Plane=4 Ka-27M Helix A 17/Helicopter=3 Ka-29RLD Helix E 95/Helicopter=1 MiG-31BM Foxhound 15/Plane=1 Buyan Pr21630 06/Ship=1 Su-35S Flanker E/Plane=4 Steregushchiy Pr2038 07/Ship=1 Su-34 Fullback 16/Plane=12 Gorshkov Pr22350/Ship=1 Grigorovich (1135.6)/Ship=1 Soobraziltelny Pr20381 11/Ship=1 Merchant damaged/Ship=1 MiG-29KR Fulcrum D 15/Plane=2 [StoresConsumed - Blue] Blue Weapon=Tally AIM-120C7 AMRAAM=41 AIM-120B AMRAAM=29 AGM-158A JASSM=32 Taurus KEPD350=24 AGM-88B HARM (ARM)=28 AGM-84K SLAM-ER=26 SOM-A=16 SA-10c Grumble (S-300PMU)=22 SM-1MR Block VIB=29 RIM-162B ESSM=12 UGM-84C Harpoon=8 DM2A4 Seahake=2 SM-3 Block IIB=16 RGM-84G Harpoon=4 AIM-9X Sidewinder=10 AGM-65G Maverick=6 [StoresConsumed - Red] Red Weapon=Tally AA-12 Adder B (R-77-1)=12 AA-13 Arrow (R-37)=6 SA-21 (9M96E)=43 SA-N-12 Grizzly (Shtil-1)=36 AA-12 Adder C (R-77M1)=26 AA-10 Alamo C (R-27RE)=26 AA-10 Alamo D (R-27TE)=6 SA-N-11a Grisom=3 SS-N-26 Strobile=8 SS-N-27 Sizzler (3M54)=8 Sosna-R (9M337)=3 AA-12 Adder A (R-77)=8 AA-10 Alamo A (R-27R)=11 AS-4 Kitchen D (Kh-32)=24 SS-N-25 Switchblade=8 SA-24 Grinch (Igla-S)=14 SA-6b Gainful Mod1 (Kub-M4)=12 AA-11 Archer (R-73M)=4 SA-23b (9M82M)=4 AA-11 Archer (R-73)=2 [Damage List Red] ZZa: 00 Yeysk damage=265/2500 ZXp: 00 Novorossiysk damage=1067/2500 ZYS: 02 Grad Sviyazhsk damage=33/36 [Damage List Blue] ARS: 00 Anadolou damage=303/425 Time (well) spent: [Session Summary] Session Game Start=5 Jan 2026, 01:00:00 GameTimeDuration ThisSession=3Hrs23 Mins TotalGameTimeDuration=3Hrs23Mins GameTimeToGO=68 Hrs: 36 Mins Session End RealTime=4/02/2026 22:00:00 RealTimeDuration ThisSession=1:09:59 ==== ===== Session Game Start=5 Jan 2026, 04:23:54 GameTimeDuration ThisSession=3Hrs21 Mins TotalGameTimeDuration=6Hrs45Mins GameTimeToGO=65 Hrs: 14 Mins Session End RealTime=5/02/2026 13:01:14 RealTimeDuration ThisSession=1:39:00 ==== ===== Session Game Start=5 Jan 2026, 07:45:18 GameTimeDuration ThisSession=3Hrs20 Mins TotalGameTimeDuration=10Hrs5Mins GameTimeToGO=61 Hrs: 54 Mins Session End RealTime=5/02/2026 17:51:41 RealTimeDuration ThisSession=1:18:20 ==== =====

Turkey2.zip Here is a revisit of Don's excellent take on Turkey vs Russia. What if you had no F-35's? Victory conditions and order of battle are very much the same. You'll get a few more fighters, a small carrier, and two tankers. This might be hard. DUCK Patrick Howard

Progress is slow. The yanks must be running low on TLAMs, they've lost important surveillance, fighter and bomber AC and we're getting our bases stocked. But it still looks dodgy. Having lots of fun!

Yes, the publishing agreement allows for updates and upgrades.

In a few weeks you should start seeing signs of the current Harpoon Classic build being published on Steam. Apparently, the publishing process has been prioritized again.

Thanks broncepulido, Merry Christmas all!

Those are some powerful AGIs! I can confirm that the HC97 we published with Matrix Games also has/had that flaw. I suppose that would mean it is a known issue since for nearly 30 years <g>. The same flaw is present in the most recent builds so was not corrected. What we did with some similar situations is programmatically override bad BattleSet data when the BattleSet (which in those old ones included the platform database specific to each BattleSet) did have issues. The tools to re-generate those legacy BattleSets were lost to time. MicroProse has the ability to fix in a couple of ways (via programmatic override or painstakingly re-building the BattleSet). I suggest the time is much better spent re-making such scenarios in newer BattleSets that do not have the flaw, something you can do without any exotic tooling. I'm 99% sure I wrote a utility that could at least view but possibly update some of the legacy BattleSets but haven't located it yet.

I don't for certain but does the steam hc97 have a scenario editor that would let you edit the battleset scenario and replace the units with something more suitable. It sounds like a clerical error in putting the database together. In these old games the database is built into the game,so fixing it is a major item that I'd guess isn't likely to happen, but who knows. Someone else might very well have better ideas.

Yes, MicroProse is a small operation at present. You also hit upon an important additional consideration, they are not as intimately knowledgeable about Computer Harpoon as many of their consumers. The next six months or so should be informative, how they handle the growth in their catalog, communication with players about roadmap, etc. but in my dealings so far there has been positive intent and a desire to learn.

Taiwan Straight 2nd Crisis Escalated View File Scenario Background: On 24 and 25 August 1958 Chinese Communist (PRC) forces and Taiwanese (ROC) forces clashed in the vicinity of Dongding Island, which the Nationalist (ROC) troops controlled. The action was seen as an attempt by the communists to land on the island. This was the only naval and amphibious landing action during the crisis. ROC had begun to build military installations on the island of Kinmen (Quemoy) and the Matsu archipelago, very close to the Chinese mainland. The PRC shelled the islands of Kinmen (Quemoy) and the Matsu Islands in an attempt to take them from Taiwan, governed by the Kuomintang (KMT), and to probe the extent of American commitment to defend the Republic of China. The conflict also involved air, naval, and amphibious operations. Then U.S. secretary of state Christian Herter reportedly described it as the "first serious nuclear crisis". The USA provided military assistance in both material, especially aircraft and artillery, and a strong naval presence including naval escorts for island repleshments. The Communist Chinese government announced a unilateral ceasefire on 6 October 1958. However, on 20 October the PLA resumed artillery fire on Kinmen because a U.S. Navy warship had breached the PRC-declared 3 nautical miles exclusive zone from the coast of China that they claimed was a stipulation for their unilateral ceasefire agreement. In this scenario we play with the idea of the situation escalating, rather than subsiding. Use Database HCCW 140314 and for best play Game version 2025.023 or newer and ErrataGE.dll (download from harpgamer.com forum). Submitter donaldseadog Submitted 08/25/2025 Category WestPac  

This released on the weekend. It's H97 version 1.60.

Confirmed in 2025.024 This can be fixed with the aid of an ExportDLL. In other words, it doesn't absolutely require a change to the game code itself.

PS, the 'Capture' feature has a better algorithm for calculating success, and I'm now looking at a repair system so once you've punished a base and captured it you can get it back to operating 100%. The long term goal is to be able to run a long term strategic scenario including expansion of territory and ammunition logistics.

That is what is known as a pre-commondb BattleSet so it does not use the user modifiable databases. I strongly suggest players only play the EC2003 and 'newer' BattleSets as they use the user-created databases and also don't have sub-optimal (i.e. compatibility) logic.

Well, al least it all means Harpoon still has some future.

Since this is in theory the last build of the game related to the Matrix Games publishing of the game, we will list some workarounds here for serious issues that arise. Errata: 1. 2025-07-02 The Scenario Editor (SE) has multiple issues in the release build. Rather than using Wscenedt32.exe, please use Wscenedt32dbg.exe which does not show the same issues. An even better idea may be to rename Wscenedt32.exe to Wscenedt32rel.exe then copy Wscenedt32dbg.exe to Wscenedt32.exe so that you don't accidentally use the more troublesome build. a. This is resolved in the HC2025.025_ComprehensivePatch.zip installer. 2. 2025-07-02 The BattleSet Builder makes very washed out maps so we need to go back to an older version 2015.027. a. This is resolved in the HC2025.025_ComprehensivePatch.zip installer. 3. 2025-08-23 The HDSR.RSR file (for Malacca Straits BattleSet) was not included in the installer. a. This is resolved in the HC2025.025_ComprehensivePatch.zip installer.

AutoTesting results. This is a process that runs every built in scenario in autoplay mode (game plays itself) from first the Blue side, then the Red side. 2025.022 Release Build GE Original 4 no crashes HDSI no crashes HDSII no crashes HDSIII no crashes EC2000 no crashes EC2003 no crashes WestPac no crashes USNINew no crashes This is perhaps the best results ever. There were three crashes but upon re-running the scenarios they did not crash.

Last night i had a chopper landing on my frigate and the target of an enemy SAM (sm-2 I think) and was delighted but surprised to see the information "point defense got 'em all". Looking at my weapon ammo i deduced it was the 3" otto gun that got the kill. I've previously seen in a similar situation where the chopper lands before impact the sam hits the ship so really a nice result. Unbelievable shooting, maybe.

With a lot of new drone and autonomous weapons it seems to me (once we get back to modernising DBs in some way) that the line between platform and weapon is becoming difficult to decide. Also there is the decision on whether to create single generic items or create a pletherer of individual. Here's what hot my thinking about it (I know infact it's not a new delema) seen in current events https://defence-blog.com/xdown-develops-stud-drone-for-squad-level-strikes/

Yes, I have the same questions about generic items (Most small drones are in fact reducible to some few generic types), and most if not all kamikaze (loitering or not) drones are reducible to weapons.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-06/adf-helicopter-evasive-action-chinese-military/106426388?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=other

I recently picked up Harpoon Classic '97 from Steam, having never played Harpoon before. I've played the tutorial scenario and am excited to play through all 250 scenarios in due course. I fire it up each evening with a hot cup of decaf coffee in hand and a copy of The Hunt for Red October next to me. 😉 I have a few questions based on what I've read online and heard about. From what I understand, Matrix had a much bigger, more robust version of "classic Harpoon" that was discontinued and removed from digital store shelves last year. Several months later, Harpoon Classic '97 was released by Microprose and quickly updated to v1.63b. After incorporating Steam cloud saves in September, radio silence. Has anyone here been in contact with Microprose about potentially bringing the game closer to where the community brought the Matrix edition over the last couple decades? Will custom scenarios here work with Harpoon Classic '97, or do they require the Matrix edition that has now disappeared? Why do you continue to play Harpoon when Command Modern Operations exists? (I have never played). How different does Harpoon Classic '97 play from paper Harpoon V? What advice do you have for a newcomer not only to Harpoon but also to wargaming in general? Thank you and have a good one!

Russia’s Kalashnikov Concern has delivered a batch of newly developed electric transport vehicles to a military unit for use in the combat zone, the company announced. According to the company, the shipment included Izh-Enduro electric motorcycles and Izh-ScootWay electric scooters produced in-house and equipped with universal trailers for cargo transport. All vehicles were supplied with […]View the full article

Played today, another demostration of a fine and funny scenario with few elements. Chinese CV sunk with three torpedoes (and many escorts) after few hours of real time, riding out those J-15 pest! Only strange remark, after sinking the first Chinese SSN, the other keeps running continuously at full speed towards South fleeing my SSN, and at last she changes courseEast and can catch her with one of my last two Mk48 torpedoes (after I did open the scenario editor and of course that strange course and speed was not scripted!). Again, interesting and fun scenario, thanks Don!

Puzzling thru this with eeustice on Discord... case 18: /* event processor */ if (dllexEffect18() == FALSE) ProcessEvents(); break; The ExportDLLs are called before the built-in ProcessEvents logic. To avoid re-creating all of the harpoon event-processing logic (which is a ton), an ExportDLL can cheat by cherry-picking the events it wants to process then returning False so that the built-in ProcessEvents is still called. The negative side effect is that the order ExportDLLs are called is not nicely sorted by filename (See c++ - How can I get FindFirstFile to sort files - Stack Overflow for a nice explanation) so using this approach is somewhat risky but it would still be a valid approach.

Russia’s Airborne Forces have begun testing a new multifunctional ground robotic platform known as the Omich-2, a system designed by engineers in the city of Omsk and intended for transport, evacuation, and potential combat support roles. The Omich-2 is described as an optionally piloted unmanned ground system with a total weight of about 650 kilograms […]View the full article

Flight International's World Air Forces Directory 2026 available now at: https://www.flightglobal.com/defence/2026-world-air-forces-directory/165267.article

This might be getting close save game ...B1 should be 1 or 2 secs before the red group (2 ac unit) fires on blue group (single ac unit). I believe AI wants to fire 4 missiles but only fires 2, 4 out of 8 are remaining. save game ...B1.0002 is shortly after and in one or two seconds the red group expends all LR missile but none are fired. Using DB HCDB2-170909, westpac BS, GE vers 2025.025 pacMissTest-B1.zip

Good that BAKU is fine. The fix for NACV needs more fiddling and testing to provide a test so that it will only be applied to appropriate battlesets and the best idea I have isn't very rigorous and could fail (although it's not likely). Anyway I might fiddle more with it in case it is needed in the future but for the moment you need to remember to disable that DLL (move it or rename the file type) when playing other Battlesets.

this is real cat and mouse. I thought I'd try the IOPG BadgerJ, looked for a scenario with it in, gave up and wrote one, then found it has no radar which has to be activated to get the jammer going I'll write a test in NACV with the blue side having a badgerJ and see if it does any good ed LOL it looks like you can't man blue bases with Russian AC

I'll look at the Badger while I'm at it, hopefully a suitable jammer will be obvious to my untrained eyes

good so far

I don't think we can afford USA beef, too dear, that's why we can sell ours to them.

I was getting the hit nuke (the red flashing after a hit) even when it wasn't doing the full damage. I don't have the sounds on, just those for when you sink a target and the get the music.

Seems like a winner to me, it may have to do 1DP of damage but with a super short range the chance of a hit could be minimal (and speaking of that a low Ph).

confirm 2025.021, split air group, surface ship group, surface mobile group, air base, all new groups have their own group UUIDs different from their host/parent group. Also confirmed after game save and load air base with air formation patrols and having had a patrol unit split off before the save were still correctly patrolling after start of the saved game.

Fix verified with GE20205.019 update.

Oh dear that is very sad reading.

Uploaded a new version, 2.10.4 Removed a debug notice that would sometime popup and make no sense to player. Groups Page, added information regards NOE, IFR, and MAD capability for AC units in the unit details window. Attack Page, fixed a code error that left the toolbox enemy unit selection only working for enemy units selected in the game unit window, not for manual selection in toolbox window. The Group page (surface/sub group in older toolbox version) now with the selection of the toolbox entry by selection of the player group in GE group window gives a very quick reference to aircraft and ship/sub capability, some of which such as AC's MAD, IFR and NOE capability isn't available in the game.

A little infrastructure detour as I convert some virtual machines to container-based operations. In this case the mosquitto MQTT server. In the process of migrating from a virtual machine to a container, I enabled the websocket interface. Screenshot of a sample client consuming the messages as I ran a scenario is below.