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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.

The code in AreaDefense loops thru the mounts from first to last looking for a valid weapon, not the optimal weapon. AreaDefense also tags the target missiles as crossing targets so that skips at least one range check (which doesn't take courses into account so would not have prevented the SAMs from firing. It is not a small undertaking to replace the AreaDefense logic. The ExportDLL interface allows it to be replaced without modifying the core game (which we can no longer do). In short, don't hold your breath on a fix for this one. The intriguing bit is that NewAreaDefense() which I wrote in the 2013 timeframe. It does check speed and bearings to see if an intercept is kinematically possible. NewAreaDefense was not completed.

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?

For those of you not active on social media, you may not have heard that long time Harpoon community member Byron 'JClark' Audler passed away on 15 April. His notable contributions included being a knowledgeable ship fitter (irl), scenario author, HC2002 program manager, and HULL mailing list moderator, and a Lifetime Pooner award winner. His bio can be found at Ed Ladner's website Dr Who's Harpoon Pages here : https://www.harpoonpages.com/Bios/bio022.htm Fair winds and following seas.

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.

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.

Picture a robot you could carry up a flight of stairs, remotely towing a military truck that outweighs a fully loaded school bus, and doing it without breaking a wheel. That is the scene an American robotics company says it captured on video from a recent U.S. Army demonstration, and if the footage holds up, […]View the full article

I use win 10 and last night (or night before) used scen editor with no problem. I can get to computer tonight and test. (I'm currently using tablet). Don

Some sources: https://www.wargamevault.com/en/product/564343/naval-sitrep-70-april-2026?src=hottest https://www.wargamevault.com/en/product/562611/japan-s-self-defense-forces?src=hottest https://www.wargamevault.com/en/product/372205/china-s-navy?src=hottest_filtered https://www.navypedia.org/ships/japan/jap_destroyers.htm About the Osumi sistership Kunisaki LST-4003 capable of carrying 3x CH-47JA and 2x UH-60JA in response to the 2004 Sumatra earthquake: https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%81%8F%E3%81%AB%E3%81%95%E3%81%8D_(%E8%BC%B8%E9%80%81%E8%89%A6)

@TonyE and @donaldseadog thank you very much for your guidance. I had no idea how to work TonyEs game launcher, but do now. Databases are now placed in separate folders and Harpoon works as before.

Note the MapWindow window will not not be embedded within the game window as an MDI document, it is floating outside of the game window. MapWindow 20260403 2025.025+ Incremented DLL Version to 15 Sensor range rings — surface radar (green) and air radar (magenta) range rings now draw on the globe alongside the existing ASuW (orange) and AAW (cyan) weapon range rings. Data comes from BestSensorRange on the group record. Airborne endurance range rings — air range (white) and bingo range (gray) rings now draw for aircraft groups. Data is computed during snapshot capture using the new shared uHCEndurance unit, a Pascal port of the GE's GetAirborneEndurance and FindClosestBase algorithms. Annex B1 speed data and base runway compatibility are used for accurate range and bingo fuel calculations. The DLL now captures annex_id_to_disk_id from funcRefs in DLLInit and creates THCAnnexHelper from AnnexDataIn in ScenLoad. Range ring settings dialog — the per-side checkbox group has been replaced with a "Range Rings..." button that opens a settings dialog. The dialog provides a 6×4 grid of checkboxes (ring type × side), matching HC's RangeCircles[ringType][side] toggle system. Ring types: ASuW Weapon, AAW Weapon, Surf Radar, Air Radar, Air Range, Bingo Range.

Over a year since the original post and this remains true, the big question is when will version 5 arrive? Actually, Version 5 has been released just for some reason nothing has been badgering me to upgrade so hold on to your covers, soon you actually will have to use your e-mail to log in rather than your display name.

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

Just few hours ago, in a FB group:

If you're considering writing a scenario for the Black Sea that covers current (ongoing) events, this might be helpful: Know Your Enemy: Russian Military Aviation in European Russia and Temporarily Occupied Crimea

Same, also not idea about it!

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!

You can find it at I do need to move the post out of the beta testing area to reduce confusion, it is a real patch, not a beta.

Embraer announced a new operational concept for its A-29 Super Tucano aircraft, expanding its mission portfolio to include counter-drone operations designed to address evolving battlefield threats. According to a press release from Embraer, the A-29’s new configuration integrates sensors, data links, and precision weapons to detect, track, and destroy unmanned aerial systems (UAS) effectively and […]View the full article

Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence announced that its special unit “Phantoms” struck Russian aircraft in occupied Crimea on September 21, hitting two Beriev Be-12 amphibious planes and a Mi-8AMTSh-VN helicopter. The operation was carried out with strike drones, marking the first recorded destruction of Be-12 aircraft in history. “On September 21, 2025, in the territory of temporarily […] The post Ukrainian drones destroy Russian Be-12 flying boats first appeared on Defence Blog.View the full article

Nuclear powered battle cruiser sails again for the first time since 1997 (Barents Observer)

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.

Yes that file has fixed it. Thank you. I think the only jammers in that battleset are the ALQ-99 that the Prowler & Raven have and the ALQ-131 the Aardvark has. I would probably give the Badger-J the 131 or a copy of it. The GIUK battleset also has a Badger-J with no jammer, but again there is an ALQ-131 on the Phantom 2. In the battlesets after that they either have no Badger-J or they do have a jammer in the loadout (eg IOPG) although their stats do vary.

good so far

With some considerations of AI use in wargaming: https://www.defensenews.com/opinion/2025/07/29/wargaming-is-having-its-moneyball-moment/

This state of affairs needs working on, get a doctor to prescribe three hours of pure game play per week.

Running 2025.023 I get a good nuke blast in the animations, a kill of the destroyer and loss of my sub (shock wave from the nuke blast I guess). I tried both saves a couple of times and same result for all. I'll browse the Release Notes to see if any changes since 2025.019 might make the difference, there was an issue regards nukes not killing a while back but I thought longer ago than that, but that's my guess. BBS Nope, I can't see anything in release notes that looks like a change that would effect nukes. *scratch head*.

Speaking of the final patch, you can grab it here:

This inability could be worked around with a "torpedo weapon" that would be similar to those found in the EC2003 scenarios where you get the MH-53E Sea Dragon MCM helo. Those have an EOD Team (SUB, 1.0 Range, 90% Hit, 1 Damage) and Minesweeper Gear (SUB, 1.0 Range, 75% Hit, 2 Damage), in order to shoot mines. They also get a Channel Marker but that's a sensor and works like a sonobouy. I would call it something like "Target Marker Smoke" with a short range (I would suggest 1 or 2nm), extremely limited fuel, no hit percentage, low as possible speed, no damage, and if possible no sensor. Since it would be a weapon the plane would be able to prosecute a target as normal even if it had no torpedoes. I'm not sure how exactly weapons are put into the game but I would hope that the 3nm range but with very limited fuel, no speed would ensure that even though it technically exists as a weapon, it would never actually be able to do anything apart from provide the ability for ASW planes to continue attacking a contact to get a fix.

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.