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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.

Nuclear-powered battlecruiser returns to Severomorsk for first time in 27 years (Barents Observer)

Ukraine’s Independence Day parade in Kyiv on August 24 included a new naval drone, the MV11, from the Ukrainian company UFORCE. It is the largest vessel yet built in the company’s MAGURA family, an unmanned surface vessel line credited with helping push Russia’s Black Sea Fleet back from Ukrainian waters. The parade marked the first […]View the full article

An unmanned fighter jet built to fly and fight alongside human pilots has left the sterile confines of a test range and flown its first real-world combat exercise in the Nevada desert, according to a release from Air Force Warfare Center Public Affairs published July 27, 2026. The exercise, conducted at Creech Air Force Base […]View the full article

The old kangaroos often make our place a retirement home.

This photo is our back garden taken through the back door window.

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

Electronic warfare? 🐹

Just solved now, I don't know was happened!

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)

Hello all. I would like to start the discussion about how we can together find a way to bring the HCDB2 up to date. I could provide a long list of platforms that need to be created or updated, but that's not a good use of space here right now. And players creating and sharing their own databases "willy nilly" will confuse the process and intimidate newer players. So I think one centrally administrated database remains the only solution. The big question is who would be willing to take this on? Brad, I cannot thank you enough for all the work you have put in over the years, and I understand that you probably won't want to do this. But as military technology advances, this game with the current database will start to become irrelevant for current events. And this brings on an even bigger question, how many people still want to play this game? Will it be worth the effort? So Brad, Tony, Don, Enrique, what's your advice? And to all of the newer players, and ones that don't post much, would you approve? Let's get talking.

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.

I am presently exploring using HTML, JS, and Open Street Maps for the next gen SimPlot. That would get you a world map, but not MGRS. I don't know much about MGRS, but I think it may be metric.

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'm assuming the date range includes the active platforms in various nations so I think that sounds good, in line with what brad was doing when he created hcdb2 as the update of the first general hcdb.

(linked from our current events sub forum) https://defence-blog.com/russia-warns-of-possible-military-action-in-baltic-sea/

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

View File Worst Case Scenario Can the EU repel a US invasion of Greenland? Let's see. EC 2003 NACV HCDB2 170909 Submitter rainman Submitted 01/23/2026 Category NACV  

***SPOILER ALERT*** After about 9 hrs of play and TotalGameTimeDuration=24Hrs22Mins we have a result, which I found rather funny seeing USA is now regarded as commo camp by I assume the Frogs. Some summary detail to start: [Kill Summary Red Side ] Planes:=172 AD mobile:=3 Submarines:=2 Carriers:=2 Ships:=15 Helicopters:=48 [Kill Summary Blue Side ] Ships:=2 Planes:=45 Helicopters:=1 AD mobile:=2 Submarines:=1 [StoresConsumed - Red] Red Weapon=Tally TLAM-C Blk IIIA=33 TACTOM Blk IV=583 RGM-84G Harpoon=8 AGM-84K SLAM-ER=12 TLAM-D Blk IIIB=33 MIM-104E PAC-2 GEM+=15 FIM-92D Stinger RMP=2 AIM-120D AMRAAM=209 AGM-158B JASSM-ER=96 AGM-158A JASSM=32 AIM-9X-2 Sidewinder Blk II=4 GBU-31 (Mk84) JDAM=32 AIM-120C7 AMRAAM=10 SM-2MR Block IIIB=97 MIM-104F PAC-3=13 Mk54 Mako=3 Mk48 Mod7 CBASS=2 SM-6MR ERAM Blk I=28 MIM-104B PAC-1=22 RIM-162A ESSM=11 AIM-9X Sidewinder=8 [StoresConsumed - Blue] Blue Weapon=Tally Meteor=196 GBU-39/B SDB=201 AGM-88B HARM (ARM)=24 AIM-120C6 AMRAAM=49 AIM-120B AMRAAM=44 AIM-9X Sidewinder=10 20mm M61A1 burst=31 Aster 30=64 NASAMS II=42 IRIS-T=18 SM-2MR Block IIIB=24 RIM-162C ESSM=32 RIM-116B RAM Blk1=3 AIM-9L Sidewinder=6 AIM-9M Sidewinder=4 AGM-84K SLAM-ER=16 Mica EM=8 Mica IR=9 FIM-92D Stinger RMP=22 SCALP EG=144 MU-90 Impact=4 Company Paratroopers=1 DM2A4 Seahake=12 F17 Mod 2B=3 Platoon Paratroopers=8 Tp62=12 Airborne hvy wpn team=1 Platoon Rangers=1 Mk48 Mod7 CBASS=18 F21 Artemis=13 SM.39 Exocet Blk2=2 The strategy summary was to get plenty of fighters up onthe likely attack side of bases, kill base radar unless incoming threats were detected, start to ferry useful AC first to Iceland bases and where they could do the hop in one leg (often with tankers) to southern Greenland. Once the location of northern bound enemy surface groups was known (a short lived close contact helped there) recce flights (passive detectors only) ran every where that might be useful. The good number of subs were headed off at creep speed towards the SAGs, constantly worried about enemy subs bound to be heavily spread thru the area. Our prime Carrier group set up dense asw patrols form minute 1. Annoying red bases in Iceland and Greenland then got attention in the long run resulting in Keflavik being captured with minor damage and gain of a nice operational P-8A Poseidon which proved handy later. Pituffik Space Base wasn't of interest once the AC it housed were destroyed (either intercpted airbourne or hit while grounded). As the troops were getting a bit itchy we did send in a few commando raids. Not much inroads could be made against the Surface Groups, 2 carrier (probably escorts) and a large invasion force centred it seemed on Iwo Jima unit, a Wasp class until our subs got in close, then real action started. THe sub commanders held their nerve and got in to range of the big targets, sinking one carrier then heavily damaging the second (ultimately sunk) before pretty much eradicating their escorts. By this stage our attack AC off our nearest bases and DeGaulle were no longer needling at the enemy, their SCALP missiles were sending tons of now scarp to the bottom. Just to make a point we decided to cause a bit of mayhem on the enemies home turf and sent a few SCALP and SDBs into Loring AFB (damage=4337/9000). Despite the inclusion in the orders, we didn't duck - there was no time available Thanks heaps for this scenario, I can see a lot of effort gone into it, and I'll be having another run just so I can remember to better look after my EW and the HARM they carry. I guess I should first give the Reds a spin too. For anyone interested the full minutes and data are in the attached zipped txt file. AARdata-HDSI0.zip

The UK Ministry of Defence has confirmed that SYOS Aerospace has been selected to advance to the next stage of Project NYX, a program to develop “wingman drones” designed to operate alongside British Army Apache attack helicopters, the MOD announced last week. The selection places SYOS Aerospace alongside major defense firms invited to submit prototype […]View the full article

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

Upcoming simulation game, perhaps of interest: https://airdefendergame.com/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/3985030/Air_Defender/

Doesn't count for victory, and also (as in case of tankers use) you are risking other aircrafts to any occasional undetected Iranian fighter.

I've got no After Action Report on this one, but it did take me two goes. The second time around local command decided that we needed some distractions, so we launched a few possibly unauthorised additional attacks on mostly airfields and air defense stations. It was more fun, but I guess that doesn't really count, or maybe it does?

Wow Enrique, another extremely thorough job of research. I'll be getting into this asap. Thanks mate. Don. PS, as usual it's not as easy as it looks .

Welcome! Picking up HC97 without prior Harpoon experience probably puts you in the minority but it was a great game that just happened to get improved in more recent iterations. 1. Yes, and with the recent uptick in inquiries, I reached out to the powers that be today, received a response that it is being looked into (so good job bringing it up again everyone) and hope for a response in the next couple of days. There was certainly an expectation a few months ago that the more recent Harpoon Classic would be re-released like HC97 was re-released. 2. Some of them will work with HC97 but many do require the Matrix edition. It will help to try older scenarios first. On GIUK - HarpGamer page for instance, the ones that mention EC2000 should work with HC97, the ones that say EC2003 will not. 3. For the old-timers like me the answer is very long and complex involving intellectual property rights, personalities, fundamental disagreements on what drives a realistic outcome, ... However, an easier answer is that for many players HC is just more enjoyable. Command is amazing in so many ways but the reward is gives me doesn't compare to HC which aside from Civilization may be the only game that can keep me so engaged that I find myself putting off bedtime just one more hour right up until my alarm goes off for work. 4. Very very different. HC97 follows the Harpoon 3 paper rules for the most part however it uses an adaptation of the Harpoon 4 paper sonar model. For the post-HC97 builds we weren't allowed to use the Harpoon paper rules (politics!) so when algorithms were replaced they tend to be my creations. Where we tweaked things (such as sonar), we attempted to make the results come close to the Harpoon 4.1 paper results without copying the data and rules themselves. You can often find a copy of H3 paper on eBay (GDW Harpoon 3). 5. The tutorial is a good start, hopping on Discord (link at top of forum) and chatting with the gang with questions can be helpful. The command card made by a player will become one of your best friends Keyboard Commands, by location - Tools/Mods/Docs - HarpGamer

Thank you Don, I'm hopeful I can give some additional answers tonight. The good news is that your demo suggestion is valid. The demo does not expire until 2030 and demonstrates the bulk of the changes between HC97 and the latest and greatest. If one gets really invigorated, I expect the ExportDLLs (game functionality add-ons) that worked with the 2024.005 build should work just fine with the demo.

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.

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

But this is an appropriate place to ask, there are just better places at the moment like what xavier posted

You should ask questions via https://groups.io/g/AdmiraltyTrilogy .

Wow, very interesting, once I found the English version switch

What about staging/submunitions? The game already has ASROC weapons where a missile turns into a torpedo. Could there be a weapon that has a terminal attack stage with different characteristics? Or stages like the Starstreak where it uses three submunitions as a payload. And of course MIRV warheads on nuclear weaposn.