Eugene

May I just say that this is a great idea. A full battleset, with scenarios designed to illustrate and teach the concepts presented so well in the Tactics 101 series? This is so fully rational and as one would hope and expect in a more perfect world, that I fear I am still sleeping this morning, dreaming, and at any moment the alarm will go off and this will evaporate. And it won't even be Friday yet, either!

I'm a long time lurker, and loyal if not constant player of every version of both Harpoon families. I am also a dedicated simmer over 50, who for more years than I care to refect on gets together on line with friends around the country and world the majority of evenings each week for flight and tactical sims. As appears to often be the case in the forums for the various serious sims still active, we try out a range of releases periodically for a change of pace from Falcon 4 campaign or OFP, etc. The lack of a history of MP co-op and HTH for Harpoon has meant that Harpoon is virtually never considered, and I do not see it mentioned as a possibility in various serious discussions in other forums. Most of my friends online have heard of Harpoon, and many had played it at one time in the past. But as life and families take up more time in this stage of life, and our simming time is limited, we don't devote as much time to single player offline gaming as in the past, preferring the majority of 10-15-20 hours a week to be more devoted to the engaging social and satisfying community aspect of co-op sims. ANW has MP and that is a good step forward IMHO. But as seems common knowledge, the current version suffers from a plethora of issues and controversies. HCE on the otherhand seems free of this drawback. And most simmers I know are not aware that ANW is out there and has MP. The long lineage of Classic means that is the game that is the top of mind version - and not MP. "Harpoon 2" was often the other version people knew and know about and it wasn't Windows friendly. Guys are unwilling to invest (time, as much as money) in another sim if no one else has it and it doesn't have MP. End of story. All this is said as background to adding my two cents to AOA's insightful observations and reasoning for adding MP to HCE sooner than later. Serious sims of ANY ilk hang by a thread in commercial terms, and the communities surrounding them are loyal but relatively small compared to the major "communities" for Action and RPG genres. By not having a co-op and HTH component for HCE, not only is HCE cut off from the generic game-buying public out there in marketing terms; it is cut off from a significant segment of the hardcore serious sim community that would otherwise overlap in part with the Harpoon world. As it is, only the sub sim genre is out there for those interested in naval sims. And it suffers from the unfortunate restriction of no time acceleration permitted in MP (i.e., "Sub Command"). So even though many of us own that game and similar ones, they gather dust. Waaaay too long a time versus the window we have in the evenings. Global Conflict Blue 2 wisely allows time acceleration based on the lowest choice of any active player, at any given time. GCB has hardly any profile beyond a small contingent and is not a commercial sim. I apologize for writing at length, and for stepping unknowingly on any toes; that is not my intention. I speak somewhat selfishly on one hand, as I would enjoy having HCE as one of my circle's sims of choice and get to play it regularly with long time sim community friends. It's a great game, and continues to gain quality and capability over the years. But I also speak as a supporter of HCE as a "product" and want very much to see it reach greater success with the public. I am saddened that it remains in the bgackground and in the past for so many serious simmers nowadays. Lastly, in no way do I want to diminish the tremendous dedication by you Tony, and all the pillars of the Harpoon community! Within this community, the work, passion, devotion, and RESULTS may be matched, but certainly not exceeded by those other dedicated sim communities around classics like Falcon and EECH and newer sims such as LOMAC. My only purpose in speaking up is to add support for an upgrade that I believe would broaden the serious sim world support for the venerable Harpoon franchise. The focus on solving problems and adding functionality that satisfies the existing base of users that participate in forums like this is terrific. But I think most people understand that, just as in face to face situations, the majority of people don't speak up. So I would urge decision-makers to consider the implications in the context of limited time and resources of broadening HCE's appeal to those who already do purchase serious sims but avoid Harpoon, with upgrades that in no way dumb-down or reduce the sim in lowest common denominator directions. It can't be a bad thing business or community-wise to bring in more paying customers who are already serious about their sims.

Thanks for starting this site, and best of luck to all who made it happen. Harpoon certainly continues to demonstrate a vitality and timeliness in all its forms that few other sims - perhaps only Falcon 4 - can come close to matching.