BlindGuyNW

This sounds very promising indeed! Please keep us posted on how things go. I was vaguely aware of the library options, but didn't know they were so extensive. If you need somebody to test the UI or what have you I'm happy to do so as well. Thanks!

Hi All, I'm wondering how I should go about prosecuting contacts detected via ESM. I've seen this happen quite a bit from, say, patrolling ASW aircraft, but can never seem to get a more solid fix. Usually when I send a ship out to close with them, it gets into attack range and my missiles don't find anything. Is this a matter of turning on radar and maneuvering? If I have a bearing to a contact, I assume that's the bearing from the platform which detected them, and not necessarily that of the group as a whole. Often I end up surprised by sudden damage, without a prior contact. I wonder if I'm just getting unlucky. I've noticed this most in "Gauntlet," but it seems to happen elsewhere as well. Thanks for any thoughts.

Hi, Done. It's at http://harpgamer.com/harpforum/index.php?/topic/25601-accessibility-wishlist/ Sorry for the big picture nature of most of the items. It's hard to explain how exactly I'd like a lot of this stuff to work, since I'm not sure how the game is coded internally. These are just some initial things i've noticed i can't really do well, and I'll doubtless add to it as the situation changes. If there's anything I can go into more detail about, or what have you, I'm happy to do so. I want to see this game accessible if its at all possible, and I realize it's a big project. I feel like 90% of things are already pretty good. Hope we can work something out.

As discussed at http://harpgamer.com/harpforum/index.php?/topic/25555-playing-hce-as-a-blind-gamer/ A way to set courses without requiring the mouse to click on the map. A screen-reader accessible Formation Editor of some sort. Information on zones of uncertainty, direction of movement, and other cues which are only provided visually. Some kind of textual overview of the map, or at least a way to get required play information from it in an accessible form (probably overlaps with item above.) A way to handle ASW accessibly, or at least direct the searches without requiring the mouse.

Hi All, So I was wondering if there was anything I should do in terms of the Issue Tracker to make sure my observations are kept on the to do list, so to speak? Is this thread enough? I just want to make things as easy for TonyE as I may. I've done QA testing of games and other programs before, and I know the value of individual bug reports. Thanks much!

Hi All, Just a quick update to say that I tried another screen reader, which lets me control the mouse more exactly. I'm able to add new course legs, though I can't figure out what area I'm in aside from generally guessing that the top of the map corresponds with North. I managed to run a ship aground, which while it certainly wasn't my intension is more than I've accomplished movement-wise to date. For the curious, the program in question is Window-Eyes, and it's available to anybody with a copy of Microsoft Office for free. I basically used the "Mouse down" command to move into the map. It didn't give me any speech feedback, but I figured a few presses was sufficiently north-ish. It ended up taking me about 315 degrees, which is... kind of what I had in mind. All this was in the EC2000 scenario "Wrath." So I'm glad this aspect isn't totally inaccessible to me, though I might wish for better navigation information in future.

Hi All, On the off chance that a save from just one session of a scenario will be useful, I played through a few hours of Eastern Seaboard from the NACV battleset this afternoon. Message log and save are attached. My biggest problem is being unable to find the submarines, I can blast the surface ships just fine, for the most part. I'm heavily reliant on air assets. The torpedos are a major annoyance, as I can obviously detect them, but none of my patrols has so much as suggested that a sub is out there. <mild grumble> Anyway, enjoy the exploits of the first (only?) blind admiral ever likely to be appointed CommWestLant. Eastern Seaboard.zip

Hi, Okay, attached here. I'm afraid the mesage log doesnt' seem to contain the first part of this--I played over multiple sessions. Nevertheless, I did sink a few ships before saving this "stable," point. I'm somewhat baffled by enemy ships seemingly firing at themselves, or perhaps they're some sort of misfire? At any rate, I remember seeing a couple which I definitely didn't target going boom. As I write this, I figured I'd best include the previous save I have, which I restored to before "stable." That's "walkthrough." Regretably, I didn't think to grab the mesage log before starting up this last time. Hope it's useful/informative/something. Thanks for the help! Convoy Stable.zip

Hi All, So I'm coming off what is for me a fairly successful run, the GIUK Convoy scenario. I have 8 merchant ships still alive, and have managed to sink a couple submarines as well as a surface group. Granted, firing a harpoon at a ship you can see visually is probably not a great idea. I was wondering if it might be any use sending my save game or message log to somebody to review how I'm doing. I'm not sure if it would be practical, I don't know how much state information the save format preserves. I've made observations in the other thread, and I don't have much to add to them just now. I think it's clear I labor under some pretty strong limitations, but within those I'm pleasantly surprised how much I can do. Just wanted to brag a little and offer the notion. Maybe it'll be interesting to someone.

So, I've had the opportunity to make a few more observations… Much of the problem with my playing this game is that a lot of information is only conveyed visually. For instance, I can't figure out whether a contact is an actual fix, or has a large zone of uncertainty, or the like. Also, figuring out the way contacts are heading, or where likely destinations might be, is an exercise in tedium with the bearing calculation dialog. This compounds on my inability to set a course for anything to make life very difficult. I believe that something can be done to make this game accessible. THere's a lot of information which could also be represented in text form. More popups for messages about weapons fire, for instance, would be helpful in figuring out if enemy salvos are getting through. but the visual map aspect is the most pressing for the moment, I believe. I realize this could be difficult to convey meaningfully, but trust something can be done. Thanks for all your help and support.

If I could get the paper rules in digital form, I'd totally love to see them. I've only seen supplements available from places like WargameVault, however. The publisher's site is a bit lacking on that score.

Removed per admin request.

Thanks for the explanation. I take it, then, that if a contact is detected via ESM, it isn't something like a radar return, which would be constant? I imagine what probably happened was my patrolling helicopter found something, but during the time my frigate got moving—it was 40+ NM away to begin with, it was long gone. That might explain why the harpoon was having trouble locking on. Do I have things more or less right here?

So some further observations I ran through Gauntlet again and this time tried detaching a frigate as per your suggestion. That seemed to go well, although when I turned on my surface search radar it didn't seem to make much difference. I ended up getting to the point where i could theoretically launch a harpoon, but it was a "bearing only attack." I was pleased that you can watch the progress of an individual missile in the unit display. The harpoon didn't seem to find anything—I was surprised to see that its time to activation and distance kept going *up*. I would have expected the reverse. We afterwards lost that contact, and I tried to get the frigate back to the merchies, whom I'd ordered to stop—not really realistic, but I figured it was reasonable for practice's sake. Joining doesn't seem to have an "auto close," feature as attacking does. Perhaps it could? At any rate, if there's anything specific I can report on or try, please let me know. I should clarify that I'm totally blind, playing with speech. Low vision might actually help in this case…

So, an update. I managed to play for a decent amount on the "gauntlet," scenario from the GIUK battleset. Lacking the ability to change my surface group's course, I figured it started off in the direction it needed to go. I sped up time a considerable amount until I hit a couple contacts. I wasn't sure what I ought to do about the surface units. Given that two of the ships are merchants, would splitting the frigates into a separate group have been a reasonable strategy? I've decided for simplicity sake to let the game handle air patrols. I noticed a lot of the contacts I found were ESMs from the helicopters. They seem kind of ill-equipped to deal with surface targets—at least, the only missions I could ready them for were antisub. I did have one brief submarine contact, but sent an antisub aircraft to search for him with little effect. I feel like I should have been supervising that process a little more, but I'm not quite sure how. I eventually got annoyed with the inability to meaningfully plot a course, and quit for the moment. At least I didn't lose—that's happened before too. Obviously such a relatively simple scenario should be pretty easy. I just feel somewhat hamstrung in my ability to interact at the moment.

Hi all, Thanks again for the warm welcome. I've been mucking about with the game for an hour or so this morning, off and on. I think I managed to sink a merchant ship or two. I've mostly been toying with the "Eastern seaboard," scenario in GIUK, for lack of any other notions where to begin. I think that my struggle is going to be getting a sense of what exactly is going on. I can obviously use commands to move from group to group, but it's a little disjointed. The staff messages are certainly helpful, but I've got a few prompting me to give orders to aircraft for instance, and I obviously can't do that yet. I'm frankly impressed I can make any sense out of this game at all. 99% of the stuff on the market is unplayable to me, so seeing something which is mostly there is remarkable, to be honest. I hope we can make some progress. One thing I'm unsure of is the "instant Action," checkbox. That doesn't seem to be documented in the manual. Does it alter the scenario starting conditions somehow? Thanks for any notions, and your continual support.

Hi, Thanks for the warm welcome and clarifications. I think courses as the game expects them mights till be useful to me. It also seems that relative courses, (i.E. in relation to a specific group or map feature) might be helpful. One thing which may be an issue is that my knowledge of naval tactics and related matters is largely non-existent. I'm approaching this as an interested amateur who's read a bit of fiction. It seems from the article that Didier had at least a bit more background. I appreciate your willingness to indulge me in trying to make this game work. I wish I could give more input, but I'm not sure where to begin as of yet. Thanks much

Hi All, I'm not sure if this message is in the right forum, so if not please feel free to move it or advise where I should repost. I just purchased Harpoon Ultimate Edition, largely on the strength of http://www.simhq.com/_naval/naval_003a.html. Granted, that discusses an earlier version of the game, but the interface does not seem to have changed appreciably. I've perhaps jumped in at the deep end as far as the game is concerned, but I figured that it might at least be worth a shot. I've been blind since birth, but also a fan of, among others, Red Storm Rising. I was wondering if anyone had suggestions on how I ought to proceed. Much of the information provided by the game is textual in nature, but the map is also obviously important. As that article points out, I can't set courses for groups easily. Given that someone obviously has been able to play the game and understand what was happening, I feel like it should be possible. I'm just not quite sure how to begin. If anybody has suggestions, or tips on how to handle things in an automated fashion, or what have you, it would be greatly appreciated. One thought I had was to begin with mostly stationary platforms, so I didn't have to worry about movement quite so much. Other than that, I'm a bit lost. My screen reader is able to parse most of the controls in the game, thankfully. If I can answer any questions or provide any more information, I'm happy to do so. Thanks much in advance