Who is VitP

Greeting, Harpoon Beta testers.

I read a post by someone who was complaining about the lack of graphics in Harpoon.

To make a long story short, this induced me to volunteer.

I will tell you a little about myself.

Academically: M.Sc. in physics. Past post-secondary physics lab instructor. Currently unemployed. Working on a new career as a technical writer.

Gaming: First started playing games at about 10. First game chess. Then go. When I got to university, I fell in with some bad company (wargamers). Those were the golden days of wargaming at UBC. We had a large office all to ourselves (the other occupants couldn't stand our company, so they abandoned the place to us). We were in that room almost 24/7. Boardgames & miniatures; computers were still mainframes/ punch cards in those days. About that time, I took up bridge as well. None of this was good for my academic studies.

Incidentally, I spent a great deal of time with a game called Victory in the Pacific. Some people called me Victor in the Pacific.

Generally, I spend a great deal of time analyzing scenarios. I really want to know what is the optimum outcome. I spent a lot of time playing solo games, switching sides every half turn. It's not really an absurd concept. You just have to be impartial. It works well for any turn-based game where all the information is available to both sides.

Then came the computer ...

Harpoon: I got the original game some years after it was published. Real cheap, because most gamers had moved on by then. Never played it until much later. About 5 years ago, my computing resources deteriorated. Now my only active computer is an old PowerMac. The only game I have that I can play at home is Harpoon. So Harpoon it is. Because the resources Harpoon requires to operate are so limited. Actually, I also have to run it in BW mode. Anyway, what does the lack of graphics matter? It's a simulation. It's in my head. So I have a great deal of experience with Harpoon Classic. And a little bit with HCE. The main difference is that submarine characteristics are very different.

I hope to be able to make some contributions here.

VitP