History VideoGame / Harpoon

* AlternativeHistory: The initial release in 1989 wasn't necessarily alt history because the Soviet Union didn't break up properly until 1991, but once history marched onwards, the game has become filled with various sorts of alt history in order to setup the combat. These have included Communist hardliners retaking Russia then starting World War 3, or the European Union fighting the United States, India & Russia having an alliance, various examples of wars in the Middle East, and in the Pacific battleset, one where China, North Korea & Russia join forces to attack Japan, South Korea, Australia and the United States Pacific Fleet.

* BombersOnTheScreen

* TheGreatPoliticsMessUp: The scenarios for the original game assumed that the Soviet Union would be around after 1992. In the North Atlantic Convoys battleset, the Soviet Union attacks NATO in ''1996'' after a successful hardliner coup against Gorbachev.

* HeroUnit - Various CoolShip units, such as Soviet "''Kirov''" BCGN or "Oscar" SSGN, U...S Iowa BB or various carriers.

* NoBackwardsCompatibilityInTheFuture: Averted direct successors of the original game. Later game versions running on Windows 7 and newer are usually capable of running user scenarios written as early as 1990. However, there is no guarantee of an identical playing experience due to game engine changes since then.

* EscortMission: This is NATO's main task in the ''North Atlantic Convoys'' scenarios. Convoys filled with war supplies from the U.S. to Europe will have to sail through a Soviet gauntlet of Backfires and ambushing submarines.
* MacrossMissileMassacre: What happens when a large force of aircraft unload their missiles on a naval or ground target

* HeroUnit - Various CoolShip units, such as Soviet "''Kirov''" BCGN or "Oscar" SSGN, U...S Iowa BB or various carriers.
* RealTimeStrategy - Whilst at its core a real time strategy game, Harpoon completely averts and subverts the usual RTS genre tropes such as:
** ArbitraryHeadcountLimit: Averted. You want to recreate an assault by the combined North Korean, Chinese and East Asian Russian forces against Japan, South Korea and the U.S.? Go for it. Although it's already been done. Expect to be playing for a long, long time, almost all of which will be spent in 1:1 (realtime) or 2:1 if your computer can't handle it.
** ConstructAdditionalPylons: Each ship, each helo, each plane, each base is a unique and irreplaceable unit.
** CripplingOverspecialization: Averted in the case of most ship units, as almost any ship will carry at least a naval artillery gun, and even the smallest gunboats can sink the largest ships if they get lucky with missiles. About the most you get into this, are subs with torpedoes only capable of hitting other subs.
** CriticalExistenceFailure: Averted. Ships take realistic damage, lose sensors and weapons if hit where those sensors or weapons are located. They can catch fire or flood. If you hurt a CVN or airbase enough, it can balloon aircraft ready times to 2 or 3 times the usual time. Ships can sink due to fire or flood damage. Likewise, occasionally a ship that takes a pounding can come out with 97% damage, but otherwise unharmed.
** EscortMission: Can range from a 3 ship convoy hiking fuel from England to Norway, or a 40 ship assault flotilla being guarded by multiple CVN Groups.
** FogOfWar: If you don't have a sensor lighting it up, or someone listening on a sonar, or watching it with their eyeball or an ESM system, picking it up you have no idea what's there. You also have areas of vagueness with passively detected units. Unless you have a setting turned on, you cannot communicate with your own subs below periscope depth.
*** You also may not be able to fire at a unit if you don't have a radar from the specific ship locked on it.
*** Like real life, there are "Anti-Radar" weapons, which are missiles that used to shoot back at ships, missile batteries and radar installations. If the target isn't using active radar the missiles can't be used.

* YouRequireMoreVespeneGas: The only "resource" is your units, and their weapons. The only "renewable" resource are aerially delivered weapon (ie by planes that rearm).

''Harpoon'' is a LongRunner series of computer wargames based upon Creator/LarryBond's [[TabletopGame/{{Harpoon}} naval miniatures rules]]. Originally released for DOS in late 1989, ''Harpoon'' is a game of modern naval operations, and was critically acclaimed by PC gaming magazines for its playability, depth, and accuracy. In 2013, AGSI, the latest developer, ceased development for the series.

** With three [=BattleSet=] expansions, set in the North Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Indian Ocean/Persian Gulf regions. They were released from 1989 to 1991.

''Harpoon'' has a mod community that's as old as the series itself; the earliest user scenarios were hosted on pre-internet online services! Nowadays many scenarios are available on multiple fan websites. You can create your own scenarios and also make your own databases via a (free) request-able editor. Harpoon 3 has been a popular platform for custom datasets (a file containing unit parameters); the [=PlayersDB=] is particularly good, covers the 1960-2030+ period, and is constantly updated with community requests to cover new additions. It is considered the most functional and user-friendly of all current Harpoon 3 databases. The [=DB2000=] covers the 1980-2015+ timeframe. There are databases for earlier time periods.

** StopPokingMe
** YouRequireMoreVespeneGas: The only "resource" is your units, and their weapons. The only "renewable" resource are aerially delivered weapon (ie by planes that rearm).

* EscortMission: This is NATO's main task in the ''North Atlantic Convoys'' scenarios. Convoys filled with war supplies from the U.S. to Europe will have to sail through a Soviet gauntlet of Backfires and ambushing submarines.

* VideoGameLongRunners: Since ''1989''. The Harpoon devs appeared to have called it quits in 2013.

** ConstructAdditionalPylons" Each ship, each helo, each plane, each base is a unique and irreplaceable unit.

* TheGreatPoliticsMessUp: The scenarios for the original game assumed that the Soviet Union would be around after 1992.

The game series has you commanding naval and air forces in scenarios stretching from the North Sea to the Persian Gulf. The original ''Harpoon'' focused on ColdWar-era NATO vs. Warsaw Pact confrontations on the world's oceans, but subsequent releases have included more modern scenarios. In particular, ''Harpoon Classic '97'' included a campaign series featuring a war between the United States and European Union in 1996. An old players' scenario favorite is "Dawn Patrol", depicting a battle between Norwegian and Soviet missile boats.

** Was upgraded and re-released under the titles ''Harpoon Classic'' (1994), ''Harpoon Classic '97'' (1996), ''Harpoon Classic 2002 Gold Edition'' (2003), and ''Harpoon: Commander's Edition'' (2005).
* ''Harpoon II'' (1994), featuring increased detail and complexity over the original title. The base game included the [=BattleSet=] ''Global Conflicts One''. This title was re-released as ''Harpoon II: Deluxe Multimedia Edition'' (1996) and ''Harpoon II: Admiral's Edition'' (1996).

* MacrossMissileMassacre - What happens when a large force of aircraft unload their missiles on a naval or ground target
* MookChivalry - Sometimes you get lone AI aircraft having a go at your task force before being blown out of the sky. The "conga line of missiles", however, is a tad more threatening.
* UsefulNotes/FromRussiaWithNukes
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: The SS-N-19 ''Shipwreck'' missile carried by the "Oscar" submarines, the "Kuznetsov" aircraft carrier and the "Kirov" class battlecruiser. It lives up to its name. Anything smaller than a carrier or Iowa battleship will be sunk in one hit, and those two types of ship would be lucky to withstand more than a handful of hits.
* SuperiorFirepower
* HeroUnit - Various CoolShip units, such as Soviet "''Kirov''" BCGN or "Oscar" SSGN, US Iowa BB or various carriers.

** ArbitraryHeadcountLimit - Averted. You want to recreate an assault by the combined North Korean, Chinese and East Asian Russian forces against Japan, South Korea and the US? Go for it. Although it's already been done. Expect to be playing for a long, long time, almost all of which will be spent in 1:1 (realtime) or 2:1 if your computer can't handle it.
** ConstructAdditionalPylons - Each ship, each helo, each plane, each base is a unique and irreplaceable unit.
** CripplingOverspecialization - Averted in the case of most ship units, as almost any ship will carry at least a naval artillery gun, and even the smallest gunboats can sink the largest ships if they get lucky with missiles. About the most you get into this, are subs with torpedoes only capable of hitting other subs.
** CriticalExistenceFailure - Averted. Ships take realistic damage, lose sensors and weapons if hit where those sensors or weapons are located. They can catch fire or flood. If you hurt a CVN or airbase enough, it can balloon aircraft ready times to 2 or 3 times the usual time. Ships can sink due to fire or flood damage. Likewise, occasionally a ship that takes a pounding can come out with 97% damage, but otherwise unharmed.
** EscortMission - Can range from a 3 ship convoy hiking fuel from England to Norway, or a 40 ship assault flotilla being guarded by multiple CVN Groups.
** FogOfWar - If you don't have a sensor lighting it up, or someone listening on a sonar, or watching it with their eyeball or an ESM system, picking it up you have no idea what's there. You also have areas of vagueness with passively detected units. Unless you have a setting turned on, you cannot communicate with your own subs below periscope depth.

** YouRequireMoreVespeneGas - The only "resource" is your units, and their weapons. The only "renewable" resource are aerially delivered weapon (ie by planes that rearm).
* TheGreatPoliticsMessUp: Was around ''before'' the Soviet Union collapsed.
* VideogameCaringPotential - Towards especially lucky or effective units.
* VideoGameLongRunners: Since ''1989''.

* ''Harpoon II'' (1994), featuring increased detail and complexity over the original title. The base game included the BattleSet ''Global Conflicts One''. This title was re-released as ''Harpoon II: Deluxe Multimedia Edition'' (1996) and ''Harpoon II: Admiral's Edition'' (1996).

''Harpoon'' is a series of computer wargames based upon Creator/LarryBond's [[TabletopGame/{{Harpoon}} naval miniatures rules]], originally used to train U.S. Naval Reserve Cadets. The original rule set was used by Creator/TomClancy and Bond in writing ''Literature/TheHuntForRedOctober'' and ''Literature/RedStormRising'' as a tool for wargaming the naval scenarios in the books.

The game is a simulation of aerial and naval warfare with a serious emphasis on realism. This is evidenced by the graphics. Not going for the flashy graphics of other RTS, it actually shows what you would see in the Combat Information Center of the warship (there are two modes you can choose and a variety of different settings for each view-screen, since you can have multiple in-game windows open). You can see photographs of many of the ships and look at their statistics (not unrealistic, most RL naval ships will have at least a copy of ''Jane's Fighting Ships'' on board). You can also conduct ground strikes via aircraft.

In fact, simulator would be the better word--it's been described as the best unclassified simulator out there and has been used by several real-life navies for training.

Scenarios have randomness added to them. You can create your own scenarios and also make your own databases via a (free) request-able editor (the standard database and the in-game scenarios are all from c.1995). Of the user databases, The [=PlayersDB=] is particularly good, covers the 1960-2030+ period, and is constantly updated with community requests to cover new additions. It is considered the most functional and user-friendly of all current databases. The [=DB2000=] covers the 1980-2015+ timeframe. There are databases for earlier time periods.

Features both single and multi-player modes, with "Dawn Patrol" being a popular scenario for that (a corvette v. missile boat battle).

The current versions are ''Harpoon: Commander's Edition'' and ''Harpoon 3: Advanced Naval Warfare'', the former leaning for ease of use, the latter for accuracy. The latter was formerly buggy, but 3.9 has fixed a lot of the issues. The TabletopGame/{{Harpoon}} miniatures rules are still available and now in their fourth edition.

This game series contains examples of:

''Harpoon'' is a series of computer wargames based upon Creator/LarryBond's [[TabletopGame/{{Harpoon}} naval miniatures rules]], originally used to train U.S. Naval Reserve Cadets. The original rule set was used in Creator/TomClancy and Bond in writing ''Literature/TheHuntForRedOctober'' and ''Literature/RedStormRising'' for gaming out the naval scenarios in the books.

The ''Harpoon'' series of video games is based on the [[TabletopGame/{{Harpoon}} miniatures rule sets]] created by Creator/LarryBond, originally to train U.S. Naval Reserve Cadets. The rule set was used in ''Literature/TheHuntForRedOctober'' by Creator/TomClancy and Bond was practically co-writer on ''Literature/RedStormRising''.

The game is a simulation of aerial and naval warfare, seriously striving for realism. This is evidenced by the graphics. Not going for the flashy graphics of other RTS, it actually shows what you would see in the Combat Information Center of the warship (there are two modes you can choose and a variety of different settings for each view-screen, since you can have multiple in-game windows open). You can see photographs of many of the ships and look at their statistics (not unrealistic, most RL naval ships will have at least a copy of ''Jane's Fighting Ships'' on board). You can also conduct ground strikes via aircraft.

In fact, simulator would be the better word- it's been described as the best unclassified simulator out there and has been used by several RL navies for training.

The ''Harpoon'' series of video games is based on the [[TabletopGame/{{Harpoon}} miniatures rule sets]] created by Creator/LarryBond, originally to train US Naval Reserve Cadets. The rule set was used in ''Literature/TheHuntForRedOctober'' by Creator/TomClancy and Bond was practically co-writer on ''Literature/RedStormRising''.

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* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: The SS-N-19 ''Shipwreck'' missile carried by the "Oscar" submarines, the "Kuznetsov" aircraft carrier and the "Kirov" class battlecruiser. It lives up to it's name. Anything smaller than a carrier or Iowa battleship will be sunk in one hit, and those two types of ship would be lucky to withstand more than a handful of hits.