Rule the Waves is a series of naval management and combat simulation games developed by Naval Warfare Simulations. The player takes command of their nation's Navy and does their best to guide it's development from the last days of the ironclad (1890) to the maturity of the guided missile cruiser (1970). This involves everything from designing ships, making policy decisions, setting doctrine and waging war. While possessing only rudimentary graphics, Rule the Waves has a detailed ship designer that allows you to adjust nearly every characteristic of a warship. Once war breaks out you'll command these warships into battle.
At the best of times your advanced and modern Navy will have rugged and powerful battleships, accompanied by sleek cruisers and destroyers bristling with deadly torpedoes. As in reality, it is rarely, if ever, the best of times. Half your battleship line is horribly out of date, with the other half being stopgap designs. The engineers miscalculated the engine requirements and now your cruisers can't make their top speed. And your destroyers resemble less the terror of the seas and more a rowboat with a few roman candles on deck. The only consolation you may have is that every other nation is having the exact same set of issues.
Rule the Waves contains examples of:
- Brits with Battleships: In the early starts, the Royal Navy has a *massive* advantage in technology, tonnage, and funding. Moreover there's even a mechanic where even more money is thrown at the Royal Navy to maintain its preeminence should the other powers get too close.
- Design-It-Yourself Equipment: Expect to spend a lot of time staring at the ship design menu.
- Fog of War: In addition to having to be within visual range of an enemy to spot them, reports from both intelligence services and scout aircraft can be inaccurate, leaving you with incomplete or even entirely wrong information.
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Technology Marches On: One of the key tenets of the game. That fancy new battleship you spend all your time and money designing and building? In 20 years it *will* be outdated and obsolete, and refits can only go so far. By the end of a long campaign, entire generations of ships will need to be designed, built, and eventually scrapped to keep up with the times. - Weather of War: Poor weather will impact your accuracy, spotting range and speed. If the weather gets bad enough some ships may even be in danger of sinking without the enemy needing to help them along.
