Carrier Force

Carrier Force is a 1983 wargame from SSI designed by Gary Grigsby, the man who would go on to become a legend of computer wargaming. It simulates four pivotal carrier battles of the Pacific in 1942: Coral Sea, Midway, the Eastern Solomons and Santa Cruz. You can command either the Americans or the Japanese, against another player or the computer.

The essence of the game lies in what you cannot see. One turn represents an hour of real time, and most of a session is spent searching: you send reconnaissance planes out over sectors of ocean and wait for reports while the enemy does the same. Whoever finds the opposing ships first gains the decisive edge — launching strike waves of dive bombers and torpedo planes while the other side is still guessing. Around that core you manage fuel, the armament of your air groups, flight altitudes, and how many fighters to keep home flying defensive patrol. The actual clash then lasts minutes and tends to be devastating; the rest is tense silence and probability counting.

It is fair to say what you are in for: this was written for early-eighties home computers, so turn resolution is slow, the graphics amount to an austere map, and you will need the manual at first. The reward is a simulation whose depth still commands respect — damaged ships burn and take on water, air crews tire, and the fog of war here is real rather than cosmetic.

Carrier Force is worth playing if the admiral's chair appeals to you more than the cockpit. It rewards patience with a tension action games cannot produce — that peculiar moment when a search report finally announces an enemy task force and you know the next two hours will decide everything.

It runs at oldgame.cz directly in your browser, nothing to install.