Navy Field

Infobox VG
title = Navy Field


developer = SD Enternet
publisher = game&game
released = February 8, 2006
genre = MMOG
Naval Simulation
modes = Multiplayer , single player
platforms = Windows
media = Download
input = Keyboard, mouse
requirements = Pentium III or higher, 256mb RAM, 16mb Graphics Card, 1GB+ hard drive [.cite web |url=http://www.mpogd.com/games/game.asp?ID=2815 |title=Navy Field |accessdate=2008-07-25 |work=POGD]

"Navy Field" is a massively multiplayer online game simulating naval combat during World War II. The game was developed by SD Enternet, a South Korean company, and has been operational in Asia since 2002. It was made available to western players as a free open beta on November 5 2004, and in commercial form on February 2006. [cite web |url=http://www.gameogre.com/reviewdirectory/reviews/NavyField.php |title=Navy Field |accessdate=2008-07-24 |format= |work= Game Ogre] Today the basic Navy Field is available for free, along with options to subscribe to a premium account for a monthly fee, which enhances gameplay.

Gameplay

The object of the game is to upgrade and advance a WWII naval ship and to participate in naval battles with other people online. Gameplay starts out by configuring a naval ship to prepare it for battle. Once it is configured, the player proceeds into the game's 'Battle Map' and joins one of the open battle rooms. These rooms are located and created in one of the 25 different 'Areas' on the 'Battle Map'. Each room can hold up to 128 players divided into two teams.

New players take command of a 'Neutral' nationality ship at the beginning of the game and need to progress by advancing in levels to access larger and more powerful vessels. There are two main types of ships that a player can command in the highest levels of the game: aircraft carriers (CV) and battleships (BB). Up to 6 different ships of a single nation can be purchased at a time and can be armed and equipped with multiple variations of naval guns, aircraft, fire control systems, powerplants, and armor. The game uses two forms of currency: "Credits" and "Points". Credits are used to purchase ships and equipment, and points are to purchase recruits and promote sailors.

Battles are played in real-time using isometric graphics. Players control their ship's weapons and speed during battle. Ships can have gun turrets, torpedoes, and anti-aircraft guns. Larger ships can also hold aircraft that can help to scout for or attack other enemy ships and aircraft.

Like many massively multiplayer online strategy games, players may form clans, known as fleets. Each fleet is unique and has the ability to create up to 5 squadrons of 30 or more people within the fleet, and they have the unique capability to participate in the Harbor Assault gameplay mode. Squads can also be formed without belonging to a fleet, but they cannot participate in Harbor assault.Fact|date=September 2007

Game balance

The four nations in the game all have their weak and strong points, explained later. Some ships and weapons in the game are noticeably strong or weak compared to the ships and weapons of other nations at similar levels; this also applies to other important areas, such as support crews, aircraft, and armor.

The Open Navyfield Project (ONF), includes a select group of individuals working to adjust game balance. A patch has already been released to address balance issues for ships up to BB2 level, as well as adjusting the power of premium battleships. A patch to address issues with BB3 and above battleships, as well as aircraft carriers, is still forthcoming.

Game modes

There are seven types of battles in Navy Field:

# Normal
# CV mode
# FF & DD mode
# BB & CA mode
# Operation Convoy
# Blitzkrieg
# Missions
# Night Battle
# Great Battle I
# Harbor Assault

The common theme for all game modes is that the battle is between two teams, each of which has a flagship. Damage done to friendly ships produces an experience penalty to discourage the practice of team killing (which is also now a bannable offense). All games are "hosted"; ships join a hosting zone and join or are assigned to teams. When all ships are ready to play, the game proper commences.

In Normal battles, there are no restrictions on the number of each ship type, and the host is free to set restrictions on the type of ships that enter the room by indicating it in the title, which is not possible in any other game mode. Each ship earns experience based only on the damage that it inflicts. Credits and points are awarded primarily based on personal damage inflicted, with a small proportion coming from the team total. Each ship chooses its own side and decides when to become ready to play.

In Blitzkrieg battles, destroyers, frigates, and cruisers under or at Level 60 may participate. Experience, credits and points are awarded based on both personal and team performance. The game is played to a time limit. As of patch 1.179, Blitzkrieg is balanced automatically, using the same "balancer" as Great Battle I.

Night Battles are exclusively played between a maximum of 14 battleships and 6 carriers. The sight range of ships and aircraft is limited, and all sailors receive a reduction to all of their abilities.

Great Battle I is a game mode in which there is no level limit. It also features an enhanced "balancer" which splits the vessels before a battle.

Missions are played either solo or in small teams against computer controlled ships. They represent training opportunities or historical scenarios. There is only one (player) side in missions, and all ships must become ready to play before the game starts.

The game also incorporates a Harbor Assault game mode. This allows each Fleet to attack a harbor which another fleet may hold. The benefits of owning a Harbor are that each member of a Fleet that owns a Harbor can rent unique ships that require lower level BO to operate. Harbor Assault, however, is currently disabled from the North American server.

Historical accuracy

Navy Field is an interpretation and/or a simulation of WWII naval combat. It contains many abstractions and some speculative ships and weapons.

The visual designs of the ships, guns, and planes are very detailed. However, characteristics of some of the units in the game are quite historically inaccurate. In particular:

* The scaling of the ships is very large compared to the lengths of their gun ranges.
* The majority of ships in the game can travel at speeds much higher than that of their historical maximums.
* Ships turn "on their axis" rather than turning by the stern; this sometimes allows players to dodge torpedoes or bombs dropped by dive-bombers much easier, since the ship rotates about its center.
* Guns fire at a substantially increased rate.
* Plane preparation time for launching from carriers is far shorter.
* The accuracy of guns can become unrealistically high, in some cases allowing them to fire with all shot converging to one large shot, popularly called a "block shot" by players.
* Damage is greatly abstracted; until 21st September, 2006 the only effect of damage was to slow ships down until they eventually sank; it had no other effect. Now, battleships and battlecruisers which are below 30% of their DP have their "Turret Drive Acceleration" disabled, which forces them to move their turrets at a slow pace.
* Ships are not on scale. For example the Fletcher class destroyer is about 3/4 the size of a Pennsylvania class battleship and it's claimed that it's "American battleship advantage" for having an underscaled battleship. Destroyers are commonly overscaled and capital ships are commonly underscaled.
* Planes launch toward the bow of a ship and will try to land from the stern regardless of the ship's true catapult/flight deck direction.

The game contains several historical ships that either never saw action, were never truly built, or had only one ship produced. In particular:

*Both German Carriers, the Seydlitz and Graf Zeppelin, both never saw action and were either scuttled or scrapped not long after their initial production. This includes all of the plan Z ships, all of whom never left the drawing board.
*The US Navy Battleship Montana, a planned successor to the Iowa, was canceled in favor of aircraft carriers.
*The Royal Navy Battleships Lion 1 and Lion 2 were planned but never constructed; Along with the Malta Project Aircraft Carrier.
*The IJ Navy Battleship Super Yamato was canceled due to the increasing power of Aircraft Carriers

Nations

When a new player creates an account, he or she receives a set of starting Sailors. They are supplemented with fifty thousand credits and thirty two thousand points to spend on purchasing a neutral ship and more crew. Players may also buy or sell naval guns, torpedo launchers, and other equipment using credits, or trade with other players for ships and crewmen.

Beginners are advised to battle in the "Beginner" area to level their Sailors up. Once a Sailor has reached level 12, he may be assigned to one of four nations:

Royal Navy

. The RN has the most effective armor, the best support crews, a large variety of fast battleships, as well as the hardest hitting guns. However, RN guns lack a fast reload speed (due to the system used to class their gunners) and RN torpedoes are the slowest and have the shortest range (albeit high damage). Players gain access to battleships and heavy cruisers at lower levels than the other navies.

United States Navy

, are generally considered to be inferior to their counterparts in other navies due to their lack of range. However, its later battleships, the Iowa and Montana classes, are very competitive, and have among the heaviest broadsides in the game. Post Open Navyfield patching, US BB2s such as Colorado, and Tennessee 1945, are generally considered the best BB2s. These buffed ships have decent range, excellent firepower, and a higher speed.

Kriegsmarine

projects which were never built or commissioned.

Imperial Japanese Navy

s, and later, the Super Yamato class battleships, mounting powerful, long ranged main batteries and the longest range of any anti-aircraft weaponry.

hips

Each nation has a large variety of all types of ships. As a player's Bridge Operator levels up, he gains access to more powerful ships, culminating in either a battleship or an aircraft carrier. The sailor system is explained below. Players may also purchase "Premium" light cruisers, heavy cruisers and battle ships, explained in the main Ships article and the Payment section. There are also ships who concentrate on torpedoes - designated TWs (Torpedo Whores) by users. They are usually of Destroyer or Light Cruiser type.

hip designations

The game uses the United States Navy's hull classification system to classify most ships in the game. In the game, the following types of ships are available:

Ship Class	Designation	Extra Information
Frigate	FF	Small, extremely fast ships. Their small size makes them hard to hit, and their high speed allows them to reach action faster. They can mount little to no armor, and their weapons are suited to fighting other frigates. "All frigates are Neutral; there are no National FFs."
Destroyer	DD	Medium sized very fast ships. Larger than FFs, but still small enough to avoid gunfire, they are slightly slower than FFs, but can take more damage due to their higher DP. They can also mount heavier weapons than FFs. "There are both Neutral and National DDs."
Light Cruiser	CL	Medium sized fast ships. Their medium size and slower turning rate makes them easier to hit, but they can achieve speeds similar to DDs, which makes them harder to chase and hit. Some CLs can be armoured to protect up to CL sized shells, and their heavier weapons are suited for combating other light cruisers and some heavy cruisers. "There are only National CLs. Some CLs may carry Scout Planes."
Heavy Cruiser (Armored Cruiser)	CA	Large, fairly fast ships. Their large size and medium speed make them easier to hit than smaller ships. Some of them can mount enough armor to shrug off DD, CL and CA attacks, and they can mount heavy guns suited for fighting cruisers. "All CAs may carry scout planes. The German PanzerSchiffe is classified as a CA."
BattleCruiser	BC	Excessively huge and well-armed capital ships. Their large size means that other ships will rarely miss them. They are not as fast as CAs, but can outrun most BBs, and their DP allows them to withstand attacks from all other classes of ships. They are in general competitive against BBs. They're commonly better armed than BBs at their level. "All BCs may carry scout planes. The United States Large Cruiser is classified as a BC in the game. For the sake of balance, BCs are designated as BBs during gameplay."
BattleShip	BB	Huge, heavily-armed capital ships. Their huge size makes them easy to hit, and their slow speed makes them the least maneuverable ships in the game. However, they have the most DP out of all ships in the game, and can easily withstand attacks from all other ship classes. They can mount the heaviest guns in the game, capable of sinking any other target. "All BBs (except the Nelson class battleship) may carry Scout Planes."
Aircraft Carrier	CV	Variable-sized, variable-armored, variable speed capital ships. A CV's size ranges from small Escort Carriers (such as the Ōyodo Class hybrid) to large Fleet Carriers (such as the Shinano Class carrier). They generally have little firepower in guns, against both ships and planes, but have the ability to attack other ships and planes using their own planes. "All CVs may carry Scout Planes, Fighter Planes, Dive Bombers and Torpedo Bombers."
Submarine	SS	Small, low on displacement but stealthy and with limited but powerful torpedoes. Some subs have guns while others can mount mine launchers or even aircraft.

The Ship Tree

Not all ships of a nation are available to a Bridge Operator of that nation, even if he has the required level to use them. Instead, ships are arranged into "ship trees". The trees consist of decision points where a Bridge Operator must select which ship type he wishes to use. Once the choice has been made, the Bridge Officer is committed to that "line" of ships, and may not select ships from alternate lines. As well as diverging, the ship lines also rejoin at some points.

For example, a German Bridge Operator at level 12 can only select the Z1 destroyer as his chosen ship. No choice is available. When he reaches level 17, he is given the option of choosing the Z31 line. If he does so, he can command the Z31 destroyer and its remodels. If, however, he does not choose to go down the Z31 line at level 17, then at level 20, he can instead choose the D38 line of ships. A single Bridge Operator cannot command both a Z31 and a D38; he must choose between them. However, regardless of his earlier choices, he is given the option to command the Z99 type destroyer when he reaches level 25. At this point, the Z31 and D38 lines converge again. Further choices of this type are offered to Bridge Operators of all nations throughout their careers. Choices are irrevocable once made; a Bridge Operator cannot switch between mutually exclusive ship lines.

Some ships can also be remodeled. This involves spending credits to change a ship into a different variant. A Bridge Operator that has control the basic ship can control all re-models of that ship, if he has the required level for them. Remodels can be relatively minor, such as the Atlanta / Juneau II / Oakland light cruisers, or more significant, such as the Agano light cruiser remodeling into the Ōyodo aircraft carrier.

Available ships

Each ship has a Class (see above) and a level within that class, which can range from 1 (least powerful in a class) to 5 (most powerful in a class). In general ships of a higher Class are more powerful then the ones below and levels within each class determine how it compares to other ships in the same class. Different classes also excel in different areas, EG a DD will generally excel in torpedoes and many CL's excel at anti aircraft gunnery.

Weapons

In order to win battles, ships must use weapons in order to damage and sink the ships of the opposing team. There are two general categories that weapons fall into, ship-mounted and aircraft. These weapons may be used to attack two different targets, ships or aircraft.

Ship-mounted weapons consist of turrets, and torpedo launchers. Turrets fire shells at their targets; these targets may be enemy ships or enemy airplanes, and there are several different types of guns and many types of ammunition used for these purposes. Torpedo launchers fire torpedoes at enemy ships, and target them below the waterline; their large warhead (compared to shells) make them very useful for destroying enemy ships, though they also have drawbacks of their own. It is usually not advised to carry torpedoes on any light cruiser or above - many players see it as poor skill. The exception to this is the IJN Fubuki line (which has torpedo specialty ships at Light Cruiser level, such as the Kuma-Kai or Kita-Kami). Torpedoes "can" sometimes be effective on cruisers, but are difficult to use properly without detracting from the less dramatic but more reliable main battery.

Ship-mounted weaponsThe majority of weapons available in Navy Field are mounted on ships. Ships use these weapons to fire ordnance at enemy targets in order to damage and destroy them. The number of mounts available varies from ship to ship.

Naval gunsAll ships in the game can carry Naval Guns, which they use to fire shells of various calibers at other ships in order to damage them (or, in the case of AA, at enemy planes in order to shoot them down). As a player's gunnery sailors rise in level, they gain access to larger and more powerful guns; higher caliber shells can be fired from larger guns, and they also have more guns per turret. (an example: RN players can gain access to the BL 14 inch Mk VII naval gun) [cite web|url=http://trainworld.us/NF2/Gun_Data/index.html |title=Gun Data|Access Date=2008-7-27 |work=NF Data store]

Each specific gun has up to four variants that determine its firing range and reload times. In general the N variants are available at the lowest level, soon followed by the L variant, and then the D variant. A variants need specialized anti-air gunners are therefore separated from regular guns even if they are similar otherwise..:

Torpedo launchersGenerally considered as a secondary armament by most players, Torpedo Launchers are used to drop torpedoes into the water. Torpedoes then travel in a straight line until they either contact a ship or land, or run out of fuel, at which point they detonate, doing splash damage to all ships nearby. While torpedoes take longer to reload than naval guns, they also do far more damage, in some cases being able to sink poorly-armored ships with one or two torpedoes. Some ships, particularly those of the IJN, are designed specifically to use torpedo launchers as their primary weapons.

Naval minesCertain ships may mount mine launchers in order to drop naval mines in the water. [cite web |url=http://trainworld.us/NF2/navalmine/index.html |title=Mines |access date= 2008-07-27 |work= Navyfield Data Store] In order to launch mines, players must first purchase them (500 mines for $1 USD, or 1000 mines for $2 USD), then mount a mine launcher on their ship. When dropped on the battlefield, mines will become invisible, and arm themselves 10 seconds after being dropped. If a ship, friend or foe, crosses the mine while it is active, it will explode, damaging the ship. Mines are always visible to all ships on the team of the ship that launched the mine. Ships on the enemy team will not be able to see the mines, except for FFs and DDs, which can spot enemy mines in the water close to a certain radius. Mines may also be attacked using guns, which will destroy the mines after a certain amount of damage.

AircraftAs in real naval combat; airplanes are very potent weapons and tools that can easily turn the tide of battle in the proper circumstances. In order to use airplanes, players must first have at minimum a Rookie Pilot sailor on their ship; for the specialized airplanes, more specialized classes are required. Their ship must have the ability to carry planes.

Scouts

Scouts, while not necessarily weapons in the normal sense, are considered the eyes of a fleet. Most CLs, all CAs and BCs, and most BBs (the Nelson class battleship being the only exception) are able to carry scouts. Scouts have a very wide range of view; however, they possess very little firepower with which to defend themselves, are comparatively slower than most other planes, and are easy to shoot down. For this reason, most ships are able to carry more than one scout, in the very likely event that one is lost in battle. Scouts require a Rookie Pilot to fly them; pilots of higher classes may not pilot scouts. As a Rookie Pilot increases in level, he gains access to more powerful scouting aircraft.

Fighters

In order to protect their fleets, CVs may carry and launch Fighters from their flight decks. The role of the fighter is to intercept and destroy enemy planes that pose a threat to all friendly ships and, in the case of enemy fighters, a threat to friendly airplanes. While fighters are very useful in destroying enemy airplanes, they cannot attack enemy ships, which can shoot them down with AA. Fighters are very fast and have considerable firepower, but have the shortest flight time of all planes and rely on friendly ships and scouts in order to see around them, as their sight-range is very poor.

Fighters require a Fighter Pilot or higher to pilot. As a Fighter Pilot increases in level, he gains access to more powerful fighting aircraft, and becomes more effective at fighting.

Dive bombers

The second primary anti-ship weapon that CVs yield, Dive Bombers, or DBs for short, are used to attack and destroy enemy ships. Similar to TBs they are vulnerable to attack and cannot see very far, but like TBs, they have the ability to destroy ships without putting the CV in danger. Dive bombers attack by flying over their targets, diving downwards, and dropping their bombs onto the decks of ships. Because they directly attack a ship instead of its bulge, they are very useful for wearing down a ship for others to finish off with shells. Furthermore, because they do not have to drop altitude to release their ordnance, they are less vulnerable to automatic anti-air. However, because they have to fly directly over a target, they are more vulnerable to flak.

Dive Bombers require a Dive Bomber Pilot or higher to pilot. As a Dive Bomber Pilot increases in level, he gains access to more powerful aircraft, which can carry and drop more powerful bombs.

hip armor and Damage Control Systems

Armor

Ships can be armored. Armor reduces the damage that the ship will take, but also reduces its speed due to the extra weight.
* Deck Armor: This armor protects against long range and high angle fire, and dive bombing aircraft.
* Belt Armor: Belt armor protects against direct shots from close range which hit the side of the ship.
* Bulge Armor: Bulge armor protects against torpedoes, both ship launched and from torpedo bomber aircraft. Unlike other armor, bulge is ablative; it will stop a certain amount of torpedo damage completely, but then will not protect from any further torpedo damage.
* Bulkhead Armor: Ameliorates the reduction in speed that occurs when a ship is badly damaged. It should also be noted that bulkhead does not protect against crew death, contrary to popular belief.

oft Defense

'Soft Defense' is another feature that helps to reduce the visible damage done to a ship, which in effect increases the overall durability of the ship. Soft Defense is calculated based on the number and level of all sailors on the ship, particularly support crews. When a ship takes damage, a percentage of the damage is translated into "burning damage" instead of immediately subtracting from the ship's visible durability; this gives the support crews the chance to repair the damage while the ship is burning. The higher the Soft Defense value, the more damage is translated into burning damage, the less immediate damage is done to the ship. The highest current possible value of SD is 900; at this level, only 10% of the damage done to a ship is translated into immediate damage, and the remaining 90% is converted to burning damage.

Premium Items

Like some games the player may enjoy the game for free. But if said player so wishes they may purchase a Premium Subscription to enhance their game play. The premium subscription costs $11.99 USD for 30 days. This removes the reward penalty above level 30, and adds a 1000 bonus to experience, credits and points for each battle in which the players stays for 5 minutes. There is a time counter showing how much time is left to "premium" reward. Due to a technical detail in the feature, the true waiting time is actually 4 minutes and 30 seconds rather than 5 minutes.

All players, regardless of subscription type, also have the ability to purchase "Premium" ships, which are vessels that are designed to be the best ship in its class for its nation. For example, a premium light cruiser can mount guns normally used on heavy cruisers while premium heavy cruisers often carry battleship guns. In 2007, premium battleships were released for purchase. (Note: premium battleships can vary from community to community.)

There are also other various items for example Naval Mines, Smoke Bombs and other items which enhances the stats of the player's sailors.

Criticism

Perhaps harkening from its WWII era theme, the game engine's sprite-based design was already outdated when it hit its initial beta release in 2004. While the Navyfield web site lists no minimum system requirements, negative issues with gameplay experience will be felt with anything less than 1GB of memory and a Pentium IV-era processor. The game is constructed upon a TCP-based protocol which creates adverse gameplay. Similar examples of poor program design are seen with repeated calls to srand() when rolling for new sailors, rounding of numbers such as "soft defense" or "armament" values due to improper variable casting, and poor keyboard event handling that results in an inability for a player to hold the firing key down and rotate guns at the same time.

Within the gameplay itself, the transitive design dictates that, in battle, the largest of the ship classes always presents the most advantages compared to smaller ship classes. For example, a player in a destroyer-class ship would find themselves firing many minutes worth of salvoes trying to sink a battleship while the battleship is capable of sinking the destroyer with one or two shots and at a much greater range. While historically accurate, it leads to disappointment by newcomers to the game as they'll find themselves continually outmatched and unable to compete until they've played the thousands of games required to reach the requisite levels for a battleship or high-level aircraft carrier. This issue has led to the gaming modes of Great Battle and Blitzkrieg which reward all players with experience points largely irrespective of their performance within the battle, and further leads to play styles where many players simply participate minimally (or not at all) in helping their team win. Recent updates to the Great Battle game mode have made experience gain for battleships respective of their attack, but smaller ships still earn experience regardless of their participation. The game additional has a large learning curve and sailor decisions cannot be reversed. [cite web|url=http://www.softpedia.com/reviews/games/pc/Navy-Field-Review-28661.shtml|title= Navyfield Review |accessdate= 2008-07-24 |work=Softpedia]

References

External links

;Official Sites
* [http://www.navyfield.com/ Navyfield North America]
* [http://www.navyfield.eu/ Navyfield Europe]
* [http://sdenternet.co.kr/ SD EnterNet]
* [http://www.navyfield.com.cn Navyfield China]

;Other
* [http://www.subsim.com/nucleus/index.php?blogid=4#nf2d "Navy Field 2" on Subsim.com]
* [http://mmohub.org/2008/navyfield "Navy Field" Review on MMOHub.org]
* [http://trainworld.us/ Trainworld.us] - "Navy Field" data store
* [http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/navyfield/index.html?tag=tabs;summary Gamespot - Article on "Navy Field"]
* [http://www.playwhat.com/GameDetails/sdent/navyfield.html PlayWhat "Navy Field" article]
* [http://www.nf-guides.com NF-Guides.com] - List of guides to "Navy Field"
* [http://www.tarrif.net/navyfield/ Tarrif.net] - "Navy Field" directory and database
* [http://www.colinmacdonald.org/ NF-Fixer] - A third party volume control and general fixer for missing Navy Field functionality which with recent updates to the game has almost deemed it unnecessary
* [http://www.teamger-nf.de TeamGER-nf.de] - German Navy Field info site + German forum with lots of information and guides // Deutsche Navy Field Info Seite + Deutsches Forum mit vielen Informationen und Anleitungen.
* [http://www.mmorpg-center.com/article-25-Navy-Field--Review.html "Navy Field Review on MMORPG Center"]