Destroyer Command

Destroyer Command is a naval simulation released by Ubisoft in 2002 and developed by the now-defunct Ultimation Inc. The game placed the player in command of a destroyer during World War II, featuring campaigns from both the Pacific War and the Battle of the Atlantic. Customized missions may be played and players can select the opponent's forces and their own. Players can also have the chance to choose the difficulty rating in different games by adjusting the different realism ratings such as Table Fog and Unlimited Ammo. One of the features was the ability to play against owners of Silent Hunter II online, allowing both destroyer and U-Boat commanders to square off against each other.

Details of the game

Playable Missions^[1]

• 20 Historical Missions( Examples are 'Battle of Savo Island')
• 5 Training missions
• Over 600 million customized missions can be generated.

Playable campaigns

• 2 campaigns that include the entire Pacific and Atlantic warfare with 20 missions each.

Ship types that can be commanded by the player^[2]

• Bagley class destroyer
• Benham class destroyer
• Benson class destroyer
• Clemson class destroyer
• Farragut class destroyer (1934)
• Fletcher class destroyer
• Gleaves class destroyer
• Gridley class destroyer
• Mahan class destroyer
• Porter class destroyer
• Somers class destroyer
• Sims class destroyer
• Allen M. Sumner class destroyer
• Wickes class destroyer

Weaponry that can be controlled by the player^[3]

• 5"/38 caliber gun-Dual Purpose
• 4 inch/50 SP gun( In the game, it could be used as a dual-purpose gun but in actual field, the maximum elevation of the gun is a 20 degrees, which is inadequate to attack opponent high-speed planes.
• Light guns(They are Bofors 40 mm gun and Oerlikon 20 mm cannon( They can be used to hit small, soft-skinned crafts( For example LCU) too with great effect)
• 600 lb,500 lb,200 lb depth charges
• 21 inch Torpedoes( From launchers grouped in pairs of 3 to 5)

Versions of the game^[4]

• There are two versions of the game, ver 4.0.3 and ver 4.10. The former had some technical failures while the later perfects most of them, but the vessel identification error is not fixed.
• A patch is also available for players to download that fixes the vessel identification crash and makes many scenearios either easier or harder by removing or adding U-Boats or aircraft such as 'Kate' Bombers.

Failures of the game

Unfortunately, the game was released in a very buggy and clearly unfinished state. A very big failure is that there is not a single crew member to be seen and certain historical missions are distorted( For example, during the Casablanca mission, the gunnery support force only comprises a single battleship instead of the actual historically correct amount. This causes the mission to be hard to complete due to the strong naval guns(8x15" and 9x6") on the battleship Jean Bart and coastal batteries). Secondly, the naval forces available in the war are not correctly shown. Examples of this are nonexistent United Kingdom battleships HMS Vanguard (23) and HMS King George V (41), and the light carriers of the United States are not complete. Worst of all, the multiplayer interoperability with Silent Hunter II was also buggy and highly unstable,plus the Bogue class CVEs (which were American) have the Royal Navy Ensign.

Another example of historical inaccuracy is the inclusion of the Japanese destroyer Miyuki, which was lost in 1934, 5 years before World War II even began. The carrier force of the Japanese Navy is also horribly incomplete, featuring only the Ryujo, Chitose, and Soryu classes.

Reflection on the game by reviewers

The game was critically panned, receiving a score of 2.5 ("Terrible") from GameSpot and was received with mixed reactions from naval enthusiasts.

Sources/References Used

• ^[1] DC manual Page 5-7
• ^[2] Website:http://www.destroyercommand.com/shipyrd1.html
• ^[3] DC reference guide
• ^[4] EULA of DC Patch

External links

• Official Site
• Latest Patch that fixed the vessels identification crash is shown here.