I'm in, I think.
I remember hearing about it a good while back, but hadn't ever seen a trailer that I recall. I hadn't kept up with it.
I want to find out more about it, once released. The trailer looks like it is the kind of boat game I would get into. Since it playable in first person view.
I am actually looking forward to it.

Thanks for posting the link.

$60.00 for PT Boats? When the normal price for a new PC title is $49.99, I wonder what this game has that any other game does not. I think the publisher is greedy. I will wait for awhile before I get this game.

Yeah, $60.00 does sound high, but if it is a good well done game, it should have plenty of replayability, like race and flight sims do.
As long as it is good, I don't mind that price.

But what I have to say is if the PC price is $60, the console versions are always about $10 more than the PC Price. Will someone purchase a $70 game? Especially if it is not proven. I have to say if the mainstream websites rate it as a "hit", then I may think about it, however of what I have seen from the previews I have read, it may be only a 'middle of the road' game. Personally I refuse to pay over $50 for a game and I know the economy is bad, but my back pocket is worse.

That is in Australian dollars. Or, at least I think it is because the website is Australian. Look at the top left corner of the page.

It's aussie dollars. Just check the prices on other games on that site.

Battlestations Pacific is $80.95 there in preorders.

Empire: Total War is $90.

So going by that figures PT will be like US$30.

Just received a copy of PT Boats from here. Delivery time of 1 month to the UK!

I wasn't sure what to expect. There are some mixed reviews on Russian sites, but it was cheap enough and it's fun working through the process.

Graphically it's generally similar to SH3. In the bridge view you get the shadows of your own vessel that shift as you manoeuvre but I have found that some smoke effects vanish and re-appear depending on distance. Might be an issue with my PC, though. Crewmen do not seem to animate much unless there is a target to track.

I'm not too far in, but gameplay tends towards arcade style as far as I can tell. I've only run a couple of tutorial missions and not fired any guns yet. I have noticed that vessel speed decays very quickly if you stop engines, but ship handling generally feels realistic.

My copy is, of course, all in Russian. I have been able to change to an English menu so that helps, but all mission text and tutorial speech is Russian.

There is a multiplayer option, but I see no servers listed. That may say a lot about the game...

It looks like PT Boats could be modded in a similar way to SH3.

Performance is good. I have an old system and framerates in the tutorial missions are good, even with 'all sliders to the right'.

At the moment I feel that the game I have may not be what the developers intended all those years ago. I will get further in and try to get some weapons fired!

Cheers!

I have been playing some more...

Having translated some of the manual and the missions, I was able to start the campaign. There are around fifty missions in the campaign, which is totally scripted. Most missions can be played as English / German or Russian / German. Around 10 are playable only from one side. Their is no free career option as in SH3

The first mission is to recon a fog-bound convoy early in the war. You need to get within visual range, but not too close. There are a couple of E-Boats as escort. The convoy consists of merchants and various warships. It took me a few attempts while getting used to the controls and weapons but I managed to ID all the ships (an automatic process, requiring that you get close enough to target the ship and a few seconds delay while it is ID'd). For some reason the bigger vessels do not keep such good lookout's as the E-boats and will attack with their close-in weapons only if you get close. E-boats are quite deadly, though. I made good use of the time-limited smoke generator and got away.

The second mission requires you to find and search an abandoned U-boat. This mission gives you a wingman who does his best to maintain formation. Having tied up alongside, it's no surprise when several enemy vessels appear out of the fog. They were waiting, you see...Happily my crew engaged with no hesitation and I tried to escape. Smoke on and full power. Somehow the four attacking E-boats caught me in a crossfire and soon the crew was jumping overboard as my MTB settled by the stern.

I've noticed a bit more of the crew animation now. While they usually stand quite still, they do look around with that SH stare and will happily go below when ordered. This speeds up repairs, but leaves the weapons unmanned. If a crewman is hit, he will be replaced from below decks. Reloading is nicely handled, with new ammo being lifted and set in place. The MTB feels nicely 'alive' during an attack as the crew swing their weapons to compensate for course changes.

All of the missions so far are set in open water. There is a small island in the tutorial and some ice floating in other missions. I would expect more land, since the British MTB's are usually described as Light Coastal Forces. Hopefully later on.

There is a tactical full-screen map which allows top-down control over your vessel or flotilla. Orders such as course, formation, waypoints, weapon priority can be given.

I feel this game is very good in parts and could be much more with development. Likely...?

Cheers!

Thanks for the update!

Any ETA on a version for the Cyrillic-challenged ?

Officially it's Quarter 2 2009, so should be soon.

4th june if you go here

I thought this game was dead. Good to hear that it is still going forward.

On the Russian forums, there is talk of a special edition of the game, with some new playable units and improved 3d or something, plus some bugfixes. Akella are tagging it as a "Day of Victory" release.

I see it's available to buy - does not look like you can patch the original.

Yes it is currently available in Russia. Not anywhere else.

Hi Nightcrawler,

There is now a demo available. Page should be translated Russian.

Dated 8-05-2009, follow the link.

Also talk of a patch in two real (real weeks, I hope). Posted yesterday, which would make release on a Tuesday...

Downloaded but could not get it to work. "Unable to recognize..."

I presume it is the Cyrillic characters.

dp

Hi Donald,

Have you (or anyone else) got it to work?

I don't have problems with Cyrillic characters here. If windows does not like them, it usually uses nonsense to replace the cyryllic.

Gotta go...

Cannot get it to work after some hours (twice) of DL. "The file name, directory name or volume label syntax is incorrect."

Don't know what's up, can only guess it is the Cyrillic characters. Too bad; I really wanted to give this a try. If anyone gets it to work, PLEASE post how you did it. TIA

dp

You need to rename the exe that you download. You can rename it anything. I called it file.exe and double-clicked it. Then you have to pick your way through the wonky menus as best you can. I was able to start up what I think is the first tutorial mission with the Russian GUI, but after changing locale to en in the start.ini file, campaign mode crashes. Could not even fire a torpedo or gun in the demo mode. Not sure what the point is of that.

Amazingly, it looks like the game is scripted largely in python which I am guessing will mean that it will be highly moddable.

I just wish they would release the damn thing for English-speaking countries.

Well done Foucault, a simple solution.

I had the same crash experience with the menu in English. I thought I'd just copy the Russian mission files over and get round that, but take a look at the way mission files are spread though the folders. I worked out the options and switched back to RU.

The game does not let you use the guns in the tutorial until the trigger conditions are met. Basically you follow the leader in that first mission and get to attack a freighter. I babelfished the mission text and edited the Russian into English.

Have they fixed the problem with wakes clipping? Do all props still spin in the same direction?

Cheers!

It works it works !

Looks damn good in DX10 too. The demo includes the tutorial and 2 more missions, plus it's the full game, unlocked with a purchased serial.

Take a look at this file: ...\PTBoats\GameData\settings_input.xml That has the control inputs, I'll be digging those out and writing it up, see end. I do see the submarine controls in there,Catapult Plane and Net Suicide promise special missions.

Vitesse, the wakes looked ok to me. Would you mind sharing what you've translated ? I'd like to have a go at making an english_mod pack.

Common Controls
` - Camera Next Actor
F1 - Help
Numpad Minus - 1x Time
Numpad Plus - 2x Time
K - Toggle Message Panel

Tactical Mode Controls
J - Switch Auto AI mode
K - Switch tactical mode
UP - Camera Forward
DOWN - Camera Back
LEFT - Camera Left
RIGHT - Camera Right
SHIFT - Camera Fast Move
CTRL - Camera Slow Move
Button 2 - Add waypoint
BACKSPACE - Remove Last Waypoint
DELETE - Delete All Waypoints
A - Select All Units
1 - "User" Formation
2 - Line Formation
3 - V Line Formation
4 - Quad Formation

Simulator Mode Controls
SPACE - Launch Toprpedo
B - Drop Charge
O - Objectives
M - Toggle Maximize Map
T - Lay Smoke
N - Signal Flare
W - Up Engine Power
S - Down Engine Power
A/D - Turn Port/Starboard
Button 1 - Fire Weapon
Button 2 - Toggle Binoculars
Button 3 - Select Primary Target
Scroll Wheel - Scroll Primary Target
R - Reload
L - Searchlight
NEXT - 1x Radar Zoom
PREV - 4x Radar Zoom
1 - Next Light Gun
2 - Next Flak Gun
3 - Camera Current Actor
4 - Camera Cabin
5 - Camera Next Torpedo
0 - Free Look
DELETE - Net Suicide (I smell a special mission here)
C - Toggle Crew
Z - Zig Zag
Y - Retreat
G - Engine Repair
F - Put Out Fire
H - Hull repair
TAB - Net Stat
TAB - Commands
V - Catapult Plane (cool !)

Misc
F11 - Run Debugger

Submarine Controls (Disabled)
P - Dive
[ - Depth Control Down
] - Depth Control Up

Thanks Maserati!

I finding all of the key commands would have taken me a long time to figure out. Have you found any kind of mission building function in the menus? I found the online process but cannot find anyway to build a single player mission.

BTW this game looks awsome in DX10.

I might look into this if someone does a South Pacific mod. The whole Russian thing doesn't interest me, but if I can hunt down the Tokyo Express, I'll buy it.

Here are the translated briefings from the tutorial missions. Happily the folder structure and file names are in English. Files live here :

Program Files\Akella Games\PT Boats Demo\GameData\LOCALE\ru\missions\tutorial

The forum does not like the format of the files (even though it previews correctly) so take the following and cut and paste the tedious way or just read it here. Files should be saved as .xml

Tutorial 1

<name>Mission 1: "First day in the Service".</name>
<!--environment>newmenuenv</environment-->
<visibility_radius val="50000.0"/>
<location>Open sea, a sunny day, 1200 meters visibility.</location>
<description>
To follow the leader and to carry out all his orders. Attack the German escort.
</description>
<missions_objectives>Instruction.</missions_objectives>
<objective>- To follow the instructions of the Leader.</objective>
<objective>- To destroy simulated enemy vessels.</objective>
<photograph>tutor1</photograph>
<information>
This is your first day in the Service as the commander of PT boat. Today you will participate in the training mission to help cement your knowledge of PT boat combat. Your orders - to follow your leader and to carry out all his commands. Your task - to be joined to the attacking group and to destroy a German escort.


Tutorial 2


<name>Mission 2: "Flotilla Manoeuvres".</name>
<!--environment>newmenuenv</environment-->
<visibility_radius val="50000.0"/>
<location>
The open sea, evening, fog limits visibility to 1200 meters.
</location>
<description>
Work with the tactical screen. As a squadron, proceed into the assigned sector and fight the forces of the enemy.
</description>
<missions_objectives>Instruction.</missions_objectives>
<objective>
- To carry out the instructions of the commander of the squadron.
</objective>
<objective>- To accept tactical command as the squadron.</objective>
<objective>- To proceed into the assigned square.</objective>
<secondary_objective>- To destroy the ships of the enemy.</secondary_objective>
<photograph>tutor2</photograph>
<information>
Today is a critical day. The games are over - now everyone must fight for real. As a squadron you must proceed to the assigned sector. Through the mission you will become acquainted with the tactical methods that will allow you to carry out your orders, even in spite of the numerical superiority of the enemy.


Tutorial 3


<name>Mission 3: " Retreat - The Best Protection".</name>
<!--environment>newmenuenv</environment-->
<visibility_radius val="50000.0"/>
<location>
Open sea, the morning, the visibility of 5000 meters.
</location>
<description>
To find a damaged transport and accept tactical control over it. To escort the transport from the combat zone into the sector G13. To disengage from the enemy squadron without combat using a smoke screen. To repel an air attack.
</description>
<missions_objectives>Instruction.</missions_objectives>
<objective>
- Follow Waypoint into the sector in which the transport is being attacked.
</objective>
<objective>
- To accept the tactical command over the transport.
</objective>
<objective>
- To escort the transport to the rendezvous point with the British squadron.
</objective>
<secondary_objective>- To repel an air attack.</secondary_objective>
<secondary_objective>- To avoid engaging the forces of the enemy.</secondary_objective>
<photograph>tutor3</photograph>
<information>
Speed and manoeuvrability are the distinguishing features of small PT boats. These qualities can be used not only in combat but also for rescuing vessels in distress. Today you will take on such a mission. Your task is to proceed to the sector where a transport ship has signalled SOS. It is necessary to escort the transport to a rendezvous with our squadron in the area. It is likely that you will encounter the forces of enemy. Try to avoid battle. You must not lose the transport.

I haven't looked for a mission builder, but there is a disabled option in the main menu that might be hiding it. I've looked at the mission scripting in Python. I think you could build in a decent tactical AI here, all Akella seems to be doing is checking for conditional events and triggering checkpoints.

Here's a tip. Hit 4 for the control station, right click to zoom, highlight a target and left click it. Your gunners will engage that target, and boy do those twin .50s put out a lot of lead. A clarification, in map view 'select all units' is ctrl-A. I'll doublecheck for other ctrl functions.

The third tutorial mission has you defending a transport vessel from 6 heavily armed MFPs. I didn't get any obvious kills using depth charges and haven't managed a torpedo hit yet. I think I have managed to silence some guns by making a firing pass on the unengaged side of the MFPs and shooting intot he back for the gun shield.

Next time, I'll try a smokescreen to keep the enemy's guns off the transport. The downside to that tactic is that any time the AI has concentrated fire on my lead boat, the scenario promptly ends.

The 2nd mission, with the friendly destroyers, I haven't made a contact yet.

So far, I want mission briefings in English and multiplayer. Badly. You lot will come barge hunting with me, right ?

edit: there's the briefing files, and it looks like I'm on the money with the smokescreen.

Hi Maserati,

We both posted and edited at the same time!

I had to alter my post 'cause the forum does not like cut and paste from .xml and I'm too slow to know how to get round it.

The smokescreen tactic is the right one, BTW! Too much smoke slows the game down a lot for me.

Cheers!

I can handle the smoke, I spec'd my current rig to handle specifically this game.

If you hit for cockpit and 4 again then right click you will bring up the torpedo sight.

Well I got the russian demo going with english menus and a tiny bit of english text ingame. Looks pretty good but whoa- SHORT scenarios. Especially scenario 2 where I've been failed more times than I can remember. Has anybody figured out what to do? I've taken command of the "fleet" including Fiji etc. run through 3 different formations and steamed west until I spot whatever enemy it is which promptly gives me the "loser" screen. I know there must be something I nee to do in the interim. Any thoughts?

Also, I've read through some chopped up translations from a russian forum. Most of what I can make out isn't too encouraging in terms of game play, but hey if it's a pretty shoot 'em up I'll probably spring for it. too bad it (probably?) isn't the sim we've been waiting for.

cheers and happy gunning

In scenario 2 I can't even get into the map to take command of stuff :-( And I've certainly never seen so much as a hint of red on the radar.

Have you hit enter? that should bring up the mini map- ya can't get the big map in this scenario. Wait through the russian yakking then select all the available icons... sail west for about 5 minutes- right click west on the mini map to move- and you'll find an enemy (and lose the scenario)

sort of some help I hope!

BTW to attack while in tactical map mode (enter) just choose some ship(s) and right click an enemy- off they go guns blazing

Those devils !

Can't wait to get this localized.

really, anybody finish this scenario? I'd like to say that I've done it- probably some riduculously easy deal like the order in which you change formation or something...

Navigare necesse est

Hi

Does anyone know if this game supports 4320x900 resolution?
Thanks

Has anyone heard or seen anything further on the development of this game?

WH_JoeBob

Nary a word? Puzzling to say the least.

I hope it is still a go. It looks very promising. I haven't been following it, but figured it might have been nearing release. It would be ashame if it's been dropped.

Maybe it still is "on the table"! New News concerning the game just spotted today in the form of new screenshots released! See Below:

PT Boats: Knights of the Sea-8 New Screenshots courtesy of Worthplaying!

Tidbit from the screenshots article: the Fairmile D will be in the game. I love me some Dog Boats, and if Akella is releasing promo material still there's a good hope of getting the game in English at some point.

Good news. I guess there will be a full english version sometime or other.

Are the planes flyable, or just AI?

The planes will be AI-only I'm quite sure. It'd be nice if they made it so you could do multiplayer between KotS and IL-2, but we're dreaming if we think that'll happen. Maybe when Storm of War comes out...

Yup, in mission two hitting "return" does give you the strategic layer. Thanks.

Gamespy says Q3 2009 for US release. So it looks like it will be on sale here before too much longer.

I would really like to know if the game will support 4320x900 using TripleHead2Go?
If anyone knows or knows who to ask, please let me know.

Thanks you

I just check ign and gamespy it is saying tba 2010.

Don't know much else but I will still wait for it.

Attention Akella management:

We have money, you have something we want.

They keep pushing it back and i have already lost interest to other games.

The first English language version of the game is due out on August 27th 2009 in Australia, A German version should also appear in Germany at about the same time. So if you want an English language edition asap the Australian version (Prices are Australian dollars not US) may be for you.

Australian release first?? Has the world been stood on its head? Has hell frozen over?

It's all down to publishing deals, I think they are currently negotiating EU/US releases.

UPDATE the Austrlian release date is now listed as 1st September

I have such a case of the eh for this game now I doubt I pick it up before it hits the bargain bin.

For the last two years the devs have almost purposefully ignored the target audience of this game. I had the dev's e-mail, got absolutely no response from him or anyone at akella concerning this game. I was excited four years ago when I saw this at E-3. I seriously was looking forward to playing this game but the people who are making it have decided, for some reason, to ignore the very people who probably would have created a demand for the game.

Fine, so be it but I for one don't care to ever play it. If it turns out to be great and revolutionary I might change my mind but for now I have other things to take up my time.

Reading between the lines I think that the full-on simulation game we all saw 3-4 years ago was almost ready to go then Akella "got into bed with 1C", who I think based on their development of "Theatre of War" and the success of "Battlestations Midway" wanted all kinds of changes including a full RTS mode, and a more third person perspective in the game for fleet control this changed the entire direction of the game and resulted in a further couple of years in development in which I believe many of the original team had departed.

That the game is releasing at all is probably a miracle. It's original release in Russia about 8 months ago met with mixed critical response, since then a patch has been released to address many issues, I presume this has been incorporated into the forthcoming release.

I will say that when I contacted Svetlana at Akella recently regarding release dates in the EU she responded to my email within an hour which I thought was pretty good.

I will buy it at the time of release and not from the bargain bin as simulations are a niche breed and deserve our support. Hopefully this represents the beginning of WWII naval games from Akella and not the end.

Like Tom (and most others here) I have been following the saga of PT Boats development for years. And while initially extremely excited about it have all but given up on ever seeing it. Then lo and behold I read that it's getting released here in Oz on September 1! Well, according to EB Games now September 10.

So I'm going to watch PC Games site like a hawk and as soon as it's released I'm going to snap it up. There are six EB games shops here in Canberra, so I'm bound to get it from one!

The German edition was released on Friday, so Australia has nothing to stop it now. For UK guys CD-Wow.com is offering the game imported to the UK from Australia at £29.99 I think that's the best deal available for the UK until we get our own release, but there is still no indication of when/if that will occur. They are currently indocating a release on 17-09-09.

Not to press too hard on this issue, but someone on your staff deigned to review Battlestations: Midway and actually came away liking it nearly as I can tell. So it would be everyone's full expectation that someone at SimHQ will be playing and reviewing PT Boats with as much an open mind as occasioned a review of what can at best be called a video game RTS and not a full-fledged sim.

Well, I've pre-ordered it at the local EB Games store. So hopefully come 10/9 I'll have it in my hot little hands!

I honestly don't know who will do the review. Akella hasn't been in contact with us so we probably won't get a review copy. That means that if one of us reviews the game either Doug or one of us staff members has to buy it out of our own pocket. For me to fork out my own cash it has to be a game that grabs me and makes me want to play it. Battlestation Pacific probably is a very good game but it didn't grab me so I didn't buy it.

To be totally honest, Akella had a chance to really grab ahold of the simulation market with this game. The same fan base that made SH III and IV so popular would have probably loved this game. I understand their desire to expand the market but a game covering PT boats in the Russian theatre of operations will have little crossover appeal outside of Russia. The only way it would possibly get some gameplay is if it included PT boat operations in the Philippines or in the South Pacific. Unless they have done a major update to the game this isn't present.

http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,69394...ation/Practice/

Not sure what they were testing here. I assume that it is not simply the DX10 benchmark.

I hope it gets a North American release sooner rather than later.

German Intro



German gameplay, if you can call it that.

The Autralian release has now been pushed back 16/9/09.

GamePlanet & GameHead now indicate release in Australia has again slipped a little, the new date being 24-09-09.

For good or ill, the German version of the game just started showing up on the various bit-torrent sites....

At least that means it's out there....In Germany.

I'm thinking bad thoughts now, if only because Ich habbe ein klein Deutsch, and I haven't gotten my head around Cyrillic yet.

I see that Games Warehouse in Australia is now listing the game as "in stock" marking the first English language release of the game.

Good, maybe it will soon be here in the states.
I still haven't found out if it will run at 4320x900 though. Something I must know before I was to buy it.

Is that a triple monitor setup resolution? I have never heard of that high.

Yes it is, I'm using TripleHead2Go.

Very Nice there Bro! Hat off to ya!

Thanks

I really love it. One of the best gaming purchases I have ever made.
While I can play any game in single screen mode, I prefer games that work at the resolution needed for 3 screens. It has spoiled me.

Not sure if this has been posted already:

Wargamer - PT Boats at Battlefront

Is PT Boats now an internet purchase only game and not to be placed 'on the shelves'? There are many that will not purchase it for that reason. OH well another promising title down the drain.

Publishing by Battlefront is probably the best possible thing that could happen to the sim. While it won't be on store shelves, BFC typically offers both download and mailed hard copy options (download only/hard copy only/download+hard copy). I no longer believe that sims need to be on the shelves at Walmart to survive.

Forum for the game here:

http://www.battlefront.com/community/forumdisplay.php?f=118

It says you can get a hardcopy complete with printed manual.
Also, a demo will be available near release date. Sounds good to me

I think Battlefield.com are a great company who will take the project further, whether they can attain the necessary sales to encourage development of a sequel is the big question. They failed to do it for Dangerous Waters, although it's own complextity/outdated graphics may have been the cause. It's quite a big gamble as it means that the game probably will not be available in retail stores. I presume/hope that the profit margin for Akella on sales is greater than that available in the traditional distribuition channels to counterbalance this.

http://www.gameswarehouse.com.au/longpage.asp?gameid=16384 I got mine from there. Price is AUD $63.95 and I think they will ship to anywhere.

For those in the UK CD-wow.com is probably the cheapest option (£31.99) for the Australian version on import till Battlefront release their copy at $45.

Watch out for import VAT + Royal Mail handling charges in the UK though on the (on the Aussie CD-Wow import) which may add about £10+ on to the price. Battlefront I beleve have a depot in Ireland so theirs should be import duty free when it is released later this year.

Battlefront picking up this title is a very good move for Akella.

Has anyone played the game in multiplayer? From what I have read on other boards no serves are seen>>??