Fleet Commander: Pacific

Fleet Commander: Pacific is a turn-based naval strategy game set in the Pacific. You play as the US or Japanese side, taking turns to control key sea areas, capture bases and ports, and earn Victory Points. The game uses an “I Go, You Go” system with alternating phases; the US plays last and has a slight strategic advantage because it broke the enemy code. You can play hot seat, against the AI or in multiplayer.

Scenarios and objectives

Scenarios vary in length and difficulty. The full game sequence lasts 10 turns of four months each. Each sea area awards Victory Points, with its value differing by side to reflect its strategic importance. At the end of each turn, the side with the higher score adds the balance to its overall total; the winner is the side with a positive Victory Point balance at the end of the scenario.

Each turn, you decide which areas to hold, seize or harass. The AI tries to disrupt both your broader strategy and your local actions. The game includes day and night battles, island-base invasions, air raids on ports and reinforcements from other theaters of war.

Turn sequence

A turn follows the same phases unless a special rule changes them, such as the surprise attack phase in December 1941. In order, the phases are:

• Reinforcements arrive at friendly ports, or units are removed if required by the date or turn.
• Ships move out on patrol to take control of sea areas.
• Land-based aircraft are placed one at a time, with the sides alternating. Aircraft can only be placed in permitted seas and can help control them.
• Amphibious units move.
• Submarines are placed, if included in the game.
• Raid missions launch attacks or defenses in sea areas, but raiding ships do not contribute to later control of those areas.
• Naval battles are resolved sea area by sea area, in an order chosen by the Japanese player.
• Marines land if they have not done so during battles.
• Raiding ships return to port.
• Sea-area control is checked and isolated bases can change hands.
• Land-based aircraft return to base, patrol ships return to port, and damaged units are repaired.

Naval battles

Each battle continues while both sides have units in the sea area. At the start of a round, the sides choose between air and surface combat; if they disagree, the game selects randomly, applying various bonuses or penalties for air action, area control or an admiral’s presence. Fire is simultaneous, though the game displays each side’s attacks in turn. Each eligible unit can choose one valid target per round, and rounds repeat until combat ends.

In surface combat, ships protected by a screen of other ships cannot be targeted if they are not themselves engaged; this restriction does not apply to air combat. At the end of a round, either side can retreat all or some of its units. If both sides remain, another round begins. Ships and planes can be disabled or damaged, and a ship sinks when its accumulated damage exceeds its protection factor. Ships caught in port by air raids can take double damage before sinking, but if damage exceeds their protection they remain sunk and cannot move until repaired.

Non-retreating ships can pursue retreating units if their speeds allow. Retreating units head for bases in the same sea area or the nearest major port. After a battle, the victorious side can use an aircraft carrier to launch two rounds of air raids against bases adjacent to the sea area. During a battle, each side can have at most one submarine fire once, if one is present; it then returns to base like a raiding ship.

Ships and aircraft

A ship’s movement depends on its speed and whether it is on patrol or raid duty. On patrol, it can move to an adjacent sea area and possibly one farther away. Most fast ships succeed automatically, while slower ships must pass speed tests or stop in the first sea area entered; admirals give bonuses to these tests. On a raid, a ship can travel one extra sea area: it can move up to two areas without a test, then must pass speed checks to reach a third. Ships cannot cross an enemy-controlled sea area to reach another.

Land-based aircraft are placed from a pool into sea areas adjacent to the side’s bases or ports, so a side cannot place them in a sea area where it has no base or port. The sides alternate placing one aircraft at a time until both run out. These planes can take and maintain control of a sea area. If a side loses all bases adjacent to a sea area during a battle there, its aircraft in that area immediately return to the pool.

Only patrol ships and land-based aircraft currently at sea determine control; raiding ships return to port before control is checked. The side that holds or gains control earns the Victory Points assigned to that sea area.

Bases and reinforcements

Marines can capture enemy bases or defend friendly ones. They move in their own phase, up to two sea areas, with or without an escort. If they survive a battle, they can land or assault at the end of any round; otherwise, they land or assault in a phase after all battles. Marines automatically capture an undefended enemy base when they assault it, but are destroyed in the process. If enemy Marines defend the base, each attacking unit eliminates one defending unit; if the defenders are eliminated, the base can be captured if possible. Marines cannot assault enemy ports.

Bases can be captured through a direct amphibious assault or by isolation. A base or port is isolated when all its adjacent sea areas remain under enemy control for two consecutive turns. Bases can be taken by isolation, but ports can only be captured this way.

Reinforcements arrive at specified ports at the start of each turn. If a port is unavailable or unfriendly, a default port is usually chosen instead. Some ships must be removed on certain turns to serve in other theaters; if a required ship has already been sunk, it can be replaced by a possibly equivalent ship. Depending on the scenario’s scale and duration, destroyed land-based aircraft and Marines may return to their pools automatically.

Repairs and forces

Ship repairs depend on the game’s scale and duration and on the port where ships finish the turn. Each port has a set repair allocation, with each repair point removing one damage point from ships there. Unused repair points are lost and do not accumulate. Depending on the scenario, aircraft and Marines are usually repaired for free.

The game represents main battleships, carriers and heavy cruisers as individual units. Minor ships, Marines and aircraft are grouped into units and flotillas. It also includes a database of ships with sketches, 3D models and historical photographs, alongside a streamlined interface and in-game information.