Old Gamers Never Die: Beating the 'Junks on Parade' Scenario in 'Cold Waters'

Single Mission menu from Cold Waters, with Junks on Parade selected. © 2017 Killerfish Games

 

Death in the Taiwan Straits

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know that I've been playing a cool submarine simulation by Killerfish Games, Cold Waters. Released three years ago by the Australia-based game designer behind Atlantic Fleet, Cold Waters is the spiritual successor to one of my all-time favorite games, Red Storm Rising, 

Like that 1988 MicroProse classic based on Tom Clancy's eponymous 1986 novel — which I've written about in both my blogs — Cold Waters puts the player in command of a nuclear-powered attack sub in a hypothetical conflict set in the latter part of the 20th Century. Unlike Red Storm Rising, which posited a Third World War in what would have been the "near future" in 1986, Cold Waters examines three different "alternative histories" set in three different time periods:

• 1968: In this alternate version of the tumultuous year in world history, the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia morphs into a clash of arms between the Warsaw Pact and NATO
• 1984: In the same year that Ronald Reagan is up for re-election as President of the U.S., tensions between East and West reach a boiling point, and the Cold War turns hot
• 2000: The USSR is still around but essentially weakened by the still ongoing Cold War. Financially strapped, it becomes a de facto ally of the People's Republic of China in a world where the Hong Kong turnover of 1997 never took place and Beijing flexes its muscles in the South China Sea

Gamers from the 1980s and 1990s might see Cold Waters as a blend of Red Storm Rising and its Simon & Schuster Interactive "cousin" Tom Clancy's SSN. Though its 1984 and 2000 scenarios are not identical to the "plots" of the older Clancy-inspired games, they are thematically similar. 

Cold Waters is currently my "go-to" favorite game; I love the graphics and sound effects, and though in many ways it differs from the MicroProse sub sim it is tipping its hat to, it's also quite similar. It may look different and tells different stories, but the basic principles of sub warfare are the same in 2020 as they were in 1988.

A People's Liberation Army Navy Yukan-class landing ship in the Taiwan Straits, 0700 hours, 20 August 2000.  © 2017 Killerfish Games

 

Now, although I've owned Cold Waters since the Fourth of July and I understand the basics of the game, it's taken me longer to win some of the Single Missions in it than it did when I played Red Storm Rising in the early Nineties. 

I can't remember exactly how long it took me to "beat" all of the older sub sim's Single Battles, but I can say that it wasn't a six-week span of time between the day I installed the game into my PC and the day that I completed every mission in Red Storm Rising. 

Here, because the game straddles a 32-year period and the weapons tech varies so widely, there some missions - the 1968 ones in particular - that I have not attempted. And even the first ones (in 1984) where I can choose a Los Angeles-class (Flight-One) boat to command are insanely difficult.  

So far, I've only been able to complete three Single Battle missions: The Duel, Iron Coffins, and Junks on Parade. 

The first two scenarios are sub-versus-sub battles set in 1984; the third, Junks on Parade, is a sub-versus-convoy mission in which the U.S. sub must destroy a People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) amphibious group in the Taiwan Straits before it can reach the Republic of China (Taiwan) on the island formerly known as Formosa. 

If At First You Don't Succeed...

Now, I tried playing Junks on Parade within a week after I bought Cold Waters on Steam; I thought it would be one of the easier sub-vs.-surface ship battles because it didn't have subs or capital ships in the mix. Boy, was I mistaken!

First, Junks on Parade takes place in an environment that is not ideal for submarines. The water in the Taiwan Straits is shallow; the sea bottom is only between 140 and 160 feet deep in most places, so there is nowhere for a nuclear sub to hide after firing off a volley of torpedoes at enemy warships. 

Second, even though your mission orders prioritize killing the amphibious and merchant ships above all else, you have to destroy the warships first. The destroyers and frigates that escort the convoy are not as impressive as the Soviets' mighty Kirov-class battlecruiser or tactical aviation cruiser Kiev, but they do have guns, depth charges, torpedoes, and antisub rockets.

Last but not least, the PLAN escorts are supplemented by antisubmarine warfare (ASW) patrol aircraft and helicopters. Those aircraft drop sonobuoys and use dipping sonars to find you, and they, too, have torpedoes and depth charges to try and kill you with. 

Now, I'm used to Red Storm Rising's similar scenarios set in the Norwegian Sea, where the Soviets have helos but no patrol bombers, so I figured Junks on Parade would be a piece of cake. 

Well, it's not. I tried to play that battle several times in July after I took the Missiles and Navigation tutorials...and got slaughtered. I had to practice my skills at attacking escorted convoys many times by creating my own "sandbox" Quick Battles until I learned what works and what doesn't. 

A Chinese PLAN ASW aircraft, based on an Antonov transport plane but modified for antisubmarine warfare roles.  ©2017 Killerfish Games

    

It wasn't until last week that I finally figured out how to fight and win the Battle of the Taiwan Straits, well over a month since I started playing Cold Waters. 

I am not going to write a detailed after-action report (AAR) on any of the three successful attempts to beat Junks on Parade.  I didn't take notes or keep a log, and I don't know how to record a game session to post later on YouTube, so I can't do a play-by-play even if I wanted to.  But I will list the basic principles that I learned from all three sessions.

1. Never Skip Target Motion Analyses (TMAs): When you start a Single Battle such as Junks on Parade, your sonar operator will pick up targets with passive sonar right off the bat, but he will not be able to tell you what type of ship he's tracking for a while. You have to do a Target Motion Analysis (TMA) by selecting a specific target (usually tagged Sierra if it's detected by a sonar) and checking its signature against a databank in the Signature screen of your sub's main control display. Eventually, your boat's computer will gather enough data and your sonar operator will say something like "Conn, Sonar: Sierra One is classified as Escort."  The more data you gather from the TMA, the more explicit the info on your heads-up tactical display will be
2. Always Go for the Escorts First, and ALWAYS Use Torpedoes: Sure, the mission orders say your first priority should be to destroy the cargo ships and transports, but that's hard to do if there's a clutch of angry destroyers and frigates - plus helos and fixed-wing planes - who are tracking your boat and trying to sink her. Sure, it takes time to kill the escorts, and more often than not you will be damaged by attacks from the air and sea, but once you strip the convoy of its protective warships, you can use your UGM-84 Harpoons to blow the 'phibs and "merchies" out of the water. But use torpedoes for this; using missiles against escorts is suicidal more often than not
3. Stealth, Not Brute Strength, is the Key: As I said before, the environment in Junks on Parade is lousy for subs. The water is shallow in the part of the Taiwan Straits where the battle takes place, so you can't simply launch a batch of Harpoons randomly and then run silent, run deep. The bottom is less than 200 feet below, so there's no deep to run silent in. And using Harpoons early in the game is akin to putting up a neon sign above the surface that says, Here I Am; Kill Me!  If you calmly accept that you will suffer some damage from air-dropped torpedoes no matter what you do, you must use the one asset that your sub has: stealth. Moseying along at five knots and using passive sonar and Mk.48 ADCAP torpedoes are your best tactical tools to win in Junks on Parade

Look how shallow the water is in this part of the South China Sea! A Mk.48 ADCAP heads toward a target in Junks on Parade.  © 2017 Killerfish Games

"Conn, Sonar: Lost contact...Target breaking up."  © 2017 Killerfish Games

A Chinese amphibious vessel burns after a hit by a UGM-84 Harpoon missile.  © 2017 Killerfish Games

 

A PLAN cargo ship sinks bow-first into the cold waters of the Taiwan Straits.  © 2017 Killerfish Games

The last resting place of the Chinese invasion force is clearly marked on the Seawolf's chart.  © 2017 Killerfish Games

The final tally: five warships, four landing ships and cargo vessels.  © 2017 Killerfish Games

I successfully applied all of these "lessons learned" to today's session of Junks on Parade; I sank all of the enemy ships in the scenario, which coincidentally is set on 20 August 2000, or 20 years ago today in a version of history that never took place. 

Cold Waters will probably never totally supplant Red Storm Rising as my favorite game in the submarine sim genre, but it is amazingly well-done and fun to play. I heartily recommend it to anyone who loves games based on naval warfare or the books of Tom Clancy.