OceanWar Command Manual

Mission Objective

Commander, you have been deployed to a contested ocean theater. Your orders: secure strategic islands, establish industrial superiority, build fleets and air wings, and destroy all enemy forces.

Each operational cycle is called a Day. You issue all orders during the Day, then advance to the next. All operations — construction, movement, combat — resolve when the Day turns. Plan carefully; once orders are given, they cannot be recalled.

Operational Flow

Each Day follows a strict command cycle:

1. Issue construction and upgrade orders at your Installations
2. Allocate production of ships and aircraft at the Arsenal
3. Deploy and maneuver fleets on the Theater map
4. Trade resources at the Marketplace
5. Coordinate with allies via Communications
6. Click End Day to advance the turn

Game Modes

OceanWar supports several turn modes:

• All Players Ready — The Day advances when every player ends their turn. The night screen shows how many commanders have turned in.
• Interval — Days advance on a fixed timer regardless of player readiness.
• Interval or Ready — Days advance on a timer, but advance early if all players finish.
• Fixed Time — Days advance at a specific wall-clock time (e.g., daily at 0800 UTC).

Purpose

The Theater is your operational map — a nautical chart of the entire ocean theater. From here you observe island positions, fleet movements, enemy contacts, and detection ranges. All strategic decisions begin with the map.

Page Elements

• Interactive Map — Zoomable, pannable chart. Scroll to zoom; click and drag to pan.
• Island Icons — Colored by ownership. Click an island to view its status, structures, garrison, and resources.
• Fleet Markers — Arrow icons indicating fleet position and heading. Click to view composition and issue orders.
• Detection Circles — Translucent rings showing radar and sonar coverage from your installations and ships.
• Contact Markers — Red markers for detected enemy forces. Diamond markers (amber) for allied intelligence.

Map Controls

• 🏠 Center on Home — Returns view to your home island
• 📡 Toggle Radar — Show/hide radar detection range circles
• 🎵 Toggle Sonar — Show/hide sonar detection range circles
• Position Indicator — Current viewport coordinates displayed on the border frame

How It Works

The map updates in real-time as events occur. Islands you own are fully visible. Enemy territory is hidden by Fog of War unless within detection range of your radar, sonar, or fleet patrol areas.

Click an island to open its detail panel — from there you can manage structures, view garrison status, or dispatch fleets. Click a fleet marker to view its composition, current orders, and fuel status.

Fleet Operations

• Fleet movement takes multiple Days depending on distance
• Speed is limited by the slowest vessel in the fleet
• All movement consumes Fuel
• Fleets auto-engage enemy forces within 5 km range
• Aircraft assigned to carriers operate from the fleet's position

Purpose

The Installations panel is your construction command center. Build, upgrade, and manage all structures across your islands. Every structure you build increases your industrial capacity, resource output, military capability, or defensive strength.

Page Elements

• Island Sections — Structures are grouped by island. Each island displays its owned structures as cards.
• Structure Cards — Each card shows the structure name, current level, production stats, and available actions.
• Upgrade Button — Upgrade a structure to increase its output. Shows cost, time, and next-level bonuses.
• Build New (+) Card — Click the "+" card on any island to build a new structure. Available options depend on island size and existing buildings.
• Extraction Controls — Resource structures (mines, refineries) have extraction rate sliders for fine-tuning output.

How It Works

Select an island's "+" button to see what can be built. Each structure has resource costs and a build time measured in Days. Once started, construction cannot be cancelled, but existing production on the island continues uninterrupted.

Only one upgrade per island may be under construction at a time. New structures require 1–8 Days. Upgrades take 1–4 Days, increasing with level.

Structure Types

Strategy & Best Practices

• Prioritize the Industrial Complex on every island — IC is the foundation of all construction.
• Build resource structures matching each island's natural deposits for maximum output.
• Place Shipyards on secure rear-line islands; they're expensive to rebuild.
• Fortress + Radar on front-line islands creates a detection and defense perimeter.

Purpose

The Arsenal is your war production interface. Queue naval vessels and aircraft for construction at your Shipyards and Aviation Plants. Every unit in your fleet was built here.

Page Elements

• Island Build Sections — Each island with production facilities shows its available build options.
• Build Categories — Ships (Shipyard) and Aircraft (Aviation Plant) are separated by production facility.
• Build Queue — Active construction orders with progress indicators and estimated completion.
• Build Log — Recent completions and production history.

How It Works

Select an island, choose a unit type, and commit resources. Production time varies by unit class and tech level. Units are completed at the end of their final build Day and appear at the producing island.

Production capacity is limited by your Shipyard and Aviation Plant levels. Higher-level facilities can build more advanced tech tiers and may produce faster.

Naval Units

Aircraft

Strategy & Best Practices

• Destroyers are cheap and fast — ideal for early screening and submarine hunting.
• Carriers require aircraft to be effective. Pair carrier production with fighter/bomber output.
• Battleships are devastating but slow and expensive. Don't build them without an escort fleet.
• Higher tech levels unlock stronger variants with better stats at increased cost and time.

Purpose

The Harbor is your island's naval gateway. Fleets dock here for resupply, repairs, and staging. Harbor level determines your island's naval capacity, trade capability, and defensive posture.

Page Elements

• Docked Fleets — Ships currently stationed at this harbor.
• Harbor Defense Toggle — Activate/deactivate fleet-based harbor defense.
• Air Defense Toggle — Activate/deactivate aircraft-based island defense.
• Supply Status — Fuel and supply reserves available for fleet operations.

How It Works

Ships produced at a Shipyard appear at the associated island's Harbor. From here, you can organize them into fleets, assign movement orders, and manage their readiness.

Harbor Defense, when active, directs docked ships to engage incoming enemies. Air Defense assigns airfield-based aircraft to intercept hostile aircraft and provide Combat Air Patrol (CAP).

Fleet Management

• Create named fleets and assign ships from the harbor
• Assign aircraft to carriers within fleets
• Issue movement orders — fleets travel at the speed of the slowest vessel
• Monitor fuel levels — fleets consume fuel every Day while moving
• Fleets auto-engage enemy forces within 5 km

Strategy & Best Practices

• Always keep Harbor Defense active on front-line islands.
• Upgrade Harbors to increase the number of ships that can dock simultaneously.
• Station a reserve fleet at a central harbor for rapid response to threats.

Purpose

The Marketplace is a player-to-player trading exchange where you can buy and sell resources using Industrial Capacity (IC) as currency. Surplus steel? Sell it. Short on fuel? Buy it. Supply and demand set the prices.

Page Elements

• Resource Tabs — Switch between Materials, Steel, Fuel, Rations, Components, Rare Materials, and Supplies.
• Sell Order Book — Lists all active sell orders: quantity, price per unit, total cost, and a Buy button.
• Create Sell Order — Post your own sell order with quantity and price.
• Your Active Orders — Manage or cancel your outstanding sell orders.
• Pending Deliveries — Resources you've purchased arriving next Day.
• Trade History — Record of all completed transactions.
• IC Balance — Your current Industrial Capacity, displayed in the status bar.

How It Works

Sellers list resources at a price (in IC per unit). Buyers browse the order book and purchase at listed prices. A 3% commission is deducted from the seller's proceeds.

Purchased resources are delivered at the start of the next Day — they are not immediately available. Plan your purchases one Day ahead of when you need them.

Strategy & Best Practices

• Sell surplus resources early in the game when demand is highest.
• Buy fuel before launching major fleet operations — running dry mid-ocean is fatal.
• Watch reference prices to identify good deals and avoid overpaying.
• The Marketplace only works between players in the same game. No cross-game trading.

Purpose

The Communications Center is your hub for diplomacy, intelligence, and operational records. Send messages, negotiate agreements, intercept enemy transmissions, and review your combat history.

Communication Channels

How It Works

Courier messages travel between islands and take time based on distance — they simulate physical dispatch. Radio messages are instant but require a Radio Tower and can be intercepted by enemies with Radio Tower Level 2+.

Diplomatic Agreements are binding gameplay contracts. An Alliance shares intelligence markers on the map (amber diamonds). A Non-Aggression Pact prevents accidental engagement.

Strategy & Best Practices

• Build a Radio Tower early for instant communication with allies.
• Upgrade to Radio Tower Level 2 to intercept enemy radio traffic — free intelligence.
• Use the Battle Log after each Day to review combat outcomes and adjust strategy.
• Event History provides a per-Day timeline — invaluable for tracking enemy movements.

Purpose

The Scoreboard tracks your standing against other commanders in the current game and across all games globally. Monitor rankings, earn naval ranks, and compete for specialty awards.

Page Elements

• Current Game Tab — Rankings among players in your current game. Shows scores, nation names, and turn submission status.
• Global Rankings Tab — Cumulative scores across all games for every player on the server.
• Turn Status Dots — Green (ready) or gray (waiting) indicators showing which players have ended their Day.
• Specialty Awards — Decorations earned for achievements (Navy Cross, Distinguished Service, Silver Star, etc.).

Naval Ranks

Your score determines your naval rank. Ranks progress through four tiers — see Naval Ranks Reference for the full table.

• Enlisted — Seaman Recruit through Master Chief Petty Officer (0 – 4,000 pts)
• Warrant Officer — CWO2 through CWO5 (6,000 – 16,000 pts)
• Officer — Ensign through Captain (22,000 – 110,000 pts)
• Flag Officer — Rear Admiral through Fleet Admiral (160,000 – 750,000 pts)

Resources

Your war machine runs on eight resources, displayed in the resource bar at the top of the game screen:

Production Cycle

Resources are produced at the end of each Day based on your active extraction structures and their levels. Each island produces independently — resource income is the sum of all your islands' output.

Resources are tied to individual islands for production, but your overall IC pool is shared across your entire empire for spending.

Strategy & Best Practices

• IC is your most critical resource — upgrade Industrial Complexes first.
• Fuel is consumed constantly by active fleets. Maintain a surplus at all times.
• Rare Materials become critical for high-tech units. Secure islands with rare deposits early.
• Use the Marketplace to trade surplus resources for what you lack.

How Combat Works

Combat occurs when opposing forces meet or enter operational range (5 km). All engagements resolve at the end of the Day. Results are reported in the Battle Log and as combat dispatches in the newspaper.

Combat Types

• Naval Battle — Fleet-on-fleet engagement. Ship firepower, armor, and composition determine the outcome.
• Air Strike — Aircraft attack enemy fleets or islands. Dive bombers and torpedo bombers specialize in ship damage.
• Fortress Bombardment — Coastal artillery engages hostile ships within range. Higher fortress levels increase defense power.
• Island Siege — When enemy forces assault your island, morale declines. At zero morale, the island is captured.
• Anti-Air Defense — Ships and installations fire on incoming aircraft. Destroyers have the best AA accuracy (45%).
• Combat Air Patrol (CAP) — Fighters on patrol automatically intercept enemy aircraft approaching your forces.

Air Combat Accuracy

Anti-Air Defense by Ship Type

Strategy & Best Practices

• Fleet composition matters more than raw numbers. Destroyers provide AA screening for your capital ships.
• Carriers are force multipliers but defenseless alone. Always escort them.
• Torpedo bombers deal the most ship damage but are slow and vulnerable — cover them with fighters.
• Fortresses provide free defense — always build them on exposed islands.

How Detection Works

The ocean conceals as much as it reveals. All enemy forces remain hidden behind the Fog of War until detected by your radar, sonar, or patrol forces. Intelligence wins wars before they are fought.

Detection Sources

• Radar Installations — Island-based radar extends detection range up to 200 km at Level 5.
• Ship Radar — Every ship has built-in radar that scales with tech level. Destroyers and carriers have the best shipboard radar.
• Sonar — Detects submarines and underwater threats. Destroyers have superior sonar (15–50 km). Submarines themselves have excellent sonar (20–55 km) but zero radar.
• Allied Intelligence — Alliances share contact data. Ally detections appear as amber diamond markers on your map.
• Signal Intelligence — Radio Tower Level 2+ intercepts enemy radio traffic, revealing operational details.

Radar Ranges by Ship Type

Sonar Ranges by Ship Type

Contact Memory

When you detect an enemy, a contact marker is placed on your map. Even if the enemy moves out of detection range, the last known position remains visible for a time. Use this to track enemy patrol routes and predict intentions.

Rank Progression

Your cumulative score across all games determines your naval rank. Ranks are organized into four tiers.

Enlisted Ranks

Warrant Officer Ranks

Officer Ranks

Flag Officer Ranks

Keyboard & Controls

• Scroll wheel — Zoom in/out on the map
• Click + drag — Pan the map
• Click island — Open island detail panel
• Click fleet — Open fleet management panel

End of Day Resolution Order

1. Resources are produced
2. Construction progresses
3. Units are completed
4. Marketplace deliveries arrive
5. Fleets advance along their routes
6. Combat is resolved
7. Siege effects are applied

Unit Build Costs (Tech 1)

Commander's Checklist (Every Day)

• ☐ Check resource levels — any shortages?
• ☐ Review build queues — any idle Shipyards or Aviation Plants?
• ☐ Check the map — any new contacts or incursions?
• ☐ Review fleet fuel levels — any fleets running low?
• ☐ Check the Marketplace — good deals or surplus to sell?
• ☐ Read the Battle Log — what happened last Day?
• ☐ Issue new movement orders if needed
• ☐ End Day when ready