THE GRANDEST FLEET by Q.Q.P.

The Grandest Fleet (TGF) is the latest quality offering coming from the Williams crew at Q.Q.P. Many hard-core strategy gamers will remember with fondest The Lost Admiral and have been long awaiting the arrival (ne, even the announcement!) of The Lost Admiral 2. While this sequel has been discussed for quite some time, TGF comes at a time when there are a number of highly-anticipated naval strategy sims hitting the market (Aegis, Harpoon 2, Victory at Sea, etc.). The Grandest Fleet differs from The Lost Admiral in that it takes place in a real-world environment and you can choose your scenario from many historical settings, including the Falkland Islands, the Bismarck-Tirpitz battles, skirmishes in the Black Sea and the North Cape, plus more. You can also choose to completely randomize the world you wish to play in and the program nicely takes care of everything else for you.

TGF is primarily a game of production, conflict, and civic expansion. You must be as concentrated on materials production as you are on raw naval warfare strategy. You begin by selecting your home city, then building your armada. You can choose to build a wide variety of ships including Battleships, Cruisers, Carriers, Destroyers, Submarines, and many more. You can also build air assets such as bombers plus the airstrips and secure land bases for protecting your coast. Similar in some respects to Civilization, the cities you build can also have a sense of character to them. You can build things like Operas for cultural diversity, Universities for academic development and the production of technology, plus shipyars, airports, and even missile defense sectors. Truly, TGF combines elements from several games like SimCity and Civ.

The graphics in TGF have a very refined, more chiseled look to them than in previous QQP offerings and this is a welcome sight. SVGA graphics (640x480) in high-resolution are presented to the player. Separate digital and MIDI music options are offered for the sound portion of the game. All in all, TGF looks to have a very robust design. The game should be shipping in early to mid May.