GHOST BOAT FLEET TACTICAL TRAINER · RESTRICTED

Ghost Boat quick reference

One page to keep beside the console. The full captain’s manual is on the console too: press ?.

First minutes

  1. Power up the trainer, choose Training on the main menu, and run Civilian 1: The Console. The ten civilian tutorials take about two hours and teach one idea each; then Naval 1: Taking Command teaches the navy’s orders. The Ghost lessons teach the attack boat’s weapons: the solution, straight runners, homing torpedoes, the line-up, jamming and the beam, each with when to use it.
  2. Space pauses at any time. ? opens the manual and pauses the trainer.
  3. q leaves an exercise and saves it; Continue on the main menu picks it up again. Esc never quits.
  4. On the title screen, ↑/↓ choose, Enter opens, and Esc goes back to the main menu. Scenarios holds the challenges, War Campaign the war, and Options the theme, colours and sign-in.

Signing in

Any key skips the sign-in. C on the title screen (or Options, then Captain and sign-in) opens the captains page: Enter signs in, a always logs in as this captain, n adds a captain, c changes career, f files Form FP-1138, s turns the sequence on or off. --no-signin skips sign-in for one run.

Flying: autopilot or orders

A civilian hull flies on autopilot. The arrows act at once.

Key Does
← → Steer, 5° a press (Shift for 1°)
Shift+↑ Shift+↓ Pitch, 5° a press
↑ ↓ The speed the autopilot holds (or the throttle, flying by hand)
c Autopilot on, or manual control
x Cut the drive; on autopilot, come to rest

A warship flies by orders. The arrows dial an order; nothing happens until you press Enter, and the crew takes a few seconds to answer.

Key Order
← → Dial a heading, 5° a step (Shift for 1°)
Shift+↑ Shift+↓ Dial a pitch, 5° a step
↑ ↓ Dial the engine telegraph: all stop, ahead slow, half, standard, full
Enter Give the dialled order (Esc drops it)
x All stop, without Enter

Newton, not the sea. Turning the nose does not change where you are going; only burning does. To slow down, turn round and burn (full stop on the conn).

Senses

Key Does
P Ping. Gives range at once, and tells everyone where you are
b Rig for silent running, or back to normal
h Raise or lower the navigational shield
u Jury rig what has failed (an old boat)
n Rose, nav plot (plan), nav plot (profile), 3-D
< > { } Turn and tilt the 3-D view
[ ] Zoom the nav plot
o True or relative bearings

Weapons and defence

Key Does
f Fire at the contact with the best solution
g Gauss gun burst (destroyers and cruisers)
j Drop a static buoy: a loud lure for homing torpedoes
d Launch a decoy that sounds like you
J Begin jamming: jam the loudest incoming torpedo
a Acknowledge the master alarm
, . On the fire control window: choose a contact
Enter On the fire control window: put the shot on the conn line

Time and the console

Key Does
Space Pause
+ - Time compression, x1 to x100k. Drops to x1 when something happens
Tab v z L Focus a window, change what it shows, swap it into the main window, next layout
F2 to F10 Console setups: bridge, sensors, nav, engineering, comms, science, damage, stealth, travel. setup weapons has no key.
s or ☰ Menus of every station and every action (the mouse works too)
l The whole ship’s log: 1-8 kinds, f or c one contact, / search, Enter detail, p show on the plot. Also in the replay
N Night orders: what wakes you
S Standing orders: what the crew does before you answer, and what each board setting buys
W The plotting menu: filters, layers, shadows, zones
r When the engagement is over: the replay, true tracks and a debrief on a map you can turn and tilt
i After a failure with an instructor’s note: the replay at the moment it blames. Also jumps there inside the replay
t e m Theme, color effects, sound

The conn

Press Enter with nothing dialled (or :) and type an order. ↑ brings back earlier ones.

Order Does
helm 045, helm 045 +10 Come to a heading (and elevation)
helm s090, helm p045 Turn by a bearing off the bow
reverse Helm only: end for end, the drive left as it is
helm quiet, helm full Turns held under the MAG rate (slow, silent), or full rate again
match s1 In testing: the helm points for the burn that matches s1’s velocity and says how much; you give the throttle
reverse half, reverse 50 End for end with the drive cut, then the drive at half (or full, standard, slow, or a percentage)
point 100,-50,20 Point at a chart position, km
ahead half, thr 40, all stop Drive orders
burn to 2.5, burn 30 A controlled burn, then coast
full stop, slow to 0.5 Turn end for end and burn down to rest, or to a speed
beam s1, steer s1, away s1 Turn to put a contact abeam, ahead, astern
fire s1, salvo 3 s1, fire s1 homing, fire s1 mk2h Torpedoes
fire s1 contact, exploder contact, exploder prox Exploder for one salvo, or standing
check s1 Fire control’s answer for each weapon, without firing
drop s1 Take a silent contact off the table until it is heard again
mark 045, mark s1, mark b off, mark off Up to three bearing marks on the rose
load 2 mk2h, load 2 empty, load 2 rack Change a tube now: a reload’s time, and it is heard
reload 2 mk1, reload 2 same, reload 2 empty Choose what a tube takes next: silent
jam s1, jam s1 60%, jam +, jam off Jamming, at a share of full power
eccm on, eccm 60%, eccm +, eccm off Counter-jamming, likewise
carrier s1 40m A cold carrier: it coasts, then releases two torpedoes
launch picket, launch picket 2, launch screen A carrier’s flight deck: craft that listen far out, or guard you close in
launch strike s3, launch strike 4 s3 Strike craft at a contact with a solution: two unless you say
recall, recall picket, recall all Call craft home; launches still waiting are struck off
deck, sorties The hangar and the launch queue; each craft’s mission, Δv, time left and where it is
show deck The flight deck window: every craft with its Δv and endurance bars
push, push off Drive past its rating, at a risk
overload on, overload off Guns over their rating, at a risk
dc quiet, dc work Stand the damage parties down, or send them back
shadow s1, shadow own, shadow off Shade what a contact cannot see, by your estimate of it
filter held, filter off What a rose shows (also weapons, solved, hostile, torpedoes, courses)
layer reach, layer loud, layer reset What a plot draws (also lob, ellipses, vectors, trail, rings, labels, bands, and craft, our craft’s rings home)
vectors 30, vectors auto The plot’s vector time
zone, zone alpha 500, zone off alpha, zones A tripwire box: the crew calls when a contact’s estimate enters
guard port 270 330 A guard arc off the bow: the crew calls a bearing on it
silent, ultra, normal Rig the boat
shield status, reactor status Any system reports its setting: also the transponder, assist, radiators, sensors, generator, scrubbers, electrolysis and jammer
battery, heat, fuel, prop, hull, air, cabin, crew, helm, pos, alt, accel, turn, tubes, guns, pinger, cm, sig The crew reads that gauge from its own instruments: the cross-check for a broken gauge
gauges The gauges damage control knows are broken
reports all, reports normal, reports quiet How much the crew reports on its own. Kept for the next exercise
mag status The boat’s magnetic field, what makes it, and how close a magnetometer must come to feel it
board, board patrol List or set the board’s named settings: standard, patrol, quiet, battle
board preview patrol What a setting would buy and cost on your boat
standing, standing lure decoy, standing off The crew’s reactions. Rows: lure, evade, array, jam, pinged, battery
shed tubes, restore tubes, restore all Open or close a breaker
priority tubes 3, priority auto Reorder the board
aux on, aux off, aux auto Run the generator
bank a off, bank a on Isolate a battery bank
refuel, refuel stop Take fuel from a tanker or base alongside
save, save before the attack Save the exercise (not in iron mode)
log <text> Write your own line in the log, handy for play-test notes
filter s1, filter eng, filter off Narrow the log window
night, night transit, night patrol, night ambush, night standing Night orders
call me on ping, call me pause on contact, call me never on lost What reaches you. Torpedoes, hits and the end always do
call me at 02:00, call me battery 30, call me waypoint, call me off Your own calls
call s3 hostile, name s3 fat one, ignore s3, pin s3 Your own call on a contact, beside the crew’s
help List every order

Reading the contacts table

Column Means
S1, S2 Contacts, by the order you heard them
TYPE The crew’s best guess: unknown, civilian?, military?, then a class. Only an opinion. info s1 shows the odds
RANGE km A range and its error. ?200-900 is a limit from the signal and the crew’s calls, never a solution
TMA How good the solution is: POOR, FAIR, GOOD. You need FAIR or better to shoot
SIG dB above your threshold. Rising: closing or getting louder. Falling: opening or going quiet
Rose HEARD AT ~ How far off you could be heard now, by your own estimate. A red-shaded contact is inside it
Course Click the focused plan to arm one; Enter gives it, Esc drops it, and it lapses after 8 s
Overlay p takes up the pencil: click a note, drag a line, click a mark to rub out. Pencil down: drag a note to move it
Plot marks ⊗ launch 12m is where you were loud: a ring grows at your speed. It never says whether anyone heard
Plot Drag to pan; centre s1 follows a contact, C comes home at the standard range
HEAR Which sensors have it: P passive array, I infrared, X beacon (it is announcing itself), x beacon gone silent, E EM (it is transmitting), M magnetic (it is close)
DZ km Height above (+) or below (-) you, once range is known. Ranges are 3-D

Symbols: ○ friendly, ◇ hostile, □ neutral, ✣ unknown. A fighter wears the top half: ◠ ⋀ ⊓ ⌒. ⊕ WPT is a waypoint from your orders, not a contact.

Rules of thumb