| The Ancient Art of War at Sea | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer | Evryware |
| Publisher | Broderbund |
| Series | The Ancient Art of War |
| Platforms | Apple II,MS-DOS,Mac,PC-98 |
| Release | 1987 |
| Genre | Real-time strategy |
| Mode | Single-player |
The Ancient Art of War at Sea is acomputer wargame developed byBroderbund and released forMac andMS-DOS in 1987 as a sequel toThe Ancient Art of War. The game is a simulation ofnaval combat set in the late 18th century. However, the historical opponents which the players have to face lived between the 16th century and the early 19th century. These hostile game characters includeAlonso de Guzmán y Sotomayor, 7th Duke of Medina Sidonia (the commander of theSpanish Armada),Maarten Tromp (called "Martin" in the game),Blackbeard,John Paul Jones, andHoratio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson.
The player commands a fleet of ships in this naval-combat simulation which takes place in the late 18th century.
Controllable ship types include the44-gun frigate with 250 crew,74-gun (including 10carronades)ship-of-the-line with over 600 crew, and the130-gun (including 22carronades) flagship with 875 crew.[1]
The player faces one of six opponents, each of which uses his own different strategy against the player. Five are historic: theDuke of Medina Sidonia (1588);Martin [sic] Tromp (1639);Blackbeard (1718);John Paul Jones (1779);Horatio Nelson (1805); and a fictitious opponent Thor Foote.
Computer Gaming World in 1987 stated thatThe Ancient Art of War at Sea "offers a powerful editing system and an enjoyable, playable game"[2] that was superior to its predecessor, with excellent documentation.[3] In 1990 the magazine gave the game three out of five stars, warning that gameplay favored single ships as opposed tofleet actions when fighting enemy fleets.[4] In 1992 the magazine gave the game two stars, stating that it "plays wells as a game, but not as a serious study" and regretting that it was the onlyAge of Sail game for DOS.[5]Compute! in 1988 also praised the documentation and editor.[6] The game was reviewed in 1988 inDragon by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in their "The Role of Computers" column. They agreed thatWar at Sea was better than its predecessor and called it a "must have", giving the game five out of five stars. They particularly enjoyed the ship-to-ship combat.[7]
The game sold more than 100,000 copies.[8]