+ Insane complexity.
+ Size of the database.
+ Gameplay.
+ LOTS of automated processes, no need for micro-management.
+ Relatively easy to 'jump in' if you have played Harpoon series before.
+ Excellent support by developpers (last patch had changelog of 40+ A4 pages).
+ Watching map full of half circles fighting rombs.

- Hard to explain to your girlfriend what you are doing in the middle of the night.
- Sometimes unintuitive UI (due to complexity and large variety of possibilities).
- Larger scenarios can need quite a powerful computer.
- NOT FOR EVERYONE. You need to find some military geek in you to play this.



First of all, take a look at the screenshots. This is all you will see. No fancy graphics, but a map full of symbols...

I bet you get excited, didn't you?

This is not a game, it's a simulation. Very complex. Difficult. With steep learning curve.
But once you get into it, you will LOVE IT.

UI is good, but _sometimes_ unintuitive and you need to get used to it.

Complexity is mind blowing. Well, for example - algorithm that calculates radar reflectivity, besides many other factors, takes into an account speed of rotation of aircraft's jet engine fans plus angle of reflection from it. And everything is happening on your desktop computer. In real time.

No words can describe the emotions when you try to hunt down this bloody Sovremenny-class destroyer with your Kobben class submarines. Then, your girlfriend comes in and asks what you are doing. Well... how can you explain to her, in simple words, that you are ambushing Baltic Fleet with 4 Kobben-class submarines? (This is probably the biggest flaw of the game)

I spent most of my time in the scenario editor. And it is not what you think. You can turn on time flow and play the scenario against yourself within the editor, switching sides from time to time. This is more like your sandbox and playground.

I researched military power in my region, replicated all squadrons and units. Read dozens of wiki pages, followed twitter and facebook accounts of military units. And had lots of fun checking out my 'what if' scenario.

I payed full price for this game and I would pay for it again.

Firstly, let's get the elephant in the room dealt with, this game is expensive. If you have any doubt as to whether this is your sort of game, don't moan about the price, watch some of the Baloogan Campaign videos to decide whether it's for you or just don't buy it. In context, it's less than the price of two new AAA games (or one AAA game plus DLC), and unlike AAA games you won't be done with them in 15 hours apiece, you could happily sink a thousand hours into this and never run out of things to do.

CMANO is the spiritual successor to the Harpoon series, the grand daddy of modern naval command sims. That means while the graphics are limited to maps and NATO symbology, the breadth and detail of units and capabilities represented is second to none, CMANO is capable of simulating pretty much any naval conflict from 1945 to near future hypothetical flashpoints. This is at heart a serious minded simulation toolbox, rather than a balanced and scripted game. If that appeals to you, then there is no finer product available, period.

I bought this shortly after the first patch (1.01) about a year ago and since release there has been ongoing support from the devs, who seem to be in this for the long haul and it hs come on in leaps and bounds. The long term future for this game is looking bright!

What I like
-Breadth of units, every post-WW2 unit I can think of is in the game, or will be
-Global coverage, simulate any naval conflict post WW2 in any location
-Community created scenarios pop up regularly
-Ongoing dev support

What I hope is improved
-Beginners are somewhat left to their own devices, small scale scenarios are limited
-Air combat is less well developed than naval combat (though this is improving)
-Interface is definitely an acquired taste!
-Sound is glitchy

This game is complex, has a steep learning curve and is a niche game, but if you want to understand the evolution of moden naval warfare - there is no better choice in any form of media. There are lots of online video tutorials to help with the learning curve. It is a virtual naval war college and it is managed by a team that is dedicated to its constant improvement (I've never seen such dedication to supporting any game in my 25 years of playing them). They have improved the game non-stop over the last year, It is insightful, flexible, versatile, and has a database that rivals the most expensive reference books like Combat Fleets or Janes. I served in the USN for 24 years, and I can tell you that this game is priceless for understanding how navies operate and how modern air/naval warfare works. It is the best simulation I have seen in or out of the service - and a useful tool for taxpayers who want to understand where their hard earned money goes. It gives you 65 years of naval warfare across the entire globe with a multitude of realistic and challenging scenarios, and a scenario editor that is relatively easy to use and which has generated an impressive amount of user content. If you have any interest in naval warfare you should buy it - I doubt we will ever see a game this good on naval warfare for the foreseeable future. Hope you give it a try....

Mark

BLUF: This is not a "game" in so much as it is the best simulator of modern air and naval combat I've ever come across.

You may want this game if:

you seek the highest realism and detail possible in a warfare simulation.
you enjoy commanding huge forces and using them in complex actions.
you enjoyed reading Janes encyclopedias as a kid (or adult).

Do your research before buying this. This is not for anyone that is a casual gamer, or thinks they can easily transition from an RTS or grand strategy game to this. This may as well be running on a pentagon computer as a simulation to game out attack strategies for the next major war. There is no "gameyness" here. Everything is modelled to the Nth degree. Radars, radar signiature, electronic countermeasures, nukes, weapon systems, sonar and sound propogation including CZ's, effects of weather... literally untold effort over years was poured into this, and not a minute was wasted on 3D modeling and lighting effects. The end result: You are the commander. You know what your ships and planes look like, you've spent decades around them. You've spent years training for a war you hoped would never come. Now, it is time to put the forces of your nation into action. This is the command center, and it looks like one.

I can't reccommend this program enough.

This is the one game I cannot live without. I played the harpoon series since I was a teenager and this definately is better by a landslide.

This game is fun! Really fun! Right off the bat, after downloading the game, CMANO has monopolized most of my game time.

I even have nominated this for a new category in the 2016 Steam Awards: The Under the Radar Award.. haha.. get it?

This game though is probably not for everyone.

It's for people who love simulations and RTS games. Those who are into action games, platformers, and shoot-em-ups would probably want to avoid this. If you enjoyed Warcraft, Starcraft, the Total War games, Civilization, Warhammer, the Wargame series (EE, ALB and Red Dragon), then this game would be worth considering.

AND, if you are an old geezer like me and have sneakily played Harpoon on the office PC during the late 80s/early 90s then this one is a no brainer.

Watch Baloogan's YouTube videos on this game. I have spent hours watching his games and have learned a lot from it. His videos are what gave me the final push to get this game.

For some reason, Steam has a problem tracking my game time. My guess is that the initial loading screen is what it tracks (that screen stays on after loading the game screen which I turn off the first few times) and not the game screen itself.

The learning curve is a bit high but not too high that it becomes frustrating. For me, the difference between frustrating and challenging is that frustrating is when you just want to get it over with in order to move on and challenging is doing it again and again until you are satisfied while enjoying it each time.

This game is challenging.

Graphics are basically limited to the unit symbols and the terrain map.. basically its your imagination (best to dl the image mods to have a mental picture of the units) that drives what you're seeing on screen. Reminds me of old Infocom ads in the 80s, how the brain is the best graphical processor around.

There are a lot of mission scenarios. The page says 40 but after downloading the community pack, I have another 177 (!!!) scenarios that cover engagements all around the world! And there is an editor where you can even make up your own scenario.

To give you an idea of the missions, the first tutorial mission was to bomb a couple of land targets that are protected by SAM installations. I launched a couple of F14s to patrol the area, set up Prowlers and Hawkeyes to monitor the area and jam enemy radar, then set up my strike force.

I still haven't got a major victory (only a minor one; ran out of ordinance and had one bldg still standing). But I'll get back to this mission later. Going back to this mission and repeating it didn't feel like a chore to me.

In the second tutorial, I had to micromanage one submarine through 4 stages sub v sub, sub v boat, sub v boat with a helicopter patrolling the area seeking you out, and finally sub v land target.

Units are intelligent. Just send out the mission order, define the conditions and send them off. You can have them do the mission automatically or manually control and guide them.

Much has been talked about the price. I got it on sale but still it was a bit high for me that I really had to think five times whether I should or should not. I'm glad I did.

I think about it this way, I have spent much more on games I haven't played yet and some that I never will play again.

Just to set expectations:

1. The first thing you'll notice is that the game rests above Windows UI (similar to how Excel or Word launches). This took me by surprise since I initially thought that it was a subpar game because of it. But don't let it fool you, the game is top notch regardless. Plus using dual monitors is easy because of this.
2. The graphics. Much has been talked about it but to quote Cypher from the movie The Matrix, "But there's way too much information to decode the Matrix. You get used to it. I...I don't even see the code. All I see is blonde, brunette, red-head"
3. Sound. There is none to talk about. It's really basic that I just play it without my headphones on.
4. The pacing closely resembles how the pacing would be in real life. Missiles takes minutes to hit targets. Your planes need time to be loaded up, taxi to the runway, and launch.
5. Planning and strategy. When a scenario loads up, a pop up with mission details come up. It's best to read it and familiarize with the scenario. The overall strategy is laid out with some helpful tips but you must still have to plan out how to execute it
6. The Database. Much has been written about its extensive database and boy, it really is. It's like a big technical manual of every weapon, vehicle, and even installations around; complete with its history, and the different versions and iterations around.
7. No multiplayer. I really can't comment on this because I'm happy already with the way its set up but some would want to try this out in MP but sadly it isn't an option.
8. UI comes out clunky and there's no immediate accessible keyboard control guide. After awhile though like most games you'll get the hang of it. But if I have to complain, it's the UI really.

Command: Modern Air / Naval Operations is 100% really about the gameplay.

Anyway, not sure if this review makes much sense but I wholeheartedly recommend this for people who love the genre and are deciding whether to get it or not.

So if you're thinking of buying this game, I beg you to get it on sale. If you're anything like me, if you want the game you'll ignore my review entirely and buy it at the ridiculously steep price of almost $90 it's offered at at the moment, but this review is coming from someone who bought it on sale for the low low price of $54.

Now, I really can't recommend this game, but I'm not going to actively discourage anyone from buying it either. It feels more like a super-precise military combat simulator rather than a game, like something NATO uses to figure out if they could plausibly declare war on russia.

However, the fact of the matter is, it's so expensive because it covers so much. I have yet to actually find a post-WWII military unit I can't build in the game. The search function may lead you astray because it *sucks*, but if you know exactly what you're looking for you can find the precise unit built in the exact year that you're looking for. And it doesn't stop there. If you pick a unit (This is most prominent with aircraft) it will let you select the onboard loadout. And I mean there are a *ton* of loadouts for every unit that carry every very specific missile made in a very specific year by a very specific company, and they have loadouts with 4, 5 and 6 of them onboard. I mean this game (simulator?) is seriously detailed.

After you've spawned a unit, you can go into a screen showing you very detailed information about the unit. The game (Again, simulator?) feels like they had 200 people working 24/7 finding out literally as much information as they could get their hands on, and supplied these people with an IV injecting caffiene directly into their bloodstream. There is a mind-boggling amount of detail in this ame, as in more than you could find if you wrote a doctorate thesis about every one of these military units.

Now, I do have some concerns about this game:

- This is very trivial, however I have not yet found a way to turn down the ingame music volume so I can play (simulate?) while lisening to music.

- It seems like they put waaaaay too much effort into detail and not enough into sound, because if you have a couple destroyers firing on an enemy all you hear coming through your speakers is the same monotone boomboomboomboomboomboomboomboomboomboomboom. I haven't checked, but in the game files I'm pretty sure there's boom.ogg and aircraft.ogg, because this game has like 2 sounds.

- The game (simulator?) gets really boring, really fast. I can't really take this game in high dosage without getting bored of whatever I'm doing. Everything goes so slowly it gets very annoying after a while.

- If you're not a military expert with several four-year degrees, this game is going to confuse the ever-loving hell out of you. You'll boot it up, find the only plane you know (Which is probably the F-18 or F-22), try to spawn one, and then sit there trying to figure out which convoluted loadout is best, and then just clicking one at random and finding out the one you picked has no guns.

So, to summarise my review for those who don't want to waste their time reading the entire thing:

PEOPLE WHO SHOULD PLAY THIS GAME

- NATO (Revising my review to note that BAE Systems actually uses this for actual, real-deal military applications)
- People who are serious military geeks and don't think Wargame: Red Dragon is enough of an intellectual challenge
- People who want to become serious military geeks and *really* like reading
- People who kinda like military stuff with some money to burn

PEOPLE WHO SHOULD NOT PLAY THIS GAME

- People who play Supreme Commander and think this game is exactly like SupCom (It's not, in any imaginable way. Don't ask why, it's just not the same).
- People who know nothing about military anything and have no desire to learn
- People who want to play this game and not simulate this simulator.
- People who have trouble paying attention for a long period of time.

I'll reccomend some alternatives for people who want a casual-ish military simulator without having to alt-tab to wikipedia every 3 minutes:

- Wargame: Red Dragon
- Supreme Commander (Not the second one. The second sucks. Get the original)
- Command and Conquer
- StarCraft
- SuperPower 2 (Good if you like running a country, but it does not have nearly as many units as C:MANO)

TL;DR: Read the review.

A fine naval-centric warfare simulator with a wide selection of included scenarios, free community-made scenarios and optional paid DLC.

I have had Harpoon, WinHarp, H2, and H3 on my computers since forever. Back in the day my volunteer work proofreading the H97 database earned me a Harpoon ballcap from Mr. Bond himself. This title (CMANO) is another take on modern naval warfare and I enjoy its variety of 4-d chess.

I could care less about arguing which fuel/sensor models are more accurate but overall this title accurately allows you to experiment with the principles of modern-day naval operations big and small. There are some differences compared to Harpoon regarding comms and BDA, not right-or-wrong but different choices the devs have made.

Be sure to install the free "Community Scenario Pack" and free "Database Images & Descriptions Add-ons" available from WarfareSims.com after installing this game. This will add 350+ scenarios of all varieties to the game as well as more platform pictures and expanded platform descriptions.

I can recommend the "Uncle Marks Tutorials" scenarios for beginners as well as the four "First Contact" standalone scenarios that are CMANO's version of the classic Harpoon GIUK "Dawn Patrol" -- short, tactical and a nice way to learn the navigation, weapon, and sensor controls.

PURCHASING NOTE: It makes sense to purchase this title directly from Matrix/Slitherine because then you get the Steam-free version, a key to register the title with your Matrix account, AND a Steam-key if you prefer playing via Steam.

What I learned too late: Purchasing from Steam (as of this writing) DOES NOT give you a key for CMANO to register on Matrix. Five of the Steam-bought DLC (Northern Inferno, Old Grudges, Don, Brexit, Spratly) do give you keys to register your Steam purchase on the Matrix site but again, the main CMANO program does not.

I enjoy the title so much I repurchased it on the Matrix site when it was on sale just to get a Steam-free version...

Some negatives:

The program interface is not the best. There's one main map window where you fight, no multiple views like H2/H3. And other windows like the Message Log get overlaid on top of the main map making that part of the map useless. The developers for some reason disabled the Minimize button on the "Message Log in separate window" option. Maybe on a multiple-monitor setup this works but I play mostly on my laptop. I wrote a little external Windows utility to enable the Minimize button when the program is running but that's not something the average user will do.

Hotkeys for selecting and giving orders to units do not work unless the map is clicked first which feels wrong since the map feels naturally like it's the app's main window. When the mouse is over the map the Hotkeys should work. Having to left-click on the map to enable Hotkeys often de-selects the current unit. Right-clicking is even worse because it re-centers the map.

These issues make it feel like one is fighting the interface. Sure I can get used to it but still...

Major parts of the game seem to be written in managed VB .NET so it's perhaps not as fast as it could be if written in native code especially with the number crunching required of a simulation of this type. The small- to medium-sized scenarios I have played have not lagged per se but I do have it running under the 1-sec "pulsed" update mode which makes it feel more realistic, like I'm TAO in the CIC, LOL.

I can't comment on the Scenario Editor but it looks full-featured, especially now with the addition of Lua scripting.

Overall a fun game/sim that I have added to my always-installed-on-laptop collection of Harpoon1/2/3. The more time and knowledge you put into it the more it will give back.

To support the devs and further development I bought all DLC, this is my kind of game. Thank you!

Oh boy, where to start? I've got little experience in this game (as a Steam purchase) but in the couple of dozen hours I've played in total a few things have become evident about this simulation.

Are you the type of gamer who enjoys war games that simulate military units and tactics in total, obsessive detail? Games that include masses of data about every sensor, every weapon and every system a given ship, aircraft or weapon system might have? Enjoy reading hundreds of pages of manuals and taking in every tiny detail about the subject of the simulation? If this is you, then this game is for you.

CMANO includes no 3D graphics at all, and 95% of the time is spent staring at a geographical map of whatever combat zone your mission your mission takes place in. Scaleability is however one of the strengths of the sim: you can simulate anything from a single bomber on a training mission to destroy a single target 10 miles away, all the way up to massive continent-size combined arms operations with endless objectives. And everything in between.

Massive scale fleet actions? Check. Desert-Storm style huge and complex air wars? Check. Silent battles between submarines and enemy surface fleets across entire oceans? Check. This sim is capable of all of it and anything in between, all with every aircraft, ship and submarine system, sensor and weapon modelled in exacting detail with regards to performance and capability. To give you an idea of how serious a war simulation this game is, apparently it's used by several real-world navies as a training tool. Pretty much every ship and aircraft used by every country from the early cold war period right up to the very latest in military hardware is available to use in missions.

The sim also has a very healthy modding and scenario-writing community. Litterally hundreds of user-made missions are available from the Steam workshop and other on-line forums so the replayability is more or less infinite.

It should be mentioned that the learning curve is fairly steep, but that being said the sim includes comprehensive tutorial missions and players have also released their own tutorial campaigns covering the game mechanics in great detail. Pretty easy to pick up but incredibly hard to master, exactly as real-world military strategy is.

If you love playing ultra-realistic war sims such as Steel Beasts, Digital Combat Sim, Jane's 688i or Harpoon and are looking for a war strategy game with that same awesome level of technical detail, this is absolutely the game for you. I'd have tgo say that this is not a game for casual players as it demands hours of practice and learning real-world military strategy and tactics in order to be successful, but if doing that appeals to you then irrespective of the price you'll get hours of satisfaction from CMANO. Very highly recommended!

As many have already said, this isn't a game, but rather a simulation. I'm goanna keep this simple. It's a great game that's incredibly realistic, with pretty much any Ship, Aircraft, and Weapon you can think of in the Post-WW2 era.

However this comes at a price to the casual gamer. If you have not studied these systems, or don't have experience in the Navy, you are going to be completly lost. Since this is a "Simulation" rather than a Game, you NEED to understand the technology. There are tutorials, but even those require a basic understanding. Additionally you should also understand Naval strategy and how to actually go about sinking an enemy fleet (Obviously).

The high price is also something to be considered. But i can assure you, if you like strategy games, and you like Naval/Air battles, this game is without a doubt worth its price.

I cannot recommend this game.

It suffers from one critical, nearly game destroying flaw, the pilot AI. ASW planes trying to localize an underwater contact will point themselves across 2000 miles of the Atlantic to reach the other side of the contact box. Fighters assigned to CAP missions will take an intercept trajectory to a contact in its patrol area, zigzag across the sky following it, and then run out of fuel before even reaching the patrol area. Default mission setting for A2A missions is attack at afterburner. If you forget to change this, every plane you launch will try to spend 900 seconds at this setting right after takeoff if an opponent is in its patrol area, and then hit bingo fuel. Fighters aggressively attempt to refuel from tankers, wandering all over the sky in attempts to do so. This game is basically micromanaging your planes fuel states. All planes, no matter the time period or country, act exactly the same.

There are other problems. The ability of SAMs to shot down anything that flies is god like (this issue not helped by previous paragraph). When fighting a modern SAM the number of weapons you need to send at it is the number of missiles it can launch, plus on more to removed the now useless launcher from the map.

Most missions have very low replay value, being heavily scripted. Average scenario published on steam are made by people who think CAPS LOCK AND FLASH FLASH FLASH in the scenario description is all you need to make things interesting (a few scenarios are brilliant however).

TLDR: Aircraft wander all over the sky, and get themselves killed, or manage to avoid combat due to their stupidity.