Sea Power:

Naval Combat in the Missile Age

EA Manual - Updated as of 11/11/2024

Introductions
Thanks for diving into Sea Power Early Access! This manual will be designed to help you
understand how to navigate the game’s menus, buttons, and apply more tactics to help you in
your fight against the many enemies you’ll encounter on your journey.
Disclaimer: This manual version is designed for the EA period of Sea Power: Naval Combat in
the Missile Age. There is a possibility that some UI elements, game mechanics, names, or
otherwise can be different from the version of the game you may be playing on.

1
Introductions................................................................................................................................1
Main Menu.................................................................................................................................... 4
Scenarios.................................................................................................................................4
Mission Editor.......................................................................................................................... 4
Campaign(s)............................................................................................................................ 4
Continue Campaign(s).............................................................................................................4
Encyclopedia........................................................................................................................... 4
Tutorials................................................................................................................................... 4
Options.................................................................................................................................... 5
Mod Manager...........................................................................................................................5
Credits..................................................................................................................................... 6
Scenarios......................................................................................................................................6
Mission Editor.............................................................................................................................. 8
1. Scenario...............................................................................................................................8
2. Groups................................................................................................................................. 8
3. Triggers..............................................................................................................................10
4. Background Data............................................................................................................... 10
Campaigns................................................................................................................................. 10
Encyclopedia..............................................................................................................................10
Tutorials......................................................................................................................................10
The UI.......................................................................................................................................... 11
Formation Manager............................................................................................................... 12
Bearing Tape..........................................................................................................................12
Date/Time Dilation controls....................................................................................................12
Tactical Display/NTDS........................................................................................................... 13
NTDS............................................................................................................................... 13
Tactical Display UI............................................................................................................13
Drawing Tools.................................................................................................................. 14
Speed/Heading controls........................................................................................................ 14
Weapon Controls................................................................................................................... 15
Misc. Controls........................................................................................................................ 16
Right Click Context Menu...................................................................................................... 16
Formation Editor.................................................................................................................... 17
Flight Deck.............................................................................................................................18
Systems...................................................................................................................................... 19
Damage Control.....................................................................................................................19
Crew Skills....................................................................................................................... 20
Radar/RWR............................................................................................................................20
RWR................................................................................................................................ 21
Sonar..................................................................................................................................... 21
Magnetic Anomaly Detector (MAD)................................................................................. 22

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 ESM (Electromagnetic Support Measures)........................................................................... 22
Weapon Deployment/Usage.................................................................................................. 23
Ballistic Weapons.............................................................................................................23
Missile Systems............................................................................................................... 23
Offensive and Defensive ECM...............................................................................................24
Offensive..........................................................................................................................24
Defensive......................................................................................................................... 25
Basic Controls........................................................................................................................... 25
Unit Navigation...................................................................................................................... 25
Using Weapons......................................................................................................................25
Using formations....................................................................................................................26
Troubleshooting.........................................................................................................................28
Where to find find User settings and Logs.............................................................................28
Tactics.........................................................................................................................................29

3
Main Menu

Scenarios
● This is where you can access pre-made or workshop
downloaded missions.

Mission Editor
● The mission editor allows any user to make a mission
using in-game or workshop provided assets. See more
information HERE.

Campaign(s)
● This is where the dynamic campaign can be accessed and played.
● Disclaimer: This feature is estimated to be in a Alpha State @ Q2 of 2025, and so
specific information is not available as of the writing of this document

Continue Campaign(s)
● This button will be used to resume a saved campaign.
● Disclaimer: This feature is not functional as of the data subtitled below the header

Encyclopedia
● The Encyclopedia is where the user can see all assets in the game environment. This
also includes information about units, including equipped weapons, sensor systems and
other relevant data.

Tutorials
● Premade scenarios to help you learn in-game controls and systems. This manual is an
extension of it.
● Disclaimer: During EA, the tutorials are likely to be incomplete, so refer to this
document in the meantime.

4
Options
● A section where all controls, graphics, and audio settings can be changed to suit the
players preferences.

Mod Manager
● This is where all your mods from the steam workshop will be displayed hierarchically.
The list can include missions, mission packs, system modifications, etc.
● Important: Hierarchy based list will overwrite content below it. For example, if you have
two mods that modify CIWS hit chance, the one closer to the top will take priority and
overwrite the one below it.
The Mod Manager provides an interface to manage the load order of mods that you have
downloaded from either Steam Workshop or placed locally in the game’s StreamingAssets
folder. Each mod has a structure like the “original” folder and is used to override files in the
order specified in the Mod Manager menu.

The tick box indicates if a mod is enabled or not. The “Local” or “Workshop” indicates if the mod
is downloaded from Steam or stored locally in StreamingAssets. The description is provided in
localisable form using the _info.ini file in the folder.

The buttons to the left of the title allow the order that folders are searched for files to be
changed. Some folders (user, and original) cannot be moved and will always be searched in a
specific order.

The “Create Mod” button will be enabled if Steam is also running and the game is able to
establish a connection to it. This opens a new “Create Mod” window that allows players to
create or update mods in the Steam Workshop.

Steam Workshop

Steam Workshop is integrated into the game client. Normally you would expect to see the
Steam Client download a mod when you subscribe to it, or when you first run the game after
subscription.

This might not complete before the game loads or might not be triggered in some cases. There
is a fallback trigger that is used to make sure that your mods are updated on starting the game.
This might make the game loading quite slow, so please be patient if you have just subscribed
to a new mod.

Note: This will be integrated into the load screen in due course but is not yet!

If “Update Existing” is ticked the game will search for Mods that your SteamID is associated
with. This will populate the drop down to allow them to be selected. If an existing Mod is

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selected the window will attempt to populate the Mod Name and Mod Description with the
values downloaded from Steam Workshop.

Note: This is limited to the first 50 mods returned by Steam at present.

The “Pick Folder” button allows you to select a folder from within StreamingAssets to upload as
a mod. If you try and select the “original” folder it will be rejected as invalid.

“Mod Name” is the title that appears in Steam Workshop. “Mod Description” is the text that
appears below the Preview Image in Workshop.

The Preview Image can be selected by using the “Pick Image” button. This will attempt to load
the image into the window. Due to Steam restrictions this must be less than 1MB in size. We
recommend that you store the Image in the Mod folder in StreamingAssets. The image you
upload here will be the image shown in the tile in Workshop item browsing. This should be
square ideally. If you choose to upload additional images through the Steam Client you can
upload rectangular images as banners too.

The “Change Log” section will appear if you are editing an existing mod. You don’t have to fill
this out but it is useful to keep track of changes.

Visibility controls the item's visibility in Steam Workshop. Public is the default mode but you can
change that!

On hitting “Submit Mod” the game will make an attempt to submit your entry to Steam. It will
open the Mods submission page in the Steam Client which will show you if your upload has
been successful or not.

Note: We intend to have more feedback in the game in the future, e.g. progress bars etc.

Credits
● A list of developers, supporters, and otherwise who worked on respective features within
Sea Power.

Scenarios
● Inside of this section of the menu, there
are collapsible/expandable sections
marked with either a downward facing

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 arrow (Expanded), or a right facing arrow (Collapsed) folder.
● Scenarios are marked with a Star Symbol ( ). More stars indicates a more difficult
mission.
● Selecting a mission will bring up a short description of the scenario at the bottom of the
screen.
● The Play button is located at the very bottom of the menu beneath the description.

7
Mission Editor
Starting from the left side, there are a few tabs
you can see in the first menu. They include:

1. Scenario
1.1. This is where the general
parameters of the missions can be
set. It includes weather, mission
time/date, the central map point
coordinates (Icon on Map: ),
and the player side (Control enemy
units [Red] or friendly forces
[Blue]).
1.2. Note: Central Map Point should be set
around the middle of your combat area!
2. Groups
2.1. Group Name: The name of the group as
displayed on the mission editor map
2.2. Mission Type: [REDACTED}
2.2.1. Not in EA at the time of this
document
2.3. % Chance: The % chance a unit will spawn
in that given scenario. Can be used to
create more dynamic engagements.
2.4. Formation: Used a new unit group into a
preset formation. This can be overwritten by
using the formation editor however.
2.5. Nation: Filters unit selection by selected
nation.
2.6. Unit Category: Filters units by unit category.
2.7. Unit type: This is where you can select the
unit you wish to place
2.8. Unit Name: A section where you can select
the unit name for that specific Unit Type.
This includes names/hull numbers
(displayed in-game).
2.9. + Add Unit: This will add the unit into the
mission, as well as add them into the box

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 beneath the button to show the units within that group
2.9.1. Note: The first unit added will be designated the formation lead by
default.
2.10. Remove: This will remove the selected unit (seen below and highlighted in red),
from the group/mission.
2.11. Change Selected: This will allow you to select a unit in the box below this button,
and replace it with a new unit by using the Unit Type & Unit Name (optional)
buttons.
2.12. Units: All units within a formation are shown below. If you click on a separate
group using the map view on the right, this box will be updated to show the
contents of the selected group.
2.13. Loadouts: This is used to select a loadout for the selected unit. Can include
cargo, aircraft loadout presets, and other options.
2.13.1. Tip: Aircraft loadouts can be hovered over to get a tooltip that presents
the exact weapons within a loadout.
2.14. Unit Nation: This is used to assign the selected vessel to a nation, which will
change the flag of the ship in-game and loadouts in some cases. Example:
Mig-21 nation will change its anti-air missile within its loadout selections.
2.15. Speed: This will set the selected units speed to be going at the start of the
mission.
2.15.1. Tip: setting the speed of the formation leader (the first unit within the
group), will make others follow as closely as possible to that speed as
well to stay in formation. However, not all ships may be able to keep pace
at higher speeds (ie, escorts following carriers who are conducting air
ops).
2.16. Heading: This will set the selected groups direction via a number ranging from
0-360.
2.16.1. Tip: A quick example of bearings by value:
2.16.2. 0/360 (North)
2.16.3. 90 (East)
2.16.4. 180 (South)
2.16.5. 270 (West)
2.17. Skill: The level of the crew affects various stats around the unit. See Damage
Control Section
2.18. Stores: Sets the amount of ammunition carried
2.18.1. Disclaimer: Not functional as of the writing of this document!
2.19. Damage: Sets the amount of damage a unit has taken before the mission.
2.20. Checkboxes (Bottom Right)
2.20.1. High Value Unit: [REDACTED]
2.20.1.1. Non Functional as of EA
2.20.2. Radars on: Turns the selected units radar on mission start (if available).
2.20.3. Active Sonar on: Turns the selected units radar on mission start (if
available).

9
 2.20.4. Towed Array out: Makes selected units towed array deploy on mission
start (if available).
2.20.5. Towed Decoy out: Makes the selected unit deploy their towed decoy on
mission start (if available).
3. Triggers
3.1. Given the complexity of the trigger system, external documentation will be
needed here…
4. Background Data
4.1. Disclaimer: This is heavily work-in-progress during EA, so please do not expect
results using this feature as of the writing of this manual!

Campaigns
● Disclaimer: As of the writing of this guide, the dynamic campaign is still in development

Encyclopedia
● A 3D scene where you can explore
all units available within the game,
learn about their history, weapons,
and sensors.
● If you click into this scene, you will
be greeted by a randomly selected
ship and the Unit Reference
window, see the image here.
● Using the drop down downs on the
left hand side, you can filter
through, and click on various units
to learn more about them. Hitting the replace button in the top right will switch the unit in
the 3D scene to the selected one for you to play with.
● Tip: Weapons, Sensors, and aircraft listed beneath a selected unit can be clicked on to
show more information about it. This is a great way to learn about weapons ranges!
○ If needed, you can close the unit reference, and access it again by right clicking
on the vessel, then selecting unit reference from the menu.

Tutorials
● This section of the game will contain all interactive tutorials for the player.
● Disclaimer: Tutorials will be in development during the EA period.

10
 In-Game UI and Systems

The UI

1. Formation Manager
2. Bearing Tape
3. Game Ver. #
4. Date/Time compression tools
5. Tactical Display
6. Speed/Alt Controls
7. Weapon controls
8. EMCON, Weapon Protocol, Flight Deck, Formation Manager, Message Log, and Map
toggles
● Tip: Nearly all windows in the game can be resized by using your mouse along the edge
of a window's dimensions.

11
Formation Manager
● Allows you to quickly switch between
formations of units and units within a
formation
● Double clicking on a unit will snap the
camera to them.
● When units are a formation, there will
be a chevron to indicate you can
expand the UI to show all units within
a formation.
○ Tip: Units marked with a
crown are the formation
leader!
○ Tip: If you double left click a
formation, it will instantly snap
the camera to the formation
leader!
● The buttons on the left indicate the units selected role
○ Disclaimer: This is particular feature is heavily Work-in-Progress, so it’s largely
non-functional

Bearing Tape
● Shows the bearing your camera is facing,
indicated by a downward triangle in the
middle. Moving the camera will adjust the bearing tape correspondingly.

Date/Time Dilation controls

● This section of the UI displays all time and date
controls.
● Clicking on the Date/Time at the top will toggle the
clock to switch between Zulu Time (default), and Local
Time (in-game time).
● The box at the bottom left (shown as default 1x), is your current time compression.
These can be changed by hitting the following buttons (from left to right)..
○ Left Facing arrows (slow down time)
○ Play/Pause (Pauses and Resumes play)
○ Right Facing Arrows (speeds up time)

12
Tactical Display/NTDS

NTDS
Sea Power uses Naval Tactical Display System
(NTDS) iconography, which was developed by the
US Navy. NTDS marks units with…

● A circle is friendly ship

● A diamond is enemy ship
● A square is an unknown

If only the upper half of the symbol is displayed, it is

an air contact. Conversely, if only the lower half of the
symbol is shown, it is a submerged contact.
The great benefit of NTDS is that it is color agnostic,
since it is the shape of the symbols that indicate type
and faction.

Tactical Display UI
From top to bottom..
● Top Right Corner
○ Filters (indicated with three horizontal lines)
○ Maximize/Minimize (hollow square)
○ Close (X button)
● Units are displayed using NTDS symbology (examples below)

○ Icons will be a different color based on a variety of factors, see below:

■ Blue - Your Forces
■ Green - Civilian/Neutral
■ Yellow - Unknown
■ Red - Hostile
○ Icons with letters indicate..
■ T - Torpedo
■ M - Missile
■ P - Passive Sonobuoy
■ A - Active Sonobuoy (Currently there are none in game)

13
 ● Referring to the image on this page in the top right, this flight of two fighters has a
waypoint marked with a blue line. The red square with the time beside it shows how long
it will take the unit to get there (in Zulu Time).
○ Tip: Using the icon located at the top right of the tac. Display (three horizontal
lines), you can change the waypoint to show distance instead!
● The scale at the bottom right indicates range in Kilometers based on your current zoom
level (changed with scroll wheel).

Drawing Tools
A set of handy tools to help you plan attacks, keep track of ranges, and see bearings relative to
the map. TIP: All drawing tools can be moved and resized after placement!

● Ruler
○ Once clicked, clicking once on the tactical
display will place the first point, and clicking
elsewhere again will place the second point.
Once the two points are placed, you will see
two numbers (this applies to the Circle Tool as
well).
■ Top - Range (in nautical miles)
■ Bottom - (Bearing from point 1 to point
2)
○ The Ruler/Circle Tool can also attach points to tracks
(clicking ruler, then clicking a unit. This includes
hostile targets, unknown tracks, and allied units.
● Marker
○ Places a small x on the map, which can be used to
keep track of key areas of interest
● Circle
○ Once clicked, allows to designate a center with your
first click, then the second setting the point. A circle
will be drawn with the radius of the two points
○ Tip: Useful to draw out weapon ranges on the
tactical display!
● Erase
○ Once clicked, allows you to erase a marker, circle, or ruler drawing from the
tactical display
■ Disclaimer: The Erase Tool is known to be rather picky about the line
selection..

Speed/Heading controls

14
In order from right to left..
● Name of Unit
● Current Speed
○ You can change the selected speed here by hovering over it and clicking on a
speed you desire.
○ Tip: Clicking hovering over either spd or a selected speed in the popup will
display the current ordered speed
● Course: Displayed in compass bearing
● Keel: Distance between the lowest part of the vessel and the ocean floor
● Status: Displays information about the unit’s tasking/actions

Weapon Controls

● These icons located at the middle of the bottom bar control weapon selection.
● Clicking on any weapon will select that weapon for manual (player) targeting
● Click ‘Chaff’ or ‘Noisemaker’ will instantly deploy the selected countermeasure
● For aircraft, clicking “Drop Fuel Tanks” will jettison drop tanks which will lead to
maneuverability increase. Aircraft will automatically drop fuel tanks when they are empty
or when entering combat. Disclaimer: maneuverability increase/decrease by fuel tanks
is not implemented atm.
● Depending on the weapon selected, the unit will also display various color rings to
indicate the following about the weapon
○ Red - Weapon’s maximum launch range
○ Yellow - Minimum weapon launch range
○ Blue - Maximum launch range by best fire control radar horizon
○ Green - Maximum launch range by worst fire control radar horizon
● Tip: These circles can change size to account for the target’s information. Targeting
aircraft for example will make the circles bigger since horizon is not as much of a limiting
factor. Note that in the case of smaller targets (missiles, helicopters, smaller aircraft) max
launch range could be reduced for semi-active radar homing missiles because fire
control radar can not lock at target at such range. Also for SARH and radio-command
missiles launch ranges will dramatically reduce if the launch platform is jammed by an
active jammer.
● Once a weapon is selected, right click a track to fire on it.
○ Note: Depending on the range, a unit firing on a target below minimum weapon
range will result in the unit trying to get out of minimum range to fire on it.

15
Misc. Controls

● Radio Routine/EMCON
○ Allows you to set the unit’s radio protocol (enabling/disabling emitting sensors
○ Setting to EMCON means all active sensors will be disabled
○ Disclaimer: Currently this menu is bugged and may display incorrect
information.
● Weapons Protocol
○ Weapons Free - Unit will engage at any confirmed hostile target and engage in
self/formation defense
○ Weapons Tight - Unit will only defend itself or formation against threats (only
engaging missiles/torpedoes/converging hostile aircraft)
○ Weapons Hold - Unit will not fire at all, but still defends itself with CIWS from
missiles
● Flight Deck Button
○ Toggles the Flight Deck UI on and off
● Formation Manager Button
○ Toggles the Formation Manager (top left when enabled) on and off
● Message Log Button (rightmost paper icon)
○ Display the message and intel log on and off
● Map Button
○ Toggles either the tactical display on and off, or the full screen map on and off

Right Click Context Menu

● When right clicking on the selected unit, you can get an
additional area to access various commands both new and
previously mentioned buttons. Tip: You can also right click a
unit in the formation manager in the top left or a unit icon in the
tactical display as well. The right click context menu includes..
○ Unit Reference
■ Automatically pulls up the reference sheet with
the selected unit.
○ Assume Direct Control
■ Note: Only covers submarines and vessels!
○ Damage Control
■ Pulls up the damage control UI, which will be
talked about more to the linked title of this bullet
point.
○ Engage With
■ Acts the same as using the bottom bar, but can
be used with Tac. Display/Formation Manager

16
 to tell ships to use certain weapons without switching the camera.
○ Navigate
■ Remove waypoints
■ Resume Course (TBD/Redundant) - Switched manual unit control to
automatic control.
■ Change Speed
○ Sensors
■ EMCON + any other sensor toggle of the unit selected
○ Formation
■ Create Formation - Creates a new formation from that unit.
■ Join Formation - The selected unit will join an existing formation.
■ Formation Orders
● Air Defense/Sensor Orders - Will order the entire formation to
change sensor/air defense state.
■ Return to Formation - Used to order a unit to return to formation (ie: you
ordered a non leader unit to move somewhere, but then want them back
at the formation).
■ Leave Formation - Unit will leave the current formation
■ Disband Formation - All Units with the selected units formation will leave
the formation.
■ Edit Formation - (Ships/Submarines only) Will pull up the Formation Editor
○ Flight Deck - opens up the Flight Deck UI
○ Orders - ID?
○ Air Defense State - Changes the selected units air defense state (Weapons
Hold/Tight/Free)
○ Cease Fire - Selected unit will stop firing on all targets and its weapons state will
be set to Weapons Tight (Still engages in self defense)

Formation Editor
● Formation Name: Allows you to change the name of a
formation/group of units
● Formation Leader: Displays the name of the
formation leader
● Max Formation Speed: Displays the formations max
speed (based on slowest max speed of all units in
formation).
● Relative Positions: Allows you to have a formation
keep its shape based of either relative or world
orientation
● Circle Plot:
○ All red dots represent their respective unit,
and can be moved around by using left click
on the mouse and dragging.

17
 ○ The ranges displayed at each cardinal direction is the range in nautical miles.
○ The slider at the bottom can be moved to increase the scale (in nm) of the editor.

Flight Deck

To access the Flight Deck, click on any flight deck capable unit, and then either use the Right
Click Context menu or the Bottom Right Flight Deck Button. The UI displayed in the bottom
right, contains the following:
● Aircraft Capacity: Displays the number of aircraft assigned and the maximum aircraft
capacity for the selected vessel.
● Type: Displays the list of units you can launch from the selected flight deck capable unit
● Squadron: Displays the list of available squadrons of selected aircraft type
● Assigned: # of planes/helicopters to launch
○ TIP: Selecting more than one will assign launched units into formations
automatically. Maximum size of such formations is 4 units. (Additional units can
be added manually later)
● Loadout: Allows you to select the aircraft’s loadout
○ TIP: You can hover over any loadout to see what armaments are included within
it.
● Callsign: Assigns a callsign to the unit to be displayed on the tactical display
● Launch Button: Launches the aircraft with the selected type, # assigned, and with it’s
selected loadout
● Flight Operations Status: Displays the current state of all aircraft currently in the queue,
along with their status.
○ Multiple queued units can be canceled using the Abort Launch Button
TIP: Flight deck can also be accessed in the mission editor by using a flight deck capable unit.
This allows you to use historical groups right out of the carrier's capacity, which they will also
use as their homebase.

18
Systems

Damage Control

Damage Control (DC) UI can be pulled up by using the Right Click Context Menu on the
selected unit. Most DC actions are handled automatically, but can be manually controlled as
needed by using the +/- buttons located in each Compartment Column. Using the >>> buttons
prioritize systems The # of DC Teams you have is based on the tonnage of the unit. Depending
on the damage a module has acquired, various debuffs will be applied to it to reduce its
effectiveness as well.
● Automatic Control Priority (from highest to lowest)
○ Flooding Rate
○ Repair Fire
○ Repair Flooding
○ Repair Structure
○ Repair Systems
● There is also color used on text to indicate severity of damage.
○ White - Light
○ Yellow - Medium damage
○ Red - Heavy
○ Black - Module Destroyed
● Repaired Modules
○ Repaired modules will appear using the same color system above
○ However, gear icons will appear with an X mean the module cannot be repaired
past it’s current health

19
 ○ Note: Movement related modules like Engine, Propulsion, Rudders are always
repairable and will be restored to some basic functionality even if destroyed.
○ Gear Icons without an X can be repaired to one stage of damage higher
(Yellow->White)

Crew Skills

DC Teams are heavily affected by the Skill of the crew (which can be set in mission editor using
the Skill option (Green [Lowest skill level] to Ultra [Highest skill level]). Skill level affects the
following stats

Vessels: Aircraft:

Flooding Repair & Flooding Rate Fix Intercept Chance (Gun Accuracy)

Structural Repair (Hull Repair) Intercept Chance (Missile Accuracy)

Fire Severity Repair (Fire Fighting)

System Repair (Fixing Modules)

Target Motion Analysis (Quicker

Threat Detection)

Radar/RWR
Radar systems in Sea Power are quite powerful, and they are also the main tool you’ll be using
to be more aware of the threats you’ll encounter. However, radar has some serious limitations in
range, power, and use cases. For example, some radars are specifically used to guide
weapons, and are not capable of search functionality. Meanwhile, others can search, but not
guide weapons. A combination of radars on a ship is not uncommon during this time period. SP
uses simplified equations to model radar detection.
● Radar effectiveness depends on radar parameters such as Power and Gain. Higher
power output means a better chance a detecting threats further away
● Radar Cross Section (RCS) parameters of targets reduce detectability. Lower RCS ->
lower detectability.
● Radar height is the main limiting factor of all radars, given the game world is not flat and
we simulate Radar Horizon Range. This means that your radar can only see to where
the horizon is, which is why aerial radars seen on Hawkeye or other Aerial Early Warning
planes radar can see much further. The higher the radar, the further it can see.
● Tip: Some radars are so unique, they can be specifically detected and classified by both
you and the enemy!

20
RCS reduces when the aspect of target relative to a radar position reduces e.g. target heads
toward the radar are moving perpendicular to it. Fire control radars use the same principles to
guide missiles, acting as illuminators.

RWR
Radar Warning Receivers (RWR) are mounted to some aircraft, which will display a red cone
(see image below) in the direction of the radar signature that is detecting the aircraft. This
happens when a fire control radar is radiating in direction of your aircraft, not necessarily locked
on it.

Sonar
Sonar is one of the core systems used by submarines, as well as surface vessels to detect
surface and underwater targets. To turn on your active sonar, use the bottom bar EMCON
button or the Right Click Context menu. There are many types of Sonars, which includes…

● Equipment Based..
○ Hull mounted Sonar
■ Most ship/sub based sonars have some degree of passive and active
systems, or passive systems that can be switched to active mode.
○ Variable Depth Sonar (VDS)
■ Ship based
■ Variable Depth - Can be set to go below or above the layer
○ Sonar Buoy
■ Aircraft Deployed (Fixed Wing/Helicopter)
■ Transmits data only if friendly units are in comms range.
■ Tip: Using a helicopter, you can queue a preset drop of 9 sonar buoys
using Crtl+Right Click for a tight pattern (with weapon selected), or use
Alt+Right Click for a wider square pattern. 16 can also be dropped using
Crtl+Alt+Right click.
○ Dipping Sonar
■ Helicopter/Vessel Only (if equipped)
■ Active Mode Only (US Based) (RU has Passive when not active)

21
 ● Weapon Based
○ Active Sonar Homing Torpedoes - Uses active sonar pings to track a target
○ Passive Sonar Homing Torpedoes - Uses passive sonar emissions to track a
target
There are few other factors that will play into the detection of a submarine/vessel. This
includes..

● Environment Noise
○ Example: Rain will increase the overall noise
● Thermal Layer Depth
○ Sound is ‘curved/distorted’ when sound goes past the thermal layer
○ If a thermal layer is between the hunter (vessel) to hunted (submarine), this
increases the difficulty of tracking the submarine
● Emission/Noise of target
○ Passive Sonar Only
■ Noise of the target unit, which is usually based on Speed (Flow Noise) +
Base Noise
● Speed of ASW Unit
○ When using ship based sonar, the faster you go, the harder it is to hear
● Sensor Gain
○ Strength of Sonar system against target
● Target Reflection Strength
○ Active Sonar Only
■ If your sonar is side on to a submarine, it will be easier to get a stronger
reflection of noise

Magnetic Anomaly Detector (MAD)

Some fixed wing and helicopters have a MAD device. This is automatically deployed very close
to the surface from a moving unit (Min. Alt. for aircraft), which can detect submarines at a very
short range by flying directly over the target.

ESM (Electromagnetic Support Measures)

ESM is a tool that looks for radio based emissions, which can reveal information about the many
units you’ll encounter. Luckily, some radio emissions are broadcast at different frequency ranges
and are unique enough to be identified to the unit itself. ESM systems are found across many
units in Sea Power, with some of the stronger ones being located on vessels and submarines/
ESM systems will plot yellow ellipses down on your map to indicate the rough, estimated
bearing & location (see image).

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Track analysis using the ESM systems are handled automatically using the information panel
(TIP: which can be accessed by using left ctrl + right click -> information button).

This information process is automated, so this can be used to help you manually ID a unknown
track using the information the crew has gathered. Any text in this window that is green shows
you confirmed information. Over time, this list is filtered using the gathered info, and if enough
detail is discovered, the track can be classified/identified as hostile or otherwise.

Weapon Deployment/Usage

Ballistic Weapons
● Cannons
○ Many vessels are armed with multiple purpose cannons that fire High-Explosive
Variable-Time fuze shells for all targets
● CIWS
○ Generally smaller in caliber than the multi purpose cannons, and has roughly
three nautical miles of range. These guns focus primarily on defense against
aircraft that get a little too brave as well as targeting missiles.

Missile Systems
Missiles in Sea Power have many different uses, weather for Air-to-Air intercept, or
Surface-to-Surface usage. There are also many different types of seeker heads attached to
them, which can include..

● Active Radar
○ Mainly found on anti-ship missiles. Only anti-air missile in game with ARS is
AIM-54 Phoenix which uses it for terminal guidance.
○ Uses active radar to seek targets within its field of view
● Semi Active Radar
○ Used by both aircraft and surface vessels mainly as anti-air weapons.
Shipbourne SARH missiles usually can be used to attack surface targets as well
○ Radar beam from the firing platform illuminates target and missile homes to the
reflection of this beam from the target.

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 ● Radio Command Mid Course Correction
○ Usually used without a seeker unless it is a long-range anti-ship missile like
Shaddock. Mostly found at Soviet ship and land based surface-to-air missiles.
○ Guided by radio from the launching unit.
● Anti-Radiation Homing
○ Found on anti-radar missiles used by aircraft
○ Homes it on the strongest radar emission within its seeker’s field of view.
● Laser/Beam Homing
○ Found on guided bombs and short-range anti-ground missiles..
○ Requires laser illuminating target from launch platform or some other unit
● TV Homing
○ Mainly based on bombs and some anti-shipping missile systems.
○ Less Effective at night/inclement weather
● Infra Red
○ Mainly found at aircraft anti-air missiles, but some anti-ship missiles have it too
○ Homes at target’s heat emission so effective both night and day

Offensive and Defensive ECM

Offensive
Employed by aircraft exclusively, these weapons will reduce
the effective range of hostile radar systems. Just keep in mind
that the higher it is, the better! When the aircraft is selected,
you can click ‘offensive ECM’ and right click the target location
to jam the area (indicated with a cone).
Targets caught in the cone which have been classified will
indicate they are being jammed with a small, shining light
symbol (see image of ally Kirov, player units get a different symbol).
The same applies for if a hostile is targeting your ships with a
jamming pod. Weapon systems that employ Radar Fire Control
Directors will be affected by Offensive ECM, making it safer to
operate near hostile SAMs for example. Offensive jamming is a very
powerful tool and should always be used if possible. Tip: Jamming unit
reveals itself to enemy while using jammers!

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Defensive
Many newer models (relative to the timeframe of SP) of surface vessels and aircraft have
defensive jammers. When a missile system is targeting such a unit the defensive jammers will
automatically try to jam the weapon. If it’s successful, some extra deviation is applied to the
incoming threat.

Basic Controls

Unit Navigation
Basic unit navigation is generally handled in three different ways.

The first being to select a unit via left click, then right clicking on the tactical display to set a
waypoint. You can adjust your speed, alt. (for aircraft only), and Depth (submarines only) using
the bottom left of the bottom bar of the user interface by clicking the ‘spd/alt/depth’ section
accordingly.

Second, you enter into manual control by using WASD. W/S for setting speed, AD for turning left
or right. Rudder controls can be hit twice to do a maximum turn, while speed controls can be hit
more times.

Third, using the right click context menu on a selected unit to set speed and alt, paired with
either of the above options.

Using Weapons
Weapon controls are handled via the bottom bar by clicking on the weapon you wish to employ.
You can salvo fire using the bottom bar by holding CRTL for 2x missile launches, or using shift
for consecutive launches based on the # of clicks. Some weapons like Offensive jammers are a
toggle, and can be turned on by using the bottom bar and clicking in a location. Same for sonar
buoys (see here for more info). Something to keep in mind is the weapon range circles (see
here for more info). If you give an engagement order to a target within minimum range, your unit
will turn around and attempt to get out of the minimum range to fire on the target!

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Using formations
So there are a few ways to use formations in a mission. The first method is the Formation
Manager, which can use drag-and-drop functionality. The second option is to use the right click
context menu to create new formations, join them, or disband/leave formation. Lastly, you can
use keybinds like Shift (to join a formation) or Crtl (to make the already selected unit the leader
and recruit the clicked unit).

Additionally, formations are a great way to set entire groups of units to use different sensor
states (like setting them to weapons free) using the right-click context menu, formation button.

Formations of units will do their best to stay in formation from the location they joined at, but if it
needs to be changed, using the formation editor via the right click context menu will pull up a
special UI where you can move units around as needed.

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Left blank on purpose

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Troubleshooting

Where to find find User settings and Logs

User settings can be located in your computer's app data folder, and it will be titled usersettings.
Example Path:
C:\Users\[USER/PC NAME HERE]\AppData\LocalLow\Triassic Games\Sea Power

Inside of this path, you’ll also see a text document called player and player-prev. These log files
show the information from the last two game boots. Extra logging can be found inside the
game’s root folder. Using steam, you can right click Sea Power, Manage, Browse local files.
Once inside, you can click SeaPower Data and see the logs folders. More logs are stored here if
logging is enabled in user settings.

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Tactics

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