_____ _
                           |  ___| |          _
                           | |__ | | ___  ___| |_
                           |  __|| |/ _ \/ _ \  _|
                           | |   | |  __/  __/ |_
                           |_|   |_|\___|\___|\__|
          ____                                           _
         / ___|                                         | |
        | |     ___  _ __ ___  _ __ ___   __ _ _ __   __| | ___ _ __
        | |    / _ \| '_ ` _ \| '_ ` _ \ / _` | '_ \ / _` |/ _ \ '__|
        | |___| (_) | | | | | | | | | | | (_| | | | | (_| |  __/ |
         \____|\___/|_| |_| |_|_| |_| |_|\__,_|_| |_|\__,_|\___|_|

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Introduction

Welcome to another guide of mine. This FAQ covers the Famicom game Fleet Commander. Fleet Commander wasn't much of something to be excited about back in 1988. I mean, it was the first game of its type - a naval war simulator - on the Famicom, and it even did spawn a few similar games, including its sequel on the MSX. But, even so, it's not a particularly exciting game, nothing that would make any headlines beyond being the first of its kind. And, frankly, I don't like war sims. >_> <_< In any case, Fleet Commander is an attempt at simulating a particular mid-Pacific Ocean battle that took place between the U.S. and Japan during World War II, and you take the role of Japan in attempting to defeat the United States. A bit of an interesting spin ... but I'm more concerned about which battle it is. Anyhow.

It's been over twenty-five years since this game's launch in 1988 by the ASCII Corporation. And since then, not a single FAQ has been written for it. Well, there's always a first time for everything, no? Ever since the start of the NES FAQ Completion Project on GameFAQs some years ago - a project designed to get a guide out for every single NES game out there - many people have now been helped because older, rarer, less popular games have gotten guides. So many games, in fact, that all of the North American games have been covered, as have the European games, leaving only those that are homebrews and mostly those released in Japan and the Koreas.

And so, that is how I came upon this game. Thanks for listening to my ramblin'; hope you enjoy!

Basics of the Game

Game Controls

Button	Effects
D-Pad	Move cursors.
A Button	Confirm decisions; bring up the action menu.
B Button	Cancel decisions; exit menus.
Select Button	None.
Start Button	None.

Game Start-Up

Starting up the game is pretty simple. At the title screen, there will be two options: Start (which begins a new game), and Turbo File. Turbo File relies on the use of the external Turbo File item that would normally come with the game (alongside a variety of other ASCII games); it essentially serves as a memory card/memory stick does for most of the modern PlayStation consoles, which is to store the save files from this game and several others that are compatible. In any case, if you lack a Turbo File, you'll need to play this game in a single sitting or use other means to save.

Gameplay Overview

Note that, due to the nature of the game emulating a WWII battle between the U.S. and Japan, the names Proton and Algon refer to you and the enemy, respectively. Given the translation I received, I opted to simply use the U.S. and Japan for those (you/Proton and enemy/Algon, respectively) references. (Said translation is available through http://www.romhacking.net/) I have translated much of the important info here, however, meaning that those with a decent memory won't really need to bother downloading the patch.

With every turn that you get, you will arrive at a screen that will show the current tactical map (センジュツMAPモード). There, the blue marks will be your ships, planes, and (on the southern shore) cities. As you get closer to the enemy, you will begin to see red icons marking their own units. Thus, you (Japan) are in blue, and the enemy (the United States) are in red. Enemy units are only shown when you're within a certain range of them, so be sure to keep that in mind; until then, they could be pretty much anywhere significantly north of you.

You can select any of your 11 ships (カンカン) and 7 airplanes (コウワウキ) to move. Any unit can be moved once per turn, and you can move as many or as few as you would like. You can look in more detail at their stats in the Ship Analyses and Plane Analyses sections. To choose which to move, press the A Button and the game will focus on that particular unit in the field. Press the A Button again to get three options: to move (イドウ), to view the ship's information (デーヌ) (which is ably covered in the analyses sections), and to simply look around within the range of the ship's own movements (サワテキ).

Generally, you'll want to move every one of your units, but that's of your own decision. Ships and planes can be moved within any range of their starting position, as determined by their Speed (and Fuel as applicable). The higher-Speed units will be able to move farther in a single move. If a unit has Fuel, then they can move as far as their Speed dictates, until their Fuel hits zero. If a submarine's/plane's fuel empties, the unit will be dead before the start of the next day. Simply having a plane or sub stay in a single place will still consume some fuel as well, so it would be wise to either save your planes or regularly return them to the aircraft carriers for refueling. Also note that planes can obviously fly over land, while ships cannot; they must stick to the water.

Once you have made all of the moves you wish to make, simply choose "END". The U.S. (the AI) will take any turns they wish to, and then it loops back to you. That will conlude the day, and you will see the overall forces and economies (ケイザイチ) of each side. Both sides begin with the same forces and units, and with the same economies. (Economy refers to the total cost value of all active units on each side. Imagine it as a measurement of each side's overall health or power.) The only unit whose cost is not analyzed in the Analyses sections of this FAQ is the one you can't, since they can't be maneuvered: the cities, which have costs equivalent to 175. You can then opt to continue the game or save on the Turbo File.

It will be several such turns (or days) before any combat begins. Combat seems to begin automatically begin when, at the end of a movement of a unit, two units are within range of each other (or one is within another's Weapon Range). During the automatically-controlled battle, you'll see a brief cutscene of what it's like. You'll also see the units' Defense (which is essentially their health; when it hits zero, the unit dies), their Power (against that particular unit), and their Accuracy. If a unit dies in the battle, then they will be gone for the remainder of the game.

Ending

The ending condition of the game is simple enough. As far as the game's RAM itself is concerned, depleting the U.S.'s economy to zero (two-bytes @ 0x002F and 0x0030) will suffice. For those who don't cheat or the like, it means eliminating all of the enemy units. Should you win the game, you will have the following text appear (once translated):

Interesting, as it tries to posit that the Japanese won World War II, if you understand the background to the game. =P Of course, the game, again, uses Proton for your side.

Following that, eventually, the game's credits will scroll; once it stops, press the Start Button to return to the title screen.

A General Strategy

Just to be clear, dear reader, that this is simply a generalized strategy. Like any tactical game - even the more complex ones like Final Fantasy Tactics, Pokemon Conquest, or Project X Zone, among others - the enemies' movements are randomized to an extent. You can attempt to use your own logic to predict what they'll do, but never will the enemy always make the exact same movements. Thus, I give a generalized strategy for how to win this battle. There are a number of strategies that could work, of course, but none will work every single time due to the chaotic nature of the enemies' movements. This is simply the one I used to win the game.

When battle begins, I tend to move all of my units due north for the first two days. The planes themselves won't be moved, simply the ships - since there's nothing even remotely in range, there is no point in wasting time over stuff like that.

It should be within a few days that you approach the island in the center of the map. That island has no real purpose to the battle beyond preventing seacraft from moving in that territory (although aircraft freely can). I recommend splitting your force equally in two at that point - one battleship, one destroyer, one sub, and one aircraft carrier per side, with the remainder (which are harder to divide) going wherever you feel necessary. It would be a good idea to send out a plane or two before the ships move as scouts along the edges of the map and the island, to see where the enemy units are more allocated; that way, you could send these spare units (or even more, if the forces are clearly uneven) to the more-fortified side.

From there, it's mostly all-out war on each side, due to the close range everyone is in. There is one fact you can use to your advantage somewhat: there is a certain range around each unit that another unit cannot enter - kinda sad, too, since I wanted to try some of the kamikaze strategies the Japanese used in WWII. You can use this to set up a wall and inhibit enemy movements. It doesn't have to a straight wall, just enough to inhibit the movements of most of the enemies - remember, since you essentially sent out all of your units, your cities will be undefended should a ship slip by. (Planes usually won't survive, though, due to lack of fuel.)

This wall, and the planes associated with it, are probably best focused on targeting a single ship at a time. If it's plenty clear that the enemy has yet to sent out any airplanes (or they have docked when you begin this strategy), immediately obliterating any aircraft carriers (the analogs to your Akagi, Kaga, and Souryu ships) should be the first plan of action. (In fact, it may be a strategy you favor nonetheless, since obliterating the carriers means death for the planes in several turns, seeing as they may not be able to get to another carrier in time to refuel!) If you don't want to bother with that, the most powerful ships in general are the battleships and the destroyers (the analogs to your Yamato/Nagato and Fubuki/Sagiri, respectively), so targeting them is good way to help further your life.

Mostly, this method of walling and picking off the units one by one was able to suffice. As one of the sides of the conflict gets finished, assuming the sides were almost equal, there's almost no point in sending them to the other side as they will probably get there when the conflict is done with. It would be better to just send them off further north to destroy the cities. Your Bomber planes (AB-991 and KB-992) are particularly effective at this, moreso than any other unit, with battleships coming just behind. It shouldn't be hard to pick off the few remaining cities and ships with this strategy.

Ship Analyses

There are 11 ships in all. There's nothing special about most of them. However, all aircraft-carrying units will carry some of the airplanes aboard them. Additionally, the normal Submarines use some O2 (common oxygen) to go underwater for a time, although they can only last two turns in that state. The Torpedo-Subs will use gas as they go along, similar to the airplanes, rendering them dead if they run out (the gauge is shown on the Info screen).

Next, just some quick stat translations and abbreviations for you:

• Speed (ンワド) - This dictates how far you can move across the map. About 500 Speed would get you from end-to-end on the map in a single move. Thus, dividing what number you're given by 500 will give you the approximate percentage of the map you can travel through in a single movement. Keep in mind that this range is within a circle around your plane, too.

• Weapon Range (W. Range) (シャテイ) - This affects the range of your attacks, or in other words the range in which you can attack other aircraft and ships. It works like your Speed in that regard; divide this by 500 for the approximate percentage of the map you could attack across from your plane. Another way to look at it is to divide it by your Speed to see what percentage of the distance in which you move is your attack range. But, essentially, the higher the better. =P

• Accuracy (Acc.) (メイチュウリシ) - Accuracy determines the hitting rate of each unit: the lower the accuracy, the less likely its attacks are to hit. From what I can tell, this is meant to be measured as a percentage (i.e. the Yamato has an Accuracy of 60%). Most of the units in the game have Accuracies between 40% ~ 60%, which does leave a lot of this game up to a bit of luck since it essentially means about 1 in every 2 attacks will hit.

• Durability (Dur.) (タイキュウリョワ) - The higher this is, the more hits that the unit can withstand.

• Cost (ゲイザイカチ) - This is kinda-sorta irrelevant. However, this contributes to the "economy" (sort of like the overall health or power) of your side, as seen at the end of your turns. Everyone starts with an economy of 7,000, and it goes down as units are destroyed.

BASIC SHIP DATA
Ship Name	Class	Speed	W. Range	Acc.	Acc. %	Dur.	Cost
Yamato	Battleship (センカン)	50	60	60	120	550
Nagato	Battleship (センカン)	60	55	55	100	540
Fubuki	Destroyer (ワチワカン)	90	40	50	70	500
Sagiri	Destroyer (ワチワカン)	80	45	50	65	490
T-16	Submarine (センスイカン)	60	45	60	50	480
Yuugao	Torpedo-Sub (ギョライテイ)	110	45	60	20	400
Akagi	Large Aircraft Carrier (オオガタワウボ)	50	50	50	75	510
Kaga	Small Aircraft Carrier (オオガタワウボ)	60	50	50	70	500
Souryu	Transport Craft (コガタワウボ)	70	50	50	60	480
Sirane	Recon Ship (コンウセン)	30	50	50	30	500
Isuzu	Recon Ship (コンウセン)	30	50	50	30	500

AIRCRAFT CARRIED
Aircraft Carrier	Planes Aboard
Akagi	AB-991, AA-971, AF-021
Kaga	KB-992, KA-972, KF-022
Souryu	SA-TE1

+A POWER AGAINST OTHER UNITS
Ship Name	Battleship	Destroyer	Air. Carrier	Sm. Air. Carrier	Subm.	Sm. Attack Craft	Transp. Craft	Aircraft	Cities
Yamato	45	45	30	30	30	10	25	25	120
Nagato	40	40	30	30	25	10	20	20	120
Fubuki	30	25	25	25	40	10	20	15	100
Sagiri	25	25	25	25	35	10	20	20	100
T-16	35	30	25	25	10	5	20	5	0
Yuugao	25	20	25	25	10	10	30	15	0
Akagi	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	30	20
Kaga	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	30	20
Souryu	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	25	20
Sirane	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	0
Isuzu	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	0

Plane Analyses

There are 7 airplanes total. Each are initially carried aboard one of the aircraft carriers. Additionally, each plane has a limited amount of fuel it can gold (as noted by both the gauge in the Info screen and by the number than will be noted as you choose destinations): at the end of turns where it is empty, the planes will just crash and burn. You can refuel them by landing on aircraft carriers (the Akagi, Kaga, and Souryu ships).

Next, just some quick stat translations and abbreviations for you:

• Speed (ンワド) - This dictates how far you can move across the map. About 500 Speed would get you from end-to-end on the map in a single move. Thus, dividing what number you're given by 500 will give you the approximate percentage of the map you can travel through in a single movement. Keep in mind that this range is within a circle around your plane, too.

• Weapon Range (W. Range) (シャテイ) - This affects the range of your attacks, or in other words the range in which you can attack other aircraft and ships. It works like your Speed in that regard; divide this by 500 for the approximate percentage of the map you could attack across from your plane. Another way to look at it is to divide it by your Speed to see what percentage of the distance in which you move is your attack range. But, essentially, the higher the better. =P

• Accuracy (Acc.) (メイチュウリシ) - Accuracy determines the hitting rate of each unit: the lower the accuracy, the less likely its attacks are to hit. From what I can tell, this is meant to be measured as a percentage (i.e. the Yamato has an Accuracy of 60%). Most of the units in the game have Accuracies between 40% ~ 60%, which does leave a lot of this game up to a bit of luck since it essentially means about 1 in every 2 attacks will hit.

• Durability (Dur.) (タイキュウリョワ) - The higher this is, the more hits that the unit can withstand.

• Cost (ゲイザイカチ) - This is kinda-sorta irrelevant. However, this contributes to the "economy" (sort of like the overall health or power) of your side, as seen at the end of your turns. Everyone starts with an economy of 7,000, and it goes down as units are destroyed.

BASIC PLANE DATA
Plane Name	Plane Class	Fuel	Speed	W. Range	Acc.	Dur.	Cost	Initially Aboard
AF-021	Dogfighter (セントウキ)	220	245	55	60	40	100	Akagi
AA-971	Torpedo-Plane (コウゲキキ)	230	170	45	50	50	100	Akagi
AB-991	Bomber (バワゲキキ)	230	180	45	50	40	150	Akagi
KF-022	Dogfighter (セントウキ)	220	250	55	70	40	100	Kaga
KA-972	Torpedo-Plane (コウゲキキ)	230	170	45	55	50	100	Kaga
KB-992	Bomber (バワゲキキ)	230	180	45	55	40	150	Kaga
SA-TE1	Torpedo-Plane (コウゲキキ)	220	240	45	55	50	150	Souryu

+A POWER AGAINST OTHER UNITS
Plane Name	Battleship	Destroyer	Air. Carrier	Sm. Air. Carrier	Subm.	Sm. Attack Craft	Transp. Craft	Aircraft	Cities
AF-021	5	5	10	10	5	10	5	40	50
AA-971	35	40	30	30	15	10	10	5	200
AB-991	20	30	35	35	20	15	15	5	250
KF-022	5	5	10	10	5	10	5	40	50
KA-972	35	40	30	30	15	10	10	5	200
KB-992	20	30	35	35	20	15	15	5	250
SA-TE1	35	40	35	35	15	15	15	5	230

Credits

In no particular order...

• GameFAQs, Neoseeker, and Supercheats:
  • For being the most amazing FAQ-hosting sites I know.

• CJayC, SBAllen, and Devin Morgan:
  • General sucking up to the GameFAQs admins. =P

• MrRichard999:
  • The English translation.

• Me (KeyBlade999):
  • For making this FAQ. =P

• You, the reader:
  • For hopefully enjoying this FAQ.

Version History

• Final:
  • First, and probably only, version.
  • Time: 11:58 PM 6/20/2014.

Legalities

This FAQ may not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright.

All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders.

© 2014 Daniel Chaviers (a.k.a. KeyBlade999).

If you would wish to contact me concerning this or my other FAQs, use this e-mail: keyblade999.faqs@gmail.com, or PM (Private Message) me on the GameFAQs message boards.

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