Could never beat this game years ago. Let's start a walkthrough of tips for the missions:

General Tips: 1- The quick reference guide does not show a shortcut to give wingman orders. The only way that I figured to do it is to hit "3" to bring up the wingman screen and then hit the "paper" icon to change their orders. 2- You may want to backup your .sav files. You die a lot in this game by trial and error and once you run out of money, I think death is permanent.

North Atlantic - M1: Watch out for 3 of the ground targets as soon as you start the mission, they are easy to miss. Once you get to waypoint 3, you will see 3 more. There is an enemy attack sub. Take them out first, then take out the 3 ground targets.

North Atlantic - M2: Don't bother going to waypoint 3, as soon as you see the facility veer off for the attack. Switch to rockets for the mines. I find it easier to take the mines out before the subs, but either order is fine. Go about 30-40 speed and line up shots for the mines. One rocket each. As long as they are close enough the mines will blow. Take out the two enemy subs with rockets or torps. Give your wingman "Special Orders" and they will dock with the facility and plant the charges. Once they dock, and enemy attack sub will show up unexpected. Watch out for them and destroy them immediately. Once you take them out, back off from the facility and wait for the timer to finish.

North Atlantic - M3: Before starting the mission, make sure to add extra torps to your ship. It has the capacity to hold many more. You will encounter one enemy on your way. You should be able to take it out with your torps. You will encounter a second enemy when you get near the U-boat. If you do not have enough torps, order your wingman to take it out. I then turned on my active radar and completed the mission when I go near one of the debris. Not sure if I had to do that last part or what. It did not look like a U-boat.

This is as far as I have gotten at the moment. Will post more as I complete missions. If you are farther than me or have a better tactic, feel free to post and I will add to the walkthrough.

Update: I am currently stuck on mission 4. As soon as you give "Special Orders" instructions to your wingman, 2 subs show up and launch everything they have on your wingman instantly. One time I saved my wingman, but did not have enough torps to finish off the facility.... ARGH......

Top post!
I didn't pick up on the 3 subs right at the start on NA #1.

Update: NA #3 - I've gone through the mission time and time again, destroyed the subs encountered on the way (used wingman to assist in attack) and located the U-Boat.

However, what ever I try the mission never seems to finish.
I've put sonar to active - located all the pieces of debris, used the options to identify the 3 debris locations etc.
Tried destroying the debris, carrying on to waypoint 5... nada....

Nothing I seem to do manages to force a mission completed.

Am I missing anything? I've even tried getting the wingman to perform engage contact (debris). I've completely stuck as I can't think of anything else to try.

Help :)

Hi,
i'm pretty sure there are more than 3 debris locations. I used a lot of active sonar in this mission, had to fight to enemy subs because of that.

I found a site that has a brief walkthrough of the missions:
http://dlh.net/cheats_4682g.html

hmmm.. I have been stuck on the next mission so long (have replayed it about 20x now) that I forget if I did anything strange here. I think I went to the debris that were to the left of the last nav and got really close. Maybe leave active radar on through the entire mission? (enemies are not too hard in this one) and get close to each pile of debris?

I hope you can beat it, because I need help with the next mission!! :-)

Thanks Guys!
I'm going to widen the search and see if there's more than 3 debris locations (this must be why the mission doesn't complete).

I've rated your posts as a small thanks!

[Update] - There are indeed 4 debris to be looked at / active radar. Finally I can move on to the next mission!

Thanks man, I did actually complete this game way back then on the Amiga. I couldn't even remember the controls now though hehe.

I remember cheats that allowed you to play the next mission or the previous one or resurrect a dead pilot.

You type "up periscope" at the command center screen to enable cheat mode.

Then one of the following keys to activate the corresponding cheat function.

Key
Previous mission [Left Bracket]
Next mission [Right Bracket]
Resurrect dead pilot =


I wonder if this still functions?

It appears all those links have died by now.

What I have found seems to be some text extracted from the strategy guide by Michael Powell himself:

http://www.mogelpower.de/cheats/loesung.php?id=7241

It doesn't say much about that North Atlantic mission 4 that you haven't already figured out.

Anyway: as you've said, as soon as you give the "Special orders" to your wingman, two enemy subs magically appear in the area. They actually materialise out of thin air in the top thermal layer, at about 300ft, so I thought to get ahead of them. I dive deep down to the complex with my wingman, tell him to "remain in position", go back up, issue "special orders" and blast the enemy subs as they arrive, right?

Wrong. It works against the first sub, but as I hit the second one, the damage magically reflects upon my wingman, which by the way couldn't possibly be hit as it was still at the bottom of the ocean, several thermal layers beneath and impossible to even detect, let alone fire at. Still, while I'm hitting the enemy sub - without it managing to even fire a torpedo - I get those "75% functionality" and "25% functionality" messages, and as the enemy sub is destroyed so is my wingman and the mission fails. Just like that. Tried it several times over.

How did I win it? With more script glitches of course: I destroy one enemy sub, then dive back down. By then the wingman has told me "Main dome clear", so I just destroy the main dome (I had armed my sub with rockets only and could hold 47 of them), without caring about the other structures. Although the mission briefing instructed to destroy each section in sequence, I still magically get the "Mission accomplished" message.

My conclusions? Besides glitchy scripts* the game doesn't really do a good job at telling the player what each mission really expects from us. Take the South China Seas campaign for example: the "do not fire unless fired upon" directive is a joke. You don't see the end of some missions unless you clear the area of any hostiles, even if they haven't spotted you.

(*) Thank you Particle Systems for the terrific job with scripting. They will actually manage to do an even worse job at that with Independence War.

(Sorry in advance if I hijack the thread)

I am currently playing Subwar 2050 these days, or at least I try...

Yet I don't have the gog version, but the original complete european (french) CD Box.

I got stuck in North Atlantic − Mission 2, and after many many tries, I decided to see if there's any documented walkthrough or video on YT on the matter.
I find interesting that the youtuber Space Game Junkie who made a little Let's play here played the gog version, and the screen image displayed for the North Atlantic campaign isn't the same used in the version I own. (See image attached)

Anyway, sadly the youtuber failed the first mission (I can't blame him) and decided to try another campaign, so sadly I didn't find answers to Mission 2.

−−−

So, back to where I got stuck: I think I understand the mission.
There's a complex, protected by mines and two subs. The subs are a Typhoon and a Hurricane. There's no problem getting rid of mines with rockets, and the Typhoon too.

But... each time I destroy the Hurricane (whether I get rid of it first, or right after the mines, or after the mines and the Typhoon), I got a warning that the Transport is going to be destroyed and a very few seconds after, I got "MISSION FAILED".
Everytime.
Even if I told the Transpot to stand by awaiting orders far away from the complex, or not that far, or upside the thermal layer above the complex...

Did I miss something?

Does this happen in the gog version?

−−−

Edit: typos, link error and better image attached.

Here is my ancient post before the GOG version came out. I have not played the game in years, but I remember that I could not beat the 2nd mission on my CD copy and beat it right away with the GOG version.

https://www.gog.com/forum/general_archive/anyone_else_play_subwar_2050_need_help

For anyone having trouble with North Atlantic - Mission 4 - The extraction.

I have and it's been a complete pain to complete. I've been running at 12000 cycles in dosbox, I mention this in case it affects weapon/wingman performance. Had to go through this mission 20+ times before I got this.

I generally went with 6 torpedoes, 3 decoys and as many rockets as could be carried, although 6 torpedoes may be overkill. Set your wingman to have 3 torpedoes.

Head to waypoint 1 then onto waypoint 2, where you should find the base.

Taking it slowly destroy the 2 mines above the base, you can remain above the thermal layer.

Pinging with active sonar will bring your wingman over to your position.

Now for the tricky bit, set the wingman to special orders to begin the base infiltration. Immediately 2 hostile subs appear, as soon as you have these contacts, change your wingman's orders to attack one of the contacts. Then you need to select the other and fire off about 3/4 torps in quick succession, hopefully killing one sub whilst your wingman kills the other. You may also need to help your wingman finish off the 2nd sub.

Once both hostiles are gone, set your wingman to special orders again. Once both domes have been cleared use your rockets to destroy the big dome with the light on top (this is the one that actually looks like a dome).

The second 'dome' looks more like a tunnel but again has the light on top, again destroy with rockets and should get the mission accomplished message.

The 'domes' are the structures with the lights on top although that isn't made clear and makes this mission a complete pain. I am so glad this mission is done.

After a bit of digging around there seem to be 3 versions of Subwar 2050 and the version you are running may affect how successful you are using this walkthrough.

Original 5 Disk version / CD re-release
This version doesn't have the autopilot and doesn't seem to have the swload.sav file which seems to store the custom weapon loadout. The sw.exe file seems to be from 1993. Although the CD re-release has the 'plot deepens' scenario included it isn't installed by default.

CD re-release with plot deepens scenario installed
Running the scenario install, updates the sw.exe to version from 1994. Autopilot is available and the swload.sav file is added.

Subwar 2050 complete
This version is a multi language version with french and german versions, it has the autopilot and custom weapon loadout, however the install only creates config files and saves on the hard disk whilst most of the game files remain on the cd, it uses a later version of sw.exe.


The reason this matters is that the later versions seem to make the mission scripting a lot less flakey. I couldn't get past mission 4, after setting my wingman to attack targets, trying to issue the special orders again would no longer work and sometimes they would disappear off never to be seen again. Running the CD re-release with the scenario installed updated the sw.exe file to the 1994 version and fixed this issue.

I don't have the gog version but I assume it's one of the later versions as a previous post couldn't get past NA mission 2 with his old copy but could with the gog version.

If you're running the original version then I think you'll need to install the v2.02 patch which should still be available to update sw.exe.

North Atlantic - Mission 5 - Shooting Mother
Load up on torpedoes for yourself and your wingman.
Ignore the waypoints and tell your wingman to attack the sub further away on the left whilst you deal with the nearest sub on the right. I don't think you have to destroy these subs, just distract them long enough for the explosive drone to reach it's target.
This one get a bit chaotic as soon as the torps are launched.

North Atlantic - Mission 6 - Miner Forty-Niner
Load up with 4-6 torpedoes, 3 decoys and as many rockets as you can carry. I normally just load up the wingman with 3 decoys and rockets.
Head to waypoint 1 then onto waypoint 2.
Change your heading to 000 (North) and accelerate forward, hit the first sub with rockets.
Then there should be 2 more subs, send your wingman after 1 while you deal with the other one with torpedoes and rockets.

North Atlantic - Mission 7 - Routine Patrol
Lots of torpedoes or rockets, whatever you're happy with.
Switch to active sonar. Run through waypoints 1, 2 and 3.
Should get a message about the carrier so get to waypoint 4 asap. There should be 2 subs, give your wingman 1 and destroy the other yourself.

North Atlantic - Mission 8 - The Net
Load up with as many rockets as possible, I had 46.
Each installation will take 6 rockets at close range, so get as close as possible and you'll need 36, so things get tight.
The 1st installation is unguarded.
The 2nd/3rd are guarded by torpedo mines, but it may be worth ignoring them and just take the hit and destroy the installations.
The 4th/5th are guarded by a sub, I tended to hit the sub with 3 rockets, quickly destroy the installation then run.
The final installation I positioned myself behind the sub with the installation between us, hit the installation and ran.

North Atlantic - Mission 9 - Raid the Titanic
Take 4 torps, lots of rockets and 3 decoys, give your wingman lots of rockets and 3 decoys.
This one is tough, active sonar, accelerate at top speed on a bearing of 079 and get below the thermal layer.
You'll see 3 subs, send your wingman after the middle one towing the nuke.

Fire 2/3 torps at the Hurricane on the left to get it on the defensive and give you some time, switch to and kill the right most sub (Typhoon I think) with rockets.

Alternatively get up close to the Hurricane and hit it with 3/4 torps to destroy it although it means you have to be quick in killing the Typhoon

Then you'll need to assess you may need to help your wingman or if he's destroyed the target already, get him to go after the Hurricane or finish it off yourself or together with your wingman.

Sometimes the nuke towing sub will still be around so kill it off first, before engaging the Hurricane

Time is really really short on this mission, the middle and right subs head straight for your base at speed.

This is a quick revision to my previous posts. It's subjective but it feels like the GOG version is the definitive version and as such is the preferred version to use. The mission scripting feels less flakey and the weapon effectiveness may have tweaked to be slightly better.

North Atlantic - Mission 2 - Power Station
This mission seems to suffer from some flakey scripting issues.
Load up with 3/4 torpedoes, 3 decoys and lots of rockets. Give your wingman a 3rd torpedo.
Head to waypoint 1, 2 and 3. At waypoint 3 reduce power to 15/20 and head towards the nearest mine. Destroy 4 mines using rockets the first in front, the one to the left of it and two to the right. This should move the front enemy sub, a Hurricane into a better position to attack.

ALWAYS attack the Hurricane first, failing to do so will cause a weird scripting error where destroying the Hurricane later, always leads to your wingman being destroyed.

Once the Hurricane is destroyed, manoeuvre to the Typhoon enemy sub and destroy it with rockets.

If at this point your wingman is still alive, you're in a good place.

Destroy the last 2 mines with rockets.
Move to the north side of the base and switch to active sonar.
Issue special orders to your wingman, charges will be planted and a countdown begins.
Issue further orders to get them back into formation.

A third enemy sub turns up, engage with torpedoes.

At this point you probably have enough time to engage and get your wingman to engage the enemy sub as well, once destroyed leave the area at full speed.

I ended up doing something different, after firing off the torpedoes and running until I came to a cliff and the countdown ended. My wingman caught up and an enemy sub appeared shortly after giving chase. Ordered the wingman to attack and finished it off with rockets. Once destroyed the mission ended.