PILLARS OF HERCULES

OVERVIEW

You are the captain of an attack submarine. Your mission: hunt and destroy enemy submarines using passive sonar and wire-guided torpedoes. The ocean is dark and unforgiving—sound is your only window into the battlefield.

DISPLAYS

Sonar (Left Panel)

A top-down view centered on your submarine. Sonar pulses every 8 seconds, revealing contact positions based on the noise they generate.

• Clarity Zone (300m) - Contacts inside this range show actual positions (ACT)
• Range Rings - Distance markers radiating from your position
• Uncertainty Clouds - Larger, dimmer blobs indicate less precise position data

Tactical View (Right Panel)

A 3D perspective of the battlefield. Drag to rotate, scroll to zoom. You can shift the clarity zone forward or backward to extend visibility in one direction at the expense of the other.

• Orange wireframe - Ocean floor terrain
• Yellow markers - Your torpedoes and trails (stealth torpedoes are grey)
• Red markers - Enemy torpedoes (snapshot from last sonar pulse)
• Contact spheres - Enemy submarines with uncertainty rings

NAVIGATION

Helm controls flank the sonar display.

• Heading - Adjust bearing with +/- buttons (1° or 10° increments)
• Depth - Adjust target depth with +/- buttons (1m or 10m increments)
• Throttle - Drag the handle or click a speed label

Throttle Settings

Boost

BOOST provides a 30-second speed surge at the cost of revealing your position. 5-minute cooldown.

Depth & Speed

Speed decreases linearly with depth. At the surface you can reach 32 knots; at the 800m floor, only 8 knots. Deeper water is quieter but slower—use depth strategically.

WEAPONS

Firing Torpedoes

1. Select a tube - Click tubes 1-4 or press 1-4. Ready tubes glow green.
2. Set target - Click on the sonar display, click a contact, or enter coordinates manually. Use the depth slider for vertical targeting.
3. Fire - Press Space or click FIRE.

Press Esc to cancel targeting.

Torpedo Types

Click the type label on each tube to cycle through available ordnance:

Wire Guidance

All torpedoes except Needle remain connected by guidance wire after launch, allowing mid-flight corrections.

• GUIDE - Enter redirect mode. Click a new target position, then confirm.
• DET - Remote detonate (damages anything in blast radius).
• ABN - Abandon torpedo (cuts wire, torpedo drifts).

The TORPEDOES panel shows all active torpedoes with wire status and controls.

DETECTION

Sonar pulses every 8 seconds. Detection accuracy depends on target noise level.

Noise Sources

• Speed - Faster movement generates more noise
• Maneuvering - Turning creates a 5-second noise spike
• Depth changes - Ascending/descending creates a 2-second spike
• Firing - Launching torpedoes creates a 20-second noise spike
• Depth - Shallow water is noisier; deep water is quieter

Contact Quality

Contacts within the 300m clarity zone show actual positions (ACT). Beyond that, positions are estimated (EST) with uncertainty clouds. Contacts fade 8 seconds after the target goes silent or is destroyed.

ENVIRONMENT

Arena

The battlefield is a 2400m × 2400m square, 800m deep. A high-pressure zone extends beyond the arena boundary—lingering there deals 5% hull damage every 30 seconds.

Terrain

The ocean floor varies in depth. Your depth display shows current depth and local floor depth. Mind the terrain when setting torpedo target depths.

COMBAT

Submarines have 100 hull points. Torpedo damage varies by type.

• Destruction - When your hull reaches zero, a countdown begins before you can respawn. Wait time varies based on lobby population.
• Respawn - Deploy at a new location with 30 seconds of invulnerability (cyan hull). Tubes are locked during this period.
• Invulnerability fade - Your hull transitions from cyan to green over the last 5 seconds as protection ends.
• Collision - Two submarines colliding destroys both instantly.

The CONTACTS panel tracks cumulative damage dealt to each target. Damage resets when a target respawns.

COUNTERMEASURES

Chaff

Deploy a chaff decoy that drifts from your position, creating a false sonar signature. Homing torpedoes will lock onto chaff instead of you. 5-minute cooldown.

KEYBOARD

PLOT SCRIPTING

The PLOT tab provides waypoint-based route planning for your submarine or wire-guided torpedoes.

Commands

Example

# Circular patrol at 150m depth
circle 0 0 150 80 8
loop
run

Comments start with #. Arithmetic is supported: goto 100+50 0 150*2

TACTICS

• Lead your targets—torpedoes take time to reach their destination.
• Use wire guidance to correct course between sonar pulses.
• Heavy torpedoes excel against confirmed (ACT) positions.
• Needles are one-shot killers but require precision—save them for solid contacts.
• Stealth torpedoes are invisible to enemy sonar—ideal for ambushes.
• Homing torpedoes reveal your position. Use them to flush enemies from cover.
• Go deep to run silent; stay shallow for speed.