About This Content

Prepare to return to the definitive naval warfare simulation game, Rule the Waves 3, with the new Expanded Battles expansion! Take your love and knowledge of 20th century naval warfare from the exciting campaigns of the base game and get ready to craft and fight the naval battles of your dreams.

Have you ever wanted to see a Jutland-style battleship slugfest set in World War II? Have you ever wondered how the Japanese super battleship Yamato would fare against a navy from the early missile age? What would happen if a US armada fought the Italian navy for control of the Mediterranean? You can see what happens in all these scenarios and more with the Expanded Battles expansion.

For those looking for an easier entry point into the series or anyone looking to fight historical naval engagements from across 20th century naval history, this expansion brings a diverse range of premade historical scenarios for players to test their skills as admirals and learn the intricacies of the game’s tactical battles.  Also included is a ship editor that will allow for players to share their favorite ship designs with the community and a detailed scenario editor to craft and share any naval battle your mind can cook up. For those who prefer a short fight to a long campaign or just want to get right to the battle, the new Quick Battles system allows you to generate new battles from across the Rule the Waves 3 timeline, ranging from small skirmishes to full fleet battles and matching up balanced or unbalanced forces from very different periods.

Rule the Waves 3: Expanded Battles adds new content and gameplay options to an already packed singleplayer experience.

New Quick Battle System:

• Jump Straight Into Combat: Quickly set the parameters for your naval engagement and let the AI generate a suitable battle for you to jump in and play.

• Infinitely Repayable Battles: Players can expect to set their belligerent nations, edit the battle size and type, modify the weather, and so much more for an infinitely varied battle generator.

• Varied Technology and Year Parameters: Set the fleets to be of a similar technological level for a balanced skirmish or create hypothetical scenarios with wide gaps in naval technology.

• Flexible Fleet and Ship Editor: Design your ideal fleet for your battle from the smallest corvette and destroyer to the largest behemoth battleships and flattop carriers. Or leave it to the AI to design the fleet for you or do a mix of both.

• Fight Anywhere on the Globe: Choose anywhere on the globe to set your battle and see how the unique geography affects your battle.

Historical Scenarios to Test Your Mettle

• Rule the Waves 3: Expanded Battles brings with it 6 historical scenarios and 2 bonus hypothetical scenarios for players to test their naval combat skills:

  • Battle of the Yellow Sea (1904) – The Imperial Japanese Navy attempts to block the unification of Russian naval forces in the Far East during the Russo-Japanese War.

  • Battle of Dogger Bank (1915) – The British Navy gets wind of a major German naval raiding force composed of heavy battlecruisers and moves to intercept.

  • Battle of the Denmark Strait (1941) – The Royal Navy’s interception squadron, with the battlecruiser HMS Hood at the head, engages the Kriegsmarine’s battleship Bismarck as it attempts to raid Allied merchant shipping in the Atlantic.

  • Operation Rheinubung (1941) – A small Kriegsmarine task force comprised of the battleship Bismarck and its supporting cruiser, Prinz Eugen, attempts to slip through Royal Navy pickets and scouts and break into the Atlantic to menace supply efforts to the British Isles.

  • Operation Rheinubung Hypothetical (1941) – An expanded version of Operation Rheinubung that gives additional forces to the Kriegsmarine and the Royal Navy, including the operational battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau from based at Brest and additional elements of Force H coming up from Gibraltar.

  • Second Naval Battle of Guadalcanal (1942) – An Imperial Japanese Navy task force attempts to support efforts to eject the US from the important island of Guadalcanal, as the US Navy sends a force to reinforce their embattled troops. 

  • Battle of the Eastern Solomons (1942) – A US Carrier Naval Task Force moves to intercept a major Japanese reinforcement force heading for Guadalcanal.

  • Hypothetical Battle in the Mediterranean during the Cold War (1970) – a hypothetical naval engagement between Soviet and NATO navies vying for dominance in the Mediterranean.

Unleash Your Creativity With the New Scenario Editor and Ship Designer:

• Share Ship Designs with the Community: A new and improved ship designer that will let players easily save their ship designs and share them with the community to use in their own battles.

• Indulge in Your Creativity: Use the powerful scenario editor to create historical or hypothetical naval engagements from across 20th century naval history (1890-1970).

• Program Forces to Your Liking: Layout waypoints and multiple paths for the AI opponent to take, ensuring that scenarios will never play out the same way twice.

• Build Out Your Pool of Aircraft: Input aircraft data for any historical (or fictional) aircraft of your choice to use in your scenario creations.

• Share Your Scenario Creations: Share your historical or fictional scenarios with the community.

• Set Your Preferred Technology: Flexibly control the technology of your ships in either the ship editor or scenario editor to suit your design vision.

• Customize Scenario Details to Your Heart’s Content: Set the doctrine of each side, modify their experience and ammunition types, and so much more.