D-CATR Naval

Pronounced like "Decatur" (dee'-KAY-der) for no particular reason

D-CATR (Dave's Computer Assist Tactical Rules) is the umbrella name I use for all the computer-assist wargame rules I've worked on various projects dating back as far as 1992. The various programs share a lot of sections of code, so I use the term D-CATR to describe the shared libraries of Windows and DOS programming code I've developed over the years.

D-CATR Naval is the naval miniatures version, written in Visual Basic 6.0. It's the Windows replacement of the old Shipbase series, with newer and better ship data. So far it works reasonably well for surface games but doesn't include anything for air or subs.

I may actually get back to this project sometime in the next few years and write the database editor and scenario builder programs, which are the main things missing now that keep D-CATR Naval from being a usable system.

The three files are all zipped archives: the main game file zip is 523K, the Visual Basic core files are 2,093K, and the source code is 166K. Includes program, ship data files, scenario files, but no documentation.

• D-CATR Naval Main Game Files
• D-CATR Naval Core VB Files
• D-CATR Naval Source Code:
• Yalu 1894 scenario

• D-CATR Naval at Fall In, Gettysburg PA, November 2001

• Ship Information screens
• Gunnery Combat screens
• Torpedo Combat screens
• Utility screens

• It's a computer-assist set of naval miniature rules, latest in the Shipbase series. Eventually I hope for it to cover 1860 to 1945, at the moment it only covers about 1885 to 1945.
• It's freeware. You can download the whole thing from this web site. I'm doing it strictly for fun.
• It's an "open" project, kinda like Linux. If you can program in Visual Basic 6, feel free to fiddle around with it, and even use bits and pieces for your own programming projects.
• Currently there's no Air or Search system. I hope to add it sometime in the future.
• This is strictly a volunteer operation, and I have several other major projects that are higher on my project list. I can only work on this project when I have extra time, so it'll get done when it gets done.
• If there is enough interest out there in D-CATR Naval, I can start a new section in the Irvania.com discussion forum devoted to this project. If there's a lot of interest, I can start a new mailing list and host it here on Irvania.com. (There used to be a Yahoogroup for this project in 1999 or so.)
• Have fun with it!