Battleline: Taiwan Defense

Organization:

Gronstedt Group

Dev Category:

Business or Non-Profit Organization

Release Year:

2025

Battleline: Taiwan Defense

TAKE COMMAND.

The flashpoint has ignited. China has launched a full-scale invasion of Taiwan, and you are on the front line of the response. Assume command of the USS Halsey Blake, a U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, in a desperate race to protect a vital carrier strike group from deadly Chinese submarines. Plot courses across a living 3-D Western Pacific, work passive and active sonar, unravel target-motion analysis, and decide if, when, and how to use your torpedoes—before the enemy slips a shot at the carrier.

This fast-paced, 3D shipboard simulation condenses the high-stakes cat-and-mouse of anti-submarine warfare into focused sessions playable in under an hour. Command decisions—speed, heading, sonar use, weapons release—determine the fate of your carrier strike group.

Game Overview

The game is designed as a “learning game” that transforms Navy readiness by embedding regular, focused practice into a Sailor’s routine. It teaches a blend of specific tactical skills and broader strategic concepts.

Core Tactical Skills Taught

The game provides hands-on practice in a realistic Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) scenario, allowing Sailors to build proficiency through repetition:

• The ASW Cycle: Players learn and practice the fundamental loop of ASW operations.
• Search: Using passive sonar to detect contacts, which provides only a bearing (direction), not a precise location.
• Localize: Using Target Motion Analysis (TMA) by maneuvering their own ship to gain multiple bearings over time, which resolves a target’s position, course, and speed.
• Engage: Once a target is localized, players can conceptually launch a torpedo to neutralize the threat.
Sensor Management and Risk Assessment: The game teaches the critical trade-offs of using different sensors. Players learn the tactical dilemma of using active sonar, which provides a quick and accurate location of a target but also reveals their own ship’s position to the enemy.
*Tactical Navigation: Players learn to set their ship’s course and speed while considering the tactical implications. For example, they are taught that deploying the towed array sonar requires a speed of less than 18 knots, forcing them to balance speed with sensor capability.

Strategic Concepts and Ideas Taught

Beyond hands-on skills, the wargame is designed to foster a deeper understanding of the operational context and improve decision-making:

• Operational & Strategic Context: The game frames every tactical action within a larger, compelling narrative. Simulated TV newscasts and briefings from the Carrier Strike Group Commander provide context about a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, helping players understand the “why” behind their mission.
• Multi-Role Perspective: The game exposes players to the information and decisions associated with different roles, from a sonar operator interpreting data to a strike-group commander viewing theater-level intelligence. This builds a more comprehensive understanding of integrated naval warfare.
• Mission-Oriented Objectives: An embedded instructor reinforces the idea that victory isn’t always about destruction. The game teaches that successfully protecting the Carrier Strike Group from attack is a primary measure of success, promoting a broader strategic mindset.

The player assumes command responsibilities aboard a U.S. Navy destroyer, the USS Halsey Blake. The core goal and challenge is to successfully escort a Carrier Strike Group (CSG) on its way to Okinawa amidst a full-scale invasion of Taiwan by China.

Key objectives and challenges include:

• Primary Mission Goal: The main objective is to protect the convoy from enemy submarines and deliver the Carrier Strike Group to Okinawa—a journey of about 1,230 nautical miles—intact. Success is explicitly defined as ensuring the safety of the 4,500 sailors in the strike group.

• Tactical Challenge: The player’s immediate job is to find and neutralize enemy submarine threats before they can find and attack the carrier group. The game emphasizes that victory isn’t just about sinking the enemy; if the player can keep the submarines away from the carrier group, they have already won.

• Operational Constraints: Players must achieve their goal while adhering to specific orders from command. For example, a key challenge is to plot a course that stays outside of China’s medium-range missile threat zone for the first 12 hours of the mission.

The primary audience is enlisted U.S. Navy Sailors, particularly junior personnel, but it is designed to be accessible and beneficial for officers as well.
A secondary audience for this unclassified public version of the game is the general public, with the goal of supporting recruitment and outreach efforts. The game is intended to be playable and understandable for players with no prior wargaming or Naval background.

The game assesses player performance through clear mission outcomes, continuous in-game narrative feedback, and a planned framework for detailed quantitative analytics and formal review:

Mission Outcomes (Pass/Fail)
The most fundamental assessment of player performance is the success or failure of the primary mission. The game has clear, binary win-lose conditions:
• Win Condition (Success): The player’s performance is assessed as successful if they successfully protect the Carrier Strike Group and deliver it to Okinawa intact.
• Lose Condition (Failure): Performance is assessed as a failure if the player’s actions lead to the catastrophic loss of the aircraft carrier, the USS Valiant, by either a submarine torpedo or a missile attack.

In-Game Narrative Assessment
The game provides a constant, qualitative assessment of the player’s actions and decisions through its narrative feedback systems.
• Dynamic Newscasts: Simulated TV news reports function as a real-time assessment of major events . A positive report on neutralizing an enemy submarine assesses a tactical decision as successful , while a negative report on the loss of the carrier definitively assesses a mission failure.
• Commander’s Debrief: Upon a successful mission, the player receives a final performance assessment from the in-game naval officer, who confirms “mission accomplished” and praises their command decisions, calling the operation a “statement” of capability.

Planned Quantitative Analytics and Formal Review
For a more detailed and data-driven assessment, a comprehensive analytics framework and a formal After-Action Review (AAR) are planned for future development.

Gameplay Features

TV-Style Newscasts & Naval Guidance
The mission begins with a breaking news broadcast framing the Taiwan crisis. Orders follow from your AI commander, who introduces key naval concepts in clear, tutorial-driven steps, making the game approachable for newcomers while still rewarding veterans.

Theater View
Zoom out for the big picture. Plot your carrier strike group’s course through contested waters on a strategic map. Stay outside missile range, anticipate enemy submarine movements, and plan your next moves carefully—every order has consequences.

Tactical View
Drop into the hunt. Operate sonar, switch between active pings to flush subs and passive tracking to stalk them quietly, then line up target motion analysis for a firing solution.

Helicopter Engagement
Climb into the MH-60R Seahawk to prosecute a contact in immersive 3D. Adjust bearings, close in, and launch your torpedo with precision timing.

Mission Goal
Deliver your carrier safely to Okinawa, navigating contested seas alive with threats. Outsmart rival commanders, control the battlespace, and strike only when the odds are yours.

Validation

Developed under a U.S. Navy SBIR (N242-087, Contract N00024-25-C-S004) in partnership with the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) and an active CRADA, Battleline: Taiwan Defense has been validated by students and faculty, including seasoned officers. Early testers praised its clear tutorials, “realistic and tactically sound” antisubmarine warfare tasks, immersive news-style briefings, intuitive analysis tools, and lifelike visuals.

Built with Sailors, for Sailors (and anyone who’s ever wanted to think like one), Battleline brings modern wargaming and AI-enabled coaching to the fleet—and beyond.

Battleline: Taiwan Defense

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