Valdez

## Description

_Valdez_ programmed in BASIC is a supertanker simulation. The goal objective
of Valdez is to navigate the helm of a supertanker from the North Pacific into
the port of Valdez Alaska. The journey is around 62 miles (100 km) from start
to finish. Many characteristics regarding the simulation are presented which
makes the simulation a very difficult challenge. A successful crossing of
Prince William Sound to Valdez which narrows down to .5 miles (900 m) and ends
by docking the ship with the floating unloading station at Prudhoe Bay
oilfields. The supertanker dimensions are length 980 ft (300 m) and a width or
beam of 167 ft (51 m).

As captain of the roughly 300,000 ton supertanker you must calculate and avoid
many things. Obstacles are other sailing vessels, supertankers downstream,
running aground, tides and icebergs that originate from the Columbia Glacier
that could be lurking in the water as well. The simulation was released circa
1979 and in some eerie way foretells of an actual real world environmental
disaster. That disaster would be the Exxon Valdez supertanker that ran aground
in Prince William Sound on March 24, 1989 ten years later.

Player controls are entered by command text prompts that effect the rudder and
two engines with navigation by instruments only using the Collision Avoidance
System (CAS) radar. The radar has several resolutions to aid in fine grain
control to avoid obstacles. The game has two modes open seas navigation or
full simulation. Open seas navigation allows navigation practice with no
coastline or islands but will still overlay vessels and icebergs. The other is
full simulation with all of the aforementioned challenges in place. The radar
map 256×256 is loaded into memory and can be recalled during as each turn
event unfolds while plotting your course.

Valdez