This post has been sent previosly to the general forum because it is for general cat sailing, but, as the most popular cat class using Tacticat today is the HC-16, I've repeated it here... (sorry for the inconvenience)

This is to announce the restricted availability of Tacticat, an internet simulator for tactical training intended for race catamarans. Tacticat has been created and tested by cat sailors that race often and supported by ADECAT (the Spanish sailing catamaran association, www.adecat.com ).

Tacticat is in fact a multi-user game where sailors meet, race, and learn. A big effort has been made to re-create the conditions of an around-the-buoys race, trying to face the users with the same tactical questions they would normally find in reality (which plan for the start, tack now or wait?, take the risk and what if wind changes?, boat-to-boat tactics, etc).

Tacticat makes all user boats equally tuned and equally handled by automated skippers. Think you are the coach radio-linked to a skipper champion who strictly follows your commands…

It is restricted because it has not been tested in countries other than Spain, where the application was created.

Any of you interested to give it a try?, please go to www.tacticat.com, and take a look to the Read-me-first, the FAQ and the user’s manual (yes, this doc nobody reads).
Sailing requires to be registered in the web site. Registering is, of course, free but requires a valid e-mail address to activate the account. Anyone not willing to give a valid e-mail may contact me (tacticat-at-adecat.com) and I will setup an account for him.

I expect to conduct a little beta-test (to validate, for instance, that US keyboards are working as we expect(!)) and proceed to a general availability announcement here and in other forums/discussion boards.
I would be most interested to meet in the regattas and give a hand to the new users. All current Tacticat sailors are helpful and typically use skype to chat while sailing or use the messaging system built in Tacticat. Just remember that you are not handling a boat, you are just giving orders to the skipper… (for instance when you want the boat to tack, you just havr to give the order TACK, you would never ask Up!, Up!, Up,…, followed by off!, off!, off!).

Tacticat is a java application. The published version is a ‘lite’ version, with NO USAGE of user system resources and running in a Java sand-box. The standard application, accessed by Spanish Sailors, requires use of microphone and requires user’s grants that, for the moment, are not reasonable to ask to the general public.

Support and not general questions can be e-mailed directly to tacticat-at-adecat.com (change the at by @).

- - - - -
All suggestions are welcome,
Amando Estela,
Tacticat chief-programmer and the one to blame for the errors (but don’t blame me if you are beaten by the robots, they are dumb but they are many, and a little faster).
HC-16 #108034


Follows the text of the announcement
* * * *
Tacticat (www.tacticat.com)
You are the tactician for a sport cat that is skippered by a world champion
You give orders, the skipper complies.
You say tack, he tacks (perfectly), you say UP! and he goes more to the wind (and maybe to finish into irons). Bad commands make your boat finish after others...

You are at home, having a beer?, and make your boat and crew sail a couple of legs in half an hour.
You sail against other boats, controlled by your friends or other sailors around the world.

This is Tacticat, well this is what it tries to be.

Tacticat is played in Internet. Allows anyone with a computer and an Internet connection to sail against
others (or against robots) in a racing course. You have to make decisions at pre-start, tack choice, boat-to-boat tactics..., you have to take advantage of wind shifts, wind blanketing, and sailing rules.

Unlike other very good programs Tacticat:
- has no handling, trimming or tuning commands, its emphasis is in de decision-making.
- has NO RUDDER control. You say UP or OFF, the skipper receives the order and complies.
- has no nice landscapes or scenarios or boat representations.
The idea is to provide a system that is easy to learn (5 keys alone), that is funny and realistic. We have given up to provide real sailing sensations and restrict it to a tactician or coach view.

Boat dynamics are based in a couple of polar sets (one for speed, another for acceleration). Those polars are referred to a spinnaker-less 16-feet cat in perfect water conditions.

Tacticat was born in February 2006. It has been extensively played by the Spanish racing community. Every day. It seems natural to open it to other sailors world-wide.

You want to play?
- A standard computer will make it. The only requirement is to have a new version of Java (Version 1.5). You can download it from many places, www.sun.com or www.java.com seem the safest/best.

- You need an Internet connection. With not a lot of bandwidth but a good response time with Tacticat server. The server is located in USA, and players, today, are Europeans. It seems that American players will have better feeling than Europeans(!).

- Read the read-me first section if you don't have the time to read the user's manual

- The entry site, documentation and a forum can be found at http://www.tacticat.com . Limited support at tacticat-AT-adecat.com (-AT- = @)




Cautions:
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- There is no serious support for regatta organization. Be patient and do not reset or stop a regatta when there are others sailing.

- The program is not (yet) perfect. We are trying to make it better.

- As any other Internet based game there is not strong authentication or security embedded in the program. All messages among sailors are registered.

- Tacticat runs at user computers in a sand-box (as any other web application), that meaning that the program has NO RIGHT to access the user files or other resources. It is based in Sun Java Web Start technology and 'should' be completely risk-free for the users. Anyway, the decision to sail is always the user's responsibility.

- Sailors Tacticat-sailing are always willing to help newbie sailors. Unfortunately it is not sure that they speak good English... Be patient , again.

- Tacticat can be addictive. Careful, young people.


Legal aspects:
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- Tacticat is served AS IS.

- Tacticat use is free. There are no near-future plans to change this.

- Copy rights, commercial rights, etc... are reserved.

- The non-commercial use of Tacticat is and always will be reserved for the promotion of cat sailing thru ADECAT, the Spanish catamaran sailing association (www.adecat.com)