How to play

Controls

Pitch: the propeller’s blade angle, your throttle. Hold Shift for fine steps.

• FSteering mode. FU: the rudder goes to the angle you set. NFU: it moves while you hold the key.
• MControl mode (Twin, VecTwin): linked, split or independent levers and rudders.
• NQPitch to zero, rudder to midships, in one press each.

Reading the console

• SPDSPEED: knots ahead or astern. Under 1 kn near the dock is plenty.
• ↑BOW and STERN: sideways speed, TOWARD or OFF the fenders, against the landing limit.
• ●White is fine. Amber is a hard landing. Red: you’re about to buy a fender.
• ◇Hollow marker = your order. Solid needle = what the boat is actually doing. They lag.
• kNLine tiles: the load in kN (kilonewtons), the current order, and PAYING OUT when the brake slips.

Making room

• \FULL, COMPACT or MINIMAL console. Pressing it turns AUTO off.
• AUTOAUTO view: MINIMAL over 150 m out, COMPACT at 60–150 m, FULL inside 60 m or on a line.
• %Bottom strip or Settings: VIEW, AUTO, size 65–100 %, opacity 25–100 %, MUSIC on or off. MINIMAL keeps a small handle.
• VShift+VV: AUTO, FOLLOW, BERTH, AREA. Shift+V focus: AUTO, BOW, STERN, WHOLE UNIT, BERTH. Framed above the console.
• []HomeZoom on the focus. Wheel zooms to the cursor, right-drag pans: FREE camera. Home goes back. U: underwater.

Lines and the deck crew

• EASYEasy: the crew heaves lines in and slacks a line that fights you.
• MEDMedium: you call it. Hold H to heave, L lets go the line that’s fighting you.
• HARDHard and Mastery: manual winches. Pick 1, 2 or 3, then the order.
• LKLET GO: released after 3 s. SLACK: pays out 2 m, then holds.
• HBHEAVE: pulls in until it stalls at 120 kN. HOLD: back to normal.

The three tugs

• SIMSIMPLE: one lever, one rudder. Forgiving. Learn the boat here.
• TWNTWIN SCREW: two engines. Split the levers and she spins on the spot.
• VECVECTWIN: one prop, two rudders on a joystick. HOVER holds her, ASTERN backs her down, STERN TO walks the stern.

Tiers

• T1Easy: You handle the boat: engine, rudder, bow thruster. The deck crew handles the lines.
• T2Medium: steady wind, and you call the lines. Hold H to heave, L to let go. The crew picks the winch. Hints only if you stall.
• T3Hard: gusts, full manual winches (pick the line, then the order), no hints, and damage counts.
• T4Mastery: The weather might kill you. Empty barge: she'll catch every gust. No bow thruster.

Time speed

• .,Faster and slower: 1x, 2x, 4x. Same boat, same score, just less waiting.
• 4x4x in open water only: over 60 m from everything, no lines on.
• 2x2x near the dock or on the lines, while nothing is due to touch within 20 s.
• 1xBack to 1x on contact, an alarm, a line paying out or the crew securing. The reason shows.
• ⏱The stern’s final landing always plays at 1x. That’s the bit worth watching.

Practice, replays and proof runs

• DRLPractice: open water, spin in place, walk sideways, stop from 3 kn, spring-line swing-in. No score.
• RECEvery run is saved: the last 20 plus any you pin. Export or import a file.
• Space124Watching: pause and speed. ← → jump between phases.
• ✓Proof runs: built-in clean Mastery runs. Watch one from the Twin Screw’s Mastery briefing.

Top 5 mistakes

• 1Coming in hot. Take the way off 100 m out, not 10 m out.
• 2Grabbing the line while she’s still swinging. The crew says no: steady her first.
• 3Forgetting to start the thruster. T, wait for READY: the lever is locked while it starts.
• 4Stern blowing off after the bow line. Keep a touch ahead, rudder away from the quay.
• 5A line PAYING OUT. Ease the engine, or SLACK it before it drags.