SUPPORT :: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q: What is Navy Training Exercise (NTE): Strike & Retrieve?

A: Navy's NTE: Strike & Retrieve is a hypothetical training scenario developed to challenge young people in their decision making ability, hand/eye coordination, and resource management skills in an exciting manner while providing them the opportunity to learn about the U.S. Navy and the kinds of opportunities and experiences that are available.

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Q: Why has the U.S. Navy created the game?

A: In an ongoing effort to educate young adults about the Navy, NTE: Strike & Retrieve provides a unique way for them to gain a sense of how their skills and abilities might assist them in a challenging situation. As part of the manner in which Navy communicates with today's youth, the Internet and this game provide the player with the chance to gain information about themselves as well as provide an opportunity to learn about the variety of career opportunities within the Navy.

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Q: Is this game a recruiting tool?

A: NTE: Strike & Retrieve was developed to complement an existing communications plan reaching both young adults and influencers. This game connects with and speaks to youth in a growing area of interest – video games. Not unlike a television or radio commercial, print ad or piece of direct mail, NTE: Strike & Retrieve was developed to inspire players to learn more about the U.S. Navy while learning something about themselves.

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Q: Should younger children be able to play NTE: Strike & Retrieve?

A: This game was developed to allow young people the chance to test themselves through a hypothetical first-person role-playing training exercise. It has been developed to receive a T (Teen) game rating, indicating the content is relative to a wide range of young adults – testing an individual approach to a unique challenge. Different choices can be made each time the game is played. These choices affect the players' overall performance and ability to navigate the fantastical environment. Each time the game is played, the player learns from previous choices and becomes more adept and skilled at the tasks that lay ahead.

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Q: What makes NTE: Strike & Retrieve different from other games?

A: NTE: Strike & Retrieve doesn't fit into one game genre. It has been designed to challenge players on a variety of levels, making it more than just a first person, role-playing game. With a blend of thinking, strategy, and action/adventure elements, NTE: Strike & Retrieve brings more to the player than do many games on the market.

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Q: What is game play in the game like?

A: From the start of the game, the players are challenged to make decisions affecting his/her ability to navigate an underwater environment and complete the "mission" at hand. Using an unmanned submersible (Navy Mechanical or Nmech), the players must retrieve sensitive information from a downed reconnaissance plane. How they choose to "build" their Nmech affects their ability to succeed in the mission. For example, if they choose to move quickly through the terrain, fuel management is an issue. If they choose to move slow and stealthily through the environment, the Nmech needs to be prepared to defend itself against Opposition Mechanicals (Omechs) that are searching for the same sensitive information. Each choice brings unique challenges and consequences that affect the outcome of the mission, and change with each new game play.

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Q: How accurate is the training in this game?

A: While NTE: Strike & Retrieve provides a level of "training," the game is designed to provide young adults with an idea of what types of decisions and what feelings of responsibility for those decisions may be encountered as a Sailor in the U.S. Navy. NTE: Strike & Retrieve is a hypothetical mission in an unreal undersea environment. While aspects of the game may be based on reality, the game is designed to provide young adults an interesting and fun way to challenge themselves and learn more about the U.S. Navy.

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Q: How graphic is the violence in this game?

A: Simply stated, graphic violence and/or language are not a part of NTE: Strike & Retrieve. While the game involves shooting to succeed in the mission, there is no gore depicted. When an Omech or deep-sea creature is destroyed, they merely break apart and disappear.

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Q: How are players disciplined when they break the rules of the game?

A: As a hypothetical training mission, and as part of the game, a "trainer" has been incorporated into NTE: Strike & Retrieve. This "trainer" who is "looking over the shoulder" of a recruit, will help guide players, rewarding them when successful, and playfully scolding them if they are wandering too slowly through the scenario, or making an attempt to play the game outside the built-in boundaries. Any comments are meant to be more humorous than critical and to add to the depiction of the game as a training exercise.

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Q: Will a Recruiter get my information if I play the game?

A: Quite simply, no. Recruiters will not have any information about the players unless players purposefully identify themselves and request information through the normal channels on the navy.com Web site.

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Q: Will the game put cookies on my computer?

A: It will not. Players' privacy is a primary objective of the Navy. While you are required to create a user name and password to play the game, neither an outside party nor the Navy utilizes any of this information. The game was created so players would be able to download the file from a hosting site onto their personal computer and play as long or as often as they wish. There is no online or multiplayer aspect of NTE: Strike & Retrieve beyond downloading the game one time to start playing.

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Q: If I want more information, how do I contact a Navy Recruiter?

A: There are a number of ways on navy.com for a player or any visitor to establish contact with a recruiter and/or request more information. More importantly, navy.com provides a great deal of information to help guide and direct a young adult through the decision making process of joining the U.S. Navy.

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Q: Will the Navy know whether or not I'm a good player?

A: No. While NTE: Strike & Retrieve provides players a recap of their game play statistics at the end of each play, these statistics are for the players to use in being able to better play and complete the hypothetical mission presented in NTE: Strike & Retrieve.

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