No "PAUSE" function? Really?
 

I've watched numerous gameplay videos for Cold Waters and was on the verge of buying the game when, during a campaign, one of the streaming players noted "They need a Pause button in this game". I downloaded the Reference Guide and, sure enough, there is no "Pause" function shown. While I can't say I've played every PC game ever put on the market, I've played a lot of them and I've never seen a single player vs AI game that didn't have a Pause function. While I suppose there a few people in this world who are glued to their monitors and keyboards 24/7, most of us have to go to the john periodically, need to get a drink or bite to eat ever once in a while, need to respond to a phone call or text every now and again and/or, heaven forbid, even communicate with other human beings during the course of a game. Am I, and other folks, missing something here? While Cold Waters seems to be a very good game, as far as I'm concerned, if there's no way to pause the game, that's a deal breaker.

The escape button essentially functions as a pause button.

Escape?
 

Since the "Esc" button is show to be Cancel or Quit, does it take you out of the assigned mission you're working on?

Not without confirmation.

ESC button pauses the game...

Thanks for the info. Guess I'll give it a try.

A lot of this "pause rage" at least from what I saw in one particular review, had to do with the fact that it prevents instant switching from screen to screen while paused and basically denies the player from being able to set up attacks and other various things.

The justification here is that its not realistic to expect the player to be able to do all these different roles at the same time. Honestly I think that's just part of the challenge of playing the game and such a pause feature could well be looked on as an exploit or a cheat.

As far as people being sour that you actually need to "click off" the screen one it appears (you can't just press esc. again to resume the game) I look on that as more of a fail-safe than anything else.

So, exactly what happens when you use the Esc button as a Pause?

Game freezes and a menu appears with choices, some infos and the status of mission. If you want to continue (unpause) the mission you select "Back" (low, left).

Shift+F1 also pauses the game (and brings up the help menus)

As to the people complaining about not being able to pause to set up attacks, it's not like Dangerous Waters or other more complicated games where setting up attacks is more detailed. It's literally selecting a few weapon behaviors (shallow, deep, search pattern), which you should have plenty of time to do as you're maneuvering to set up a shot. Then it's just Space > RClick.

In a recent update: "space" pauses the strategic map.
Needs to be added to the documentation.

Well, does "Space" pause the game? I have been using the "ESC" key for bathroom, phone, etc. breaks.

?

it does when you're not in battle / on the map screen.

hmm, I have not considered whether I am in battle or not, but I know that I have used the ESC with enemy in my area. I have not come back and found myself dead... Another thing is that I still only play single mission, but I doubt there would be a difference between campaign and single mode.