Beta Tester for: War in the East 1 & 2, WarPlan & WarPlan Pacific, Valor & Victory, Flashpoint Campaigns: Sudden Storm, Computer War In Europe 2 SPWW2 & SPMBT scenario creator Tester for WDS games
Unfortunately, I've been awol from 2D wargames for a while and hence missed this survey. While it may be a bit unfair or even unwanted for me to add points afterwards, I feel the urge to talk about a few points:
1. The strong focus on 1985s is a bit disappointing and should also be considered biased. It is simply most well known phase of 'the' fictional Cold War and I think people tend to wish for what they know (best example is WW 2 Normandy). And simply because 90% of the CWGH games are already about 1985 and later, I think Campaign Series should stay true to its roots and give us the complete range from late 1950s to the late 1980s.
2. Absoltuely agree to the modular DLC strategy. If it helps you to finance yourself, maybe even hire some more people for a project to develop some scenarios, I am all for it. I would absolutely love to have more than that old Fulda Gap in a Cold War wargame. What about the Baltics? Angola? Rhodesia? Yugoslavia? And yes, I know there is already an African Mod in development for Middle East but the possibilites are basically endless since it's all fictional to begin with. What about a Communist Mexico attacking the US? What about China chiming into all this?
3. I think the point whether CS Cold War should be released only when Eastern and German Units are included as well is an absolute non-point. Release the game when ready and release more content when it's ready! Why should I have to wait because other people don't want to play the game without German units in them? Especially when I know that they will be added at some point anyways?
4. I stronly want to underline the point about sound effects: the sound effects in the Campaign Series are more akin to a 80s television show than to a wargame. And the lack of proper ambient sound is killing a lot of immersion as well. All of this could be solved by modding, and I even tried to do so, but modding the sounds is way to limited to do it in a satisfying manner. (E.g. the ambient sound changing to a new track whenever starting a new turn, disrupting it, or the very complicated way to add a specific sound to a specific unit).
5. I always thought that it would be a very nice touch for a 2D wargame for late-Cold War tech if at night the visible hexes were tinted in green to simulate night vision.
6. All 2D wargames of the scale of the CS games have horrible air support. (Maybe Decisive Campaigns: Ardennes Offensives is an exception here.) And it only gets worse when those games explore the modern era. Maybe the Campaign Series could spark some innovation here? (e.g. precision of airstrikes, the damage and disruption caused by airstrikes etc.)
7. Lastly, the survey mentioned that some players would like to have a better supply system, and I wholeheartedly agree on that! Again with the exception of DC: Ardennes Offensive, 2D wargames of this scale do a very bad job at simulating supplies and the importance of keeping the ways clear and safe for supply. While the Campaign Series have always punished you for not using your unit's supplies sparsely, the logic behind it was very simplistic. And while CS Vietnam made huge leaps towards actually showing the struggle of forwarding supply, I still think there is room for improvement and streamlining. Again, I want to point to DC: Ardennes Offensive and even Order of Battle. Both games have a simplified, yet very efficient and easy to read supply system which - once you've understood it - really influences your decisions.
That being said, the Campaign Series cut one day in more turns than the games mentioned above which is why implementing supply in those proven ways might not work very well.
In regards to the supply system, it would be super hand for someone to explain how those other systems work. At least that will give me ideas for how to script supply options like I have been doing for Vietnam.
I don't have time to dive into other games, unfortunately, all my time is spent building the new games.
Jason Petho wrote: Thu Feb 27, 2025 11:20 pm
In regards to the supply system, it would be super hand for someone to explain how those other systems work. At least that will give me ideas for how to script supply options like I have been doing for Vietnam.
I don't have time to dive into other games, unfortunately, all my time is spent building the new games.
I will keep that in mind and try to make you a summary in the next weeks.
