Reason to buy

[LuckyJim1006]

I am going to buy this game and here is why.

I have been looking for a strategic level WW2 game for ages that meets the criteria I require. Here’s what I want:

Hex based. This is a must. Regions might suit the ACW or the Napoleonic times but I always like to see Panzer units thrusting through the lines.

Division/Corp level units. I really do not see how anyone can be serious about a wargame on this scale where an anti-tank gun is a counter. Or Armoured units cannot attack with infantry units.

Simple Diplomacy ( Historical events would do for me, not bothered about counter factual stuff).

Straight foreword production/research

So this game looks like what I am after. A few caveats.

No Lend/Lease ! What is that about ?

Map looks awful from the screenshots. Will wait for the download to see what it looks like on my laptop. But this is only because we have been spoilt by other games I think. Someone mentioned the city names not being on screen – borrow the HPS idea and show them when shift is held down. I love that.

But here is the main reason why I will be giving my £20 up.

These people have a vision. And the commitment to do something about it. If it turns out like every other Matrix game we know, it will be patched, comments and complaints listened to, feedback given to us and 3 months from now we will be downloading v1.3 and writing in the forums why we preferred the ‘Action Point Cost for Armoured units in v1.21’

So I will be buy the game, not because I think it will be perfect, but because I am buying into the company, not just the download.

Chris.

[sabre100]

I agree as well this is why I just bought it. I do hope they fix the grapics on the Map, since Matrix is releasing this game maybe they can lend Mark S to the development team to redo the graphics of the map and make it more eye pleasing.

[alaric318]

greetings, agreed and second yours prevoious posts, i love all turn based world war 2 strategic level wargames, for me, having about much of them is as to have poetry books, you can have 100 poetry books but then allways every have different things to say, and my most liked feature is that the product page says that the game is easily moddable, still are playing the campaign scenario, like the scale on both units and map, but want to make at least one or two plays on the game before start to modding, i am sure some more people will be on his own way to make mods,

best regards,

murat30.

[rtamesis]

Perhaps the display of names of cities, etc. can be made an option in the preferences. For those who don't want them on the map, they can choose that option.

[Lucky1]

Oooooo. Very excited.
 
CoS was perhaps my favorite WWII strat EVER..... I would love to find a version that works with today's software etc. If this game is close, I will purchase for sure! I went to the developer's page, however, and there is very little info about game mechanics.... How do seazones work? Are they like CoS? Are the convoys abstracted like in CoS or are they Panzer General type naval units that one must attack as in Commander Europe at War? Is there unit supply a la CoS? It seems that units have movement points like in CoS - can one do a group attack and then an overrun if there are sufficient remaining points? How are resources modelled etc.? I am intrigued by the events and am curious what role they play in the game (CoS did not have these). Soooooo many questions. I would love a peek at the manual, I guess.
 
I will be grateful for whatever info is provided and will be monitoring this forum with great interest!
 
Sean

[comrade]

Seazones work like in CoS, convoys are abstracted but much more sophisticated algorithm is used for convoy execution and interception. Naval units are managed like in CoS - from naval screen, you can move them between seazones and ports. Supply rules are similar (units draw supply from cities, and cities draw supply from Main Supply Source city), you can create supply convoys if a city has no direct connection to MSS. General combat mechanics is almost identical to that from CoS - you can do a group attack and then 'overrun' with single units until you run out of AP.

As far as i remember CoS had resources. In WW2RtV resource hexes generate Production Points. Unlike the cities, resources always give 100% value to the country that controls the resource hex. In case of cities, you get 100% output only for originally controlled ones, cities from occupied and annexed territories generate much less production.

As for the events - if you played Hearts of Iron or other similar game from Paradox - it's almost exactly the same (in terms of technology it's even better because they have their own event syntax, and we are using XML files with all its benefits). An event is triggered for a given coutnry when certain conditions are met, and then you have one or more options to select from. Each option has some effects on the game. Events can also be used to script the AI behaviour. There are over 50 events in the game and certainly more will come with next patches. Events are very easily moddable: they are in xml format and xsd validation file is also included. With a good XML editor with xsd support and 'intellisense' feature, writing events can't be easier

[Lucky1]

Another quick question - is it possible to turn off or control the speed of AI moves  (i.e., do I have to watch them if I do not wish to)? GGAWD allows them to be turned off and this hastens the game immeasurably....

[comrade]

You can't switch off watching AI moves directly, but you can control the combat result display time. If you set it to 0 then you don't have to click after each combat during AI turn - this hastens the game.

Even without this, the AI 'thinks' very quickly and unit movement speed is also quick, so the AI turn on largest map won't usually last longer than 45-60 seconds. Actually, first impression of some people who tested the game was that during the AI turn everything was happening too quickly

[Lucky1]

Thanks for the quick responses. I will take the plunge and buy the game (even though I won't be able to play for the next six weeks or so!). Will provide my feedback as soon as I am able....

[Phatguy]

Hmm...looks very interesting...but I'm not sure yet. I only want to buy the dd w/box option from Matrix(esp. after my horrific experience trying to get MF running.never did.lost e-mail receipt..could not get refund) but it seems this one has no manual. I understand the financial part but somehow it seems to be holding me back no matter how interested I am.....