Potential newbie

[RevRick]

ORIGINAL: Terminus

And one that I somehow find the reason to use continually in this place. Wonder why?

Hmmm. Reminds me of my son in the "terrible twos".[:D]

[CaptDave]

Richard, one other thing you should understand. You may have figured this out from other threads, but just in case...

The first turn is likely to take you far longer than any other. In the full campaign, some players report taking as many as 12 to 15 hours on the first turn! Things are much simplified after that, however, and turns will be in the 15 to 60 minute range (depending on how much you need to accomplish on a given turn).

[Shark7]

ORIGINAL: RSGodfrey

WitP has long intrigued me, but reading reports I was deterred by the time investment (planning to submit my PhD Thesis this year).

Can you advise if WitP:AE will have the flexibility to play with a reduced time investment?

I know that this may be an anathema to the grogs. out there, but some of us have a life!

Richard

A life? What's that?

On a serious note, you can still play at a reduced pace by spending as little as an hour per night on it. Just remember that at that rate you are going to spend the first week and a half issuing orders for the first turn. Don't let that deter you though as the first turn is by far the worst, and generally after that you can issue all your orders in less than an hour on the subsequent turns...

First turn is the worst because you are setting up your entire warplan for the first time....that is you are setting all objectives for all command areas in one shot, as well as your convoys and moving around air groups, ships and troops. After that you will rarely have to make big preparations for more than 1 command area at a time. In fact some turns I have literally gotten some turns done in 5 minutes due to being in the middle of operations and not having to make many changes...the theory of 'if what you are doing is working, then keep doing it' applies.

[devoncop]

Hi all,

Well just like the instigator of this OP I have finally decided to take the plunge having got hooked on the area of operations having read several excellent books on the subject recently.

I am of the opinion that you get out of a game what you (and the designers) put in and so have decided, after reading many of the forum contributions to go the whole hog with the AE edition.The recent decision to make it a standalone title has also helped and the fact there is a substantial manual!

I have taken on and enjoyed HOI2 and OAW but realise this is a new level.I may well be back with some questions so thanks in advance for any answers!

I did consider trying UV or WPO first but I would only be playing as a means to an end and for the minimum time necessary to feel I had some of the mechanisms of the engine understood and that would not be fair on either myself or the game.

I am posting to feedback to Matrix that newbies will still be attracted to this epic work and the commitment shown by forum members and designers alike has certainly contributed to my decision.

Anyway, roll on release day!

Best wishes all

Ian

[bradfordkay]

This game is rewarding enough that if you play only one turn every two or three days you will enjoy it immensely. I know that I have tried to maintain an average of one turn a day and my PBEM with ChezDaJez is slightly ahead of that pace (usually faster in the winter and slower in the summer).

Just devote what time you can to it. If you are playing against the AI, it will always be there waiting for you. If you advertise for a slow paced PBEM, you might be lucky enough to find an opponent who understands and will likewise wait...

welcome to the madhouse!

[jjax]

At first I was terrified of the first turn. However, if you break it into several play sessions it is not that bad really.

After the first turn, other turns take a lot less time (if you call a half hour to a hour less time !).

Personally, i can't find find time every day to play WITP. But WITPers are right when they say it is the perfect game to drop for a couple of days and then come back to. But if you do not play every day, you may want to let potential PBEMers know that[;)].

[emorbius44]

WitP has long intrigued me, but reading reports I was deterred by the time investment (planning to submit my PhD Thesis this year).

Can you advise if WitP:AE will have the flexibility to play with a reduced time investment?

I know that this may be an anathema to the grogs. out there, but some of us have a life!

Richard

In a way your very question contradicts itself. You've picked the most massive and complex computer wargame ever developed and are asking can it be played in a reasonable amount of time. My answer would be how patient are you? I've been playing WITP by e-mail with my long time war game e-mail partner (since around 1992) and we started our game about a week or two after it came out. We used to play 5-6 turns a week but because of constraints on our time we're doing maybe 2 a week the last year or so. Nevertheless we just chug along and are up to April 1944. In my view it's not so much the end result as the process of playing it out so how fast we get there isn't as important as just playing the game and enjoying it. If you can enjoy the game that way you should be fine, if you can't go for something like SSG's Carriers at War which can be resolved in a few hours.

Bob

[charlesmc]

Potential newbie here as well. I bought UV last summer, but just could not get into it. The tutorial, well, let's just say I didn't have a firm grasp of what to do after going through the tutorial which seemed to only discuss things at a high level...not like exactly what commands, clicks to issue.

I hear from the pricing post that beginners may want to start with plain-old WITP rather than jumping in with AE. However, I'm concerned that the community will really be moving to AE and perhaps there may be a smaller pool for WITP in the future and/or my interests will turn to AE as well. Not to mention all the bug fixes, etc. in AE.

Therefore, I've come to the conclusion that I should just jump in with AE and accept the steeper curve.

[DivePac88]

ORIGINAL: charlesmc

Potential newbie here as well. I bought UV last summer, but just could not get into it. The tutorial, well, let's just say I didn't have a firm grasp of what to do after going through the tutorial which seemed to only discuss things at a high level...not like exactly what commands, clicks to issue.

I hear from the pricing post that beginners may want to start with plain-old WITP rather than jumping in with AE. However, I'm concerned that the community will really be moving to AE and perhaps there may be a smaller pool for WITP in the future and/or my interests will turn to AE as well. Not to mention all the bug fixes, etc. in AE.

Therefore, I've come to the conclusion that I should just jump in with AE and accept the steeper curve.

Welcome charlesmc to WitP, think you doing it the hard way, but admire your spirit.

First thing is read the manual a few times, and then start with a small scenario. Also any questions or you get stuck, just post here for answers.

[Barb]

charlesmc: You should try the shortest scenario in the game: Coral Sea - just to get the feeling on how to set things to do what you want them to do. play several times for both sides. then switch for something bigger...

[chesmart]

Charlesmc or u can do what i did play the grand campaign against the ai as your first game and get your ass kicked a few times.(With a hard copy of the manual on my lap). U will get the hang of it when u start planning offensives when u are in some boring meeting.

[Kwik E Mart]

ORIGINAL: che200

Charlesmc or u can do what i did play the grand campaign against the ai as your first game and get your ass kicked a few times.(With a hard copy of the manual on my lap). U will get the hang of it when u start planning offensives when u are in some boring meeting.

two posters from Malta? that place must be getting crowded... [;)]

[rahamundo]

I was going to start a new thread but saw this one asked a similar question to what I had as a 'potential newbie'....but let me ask it a little different. I was able to enjoy other complicated games (monster games in the old board game days) from Matrix like Forge of Freedom and Crown of Glory because they allowed the player to lessen the micro-management but turning over a variety of tasks to the AI.....is there a similar ability in this game. This one has always intrigued me but in reading some of the forums it sounds a daunting. Thanks. Ray

[Barb]

well you have:
Auto sub ops on/off
you could use Continuous Supply convoys
you could use Auto supply
you could switch whole areas to computer

- the last two are not really advisable because witp AI is ... well I cant find the polite version of the word ... [:D]

[kirk23_MatrixForum]

well I know it's not as bad as Empires in Arms AI [:D]

[AttuWatcher]

Hey Newbies! (I am one too) you might want to take a peek at this thread I started a little while ago: tm.asp?m=2162671

Let me just say that living in the forums for the last month or so has taught me a huge amount about WITP/AE and I feel quite ready to dive right into a scenario on day one...probably Guad as Allies.
Thinking about doing a small AAR/progress report on my first run if anyone thinks that might help them, I know it would be helpful to me if experianced players offered some critiques on it.

[rroberson]

Guys...if you have any interest in the Pacific War then this game is for you.  Yes the campaign game is long but nothing stops you from playing the AI and multiple turns a day (I certainly have done that during my breaks from PBEM) or even multi day turns if you are looking to complete this in a year or two.  I work in football and am insanely busy during the season but I always manage to work in turns (even when PBEMing).  This game has remained on my hard drive in one form or another (various mods) since the day I got the fed ex package from Xargun. 

Just put down the money and buy it...it will be cents per hour by the time you put it down.

[kfmiller41]

If i might add to what rroberson said, I am playing 4 games right now (which is definitely not for most people) and can tell you that I mostly enjoy just the sheer challenge of it and the joy when things you plan work out and the agony when they don't. Any wargamer who enjoyed boardgames and the pacific theater will like this game once you learn it. Is it easy, nope, but it is learnable and once you get hooked it is very hard to not want to play it. Well worth the money IMHO, I have been playing it since it came out and it has never been off my hard drive.

[CaptDave]

Charlesmc,

Obviously I know nothing about the AE tutorial, but I did go through the WitP tutorial when I first got the game. No tutorial is perfect, but this one did cover almost everything well enough for me to give it a cursory go-through and then jump into a scenario. As far as I could tell, the only facet of the basic game that was missing was submarine operations; they were not included in the tutorial scenario at all. Of course, the advanced topics like production weren't there, either, but that's to be expected in a tutorial.

[ny59giants]

I did the tutorial with WITP as the Allies and then started one against the AI as the Allies. It is easier to learn the game mechanics as the Allies, IMO. Recently, I started 2 PBEM games as Japan, but benefited from being able to use Tracker (a nice utility) to help manage the Japanese economy. Except for computer problems, this is the only WW II game I have installed on my computer. The others stay on my computer desk.
 
This forum is a wealth of knowledge and we all come here from time to time to ask questions. The new AE forum will be busy for the next 6 months as we all get up to speed. I have one that I should ask about now that I think about it. 
 
Like others have mentioned, if you love the Pacific theater, then this game (WITP/AE) is the best out there.