What is Next for this Game

[DuckofTindalos]

Where you could control "the ultimate warship"?[8|] It's called Battlestations Pacific, and it blows elephants for crack money.

[LeeChard]

One of us has to hit the lottery and finance a game that would cost more than it returns in sales. I hereby pledge my future windfall

[Blackhorse]

ORIGINAL: mg62

A long time ago there was a tongue in cheek article in the Avalon Hill General about a board game covering the entire war in Europe. As I recall it was intriguing at the same time hard to imagine.

As I recall, the game was called "It", with an individual counter for each person who fought in WWII. The article described a German player, during his turn, mobilizing a parachute reservist, and rolling the dice to see if he had an accident on the way to the airfield. It also joked that Goering had the lowest "economic efficiency" rating of any counter in the game.

Odd that I can recall this from circa 1970, but I don't remember where I put my car keys yesterday.

[Dili]

I don't think it will be unplayable if it is done right. If a player can control at corps / army level there aren't many things to control even if there are regiments. For example if a player can map the dispositions of a Corps in defensive, attack, travel etc., retreat with a certain level of losses, and then the computer more or less obeys that rules based on commander/ unit quality.

Of course this needs an AI able at that level something there never appeared in a wargame. And a good interface, all more or less clumsy where orders can be copied from unit to unit or give the same to a bunch of selected units.
Say you give 1st Corps an order go to Falaise(one week travel) and to adopt a defensive posture, with a front of 10km. The computer already knows how the unit goes there and how subunits should be deployed and in a week there is no need to touch it again. A sort of Photoshop actions for Wargames.

[Commander Stormwolf]

It's called Battlestations Pacific, and it blows elephants for crack money.

That is something that can be agreed -->

Common difficulty with mainstream games = hollow and innacurate


the purpose of the thread is how can the concept of a stratgic sim be improved

is has been done before --> Battle of Britain II: Wings of Victory
combines a flight sim like IL-2 sturmovik and a board game like avalon hill's Achtung Spitfire
and it does this brilliantly (massive scale of aerial battles is amazing [:)])

a game is like a sculpture, every time pieces are shaved and it turns from stone into a human statue

let us remember that 20 years ago, there were 3 games to play

1) Pacific War (strategic level)
2) Carrier Strike (operational level)
3) Aces of the Pacific (tactical level)

as a strategic game, AE is an evolution and significant progress has been made since PacWar

for changing AE itself, i am convinced of a few small change

1) separate duralumin and steel instead of HI points
2) change the gun accuracy system

for the next part of the sculpture:

- AE running in real time
- online multiplayer so different players
each control different front (make 3vs3 pbem a lot easier)

... many people here live on this website,
so they may as well live with the game running in the back ground [;)]

.. and we must add thanks to those who made this world possible

[witpqs]

ORIGINAL: Ranger5355

One of us has to hit the lottery and finance a game that would cost more than it returns in sales. I hereby pledge my future windfall

Me too - I pledge Ranger5355's future windfall!

[:D]

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: witpqs

ORIGINAL: Ranger5355

One of us has to hit the lottery and finance a game that would cost more than it returns in sales. I hereby pledge my future windfall

Me too - I pledge Ranger5355's future windfall!

[:D]

I concur with my Argletonian colleague. After the international fly-in kegger that he sponsors, I believe that Ranger5355's fortune could be put to good use in this manner.

[LST Express]

The only game I ever played longer than this one was amateur baseball and that took up 17 years of my youth. Even if I quit playing this game today it will be second on my list and I'm not quitting today. [:D]

[Empire101]

ORIGINAL: Commander Stormwolf


for the next part of the sculpture:

- AE running in real time
- online multiplayer so different players
each control different front (make 3vs3 pbem a lot easier)

I for one would not buy this type of game, it would be virtually impossible to play ( imagine a faint heart dropping out because he lost his 'favourite' ship/squadron/unit. Just trying to sort out passwords would be a nightmare in itself if there was more than two players involved. ).

A game that incorporates the scope of WWII is under development now, although goodness knows when it will be ready. World in Flames is immensely playable by two players in its boardgame form, so with many of the tiresome logistical tasks done by the computer, it would be even more playable.

War in the Pacific AE was a daunting task to be taken on by any developer, so a big HUZZAH!! to Matrix, and all involved in producing and maintaining this marvellous game!!!

[Knavey]

ORIGINAL: Commander Stormwolf

massive real time multiplayer [;)]

(either whole war, or theater-specific like AE)

Its out there...used to be called World War 2 online...now its Battleground Europe. Not a bad game...but like most other MM online games, they crashed on release and never got ahead of the curve. They still have some pretty good battles, learning curve is not very steep and from time to time I do go back and play.

http://forums.battlegroundeurope.com/ is a link to their forums. At some time they were associated with Matrix but I am not sure how.

[DOCUP]

What we need is a Gary G. to stop by and read some posts.[:D]  Bitter Glory was a game that was suppose to encompase WW 2.  It has been shelved so people could work on another title.

[Commander Stormwolf]

Just trying to sort out passwords would be a nightmare in itself if there was more than two players involved. ).

Well my point is that AE would be a 'real-time game' --> meaning 1 day of time is 1 day in the war

players only have a specific command (either separate CW/USAAF/USN and IJN/IJA or by theatre)

passwords would not be required, player only has access to the units under his command

and there are no save files, the game is running in real time in the background

player can schedule a webcam meeting to discuss strategy (the debates would slow the rate of operations [:D])

.... all of this with AE's level of detail and the same mechanics (not some cheap 3D action game)

and if you are sleeping, you read the combat reports in the morning (nimitz and yamamoto too had to sleep right? [8D])

..then there are the battles.. just like in AE but they pop up once the action is joined..

*all quiet on the pacific front*

... suddenly " 120 x B6N2, 162 x A6M2 approaching TF... ".. [X(]

no way to skip through the result, have to watch in agony.. explain to the USAAF why reinforcements to AUS will be delayed
due to the impending defeat.. at the same time, in another window, a battle rages at rangoon - CW player suggests to send
supplies to burma, a lot safer than to AUS, USAAF player disagrees... *now we understand what is meant by WW2 politics* [X(]

[ilovestrategy]

It wouldn't work for me. I really have no interest in the European theater. Only Pacific for me. It's hard to imagine a more detailed game than this one. Maybe require the paint to be chipped on each ship. [:D]

[Keifer]

I think the underlying game engine is great.

I'd love to see some UI enhancements to reduce micromanagement.

One idea would be to create Land and Air "Task Forces". Essentially allowing a player to group land units and air groups in larger groups that could be moved, shipped, and have issues orders together. But let the battles resolve using the current engine.

Unfortunately, i expect this would be a major refactoring.

[ilovestrategy]

Keifer, I like your forum sig.

[mike scholl 1]

ORIGINAL: Keifer

I think the underlying game engine is great.

Then I have to assume you've never seen the code. Everyone who has pretty much describes it as an unravelable tangle where nothing can be touched without pulling on several other seemingly unrelated lines. I agree with whomeveer said it would have to be re-written from the ground up before any major improvement could be made to the game....

[Commander Stormwolf]

The system is quite good, a lot better than WITP.
It has been improved much since WITP.

The main change from WITP was a reduction of gun range from 500 yards per unit to 100 yards per unit (reduced air bloodiness)

the amusing observation is that.. the results obtained by the game Carrier Strike seemed to be quite good and historical

.. as it is i am generally satisfied with the overall AE results (though still complain about the relative results between ac types)

[kaleun]

My only concern is: Will it work on the upcoming windows 8 or will we have to keep an extra laptop just for this game?

And yes, a WITP 2, so long as they don't trade detail and playability for eye candy is a definite buy for me.

[LeeChard]

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ORIGINAL: witpqs

ORIGINAL: Ranger5355

One of us has to hit the lottery and finance a game that would cost more than it returns in sales. I hereby pledge my future windfall

Me too - I pledge Ranger5355's future windfall!

[:D]

I concur with my Argletonian colleague. After the international fly-in kegger that he sponsors, I believe that Ranger5355's fortune could be put to good use in this manner.

Single malt will be supplied[:D]