Well I have progressed to 1862 as the South against the AI in the long campaign and I am absolutely enjoying the experience
The enjoyment turning point for me came when I finally worked out how to use the Strategic Atlas to locate units that are able to move that turn. The use of the various filters greatly simplifies what can at first look like a laborious process
Other things I really like are :
1.The huge and beautifully crisp map. The large number of regions, each with their unique characteristics, make planning your moves very tricky and the consequences of poor planning can be dire. Rather like planning your moves in chess
2.The well drawn leader portraits and unit models
3.The Battle Planner. This pops up before major battles and adds another layer of planning and immersion
4.The pop up display at the lower left of the screen which tells you the supply available in the region you have selected. This saves a lot of time and clicking
5.The important message icons which pop up on the right of the screen after each turn. This ensures you don't miss really important messages
6.The sharp readable fonts
7.The unit information panel which pops up on the lower right of the screen when you select a unit or a force. This again saves lot of time and clicking
8.The ability to scroll message lists by using your mouse wheel
9.The ability to re-name forces
10.The beautiful rendition of structures in a region when you control-click on a city or town
11.Regional decision cards
Naturally after all this praise I have a couple of requests [:D]
(a) A minor one : when the Battle Planner pops up it would be nice if you were given a reminder of the composition of your force e.g how much artillery, how much cavalry etc...By the time I get to the Battle Planner I often forget the details of my force composition. This is important for selecting an appropriate battle plan for your force
(b) A major one : a common complaint about AGEOD games is that the battles happen too quickly. It would be a major improvement to the game system if there was some way you could, perhaps as an option, slow the battles down so you could see what happens in each battle phase as it happens. IMHO this would make the battles even more immersive and exciting
Notwithstanding these two requests, I love this game ! The game design, the attention to historical detail and the high production values are a great credit to the developers.
May they continue to prosper and continue to make more historically rich games
