"Newbie" initial impressions

[acbennett3]

Late to the party but wanted to give my initial impressions.

I am an old school board/wargamer as well as video. I played the original Strategic Command when it first came out years ago - mainly solo/against the AI. So my comments come more from the newbie perspective instead of someone familiar with the latest version(s) of the game.

It's obvious the game graphically has come a long way. First, the map is beautiful even compared to the previous version. Also I was never comfortable with squares in games (just not what I am used to) so the shift to hexes is a plus for me. I still need to get used to no stacking. It seems kind of weird that an air/naval/hq unit takes up an entire hex and therefore cannot be protected from enemies that get adjacent to it - amongst other things. Also I wrestle with the one unit at a time attacking - this leads to phased attacks where the order of attacking units plays an important role in defeating the enemy. While this is another tactical consideration that makes the game more interesting I don't know how realistic this is to actual combat. The Air and Naval aspects of the game seem to be more complex and nuanced then I remember but I need to play some more to get a better feel. I really wonder what carrier battles will look like - but probably not something that is going to happen in the European version of the game alot.

Production/Research/Diplomacy seems to add an entire set of new layers that need to be mastered to play well. But I wonder if to ease the learning curve it would be helpful to automate/let the AI handle these aspects so players who want to just focus on the units/combat portion of the game can - either to learn the game in parts or play more simply. To be honest that is one of the hurdles I have with a game like Hearts of Iron - the level of complexity and number of game systems that need to be understood/mastered to play well. Maybe the player could choose the level of control for these areas - from just giving the AI general guidelines all the way to detailed control of the systems. Or is this already in the game and I just missed it?

I've skimmed the editor and it looks powerful - looking forward to the community generating lots of scenarios after release.

One question - at what point do you want testers to start posting AARs/Playthrus on the main forum?

[Hubert Cater]

Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated and for AARs and play throughs I would say to not post anything at the moment, Ben can likely confirm, as we have a few items planned already on our end for this, but thanks for the offer [:)]

[jpinard]

ORIGINAL: acb3

Late to the party but wanted to give my initial impressions.

I am an old school board/wargamer as well as video. I played the original Strategic Command when it first came out years ago - mainly solo/against the AI. So my comments come more from the newbie perspective instead of someone familiar with the latest version(s) of the game.

It's obvious the game graphically has come a long way. First, the map is beautiful even compared to the previous version. Also I was never comfortable with squares in games (just not what I am used to) so the shift to hexes is a plus for me. I still need to get used to no stacking. It seems kind of weird that an air/naval/hq unit takes up an entire hex and therefore cannot be protected from enemies that get adjacent to it - amongst other things. Also I wrestle with the one unit at a time attacking - this leads to phased attacks where the order of attacking units plays an important role in defeating the enemy. While this is another tactical consideration that makes the game more interesting I don't know how realistic this is to actual combat. The Air and Naval aspects of the game seem to be more complex and nuanced then I remember but I need to play some more to get a better feel. I really wonder what carrier battles will look like - but probably not something that is going to happen in the European version of the game alot.

Production/Research/Diplomacy seems to add an entire set of new layers that need to be mastered to play well. But I wonder if to ease the learning curve it would be helpful to automate/let the AI handle these aspects so players who want to just focus on the units/combat portion of the game can - either to learn the game in parts or play more simply. To be honest that is one of the hurdles I have with a game like Hearts of Iron - the level of complexity and number of game systems that need to be understood/mastered to play well. Maybe the player could choose the level of control for these areas - from just giving the AI general guidelines all the way to detailed control of the systems. Or is this already in the game and I just missed it?

I've skimmed the editor and it looks powerful - looking forward to the community generating lots of scenarios after release.

One question - at what point do you want testers to start posting AARs/Playthrus on the main forum?

Honestly, a newbie doesn't need to touch diplomacy or research at all. They can just focus on units and refreshing troops and they will still remain semi-competitive. In fact some games will actually go better if the player does not invest in research and diplomacy because they will dominate in strength while the opposing player may languish wasting money on those items... and could be wiped out before they actually help. IN fact I think it would hurt the game if this idea were instituted because the player may want to buy some units and find their money keeps disappearing due to the AI putting it into diplomacy or research. Once you play around with it a bit and get used to those pages it is really easy to understand. Take it from someone who has terrible, terrible trouble learning games (ME!)

[sPzAbt653]

the player may want to buy some units and find their money keeps disappearing due to the AI putting it into diplomacy or research.

The player could maybe activate this feature at the end of their turn, therefore the computer could only use what was left over.

I think this would be a useful feature, especially for beginners. To have the option to let the computer run Research, and/or Diplomacy, and/or all Unit Operations. The computer already does this when it runs one or both sides, so a lot of the work is already done.

When I started it was a bit overwhelming to have to learn all three at one time. I would have rather let the computer do Research and Diplomacy until I was further into the game.