First reactions

[FrankGallagher]

I really like this game. I was thinking about buying a board game on WW2 when I ran across WarPlan. Very happy I made this choice instead.

I've been reading comments from the more experienced players. I agree that an invasion of Netherlands should bring Belgium into an alliance with France. Not necessarily the other way around though.

Which brings me to my 2nd and final point. I will only play solitaire. Please don't optimize the game for hotseat without at least keeping a version optimized for the AI.

I'm referring specifically to the posts calling for significant changes to the French setup, weakening France. Those changes may be needed if an Allied human player takes certain 'gamey' actions, but in solo play vs. the AI, France is weak enough already. My first game I conquered France on historical schedule. even a newbie like myself didn't have too much trouble.

Let me repeat that I really like this game. I used to play 3rd Reich. When war games began being made for computers I was excited that this would streamline the games I already loved to play. Instead we got things like the Hearts of Iron series which, whatever it's good points, is certainly not a streamlined version of the old board games. WarPlan is exactly what I'd hoped for decades ago.

[gwgardner]

ORIGINAL: FrankGallagher

Please don't optimize the game for hotseat without at least keeping a version optimized for the AI.

+1

[AlvaroSousa]

Vs the A.I. just play higher toughness settings. A game like this it is incredibly improbably you can design a great A.I.

A game like Unity of Command you can easily design a great A.I. because it is timed and there are very specific objectives. In fact I recommend UoC to anyone.

There are a mountain of strategies to explore here. This is where 2 of the reviews from larger magazines fail to see because they player 1-2 games. I designed it to have a lot of depth. Players in testing and post release got pretty creative with strategies I never thought of myself. Really interesting to watch.

I suggest doing PBEM which is better than vs the A.I.

[Franciscus]

ORIGINAL: gwgardner

ORIGINAL: FrankGallagher

Please don't optimize the game for hotseat without at least keeping a version optimized for the AI.

+1

+ 1

Álvaro, don’t forget that most players - and usually the silent majority - only play vs AI

To me and many others recommendations to try PBEM are irrelevant

[AlvaroSousa]

I always try and improve the A.I. thus why so many difficulty levels

[FrankGallagher]

I was not criticizing the AI. I was just stating that I won't ever play it pbem, nor will most players, so I'm asking not to focus strictly on pbem to the detriment of the way that most players will encounter the game. You have a funny way of taking a compliment.

[FirstPappy]

+1

[AlvaroSousa]

ORIGINAL: FrankGallagher

I was not criticizing the AI. I was just stating that I won't ever play it pbem, nor will most players, so I'm asking not to focus strictly on pbem to the detriment of the way that most players will encounter the game. You have a funny way of taking a compliment.

You have a funny way to think I took it as an insult

So thanks. I answer a mountain of posts and emails that sometimes I forget to say thanks.

[KarlXII]

Another Solo-only player here

[mroyer]

ORIGINAL:
don’t forget that most players - and usually the silent majority - only play vs AI

Even though certainly true, it surprises me that most players play exclusively against AI. I just can't get myself to ever play AI no matter what the game, whether it be a war-game, a console video game or just chess - it's some sort of psychological thing that I get board almost instantly if I think it's a computer on the other end of the wire.

I can never come to grips with the idea that a majority of players are playing alone rather than together. For me, games are social events, I guess.


-Mark R.

[KarlXII]

ORIGINAL: mroyer

ORIGINAL:
don’t forget that most players - and usually the silent majority - only play vs AI

Even though certainly true, it surprises me that most players play exclusively against AI. I just can't get myself to ever play AI no matter what the game, whether it be a war-game, a console video game or just chess - it's some sort of psychological thing that I get board almost instantly if I think it's a computer on the other end of the wire.

I can never come to grips with the idea that a majority of players are playing alone rather than together. For me, games are social events, I guess.


-Mark R.

For me personally I want to play the game whenever I want, how often I want without being dependent on another human, pressing me to make my turn or even wait for hours for their turn. I do however prefer to play in hotseat mode but it is rarely possible with family life and all when you have odd and unforeseen playing time.

[mroyer]

ORIGINAL:For me personally I want to play the game whenever I want, how often I want without being dependent on another human,

Yeah, I get that and for those reasons I've tried playing against the AI many times in this sort of game - I never get past winter 1939 before my interest trails off. Same in chess, I never get to the mid-game. Same with online simulated automobile racing - I get board and quit the race before it's half over.

Do any of those against real people and, for some reason, my interest remains peaked.

I know... I know... I'm the weirdo, not you guys [;)]


-Mark R.

[budd]

I play both ways. Played AI only until the last two years, now i usually have one or two pbem games going on. When i first started playing pbem i kind of went overboard i enjoyed it so much and had sometimes 4-6 games going on at once....always a turn waiting. It was a bit much keeping up with the sense of obligation to keep pushing out the turns. I've since scaled back and have no more than 3 going on at once, and it depends on the game, some game turns take longer than others. Thing is there are some games that i only have an interest in if my pbem partner will play, no interest in playing AI in some game types. I encourage everyone to just give it a try....here's the secret....you need to find a like minded player about the same ability. Getting wiped is no fun for anyone, this usually happens when someone has a lot of experience in a certain game. For me, i'm an average player, I lose to the AI more than i'd like to admit[;)]. I play a lot of different games, different scales, complexity, different types. I don't min/max or look to push limits of the game system, i just play for fun/relaxation, so i found a like minded player and have had pbem games ongoing for over two years. I find we like the simple, quick turn games. I'm not a huge ancients fan but love FOG2 pbem, i play it like ancient chess. Battle Academy 1/2 are also great fun pbem, i have no interest playing these games in single player mode but really enjoy them pbem. Some of are favorites are FOG2, BA games, Strategic Command Games, Combat Mission games. We've played a bunch of different games from WITE to AOW3 to Concealed Intent. Another important thing is we are both AI players also, so if life gets in the way for one of us, we don't sweat the delay, we just play single player until the pbem games continue.

Give it a try, you can always play single player also.