Strategic Command WIE vs. Warplan

[Philippeatbay]

Could someone who is familiar with both games comment on the differences and similarities, particularly in combat and production?

How many scenarios does Warplan have? Can you play from each year of the war as a starting point the way you can in Strategic Command?

Is naval warfare significantly different from land warfare, and how important is submarine warfare as an economic weapon against convoys of freighters?

If an army tries to move into a hex with a friendly division, can it absorb the extra combat factors into its formation, or does the presence of a tiny little division in a thirty mile hex prevent the movement of an army?

It's nice to see that air, land, and naval stack separately.

[ncc1701e]

Warplan has seven scenarios:
. Europe 1939 (with Italy neutral until fall of Paris)
. Europe 1939 (with an option to allow Italy to enter the war earlier)
. Europe 1940
. Europe 1941
. Europe 1942
. Europe 1943
. Europe 1944

Naval warfare is, yes, significantly different than land warfare.

You can merge small infantry corps with a division to create a large infantry corps. Armies are for Russian only.
A division does not have ZoC only corps and armies.

Take a look at the manual that is here:
https://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/PDF/ ... iendly.pdf

You should have a good idea after reading it.

[ncc1701e]

And for a comparison with SC3, check few threads like this:
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4754731

[ncc1701e]

ORIGINAL: Philippeatbay

and how important is submarine warfare as an economic weapon against convoys of freighters?

Here is the thread I was searching for:
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4741237

[sillyflower]

Played SC2 a lot, WP just for a few days. My gameplay comments are

1 WP units have action points, not MPs so they can move and fight more than once, which is a much better simulation of blitzkreig

2 Airpower is much better nuanced than in SC. No more ridiculous elimination of armies in 1 turn from bombing.

3. Partisans are more fiddly. A bit like SC's whack-a-mole chore chasing uboats. I prefer SC's garrison system. Alvaro posted recently that partisans had been toned down, but I don't know if that's in 1.06 (I hope so) or earlier.

4 Naval warfare seems less fiddly - a plus for me. I don't have enough experience to know how significant sub warfare is in WP.

5 HQ rules are better in WP. Not being under an HQ is less drastic, and the benefits more nuanced.

6 WP lacks an events system with player choice. SC excels at that.

Which is better? Hard to say. It's always easier to prefer a shiny, younger game because of the novelty factor. Similar psychology to the thrill many get from an affair. The difference is perhaps that the real Sillyflower (my wife) will not remove parts of my anatomy for playing a new game.

Both games are excellent and benefit enormously from tremendous post- launch improvement by their devs, not to forget the contribution from modders. I hope that WP turns into another classic.

[willgamer]

ORIGINAL: sillyflower

Played SC2 a lot, WP just for a few days. My gameplay comments are

....

5 HQ rules are better in WP. Not being under an HQ is less drastic, and the benefits more nuanced.

Just got WP as well.

I agree with all your points, but the single most significant difference to me is that almost everything is more nuanced.

This suggests fewer exploits, less micro, and a lot more of just doing the right things like (ideally) Patton or Rommel would do!

[8D]

[ncc1701e]

What I like also in WP compared to SC is the turn management.

In SC, you have "Sept 1st, 1939" turn for Axis then "Sept 15th, 1939" turn for Allies then "Sept 29th, 1939" turn for Axis, ...

In WP, you have both "real" turn. Axis and Allies will both play their turn i.e. "Sept 1st, 1939", "Sept 15th, 1939", ...

[AlvaroSousa]

You can set SC to have simultaneous turns BTW in the scenario editor.

[sillyflower]

ORIGINAL: willgamer

the single most significant difference to me is that almost everything is more nuanced.

This suggests fewer exploits, less micro, and a lot more of just doing the right things like (ideally) Patton or Rommel would do!

[

I hope that you are right!

Having just done my 1st PBEM turn in WP, I have found a new issue that SC does much better. In SC you could have an in-game text conversation with your opponent which was really nice especially when playing someone I did not know, and for honing my trash-talk skills.

I have no idea how easy/difficult to put into a later patch.

[AlvaroSousa]

There is a message board in WarPlan.

Reports -> Message. Might have been added in after this post.