Bottom Line...

[BeirutDude]

...is I am never going to dedicate weeks and months to learning the intricate details of this game! I own, but don't play, WitP-AE because I'm not training and allocating the entire Japanese/U.S. Air Force/Navy pilot corps to their squadrons (its just not my level of micro-management). At best WitE2 would be a diversion for me when I'm looking for something to divert me from Command for a few days.

So given that (and I think I'm mainly asking the beta testers with lots of time in it) would I be able to have casual fun with it or would I just be peeved about having to get a Masters Degree or Doctorate in WitE2 to get anything out of it????

Buy it or wait for War Plan Pacific? Not writing this to be critical, it that I only have just so much time. So it's not money that is my issue, but time that is the question.

Advice/thoughts...

[loki100]

You can reduce the work by 3 key AI-assistants

a) the air war then becomes of case of setting priorities, and broad allocations
b) the logistics stuff is reduced to a bit of commonsense around HQ locations
c) all the support units do their own thing (again as with the air war you do need to set the broad criteria)

at the end of that, you are essentially looking at a divisional level game with a lot of counters and hexes. You can reduce the rule set to the one page guides and chapter 4, just look at the rest if you need to dig a bit deeper.

its got a good AI, even without bonuses.

so yes, there is fun to be had, if the subject interests you, I'd say with those assistants in place most turns will take an hour or so - the early ones more but then pretty much everything is on the move from T1-T10.

One good thing is that for all the complexity, common sense is incredibly useful as a good rule of thumb in many situations (much more than in WiTE1)

[Joel Billings]

There are also smaller scenarios, not just full map campaigns. Granted most want to move quickly to the campaigns, but the system works well for shorter scenarios.

[Wheat]

Bottom line...GET THE GAME!

[AlessandroD]

I am playing Road to Leningrad right now just after to have read the first 100 pages of the manual and played the two tutorial scenarios.
Well, even if I am not sure about a lot of things I am having fun anyway, the air warfare can be skipped thanks to AI settings and you can just move all stuff around the map without a deep knowledge of the game.

[BeirutDude]

Well bottom line, what's the worst that can happen, I have another icon on my computer for a game I don't play (joining WitP-AE, WitE, WitW, SC:World at War/Europe, tiger on the Hunt, FP:RS, CS:ME and TOAW IV [:(] ) and I donated $71.99 to the hobby. [:D] [8D] [8|]

[mikenorthrn]

I'm playing it on normal difficulty with AI assists enabled and really really enjoying it. It is my first GG title. I may never advance to full use of every aspect of the title, but I'm sure having fun playing it (with only a lighthearted effort thus far at learning it)

[BeirutDude]

Well never mind! Apparently your store doesn't want my money! The same card I used to by the AB Netherlands DLC is being declined now! So much for my donation! [:@]

[BeirutDude]

Actually is the store down? I tried...

1. Two different credit cards
2. Logged on with my account
3. As a guest
4. From a different computer
5. And I tried to buy Warplan instead and all come up with this...

[Erik Rutins]

This sounds like the payment processor is not accepting the payment method. I'd suggest trying a different payment method and a different internet browser if you have one. The best source of support on this would be to contact Matrix Games Support at support@matrixgames.com as they can see exactly what the issue is and help guide you past it.

[BeirutDude]

Was the store! Just bought it and downloaded this morning. Didn't do anything different than I did last night. Thanks for the help.

[Erik Rutins]

Great to hear, likely they had a temporary block on whatever payment method was used to double-check but completed their check and cleared the block overnight.

Regards,

- Erik