Reviews and what players might be missing.

[AlvaroSousa]

WarPlan Pacific is getting fairly good reviews from outside sources.

I was incredibly happy to be #9 on this list next to some heavy hitter games.
https://culturedvultures.com/best-world ... 3Qc2ZNoTQg

What I did notice is that some of the more negative comments in reviews were the reviewers not understanding what the options can do for them. So I wanted to cover their complaints in case some players don't realize these settings are there.

...Most buttons have tooltips when you hover over them.

Options toggles

Ease of Access Off/On - Pops up 3 special toggles for SHIFT, CONTROL, and ALT for disabled players
Scroll Off/On - Allows scrolling within a border on all corners of the game screen
Battlecam Off/On - Camera follows the A.I. action during their turn

###TIED INTO BATTLE CAM WITH THE LEFT SLIDERS
___My Attack Delay - how long the combat popup stays on the screen for my attacks
___A.I. Move Delay - time interval between A.I. unit movements so you can see what they do as they play.
___A.I. Attack Delay - time interval between A.I. attacks

Centering On/Off - Centers on clicked unit if they are near the edge of the map screen

A saw a couple complains that the A.I. moves too fast. Adjusting these settings will slow it down. Also when the Enemy Action is turned on you can click the red crosshairs when in the Combat Logs and it will go to the first battle in the log in that hex.

Counter Colors - I have two monitors that are distinctly different in color. They both have the same settings. I guess one is older and duller. So when I design counters I test the game on both monitors. Some players were saying they can't distinguish some counter. I'd check the settings on your monitor. They could be off or faded. The Chinese I distinguish more by their center coloring and shading which is opposite of the Japanese. I believe in the coming patch I also changed the control hex of the UK so it is much more differentiated than the Japanese.

[eskuche]

ORIGINAL: AlvaroSousa
Also when the Enemy Action is turned on you can click the red crosshairs when in the Combat Logs and it will go to the first battle in the log in that hex.

This one is not obvious at all and extremely useful.

Congrats on the rankings!

[Redmarkus5]

I only have two comments and it's the Chinese counter colour issue. How about making it a bit more brown, somewhere between what it is now and the British colour?
Also, I find that the India blue counters feel more like marine or naval infantry. Perhaps Khaki would be better?

[LarryP]

I sure don't agree with the list. WITP is not even mentioned, and the order is not even close to what I would think would be the populace rating. Oh well. That's his list and he's entitled to it.

[okeefe]

There is no way hearts of iron 4 is better than all those other games except maybe that card game, I think someone just threw together a list but nice that your at least on it.

[Bamilus]

ORIGINAL: okeefe

There is no way hearts of iron 4 is better than all those other games except maybe that card game, I think someone just threw together a list but nice that your at least on it.

Unfortunately, to your casual fan HOI4 is the best WW2 game ever made. To actual wargamers, its the last in a line of increasingly bastardized games put out by Paradox.

[jupiter999]

I still don't quite understand why HOI4 is fun...

[AlvaroSousa]

HOI4 is for certain kind of players
WP is for another kind of player

I don't enjoy HOI4. Too complex and I don't like RTS games

[LarryP]

I've played HOI4 a lot, and I still can't figure out what to do most of the time. I also don't know whether I like it or not. It's a crazy ton of things to do, too much even for a micromanagement nut like me! [&:]

[Bamilus]

ORIGINAL: LarryP

I've played HOI4 a lot, and I still can't figure out what to do most of the time. I also don't know whether I like it or not. It's a crazy ton of things to do, too much even for a micromanagement nut like me! [&:]

The funny thing is, it's really not that deep of a game. It has this layer that takes a bit to understand, but underneath it's essentially a really badly modeled WW2-esque fantasy game. The game is really meant to be played with the AI (who can control literally everything, including setting battle plans and managing battles) control. So you basically make a bunch of decisions that seemingly have impact but at the end of the day the game is just incredibly shallow (plus ahistorical to the point of being laughable).

I've played thousands of hours of HOI games and I get why they keep dumbing down their games but HOI4 is a joke in that regard.

[Nikel]

Found the following online reviews of WPP, just in these they are useful to improve the game.

Worldwide in 6 languages!


https://letstalkaboutwargames.wordpress ... ic-review/


https://www.wargamer.fr/warplan-pacific ... dans-leau/

Incomplete, need registration to the site. The french always subtract points if there is no french translation [:D]


https://www.ilvideogioco.com/2021/05/12 ... ecensione/


https://strategycon.ru/warplan-pacific-review/


https://www.playdome.hu/cikk/55969/warp ... avol-kelet


https://www.gamersglobal.de/news/196133 ... an-pacific

[miljkovics]

I was a devoted player of WitP (and Pacific war before that) a while a go, so I guess my perspective is heavily influenced by that experience.
Just bought WP Pacific and gave it a first try with Solomon Isl. scenario...I like how game is able to negotiate complex model of WitP and simplicity in playing, so I'll be investing some time for going into details for sure

What I do miss is ability to assign/produce certain type of equipment (choosing different type of aircraft for each "category" for instance), that was one of my favorite things in WiTP - tooling my production to types I wanted. Simple "1942 type" or similar is too generic imo.
Also, would like to be able to assign naval commanders to fleets (with different stats that influence fleet behavior), similar what is already there for army HQs.
And last, what I really liked in WitP was combat sequence, especially in carrier battles...I know that everything is predetermined by calculation odds, but I really enjoyed watching aircraft attacking carriers and hoping they score hit (or avoid it, if I was defending).

I know that overall intention with this game is not to make it too complex but thought to share my 2 cents anyway.

[AlvaroSousa]

I found the first review funny. I liked this, this, this, this, and this, AND this, and it does this well.... I give it an average rating lol.

Thanks for posting these. I have been looking for reviews since it came out. Had a hard time finding them. I do think the reviews are accurate for the type of players that are reviewing them. Traditional wargames get it, casual ones have a hard time with it because they aren't used to pure wargame. For a wargamer the mechanics and interface are simplified, for a casual gamer they are complex and unintuitive because they are used to LMG click, LMB move, LMB action, next unit kind of games.

But I think enough casual gamers will keep being interested in it and I will covert casual gamers to wargamers.

I thought the reviews were pretty fair on the good and bad points.

Making a manual is incredibly difficult. The 1st time through I went through it 3x and still missed so much. In future releases, just like in WarPlan, the manual will be updated in game. It will be the printable version without the fancy-shmancy background.

[ClaudeJ]

Hey there,

please note that the review posted Wargamer.fr ("la Gazette") doesn't take the full game under its scope. The tester admittedly didn't play the full size scenario, thus mostly missing out the naval aspect.

He loved the China scenario though, especially the aspect of the map.

While he played WarPlan, he felt kind of lost in WarPlan Pacific, and didn't find the answers to his questions in the manual or looking at the interface. I understand his point there, it takes time to get to know the game.

As to his complaint about the absence of a french-speaking version, well... French will be French. [;)]

Cheers,

Claude

[AlvaroSousa]

No worries Claude. Everyone is different and WP is a new mechanic player are learning that hasn't been done before. Shoot I am still learning how to improve it. I have had people make negative reviews and they were fair on their points. Negative reviews are good also because when a pattern develops now I think... How can I improve this to appeal to this kind of player? I just need 100,000 people to buy my game and I'm RICH!!! So the closer I get to that number the better.

WP does have a learning curve. I already know what to improve for the next version which is currently being worked on.

[AlvaroSousa]

It also really nice that people are reviewing the game and it is getting publicitity.

[Frido1207]

http://grogheads.com/review/first-impressions/21065

[Steely Glint]

ORIGINAL: miljkovics

I was a devoted player of WitP (and Pacific war before that) a while a go, so I guess my perspective is heavily influenced by that experience.
Just bought WP Pacific and gave it a first try with Solomon Isl. scenario...I like how game is able to negotiate complex model of WitP and simplicity in playing, so I'll be investing some time for going into details for sure

What I do miss is ability to assign/produce certain type of equipment (choosing different type of aircraft for each "category" for instance), that was one of my favorite things in WiTP - tooling my production to types I wanted. Simple "1942 type" or similar is too generic imo.
Also, would like to be able to assign naval commanders to fleets (with different stats that influence fleet behavior), similar what is already there for army HQs.
And last, what I really liked in WitP was combat sequence, especially in carrier battles...I know that everything is predetermined by calculation odds, but I really enjoyed watching aircraft attacking carriers and hoping they score hit (or avoid it, if I was defending).

I know that overall intention with this game is not to make it too complex but thought to share my 2 cents anyway.

I also play WitP and I fully agree with you.

[Steely Glint]

That review list is just garbage. WP is good, but that list isn't.

[AlvaroSousa]

Everyone has their opinion. WarPlan isn't a play out of the box game. You play it, realize things, play it more, realize more things... then the light bulb goes off. It is more than moving units and clicking things. You have to have a grander plan strategizing on limited resources over time.

The field is filled with simpler games. Not that they are any better or worse than WarPlan. WarPlan is just different.

For example when I first saw Fifth Element I didn't like it because I expected a real scifi film. Then I took some time and realized it was a satire making fun of scifi. Now it is one of my favorite movies.