How time consuming is this game

Gary Grigsby’s War in the West 1943-45 is the most ambitious and detailed computer wargame on the Western Front of World War II ever made. Starting with the Summer 1943 invasions of Sicily and Italy and proceeding through the invasions of France and the drive into Germany, War in the West brings you all the Allied campaigns in Western Europe and the capability to re-fight the Western Front according to your plan.

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CrackingShow
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How time consuming is this game

Post by CrackingShow »

Hello

So I'm playing Warplan Pacific and greatly enjoying it in PBEM.

I'd like to get into this and War in the East 2 in PBEM at some point. Does this game take a very long time per turn or is it reasonably speedy? I don't want it to take hours per turn, as Warplan is quite quick in comparison.

cfulbright
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RE: How time consuming is this game

Post by cfulbright »

Executing the turn itself, whether your own air phase or the enemy turn, takes about five minutes, at least on my Intel Core7 laptop.

The real time goes into planning your air phase, allocating air groups, etc., and then moving units in the ground phase. How long depends on the scenario, but I won't kid you. I get through about one turn in two hours in a full 1943-45 campaign. Then again, I'm looking for something to distract me, so I consider this to be a feature, not a bug.
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Zovs
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RE: How time consuming is this game

Post by Zovs »

Personally I think all GG games require many hours to play, they are not “beer & pretzel“ games after all. That is part of there charm. If you want fast paced and easy stick with WP or SC type of games (I also like those as well), but if you want depth, details and realistic historical operational combat then get used to enjoying many hours on the GG systems.
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Beta Tester for: War in the East 1 & 2, WarPlan & WarPlan Pacific, Valor & Victory, Flashpoint Campaigns: Sudden Storm, Computer War In Europe 2
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Zovs
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RE: How time consuming is this game

Post by Zovs »

A case in point with WitE 2. I am very experienced with that game (2+ years, testing, etc.) and to optimize my first turn for 1941 campaign it takes me roughly 3-5 hours to do my moves. Time well spent and thought out. You could probably spend 2 hours and let the AI manage your air war and depots and not worry about 100% optimization. But for competitive (anything not against the AI) play you need to spend a good 3-5 hours to do the first turn right as the Axis.
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Beta Tester for: War in the East 1 & 2, WarPlan & WarPlan Pacific, Valor & Victory, Flashpoint Campaigns: Sudden Storm, Computer War In Europe 2
SPWW2 & SPMBT scenario creator
Tester for WDS games
CrackingShow
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RE: How time consuming is this game

Post by CrackingShow »

Ok I'll stick with Warplan and SC then, thanks a lot for your input.
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freeboy
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RE: How time consuming is this game

Post by freeboy »

best value for cost vs time . lol save the public library
Maybe time/cost ? anyway.. if you want short there are some shorter scenarios just saying its not as light as either warplan games but fun
"Tanks forward"
GloriousRuse
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RE: How time consuming is this game

Post by GloriousRuse »

Of the GG WitX series, WiTW is by far the fasting playing, and the shortest in turn count. Starting with a few corps in Sicily with some room for error, as opposed to three army groups with very high operational demands….it makes for different game play. It is, naturally, the most air intensive of the games.
CrackingShow
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RE: How time consuming is this game

Post by CrackingShow »

I've decided to play the game, but I don't know what I'm doing with tactical air
zasgard
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RE: How time consuming is this game

Post by zasgard »

ORIGINAL: CrackingShow

I've decided to play the game, but I don't know what I'm doing with tactical air

I just bought the game a couple of weeks ago and I watched Strategy Gaming Dojo's youtube videos. The best instructional videos I've ever seen. They are long, but he breaks things down so well. I fired up the game the first day and was horribly lost, but gave it a few goes. Then watched his videos and while I still suck at the game things make SO much more sense. It's all about repetition, at least for me. I go back and watch his videos from time to time.
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loki100
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RE: How time consuming is this game

Post by loki100 »

ORIGINAL: CrackingShow

I've decided to play the game, but I don't know what I'm doing with tactical air

ask yourself what do I want to do?

Then work back to the assets.

So lets say you want to damage the axis supply net? Best tool is a level bomber going for the railyards (so GA-railyard). An interesting variant is GA-rail where you hit the moving trains - one for an agile FB or tactical bomber.
You want to mess with their mobility? Agile FB or tac bombers, lots of bombs or rockets, over where they need to move (GA-interdiction)
You want to weaken a strong hex for a later attack? Actually we're back to Level Bombers, with big bombs (GA-unit) but Strategic bombers are fun here
You want to support an attack? GS with FB or tac bombers.

The last is the mission, it disrupts/damages elements before the main battle opens and those elements take no part in the rest of the battle and don't count for the final cv calculation.

So odds on you need GS, you may want some of the others - do you have the assets?

A really good place to learn how to use tactical air is as the Allies in the Breakout scenario.
CrackingShow
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RE: How time consuming is this game

Post by CrackingShow »

Cool I'll give the Breakout scenario a go.

And thanks for the information.
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