Thank you GG and 2by3 - for expanding my horizons

[MarkShot]

So, I own WITW and WITE-2, and others but these are the relevant titles.

Prior to these I was never a BG gamer, and the only TBS game I every played was chess.

In 2000, I purchased GOA (Guns of August by Frank Hunter from Matrix) ... fans gave it high marks. I never played as I found it totally bewildering. One-off Turns, Turns, Strategic Phase, Impulses, Activation Phase, Order Phase, Barrage Phase, Move/Combat Phase, and Resolution Phase, Air report, Sea report, individual barrage report, individual battle report.

I gave up on it until now as it runs nicely is updated for for 1080p. I find the design very understandable. I am not longer bewildered. Why? It is the exposure to WITW and WITE-2 that prepared me for the concepts. GOA's manual is 50 pages. I must say the excellent docs by 2by3 really helped me to adapt to a new style of which I had not previous experience.

Thank you for having broadened by horizons!

PS: GOA could be classified as a WEGO combat engine kernel with a huge TBS shell built around it. To an extent, one might say it shares its basic structure with WITP-AE, but its is very TBS heavy more like WITW and WITE-2.

[MarkShot]

I must say Frank has done a good job with this. Air and Naval are abstracted. Hexes (I counted) are about 4-6X longer than the WITX series. So, maybe 50 miles across. The unit of play is the corps and HQ.

There are 6 turns per year, but within a turn are sub turns (phases) of orders. So, the highest level orders are only available every 2 months like research or naval or air. But low level orders like land battles are available roughly every 1-2 weeks.

Resolution pauses after each barrage or battle with a report in a WEGO fashion a la WITP-AE.

What is done so well is the modeling the very lopsided advantage of the defender and how hard it is to take ground.

There is PBEM. In terms of complexity and modeling, I would say 15-25% that of GGs work. It is less hardcore, but not beer and pretzels. There is more going on than you realize, since the documentation is not up to the GG level of games. For anyone who can handle a GG title, it is easy to jump into in a week or less.

I will throw in 3 screens later: Strategic level, battle map, and single battle report.

[MarkShot]

Okay, I had promised to give a little more info. I think it is a good game if you like ground combat and lines/fronts.

Scenarios (representing actual units positions) begin on any year of the war and can be played to just the end of that year or all the way to 1919. Turns are always 2 months. All scenarios have a one time deployment phase which allows the movement of your units behind your lines. So, like as the Germans in 1914, you can decide to go East or West.

There are 3 difficulty levels. Options in the setup as two who Italy and Greece will join. The minor countries are not 100% scripted and can be influenced via diplomatic options and you sides behavior.

The currency for everything is industrial output which is fixed and ramps via schedule during the war. You spend this output on all other aspects. Terrain affects are represented. Some hexes are politically point valuable like Paris. Some hexes have industrial output or food output. There is also a naval war which will impact food and goods. Also, you may give some basic items to allies.

THE GAME IS FIXED RESOURCES. I put that into CAPS as any game with variable resources is always a fantasy sandbox.

A nation will quit when its national morale goes to zero. Full victory is as the ET taking out Germany. As the CP taking out France and Russia. Otherwise points are accumulated you are assumed to win on points.

SEQUENCE - I am using programmer pseudo code hopefully, you would understand my sense of nesting/looping.
=========

NOTE: Impulses are like a phase. They simulate weather. You get 4 in the good weather. You get 1 in the dead of Winter. Map remains unchanged by ambient sound changes with season.

Deployment only once
{
Year/War Begins
{
Turn Begins(6) - 2 months
{
Strategic Phase Begins - usually you tend to work your way through countries
* Convert economy into points for war items like attacks, weapons, refits, diplo, research, trench
* Select research
* Do diplo
* Issue naval and air orders
* Etc ...
Strategic Phase Ends
* Air Report
Naval battle reports (0-n)
{
Report
}
* Naval summary by sea
Impulse Begins(1 to 4)
{
Optional air recon of given hex up to your air points based on air war outcome
Activate HQs Phase (0 to n based on points); required to attack
{
Activate HQ
}
Order Phase (0 to n units)
{
Strategic movement
or
Normal movement
or
Attack (if HQ activated)
or
Barrage (regular or siege or gas)
}
Resolution Phase WEGO
{
All barraged hexes provide a report and pause
All battle hexes provide a report and pause
}
Impulse Ends
}
Turn Ends
Year Ends
* Year score auto displayed
* Option to continue
1919 Game Ends

[MarkShot]

The map. Most play is on the map with a few pop ups. 1080p supported. The game always plays in a window.

France pushes back the Germans at Nancy.

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Some samples of what the strategic phase and decision look like.

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Giving naval orders in the strategic phase.

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The end of the strategic phase. You get naval battle reports with a naval and air summary. I need a new post.

[MarkShot]

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A barrage report.

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A battle report.

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[MarkShot]

Originally, I didn't understand the flow of this game. But after WITW and WITE-2, it was clear what is going on. I am glad I got and that they updated for 1080p. The UI is decent, docs decent, reporting a little weak.

* The forum has more info that is not in the manual.

* I do not think the game is dated and does a reasonable job to capture the essentials.

This why without 2by3, I would never got to play this.

[MarkShot]

I think a very big difference from WITx is unit only moves one hex if tactical, and there are no ZOCs. Terrain is mainly represented in combat values and in movement as lowering readiness kind of the equal of CPP in this game.

I have spent the last day looking at WWI Gold 1.08 or WWI Centennial Edition which you only get if you own it already (myself via Steam) due to IP issues. But from the first I saw this when I was with AGEOD (was only the publisher; not the developer) until today, it is highly unstable. Looks brilliant on paper, but runs really poor.

There is also End All Wars which I didn't realize we did while AGEOD was independent (was a French style joint venture). I may pick this up, but I never had the impression that AGEv1 or AGEv2 engine handles lines well. It really shines in fights over objectives like in the Roman period or the US Civil War. If anyone has it let me know what you think ... I hear for PBEM, it works well. But I mainly SP. So, this research makes Frank's GOA even that much more attractive.