You know, and please nobody hate me too much, but I really am quite happy with the game as is. Sometimes I will get a bit perturbed with some facet, but never for long. Sitting here now, I find myself quite happy with the game as is ... particularly with John, Andy, and Michael all still actively contributing and most of the rest of the devs lurking in the back ground.
[&o][&o][&o]
your dreams about witp 2 :)
Moderators: wdolson, MOD_War-in-the-Pacific-Admirals-Edition
RE: your dreams about witp 2 :)
ORIGINAL: PaxMondo
You know, and please nobody hate me too much, but I really am quite happy with the game as is. Sometimes I will get a bit perturbed with some facet, but never for long. Sitting here now, I find myself quite happy with the game as is ... particularly with John, Andy, and Michael all still actively contributing and most of the rest of the devs lurking in the back ground.
[&o][&o][&o]
You suck up!
I bet you were the kid who always told the teacher what a great job they were doing and how much you liked them!
[:D]
Regards,
Feltan
RE: your dreams about witp 2 :)
AE is a very successful game in a very tiny corner of the game market. Historically accurate war games have never been a huge market. Back in the board game days, a super hit like Advanced Squad Leader sold on the order of 10,000 copies total over its lifespan. Hasbro, the 2000 pound gorilla in the board game market won't consider releasing a game unless they think they can sell at least 100,000 copies a year.
There are some computer war games that have been successful, but all the big seller have really abstracted things quite a bit or were first person shooters. WitP fans are like Firefly fans. There aren't all that many of them in the general population, but they are passionate about their thing.
AE came about by rewriting and extending the existing engine. What you're talking about here would require writing an entirely new engine. It's technically possible, but to do it in any reasonable time would probably require a team of programmers doing it as their "day job". The reason you see a lot of derivatives of old game engines coming out year after year is because it's a lot cheaper to build on and expand an old engine than it is to build a new one. But every game engine comes to the end of it's expandability. The WitP engine probably could be expanded a bit further, but I doubt really large changes would be possible.
Translating the game into Japanese probably is not possible. I strongly doubt the engine could be modified to support Kanji. I've looked into this on another project (there was a requirement to look into translating the software I was working on into Chinese). If the software isn't built from the ground up to accept Asian character sets, it's very, very difficult to do later.
Translating into another language that uses the Latin character set is not as big a task, but it would still be a lot of find and replace work. On a program like WitP, that could mean 50,000 changes pretty easily.
Sorry, just the realities of the software/game business.
Bill
There are some computer war games that have been successful, but all the big seller have really abstracted things quite a bit or were first person shooters. WitP fans are like Firefly fans. There aren't all that many of them in the general population, but they are passionate about their thing.
AE came about by rewriting and extending the existing engine. What you're talking about here would require writing an entirely new engine. It's technically possible, but to do it in any reasonable time would probably require a team of programmers doing it as their "day job". The reason you see a lot of derivatives of old game engines coming out year after year is because it's a lot cheaper to build on and expand an old engine than it is to build a new one. But every game engine comes to the end of it's expandability. The WitP engine probably could be expanded a bit further, but I doubt really large changes would be possible.
Translating the game into Japanese probably is not possible. I strongly doubt the engine could be modified to support Kanji. I've looked into this on another project (there was a requirement to look into translating the software I was working on into Chinese). If the software isn't built from the ground up to accept Asian character sets, it's very, very difficult to do later.
Translating into another language that uses the Latin character set is not as big a task, but it would still be a lot of find and replace work. On a program like WitP, that could mean 50,000 changes pretty easily.
Sorry, just the realities of the software/game business.
Bill
SCW Development Team
RE: your dreams about witp 2 :)
My guess is that if War in the West '43-45 sold really well, then the same with WitE 2.0, along with the expansion plans to involve the entire ETO to again sell beyond expectations, then, and just maybe, a WitP 2.0 MIGHT be considered. I have no idea who is the owner of record for the IP rights to AE, but NOTHING can be done without those parties approval. Depending on how complex the IP rights might be, it would be much easier to just create a new version of WitP from scratch. Plus if tied into the ETO somehow, the scale and time scale would need to match up too. Which is something the existing engine cannot do.
So if anyone here has $500K+ lying around and really wants a 2.0 version, I'm sure someone would be more than willing to allow the project to move forward [:)] With that investment and selling at $300 per game, you might actually make a couple of thousand lol.
So if anyone here has $500K+ lying around and really wants a 2.0 version, I'm sure someone would be more than willing to allow the project to move forward [:)] With that investment and selling at $300 per game, you might actually make a couple of thousand lol.
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Blind Sniper
- Posts: 862
- Joined: Sat Aug 09, 2008 4:19 pm
- Location: Turin, Italy
RE: your dreams about witp 2 :)
I'm sure someone would be more than willing to allow the project to move forward With that investment and selling at $300 per game, you might actually make a couple of thousand lol.
Maybe it would not be enough anyway. As wdolson points out, a new WITP rewriting would require several programmers full time and surely it would be a very long and not easy task to complete.
Almost impossible to hope in a new game...[:(]
WitP-AE - WitE - CWII - BASPM - BaB
[center]
[/center]
[center]
[/center]RE: your dreams about witp 2 :)
It might not cost as much as $500K, but it wouldn't be cheap.
It is Christmas time and it is that time of year kids write letters to Santa. Might as well dream.
Bill
It is Christmas time and it is that time of year kids write letters to Santa. Might as well dream.
Bill
SCW Development Team
RE: your dreams about witp 2 :)
For timeframe for a new engine, just look at WIF ... single, dedicated programmer, complex engine/game...
Pax
RE: your dreams about witp 2 :)
Nope, I was the one that was making N2O in the chemistry lab, built my first still when I was 13 (for fuel, not beveraging!), drove my first USAC race when I was 14... I'm pretty sure there were a lot of people who were quite happy (and relieved) when I left the valley.ORIGINAL: Feltan
ORIGINAL: PaxMondo
You know, and please nobody hate me too much, but I really am quite happy with the game as is. Sometimes I will get a bit perturbed with some facet, but never for long. Sitting here now, I find myself quite happy with the game as is ... particularly with John, Andy, and Michael all still actively contributing and most of the rest of the devs lurking in the back ground.
[&o][&o][&o]
You suck up!
I bet you were the kid who always told the teacher what a great job they were doing and how much you liked them!
[:D]
Regards,
Feltan
Pax
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Blind Sniper
- Posts: 862
- Joined: Sat Aug 09, 2008 4:19 pm
- Location: Turin, Italy
RE: your dreams about witp 2 :)
ORIGINAL: PaxMondo
For timeframe for a new engine, just look at WIF ... single, dedicated programmer, complex engine/game...
I don't think he was totally dedicated on WiF but I agree with the point, no plausible.
Of course I hope to be wrong [:)]
WitP-AE - WitE - CWII - BASPM - BaB
[center][/center]
[center]
[/center]RE: your dreams about witp 2 :)
ORIGINAL: PaxMondo
For timeframe for a new engine, just look at WIF ... single, dedicated programmer, complex engine/game...
Sounds just like World in Flames [:D]
So if someone starts now on WitP 2.0, then 8-10 years from now it will be ready lol.
Remember GG released Pacific War in 1992 which laid the foundations for WitP which came out in 2004. So plan accordingly [:)] Of course he was working on several games at the same time so some time could be shaved off by just working on WitP 2.0 full time.
RE: your dreams about witp 2 :)
People will probably like some ideas and hate others. To each their own, this is just my druthers on a subject that could go on at length. They go from minor to just out and out game changers. Heck for that matter could be some of them would be a game stopper, as they are just ideas and might not work/unbalance game play in some cases!
1. Have a new announcer in Japanese say “Enemy Carriers Spotted” instead of the same announcer for both sides giving the same report.
2. Have an English announcer say when a major base is recaptured/ or liberated.
3. Instead of specific unit withdrawal have each unit have a PP value. Have the requirement be to withdrawal that PP value by a specific date, rather than exact units.
4. Stop the micro-unit withdrawals of saving one gun from a division being enough to rebuild a division without having to buy with PP from the dead list. These submarine/air boat evacs of 10 guys should not be enough to get the unit “saved”.
5. Have squares hit by A bombs glow during night turns. (LOL) OK, put a flame icon on city squares on fire with a bigger icon for bigger fires.
6. Enemy icons- Make enemy Carrier TF Icons significantly bigger (or maybe even pulse) and make all icons change in size based on size of reported force.
7. Always allow a disband for Dutch units. Incur a VP penalty of unit cost when disbanding.
8. After creation of a level one (1) base slow down base building by a factor of like four (4), modified to be quicker based on the amount of engineering assets being employed.
9. Increase the effectiveness of Anti-Aircraft units and bonuses for many units to a hex for base, city, port and airfield defense. Do not increase use for ground unit air defense.
10. The “S” class series of US Sub’s need to be dumbed down. They are uber killers that don’t breakdown for the US in the early game and that just isn’t the history- they were old boats, shallow diving, without a TDC that had barely adequate performance in real life and even that was the result of the amazing performance of the crews (Some real heroes in getting those S boats to perform as well as they did). Part of the S-boat revamp-Revamp the aggression of initial US sub commanders. Right now it seems the most timid people in the history of the USN are a boat commander in Manila in 1941. Get those initial commanders aggression back up to the 50’s but dumb down the S boats and you’ll get historical results IMO; without a player having to use all their PP to replace all the sub commanders in Manila on Dec 8.
11. Subs need to have a huge delay in port before they get back on patrol. A one day turn around on a sub off a patrol is very much too short. At a minimum it should be a week and a random of several weeks up to a month would be more reflective of the history.
12. Revamp the artillery or at least the artillery reports so it appears in a reporting basis to make sense to use artillery. As it stands now it appears more effective based on the combat reports to use air power than artillery on ground units. Yet, the biggest weapon killer of soldiers in WWII was artillery (location/circumstances grossly modify that discussion- such as Tarawa.)
13. Eliminate the on map use of air training units. Move that whole function into a pool concept at the national level. Allow units to be moved into and out of the pool by transfer at the National Designated transfer base (NO PP to transfer). Within that pool have a slider to adjust at what level a pilot should graduate. Have graduation rates dependent upon aircraft of the right type and 80+ exp. Pilots being in TRACOM. Only use the reserve system for pilots that have flown actual missions and are no longer with their sqdn’s.
14. For major head quarters only, add player defined (with an initial default) area shown on the map. Treat all units as restricted unless that belongs to that HQ. Allow new units to come in undesignated and their initial HQ get’s designated for free. This will include naval units as well. Allow the HQ area to adjust based on expenditure of PP’s. Allow a new TF designation of “Replacement” that will load any restricted units, but must unload the restricted units in their restricted area. (The willy-nilly use of units in the game is a-historical. Adding a very abstract restriction of unit assignments will have significant impact on game flow and would slow down a game that based on its nature is a slow game anyway. However, it gets the game more toward depicting one of the most critical aspects in the way the war was fought.)
15. Oh, I would add this as well for WITP AE II- Some eye candy chrome- On the combat animations an overhead plot for naval surface, air, and sub engagements. Show ships maneuver, flak bursts, splashes, torpedo tracks, plane auguring in and getting hit/sunk with a 2d overhead shot. Maybe even a zoom in to water level shot of ship sinking’s.
1. Have a new announcer in Japanese say “Enemy Carriers Spotted” instead of the same announcer for both sides giving the same report.
2. Have an English announcer say when a major base is recaptured/ or liberated.
3. Instead of specific unit withdrawal have each unit have a PP value. Have the requirement be to withdrawal that PP value by a specific date, rather than exact units.
4. Stop the micro-unit withdrawals of saving one gun from a division being enough to rebuild a division without having to buy with PP from the dead list. These submarine/air boat evacs of 10 guys should not be enough to get the unit “saved”.
5. Have squares hit by A bombs glow during night turns. (LOL) OK, put a flame icon on city squares on fire with a bigger icon for bigger fires.
6. Enemy icons- Make enemy Carrier TF Icons significantly bigger (or maybe even pulse) and make all icons change in size based on size of reported force.
7. Always allow a disband for Dutch units. Incur a VP penalty of unit cost when disbanding.
8. After creation of a level one (1) base slow down base building by a factor of like four (4), modified to be quicker based on the amount of engineering assets being employed.
9. Increase the effectiveness of Anti-Aircraft units and bonuses for many units to a hex for base, city, port and airfield defense. Do not increase use for ground unit air defense.
10. The “S” class series of US Sub’s need to be dumbed down. They are uber killers that don’t breakdown for the US in the early game and that just isn’t the history- they were old boats, shallow diving, without a TDC that had barely adequate performance in real life and even that was the result of the amazing performance of the crews (Some real heroes in getting those S boats to perform as well as they did). Part of the S-boat revamp-Revamp the aggression of initial US sub commanders. Right now it seems the most timid people in the history of the USN are a boat commander in Manila in 1941. Get those initial commanders aggression back up to the 50’s but dumb down the S boats and you’ll get historical results IMO; without a player having to use all their PP to replace all the sub commanders in Manila on Dec 8.
11. Subs need to have a huge delay in port before they get back on patrol. A one day turn around on a sub off a patrol is very much too short. At a minimum it should be a week and a random of several weeks up to a month would be more reflective of the history.
12. Revamp the artillery or at least the artillery reports so it appears in a reporting basis to make sense to use artillery. As it stands now it appears more effective based on the combat reports to use air power than artillery on ground units. Yet, the biggest weapon killer of soldiers in WWII was artillery (location/circumstances grossly modify that discussion- such as Tarawa.)
13. Eliminate the on map use of air training units. Move that whole function into a pool concept at the national level. Allow units to be moved into and out of the pool by transfer at the National Designated transfer base (NO PP to transfer). Within that pool have a slider to adjust at what level a pilot should graduate. Have graduation rates dependent upon aircraft of the right type and 80+ exp. Pilots being in TRACOM. Only use the reserve system for pilots that have flown actual missions and are no longer with their sqdn’s.
14. For major head quarters only, add player defined (with an initial default) area shown on the map. Treat all units as restricted unless that belongs to that HQ. Allow new units to come in undesignated and their initial HQ get’s designated for free. This will include naval units as well. Allow the HQ area to adjust based on expenditure of PP’s. Allow a new TF designation of “Replacement” that will load any restricted units, but must unload the restricted units in their restricted area. (The willy-nilly use of units in the game is a-historical. Adding a very abstract restriction of unit assignments will have significant impact on game flow and would slow down a game that based on its nature is a slow game anyway. However, it gets the game more toward depicting one of the most critical aspects in the way the war was fought.)
15. Oh, I would add this as well for WITP AE II- Some eye candy chrome- On the combat animations an overhead plot for naval surface, air, and sub engagements. Show ships maneuver, flak bursts, splashes, torpedo tracks, plane auguring in and getting hit/sunk with a 2d overhead shot. Maybe even a zoom in to water level shot of ship sinking’s.
Why am I sharing my opinion? Because I am such a special snowflake that others need my knowledge. What…there are like a billion snowflakes? Oh, well isn't that special.
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topeverest
- Posts: 3380
- Joined: Wed Oct 17, 2007 1:47 am
- Location: Houston, TX - USA
RE: your dreams about witp 2 :)
oooohhhh...can we add one of these?
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Andy M
RE: your dreams about witp 2 :)
Since we're dreaming (and recognize that we are):
1. Historically-mostly-accurate (hedging because nothing was absolute) rules regarding cooperation among allies.
2. Cover the entire world (this is World War II, after all). Eliminates the need for many, if not, PP uses since the player has to deal with the resulting politics.
3. Along with #2, introduce additional player roles (kind of like the way Third Reich had individual or combined roles for 2 to 7 players).
4. Resolve actions at a more granular time scale, at least behind the scenes, so everything is happening closer to simultaneously (in other words, a short Japanese burst followed by a short Allied burst, with all phases taking place).
5. Persuade someone to build an affordable home computer who can handle all of this!
1. Historically-mostly-accurate (hedging because nothing was absolute) rules regarding cooperation among allies.
2. Cover the entire world (this is World War II, after all). Eliminates the need for many, if not, PP uses since the player has to deal with the resulting politics.
3. Along with #2, introduce additional player roles (kind of like the way Third Reich had individual or combined roles for 2 to 7 players).
4. Resolve actions at a more granular time scale, at least behind the scenes, so everything is happening closer to simultaneously (in other words, a short Japanese burst followed by a short Allied burst, with all phases taking place).
5. Persuade someone to build an affordable home computer who can handle all of this!
RE: your dreams about witp 2 :)
ORIGINAL: topeverest
oooohhhh...can we add one of these?
I would definately rather be dreaming about that than the next version of WitP [:D]
RE: your dreams about witp 2 :)
ORIGINAL: czert2
mine:
1. posible start in 1937 - begining of china war
2. player will have more control over production (mean starting of new ahistorical constuctions) with some based on posibilities and not historical facts - say as japan you are succesfull and have plenty of planes/pilots in 44..so you need shinano as full fleet carrier, not as floating supply base for other fleet carriers
3 "ahistorical" upgades - since now, you know if that ship (class) was sunk in 42/43 and it will survive in your game to 45..you are forever stuck in 42/43 version, unless you manualy modify database
4. implemented events, based on your gameplay - say if you conquer of 60-80% of territory+ capital of enemy nation it will surender...removing need to capture dot bases.
5. perfomance based events - say if you perform better than in history, then leadership can give you rewards - like starting constuction of new units (and you can select which ones
6. hq can give you war goals (which can act as guide to players
7. historical map - so you can compare your actual progres (in months) to historical reality
8. diplomacy - so you can speak with your allies/neutrals - or more precisely - you will make these propositions to your nation eadership and it will consideate them, and then accept, decline or modify and send to that nation
I would like to see an entire WW2 with this engine. I love this game that much.
Would it take a lifetime to complete a game? Yes
Do I care? No
Life is tough. The sooner you realize that, the easier it will be.
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topeverest
- Posts: 3380
- Joined: Wed Oct 17, 2007 1:47 am
- Location: Houston, TX - USA
RE: your dreams about witp 2 :)
ORIGINAL: Gary Childress
2. The ability to control ALLIED production also.
I wouldn't mind being able to turn the production on "auto" or turn it off...that is the sole reason I don't play Japan.
I would like the option of having it on for either side, or turn parts of it over to the AI.
I understand why we can't, but I would like more flexibility to combine units... say I have three BDEs that don't combine
historically, but I want them to. Poof, done.
Life is tough. The sooner you realize that, the easier it will be.
RE: your dreams about witp 2 :)
ORIGINAL: Califvol
People will probably like some ideas and hate others. To each their own, this is just my druthers on a subject that could go on at length. They go from minor to just out and out game changers. Heck for that matter could be some of them would be a game stopper, as they are just ideas and might not work/unbalance game play in some cases!
1. Have a new announcer in Japanese say “Enemy Carriers Spotted” instead of the same announcer for both sides giving the same report.
2. Have an English announcer say when a major base is recaptured/ or liberated.
I had an idea to have news reports about things happening in Europe and the Med, but we didn't have time for that. Nor did we have anyone to do the recordings.
3. Instead of specific unit withdrawal have each unit have a PP value. Have the requirement be to withdrawal that PP value by a specific date, rather than exact units.
4. Stop the micro-unit withdrawals of saving one gun from a division being enough to rebuild a division without having to buy with PP from the dead list. These submarine/air boat evacs of 10 guys should not be enough to get the unit “saved”.
This is pretty much gone for AE. Submarines transports are very limited in what they can transport now.
Most land units can be bought back after being destroyed, so the incentive to save a fragment is mostly gone.
5. Have squares hit by A bombs glow during night turns. (LOL) OK, put a flame icon on city squares on fire with a bigger icon for bigger fires.
This is not a bad idea. It would actually be possible with the current engine. Kelley and I did the crossed swords and exclamation point icons. It could be done similarly.
6. Enemy icons- Make enemy Carrier TF Icons significantly bigger (or maybe even pulse) and make all icons change in size based on size of reported force.
7. Always allow a disband for Dutch units. Incur a VP penalty of unit cost when disbanding.
Would this be to free up devices for other units?
8. After creation of a level one (1) base slow down base building by a factor of like four (4), modified to be quicker based on the amount of engineering assets being employed.
9. Increase the effectiveness of Anti-Aircraft units and bonuses for many units to a hex for base, city, port and airfield defense. Do not increase use for ground unit air defense.
10. The “S” class series of US Sub’s need to be dumbed down. They are uber killers that don’t breakdown for the US in the early game and that just isn’t the history- they were old boats, shallow diving, without a TDC that had barely adequate performance in real life and even that was the result of the amazing performance of the crews (Some real heroes in getting those S boats to perform as well as they did). Part of the S-boat revamp-Revamp the aggression of initial US sub commanders. Right now it seems the most timid people in the history of the USN are a boat commander in Manila in 1941. Get those initial commanders aggression back up to the 50’s but dumb down the S boats and you’ll get historical results IMO; without a player having to use all their PP to replace all the sub commanders in Manila on Dec 8.
There is nothing in there now for the age of a ship. Older ships should have more mechanical breakdowns than a brand new ship. The S boats were hampered in the real war by their antiquated systems constantly breaking down. The last of air conditioning on the boats also made crew fatigue in the tropics a much bigger problem than on the newer boats.
11. Subs need to have a huge delay in port before they get back on patrol. A one day turn around on a sub off a patrol is very much too short. At a minimum it should be a week and a random of several weeks up to a month would be more reflective of the history.
The game doesn't really take crew fatigue into consideration on ships.
12. Revamp the artillery or at least the artillery reports so it appears in a reporting basis to make sense to use artillery. As it stands now it appears more effective based on the combat reports to use air power than artillery on ground units. Yet, the biggest weapon killer of soldiers in WWII was artillery (location/circumstances grossly modify that discussion- such as Tarawa.)
The entire land war system is something of an afterthought. It was intended for island invasions in Uncommon Valor and really wasn't designed for large scale land combat in Asia. A rewrite was discussed, but it was out of scope.
13. Eliminate the on map use of air training units. Move that whole function into a pool concept at the national level. Allow units to be moved into and out of the pool by transfer at the National Designated transfer base (NO PP to transfer). Within that pool have a slider to adjust at what level a pilot should graduate. Have graduation rates dependent upon aircraft of the right type and 80+ exp. Pilots being in TRACOM. Only use the reserve system for pilots that have flown actual missions and are no longer with their sqdn’s.
The Japanese have had the ability to train pilots on map since WitP. AE expanded this to the Allies.
14. For major head quarters only, add player defined (with an initial default) area shown on the map. Treat all units as restricted unless that belongs to that HQ. Allow new units to come in undesignated and their initial HQ get’s designated for free. This will include naval units as well. Allow the HQ area to adjust based on expenditure of PP’s. Allow a new TF designation of “Replacement” that will load any restricted units, but must unload the restricted units in their restricted area. (The willy-nilly use of units in the game is a-historical. Adding a very abstract restriction of unit assignments will have significant impact on game flow and would slow down a game that based on its nature is a slow game anyway. However, it gets the game more toward depicting one of the most critical aspects in the way the war was fought.)
15. Oh, I would add this as well for WITP AE II- Some eye candy chrome- On the combat animations an overhead plot for naval surface, air, and sub engagements. Show ships maneuver, flak bursts, splashes, torpedo tracks, plane auguring in and getting hit/sunk with a 2d overhead shot. Maybe even a zoom in to water level shot of ship sinking’s.
The animations now are fairly primitive. More could be done in a major rewrite.
Bill
SCW Development Team
RE: your dreams about witp 2 :)
ORIGINAL: wdolson
ORIGINAL: Califvol
[7. Always allow a disband for Dutch units. Incur a VP penalty of unit cost when disbanding.
Would this be to free up devices for other units?
13. Eliminate the on map use of air training units. Move that whole function into a pool concept at the national level. Allow units to be moved into and out of the pool by transfer at the National Designated transfer base (NO PP to transfer). Within that pool have a slider to adjust at what level a pilot should graduate. Have graduation rates dependent upon aircraft of the right type and 80+ exp. Pilots being in TRACOM. Only use the reserve system for pilots that have flown actual missions and are no longer with their sqdn’s.
The Japanese have had the ability to train pilots on map since WitP. AE expanded this to the Allies.
Thanks for the insights.
The Dutch "surrender" option is just to get all those bloody units, that after they run into the jungle and become worthless, off the map! LOL. I just wish they'd surrender instead of becoming map clutter.
On target about the pilot training comment, it's just that I dislike having to micromanage pilot training and would like for it to be more of a macro operation on the Allied side.
Merry Christmas!
Why am I sharing my opinion? Because I am such a special snowflake that others need my knowledge. What…there are like a billion snowflakes? Oh, well isn't that special.
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Bullwinkle58
- Posts: 11297
- Joined: Tue Feb 24, 2009 12:47 pm
RE: your dreams about witp 2 :)
ORIGINAL: wdolson
The animations now are fairly primitive. More could be done in a major rewrite.
Bill
A lot of players pooh-pooh the animations, but I posted on WitE that a huge reason I never got into that game was 1) counters (AE icons are so much less intrusive on "seeing" the map, and 2) the lack of combat rez animations. It was Spreadsheet Central: "Battle at Kursk. Germans lose . . . (buzz, rumble, click, click) 67,000 men and 347 AFVs. Soviets lose . . . (gurgle, click, klunk!) 83,900 men and 2189 AFvs."
Dry, bloodless, uninteresting. In AE, as primitive as the movies are, I watch them in a lot of cases, especially big surface battles and CV strikes. I have yelled at the monitor on many occasions. Computer games are visual and aural experiences. They don't all happen in your head. I'd pay cash money for an upgrade pack with some new battle graphics. Just that, no other changes. Hear that, Matrix! Cash money. [:)]
The Moose