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RE: A truly terrible game

Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2021 1:37 pm
by Ambassador
ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: Ambassador

ORIGINAL: Andy Mac

Should I be offended given I released updates for scenarios what 6 months ago - so 10 years after release inclduding updated AI scripts...
You’re above that. You’re a higher spirit, safe from the petty insults of the crawling cockroaches.[;)]
Speaking of higher spirit, we could be teaching the OP a bit about patience by ignoring his diatribe about the game and just offering to help change his mind. For starters, I suspect the OP jumped into the Grand Campaign without trying the smaller scenarios to find out how to use the User Interface. Even starting with those simpler scenarios I had to restart them a couple of times to overcome my mistakes in settings and strategy. Persistence will win but it means keeping positive in the face of many failures.

Having said all that, Ubwart, if you are expecting a game with a pedigree running back 15 or more years to show you all the CGI flash of current games, you will never appreciate this brain-expanding monster. Twenty bucks to learn a bit about your preferences is an inexpensive life lesson.
You might be right.

A word of advice to the new players

RE: A truly terrible game

Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2021 1:55 pm
by LST Express
Putting in the effort has been worthwhile to many of us. Maybe don’t give up so quickly.

RE: A truly terrible game

Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2021 2:07 pm
by castor troy
ORIGINAL: ubwart

This has got to be one of the most tedious things and god-awful games I have ever played. It has all of the detail and much more of pacwar and none of the charm. PW had all kinds of tool to let you see where the battles were and so on. Not this dog, you have one battle report thing with 800 reports to wade through after each turn to find your one carrier battle.

Then take into account that carriers are generally not going to attack the other side even with reaction range of 6. No they would rather sit in their base and wait for the enemy to move away and attack your force with a much larger attack than the computer ever seems to mount for my carriers.

I paid 20 or so for it and it is not worth $1. No support no updates and Matrix still wants 79 for this old dog. I would rather pull my teeth via my ass than play this again. PW was about 50 times what this game is worth.
Someone please explain to me how my 3 carriers consistently get their asses kicked by one opfor carrier.
[:o]



LMAO

RE: A truly terrible game

Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2021 2:09 pm
by Nomad
He signed up yesterday, made his two posts and left. I say do not feed the troll.

RE: A truly terrible game

Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2021 2:53 pm
by kbfchicago
ORIGINAL: Nomad

He signed up yesterday, made his two posts and left. I say do not feed the troll.

Concur, but there is value here seeing the community's response. If nothing else we reaffirm each others passion for the game.

I for one have spent far more of my time with AE since its release vs. any other computer game, hands down, no question, no doubt reaching many 1000s of hours. Like all things in life it has pros and cons, for me these pluses and minuses tabulate up to highly playable and challenging on many, many levels. It is however not for everyone..and that's ok. I wish him well and hope he can find something that fits him as well as WITP-AE fits us.

Keep Calm and Game On!

Kevin

RE: A truly terrible game

Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2021 3:22 pm
by USSAmerica
ORIGINAL: ubwart

This has got to be one of the most tedious things and god-awful games I have ever played. It has all of the detail and much more of pacwar and none of the charm. PW had all kinds of tool to let you see where the battles were and so on. Not this dog, you have one battle report thing with 800 reports to wade through after each turn to find your one carrier battle.

Then take into account that carriers are generally not going to attack the other side even with reaction range of 6. No they would rather sit in their base and wait for the enemy to move away and attack your force with a much larger attack than the computer ever seems to mount for my carriers.

I paid 20 or so for it and it is not worth $1. No support no updates and Matrix still wants 79 for this old dog. I would rather pull my teeth via my ass than play this again. PW was about 50 times what this game is worth.
Someone please explain to me how my 3 carriers consistently get their asses kicked by one opfor carrier.
[:o]

Here's a quarter. Call someone who cares. [:D]

RE: A truly terrible game

Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2021 8:06 pm
by Will_L
ORIGINAL: ubwart
Then take into account that carriers are generally not going to attack the other side even with reaction range of 6. No they would rather sit in their base and wait for the enemy to move away and attack your force with a much larger attack than the computer ever seems to mount for my carriers.

Your CV TF won't react unless you set it with a reaction range to either a destination hex with remain on station orders or give it patrol orders with up to three patrol points. If you sit the TF in port with a reaction range it'll simply sit in port. (Please correct me if I got any of this wrong guys.) Maybe you should have checked the forums for advice before you took the plunge into the deep end off the learning cliff, there is plenty to be found.
I would rather pull my teeth via my ass than play this again.
Please do so, I really wanna see you pull this off.

RE: A truly terrible game

Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2021 9:15 pm
by ubwart
You gotta use your brain. Son I was one of the original players of the old PW game and even that SW game was better than this. What does this game offer? Every man, unit of clothing and roll of TP in theatre. No easy way to see combat reports, no real reason why my carriers never launch, then I see some kind of political points needed to assign a leader, where does it show my pool? No fing ware. I loved the old games for their complexity but this is just complexity for complexity's sake. with nothing to help make managing a pacific war easier, you really want to scroll through 40 pages of shit to see the one combat report that is important to you? Go right ahead.

RE: A truly terrible game

Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2021 9:22 pm
by ubwart
Wow reaction range wow i never would have thought that i needed to do that. Of course i have RR set to limit but even my SC units don't seem to move in reaction. in fact the only time I have had a surface action is when my SC force with a 3 or 4 RR arebased at midway and the japs sent a fleet. to midway, they were seen but did my ships ever move to intercept not once. So the battle takes place at .... midway not in the sea near midway. PW and UV both reacted correctly.

I remember testing UV about 20 times with the same attack by an american TF against japs. 20 times moving to the same location with exactly the same number of bomb and torp hits. i have no idea how you hard code attacks to come up with the same results each iteration of the game. WITPAE this game is just too tedious and I love sitting for hours working out my plans.

RE: A truly terrible game

Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2021 9:26 pm
by ubwart
signed up yesterday but played since before MG was a thing. Playtested about 30 games including VfV and uncommon valor. this game is just pile on more useless shit and strip away tool that help you follow the events. Why on earth is there no map view of battles from the previous turn among about 500 other terrible design options.

RE: A truly terrible game

Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2021 9:38 pm
by PaxMondo
ORIGINAL: btd64

That said. Try checkers. Might be more your speed. Oh by the way, I bought WPO and WITP before AE and I joined the forum just after I bought AE. I had been reading the forum for years and with AE I needed some help and support. I asked all the wrong questions and sometimes a brief spanking. You just joined the forum and broke the rules. Your first few posts should of been questions. Not an attack on something a lot of people love. Think about that for a while....GP
I'm thinking more tic-tac-toe ....

RE: A truly terrible game

Posted: Tue Feb 02, 2021 11:52 pm
by spence
Have to say I can't understand why anyone would not like this game EXCEPT that there are some very slow periods while one organizes the logistics to support future action. Having finally advanced to late 1944 as Allied such things become very important (since one has so many of everything). The Japanese advance had to have been a shoestring affair right from the get-go only possible because there was such a dearth of decently trained/adequate forces to oppose them. (BTW I have no idea why his forces won't engage especially in the early going (as Allied) other than "operator error").

(I only play as Allied - being an old f@rt "the blush went off the (production) rose" a long time ago.)

RE: A truly terrible game

Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2021 12:03 am
by RhinoDad
It is a great game but it takes a certain kind of person to like it. Guess that is why there are all different types of games and various levels of detail and historical feel. Then again maybe trying to get a rise from people is his game.

RE: A truly terrible game

Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2021 12:08 am
by rustysi
ORIGINAL: USSAmerica

ORIGINAL: ubwart

This has got to be one of the most tedious things and god-awful games I have ever played. It has all of the detail and much more of pacwar and none of the charm. PW had all kinds of tool to let you see where the battles were and so on. Not this dog, you have one battle report thing with 800 reports to wade through after each turn to find your one carrier battle.

Then take into account that carriers are generally not going to attack the other side even with reaction range of 6. No they would rather sit in their base and wait for the enemy to move away and attack your force with a much larger attack than the computer ever seems to mount for my carriers.

I paid 20 or so for it and it is not worth $1. No support no updates and Matrix still wants 79 for this old dog. I would rather pull my teeth via my ass than play this again. PW was about 50 times what this game is worth.
Someone please explain to me how my 3 carriers consistently get their asses kicked by one opfor carrier.
[:o]

Here's a quarter. Call someone who cares. [:D]

+1[:'(]

RE: A truly terrible game

Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2021 12:12 am
by Ian R
ORIGINAL: ubwart
... then I see some kind of political points needed to assign a leader, where does it show my pool? No fing ware. I loved the old games for their complexity but this is just complexity for complexity's sake. .

Actually it tells you how many points you have in the pool, at the top of the window where you finalise selection of the new leader.

Reading your posts suggests that what you were hoping for, but did not get, was a modernised windows version of the old Pacwar, same time/map/unit scale etc, but with (some of) the bells and whistles of AE added in. There has been some work done on the old Pacwar; you might want to check out the latest version. Rich Dionne is working on improving the AI.







RE: A truly terrible game

Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2021 3:37 am
by BBfanboy
ORIGINAL: Will_L

ORIGINAL: ubwart
Then take into account that carriers are generally not going to attack the other side even with reaction range of 6. No they would rather sit in their base and wait for the enemy to move away and attack your force with a much larger attack than the computer ever seems to mount for my carriers.

Your CV TF won't react unless you set it with a reaction range to either a destination hex with remain on station orders or give it patrol orders with up to three patrol points. If you sit the TF in port with a reaction range it'll simply sit in port. (Please correct me if I got any of this wrong guys.) Maybe you should have checked the forums for advice before you took the plunge into the deep end off the learning cliff, there is plenty to be found.
I would rather pull my teeth via my ass than play this again.
Please do so, I really wanna see you pull this off.
Reaction setting is a thing with a Surface Combat TF set to patrol an area. But CV reaction is a different kind of reaction that has nothing to do with the reaction range you set in the TF screen. Basically, if there is a high enough detection of the enemy and high enough commander aggression, the TF will react towards the enemy and if he detects you at the same time he might react towards you.

There are a lot of complex calculations going on behind the scenes taking into account weather, aircraft ranges, your escorting fighter numbers and who knows what else. I suspect the OP put all of his fighters on CAP with a high range dispersing it to nothing. His bombers likely didn't try to fly because there was no fighter escort. Hard to tell because his post did not include any details.

RE: A truly terrible game

Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2021 3:43 am
by Lokasenna
ORIGINAL: ubwart

You gotta use your brain. Son I was one of the original players of the old PW game and even that SW game was better than this. What does this game offer? Every man, unit of clothing and roll of TP in theatre. No easy way to see combat reports, no real reason why my carriers never launch, then I see some kind of political points needed to assign a leader, where does it show my pool? No fing ware. I loved the old games for their complexity but this is just complexity for complexity's sake. with nothing to help make managing a pacific war easier, you really want to scroll through 40 pages of shit to see the one combat report that is important to you? Go right ahead.

Well, you're coming of pretty dense. I guess this wasn't an early April Fool's joke after all, although we do have an early fool...

In any case, in order:

Combat reports are exceedingly easy - displaying them during the replay is an option that can be toggled, and you can press 'C' during your orders phase to look back at them.

Carriers not striking - check your settings and look up the rules. That simple. I found it fairly intuitive.

Political points - check in the manual, but it's also intuitively visible on the score screen. Did you try looking?


I like the complexity, but I've got a big brain. I guess you're all the way on galaxy brain level though and don't want to be bothered with the details.

ORIGINAL: ubwart

Wow reaction range wow i never would have thought that i needed to do that. Of course i have RR set to limit but even my SC units don't seem to move in reaction. in fact the only time I have had a surface action is when my SC force with a 3 or 4 RR arebased at midway and the japs sent a fleet. to midway, they were seen but did my ships ever move to intercept not once. So the battle takes place at .... midway not in the sea near midway. PW and UV both reacted correctly.

I remember testing UV about 20 times with the same attack by an american TF against japs. 20 times moving to the same location with exactly the same number of bomb and torp hits. i have no idea how you hard code attacks to come up with the same results each iteration of the game. WITPAE this game is just too tedious and I love sitting for hours working out my plans.

Reaction range actually has nothing to do with carriers reacting or launching strikes.

Your ships have to 'see' stuff to react to before they can react. Didja think of that?

TFs react correctly in this game. In fact, if I have a complaint, it's that reactions are too frequent, leading to far more action in the game than occurred in the real world. Admittedly this makes it more approachable and less frustrating to play, however.

RE: A truly terrible game

Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2021 8:18 am
by RhinoDad
ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

I like the complexity ....

TFs react correctly in this game. In fact, if I have a complaint, it's that reactions are too frequent, leading to far more action in the game than occurred in the real world. Admittedly this makes it more approachable and less frustrating to play, however.
The game puts compression and other abstractions that make for more action than historically, while maintaining a historical feel. I believe striking a good balance, personally though, like you, if it had to be changed it would change toward the less action, less accurate (bombers, naval rifles), more historical. But that can make a game what it can not be, a historical study; and can become quite tedious to play.

As you say it makes game play less frustrating and more approachable, less boring, for the average player who wants this level of detail. Still you have plenty of complaints on the forum from those who do not know their history well, or want more of a video game feel; lots of action, bomb hits, and naval rifle hits.

This player if not a troll seems to wants more of a theme video game. Much simpler with lots more action, more of a comic book feel. The game engine does its thing with some general guidance from the player. Like a video with some guidance from the viewer which effects the story. This level of detail combined with a historical feel becomes tedious and complicated instead of adding depth and playability.

Everyone has their preferred style of game play. Just like shopping one person's quick interesting shop is another's longest, tedious day.

RE: A truly terrible game

Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2021 9:40 am
by Trugrit
ORIGINAL: RhinoDad
ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

I like the complexity ....

TFs react correctly in this game. In fact, if I have a complaint, it's that reactions are too frequent, leading to far more action in the game than occurred in the real world. Admittedly this makes it more approachable and less frustrating to play, however.
The game puts compression and other abstractions that make for more action than historically, while maintaining a historical feel. I believe striking a good balance, personally though, like you, if it had to be changed it would change toward the less action, less accurate (bombers, naval rifles), more historical. But that can make a game what it can not be, a historical study; and can become quite tedious to play.

As you say it makes game play less frustrating and more approachable, less boring, for the average player who wants this level of detail. Still you have plenty of complaints on the forum from those who do not know their history well, or want more of a video game feel; lots of action, bomb hits, and naval rifle hits.

This player if not a troll seems to wants more of a theme video game. Much simpler with lots more action, more of a comic book feel. The game engine does its thing with some general guidance from the player. Like a video with some guidance from the viewer which effects the story. This level of detail combined with a historical feel becomes tedious and complicated instead of adding depth and playability.

Everyone has their preferred style of game play. Just like shopping one person's quick interesting shop is another's longest, tedious day.
“The game engine does its thing with some general guidance from the player.
Like a video with some guidance from the viewer which effects the story.”


False...It is not “some general guidance from the player.” This game takes a
great deal of player input. More detailed player input than any other wargame
in my humble opinion. Nowhere near a video experience for most players.

Seems the OP was looking for a fun tactical wargame instead of a strategic wargame.

It is a common problem with some people who try this game.

Everyone thinks “carrier battles” when they think of the Pacific War.
This game is not about “carrier battles” it is about the strategic aspects
of brutal mid 20th century industrial warfare. That is very complex and
the workload can be tedious at times.

The Pacific War was more about non-sexy logistics than carrier battles.

This is one of the reasons that I always recommend a new player start with the
main campaign scenarios instead of the small scenarios. They give a much better
understanding of the game right from the start.

A new player can get the idea that the small scenarios are real easy and they can
jump right in, not look at the manual, not do their homework and get some
fun carrier battles which they can easily win. After getting beat numerous times
they blame the game and quit.

This game is not for children or casual gamers it is for very hard core wargamers.

The game carries the label “Expert level” in the game description. Amen!

There is a very good argument for never dropping the price of this game because
a very high price weeds out the casual players and children.


RE: A truly terrible game

Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2021 9:43 am
by btd64
ORIGINAL: Trugrit

ORIGINAL: RhinoDad
ORIGINAL: Lokasenna

I like the complexity ....

TFs react correctly in this game. In fact, if I have a complaint, it's that reactions are too frequent, leading to far more action in the game than occurred in the real world. Admittedly this makes it more approachable and less frustrating to play, however.
The game puts compression and other abstractions that make for more action than historically, while maintaining a historical feel. I believe striking a good balance, personally though, like you, if it had to be changed it would change toward the less action, less accurate (bombers, naval rifles), more historical. But that can make a game what it can not be, a historical study; and can become quite tedious to play.

As you say it makes game play less frustrating and more approachable, less boring, for the average player who wants this level of detail. Still you have plenty of complaints on the forum from those who do not know their history well, or want more of a video game feel; lots of action, bomb hits, and naval rifle hits.

This player if not a troll seems to wants more of a theme video game. Much simpler with lots more action, more of a comic book feel. The game engine does its thing with some general guidance from the player. Like a video with some guidance from the viewer which effects the story. This level of detail combined with a historical feel becomes tedious and complicated instead of adding depth and playability.

Everyone has their preferred style of game play. Just like shopping one person's quick interesting shop is another's longest, tedious day.
“The game engine does its thing with some general guidance from the player.
Like a video with some guidance from the viewer which effects the story.”


False...It is not “some general guidance from the player.” This game takes a
great deal of player input. More detailed player input than any other wargame
in my humble opinion. Nowhere near a video experience for most players.

Seems the OP was looking for a fun tactical wargame instead of a strategic wargame.

It is a common problem with some people who try this game.

Everyone thinks “carrier battles” when they think of the Pacific War.
This game is not about “carrier battles” it is about the strategic aspects
of brutal mid 20th century industrial warfare. That is very complex and
the workload can be tedious at times.

The Pacific War was more about non-sexy logistics than carrier battles.

This is one of the reasons that I always recommend a new player start with the
main campaign scenarios instead of the small scenarios. They give a much better
understanding of the game right from the start.

A new player can get the idea that the small scenarios are real easy and they can
jump right in, not look at the manual, not do their homework and get some
fun carrier battles which they can easily win. After getting beat numerous times
they blame the game and quit.

This game is not for children or casual gamers it is for very hard core wargamers.

The game carries the label “Expert level” in the game description. Amen!

There is a very good argument for never dropping the price of this game because
a very high price weeds out the casual players and children.



Not for children, perfect 👌....GP