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RE: Where have all the WiF fans gone...

Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2004 5:29 am
by YohanTM2
ORIGINAL: SeaMonkey

I'm wondering Mziln, 12 years=65, if so we're the same age and if so "YEAH RIGHT". In this day and age and possessed with so many fullfilling things to accomplish, come on let's face it, we'll never truly retire. Time will always be a premium,... ever noticed how much faster it seems to erode, ....hmmmm ....seems I remembering hearing something about that in my younger days from my elders. Anyway just a suggestion, check out SC at Battlefront if you like strategy, don't waste time waiting, play H to H now.

SC was a fun game for about 2 weeks but was then very easy to beat solitaire. Also, the folks on the site that thought they were good, like Rambo, were pretty much a joke.

RE: Where have all the WiF fans gone...

Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2004 4:43 pm
by Mziln
ORIGINAL: David Heath
To be honest we are a little scared about this project. This is such a massive game and we want to do it right. We are taking this slow. We have already put together a great team. We will have more on this in the near future.

David

It is the nature of all the "Monster" board games. Developers called them "Massive" players called them "Monsters". And the players enjoyed every minute of the game. A huge map, hundreds of glorious multi-collored counters, a rule book the size of the dictionary, and a ton of charts to be cross referenced. If nothing else putting WiF on the computer will save the weekend it usually took to to set up the Order of Battle and place the starting units on the map. Ahh the good old days of...

The Longest Game (the Longest Day), A Game to Long (a Bridge to Far), DNO, and the best of all WiF.

Any effort to put WiF or any other Monster game on the computer will take time.

[&o] I am sure Matrix's efforts are appreciated by the fans of Wif. [&o]
ORIGINAL: SeaMonkey
I'm wondering Mziln, 12 years=65

12 years = 66. You can't retire untill your 66 in the United States. According to my Social Security Adminstration letter.

The military taught me to read everything that has my name on it, carefully.

[:D] Next year the Senior Menu and Senior Discount Movie Tickets kick in! [:D]

RE: Where have all the WiF fans gone...

Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2004 8:00 pm
by SeaMonkey
Yohan,
You should have tried some of the later starting campaigns as Axis with exp level+2 and expert settings. To bad Rambonehead put you off to the true essence of SC which is H to H. I do PBEM and sometimes get a bunch of games going (6+), different, modified campaigns make for lots of unkowns and creates chaos in your own mind. Good mental exercise for multi-tasking. The forum is real civil and enlightening, excluding the Rambonerless types, but even they are good for a laugh. I've had this game on my HD for almost 2 years and still get much enjoyment out of the simple mechanics, yet tough to master idiosyncracies that SC is. To bad you didn't look deeper.

RE: Where have all the WiF fans gone...

Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2004 1:32 pm
by pzgndr
To be honest we are a little scared about this project. This is such a massive game and we want to do it right.

Seeing how HOI is already out there and WAW is nearing release, the stage is set for global WWII grand strategy gaming. WiF offers some unique features and should fit in well on its own merits. I'm assuming the WiFFE rules finalize all the game mechanics after all these years and getting them to work won't be an issue. The big challenge is getting that AI to work well.

Let's face it. For many gamers it's not the graphics or specific gameplay mechanics that need the most work these days. It's the AI, and making it smart enough and sneaky enough to be a worthy opponent game after game. And, as HTTR is demonstrating, worthy enough to be a subordinate or ally so players can focus on larger issues. I hope the challenges for WiF can be overcome so we can truly have a competent AI to play against.

RE: Where have all the WiF fans gone...

Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2004 2:07 pm
by Les_the_Sarge_9_1
It is the nature of all the "Monster" board games. Developers called them "Massive" players called them "Monsters". And the players enjoyed every minute of the game. A huge map, hundreds of glorious multi-collored counters, a rule book the size of the dictionary, and a ton of charts to be cross referenced. If nothing else putting WiF on the computer will save the weekend it usually took to to set up the Order of Battle and place the starting units on the map. Ahh the good old days of...

The Longest Game (the Longest Day), A Game to Long (a Bridge to Far), DNO, and the best of all WiF.

Any effort to put WiF or any other Monster game on the computer will take time.

I am sure Matrix's efforts are appreciated by the fans of Wif.

Basically he said all that needed to be said where "big" games are concerned. I would add Pacific War (the board game) to that list. Only thing wrong with Pacific War, is it is just so darned big set up.

SPI Pacific War

Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2004 8:59 pm
by Greyshaft
Only thing wrong with Pacific War, is it is just so darned big set up.

SPI Pacific War? Funny thing was that my greatest regret for that game was the lack of ship sillouettes on the counters. I know it was a small thing but it always bugged me.

RE: SPI Pacific War

Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2004 9:33 pm
by Les_the_Sarge_9_1
There might have been a SPI Pacific War, but my game is a 1985 Victory Games release.

The counters had ship sillouettes which were nice but not more than black or white mono coloured profiles.

The game employed numerous task force cards to keep track of TF composition off of the map, but the maps were uncluttered as a result. Only problem though, was there was a lot of charts hehe.

It would appear, that we have seen more than a few games come out wearing the label "Pacific War" perhaps hehe.

RE: SPI Pacific War

Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2004 9:47 pm
by pasternakski
SPI's monster was titled "War in the Pacific," which tells you why Matrix/2by3 had to add the "Struggle Against Japan" thing to avoid copyright problems. Les, note that the Victory title "Pacific War" had the subtext "The Struggle Against Japan" in order to avoid violating SSI/Grigsby's rights. "War in the Pacific: The Struggle Against Japan" is, therefore, a double steal.

RE: SPI Pacific War

Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2004 12:02 pm
by Caranorn
1) I just haven't visited the forums the past few weeks. There really isn't all that much we can say until we get more info on CWiF II from ADG or Matrix.

2) Iiirc, the SPI and VG monster Pacific war games were related. I for one only own the VG version (two copies for some weird reason, probably because some hobby stores ended up sitting on copies and I decided to grab one cheap). My problem with that game was naval movement when I realised it didn't match up with actual task force speeds (not flank, cruise speed). But until then I recall I was playing that game like a maniac.

Marc aka Caran...

RE: SPI Pacific War

Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2004 4:05 pm
by pasternakski
The VG and SPI titles are very different from each other. SPI's later offering, "Pacific Theater of Operations" bore some similarity to WitP, but the Fresno Gaming Association's "Eagle and the Sun" was almost a direct ripoff.

RE: SPI Pacific War

Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2004 12:15 am
by Hoplosternum
There are various house rules set available on the net via web grognards which 'fix' some of the problems with Victory Games Pacific War. For a Monster Game it is managable but does take an age to set up initially [X(]

None of the fixes changed the fact that time moved at different speeds during the months depending on whether you were in contact with the enemy or not yet all units moved the same distance regardless of whether time was moving in 6 hour or two day turns. Some people just hate this but I thought the over all result was excellent giving a real feel of the launching of operations, bluffing and brief but deadly clashes between fleets and aircraft. The searching and allowable lying of what your opponent spots was a great touch [:)]

I just wish I had found more people who had the time to play it. Most of my experience is solo although I have played the campaign a little against opponents - but after a 10 hour solo set up and then explaining the rules / giving mulligans left and right even my enthusiasum waned [:(]

As far as I am aware, although I do not own a copy, War in the Pacific is far larger - in map size, units and time required. VG Pacific War is a far more manageable game.

RE: Where have all the WiF fans gone...

Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2004 2:53 am
by YohanTM2
ORIGINAL: SeaMonkey

Yohan,
You should have tried some of the later starting campaigns as Axis with exp level+2 and expert settings. To bad Rambonehead put you off to the true essence of SC which is H to H. I do PBEM and sometimes get a bunch of games going (6+), different, modified campaigns make for lots of unkowns and creates chaos in your own mind. Good mental exercise for multi-tasking. The forum is real civil and enlightening, excluding the Rambonerless types, but even they are good for a laugh. I've had this game on my HD for almost 2 years and still get much enjoyment out of the simple mechanics, yet tough to master idiosyncracies that SC is. To bad you didn't look deeper.

Played it all, and even did some HtH testing for Hubert against some of his top folks. It is impossible to lose as Germany unless the Allies gamble everything in '39/early '40 and then the game is over either way which is zero fun.

RE: Where have all the WiF fans gone...

Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2004 2:54 am
by SeaMonkey
Yohan,

Don't get stuck in Fall Weiss, admittedly unbalanced, try the customs, "What Ifs". How about Z-Plan, available at Otto's sight?

RE: Where have all the WiF fans gone...

Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2004 8:09 pm
by YohanTM2
Thanks SeaMonkey

RE: Where have all the WiF fans gone...

Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2004 4:34 pm
by terje439
still around, however sadly enough the matrixgames-people seem to do a adg, and not update
regularily, so I see no point to spend alot of time here, as I really do not get that much input anway...

RE: SPI Pacific War

Posted: Wed May 05, 2004 3:18 am
by geozero
Les,

I feel your pain...

I d/l a demo of WiF way back a couple of years ago that looked pretty good, much like the board games. They stopped all efforts though and I'm glad Matrix is taking over.

As far as playing non-AI games for sake of storage I'd suggest Aide De Camp 2 or ADC2 as it's best known. Try http://www.hpssims.com/Pages/products/adc2/ADC2-Main.html

They have many free modules, some that you can buy, and you can always design your own.

RE: Where have all the WiF fans gone...

Posted: Fri May 28, 2004 7:22 am
by herwin
There is a WiF forum at Yahoo with over 1000 active members. There's lots of discussion of game tactics and rules problems, and cWiF discussions occur frequently. For example, I posted a cWiF bug report last week describing how the game would crash if you try to save BPs at Dakar for the Free French. There are other problems with the resource transport logic.

Recent rules discussions include an analysis of invasions at Gibraltar (it can be made to work about 60% of the time during 1941), and stuffing the USSR border (it works at least 60-70% of the time to delay the German attack to 1942). There are a number of ahistorical tactics that have become part of the standard opening, e.g., a CW invasion of Portugal during impulse 3 of SO 1939.

RE: Where have all the WiF fans gone...

Posted: Fri May 28, 2004 1:07 pm
by Hanal
I wonder how many of those 1000 members over at the Yahoo WiF board have any interest in this pending....way pending from the look.... Matrix version?

RE: Where have all the WiF fans gone...

Posted: Fri May 28, 2004 1:27 pm
by herwin
Quite a few. The Yahoo WiF board was where the cWiF discussions took place while Chris M. was developing it for ADG.
ORIGINAL: J P Falcon

I wonder how many of those 1000 members over at the Yahoo WiF board have any interest in this pending....way pending from the look.... Matrix version?