Commander - The Great War is the latest release in the popular and playable Commander series of historical strategy games. Gamers will enjoy a huge hex based campaign map that stretches from the USA in the west, Africa and Arabia to the south, Scandinavia to the north and the Urals to the east on a new engine that is more efficient and fully supports widescreen resolutions.
Commander – The Great War features a Grand Campaign covering the whole of World War I from the invasion of Belgium on August 5, 1914 to the Armistice on the 11th of November 1918 in addition to 16 different unit types including Infantry, Cavalry, Armoured Cars and Tanks, Artillery, Railroad Guns and Armoured Trains and more!
Well problem is most of us can't achieve that while you still have "harder" modes to get a challenge we currently have no way of achieving victory *grins*
I've tried my first game as Entente Allies and it's funny how different the setting is (amount of troops at start and stats I suppose), first round the IA can destroy an entrenched serbian unit with 3 units while when you play as the CP there is no way you can do that
The game is fun, good looking, lots of flavor but it'd benefit greatly for a less fast paced experience (or overwhelming IA) imho ofc not asking to nerf too hard as we all like challenge but I prefer when there is more than 1 way to win (or have to follow the exact route like "if you haven't taken brussels/paris in round 2 then you're toasted" is the kind of things I'm not found of hearing )
The game 'really' gets going when you play PBEM. The multiplayer setup lobby is slick and a breeze to use.
Just find an opponent, you will be sorely tested!![:D]
[font="Tahoma"]Our lives may be more boring than those who lived in apocalyptic times,
but being bored is greatly preferable to being prematurely dead because of some ideological fantasy.[/font] - Michael Burleigh
Either I am managing my economy wrong or the AI on balanced is getting a PP boost. Perhaps I am spending manpower foolishly and it is lowering my PP but there are way too many AI troops arrayed against me... the term 'endless hordes' is applicable no matter which side I play the other side seems to have inexhaustible units to plug into holes.
Are me and my brother the only two folks experiencing this?
I must agree, i have played 2 1914 campaigns now as Axis, and the only thing i can do just to stay alive until 1917 is to produce units like a madman, just to halt the threat from russia and from everywhere else not forgetting Italy's warentrance.. unfortunately pretty much only inf as my PP are so low..
SPOILERWARNING:
...So i gave my countries extra 50000 pp and restarted, this time things went much better, even my research managed to outwit the enemy but mind that despite i had 40 research labs in all catergories at all time, i only beat the AI with some few months in tech!
Fro the second game, plan was advance through Belgium and create a defensible front in Northern France - don't push hard for Paris and over-reach. Germany then focuses its main efforts East.
Defeat Serbia before Italian entry - those AH forces would be the core of the Italian Front. An AH artillery heads to Palestine to support the Turks.
Turkey, advances slowly in the Caucasus using only the initial forces, plus the Garrison from the far SE (Kuwait is it?). Very deliberate actions, surround, cut supply to 50% then defeat in detail. Move onto next target.
Fight a strong delaying action versus the British, and wait for reinforcements.
Bulgarians single focus is get ready to and destroy Romania fast, then splits with some advancing into the Ukraine, and the rest supporting Turkey.
The West front was a grinder for both sides, as to be expected. Gas attacks, disrupt then ground troops pound in. I spent far too much in terms of resources for my plan, but managed to hold my line (or when pushed back successfully counter).
Serbia, fell on schedule, Italy faced AH and couldn't get any initial traction. Then a war of attrition in my favour followed.
Caucasus, slow grind. Bloody actions. Everything according to plan.
Egypt/Palestine. Got pushed back, back again and finally held the mountains, just before the 'underbelly' of modern day Turkey (not sure of the geographical name for this range). Artillery + Bulgar inf caused a complete reversal of fortunes, and eventually Turks push through Egypt and all the way to Tunis.
(incidentally go far enough into Libya and you drop to half supply status).
Eastern Front, dynamic and with gains/losses/gains/losses being the pattern. Once Romania fell, the extra front length and disruption in the Ukraine, led to a rapid advance across the whole front. Cavalry was a very useful unit type here, both behind the lines as a reserve to meet any breakthrough, and also to exploit successes.
Got to play the encirclement game, and threaten advanced units, even if you don't get a full encirclement, it causes enough realignment.
Once Russia surrendered, disband all the garrisons on the front, and switch focus to the West and Italy. Pick up a couple of bomber units, and start strategic bombing of the UK, to affect morale.
The Italian lines were outflanked by an invasion of Taranto, then rolled up completely, Rome was hit from the North and South on the same turn and easily taken. Subsequent attacks into the S of France from Italy, led to the collapse of the traditional Western Front, and French Surrender. The losses plus the bombing, led to a British surrender before I could try a Sealion-style invasion.
I did get to practice by doing so on Portugal though... An amphibious assault is no easy thing to manage and succeed with in this game
The Entente collapse like a house of cards, once the first area crumbles. The trick is getting there, before you collapse in the similar manner.
Want one go with the CP more at balanced versus the AI before I up the difficulty.
(amount of troops at start and stats I suppose), first round the IA can destroy an entrenched serbian unit with 3 units while when you play as the CP there is no way you can do that
Sorry to keep banging on about this, but as the main AI developer I feel the need to say it [;)]. The AI does not receive any stat bonuses, on any difficulty level. As the CP player you can completely destroy the Serbian front garrison. Move your three units to the adjacent hexes, and make sure you attack in the right order (look at the rivers, and launch your first attack where you don't have to make a crossing).
The Privileged AI gets temporary Production Point income boosts when it's armies are not at full strength, to help it mobilise and repair quicker. The AI also gets an extra garrison unit in Belgium (this was supposed to be only on Privileged mode but actually appears in all modes, this will be fixed in the first patch).
Is no one playing as the Allies? It does not seem so.
I only play them so far and find the game a bit too easy on the balanced setting.
FWIW they may need tuning.
"Things are getting better!
...Well, maybe not as good as they were yesterday, but much better than they will be tomorrow!"
-Old Russian saying
Myrddraal, regarding the AI, I would like to see a setting whereby the AI plays at its full strength, but it is given no production bonuses etc. This what the 'General' setting on PzC does, and is my preferred way to play. That is, all of the resources are 'balanced', but the AI is aggressive and savvy like in Privileged mode. A bit like I'm playing an MP game, except against the best intellect the CPU can muster.
I assume that the Balanced option doesn't actually give you this, since you noted elsewhere that due to a bug the Handicapped Mode AI was actually playing stronger than in Balanced (or was that just to do with the mis-allocated penalties turning into bonuses?)
Also playing Entente, lost when I made some mistakes in Russia and along the western front in game 1, looking like I will be grinding out a victory in my current game. Pushed the CP back in the west and have retaken all of Belgium but liege. Holding on in the east and Serbia lasted longer than in RL which has helped.
I do agree about Serbia, the AI needs to take more of a flanking action, which is the recommended move as a human play, early on. Not much more to dicker about with the AI though, this game is excellent and I am enjoying it a great deal.
I have tried and tried and tried.. I just cannot beat... no let me more truly state this... I cannot even give the AI on Balanced a good game, it overwhelms me no matter which side I play. The only way I even stay in a game for a long time is to use gamey tactics exploiting the AI weaknesses. I love this game, and perhaps I just suck at it... but until the patch that fixes handicapped AI I can only play MP... which is wonderful also... but not enough for me!
(amount of troops at start and stats I suppose), first round the IA can destroy an entrenched serbian unit with 3 units while when you play as the CP there is no way you can do that
Sorry to keep banging on about this, but as the main AI developer I feel the need to say it [;)]. The AI does not receive any stat bonuses, on any difficulty level. As the CP player you can completely destroy the Serbian front garrison. Move your three units to the adjacent hexes, and make sure you attack in the right order (look at the rivers, and launch your first attack where you don't have to make a crossing).
The Privileged AI gets temporary Production Point income boosts when it's armies are not at full strength, to help it mobilise and repair quicker. The AI also gets an extra garrison unit in Belgium (this was supposed to be only on Privileged mode but actually appears in all modes, this will be fixed in the first patch).
You are correct Myrddraal I restarted another game and indeed saw that the first serbian unit is not as entrenched as I thought it was and so it explains.
Also as the allies I do not have an easy time but the game is balanced for me (hear challenging but you have options) so the problem is mostly for CP I suppose
edit: about a short summary
Made a line at Calais in france and now slowly pushing back but no real advantage, still losing troops in 1 turn when IA focus with artillery but I still expect to make a breakthrough at some point.
Made a mistake in russia as I tried to attack so lost quite a few units now I had to withdraw quite a bit (Kiev).
Advancing in Turkey and Serbia hasn't fall yet (but lost the capital when Bulgaria entered war) but it won't hold long.
Stalemate in Italy
The game is pretty easy to mod. I started tweaking the CP to be little bit tougher in the 1914 campaign. My tweaks are pretty minor and it certainly changed the game up. I plan to do the same to the Entente.
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The game is pretty easy to mod. I started tweaking the CP to be little bit tougher in the 1914 campaign. My tweaks are pretty minor and it certainly changed the game up. I plan to do the same to the Entente.
Could you give some advice how to tweak the AI?
Jyri Kettunen
The eternal privilege of those who never act themselves: to interrogate, be dissatisfied, find fault.
The AI is harder to tweak than other elements of the game, but there are ways you can mod it. If you want a good place to start, look in Data / Scripts / ScriptedAI /. Open those files in notepad, and you'll see some 'scripted' functions which influence the AI. These are the non-dynamic elements of the AI, which can be edited to alter the AI's behaviour.
The AI is harder to tweak than other elements of the game, but there are ways you can mod it. If you want a good place to start, look in Data / Scripts / ScriptedAI /. Open those files in notepad, and you'll see some 'scripted' functions which influence the AI. These are the non-dynamic elements of the AI, which can be edited to alter the AI's behaviour.
Like this option as I feel the AI strategy wise is VERY solid (minus you can hold Serbia too long vs AI), but I will leave modding to more capable folks.
Question Myrddraal, am noticing that the aerial part of the game is a little lacking in terms of dogfights, would just like to see more as it seems it is hard to ever get an Ace to become deployable. Is this something you have looked at or is it behavior that can be modded?
Obviously WW I was all about the grind on the ground, but would just like some more dogfights
Well, in the game dogfights only start once you have researched armed aircraft. Fighters then intercept any enemy air attack on ground units, and escort friendly bombers and zeppelins, engaging any enemy fighters that intercept them. In this way, you can get dogfights which involve multiple fighters, bombers and zeppelins. All of this is triggered automatically when you (or the AI) launch an offensive air attack where there are nearby enemy fighters.
I jusr realized this, I forget about the automatic intercepts since they go so quickly. I directly attacked an enemy unit with one of my own and got the Dogfight event, which is what made me wonder how often aerial combat was actually happening, thanks.
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