Matrix Games Forums

ORIGINAL: itsjustme

ORIGINAL: Kubel

Erik you tease us so well...How does WW2 in Europe sound; based on the WitE engine lets say from 1936-1946 then some way to tie the Pacific and European Theatres together in one mega (I'll need a divorce Lawyer) game.... Anyway bottom line is Matrix Rocks just keep doing what you guys do best....

It's already under consideration. Check the old production thread.

We don't have WiTE yet and you already want a Theater sized game? Are you kidding me???

..... When is it coming out??? Gotta have [:D]

ORIGINAL: Lützow

ORIGINAL: PzB

Horrible news! [X(]
I had hoped War in the East would be delayed for another couple of years.

The "horrible" part here is, that WitE was the last 'big' game in Matrix current pipeline. Aside of WiF, whose release is arguable. It might take years until we'll see another grognard title.

They are still going to do that Grognard title for the Hundred Years War!!

You mean the day by day down to the pitch fork game?

ORIGINAL: Xian

You mean the day by day down to the pitch fork game?

That actually sounds pretty good... [:)]

But for now we must take solace in WitE. Fine balance between sex and divorce.

ORIGINAL: blastpop
We don't have WiTE yet and you already want a Theater sized game? Are you kidding me???

I suppose the wish for a full European theater sized WW2 game "WitE" at the detail level and economy side of WITP-AE with a sub-division level force management and AI like WitEast (hopefully) existed long before the the announcement of WiTEast... Of course carrying that to a word-level game, for example by enabling WiTE and WitP(n) to interface each other, would be the crowning of an emperor -- but then playing this game would be a full-time job, or indeed alternative reality... Probably would only work with the German unemployment benefits system...

For now, excitement is up for WitEast, and its AI...

Let's be honest and not hype the AI too much. It's good, but it's for all intents and purposes still an AI. The real challenge will always be PBEM (or playing the AI on Impossible, I guess).

OK, I just found out about this game today. I am heavily in my second WITP:AE game with a good friend. We both screwed up the first one, me as Japan and him as the Allies. We are doing much better the second time around.

My questions are thus:

1. Will my wife think I have gone really crazy with another game of this magnitude and all the data crunching that it requires?

2. Will my current opponent in WITP:AE and my heads explode if we take up another game of this magnitude?

3. Will Amarillo Design Bureau "fire" me as FEAR since I have fully immersed myself in two other monster games other than "Federation and Empire"?

4. Will they eventually tie both the land engine from this and the naval/air engine from WITP:AE together for "WWII: The whole shebang"?

I am thinking, no, to the first three, but it might be close on those three!

The thought of yes to number 4 makes me drool uncontrollably!

I need a mop with all the drool I am leaving on the BBS!

I am awaiting the release date with great anticipation. [&o][&o][&o]

Y'know, I'd love to see a computer port of Federation and Empire. I loved that game to death about 20 years ago, didn't realize it still had a following.

Maybe Matrix and ADB should have a chat about this...

There is a F&E online computer port being worked on by a volunteer programmer based on the SFBOL engine. It has a lot of potential, I have been invovled in the development of it and if the programmer can get some time away from his very busy medical programming job... we might have something of great potential.

All the hype aside, I don't think that WitE will remotely approximate to WitP AE in terms of detail and size.

WitE plays on divisional level with weekly turns. At Barabarossa launch the Axis had around 160 divisions available. Even if one takes attachable units and air squads into account, there will be hardly more than 300-400 counters to consider for a single turn and the whole conflict lasted about 200 weeks.

I expect WitE rather on a level with some of the larger PanzerCampaign scenarios.

Jeez - they are big enough ..

This cant come fast enough for me - have waited years for game like this ... AND it goes to 1945 as well ... so many russian front games - board and computer stop at 44 ...

So, no go before this weekend. [:(]  I was kind of hoping.

Wrapping to installer and store setup usually takes a week.

So my guess is about 2-3 weeks until WitE release.

All the hype aside, I don't think that WitE will remotely approximate to WitP AE in terms of detail and size.

WitE plays on divisional level with weekly turns. At Barabarossa launch the Axis had around 160 divisions available.

Compared to WitE, the amount of divisions in WitP:AE will appear to be small. I'm not sure how many land units there are in WitP:AE, does each side have more than 1000 land units?

WitP:AE also has issues when it comes to simulating land battles, it is primarily a naval(/air) simulation. In WitE, you can track what every squad does in a battle should you desire to do so, similarly to how WitP:AE allows you to see what your ships and planes are doing.

WitP:AE is good at simulating naval battles and amphibious operations, but not so good at simulating the land war. That's what WitE does best.

It would be pointless to hype WitE into a game it isn't.

You can't manage equipment production in WitE, so that's where the Japanese side in WitP:AE will be more detailed. You can, however, create units as the Soviets, which provides more detail than WitP:AE has. The army you have at the end of the war as the Soviets will be truly "yours", as you essentially rebuild it following the defeats in 1941 to a juggernaught late in the war. That, to me, is one of the main attractions of the game and also reasonably unique for a wargame, where there's usually some form of reinforcement schedule. The land forces you have in WitP:AE were either already on the map at the start of the game or came in as reinforcements at some point.

The land war is more detailed and the air war is less detailed in terms of that you can't train individual pilots (pilot training is automatic up to 40 experience), but you can track how many planes in a squadron are operational or damaged.

The primary differences are the time scale for the turns, the size of the game map, the lack of a naval component and the focus on the land war with a mostly tactical, not strategic air force. The game isn't short on detail, it's just a very different game from WitP:AE. It might be a good idea to judge the game through playing it or through reading AAR's, rather than simply saying it's less or more detailed than game X based on no experience with the game.

If you think the Germans have too few counters, no worries.

Switch over and play the Sovs! More rifle divisions than you can shake a stick at.

They are still going to do that Grognard title for the Hundred Years War!!

And let's hope RTS really means real time for once

ORIGINAL: sillyflower

They are still going to do that Grognard title for the Hundred Years War!!

And let's hope RTS really means real time for once

what game is this in the pipeline?

Was just reading Joel's dev diary on wargamer. Can you point out how the admin system in WitE works? In regard to this paragraph:

Providing players with an endless number of items they could micromanage was easy, but trying to keep the more casual player from feeling he had to micromanage in order to be successful was more difficult. As testing continued it became clear that limits needed to be put on just what the player could do. Gary had always envisioned that the admin point system would be the limiting factor. Through development more items were tied to the admin system such as forming Soviet corps sized combat units and manually upgrading aircraft in air groups. By tying these to the admin system, players can decide how best to spend their limited command focus. For those players that wish to play with more micromanagement, we encourage them to increase the Admin Level Game Option.

You get 50 admin points/AP's each turn as the Axis and 50 increasing to 60 in 1942 as the Soviets. With those points, both sides must "buy" leader reassignments, support unit reassignments and in the Soviet case (support) unit construction/corps consolidation. You can hoard points to a certain limit to be able to, say, convert a large number of divisions into corps on one turn, but that means you would have to save up which means you can't spend AP's on anything else. Managing AP's effectively is a lesson both the Axis and Soviet player will have to learn, although for the Axis player there's somewhat less pressure on AP's as they don't have to construct units.

One of the customisable settings for adjusting the difficulty level against the AI and or handicapping PBEM players of different experience/ability levels, is admin level. Each Campaign and scenario allocates players a set number of Admin Points (APs) per turn. By adjusting this setting you can increase/decrease the number of APs each side gets.