WiR vs TOAW3

[DeadInThrench]

A while back, someone came around here suggesting that those of us that were interested in WiR, might just consider TOAW3.

Now, I was leaning in that direction so decided to check it out.

But, although TOAW3 has an exceptional strength in the wealth of typically well done scenarios, covering just about any and all campaigns that you might imagine, the problem with TOAW3.... is the GAME SYSTEMS..... are in many cases OFF THE MARK (as far as being reasonable historically and/or player friendly), and in other cases WAY OFF THE MARK (e.g. the naval system), and in still other cases NON-EXISTING (e.g. no chain of command, no leaders, no supply stockpile with units using up supplies, etc).

I should say here that, things are SO SEVERE in this regard, that I have given up on making any comments in the TOAW forums.... just because there are soooo many 'off the mark' situations, almost gets to the point where you can't enumerate them anymore.

I should also say here, that IMO the worst of these problems is the 'ants blocking retreats' problem. The game allows enemy units to retreat into friendly controlled hexes, and so you must have every hex around the attacked units occupied to block retreats, and you have these smaller sized units running around, and can break down your larger units into smaller units, and you end up using these units (e.g. 'ants') to block the retreat of enemy units.... and the whole thing comes off, quite frankly, as being.... silly.

Now, I am not saying the game is without merit, but it comes to the point for me, that it is much like Norm Koger's other game, Age of Rifles, in that, for battles or campaigns that you have interest in, where there is not really anything else available, the game can be fun but, expect major variations from the historical as far as how it all plays out.

Uh, IMO, Matrix has a significant opportunity to make an effort for TOAW3 like they did for WiTP: Admirals Edition..... get a designer that really knows what he is doing (e.g. can handle simple math, etc <g>), and a team of programmers, and totally replace the game systems (the interface could be improved but no big deal) and then we would be talking an $80 to $120 game, but IMO it would be a big winner relative to everyone that has played TOAW over the years... and would fly due to being built on that and all the typically well-done scenarios that exist now.

Of course, I have no control over that. So, just posting my comments here to see if anyone else has had the same experience, and any comments anyone might have.

DiT