Matrix Games Forums

I'm interested in getting this game. I wish there was a demo. Can someone describe how it plays? I didn'y care for the pacific War, thought it was too micromanaging and never got the hang of it. Is this one the same or can the computer handle some of the detail?

Thanks in advance.

Bloody hell, you're not asking much!

I will try to keep this as simple as possible. Sequential player order phases but simultaneous turn resolution. 1 day turns (or more) with day night phases. Similar in some respects to PacWar (GaryG did both). UV only concentrates on South Pacific Theatre (where you are effectively the theatre commander). Unit scale Reg/Batt, Squadron and Ship.

Player is generally responsible for selecting and moving supplies, men and equipment from A to B (sorry, you can't avoid this). However, routine (computer controlled) convoys can be set up to regularly supply bases in quiet areas thereby reducing player involvement.

Combat units are ordered by player to perform tasks for the turn, some are general orders (ie naval attack), some specific (attack a particular airfield). Once the turn resolution phase begins, player has no further role except to watch. AI routines take over and units attempt to carry out their given orders. What happens next is a combination of factors such as your orders, enemy orders, command efficiency and aggression, weather, unit quality, what targets were spotted, mission type, etc.

I had my reservations about PacWar as well but this game is definitely superior (in my opinion). Even though its still a big game and requires players to do a lot of low level tasks, the fact that you are only dealing with the South Pacific rather than the whole Pacific/Indian Ocean, makes it nowhere near as tiresome. This means that the efforts involved in regularly checking the status of units/bases, resting units, loading and carrying men and supplies from A to B, etc will rarely seem as tedious as it sounds since these actions will have a far more direct impact on success/failure in UV than PacWar.

That's enough opinion from me on UV. I've spoken about the micromanaging because that's what you seem concerned most about. I won't go into detail about the combat side of things except to say it's probably one of the most outstanding features of the game. If you're after a wargame, what better selling point do you need.

I would suggest you make the effort to go through the forums and read what others have said. There are a lot of questions similar to yours scattered around the place (use the search function with keywords like 'newbie').

A word of caution when using the forums. You will come across many posts that complain about certain aspects of the game (including micromanagement). Don't be unduly influenced by this. Take note of several things. The complaint is normally based on a difference of opinion over how something is modelled in the game by the designers (note the word opinion). If the complaint is about a bug, note how quickly Matrix responds and often corrects it if valid (you won't see that in most games). Finally, note how the majority of people who post a complaint are still playing and enjoying UV.

What Drongo said.

I tried to get into Pac War (heck I was even a very early beta/alpha tester) but the micromanagement overwhelmed me.

UV is a lot more polished, a little less micormanagement, and a lot more fun.

The period and theater are by far the most interesting of any Naval campaign, simply because the sides are fairly evenly matched. (And with a couple of the What If scenarios the Japanese have a real chance of winning).

I was underwhelmed by the game play at first. The game is pretty complex and really appeals to the detail oriented grog.

Well all grogs are detail oriented but you know what I mean.

I played it for a while and then gave up on it. The micro didn't appeal to me nor did the scope of the game. I don't want to be the theater commander and the supply officer too. If I'm the commander then I should have competant staff officers to handle the little stuff.

And there are a few minor irritants like dumb as a rock TF commanders who you have to watch because if you tell them to go from Luganville to PM they take the most direct route which brings them within range of LB aircraft at Rabaul. You have to give them an initial destination further south and then remember to catch them before they get there to redirect them to PM.

But after a few weeks I dug it out and started playing it again and now I get the shakes if I don't get a few turns in every day.

The game is deep, subtle and nice to look at. Well worth the money.

The AI is far superior to any other strategy game I've played (all of them basically - can't think of any I've missed, except for Pacific War or whatever it was), and the human opponents are far superior to that (because they can be very unpredictable).
Best computer game I've got all year.