Kudos - and some suggestions

[Poltava]

After running through the “Commander – The Great War” for some time I must say that I really enjoy it. I have tried a number of WW1 Strategy games through the years, and I think that this one is THE BEST. There is a distinct Great War-feel to it, with all the basic problems that faced WW1 commanders being there. [:)]

There are, however, some problems.

• The diplomatic system is too crude. You could argue that the view-point of the player is strictly military, with all the diplomacy left to others. But a system where you could actually INFLUENCE the diplomatic wheeling and dealing (as, say, in the Total War series) would lead to a much more dynamic game. But the least that should be done is to tweak the mechanics, so that the entry of neutral nations are more influenced by the general situation. Romania entered the brawl some turns AFTER Russia had surrendered, something that would never had happened in real life.

• The AI is capable, but in a critical situation it will put priority on garrisoning cities rather than maintaining a solid line. When it comes to key cities, like Paris or Belgrade etc, this makes sense, but in a situation when you manage to punch a real hole in the AI:s line, the defense will sort of disintegrate as they instead start to sit it out in isolated cities, rather than sacrifice some in order to assemble a new, solid line. This vulnerability made it possible in one game of mine to knock Russia out of the war already in 1915.

• If you are willing to let your poor aircraft units bleed they can be used as make-shift gap pluggers, flown to the critical spot to hold the line. In a standard situation this is of course pretty silly, but I don’t think I could have broken France in early 1918 in one game if I had not used aircraft as defensive gap-fillers in my advance. This is of course grossly unrealistic, and should be fixed in some way. If a land unit attack an aircraft unit the aircraft units should always be eliminated, opening up for an advance into the hex.

As mentioned, the best WW1 Strategy game I've seen, but it can be even better. I understand that a completely new diplomatic system is probably beyond the scope of the current system (as is, say, fighting in Africa) but if you guys who built this game persevere I think you can have a winner here! [;)]

[Lord Zimoa]

Thanks.

[operating]

I agree with with Poltava on a number of points especially with:

a system where you could actually INFLUENCE the diplomatic wheeling and dealing

There is so much potential for this to be a successful game. After playing this game up and down and back and forth, it does get a little boring. Tweaking existing features as well as adding a selection to have FOG or not might be something to consider. At least on your enemy nation's disposition.