Matrix Games Forums

Played Husky and contemplating taking on the Grand Campaign vs the AI. Should learn more about the system before I do so, but was looking over the Grand Campaign.

Looking at the map Corsica and Sardinia look like the better route to go.

Its to early to say, but War in the West is looking like the best game covering its subject matter out there. I have just about every game out there.

The only thing I could wish for is a hotkey that would give you the option to use the current standard unit symbols and switch to something along the lines of later Panzer General where you had tanks, planes and other stuff you could see actual fighting it out. If it were made basic to cut down on cost but moddable you would see some interesting stuff put out their by enthusiasts like Combat Mission where the modders have dramatically changed the way it looks. It would be very cool to instead of seeing a bunch of colored hexes when air missions get executed to see 109's, P-38s and other planes shooting it out. It would add some atmosphere.

For someone like me who was raised on the old AH and SPI wargames this is not a big issue, but my nephew who was raised in a graphical interface world and is used to seeing graphical action on a computer its not easy to get into. Combat Mission which is complex too he likes and gets because the way its presented. Its not a bunch of counters.

That all being said and done for an old timer like me I see a good Western Front strategic game.

Well, I hope that for future releases we can add in something like the combat animations we put into WITP.

One of the fun things in the Grand Campaign is that you can change your targets on Turn 1 and still have most of your prep, so you can really explore a variety of 1943 options.. Still, Sicily is a very useful base for future amphibious ops in the Med.

Animations would be great. Be ambitious. There is a lot of samples from what others did to copy or improve on. Doesn't have to be 3D something nice in 2D would work on a 2D map. It would be very cool to see an air raid take off from a base on the map, watch its progress across the map and get intercepted, flaked along the way, bomb the target and return.

Well, you can already see most of that, just with symbols but if you turn the combat resolution up you can watch as the air missions progress across the map, get intercepted, etc.

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

Well, you can already see most of that, just with symbols but if you turn the combat resolution up you can watch as the air missions progress across the map, get intercepted, etc.

I understand that. What I had in mind was more than symbols-like actual B-17's, B-24s fighters with bursting flak, dogfights-simple animated action...remember Panzer General 1? Maybe something like that and moddable.

I think the chrome is just right as it is; I don't really want to add the cost of a 3D engine to the purchase price just to see cartoony planes fly across the landscape.

Erik, I'm really loving the new Air systems and the way you guys have fine-tuned the information firehose since WitE. This game is *much* easier to get into. Husky was a ton of fun and I'm debating which longer scenario to get into now.

When do we get to have '39/'40 and some Afrika Korps campaigns? Really looking forward to the long-form WitW that is surely coming with expansions.

ORIGINAL: RobearGWJ

I think the chrome is just right as it is; I don't really want to add the cost of a 3D engine to the purchase price just to see cartoony planes fly across the landscape.

Erik, I'm really loving the new Air systems and the way you guys have fine-tuned the information firehose since WitE. This game is *much* easier to get into. Husky was a ton of fun and I'm debating which longer scenario to get into now.

When do we get to have '39/'40 and some Afrika Korps campaigns? Really looking forward to the long-form WitW that is surely coming with expansions.

Read the thread carefully. I wasn't asking for 3D animations. Something 2D would be fine on the 2D map. Panzer General-1 was not 3D either.

More animations would be nice. Always good to create more atmosphere.

I agree, animations would be great. They don't have to be 3D animations. Erik mentioned the animations in WiTP, and that sounds like a realistic goal to me. Those animations consist of a 2D window with aircraft or ships or ground units facing off, and a text display of hits as they occur. The hit data is similar to the data we see now when we watch combat reports in WITW at a high detail level. Something like that would be great here.