Thinking Of Buying and I Have A Few Questions

[IslandInland]

My questions are;

Is there a list of scenarios that come with the game available anywhere? It's a small detail but it would help me make up my mind.

I see lots of scenarios for the AT engine in the Scenario Bank, considerably less for ATG. Are the AT scenarios compatible with the ATG engine?

Finally I have read that this game is unhistorical in it's WWII scenarios. To what extent is this true?


Thanks in advance for any replies.

[ernieschwitz]

ORIGINAL: XXXCorps
My questions are;

Is there a list of scenarios that come with the game available anywhere? It's a small detail but it would help me make up my mind.

I see lots of scenarios for the AT engine in the Scenario Bank, considerably less for ATG. Are the AT scenarios compatible with the ATG engine?

Finally I have read that this game is unhistorical in it's WWII scenarios. To what extent is this true?


Thanks in advance for any replies.

I will answer the question about the AT engine and the available scenarios, for that for ATG. Yes, everything is compatible. All AT scenarios are playable in ATG.

[LJBurstyn]

HI, as far as Historical accuracy is concerned most of the players I've met here are more interested in player balance than historical accuracy.

I am working on a scenario on the European Theater of Operations (ETO) originally designed by another player...but it is a almost complete redo of the Scenario. It will be more historically accurate but it is impossible to make a perfect historical accurate game because players will not make the same mistakes as the original persons made...and anything that you as a player does will change what your opponent will do...so you can make the circumstances as accurate as possible but that is all that is possible.

Example: What would have happened if Germany had notified Japan of it's intention to attack Russia BEFORE April of 1941...Japan might have attacked Russia in coordination with Germany and that would have prevented the Siberian Reinforcement of Moscow in October of 1941...maybe Moscow would have fallen to Germany. But that raises the question about USA entering the war. And since Stalin was intent on attacking Germany in the summer of 1941 would finding out that Germany intended on attacking them have changed that decision (Russia had broken the German Diplomatic codes but was slow in reading them). The what if's are many and programming them all into the game would be impossible--the game would be too big to run without CTD's.

But you can do some things...like the population of the countries was limited so the size of the armies should be limited. Research becomes important but how do you program that...I've decided to let the players decide what to research and only program the COSTS of that research into the game.

[ernieschwitz]

I tend to think (right or wrong) that ATG is not so much a game, but a collection of games, within the same ruleset. While there exists some stock scenarios, and some are very good, the best scenarios are usually player made, imho. That is at least according to historical accuraccy. Some of the most accurate units come from Bombur and whatever he has been collaborating on. So if you want to use Pz IIIs, Pz IIs and such, of their various marks, I´d go down that road. If you however are looking for a generic wargame, with random setup cities, and such, to test your wits, and an AI that is tough to crack, I´d go for the A New Dawn random game that comes with one of the patches.

ATG is very versatile. I have seen everything from ancient rome to distant times scifi scenarios being made. Heck there is even a pretty good Lord of The Rings Scenario out there. That these things can be encompassed in the same game is really an achievement!

Also the modding possiblities are through the roof. So if you don´t like something you can actually mod it to something you like.

[IslandInland]

Thanks for the responses.

I'm almost exclusively a single player wargamer so I am primarily interested in AI capable scenarios. It's good to hear that AT scenarios are compatible with the ATG engine. I've got my eye on the Vulcan scenario and anything that covers the battles in North Africa during WWII.

I recently purchased Decisive Campaigns The Blitzkrieg From Warsaw To Paris and have been hugely impressed by that game. The grand operational scale is perfect for me. I've had my eye on ATG for a while and after seeing how good the Decisive Campaigns game is my interest in ATG was piqued even more.

I think I'll pick it up. Given how many scenarios there are available there are bound to be quite a few that interest me.

[Josh]

Totally agree with you that the DC series is *quite* impressive. In my humble opinion it is *the* successor to the TOAW and the newer WitE (both are great games mind you but TOAW is showing its age, and so are the players hehe [;)] ) Besides (again imho) WitE and WitW are a bit too complicated. DC has hit the exact right spot, large scale operational game *without* becoming too complicated. No small feat, and a huge [&o] to the developer. Furthermore Vic is always fast with his responses, updates and patches.
Having all said that my interest in ATG is more in the random games, I guess I've seen the WWII maps a bit too often, and with the random games every new game is a whole new ballgame. Totally new every single game and I love it.

Just my 2 cts.

[Tac2i]

Ditto what Josh said re ATG. For me the greatest feature of ATG is the random game engine. It allows me to make history, not just re-visit historical battles.

[mgaffn1]

1) Per Josh & Webizen comments above, you will get many many hours of play out of the random map generator.
2) being able to tinker/modify/create in the editor has engrossed me for thousands of hours. Not something everyone is into, but certain personality types (myself included) LOVE game editors. The editor for this game is one of the best.
3) Vic, the creator of the game checks in on these forums regularly, and takes suggestions, makes patches, & participates in discussions about this game platform. Pretty rare considering how long this game has been around.

Keep in mind, the generic games won't be as deeply historical or detailed as the Decisive Campaigns - but if that's what you want, the scenario bank is pretty amazing. Otherwise, the random map generator is pretty amazing for a WW2 era game.

[tombo]

I've had this game for long time but never really stayed with it.

My question is, whats the best way to start again? This game has changed allot from its inception (all to the best I see).

I'm fully updated to current release (but not the latest beta by Vic).
Are the original manuals still worth reading or are they so out of date? Are all changes captured to review?

Which games best start with?

Any help appreciated.

cheers!

[Tac2i]

I'd recommend you start with a small random game. Yes, the manual is still worth a read. I'd also checkout the 'info for newbies' post.

ORIGINAL: tombo

I've had this game for long time but never really stayed with it.

My question is, whats the best way to start again? This game has changed allot from its inception (all to the best I see).

I'm fully updated to current release (but not the latest beta by Vic).
Are the original manuals still worth reading or are they so out of date? Are all changes captured to review?

Which games best start with?

Any help appreciated.

cheers!