Observations Round 1

[Ripster8]

Greetings, fellow musketeers! First of all I want to thank Matrix-AGEOD-HQ for publishing TYW. I have dreamed of such a game since I was a child and here it is! Hurrah! I want to support this noble endeavor and I thought the best way to do that would be a) to by the game when it first came out, and b) play it and critique thoroughly as soon as possible. After playing the tutorials and reading the manual I dove right into the grand campaign scenario. FYI, I have played Rise of Prussia extensively and Birth of Rome a bit so I have some AGEOD experience. In any case, I am playing the Imperialist side in the campaign, AI set at Lieutenant. use behaviors, normal activation, detect bonus medium, normal aggression, AI gets more time. So, here goes!

1) Beautiful map and art work, as always. No problems installing or playing the game so far.

2) I wish period music had been used but understand that it may have been too expensive. I assume it can be modded in?

3) The scroll slider on the right side of several selection boxes is much too narrow and is difficult to manipulate.

4) The 'catholic conversion' regional card gets very tedious to play after awhile. Click on the card, find a region that needs converting, click and drag the card and release, and repeat many, many times. Is there a better way to achieve the desired goal of conversion?

5) When you are viewing a stack and then select the strategic atlas the stack view remains in place over the atlas view. It disappears with a right click but it is an extra click after all.

6) I can find no clear indication of when my tax income will appear and just how much each city is providing. It just appears in the message log that Wien paid taxes but no amount specified. And I did check the strategic atlas and no city is shown as providing tax income, all zeros there. Makes planning my purchases difficult, but perhaps that is what you intended.

7) Sometimes when a stack goes from active to inactive (when a turn passes) it's stance changes from defend-normal to defend-retreat. A bit of a bother to check each stack each turn, but then again there aren't that many stacks involved so I could be whining here.

8) Depot construction takes one supply unit, not two as stated in the manual. I am thankful that it is only one since they are not plentiful and it is already a challenge to keep an offensive supplied.

9) It would be nice to be able to build forts during the game, and not just the field entrenchments of units. The game does last 30 years, after all...

10) I am seeing a lot of 'sieges' by the AI using a stack containing one or two cavalry units only. Raids I could see, sieges no.

11) Haven't seen many prisoners taken during the game. 20+ battles and only 100 prisoners...

12) After the fall of Prague, Protestant artillery reinforcements are still appearing at that city. It was nice to receive the gift of several 12 lb artillery batteries, but I did feel kind of bad for the heretics...

13) The organization and use of military units is much simpler that in any other AGEOD game I have played.

14) The event that sends the bulk (80%) of the Imperialist army to Gdansk is absolutely devastating to the Catholic cause. They quickly run out of supply and are then deposited in Moravia right before winter and far from any shelter. Not many of my lads made it back from that debacle, I can tell you. Not sure if this is what you intended.

15) When the 'Wallenstein Removed' event fired Wallenstein did not disappear from the map. He was his normal, awesome self. Not sure what would have happened if I had clicked on the 'Reinstate Wallenstein' decision.

16) The AI has been OK, sometimes defeating me in field engagements but it seems a bit skittish. Stacks run across the map, run out of supply and then run back north without doing much damage. Also it often pulls out of a siege too early and just when they are getting the upper hand.

17) I had only one CTD in late 1635. Not sure why and I deleted the game. If it happens again I will save it.

18) My campaign is moving slowly. The farthest I have gotten was into 1635 and since I hadn't defeated the Danish yet I still haven't seen the Swedes or the French yet.

19) The diplomacy boxes at the top of the map might have been a good idea for a board game but not for a computer game, in my opinion. Having to scroll or jump up to the top of the map each turn, then zoom out and then play diplomatic card after diplomatic card on all the different countries is really tedious. There has got to be a better way to handle diplomacy! Something in the strategic atlas, perhaps?

So, there it is! I am terribly happy with the game so for and am headed back there once I post this. I will make additional comments as things progress. As stated, The above comments are made with an eye towards improving this unique effort. I really don't want it to fall by the wayside and lose tech/developer support. Thank you and I'm back to it! I have got to figure out a way to take Magdeburg before the snow flies...

[Leibst]

Many thanks for this good summary Ripster8 and for your kind words.[;)]
I will try to comment/answer some of your points:
- music. Yes you can mod it easily. Feel free to ask if needed. Here or in the Ageod site.
- Conversion Decision. It seems that EPs are in excess in the game. This will be revised. It wasn't my intention to play so many times this Decision. Maybe ir should be more expensive.
- Will refer to Pocus that issue with the strategic map overlaping.
- Point 6. It is intended but read the annex document.
-Point 7. Seems and issue will report it to Pocus.
-Point 8. The manual doesnt explain this properly (my fault) you need 4 supply elements.
-point 9.I have in mind to add a Decision to improve fortification level in a city.
-Point 10. This is AI terrain. Not so easy to improve things but Pocus is always working on that so any changes will be added in future patches.
- Point 11. I have had more prisoners in some tests but yes. We need more. Will be improved.
- point 12. Fixed for next patch.
- Point 14. Will check this. In my tests only some units went to Poland.
-Point 15. Will check that. In my tests was working ok but will repeat them.
-18. Sweden loyalty should be over 60 and all danish cities taken expect the Capital,including some key cities like Kiel to force Danish Surrender.
- point 19. Will ask Pocus if it is possible to go faster to dip boxes.

It is good to have this kind of reports as we can work on improving the game and can detect things we haven't saw in our tests.

[Ripster8]

Thank you for your quick response and encouragement, Leibst! I have pressed on with my current game as the Imperialists and have reached August of 1638.

1) I took Magdeburg in late 1635 and then spent 1636 chasing down Christian IV's army composed of 8 x siege artillery, 4 x 24 lb artillery and 3 x 48 lb artillery. No infantry, no cavalry just artillery. Now there is a monarch who likes his guns! In any case he was finally cornered at Minden and overrun, leaving me with a rather outsized artillery park.

2) Finally moved on Hamburg in 1637 and had a truly epic siege with the garrison being resupplied and reinforced by sea (well-done AI!) and with several breaches being repaired, etc. Wallenstein was getting low on supplies when the second breach finally was achieved and the assault began. Unfortunately, Christian continued his artillery fixation and the garrison was easily overrun. This time I captured 7 x siege artillery, one 24 lb artillery and 9 supply wagons. You may have a bit of any AI problem there...

3) As stated earlier Wallenstein did not disappear when dismissed so out of curiosity I clicked the 'reinstate Wallenstein' decision and, you guessed it, I now have two Wallensteins. Since one was plenty I left the twin in Linz to enjoy the excellent pastry and fine views of the Danube.

4) By this stage in the war the Protestant cause has pretty much collapsed and it is really just a matter of logistics for the Imperialists. Also money, war supplies and engagement points are overflowing, as are replacements and new units to be built. Not much of a challenge but I intend to play through to the end to provide feedback to you all.

5) There is a stack of three Protestant leaders sitting in Olmutz (which I control) and I am unable to engage, capture or otherwise shoo them away. It is Anhalt and two colonels, if that makes any difference.

That's about it for this update. I have my eyes set on Kiel and Lubeck in 1639. They should be no trouble to take since I have a huge artillery park and plenty of supplies. More tomorrow and thanks again for making this outstanding game!