Just bought WIF

[wobbleguts]

Ordered the box set but for some reason it hasn't been shipped yet. In the meantime, I downloaded the install files and am watching the tutorials (as recommended).

Jeez they are hard work. Lots of flow charts and no game play examples.

Can't say I am any wiser after watching the first few. It would be better if there were some simple tutorial games to play rather than the flowcharts.

Also, (unrelated) the Matrix patch update is no longer working. When I click on 'check for update' it times out. Worked before with WIF and SC WW11 but doesn't work any more.

[eouellet]

WIF is not a simple game, so don't feel bad about it.

You may want to download the rulebook for the board game from MWIF. From the "Help" drop down menu, select "Rules as Written", and save the pdf. Reading it might work better for you. Just keep in mind that there are some slight changes from the table top game and the computer version, mostly about the map, as it is now in one single scale, worldwide, and there is no off-map boxes.

[paulderynck]

Besides the video tutorials you can try the built-in tutorials.

[wobbleguts]

ORIGINAL: paulderynck

Besides the video tutorials you can try the built-in tutorials.

Built in tutorials? Where and what are those? Are they like tutorial games?

[paulderynck]

Look in the orange boxes on the initial splash screen.

[Neilster]

To be honest, I found the tutorials a bit of a struggle. As I suggested before, study the video tutorials like an academic subject, taking notes that you can refer to later.

Once you've done that (or at least the ones that cover the land/air system), I think the best way to learn the system is to try Barbarossa, as it's mostly land/air combat. That should get you familiar with that. Once you've watched the naval ones, try Guadalcanal.

It doesn't matter if you make mistakes because you're playing both sides and you can regularly save and/or restart the scenario if you like. The computer enforcing the rules will quickly help you learn what's going on.

[wobbleguts]

Thanks for the advice.

Ordinarily I would just plunge into the game and look at tutorials/manuals etc later, but I have ordered the box set of MWIF and wanted to delay playing until I have a hard copy of the manuals in my hands. Plus, I am still new to SC WWII and am reading that games manual as well (up to 7.0 in the PDF book.

The video tutorials for MWIF are not helpful. The narrator obviously knows his stuff but using flowcharts doesn't give any sense of how the game is actually played.

Thank you paulderynck, I found those tutorials and they seem more relevant to game play.

Playing Barbarossa first is a good idea. I can probably figure out what is going on with mostly land/air units. Then tackle the naval aspects later.

[Courtenay]

One thing about the Barbarossa scenario: The quick start setup for the Russians is awful. You can play it, just to see an example of how NOT to set up the Russians. If you want a decent set up, you have to do a normal start and set the Russians up yourself.

One thing the quick start set-up is good for is to figure out how overruns work. Given a decent German ground strike, there is a Russian stack that can be overrun on impulse one. Figuring out how to do it, both in terms of game play and then how to tell the computer to move the units, is probably a worthwhile exercise. (Hint: cntl-left-click.)

[wobbleguts]

ORIGINAL: Courtenay

One thing about the Barbarossa scenario: The quick start setup for the Russians is awful. You can play it, just to see an example of how NOT to set up the Russians. If you want a decent set up, you have to do a normal start and set the Russians up yourself.

One thing the quick start set-up is good for is to figure out how overruns work. Given a decent German ground strike, there is a Russian stack that can be overrun on impulse one. Figuring out how to do it, both in terms of game play and then how to tell the computer to move the units, is probably a worthwhile exercise. (Hint: cntl-left-click.)

Thanks for that, I'll start off with the quick start option as suggested.

Good to hear that you can stack units. Miss that ability in games like SC.

Still waiting for my MWIF box set to be shipped. My plan is to wait until it arrives before studying the game in depth and starting a game. In the meantime I'll continue ploughing through the SC WWII manual (up to chapter 8) and play a few more games of that...

[Zovs]

I personally found the text tutorials, the interactive tutorials an the video tutorials to be invaluable to my learning. On 17...now

[AlbertN]

I think some gameplay example is in Tutorial nr.9 or 10, like Land Combat or Movement - where it teaches the invasion of Poland business!

[pzgndr]

ORIGINAL: Courtenay
One thing about the Barbarossa scenario: The quick start setup for the Russians is awful. You can play it, just to see an example of how NOT to set up the Russians. If you want a decent set up, you have to do a normal start and set the Russians up yourself.

I've wondered why these quick start setups cannot be updated with better ones, or additional setups added. Certainly newbies can eventually set up themselves, but why not provide good setups to start with and learn from? If Steve won't do this, then others could post alternative setups. There should be a repository for alternative setups for all scenarios, and for the different rule sets. It's doable.

[Courtenay]

ORIGINAL: pzgndr

ORIGINAL: Courtenay
One thing about the Barbarossa scenario: The quick start setup for the Russians is awful. You can play it, just to see an example of how NOT to set up the Russians. If you want a decent set up, you have to do a normal start and set the Russians up yourself.

I've wondered why these quick start setups cannot be updated with better ones, or additional setups added. Certainly newbies can eventually set up themselves, but why not provide good setups to start with and learn from? If Steve won't do this, then others could post alternative setups. There should be a repository for alternative setups for all scenarios, and for the different rule sets. It's doable.

A long time ago I posted an improved (NOT perfect) Barbarossa quick start setup. It is the attachment in the first post in this thread: https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.a ... t&#3504213

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: pzgndr

ORIGINAL: Courtenay
One thing about the Barbarossa scenario: The quick start setup for the Russians is awful. You can play it, just to see an example of how NOT to set up the Russians. If you want a decent set up, you have to do a normal start and set the Russians up yourself.

I've wondered why these quick start setups cannot be updated with better ones, or additional setups added. Certainly newbies can eventually set up themselves, but why not provide good setups to start with and learn from? If Steve won't do this, then others could post alternative setups. There should be a repository for alternative setups for all scenarios, and for the different rule sets. It's doable.

If you want to gather a half dozen or so 'good' ones for Barbarossa, it is easy enough for me to included them in an update/hot patch. I'll just throw them in the collection of saved games for Barbarossa.

Don't worry about listing which optional rules have been chosen. When restoring a saved game, the player can see which optional rules are set (it is a button at the bottom of the page describing the saved game).

[pzgndr]

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets
If you want to gather a half dozen or so 'good' ones for Barbarossa, it is easy enough for me to included them in an update/hot patch. I'll just throw them in the collection of saved games for Barbarossa.

Good to hear. This is something experienced players could do, sending you or posting their alternative setups for Barbarossa and other scenarios for you to consider for inclusion in an update. It would be helpful for all of us.