Web Site

[mbatch729]

Last word on this we had was that Matrix was hard at work on the web site for this which should have been up by now. Can we assume the forum hack delayed the web site development?

[ASHBERY76]

Screenies would be nice.[&o]

[David Heath]

We are still working on it but we should have something you.

David

[mbatch729]

Thanks David. I'm sure this hasn't been the most pleasant week for you guys. Keep up the good work and know it is very much appreciated.

[David Heath]

We lost a lot of good development time because of this hacker. Enough about this hacker.... .we are back and we are getting back to work on everything come Monday.

David

[Joel Billings]

The website with some screenshots is just about finished. I think Matrix will make it live sometime in the next few days. Sorry for the delay.

[Rocco]

Thanks for the update.

Rocco[&o]

[Cheesehead]

Looks great, except I couldn't scroll up or down.

[ASHBERY76]

Hmmm i really want the game to start when poland is annexed.!
Question: how does combat work and how long is a turn? could i invade britain or italy is just one turn, considering they are only 2 provinces.[X(]

[Greyshaft]

I'm missing something here. Is the web site up? Can someone tell me where to go (in the nicest possible way[:D])

[ASHBERY76]

http://www.worldatwaronline.com/main.asp

[Greyshaft]

ahhhh.... so here's my initial unsolicited, uneducated, unrefined feedback

* Loved the map textures...

* US are light green and other allies are darker green... except for China which has its own Production pool etc? As an Australian I'm used to being lumped into the "British Empire" or "Generic US Ally providing local logistic support" category, but I get a not-quite-right feeling about seeing Britain as a US outpost. The game is obviously too far down the track to make any change in this area but IMHO you're going to get some bad feedback about this.

* Sea areas are rectangular. That's fine but it raises the question whether units can travel diagonally. If they can't, then why not stagger the sea areas so there are no corners joining four sea areas and it is then visually obvious that such movement is verboten?

* Strategic map doesn't show resources or factories? Maybe these are on another screen.

[Marc von Martial]

ORIGINAL: Cheesehead

Looks great, except I couldn't scroll up or down.

Use the scroll buttons .

[Joel Billings]

ORIGINAL: Greyshaft

ahhhh.... so here's my initial unsolicited, uneducated, unrefined feedback

* Loved the map textures...

* US are light green and other allies are darker green... except for China which has its own Production pool etc? As an Australian I'm used to being lumped into the "British Empire" or "Generic US Ally providing local logistic support" category, but I get a not-quite-right feeling about seeing Britain as a US outpost. The game is obviously too far down the track to make any change in this area but IMHO you're going to get some bad feedback about this.

* Sea areas are rectangular. That's fine but it raises the question whether units can travel diagonally. If they can't, then why not stagger the sea areas so there are no corners joining four sea areas and it is then visually obvious that such movement is verboten?

* Strategic map doesn't show resources or factories? Maybe these are on another screen.

1) Glad to hear you like it.
2) Actually, all Western Allied countries are dark green, however certain areas are "politically frozen" areas that only supply units can move through until the political situation changes. These areas are tinted lighter (and actually we intend them to be even lighter in the final art). Yes, I edpect we will take some flak for lumping all Western Allied powers together, but we did it for many reasons. We ask players keep an open mind. Remember, despite their differences (and I've read about a lot of the strategic conferences), an arguement can be made that the British and Americans worked better together than the Japanese Army and Navy did. As for the makeup of the Western Allies, the following countries are separate and distinct and produce independently using their own factories:
Canada
Commonwealth (Australia/India primarily)
France
Great Britain
United States
We elected to split Canada from the Commonwealth given their geographic location compared to Australia and India which are closer to each other. This all may sound very strange but we think it works (if you can get past nationalistic pride - easy for me to say).
3) We don't allow rectangular movement. In many cases the rectangles were intentional. We use the brick pattern in some areas, but I have to admit that there are many areas that are rectangles with 4 corners.

4) The strategic map shows nothting right now. On the main map you can toggle between units and infrastructure/factories. A recent change in the map through off the coordinates we use to put the units on the map so we couldn't put them on the main map or the strat map. Currently, on the strat map we display a symbol indicating the size of any known combat force in the region. We didn't plan on putting factories on the strat map. They are generally only in the major countries and you get to know them very quickly from seeing them on the main map.

[Steppenwolf]

Hello guys. I´m a compulsive lurker, but this game looks so good that it made me emerge to give a few suggestions and ask some questions[8D]:

1) What about a scenario starting in 39 with the invasion of Poland? It feels strange to have a WW2 game withouth that important campaign.

2) For what I understand, the player command a bloc of nations instead of a simple country. So, to avoid confusions, I suggest change the names of the playing sides in the games:

Germany = Western Axis
Japan = Eastern Axis
Western Allies = keep it
China = Eastern Allies
Soviet Union = Comintern

3) Will we have and editor or something that allows us to mod the game? I´m sure the community will start making some really cool scenarios and graphics if it just have the tools to do so.

That´s it. Sorry for my bad english and thank you for making such fantastic games [:)]

[Joel Billings]

ORIGINAL: ASHBERY76

Hmmm i really want the game to start when poland is annexed.!
Question: how does combat work and how long is a turn? could i invade britain or italy is just one turn, considering they are only 2 provinces.[X(]

3 Month turns (4 per year). Normal combat happens when you move units into an area with enemy units. You than select the type of attack (if you have air units), ground attack, airfield attack, port attack, infrastructure attack. After the combat, if it is a ground attack, there is a determination made as to whether the attacker has forced the defender to retreat or whether undamaged attackers must withdraw from the area. A player may attack an area multiple times during the same turn, but each unit may only attack once per turn. Also, there are rules for Op fire where the non-moving player's units may fire at moving units (several different triggers for Op fire).

[Greyshaft]

Yes, I edpect we will take some flak for lumping all Western Allied powers together

It's not a pride thing for me... Australia is always an outpost of either USA or Britain and I'm not fussed one way or the other. I'm more concerned about the multiplayer aspect. In a five player game you're apparently expecting one player to be happy playing as China. Talk about drawing the short straw!

[Joel Billings]

ORIGINAL: Steppenwolf

Hello guys. I´m a compulsive lurker, but this game looks so good that it made me emerge to give a few suggestions and ask some questions[8D]:

1) What about a scenario starting in 39 with the invasion of Poland? It feels strange to have a WW2 game withouth that important campaign.

2) For what I understand, the player command a bloc of nations instead of a simple country. So, to avoid confusions, I suggest change the names of the playing sides in the games:

Germany = Western Axis
Japan = Eastern Axis
Western Allies = keep it
China = Eastern Allies
Soviet Union = Comintern

3) Will we have and editor or something that allows us to mod the game? I´m sure the community will start making some really cool scenarios and graphics if it just have the tools to do so.

That´s it. Sorry for my bad english and thank you for making such fantastic games [:)]

Thanks for the input.

1) I know, seems strange to me. To start at 39 would add another layer of complexity to the game (the computer code that is), for what I think is little return. However we might do a 39 scenario down the road. Although the game doesn't have an editor, a lot about the game has been built to allow us to make changes without having to go into the code. I think you'll find that the 1940 scenario will allow you a lot of flexibility in strategies & tactics.

2) Actually the term United Nations was used to label the forces that fought as Allies, but we thought that the UN term wouldn't sound right now given the UN institution. Although it's a little odd, I think people will get used to the player names that we have settled on.

3) The game is driven by data files. As the person using those files to create the scenarios, I can tell you it is a lot of work to put together a scenario, but not beyond the people in the gaming community that generally make scenarios. We do not plan on supporting the data files with documentation, but I'd bet that new scenarios will be created. Some items are easier to figure out than others. Changing the rating of a particular unit for a particular player will be easy, changing the starting OOB's won't be too hard either. Changing political situations and rules will be tougher if not impossible.

[Joel Billings]

ORIGINAL: Greyshaft

Yes, I edpect we will take some flak for lumping all Western Allied powers together

It's not a pride thing for me... Australia is always an outpost of either USA or Britain and I'm not fussed one way or the other. I'm more concerned about the multiplayer aspect. In a five player game you're apparently expecting one player to be happy playing as China. Talk about drawing the short straw!

Yes, I agree that China won't be all that interesting to play, except by a beginner or someone not looking to do much. However, the game is structured to easily allow the Western Allies and the Chinese to be played by the same player in a PBEM game (Chinese move right after the WA), so I fully expect the game to be played 4 player more than 5 player. We felt ok merging the command/unit structure of the British/French/US into the WA, but did not feel it worked with China included (Chinese units are garbage compared to comparable WA units).

[Xargun]

Just a simple question concerning the Western Allies.... How much is the US limited before they are actually attacked - Pearl Harbor ? Is the Lend - Lease available ? Can the US still lose units without going to war - historically Japan sunk several US destroyers off the coast of china years before Pearl Harbor and the US did nothing... Just wondering... Without limiting the US might, the axis will have little chance..

Xargun