Matrix Games Forums

A small mini review.
Super easy to play. I am already thinking of all sorts of things I would love to see from it.
More places in Germany, minor Nato nations, different eras like the 60s and 70s and Arab-Israeli wars are all places I want to see this move. The engine is excellent and along with HTTR I see this as an engine that will only grow and get better as new stuff it added to it.

The game is super easy to learn and I will get into that in a minute.
A few things I wish were diffent is infantry to be seperated from it's parent unit for infantry vs infantry combat. I also wish 'static' infantry was included in the game in the form of standerd light foot infantry.
I also wish vehicles had damaged states instead of just KIA. It would be nice for units to lose mobility or weapons from damage.

Also, from my early observations, is screen usefull at all? I set a Nato mech company on screen thinking they would fire at units within range and fall back when pressured. Instead when they saw a unit it would say due to doctrine they were moving out of contact.
Kind of useless and not what I was thinking screen was...
Am I missing something?

Now on to complexity. Anyone should be able to pick this up and play it within minutes. It is sooooo easy to learn. I did not even ready along with the tutorials. Everything is self explanitory and the interface is clean and makes sense.

Here is how I would rank wargame based on how hard they are to learn
POA 2 - 15 [;)]
Russo German War - 9
Operational Art of War - 8
John Tillers Panzer campaigns - 6
WitP - 6
Korsun Pocket - 8
SPWaW and SPMBT - 4
HTTR - 2
FP- 1

Another quick idea

When using the scenario editor
Can it be made that when you are selecting set up zones you can size the box and then drag it where you want it? The current system is a little clunky and slows down quick battles.

As long as I am posting.
Is there any traditional artillary, or is it all SP?

Also, from my early observations, is screen usefull at all? I set a Nato mech company on screen thinking they would fire at units within range and fall back when pressured. Instead when they saw a unit it would say due to doctrine they were moving out of contact.

What is your doctrine set at for the unit that is screening? You might change it to a shorter distance to react to the enemy and see if that helps.

ORIGINAL: AlvinS

Also, from my early observations, is screen usefull at all? I set a Nato mech company on screen thinking they would fire at units within range and fall back when pressured. Instead when they saw a unit it would say due to doctrine they were moving out of contact.

What is your doctrine set at for the unit that is screening? You might change it to a shorter distance to react to the enemy and see if that helps.

I have not messed around with that yet.
Does screen engage the enemy at all or is it used for decoy purposes?

Does screen engage the enemy at all or is it used for decoy purposes?

From page 40 of the Manual

Screen - The unit defends using available cover and concealment but does not dig in. It will sometimes move to an adjacent location (scoot) should it offer better defensive characteristics for the circumstances. It will present 50% combat strentgh and have limited movement. Prep time 5 minutes, doctrine is adhered to, and posture set to covered/concealed.

So it should defend itself, but if its doctrine is set to move if the enemy is say 2000 meteres then it will move when the enemy encroaches that distance.

Hope this helps.

ORIGINAL: AlvinS

Does screen engage the enemy at all or is it used for decoy purposes?

From page 40 of the Manual

Screen - The unit defends using available cover and concealment but does not dig in. It will sometimes move to an adjacent location (scoot) should it offer better defensive characteristics for the circumstances. It will present 50% combat strentgh and have limited movement. Prep time 5 minutes, doctrine is adhered to, and posture set to covered/concealed.

So it should defend itself, but if its doctrine is set to move if the enemy is say 2000 meteres then it will move when the enemy encroaches that distance.

Hope this helps.

Thanks