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How does the game play compare ? I mean as a simulation what does each have to offer? I just got a wild hair and setup Pacific War to run on my Linux box, which is by far my favorite O/S, and it's pretty cool even with antigue graphics. But besides the graphics what is it keeps you guys playing this beast over the newest animal on the block ? No flame please, just curious. I play them all.

For me it's the enormous satisfaction when the plan comes together, you bounce the enemy TF, get critical hits and send key units to the bottom. Or it's the horror when things go dreadfully wrong, leaving you to figure out how the hell to sort out the mess...

This game still surprises me from time to time, even after 15 years. I can't think of a single other one which can do that. Because of the way TF combat works, there are never any guarantees. You take your life in your hands just about every time the fleet weighs anchor.

Pretty hard to beat as a gaming experience.

 [/align]My 0.02 Euro-Cent why I continue playing this game:[/align][/align] [/align]No more patches or mod versions coming out for PacWar - so unlike WitP no more restarts every couple of weeks. You actually get to play the war past March 42 with this baby! [/align] [/align]Plus, if you have little time for playing due to real life, you can still finish a PacWar PBEM campaign within your lifespan - will be difficult to do this in WitP if you can do only two turns a month...[/align] [/align]Furthermore, with PacWar you can try-out different strategies quite rapidly ('Shall I capture India, or Australia, or PH?'), learn from experience and do better next time within a short time span - while in WitP it takes bloody ages to see how your initial strategy worked out before you can restart with a better plan.  [/align] [/align]Lastly, PacWar is easier to mod, if you want to mod WitP you need a freshman year to figure out how to use the editor before you can even think about using it properly.[/align] [/align]

I have WitP but what brought me back to PacWar was it's level of abstration, which I feel is the right level.  Both games deal with the huge pacific theater but WitP takes the details to a whole new level.  For air squadrons, there are many more missions, altitude, percents to search / sweep / patrol.   PacWar gives you a few air missions, percents and altitudes are abstracted.   The Naval auxiliaries added to WitP are massive - minelayers, minesweepers, tenders, whoa!  It is a lot to deal with.   Then WitP gives you all the different types of supply - Use AD/AS types to repleshish torpedoes on DD/SS, AE to carry ammo, use AR to repair in port (Naval HQ also helps), etc, etc.

My initial reaction to War in the Pacific is it is more suited to specific scenarios rather than a full campaign game.

ORIGINAL: LargeSlowTarget


[/align]My 0.02 Euro-Cent why I continue playing this game:[/align][/align] [/align]No more patches or mod versions coming out for PacWar

Is there any chance that Matrix will open-source pac war one day? Surely the beast is now so far behind the curve that they wouldn't lose anything by it--and it would be fascinating.

ORIGINAL: chuck


Is there any chance that Matrix will open-source pac war one day? Surely the beast is now so far behind the curve that they wouldn't lose anything by it--and it would be fascinating.

Very interesting idea! After all, Matrix is giving away Pacific War for free as it is.

Comparing Oranges & Lemons.
 
I also got PacWar 15 odd years ago and love it. But I see it as a Stategic level game, looking at a bigger picture
 
But WITP is a different beast, and so time consuming that it will take months/years to complete. While Vanilla WITP has problems, the latest mods and patches have taken it to new heights.
 
Play both, Pacwar would be great to clear out the cobwebs after every 6 months (game time, well nearly real time) of WITP.