Grand Tactician, American Civil War

[Rayfer]

Another huge update hit Steam on 6/3 revamping the economic aspects of the game, as well as some tactical battles enhancements.  The game is quite playable as is and the developer has been doing fixes, updates, etc. on a regular basis.

[W8taminute]

Ooooh.  Did you say they revamped the economic system?  I may have to look into this.

[Tripoli]

I was going to use my coupon to grab it from Epic but many of the reviews I read on steam say it still needs work.

The Steam reviews are 1311 total ratings with  1043 positive, 268 negative ratings.  Recent ratings are "mostly positive" (33 ratings) with an overall rating of "very positive".  (1264 ratings). According to my profile, I've played it for 53 hours (actually, my game time is probably 33% of that, as a lot of that time is  me  mowing the yard while the game is on.  :D  With that said, here's my take on the game:
BLUF: The game is worth buying now.  While it still needs some work, it is far advanced from what is was in early access, and the small team responsible is continuing to work on it and make regular updates.  IMHO, that is in and of itself a reason to continue to support them.  But more than that, this small team is putting together one of the best strategic-level USCW games out there, along with a pretty good tactical engine.  Frankly, the scope of what they are tying to do is pretty impressive, and the fact that they have already  accomplished a significant portion of their vision is an incredible feat.

Moving on to the game itself:  The operational-level AI is pretty creative.  You sometimes get surprised by sudden appearances of enemy forces on flanks where you didn't expect them (think Chancellorsville-type surprises). The fact that  experienced gamers occasionally get surprised by the AI (which does not cheat), is a testament to the thought and effort that the developers have put into  this title.  With that said, the AI in the tactical battles is okay, but could use some improvement.  The AI forces still tend to bunch together too much, although less than in earlier releases)  I've just started playing a new game, using the economic system, and it appears to be pretty good, illustrating some of the supply bottlenecks (for instance in Niter and Salt) that hampered the CSA and USA effort.  THe new system is also making naval blockades more important than earlier versions of the game.

Other strong points are that you get to organize your armies the way you want to fight.  You can create your TO&E for your units and pick their leaders according to the strategy that you want to follow.  Armies need to rest, resupply, reorganize and recover before they can move, recreating some of the glacial pace at which operations occurred during the period.  Weather, fatigue, training, leadership, order delays, logistics are all modeled reasonably well.

The one thing I would like is an option for more random assignment of leadership characteristics, to reflect the difficulty that both Lincoln (and to a lesser extent Davis) faced when selecting commanders.  Similarly, I would like a political system that gave more incentive to use political and not military considerations when selecting leaders or making economic decisions.

If you aren't sure, take a look at the "History Guy Gamer" play through of the game.  He's been playing it for awhile now.
His most recent playthrough here is using the new update with the new economic model.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UZ9zRYl_eU&list=PLgYUpdX_kl3dHjKDQan2MDYioAh9knU8Q

[Darrell999]

It's now on sale on GOG for 25% off.  :)

[Ian C]

If you aren't sure, take a look at the "History Guy Gamer" play through of the game.  He's been playing it for awhile now.
His most recent playthrough here is using the new update with the new economic model.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UZ9zRYl_eU&list=PLgYUpdX_kl3dHjKDQan2MDYioAh9knU8Q

I watched the first two vids and I'm interested. The strategy level with the tactical zoom level looks like a really immersive experience. It would be great if there was a WW2 grand strategy game like this.

[steve58]

Steam has this one on sale until the 17th for ~$36...

[TitusGroen]

I was going to use my coupon to grab it from Epic but many of the reviews I read on steam say it still needs work.

The Steam reviews are 1311 total ratings with  1043 positive, 268 negative ratings.  Recent ratings are "mostly positive" (33 ratings) with an overall rating of "very positive".  (1264 ratings). According to my profile, I've played it for 53 hours (actually, my game time is probably 33% of that, as a lot of that time is  me  mowing the yard while the game is on.  :D  With that said, here's my take on the game:
BLUF: The game is worth buying now.  While it still needs some work, it is far advanced from what is was in early access, and the small team responsible is continuing to work on it and make regular updates.  IMHO, that is in and of itself a reason to continue to support them.  But more than that, this small team is putting together one of the best strategic-level USCW games out there, along with a pretty good tactical engine.  Frankly, the scope of what they are tying to do is pretty impressive, and the fact that they have already  accomplished a significant portion of their vision is an incredible feat.

Moving on to the game itself:  The operational-level AI is pretty creative.  You sometimes get surprised by sudden appearances of enemy forces on flanks where you didn't expect them (think Chancellorsville-type surprises). The fact that  experienced gamers occasionally get surprised by the AI (which does not cheat), is a testament to the thought and effort that the developers have put into  this title.  With that said, the AI in the tactical battles is okay, but could use some improvement.  The AI forces still tend to bunch together too much, although less than in earlier releases)  I've just started playing a new game, using the economic system, and it appears to be pretty good, illustrating some of the supply bottlenecks (for instance in Niter and Salt) that hampered the CSA and USA effort.  THe new system is also making naval blockades more important than earlier versions of the game.

Other strong points are that you get to organize your armies the way you want to fight.  You can create your TO&E for your units and pick their leaders according to the strategy that you want to follow.  Armies need to rest, resupply, reorganize and recover before they can move, recreating some of the glacial pace at which operations occurred during the period.  Weather, fatigue, training, leadership, order delays, logistics are all modeled reasonably well.

The one thing I would like is an option for more random assignment of leadership characteristics, to reflect the difficulty that both Lincoln (and to a lesser extent Davis) faced when selecting commanders.  Similarly, I would like a political system that gave more incentive to use political and not military considerations when selecting leaders or making economic decisions.

If you aren't sure, take a look at the "History Guy Gamer" play through of the game.  He's been playing it for awhile now.
His most recent playthrough here is using the new update with the new economic model.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UZ9zRYl_eU&list=PLgYUpdX_kl3dHjKDQan2MDYioAh9knU8Q

Thanks for the great overview of where the game is now! I know that the consensus on Early Access was "rough but promising" and so I've been waiting to see if it got the polish and attention it needed and it certainly sounds like it! With AGEOD games no longer working well on modern hardware, I've been itching to try something new in the USCW!

[Skoop]

You can't go wrong owning this game, it's really good.

The devs have stayed pretty committed to updating it and keeping it in a good state before moving on to another project.

[steve58]

fyi:  on sale at Steam for $33.74 until 12/19

[Gusington]

I bought it at Green Man today for ~31.00, fyi.

[steve58]

 O0

[Toonces]

Definitely a solid buy!  I haven't invested nearly enough time in it, but there is absolutely a lot of game in there.

[ArizonaTank]

fyi:  on sale at Steam for $33.74 until 12/19

A whole bunch of good game in there for that price!!!

[AchillesLastStand]

I bought it at Green Man today for ~31.00, fyi.

Are you sure? I don't see the game listed on GMG.

[fran]

This is still on my to-buy list...

Hopefully, with the latest updates, and ongoing support it would be a good buy.