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Digital Gaming => Computer Gaming => Topic started by: Lord Zimoa on November 12, 2012, 11:02:17 AM

Title: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Lord Zimoa on November 12, 2012, 11:02:17 AM
Commander: The Great War has been released! Enjoy...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2oWdJLTP_o&feature=youtu.be


at Slitherine:

http://www.slitherine.com/games/ctgw_pc

at Matrix:

http://www.matrixgames.com/products/385/details/Commander.-.The.Great.War.
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Steelgrave on November 12, 2012, 11:39:25 AM
Shhhhh......I'm downloading it now and didn't want to tip anyone off until I get it on my computer! Avoiding the rush, you know?  ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Slick Wilhelm on November 12, 2012, 01:08:58 PM
Steelgrave, if you need a multi-player opponent after you'd learned to play, I'd be happy to be your first patsy.  :)
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: son_of_montfort on November 12, 2012, 01:18:13 PM
Quote from: Steelgrave on November 12, 2012, 11:39:25 AM
Shhhhh......I'm downloading it now and didn't want to tip anyone off until I get it on my computer! Avoiding the rush, you know?  ;D ;D ;D

All you people need to press pause... I'm getting slow DL speeds because of you bandwidth hogs!
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Grim.Reaper on November 12, 2012, 01:46:38 PM
Looking forward to some initial impressions.....trying to hold off......please tell me how horrible it is to help me save some cash today:)  I have at least sworn to myself to not buy until some additional impressions are given.
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: TheCommandTent on November 12, 2012, 07:37:55 PM
Why must you people tempt me so.  :P
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Steelgrave on November 12, 2012, 08:11:10 PM
Quote from: Slick Wilhelm on November 12, 2012, 01:08:58 PM
Steelgrave, if you need a multi-player opponent after you'd learned to play, I'd be happy to be your first patsy.  :)

said the spider to the fly...... 8)
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Lord Zimoa on November 23, 2012, 05:43:30 AM
First review of Commander: The Great War from 7idgaming (German), gives a 84%!

http://7idgaming.de/content.php?182-Slitherine-Commander-The-Great-War-REVIEW


Tip: if necessary use Google Translate or similar.
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Double Deuce on November 23, 2012, 07:14:28 AM
I'm torn between Commander: The Great War and Strategic Command WWI only because I have a deep interest in the Russian Civil War. I know Strategic Command World War I Breakthrough has it covered but I think I would rather go with the Commander: The Great War game. Anyone heard rumors if there may be a mod or addon down the road to cover that time frame?
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Lord Zimoa on November 23, 2012, 08:17:52 AM
The game just released, but I`me sure mods will follow. The game can be modded with LUA scripting and on top we are working on a full and simple to use game editor to be released in the near future, to enhance moddability for the ones not into LUA scripting.

Next review of Commander: The Great war from Strategyprime 4/5 stars!

http://www.strategyprime.net/commander-the-great-war-review/
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: tgb on November 23, 2012, 10:12:47 AM
Quote from: Double Deuce on November 23, 2012, 07:14:28 AM
I'm torn between Commander: The Great War and Strategic Command WWI only because I have a deep interest in the Russian Civil War. I know Strategic Command World War I Breakthrough has it covered but I think I would rather go with the Commander: The Great War game. Anyone heard rumors if there may be a mod or addon down the road to cover that time frame?

Have you played Revolution Under Siege?
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Lord Zimoa on November 23, 2012, 10:14:21 AM
Rock, Paper, Shotgun like Commander: The Great War!

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/11/23/the-flare-path-a-hextasy-of-fumbling/


Quote:

I'm about halfway through my first 118-turn Commander: The Great War campaign at present, and can't recall enjoying a grand-strategic WWI title more. Lordz seem to have judged the scale, pace and workload just about perfectly.
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: LongBlade on November 23, 2012, 10:27:42 AM
Quote from: tgb on November 23, 2012, 10:12:47 AM
Quote from: Double Deuce on November 23, 2012, 07:14:28 AM
I'm torn between Commander: The Great War and Strategic Command WWI only because I have a deep interest in the Russian Civil War. I know Strategic Command World War I Breakthrough has it covered but I think I would rather go with the Commander: The Great War game. Anyone heard rumors if there may be a mod or addon down the road to cover that time frame?

Have you played Revolution Under Siege?

Great call tgb. I knew we were missing something.

On the boardgame side there is also Triumph of Chaos.
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Double Deuce on November 23, 2012, 11:10:29 AM
Quote from: tgb on November 23, 2012, 10:12:47 AM
Quote from: Double Deuce on November 23, 2012, 07:14:28 AM
I'm torn between Commander: The Great War and Strategic Command WWI only because I have a deep interest in the Russian Civil War. I know Strategic Command World War I Breakthrough has it covered but I think I would rather go with the Commander: The Great War game. Anyone heard rumors if there may be a mod or addon down the road to cover that time frame?

Have you played Revolution Under Siege?

I have Napoleon's Campaigns which I believe uses the same game engine and for some reason it just didn't click with me. I do see it's only $19.99 on the Matrix Games Christmas Sale list so I might give it a chance.
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Bismarck on November 23, 2012, 11:34:25 AM
Quote from: Double Deuce on November 23, 2012, 11:10:29 AM
Quote from: tgb on November 23, 2012, 10:12:47 AM
Quote from: Double Deuce on November 23, 2012, 07:14:28 AM
I'm torn between Commander: The Great War and Strategic Command WWI only because I have a deep interest in the Russian Civil War. I know Strategic Command World War I Breakthrough has it covered but I think I would rather go with the Commander: The Great War game. Anyone heard rumors if there may be a mod or addon down the road to cover that time frame?

Have you played Revolution Under Siege?

I have Napoleon's Campaigns which I believe uses the same game engine and for some reason it just didn't click with me. I do see it's only $19.99 on the Matrix Games Christmas Sale list so I might give it a chance.

The Nappy product was an anomaly in an otherwise good series.  Commander Europe at War was nice.
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Grim.Reaper on November 23, 2012, 11:55:08 AM
We need to merge all these Commander Great War threads, multiple to follow:)  I still can't believe I haven't picked up yet, maybe this weekend.
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Lord Zimoa on December 12, 2012, 07:09:16 AM
Help and spread the word about Commander: The Great War on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/matrixgamesltd/app_208195102528120

Thanks!
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Gusington on December 12, 2012, 11:19:31 AM
Any estimate as to when the patch is due out?
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Keunert on December 12, 2012, 11:29:00 AM
when will the mac version be ready?
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: republic on December 12, 2012, 11:31:50 AM
How is naval combat in this game?
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: W8taminute on December 12, 2012, 11:34:08 AM
Quote from: Gusington on December 12, 2012, 11:19:31 AM
Any estimate as to when the patch is due out?

Quote from: Keunert on December 12, 2012, 11:29:00 AM
when will the mac version be ready?

I'm asking the same questions as the previous two gentlemen please.  I'm particularly interested in a patch that fixes the human player's inability to have enough PP to buy enough troops to man every front.  It seems that the ai has a significant number of more men to place all over the map where the human player struggles to make enough PP to repair damaged units, never mind create more units. 
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Gusington on December 12, 2012, 11:41:10 AM
Totally agree with above.
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Nefaro on December 12, 2012, 04:15:50 PM
Quote from: republic on December 12, 2012, 11:31:50 AM
How is naval combat in this game?

If that is anywhere near the top of your priority list in CTGW, then you'll be disappointed.  It's very basic, but that's not any different than most of these grand strat games. 

I suggest picking up Steam & Iron or Jutland if you want a deep WWI naval experience.  ;)  But Commander: The Great War is a fun Light grand strategy game covering the period, so if you like getting into one that's easy to learn then I can recommend it.
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: steve58 on December 12, 2012, 04:26:46 PM
Quote from: Gusington on December 12, 2012, 11:19:31 AM
Any estimate as to when the patch is due out?

Quote
Hi guys,

Just a quick update and a note that the first patch for Commander: The Great War is almost done, it fixes some small bugs and balancing problems we got through feedback after release, but all in all the game is very stable and we had no real big issues reported.

We have much more on our wish list to enhance and improve the game and engine, based on ongoing feedback from fans and players, so expect more updates and new and requested features in the coming year!

But this first small patch, well more of a hotfix to be honest, will cover the few problems that were reported and we wanted to have this out before the holidays.

A more in detail patch report will be posted when the patch is made available.

LZ posted this on their main CTGW site today...
http://www.commander-games.com/2012/12/first-patch-and-commander-on-facebook/
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Gusington on December 12, 2012, 08:13:48 PM
^Awesome, thanks Steve.
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: TheCommandTent on December 12, 2012, 08:48:30 PM
Quote from: Gusington on December 12, 2012, 08:13:48 PM
^Awesome, thanks Steve.

+1
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Gusington on December 12, 2012, 08:52:52 PM
^That said, I would still like an answer to the question of why the AI seems to get way more PP and is able to field the most uber equipment with less effort than me. If the answer is simply "I suck" well, I can deal with that. But if there is another or additional reason, I'd like to know :)
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: TheCommandTent on December 12, 2012, 08:58:17 PM
Quote from: Gusington on December 12, 2012, 08:52:52 PM
^That said, I would still like an answer to the question of why the AI seems to get way more PP and is able to field the most uber equipment with less effort than me. If the answer is simply "I suck" well, I can deal with that. But if there is another or additional reason, I'd like to know :)

I know the feeling so I would appreciate an answer as well.
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Gusington on December 12, 2012, 09:00:43 PM
And W8 too. Surely we can't all suck royally? OK I guess we could. But still...
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Steelgrave on December 12, 2012, 10:12:48 PM
Yeah, but there is no way I'm gonna suck as well!  ::) So it must be a play balance thingie. Whichever side you play, your opponent seems to always have a few more units than you would if the roles were reversed.

Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Lord Zimoa on December 13, 2012, 03:58:12 AM
On balanced the AI get no bonuses at all! On privileged it does get some economic boosts, on handicapped the AI should get some penalties. The privileged AI gets a one off manpower bonus (at game start) & temporary PP bonuses when it is below full strength. However, it gets no combat bonuses.

So if you are beaten on balanced, yes you are ass-whipped by good designed and well written AI! The AI was one of our main developing new features and we had one special assigned AI programmer (Dave aka Myrddrraal) who worked with unseen passion on it during the past 3 years and it is one of the best AI I have seen in a wargame for a long time. So a big credit goes to him.

Alas upon release we noted a small error that on handicapped the AI was actually privileged instead of handicapped...

This is fixed in the upcoming patch, together with some more re-balancing and bug fixes based on feedback after the initial release. This first patch is ready for release and in the hands of Slitherine/Matrix, so should release any day now.

In the next year we have planned more updates and requests as well as adding things that were on our own wishlist anyway, like an "undo" button for units that has not revealed any FOW, a slick easy- to-use scenario editor, adding an extra zoom-in level, and much more... this new Commander engine is powerful and relatively easy to manipulate through Lua scripting, it will be the base we will work on for some years to come, so we are pretty sure we have all the tools to make it even better with help of the wargaming community and feedback we get from players.

As usual we will support our games for years to come... as long as you guys enjoy and buy our products we are committed to update them as best and fast as we can.



Cheers,

Tim aka LZ
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Gusington on December 13, 2012, 08:50:57 AM
Thank you LZ. So that settles it...we all suck, including Steelgrave.

As an aside, has anyone won the game?
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: TheCommandTent on December 13, 2012, 09:48:10 AM
Quote from: Lord Zimoa on December 13, 2012, 03:58:12 AM
On balanced the AI get no bonuses at all! On privileged it does get some economic boosts, on handicapped the AI should get some penalties. The privileged AI gets a one off manpower bonus (at game start) & temporary PP bonuses when it is below full strength. However, it gets no combat bonuses.

So if you are beaten on balanced, yes you are ass-whipped by good designed and well written AI! The AI was one of our main developing new features and we had one special assigned AI programmer (Dave aka Myrddrraal) who worked with unseen passion on it during the past 3 years and it is one of the best AI I have seen in a wargame for a long time. So a big credit goes to him.

Alas upon release we noted a small error that on handicapped the AI was actually privileged instead of handicapped...

This is fixed in the upcoming patch, together with some more re-balancing and bug fixes based on feedback after the initial release. This first patch is ready for release and in the hands of Slitherine/Matrix, so should release any day now.

In the next year we have planned more updates and requests as well as adding things that were on our own wishlist anyway, like an "undo" button for units that has not revealed any FOW, a slick easy- to-use scenario editor, adding an extra zoom-in level, and much more... this new Commander engine is powerful and relatively easy to manipulate through Lua scripting, it will be the base we will work on for some years to come, so we are pretty sure we have all the tools to make it even better with help of the wargaming community and feedback we get from players.

As usual we will support our games for years to come... as long as you guys enjoy and buy our products we are committed to update them as best and fast as we can.



Cheers,

Tim aka LZ

Thanks for the update.  Nice to see you guys supporting this for the long haul.
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Nefaro on December 13, 2012, 10:19:34 AM
Quote from: Lord Zimoa on December 13, 2012, 03:58:12 AM


So if you are beaten on balanced, yes you are ass-whipped by good designed and well written AI!

Good to hear!

The AI is challenging.  I wish all strategy games could say the same.
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Steelgrave on December 13, 2012, 10:21:39 AM
Wow, I do suck. Congrats on a game design that made me realize that, Lord Z   ;D
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Bismarck on December 13, 2012, 10:49:10 AM
Quote from: Nefaro on December 13, 2012, 10:19:34 AM
Quote from: Lord Zimoa on December 13, 2012, 03:58:12 AM


So if you are beaten on balanced, yes you are ass-whipped by good designed and well written AI!

Good to hear!

The AI is challenging.  I wish all strategy games could say the same.


+1 I sometimes think players have a bipolar thing swinging from " I can win so the AI sucks" to "I can't win so the AI cheats"' Glad to see players appreciate a good design.
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Nefaro on December 13, 2012, 10:53:25 AM
Quote from: Bismarck on December 13, 2012, 10:49:10 AM
Quote from: Nefaro on December 13, 2012, 10:19:34 AM
Quote from: Lord Zimoa on December 13, 2012, 03:58:12 AM


So if you are beaten on balanced, yes you are ass-whipped by good designed and well written AI!

Good to hear!

The AI is challenging.  I wish all strategy games could say the same.


+1 I sometimes think players have a bipolar thing swinging from " I can win so the AI sucks" to "I can't win so the AI cheats"' Glad to see players appreciate a good design.

I know what you mean.

But I actually enjoy a tough AI opponent whereas I think many people want one that makes them struggle a bit, but eventually buckles  in the end so that they don't get too frustrated with losing.  As with most things, it's all about the personal preference of how much is perfect.
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: TheCommandTent on December 13, 2012, 01:19:11 PM
Don't get me wrong I enjoy a tough AI opponent too but I just want to make sure it wasn't "cheating" before starting another game in which it kicks my butt.  It wouldn't be as much fun if I could just win every time regardless of how bad I played.
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Keunert on December 13, 2012, 02:21:07 PM
i am pretty sure that there is some hidden forum somewhere where all those so called weakling ai's bitch about idiot human opponents like me or Steely
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Bismarck on December 13, 2012, 02:27:09 PM
Quote from: Keunert on December 13, 2012, 02:21:07 PM
i am pretty sure that there is some hidden forum somewhere where all those so called weakling ai's bitch about idiot human opponents like me or Steely

ROFLAO!!! ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: republic on December 13, 2012, 02:28:30 PM
If I'm a person more comfortable with Advanced Tactics Gold than Hearts of Iron, would this be for me?
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: LongBlade on December 13, 2012, 02:29:47 PM
Quote from: republic on December 13, 2012, 02:28:30 PM
If I'm a person more comfortable with Advanced Tactics Gold than Hearts of Iron, would this be for me?

I'd say yes.
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Keunert on December 13, 2012, 02:35:59 PM
i'd believe that the hoi3 ai would gladly pay 10 bucks if there was any sort of patch that would reduce my turn length by boosting my intelligence, or even add some polygons to make my clueless face a little more bearable to watch
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Bismarck on December 13, 2012, 02:47:00 PM
Quote from: republic on December 13, 2012, 02:28:30 PM
If I'm a person more comfortable with Advanced Tactics Gold than Hearts of Iron, would this be for me?

No doubt about it.
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Steelgrave on December 13, 2012, 03:20:44 PM
I actually feel better about the beating I've taken, knowing that the AI is not cheating and it's just that good. Kudos! I can handle the AI being a little rough on me if it's done fairly. Just gotta up my game here  8) Good thing is that I'm no where near tired of the trenches yet. Victory shall yet come!
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Martok on December 13, 2012, 03:43:12 PM
Quote from: Lord Zimoa on December 13, 2012, 03:58:12 AM

So if you are beaten on balanced, yes you are ass-whipped by good designed and well written AI! The AI was one of our main developing new features and we had one special assigned AI programmer (Dave aka Myrddrraal) who worked with unseen passion on it during the past 3 years and it is one of the best AI I have seen in a wargame for a long time. So a big credit goes to him.
This is awesome to hear (and all the more so now that I know Myrddrraal did the AI -- I know him from over at the Org in days gone by).  Gonna have to get this for sure now! 


Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Gusington on December 13, 2012, 09:08:01 PM
Myrddraal answered my tech questions personally a few weeks ago, I agree he is a good guy and obviously an evil genius for programming the AI the way he did.
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: W8taminute on December 14, 2012, 09:31:34 AM
I hate to be the only skeptic in the group but after the patch comes out I'll reserve my judgement until fleshing it out.  The ai is indeed intelligent in that it knows how to rotate units in and out of the line.  It knows how to exploit holes it punches through.  It plays the static and the mobile warfare roles brilliantly.  I'm still not convinced that he gets unfair advantages over the human as far as upgrades and the tech race is concerned. 

Based on my observations it seems that when one of the ai nations discovers Infantry III all enemy units are instantly upgraded to Infantry III.  It's frustrating to see a Russian line have Infantry I on one turn and then the next turn they are all upgraded to Infantry III whilst my men are still at Infantry I.  If I try to accelerate my tech research I don't have enough PP for replacements, let alone building new units.  If I dump all my PP into production, then I get creamed because my men are all low tech compared to the enemy.  Even if I dump all my PP into production I'm still struggling with having enough units to cover all fronts. 

Maybe I'm playing this game with a Civilization mentality where the player is free to pump out as many units as he wants while still keeping research up to snuff as long as his economy can handle it.  Even in the HOI series I never had problems popping out units to man the various fronts and keeping my research progress up to speed. 

That might be my problem, I need to unlearn what I've learned?
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Martok on December 14, 2012, 11:09:47 AM
Quote from: W8taminute on December 14, 2012, 09:31:34 AM
I hate to be the only skeptic in the group but after the patch comes out I'll reserve my judgement until fleshing it out. 
It's all right; we really need at least one of us to stay cynical anyway.  That way, in case the rest of us are proven wrong (and you right), we can then at least claim that we weren't *completely* taken in.  8) 


Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: republic on December 15, 2012, 08:04:59 AM
Just curious, are we going to see an official Grogheads review of Commander: The Great War?
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Staggerwing on December 15, 2012, 08:43:19 AM
^When you've finished writing it?  ;)
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: republic on December 15, 2012, 12:41:38 PM
lol

This game is on my list to buy...once I get caught up.  :)
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Toonces on December 15, 2012, 01:12:39 PM
That review on Rock, Paper, Shotgun has me interested.  I'm not really a WW1 guy, nor a strategic guy (unless you count WiTP), but strangely this sounds like it might be fun.

I really don't know too much about the subject, though.
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Gusington on December 15, 2012, 04:42:56 PM
^Oh there is so very very much awesomeness ahead of you.
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Con on December 15, 2012, 05:04:37 PM
Is there a way to see the combat results after the AI's turn?  I see the AI launch a major attack and then am told they used gas but where and on how many units etc?  Also submarines suddenly a convoy is gone, was it attacked by a sub, did some of it make it etc?

A bit frustrating to not know what happened and where

Con
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Lord Zimoa on December 19, 2012, 02:44:12 AM
Commander The Great War review from Wargamer France:

http://www.wargamer.fr/commander-the-great-war-un-wargame-pour-grignoteurs/

"The developers worked hard to integrate innovative concepts in a proven system"
"The Great War is very well depicted and the game will please both the newcomers and the expert wargamers"
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Steelgrave on December 19, 2012, 02:47:14 PM
Nice review. Except for the part where it's written in French.  ;D
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Con on December 20, 2012, 05:41:00 PM
I am getting my but whipped each time I play as the Entente.  I just cant seem to balance the units with all the needs.

I have started and stopped about five different times the grand campaign based on what i have learned.  Boy was it a shock when Bulgaria joined in and whipped my Serbs who were just keeping the Austro-Hungarians contained.  Talk about taking it in the rear.  Funnily enough the first game where I was making all the worst mistakes was the one I was doing best with on the Western Front with me taking Strasbourg and threatening the German Ruhr early 1916.  Russia was a complete loss though.

So how are you guys doing?  Anyone beginning to get a good handle on this and have some tips that would help?  I learned the hard way you better have a full army and not just garrison troops in the Sinai unless you want the Turks to prevent about a fifth of your convoys from reaching home by closing the Suez canal.

Con
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Longdan on December 20, 2012, 08:13:19 PM
You do not read French? C'est une honte.
Somebody hate this game for me quick before
I has to buys it.
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Slick Wilhelm on December 20, 2012, 09:07:39 PM
Quote from: Longdan on December 20, 2012, 08:13:19 PM
You do not read French? C'est une honte.
Somebody hate this game for me quick before
I has to buys it.

And deprive you of a huge challenge? No sir, buy and enjoy getting your derriere kicked. It really is a lot of fun.  :)
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Gusington on December 21, 2012, 11:55:26 AM
Con your campaign sounds almost exactly like mine. And again I ask...has anyone won? Anyone at all?
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Sigma One on December 21, 2012, 03:13:43 PM
New update released! Added in some new events, tuned the AI and some other settings as well!

http://www.slitherine.com/news/item542

v1.1.4 – Dec 21, 2012

Bug Fixes:

Changes:
Additions:
[/list]
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Gusington on December 21, 2012, 03:45:52 PM
Can this update be added over the beta that was released last week or is it the same thing?
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Lord Zimoa on December 22, 2012, 05:59:49 AM
@Gusington

The official patch v1.14 has some more changes, but you can just update over the Beta patch and it is save game compatible.


Commander – The Great War – Reviewed! at GameTheory

http://www.gametheorycast.com/commander-the-great-war/


Quote:

To summarize my summary, if you are a fan of strategy games, I believe this is one that must not be passed up on. Play it, learn it, then dominate in Commander – The Great War!
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Lord Zimoa on December 22, 2012, 07:53:32 AM
Got some PM`s about this so:


If automatic update is blocked by eg. your firewall, just download it by hand, see the first post for the link.

To get the update, run "Check for Update" on the game menu or click here.


Or at the games download product page at Matrix:

http://www.matrixgames.com/products/385/downloads/


Cheers,

Tim aka LZ
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Gusington on December 22, 2012, 04:43:58 PM
Thank you LZ.
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Con on December 29, 2012, 06:10:28 PM
I have a question for equipping artillery with gas

When upgrading is there a way to check to see if you are upgrading an artillery unit to a gas artillary unit?
When you have equipped an artillery unit as a gas unit is there a way to use it without shooting gas shells?
Can you upgrade arty bypassing the gas upgrade?

The reason is that I am playing a game upgrade my arty units and now when I am ready to launch an offensive or spoil an incoming attack as the Entente I end up gassing them and taking the hit as the first powers to use gas thus screwing up my relations with other nations.

However since I upgraded the units my other option is to just sit there and not fire my arty until the central powers eventually use gas on me.  Not ideal for the tommies in the trenches not having any arty

Con
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Con on January 04, 2013, 09:18:38 PM
Total Victory for the Entente March 20th 1918. 

The French and English broke through the Huns defenses in the west.  The Kaiser committed his troops to reinforce and protect Frankfurt and the Ruhr the Russian bear launched their carefully husbanded hordes of troops backed with arty.  Kaliningrad fell and the Hungarians could not disengage from their fixed positions as Warsaw and other cities fell leaving a huge number of Central power troops isolated and ultimately cut off from supply thus leading to their inevitable demise.  A strike into Berlin was ordered and with a small struggle the capital fell and so did the will of the Germans to keep fighting.

French and British troops meanwhile poured through the back door of the alps cutting off the mountain troops who were in a life and death struggle with the Italians in the mountain passes.  Once they had been surrounded they were easy pickings.  A quick march to Vienna showed that Austria was so thinly spread that they required Turkish help to shore up Vienna's defense.  Particularly galling for the Austrians.  The Turks were no match for these battle hardened veterans and Austria/Hungary too was ingloriously knocked out of the war with nothing to show but bitter tears for their start of this power grab.

Now the combined mighty armies of France, Britain, Italy and Russia turned their attention south and like a tidal wave flooded into Serbia.  Artillery smashed the opposition there and the Turks sensing defeat tried to form a deep line but their time was too short.  Units were quickly surrounded reduced and harried until Constantinople fell.

The world celebrates a European victory, America never intervenes continues its policy of isolationism and the seeds of WWII are being planted in the diplomatic halls of the victorious capitals

Con

Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Nefaro on January 04, 2013, 09:33:14 PM
Woot!

Con wins!  Con wins!  :D
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Gusington on January 04, 2013, 10:24:15 PM
Con is the first on these boards to win a game of Commander: TGW that I know of.
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Con on January 04, 2013, 11:06:05 PM
i played on balanced and here are the main things i did that I think helped me.

The first year is all about stabilizing all the fronts and not going on the offensive.
Serbia I just try to hold Belgrade and make it difficult for any invading army.
I send my British sub into the waters north of Kaliningrad and in combo with the Russian battleship sink every ore convoy running into Kaliningrad
I pull the rest of the British battlefleet plus the French mediterranean fleet into the English channel and use them to bombard German troops on the coast.  Eventually the Imperial German Navy has enough and sails at which point you should be able to take them out with some pretty horrendous losses.
I pull the Russians North give up Warsaw without a fight and set up my defensive line in the shape of a 7 running from the swamp to the sea.
Start pumping troops out
Make sure research is focused on defensive techs and and if you can afford it at the same time any arty techs.  These are crucial
Sell off the navy labs for the French to gain more production points.  They have always been useless sailors since Waterloo anyhow   :P
Get your defensive lines setup trading space all the way back to Paris itself.  Try and setup behind rivers they are invaluable in helping your troops survive.
Put garrison troops and one infantry unit ASAP into the Suez canal.  You will need to keep it open to make sure your convoys get through to the UK.
Upgrade those troops who are going to see immediate action rear troops are going to have to wait their turn
Wait until you have a couple of convoys from the UK and then start upgrading Arty ammo manufacturing
Order at least 1 arty for the French and Brits by the summer of 1915 (2 are better)
Rotate your troops out of their defensive lines and replace with fresh troops when needed.  Garrison troops should always be used in fairly safe places but have a reserve infantry unit near them in case it goes hairy for them.
The Russians should be only used defensively until 1916 or so until you have built up a good number of infantry units and got them some upgrades.  Then you will need to weather a long time of attacks without adding in replacements as you wait for enough PP to purchase an arty unit.
Pick the right moment after the Huns have been attacking you to rotate in fresh troops and go on the offensive (late summer of 1915 for me).  Its a meat grinder and you will need a ton of infantry units backed with arty to smash holes in the line.  concentrate your arty at key spots and pick units with lower entrenchments.
Focus on getting cities but pour your troops through the gaps and try to encircle the enemy.  Units with no supply are pathetically weak.
After the French and British have some good gains going wait about 6-8 more turns to allow the Huns to bring reinforcements out from the East then unleash the Bear on them.  Once again split your forces into battlegroups with cities as their sole focus but also to envelope the Germans who are grappling with your defensive line further east. 
The Russians pick up a lot of PP as your grab the cities so keep pumping upgrades into surviving units and show no mercy for your own troops as you feed them into the meat grinder of the Eastern front.  You will be facing mostly garrison units but again encircling them is the only way to take them out.
Put the Italians in the alps as soon as possible and get them an arty piece as well.  Grab Trieste and other nearby cities.
Send the Portuguese as soon as you can into Serbia.  The will be needed to stem the Turkish tide, any spare Brits can be sent there as well from the Sinai.
I only used infantry and arty and upgraded them as often as possible, no bombers, tanks etc.
Be careful accepting surrenders as the border lines will go permanent after that making for some long hikes to get the Russians out of German territory and back to where the action is.
Learned my lesson from that and I did not accept the Austro/Hungarian surrender and instead crushed them into submission but this allowed me to have free reign through their territory...bad for them!
Just for fun I had an armored unit beating up the low level Turkish units in the Sinai.

War was over by early 1918 Total Victory and I had plenty of spare PP. 
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Sir Slash on January 04, 2013, 11:21:24 PM
Congrats on your very impressive victory Con. I was beginning to think nobody would ever beat this game. What do you think... "Lord over the Lordz"?
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Con on January 04, 2013, 11:37:47 PM
Drank a victory toast "Glenmorangie 18 year old scotch" and now going to wake the wife up and tell her I won WWI.  She will be most underwhelmed :o

Con
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: TheCommandTent on January 05, 2013, 12:13:49 AM
Congrats Con and thanks for the write up explaining how you did it.
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Martok on January 05, 2013, 07:26:31 AM
Congratulations, Con!  I think you're the first one here to actually win. 


Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: LongBlade on January 05, 2013, 09:26:44 AM
Quote from: Martok on January 05, 2013, 07:26:31 AM
Congratulations, Con!  I think you're the first one here to actually win.

+1

Well done :)
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: W8taminute on January 05, 2013, 10:29:13 PM
Great job Con.  I just finished my Central Powers game.  It was the one where my Italian front completely fell apart and Munich got captured.  I was able to recover thanks to Bulgaria's help which sent a bunch of reserve units (garrisons) to plug the holes.  I continued to play the game therefor.

The western front continued to be a brutal nightmare for me but I finally figured out how to rotate units in and out and got some sense into me regarding withdrawals.  Sometimes it's better to fall back to the second line of defense then to stubbornly not give an inch only to lose everything.  At any rate I stabilized the western front and bought some time.  Somehow, and I can't remember exactly how I did it but I managed to rip the Russians to shreds all from a combined Turkish and Bulgarian offensive into Odessa.  This was after Rumania fell which I found to be a pushover.  Since Russia didn't have anything guarding Moldavia I just walked right in.  As a result I forced the entire eastern front to collapse and in December of 1917 Russia surrendered.

Once I got all those units to the Italian and Western fronts I was able to turn the tide.  Most of the Bulgarian army headed for the Turkish Syrian border where the UK offensive into Turkey had stalled.  Those extra troops Bulgaria gave were enough to encircle the UK forces and drive all the way back to Damascus before the game ended on turn 118.  I won a marginal victory.  Curiously the US never entered the war but I must admit I only had one uboot prowling around and he only sunk maybe a total of 10 or 11 merchant points.  I didn't get the Lusitania event until early 1918 so maybe that is what kept the US out of the war.

Now I need to patch this game and give it another whirl.  Anybody have a chance to play with the new patch?  I'm kind of reluctant to put it in now that I have finally figured out this game.
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Nefaro on January 05, 2013, 11:30:47 PM
Quote from: Sir Slash on January 04, 2013, 11:21:24 PM
Congrats on your very impressive victory Con. I was beginning to think nobody would ever beat this game. What do you think... "Lord over the Lordz"?

He's the first I've seen.

I was actually making steady progress on the West Front (into Germany in 1916!) as the allies but with all the other games I bought lately, I haven't fired it up to finish it.  :(

I suspect a lot of other people are in the same boat.
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: TheCommandTent on January 06, 2013, 12:54:54 AM
Quote from: W8taminute on January 05, 2013, 10:29:13 PM
Great job Con.  I just finished my Central Powers game.  It was the one where my Italian front completely fell apart and Munich got captured.  I was able to recover thanks to Bulgaria's help which sent a bunch of reserve units (garrisons) to plug the holes.  I continued to play the game therefor.

The western front continued to be a brutal nightmare for me but I finally figured out how to rotate units in and out and got some sense into me regarding withdrawals.  Sometimes it's better to fall back to the second line of defense then to stubbornly not give an inch only to lose everything.  At any rate I stabilized the western front and bought some time.  Somehow, and I can't remember exactly how I did it but I managed to rip the Russians to shreds all from a combined Turkish and Bulgarian offensive into Odessa.  This was after Rumania fell which I found to be a pushover.  Since Russia didn't have anything guarding Moldavia I just walked right in.  As a result I forced the entire eastern front to collapse and in December of 1917 Russia surrendered.

Once I got all those units to the Italian and Western fronts I was able to turn the tide.  Most of the Bulgarian army headed for the Turkish Syrian border where the UK offensive into Turkey had stalled.  Those extra troops Bulgaria gave were enough to encircle the UK forces and drive all the way back to Damascus before the game ended on turn 118.  I won a marginal victory.  Curiously the US never entered the war but I must admit I only had one uboot prowling around and he only sunk maybe a total of 10 or 11 merchant points.  I didn't get the Lusitania event until early 1918 so maybe that is what kept the US out of the war.

Now I need to patch this game and give it another whirl.  Anybody have a chance to play with the new patch?  I'm kind of reluctant to put it in now that I have finally figured out this game.

Nicely done!  I started a game with the new patch, after not playing for a while, and promptly got my rear handed to me very early.
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: Lord Zimoa on January 08, 2013, 03:54:37 AM
Gamershall gives Commander: The Great War 84%!

http://www.gamershall.de/index.php?p=articles&area=1&action=displayarticle&id=144&name=commander-the-great-war

(Tip for non-German readers: use Google translate http://translate.google.com/)

Quote:

I was quite fast showing an addictive behavior, so I can heartily recommend Commander: The Great War to any passionate PC general.
Title: Re: Commander: The Great War is Out Now!
Post by: TheCommandTent on January 08, 2013, 08:35:47 AM
Just started my second game after the patch.  (The first was a disaster and so we won't speak of it)  In this game both the East and West front have stabilized through the first winter.  I even managed to take back Antwerp after losing it early in the game.  The Turks just entered the war and I am holding my own at the Suez canal although they are starting to eat up Russian territory.

I desperately held my Serbian line intact but in the last couple of turns it has begun to crumble and I don't think it will hold out much longer.  I may need to withdraw it and forum a new line around the capital.


Hopefully I can keep it up and the Central powers don't achieve any major breakthroughs.