The Deal of the Week, part two!
http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=686475151378746&id=162489177110682
I applaud Matrix for doing this....much appreciated. The two this week don't interest me but I'm sure that will change in the coming weeks.
I would have been all over the SP deal a couple of years ago, but I've moved on. I just can't look at that anymore.
I do appreciate the deals, though. :)
For those who don't want to read an announcement on Facebook (http://www.matrixgames.com/news/1068/The.Deal.of.the.Week,.part.two!)
Steel Panthers - Generals Edition
Uncommon Valour
Uncommon Valour is sort of supposed to be WITP "light" (relatively speaking), isn't it? (That, and of course it focuses on the campaigns in the South Pacific.)
Hmm. Ponder, ponder...
30 bucks is still too expensive for a 13 year plus old expansion.. sorry but no thanks.. if I was going to spend that much, I'd do Shrapnel so that I'd have the higher resolution.. but still 30's too much.. so out of touch..
Quote from: Tuna on May 06, 2013, 06:39:53 PM
30 bucks is still too expensive for a 13 year plus old expansion.. sorry but no thanks.. if I was going to spend that much, I'd do Shrapnel so that I'd have the higher resolution.. but still 30's too much.. so out of touch..
+1 I might have gone for it 5 years ago, but not now.
Quote from: Martok on May 06, 2013, 05:54:06 PM
Uncommon Valour is sort of supposed to be WITP "light" (relatively speaking), isn't it? (That, and of course it focuses on the campaigns in the South Pacific.)
Hmm. Ponder, ponder...
Me too...not sure but have been tempted during each Xmas sale...
It looks to me like we've all been spoiled by games costing $5 and under to be tempted to shell out $19.99 to $39.99 for games that are over ten years old that have to be tinkered with to run on our Windows 7 & 8 systems.
I suggest trying out one of the free versions of SPWaW and then, if you like it, purchasing the Steel Panthers: World at War - Generals Edition from Matrix while it's on sale.
Links: Steel Panthers World at War (http://www.gamershell.com/download_6363.shtml) 8.20 at GamersHell -- winSPWW2 (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1370320888/civil-war-general?ref=live) at Shrapnel Games
It looks like SPWaW-GE from Matrix (http://www.matrixgames.com/store/297/Steel.Panthers:.World.at.War.-.Generals.Edition) will only run under either 640x480 or 800x600 resolution. :(
Quote from: Martok on May 06, 2013, 05:54:06 PM
Uncommon Valour is sort of supposed to be WITP "light" (relatively speaking), isn't it? (That, and of course it focuses on the campaigns in the South Pacific.)
Hmm. Ponder, ponder...
Uncommon Valor is a great little game. WitP lite is how it should be advertised - smaller region, less units but there's still plenty to do. I would say if you are remotely interested in the area of operation, then it's worth the $20 they are asking - as old as it is, it looks fine, plays well and there's plenty of game
I have it unfortunately and I would NEVER go back to a game that has graphics as bad as Steel Panthers. I loved the game once - but I just couldn't look at a game that looks that bad.
I also think that Uncommon Valour is a great game. It's the game that replaced Task Force 1942 for me.
Quote from: JudgeDredd on May 07, 2013, 01:53:29 AM
Quote from: Martok on May 06, 2013, 05:54:06 PM
Uncommon Valour is sort of supposed to be WITP "light" (relatively speaking), isn't it? (That, and of course it focuses on the campaigns in the South Pacific.)
Hmm. Ponder, ponder...
Uncommon Valor is a great little game. WitP lite is how it should be advertised - smaller region, less units but there's still plenty to do. I would say if you are remotely interested in the area of operation, then it's worth the $20 they are asking - as old as it is, it looks fine, plays well and there's plenty of game
I have it unfortunately and I would NEVER go back to a game that has graphics as bad as Steel Panthers. I loved the game once - but I just couldn't look at a game that looks that bad.
For ancient games, that have many admirers 20 dollars in reasonable.. 30 is not...7
Also if you're gonna charge 20 or 30.. Fix your setup program to incorporate the w7 fix... Do you see GoG who sells plenty of 'old' games, telling people to go look in the forum you'll find the fix there!!...
20 for FoF was also a nice price... JT Civil War battles it was a lil high, even though the Graphics aren't ugly (they're better than current HPS JT games), they're still 'tiny' on today's monitors.. Probably worth 10 bucks...
And these shouldn't be 'sale' prices, they should be regular prices... I'm curious how many 'sales' they get of FoF compared to SPWAW..
Quote from: Tuna on May 07, 2013, 06:15:35 AM
And these shouldn't be 'sale' prices, they should be regular prices... I'm curious how many 'sales' they get of FoF compared to SPWAW..
Agreed, but still it's a start. FoF and Tiller's collection were good choices, and so is Uncommon Valor (which I suggested last week during the first sale). The marketing is still kind of backwards; I agree with the above poster that the UV description should be strongly revamped to market the game forward as a pathway to WitP (with WitP remarketed in light of the AE.) Don't downplay the strong points, just take advantage of the opportunity to provide some useful context.
As for the 'sale' on SPWAWAWAAAHHHH, whatever. ::) (Edited to add: sorry, I meant SP:GenED. I get the various free and paid editions confused.)
To clarify (as in previous threads), I already own most of anything I'd ever buy off their list anyway, aside from a few late releases that I just haven't gotten around to yet (like Conflict of Heroes). So any sales criticism isn't intended to get me access to cheaper games -- I've bought it all at list price already, and I actually WANT to pay full price for the games I like that they run but haven't bought yet: I want to reward the designers.
For uncommon valor, anyone know max screen resolution it an use?
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on May 08, 2013, 06:08:26 PM
For uncommon valor, anyone know max screen resolution it an use?
1024x768?
Thank you
What Nefaro said. But the graphics are quite crisp
I believe last day for these sales and to my own amazement, I stayed strong and did not purchase uncommon valor...although there is time left today:)
Worth the price...honest ;)
Quote from: JudgeDredd on May 12, 2013, 12:26:34 PM
Worth the price...honest ;)
Stop that!!! Don't make me rethink that decision....I have WITP so kind of thinking that should be good enough and I have never made it far in that game:)
Well to be fair...if you have WitP, then you're not really missing anything
Makes me feel better:)
But...on the other ha....no...NO. I'll stop :P
I cured myself...loaded up witp and immediately was overwhelmed so it reminded me this likely isn't my type of game:)
If you have WitP vanilla, there's really no reason to get UV unless it's to play MP against another person in UV.
The same scenario from UV is available in WitP vanilla, for the most part.
WitP: AE is another story...
Yeah, I have witp:ae....either way, after loading it last night....just remembered how difficult it was for me. I know that I hear uv might be easier but still similar from what I can see.
I love the idea of these grand strat games - especially a pacific one with island hopping and aircraft carriers - but I just can't seem to grasp the scale of everything. For example...how many troops IS enough to hold that town? Should I be holding it at all?
From what I gather part of the strategy for the US is tio pull back and hunker down for a while - but I just don't get that...like - pull back to where?
And what about that wee island over there...is that useful?
There is one thing I think the game needs...range circles when clicking on a possible airfield - or at least some way of knowing if I put effort into building an airfield there - what will that cover? How will that benefit me....I couldn't see anything like that in UV. In fact you do know the ranges of your aircraft (or can find them out) and then look at the hexes around your point and work out roughly what would be covered by your aircraft - but that just seems like too much work...
So many factors goes into the decision, Island size, terrain, current level of infrastructure (port size, etc.). Supply source. Current range of aircraft.
Week 3 Deals
Quote
Matrix Games is happy to announce the third deal of the week for all those who want to satisfy their hunger for wargaming. And this time we're giving boxed copies out for free!
This week's theme is Napoleonic. From the 13th to 19th of May, Commander- Napoleon at War will be discounted to $19.99 and Crown of Glory-Emperor's Edition will be discounted to $29,99, which is a discount of up to 50 %! Prices are the same for boxed and digital editions which means you can upgrade to the boxed version for free! Who doesn't like free stuff!
Visit the Matrix Games Store, choose your favorite game (better choose the boxed version!), add to the cart and relive the "Little Corporal's" thirst for Victory!
CoG:EE == Improved yet also buggier edition of the Forge of Freedom engine (which was itself an improved and less buggy edition of the original CoG).
Still, a great choice for the sale. Free boxed upgrade is a great choice, too.
I know nothing about C:NaW, so no opinion there.
I wonder how their sales are going...? I worry they aren't getting the news out far enough.
Quote from: JudgeDredd on May 13, 2013, 04:12:07 AM
From what I gather part of the strategy for the US is tio pull back and hunker down for a while - but I just don't get that...like - pull back to where?
And what about that wee island over there...is that useful?
Welcome to the US dilemmas of early WW2 Pacific theater. "Pull back? Pull back to
where!?!"
Quote from: JasonPratt on May 13, 2013, 09:16:35 AM
CoG:EE == Improved yet also buggier edition of the Forge of Freedom engine (which was itself an improved and less buggy edition of the original CoG).
Still, a great choice for the sale. Free boxed upgrade is a great choice, too.
I know nothing about C:NaW, so no opinion there.
I wonder how their sales are going...? I worry they aren't getting the news out far enough.
Well I only hear about them here - and I did get the newsletter.
The idea of the "price" debate was to hopefully expand the market - not necessarily pander to the current market. That might not happen - but that is what I would've hoped for - because with a bigger market comes lower prices (volume of sales go up) right?
Anyway - I don't know if they are marketing it - I hear about it here and in the newsletter.
CoG:EE I have. Commander games - I have no interest in I'm afraid.
Quote from: JasonPratt on May 13, 2013, 09:16:35 AM
CoG:EE == Improved yet also buggier edition of the Forge of Freedom engine (which was itself an improved and less buggy edition of the original CoG).
What do you mean by buggier (i have CoG)?
Judge -- exactly right, expanding the market with the sales. Thus I worry that they aren't marketing the sales far enough.
Anguille -- we had a discussion around here recently (can't remember where at the moment) about how CoG:EE has some major bugs in it which, for perfectly reasonable and understandable reasons, are probably never going to be fixed. The game still plays well enough, but the bugs are (naturally) related to its complexity beyond FoF. I own the game myself (indeed I bought both versions of CoG!) but haven't played it much, despite it being my favorite Napoleonic grand strategy game so far. (NappyTotalWar may crown that eventually -- I just recently picked it up on sale and I know a lot of people swear by it. I also know a lot of people swear at the Empire engine it's based on, so eh.... ;) )
And for the first time, I am seriously tempted. I've long been curious about CoG : EE.
whew...I am safe this week, neither interests me this time around.
Don't let me scare you off, AB. It could be a lot, lot worse. Think Forge of Freedom but with more diplomacy and more real economic options (and more sides of course).
The benefits lead to some wrinkles that never got ironed out, but I'm not talking something like Empires In Arms original release or WW1 original.
Quote from: JasonPratt on May 13, 2013, 10:03:07 AM
Judge -- exactly right, expanding the market with the sales. Thus I worry that they aren't marketing the sales far enough.
Anguille -- we had a discussion around here recently (can't remember where at the moment) about how CoG:EE has some major bugs in it which, for perfectly reasonable and understandable reasons, are probably never going to be fixed. The game still plays well enough, but the bugs are (naturally) related to its complexity beyond FoF. I own the game myself (indeed I bought both versions of CoG!) but haven't played it much, despite it being my favorite Napoleonic grand strategy game so far. (NappyTotalWar may crown that eventually -- I just recently picked it up on sale and I know a lot of people swear by it. I also know a lot of people swear at the Empire engine it's based on, so eh.... ;) )
So you don't think it's worthy to upgrade from CoG to CoG EE?
The winners of the week are Time of Fury and Panzer Command, what say you?
Got both
Time of Fury I loved the aesthetics and had a great combo of unit counters and boradgame map look - can't remember the last tiem I played it mind.
Panzer Command Ostfront is pretty good. Personally - from a look perspective - it's way behind CM series - but it plays pretty well and is brutal. IIRC it's got 40s impulses - action/reaction phases I believe.
I think both of those are worth the DD price
Quote from: JudgeDredd on May 20, 2013, 05:20:52 AM
Panzer Command Ostfront is pretty good. Personally - from a look perspective - it's way behind CM series - but it plays pretty well and is brutal. IIRC it's got 40s impulses - action/reaction phases I believe.
PzC:O has great random campaign & battle generators along with lots of premade stuff.
The mechanics are based on an old series of squad-level tabletop games.
Quote from: Nefaro on May 20, 2013, 05:48:18 AM
Quote from: JudgeDredd on May 20, 2013, 05:20:52 AM
Panzer Command Ostfront is pretty good. Personally - from a look perspective - it's way behind CM series - but it plays pretty well and is brutal. IIRC it's got 40s impulses - action/reaction phases I believe.
PzC:O has great random campaign & battle generators along with lots of premade stuff.
The mechanics are based on an old series of squad-level tabletop games.
I'm sure the last time I tried the generator stuff (can't recall if it was mission or campaign) there was a problem because I was using IE7 or 8 - and the mechanic of the generators was all built around IE6 (I think).
Do you know if that's been fixed - I forgot about that issue in my post
Quote from: JudgeDredd on May 20, 2013, 05:50:57 AM
Quote from: Nefaro on May 20, 2013, 05:48:18 AM
Quote from: JudgeDredd on May 20, 2013, 05:20:52 AM
Panzer Command Ostfront is pretty good. Personally - from a look perspective - it's way behind CM series - but it plays pretty well and is brutal. IIRC it's got 40s impulses - action/reaction phases I believe.
PzC:O has great random campaign & battle generators along with lots of premade stuff.
The mechanics are based on an old series of squad-level tabletop games.
I'm sure the last time I tried the generator stuff (can't recall if it was mission or campaign) there was a problem because I was using IE7 or 8 - and the mechanic of the generators was all built around IE6 (I think).
Do you know if that's been fixed - I forgot about that issue in my post
I don't know. I recall that they were working on a fix quite awhile back but haven't checked lately. I've been too burned-out on WW2 stuff that I've rarely bothered playing anything in that setting for quite some time (including PzC). I'm sure the answer lies on the game forum .. somewhere.
just picked up time of fury and allowed my 30% discount for time of wrath :)
Both are pretty good games but....as has happened every week thus far.....nothing for me to take advantage of. Already own both games. I'm holding out hope that future weeks will having something to offer me.
I've already had most of the offerings.. Cept SPWAW.. but that was too high, if it was 20 as well (like the others) I may have bit..
Quote from: Anguille on May 14, 2013, 02:14:21 AM
Judge -- So you don't think it's worthy to upgrade from CoG to CoG EE?
On the balance I'm not unhappy with the upgrade, but then I never played much of the original version. (Although it's too late now to catch the sale; sorry, I didn't realize this post was here.) Overall I'd say yes it's worth upgrading.
Quote from: JudgeDredd on May 20, 2013, 05:20:52 AM
Panzer Command Ostfront is pretty good. Personally - from a look perspective - it's way behind CM series
It's way behind CMx2, but quite ahead of CMx1 (which was part of its competitive draw).
I'll try to remember to test out the dynamic campaign generator--I own Ostfront (and owned Wintersun before it) but have never gotten around to playing it. It's a great choice for a sale.
I have Time of Wrath and Storm Over the Pacific but for some reason I never got really interested in them, there was always something missing, that's why I think I'll pass ToF. And CM does the job what comes to PzC so that's also no buy for me. I'm still hoping to see those SSG titles on sale, and if we get really lucky, TOAW. :)
Quote from: JasonPratt on May 20, 2013, 08:26:35 AM
Quote from: Anguille on May 14, 2013, 02:14:21 AM
Judge -- So you don't think it's worthy to upgrade from CoG to CoG EE?
On the balance I'm not unhappy with the upgrade, but then I never played much of the original version. (Although it's too late now to catch the sale; sorry, I didn't realize this post was here.) Overall I'd say yes it's worth upgrading.
Mr JasonPratt - the quote above appears to be some sort of wierd morphed quote - because he never asked that question of me. That question was actually asked in response to your post.
I'm only pointing this out because I thought he had directly asked me a question which I seemingly ignored...when in fact he hadn't - and nor had I! :o
No, you're right, it's a morphed quote. I accidentally left over the first part of my reply to you.
Tinker: CMx2 doesn't currently do the Eastern Front (although that's coming), and CMx1 didn't do the Eastern Front with campaigns. You can career role-play a German or Russian military group through the whole Eastern Front in Ostfront, rather like a Panzer General campaign but in a Combat Missionish engine.
Even the Achtung Panzer games don't allow a full Eastern Front dynamic career/campaign, do they?
@Jason
Ok, that sounds interesting.. and you're right, APOS doesn't have that either.
I forgot to install and check whether the Ostfront campaign generator is bugged in Win8 tonight; will try to do so soon this week.
PzC random campaign generator works on Win7, I just checked, so I expect it'd work with Win8. I like elements of PzC, but it's not as highly realistic as CMX2. It's much more abstract in how units are represented. It's also fought at a platoon level which is pretty cool if micromanagement isn't your thing, but you can give individual orders to each squad. Example: A platoon of infantry will be represented by 3 squads with 3 men each. Damage to the squad is done by a 1/3 ratio. Once you reach 3/3 damage the squad is eliminated also a squads moral is all linked together where as in CMX2 does it by man each with their own moral/injury/death represented. PzC is also a highly armor focused game. The infantry plays an important role, but you do have some limits to what you can do with them.
All in all though PzC is a fun game. The campains can be fun and you do become attached to certain units as they collect awards and survive or don't from one battle to the next.
There is certainly $20 worth of fun in the game. The downside is two-fold. The community and as a result the MP is pretty non-existant. Although Mobius and Rick are still there. Also as with nearly every game that has come up for sale the on going support is pretty much gone. Although there is still talk of an upcoming patch for PzC, we'll see if that ever materializes.
Bison
iirc the issue that I recall was due to the version of Internet Explorer running - NOT the OS. It might even have been restricted to IE - and not shown up in other browsers.
I have IE10 installed - I'll reinstall and check tonight
I really enjoy Time of Fury...
Quote from: JudgeDredd on May 21, 2013, 01:42:03 AM
Bison
iirc the issue that I recall was due to the version of Internet Explorer running - NOT the OS. It might even have been restricted to IE - and not shown up in other browsers.
I have IE10 installed - I'll reinstall and check tonight
If you're talking about the google mapmaking editor.. If you search with Google on the error and the game name, I think you come up with a fix quickly.. just edit some ini and make a small change.
Quote from: Tuna on May 21, 2013, 06:04:56 AM
Quote from: JudgeDredd on May 21, 2013, 01:42:03 AM
Bison
iirc the issue that I recall was due to the version of Internet Explorer running - NOT the OS. It might even have been restricted to IE - and not shown up in other browsers.
I have IE10 installed - I'll reinstall and check tonight
If you're talking about the google mapmaking editor.. If you search with Google on the error and the game name, I think you come up with a fix quickly.. just edit some ini and make a small change.
Oh yeahhh.. that
was the issue right?
You can import maps from google earth to create game maps from them, but there was an issue when using a specific IE version. I do seem to recall a workaround being found, too.
Nope. I never went into the MapMaker that I remember.
I'm positive the Scenario Maker used some sort of IE interface or linked in in some way or something and the controls on the left hand side for unit selection etc were all over the place - not displaying as they should at all and not useable.
Having said that I did reinstall it and the Scenario Maker looks fine. There is a MapMaker problem talking about needing a new google maps api key - and gives you (rather unhelpfully) a web page address to go to - this did actually take me to a page - that I had no clue what to do in and I wasn't about to read it to find out. So the MapMaker won't work for me - no big deal tbh.
Well - who knows.
As well as the search interface at Matrix being totally a PITA, everything I typed received no results...pretty much how I remember Matrix Forum Search engine being in the past
Quote from: JudgeDredd on May 22, 2013, 01:23:15 AM
Nope. I never went into the MapMaker that I remember.
I'm positive the Scenario Maker used some sort of IE interface or linked in in some way or something and the controls on the left hand side for unit selection etc were all over the place - not displaying as they should at all and not useable.
Having said that I did reinstall it and the Scenario Maker looks fine. There is a MapMaker problem talking about needing a new google maps api key - and gives you (rather unhelpfully) a web page address to go to - this did actually take me to a page - that I had no clue what to do in and I wasn't about to read it to find out. So the MapMaker won't work for me - no big deal tbh.
It will with that fix I was talking about.. lol.. no big deal. you could create a map of your neighborhood and do war on it!!
^ ohhhh..... :D
This week's theme is Naval.
Quote
Matrix Games is happy to announce the new deal of the week for all those who want to satisfy their hunger for wargaming.
From the 27th of May to the 2nd of June, Carriers at War will be discounted to 19,99/$29,99 (Digital/Boxed version) and Larry Bond's Harpoon - Ultimate Edition will be discounted to $29,99/$39,99 (Digital/Boxed version), which is a discount of up to 60%!
Visit the Matrix Games Store, choose your favorite game, add it to the cart and bring your fleet to victory!
Take advantage of this Deal and come back next week: there is always a Deal suited for you.
Tempted for CAW, always was curious and maybe $19 is the right price for it....
I'm VERY tempted by Carriers at War. I wanted it when it came out but when I found out there was no campaign I decided to wait.
Can anyone that has CAW let us know how many scenarios it has when fully patched up? The product page says 6, but I'm pretty sure some other ones have been patched in. Plus, there are supposedly some user made ones lurking out there somewhere, but for whatever reason Run5 doesn't host them, which seems bizarre.
It's a good update on the original CAW. Too bad they didn't convert all the scenarios from the Original Complete CAW. That one had the Med, N&S Atlantic, and Indian oceans as well as the KM and ,IIRC, the Regia Marina. There was even a mid 30's War Plan Orange scenario. Last year Matrix anounced there was a new 'Complete CAW' planned for late year release but it never materialized and now it seems they are saying nothing.
The user-made scenarios were available at the Matrix CAW forum. Not sure how active that is anymore.
I do not see any user made scenarios listed for CAW, But there is a guy who is working on a mod that if happens will have all of the things the original CAW complete had and more.
I bought it the day it came out and it is a good game but very short in scenarios.
NM my (now edited) rant. It seems you have to toggle the 'display topics from last' to All Topics.
Quote from: smittyohio on May 27, 2013, 12:21:00 PM
Can anyone that has CAW let us know how many scenarios it has when fully patched up? The product page says 6, but I'm pretty sure some other ones have been patched in.
I don't recall what the totals were but each scenario also has multiple different setups. So there are multiple hypothetical variants of each.
Quote from: Nefaro on May 27, 2013, 06:46:27 PM
Quote from: smittyohio on May 27, 2013, 12:21:00 PM
Can anyone that has CAW let us know how many scenarios it has when fully patched up? The product page says 6, but I'm pretty sure some other ones have been patched in.
I don't recall what the totals were but each scenario also has multiple different setups. So there are multiple hypothetical variants of each.
Thanks, I went ahead and bit :-) Hopefully the mystery variants give plenty of unpredictability to the scenarios.
So far I'm liking what I'm seeing. I played the Pearl Harbor scenario to get my feet wet. It was a little confusing to me at first to see how to setup strikes on different targets, but I got it worked out. It would be nice if you could review the strikes once you've created it... I couldn't figure out how, but maybe I'm just missing something.
Edit: As a bonus, it was nice to see the game supported modern resolutions... I was somewhat thinking it didn't. Nice surprise.
Quote from: smittyohio on May 27, 2013, 12:21:00 PM
Can anyone that has CAW let us know how many scenarios it has when fully patched up? The product page says 6, but I'm pretty sure some other ones have been patched in. Plus, there are supposedly some user made ones lurking out there somewhere, but for whatever reason Run5 doesn't host them, which seems bizarre.
With the user made stuff I've downloaded I've got 21 in total (discounting variants).
Unfortunatly (having just checked) the user mods I have are no longer downloadable, I originally got them from this thread http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=2161962
Still a fun game and worth the discounted price.
CaW was a huge disappointment for me - on release. I was really looking forward to it - and found it seriously lacked content, manoeuvrability and randomness - so what was there was very little.
Huge looking task forces on smallish maps didn't help.
If that's all changed, then I stand corrected - but that was on release. It was shelved after my initial "ooohhhhh" waned.
Quote
This week's theme is the Modern Era. From the 3rd to the 9th of June, Flashpoint Germany will be discounted to 19,99/$29,99 (Digital/Boxed version) and Close Combat Modern Tactics will be discounted to $14,99/$24,99 (Digital/Boxed version), which is a discount of up to 50%!
Anyone know how Flashpoint Germany holds up? or should I wait until Flashpoint 2 coming out later this year (hopefully)
I helped beta test Flashpoint Germany...but I've forgotten most of what I knew...but I'll try and fill you in
It has tactical nukes
It has chemical weapons
It's squares - not a hex in sight
The maps are beautiful - but what you get in the game is all you've got because they were hand made and very specific to the game
The counters and weapons platforms look cool
There is a "communication" element to it where traffic is monitored and displayed. Although I can't remember how the mechanic works, I do remember thinking it was a cool mechanism. I think it was a bit like the Radio Traffic stuff in Battle of Britain
Sounds are superb...nothing like hearing a Challenger or M1A1 let off a round, or the hissing(? swishing?) sound of a missile leaving the BMPs
Infantry is not modelled individually - though it is factored in
As for gameplay - I had many, many enjoyable hours with it - both in testing and after. From what I recall it was a bit of a one way thing for the allies - Soviets, though numerically superior, didn't have too much of a lookin - but it was fun trying. I never won many battles as the Soviets...and I played plenty of battles.
The battles were intense and fairly quick.
I can't remember if it had multiplayer (I'm sure it did but I never played it MP) and it wasn't very moddable if at all - but that may have changed over the years. I do know you were stuck with the maps it came with...but beautiful maps they were.
Overall - I'd say it was a superb game and imo well worth $20.
Agreed with FP:G nice choice to promote interest in the new FP2 on the way!
Posted this to a different thread but moved it here as it seemed more appropriate.
I saw the Matrix sale of the week has Close Combat Modern Tactics for $14.99.....how well does this engine work with modern combat technology? How's the game overall; a good one?
I would also like to hear impressions on Close Combat. I don't own any of them.
Quote from: Toonces on June 04, 2013, 01:37:36 AM
I would also like to hear impressions on Close Combat. I don't own any of them.
Close Combat modern tactics is the worst of the series. No campaign, very "sandboxy".
Well it is a derivative of CC Marines, a training tool and not a game.
Jomni's in no way wrong, but, for the very same reasons he dislikes it, bit love it.
It's the only CC game that let's me play with more than 2 players on a LAN...something my beloved CMx2 has yet to let me do.
Jomni is, however, correct that there's little "there" there if what you're hunting is SP content.
And, to my dear friends at Matrix, while your sales are wonderful things, you are giving me a piquant reminder of just how many of your games I've purchased at retail...not your fault...I blame my own limited ability to control my impulses.
Best,
Jim
"Cyrano"
:/7)
Quote from: Toonces on June 04, 2013, 01:37:36 AM
I would also like to hear impressions on Close Combat. I don't own any of them.
The other CC games are quite similar to a top-down continuously played Combat Mission (although CM came later, so any inspiration went that way). Ever since CC2 there has been an overarching strategy level of some sort, with "The Longest Day" essentially remaking CC1 with a strategic overlay. Matrix's versions update the older CC games somewhat with some bug fixes, graphic improvements (within the range and style of the original engine) and more extensive campaign maps.
On a campaign players spend points building up troops in areas and moving them into new areas (sometimes from off map), generating battles at the tactical level which can take 10 to 20 minutes each to resolve. Squads and vehicles can be given some basic orders at any time, but the orders could be muffed due to competency or morale issues, with each soldier's abilities being tracked in-game. (Also sometimes bugs muff orders. ;) The pathfinding for vehicles in urban areas has been improved but in the past was legendarily terrible.) The game uses sprites but tracks individual members of each squad visually, so a squad of twelve guys features twelve guys running or crawling around, with some of them getting lost or scared or whatever.
Despite its problems, it's a classic series of games for good reason, and still has a lively mod population. If you have some interest in the specific operations being simulated (Battle for Stalingrad, Normandy invasion, Market-Garden, Battle of the Bulge), you could do better sometimes (like the Command Ops real-time series, although the CC games are nowhere distantly near being as complex and difficult to play) but you could do a lot worse, too.
Will they ever have a decent sale on WITE?
There's no way I'll shuck out $80 for that thing.
I have just bought Flashpoint Germany, i was tempted on cc modern tactics, but now i will give it a miss. I would like though to play wacht am rhein and cross of iron in the series. I played a bridge too far many years ago and enjoyed it but found the campaign too short.
(Just about?) the last thing Matrix did when upgrading the original versions of Close Combat was a new version of A Bridge Too Far; I gather the campaign got some similar levels of loving there.
The theme this week is The Great War (http://www.matrixgames.com/news/1107/A.Deal.from.the.Great.War!)...
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From the 10th to the 16th of June, World War One Gold and Guns of August 1914-1918 will be discounted to 19,99$ (Digital/Boxed version) which is a discount of up to 60%! Prices are the same for boxed and digital editions which means you can upgrade to the boxed version for free! This is a great opportunity for every WW1 enthusiast.
I tried hard to convince the Bro to pick up some strategic wargames for his computer, especially since there just aren't any for the Android (some good operational games, but not really good strategic theater games). But I failed. :( (He's trying to keep the kids from playing on the computer all the time, and doesn't think having games on there himself is a good idea to help that. Which is reasonable.)
It's too bad because he was very much interested in the WW1 games, and here the two older ones are on sale. Both are good buys, too.
What's the skinny on Guns of August? The map graphics remind me of those SSG games such as Ardennes Offensive and Across the Dnepr.
^ +1
There's a potentially really good game somewhere under one of the single worst UI ever developed for a wargame. I just didn't have the patience after awhile to not only learn the game mechanics but deal with the UI too.
^^ That could in fairness be said about both games. ;) GoA is certainly simpler than WW1Gm, in the sense of being less detailed -- no WW1 game so far is as detailed as Gold -- but don't think that means GoA is easy. I own both games and the land war in GoA is more detailed than most other games. (Not super monsters like War in the East.) The UI in each is... challenging, but efforts keep being made to improve WW1G and it does have an absolutely astonishing amount of tooltip support.
Both are (more or less) based on actual board games, but I'd say GoA is the more boardgamey of the two. I don't mean that as a slight on either game, the playstyle just leans more in that direction for GoA. I feel like I'm really dealing with chits on a map. With WW1G, the feeling is more like... not sure how to describe it... like I'm pushing tall mapmarkers around on a (much larger and more detailed) map, with the tall figures each representing collections of chits I'm shuffling around off-map between container areas.
On the other hand, I haven't played GoT in a while but I seem to recall that it tracks actual casualties and strengths for each chit, whereas with WW1G if a chit is damaged it's flipped over and then it's removed, which in itself feels more boardgamish. But then on the other hand I've felt it was easier to get an idea of the horrifying casualties of the war in GoT more than in WW1G.
It might come down to this. The manual I received for GoT was printed in the case and is a little brochure of maybe 20 pages. WW1G has at least two large multi-hundred-page manuals, one of which is the addendums to the first one.
I would be very curious someday to play both games simultaneously (playing the same side in each game for comparison perhaps), but I strongly suspect the GoT game would be easier to start and easier to finish. WW1G isn't a lifestyle choice like, say, War in the Pacific, but it's close.
Battle Academy is now on sale for both iPad and PC.
http://matrixgames.com/news/1117/Battle.Academy.iPad.and.PC.50.per.cent.off!?utm_source=Matrix+BA+June+Sale&utm_campaign=BA-Mx-Sale-June&utm_medium=email
tempting
Sadly the expansions are not on sale.