WWI Strategic Games

[Bismarck]

If you're worried about all those things, get a free 2GB Dropbox account.

[Nefaro]

If you're worried about all those things, get a free 2GB Dropbox account.

Wouldn't that be distributing the licensed game to someone else?  Penalty: Death!! :P

[Martok]

Good question. I'm doing an omnibus review of WW I strategic games starting with Guns of August.

Cool.  I'll definitely read it before I make any purchasing decision. 

I've been learning toward Commander: The Great War as it's apparently the most accessible out of all of them, but I've heard good stuff about most of the other ones as well (especially SC: WW1, but the others have their points too). 

[panzerde]

I'm definitely interested in Bismark's review as well.  After downloading and playing demos last night and reading AARs, I bought the SC:WWI bundle this morning.  It seemed to be best suited for my level of understanding of the era at this point.  CTGW seems just a bit too abstract (though very tempting!) and WWI Gold seems just a bit too detailed.

I have discovered that SC:WWI looks much, much better on lower display resolutions.  I tried the demo at 1920X1080 and almost couldn't stand to look at it.

Now, for some nice, quiet war.  A nice break after fielding a stressed call from a client early this morning that "all of our servers are down!!!" (They weren't  ::))

[panzerde]

Well, hell.  Amazon had WWI Gold for $14.99 with unlimited re-installs, so I got that too.  This is what the wife gets for leaving me to my own devices.

[Tamas]

Well, hell.  Amazon had WWI Gold for $14.99 with unlimited re-installs, so I got that too.  This is what the wife gets for leaving me to my own devices.

Hello guys!


WW1 Gold just got a new patch a few days ago. It has some significant performance improvements, as well as bug fixes and AI tweaking:
http://www.ageod-forum.com/showthread.php?28476-New-official-patch-1-08Q

Assuming that the Amazon DD isn't one patch before that, improvements are huge compared to it, so you shouldn't try before patching. :)


It is kind of sad that WW1 Gold doesn't always appear as alternative between SC and Commander. I have all 3, and actually they are all fun, and different takes on the conflict.

WW1G is clearly the hardest to grasp - there is a monster boardgame under the hood. IIRC, the boardgame -which I have and love- had 1 rulebook of basic rules, one for advanced, separate booklet for diplomacy, and separate sheets for each major countries with special rules and production tables. Despite frequent tooltips, you just can't shove that in the players face via mouse pop-ups. And the interface can be a bit rough on the newcomers, altough it becomes smooth with a little practice.

But the details it simulates cannot even compare to the other two. Rules on research, diplomacy, wartime production settings, politics, national will, warplans, interceptions, unit nationalities, events, colonies, navies etc., and they all come together to a whole.

For example, brief AAR of a game I just started as Central Powers with the new patch (using "strictly turn based" mode, which is the literal take of the boardgame activation and movement rules instead of the classic AGEOD move-style).
I was thinking of going with normal War Plans, but after unpausing the AI to let it choose first, I got not one, but two warnings (certain warplans are detected by the enemy pre-war so you get a warning): France chose Plan XIX (IIRC), which was still an attack in Alsace-Lorianne, but allowed more freedom in where to attack and with what armies, in exchange of somewhat lower National Will (NW is the cornerstone of the whole game. You win by destroying the enemies, which leads to mutiny, revolutions, different regime changes etc). More importantly, Russia decided on an anti-Berlin plan. Instead of having the bulk of her forces against Austria-Hungary, they were deployed on the German border.

So, I decided to shuffle around my plans too:
-Germany would go with the Moltke Plan, which is the Russia First strategy. 1st to 3rd armies would deploy on the Russian border, with the 4th to 6th to defend against France. Belgium would remain neutral, so later on I made some heavy diplomatic influences on GB, delaying their entry
-Germans would use their "Diplomatic Poker" option, which gives a good chance for Italy joining the war on their side at the beginning, due to them waiting around for treaty clauses to take effect. Side effects are plenty, including the removal of Russian combat penalties in August (which normally represent the haphazard throw of semi-mobilized Russians into combat), as all the loitering around gave the Russians time to finish mobilization before hostilities started.
I could make Italian entry pretty much guaranteed by combining this option with the Austria option of giving up on Trentin, but that is quite a blow to A-H's Nationa Will, so I decided not to

-Austria-Hungary was to go with the Anti-Serbia plan, hopeing to finish them off while Russia is busy with the big meetup with Germany.

I got lucky and Italy did join, which is not just a nice distraction for France, but also frees up the 7th and 8th Austrian armies.

It is now October, and maybe I was too cautios, but the Eastern Front didn't go anywhere. The German 1st Army has opened a gap at Eastern Prussia, plan is to shove the 8th Army through it into the Baltic States, while the 1st goes south toward Warsaw, which should end the deadlock (or imminnent Russian offensive, hard to tell) in Poland.

The French started the war with a vengeance. I just could not hold Metz and the fortified space north to it (Thionville?). Both spaces so very bloody major battles (major battles are when stacks are big enough to perform to parallel tactical battles), but the Germans had to retreat, this was back in August.
Since then, Germany suffered horrendous losses in my attempts at desperate counter-offensives to liberate the under-siege forts of Metz and Thionville. All these attempts have failed so far, Thion surrendered, but Metz holds out, even repelling a French assault attempt. Such heavy fighting is also taking a toll on France, especially since they failed to dislodge the German 6th and 7th armies from the mountainous terrain of the southern half of the front.

I finally managed to mass the Italian armies on the French border in September, capturing Nice. They might still prove a decisive factor.

Serbia is crumbling under pressure, as now 4 A-H armies pushing south. Not 5, because the 8th Army had to be sent from the Italian border to the Russian, as hitting a brick wall in Poland prompted the Russian AI to try its luck against A-H.

Great Britain is still neutral thanks to my diplomatic efforts, but not for long, and a result of my efforts, I am not really close to drawing anybody else in the war yet.


So you see, that kind of narrative and wide range of possibilities when you fire up a new game is missing from the other games, in my opinion.

[Bill Runacre]

Just tried-out the demo to SC WWI. I like it. But it's not that easy to learn even after reading the manual. Some strange political set-ups at the start-Syria & Palestine start in 1914 as neutral minors so I guess if the Ottomans want to attack the Suez they have to invade them.

Hi Sir Slash

What happens when the Ottomans enter the war is that Syria, Palestine, Mesopotamia and Arabia will all become activated, under Ottoman control and with Ottoman forces in them.

In terms of learning the game, I created a thread on the forum which contains a lot of useful information on playing the game.

It seems to have helped quite a few others, and I am happy to add any other things to it that aren't included in the Manual or Strategy Guides, please let me know:
http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=107356

I am currently preparing something to add to the thread, to provide advice on using unrestricted naval warfare, and whether or not to send the Zimmermann Telegram.

We also have quite a few AAR on the go, and these should help anyone wanting to learn the game, or decide if it is for them or not.

The AARs cover the main 1914 Call to Arms campaign, the Russian Civil War, von Lettow-Vorbeck's campaign in German East Africa, and a couple of divisional level campaigns: the German invasion of France in 1914, and the 1918 Ludendorff Offensive. You can find them all here:

http://www.battlefront.com/community/forumdisplay.php?f=123

Bill

[Shelldrake]

I've been learning toward Commander: The Great War as it's apparently the most accessible out of all of them, but I've heard good stuff about most of the other ones as well (especially SC: WW1, but the others have their points too).

I have been enjoying CTGW...easy to learn, difficult to master and the AI is a credible opponent.

[Martok]

Well, hell.  Amazon had WWI Gold for $14.99 with unlimited re-installs, so I got that too.  This is what the wife gets for leaving me to my own devices.

Hello guys!


WW1 Gold just got a new patch a few days ago. It has some significant performance improvements, as well as bug fixes and AI tweaking:
http://www.ageod-forum.com/showthread.php?28476-New-official-patch-1-08Q

Assuming that the Amazon DD isn't one patch before that, improvements are huge compared to it, so you shouldn't try before patching. :)


It is kind of sad that WW1 Gold doesn't always appear as alternative between SC and Commander. I have all 3, and actually they are all fun, and different takes on the conflict.

[snip]

Welcome to Grogheads, Tamas! 

WW1 Gold is the other title I've kept half an eye on.  However, you're right in that CTGW and SC: WW1 are better known, so I appreciate you talking about it. 

I've been learning toward Commander: The Great War as it's apparently the most accessible out of all of them, but I've heard good stuff about most of the other ones as well (especially SC: WW1, but the others have their points too).

I have been enjoying CTGW...easy to learn, difficult to master and the AI is a credible opponent.

Thanks Shelldrake.  That's been my impression as well, but it's good to hear you confirm it. 

[panzerde]

WW1 Gold just got a new patch a few days ago. It has some significant performance improvements, as well as bug fixes and AI tweaking:
http://www.ageod-forum.com/showthread.php?28476-New-official-patch-1-08Q

Assuming that the Amazon DD isn't one patch before that, improvements are huge compared to it, so you shouldn't try before patching. :)

Thanks for the head's up, patch downloaded.

[panzerde]

In terms of learning the game, I created a thread on the forum which contains a lot of useful information on playing the game.

It seems to have helped quite a few others, and I am happy to add any other things to it that aren't included in the Manual or Strategy Guides, please let me know:
http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=107356

Thanks Bill, this was really useful.  I'm really enjoying playing the game!

[Sir Slash]

Thanks Bill. That really does help make sense of alot.

[Longdan]

I have had WW I Gold for a long time but never has a tutorial so thoroughly pissed me off
in my 30 some years of PC gaming.  What an abomination.  I really wanted to like that game
and some day I will give it another go.

[GibbyG]

I have had WW I Gold for a long time but never has a tutorial so thoroughly pissed me off
in my 30 some years of PC gaming.  What an abomination.  I really wanted to like that game
and some day I will give it another go.

Exactly!  I tried to get through it and couldn't so it was on to the next thing.

[jomni]

The old man shouting "Charge"in WW1 gold drives me nuts.

Anyway, of all WW1 strategic games, GoA is the one I have finished several times already.  I started dabbling in WW1 gold and never finished even a year of it.  It's quite tedious since you also play the battle phase and the game is sometimes unstable.