Seven Years War: Releases End of October

[RyanE]

I noted the comment about custom battles.  Does that mean you can build your own with the included armies?

How does the battle part of the game compare to Pike & Shot?

[Grim.Reaper]

I noted the comment about custom battles.  Does that mean you can build your own with the included armies?

How does the battle part of the game compare to Pike & Shot?

Take a look at the manual...has a section on the custom battles (which sounds like what you describe) and also shows you the battle stuff....I haven't played both games extensively, but the battles don't look comparable.

http://downloads.thesevenyearswar.com/THE%20SEVEN%20YEARS%20WAR%20-%20Game%20manual.pdf

[panzerde]

Given the upcoming DLC and a price of $20, I'm going to give it a try just for the tactical battles.

[RyanE]

If you don't mind, let me know what you think.  I am torn between this and Pike & Shot.

[panzerde]

If you don't mind, let me know what you think.  I am torn between this and Pike & Shot.

Aside from the fact that Pike & Shot is a different period, get Pike & Shot. There are a ton of scenarios for it now, it's a great tactical system, and has excellent PBEM. I don't care for the campaign system, but YMMV. This may very well end up being a great tactical game covering the period, but it can't come close to what Pike & Shot is. I consider Pike & Shot a "must have" game.

[RyanE]

Will do...I was waiting for someone to convince me.

[panzerde]

Will do...I was waiting for someone to convince me.

You won't be sorry. An excellent game. Let me know if you want to PBEM. Don't forget to grab the community scenarios, which are universally excellent.

[Father Ted]

If you don't mind, let me know what you think.  I am torn between this and Pike & Shot.

Although I guess I'm a bit too late, I 'd like to point out that they're pretty different games.  I have both, and they're each good, but they do try to do different things.  To my mind, 7 Years War is keppelmueller's take on a Total War title set in that time period.  Of course it's his own game, but it has the same strategic-map-followed-by-real-time-tactical-battle formula.  Pike and Shot, though,  has turn-based tactical battles which are pretty abstracted, almost chess-like.

Both are good games, IMO - my post is just to point out that you're choosing between apple and oranges.  Get both!

[RyanE]

I am not getting both.   This has nothing to do with cost.  I have a limited amount of gaming time and just am looking to not waste my time.  Or at reduce the risk of wasting my time when I could have been playing a better game (for me).

I don't play campaigns.  I typically want tactical battles with a semblance of forcing realistic tactics.

[sandman2575]

I made a serious go at trying to learn 7 Years War this weekend. Results are decidedly mixed for me. After spending a bunch of time reading manuals, guides, and watching K's economy primer on YouTube, I have a modest handle on the economy. Lots of things still elude me though. A bit like in Distant Worlds -- your income frequently skyrockets / crashes based on God knows what. I don't feel I have any control over what influences this.

All I keep thinking as I play the grand campaign (1750 start), and do nothing but upgrade building and build farms / mines / craftshops -- is an overwhelming sense of "What's the point? And why is this fun?"  I can't help but think K. has devoted enormous energy to building a highly complex economic model that is ultimately beside the point... All this could have been massively simplified without impairing gameplay -- indeed, I think it would improve gameplay immensely, since the real enjoyment of the game is the battles, but in the campaign you spend 90% of your time managing a confusing economy and waiting for the real fun to start.

That sounds a bit harsher than I intended. But I'm inclined to agree with Swatter's assessment a few posts back. 7 Years War seems designed in a way that emphasizes its weaknesses and underplays its strengths. I think it's telling that a pure battle-pack DLC is in the offing. The battles are what makes the game fun. And yet the Campaign -- the meat & potatoes of the game -- seems almost perversely determined to keep you, the player, away from what makes the game fun... Definitely frustrating...

[RyanE]

Excellent review...honest and concise.  Thank you.

[mikeck]

@sandman, and how are those tactical battles? They look like SoW type battles as far as I can see...meaning bad graphics but possibly realistic in terms of tactics

[sandman2575]

I think SoW is not a bad comparison, mikeck, although the combat is not quite as detailed. As someone who does not like twitchy-RTS type combat, I enjoy the deliberate, realistic pace of 7 Years War's battles a lot. I actually enjoy them a lot more than the battles in Empire/Napoleon Total War -- as with SoW, I'll take realism and attention to historical detail any day over flashy AAA production values.

7 Years War was clearly envisioned as a 'thinking man's' Empire Total War. Its indebtedness to the TW format, right down to copying some if TW's UI features whole-cloth, is obvious from the get-go. It even 'one-ups' TW in being entirely real time, not turn-based strategic layer + real-time combat. But 7 Years War's emphasis on a very complex economic development and logistics layer is, in my view, the game's real stumbling block. 7 Years War doesn't pull off what Pdox's Victoria did well: making a complex economic mechanic *interesting* and fun to manage.

I genuinely hate to criticize this game because I know it has been a labor of love for the one-man developer, Keppelmuller, and the devotion shows. I really like a lot of things about 7 Years War's overall aesthetic. A lot of pure design touches are really nice. But integrating that design with a user-friendly UI, for example, is not something the game pulls off. The UI is something you have to patiently put up with if you're going to play the game -- it does little to facilitate gameplay.

[Asid]

Update 1.226 released
Community Announcements - keppelmueller

Fixing some smaller issues:

- fixed occasional crashes or low FPS caused by minimap in campaigns
- fixed double information of war declarations
- siege attacks now work properly when multiple sieges active
- remaining food calculation in sieges improved
- fixed: lumber mills do not find resources if number of trees is reduced in options menu
- loan interest costs now shown properly in finance menu
- fixed: building upgrades now replace building model instantly on campaign map
- newsfeed tabs: information now fit into tabs
- fixed overlapping tooltips in city menu
- confirmation of renaming regiments now does not switch to next city
- fixed overlapping windows if historical events are triggered
- text now fits into mercenary tooltip
- population effect on corruption now shown as positive
- preventing running through of opposing regiments in melees
- red barricade timers now hidden if fog of war is activated

[Asid]

The Battle Pack DLC Released

£3.99
http://store.steampowered.com/app/485840/?snr=1_5_1100__1100



The Seven Years War (1756-1763) Battle Pack
- 6 Additional historic battles
- Build your own custom battles
- Weather effects with influence on the troops' conditions
- Order your commanders to take initiative on the battlefield
- New unit: horse artillery
- Additional unit statistics during and at the end of battles
- New quick attack and retreat orders
- Polished battle goals

Based on the community votes, the new historic battles include:
- Abraham Plains (1757)
- Sainte Foy (1760)
- Zorndorf (1758)
- Carillon (1758)
- Prague (1757)
- Lovositz (1756)