Strategic Command: World War I

[Sir Slash]

TEAW Is the only AGEOD game I just gave-up on. There's too many units in the campaigns and it plays like the game's playing itself with units charging all over the map. Playing it is like herding cats. Very unhistorical and confusing though I love the look of the game. Though you maybe able to adjust the AI Aggressiveness down some and have it play better.  Civil War 2 was my favorite and a true gem.

[Tanaka]

TEAW Is the only AGEOD game I just gave-up on. There's too many units in the campaigns and it plays like the game's playing itself with units charging all over the map. Playing it is like herding cats. Very unhistorical and confusing though I love the look of the game. Though you maybe able to adjust the AI Aggressiveness down some and have it play better.  Civil War 2 was my favorite and a true gem.

Like "Herding Cats" haha. This might be the best description of Ageod games I have heard.

Yes BoA2 and CW2 and AJE are the best in my opinion. FOG Empires is a step up and finally improved on the herding and slogginess.

[Gusington]

Any of you have any luck with Revolution Under Siege?

[Sir Slash]

I played the demo years back. Good but I didn't care for the time period really.

[Old TImer]

I've been a big fan of Ageod, especially EAW.  Agree with getting into ACW2 or BOA first to learn the system.
I'm a scholar of WWI and I suppose that's why EAW clicks with me.  CTGW was just too abstract for me and
dang but I've got about 3 different versions of SCWWI and I don't even know which one is the best or if they're
all essentially the same.

[Tanaka]

I've been a big fan of Ageod, especially EAW.  Agree with getting into ACW2 or BOA first to learn the system.
I'm a scholar of WWI and I suppose that's why EAW clicks with me.  CTGW was just too abstract for me and
dang but I've got about 3 different versions of SCWWI and I don't even know which one is the best or if they're
all essentially the same.

Agree about CTGW. This version of SCWW1 is definitely the best!

[Tanaka]

Any of you have any luck with Revolution Under Siege?

I've got it but yet to try playing it yet. Too many other Ageod games waiting on me haha...

[Gusington]

It is quite a monster. Gird yourself, whenever you do try it.

[Tanaka]

It is quite a monster. Gird yourself, whenever you do try it.

Is this your favorite of the series? Like others said I don't know as much about this conflict as the rest so it's at the bottom of the pile. Can you entice me? Haha

[JasonPratt]

Hm, most accurate WW1 game... (I'll see if AzTank agrees with estimates).

Not sure how playable it is right now, but Matrix's first published WW1 game was Guns of August. It has unit stacking and quite a lot of details under the hood, for a groggy board game experience. Don't recall how granular it is on production and historical choices etc. -- I own it, but have only fiddled with it a little long ago.

Hearts of Iron: Darkest Hour (or whatever that official super-mod is called) has a WW1 start (and an unofficial Grand Campaign mod which connects it with the scripts for the earliest WW2 start), and it has a lot of bling going for it. It doesn't have trench warfare, which is a big problem, but also a limitation of the game engine, so I could understand that being a gamebreaker. (Fortification levels do sort of simulate trench warfare, but no moreso than fortification levels in WW2 time periods.) The entire world and all its nations are up for play; you can stack units by assigning divisions to corps (with special 'brigade' subunits attached to divs), then corps to armies via HQs; the air war and naval war are probably the most detailed for any WW1 strategy game so far (as you'd expect for a HOI series game, though on the other hand no better than any HOI game especially from that design period 2010ish.) For playability and detail, this is my overall pick for #1.

Matrix's other first WW1 game, World War One Gold (which was briefly sold as WW1: Centennial on Steam and Gamersgate by another publisher trying to revitalize and fix the game), could conceivably be the best WW1 experience per se as long as you don't care much about the naval side and reduce the air to properly minor support (at the strategic scale). It will drive you insane with its picky details, and it's kind of broken in places, which thematically fits!  :bd: But no one can fault its ambition in principle, to take a monster WW1 board game and try to fit it into a pseudo-AGE-engine computer game design. It's as beautiful as a fairy queen on a steady diet of absinthe. Matrix supplanted it with a more properly Ageod-based WW1 game a few years ago, To End All Wars, about which I have no experience (and because of which they forced the Centennial game to cease sales and development.  :'( Understandably, from their perspective, though the legal questions involved seemed sketchy.) It's my favorite WW1 strategic game, and I kind of hate even trying to play it, so I can't recommend it exactly. But damn it's.... damnable!  :dreamer:

It's possible that Supreme Ruler Ultimate with its Great War DLC (based on a prior edition of the series focusing only on WW1) might theoretically be superior to Darkest Hour, but it has a notorious number of problems even in its latest series iteration. I own it, but haven't played it.

[Gusington]

I wish I could Tanaka.

Each time I have fired it up, even the tutorials for Revolution Under Siege have befuddled me. I just re-installed it yesterday to try this winter. I am very interested in the Russian Civil War and the related conflicts too...I would imagine for someone not as into the subject matter it would be even more difficult to get into.

Same with To End All Wars, and I have had a keen interest in the First World War since I was a young kid.

[Tanaka]

Hm, most accurate WW1 game... (I'll see if AzTank agrees with estimates).

Not sure how playable it is right now, but Matrix's first published WW1 game was Guns of August. It has unit stacking and quite a lot of details under the hood, for a groggy board game experience. Don't recall how granular it is on production and historical choices etc. -- I own it, but have only fiddled with it a little long ago.

Hearts of Iron: Darkest Hour (or whatever that official super-mod is called) has a WW1 start (and an unofficial Grand Campaign mod which connects it with the scripts for the earliest WW2 start), and it has a lot of bling going for it. It doesn't have trench warfare, which is a big problem, but also a limitation of the game engine, so I could understand that being a gamebreaker. (Fortification levels do sort of simulate trench warfare, but no moreso than fortification levels in WW2 time periods.) The entire world and all its nations are up for play; you can stack units by assigning divisions to corps (with special 'brigade' subunits attached to divs), then corps to armies via HQs; the air war and naval war are probably the most detailed for any WW1 strategy game so far (as you'd expect for a HOI series game, though on the other hand no better than any HOI game especially from that design period 2010ish.) For playability and detail, this is my overall pick for #1.

Matrix's other first WW1 game, World War One Gold (which was briefly sold as WW1: Centennial on Steam and Gamersgate by another publisher trying to revitalize and fix the game), could conceivably be the best WW1 experience per se as long as you don't care much about the naval side and reduce the air to properly minor support (at the strategic scale). It will drive you insane with its picky details, and it's kind of broken in places, which thematically fits!  :bd: But no one can fault its ambition in principle, to take a monster WW1 board game and try to fit it into a pseudo-AGE-engine computer game design. It's as beautiful as a fairy queen on a steady diet of absinthe. Matrix supplanted it with a more properly Ageod-based WW1 game a few years ago, To End All Wars, about which I have no experience (and because of which they forced the Centennial game to cease sales and development.  :'( Understandably, from their perspective, though the legal questions involved seemed sketchy.) It's my favorite WW1 strategic game, and I kind of hate even trying to play it, so I can't recommend it exactly. But damn it's.... damnable!  :dreamer:

It's possible that Supreme Ruler Ultimate with its Great War DLC (based on a prior edition of the series focusing only on WW1) might theoretically be superior to Darkest Hour, but it has a notorious number of problems even in its latest series iteration. I own it, but haven't played it.

Nice write up. Never tried Guns of August the age of the game and old graphics kept me from going back to try that one.

I do own the HOI series and have seen those WW1 mods. Should probably try them out. I also have a hard time getting into the real time aspect of Paradox games. I feel like I am just staring at a screen constantly. I much prefer turn based.

I also own WW1 gold but switched to TEAW when that came out and never went back. I should give it a try again but like TEAW the details bogged me down.

Never played Supreme Ruler or that WW1 DLC. Isn't Supreme Ruler also real time? I think that is why I passed on that one.

[Tanaka]

I wish I could Tanaka.

Each time I have fired it up, even the tutorials for Revolution Under Siege have befuddled me. I just re-installed it yesterday to try this winter. I am very interested in the Russian Civil War and the related conflicts too...I would imagine for someone not as into the subject matter it would be even more difficult to get into.

Same with To End All Wars, and I have had a keen interest in the First World War since I was a young kid.

Yeah I would say the same for several of the Ageod games haha. This is why I prefer the SC series. A lot of detail under the hood but much easier to get into and the PBEM is a blast.

[Gusington]

^Yeah I was able to get into SCWWI with far less effort and enjoyed what I played.

[Nefaro]

The tricks to fingering out the AGEOD games are:

1)  The interface for moving units is like a tabletop game.  Drag and drop where you want to move your 'pieces'.  It will happen simultaneously after you end the turn, due to it's WEGO system, but it's still much like a board game in function.

2)  Each 'piece' on the board is a container which can hold numerous other pieces/units.  Drag them in or out via the unit window at the bottom, which is the open container of your selected map piece.  Drop them on other unit containers' tabs to switch directly between army containers, or drag them directly onto the map to make a separate map piece(army).

3) Organize your armies, as above, then drag to move them where you want them to advance.  Remember to set the appropriate stance if you want them to assault, attack, defend, etc.  If you don't set them to the red or orange attack stances, they likely won't enter a battle with an enemy force in the same space unless the enemy is set to one of those attack stances.  To make sure you attack an enemy army put them in one of those attack stances.

4)  Some AGEOD games have command points.  Make sure you have enough CP in each container/unit to cover the CP usage of all the armed units in the same container.  As best you can, for efficient use of your combat power.  There will also often be sub-containers within each army.  These are the lower ranking generals themselves.  In order to increase CP efficiency and get more bang for your CP buck.  Ctrl+click each individual soldier unit you wish to attach to the lower ranked general.  After they'll all group selected like this, hit the 'create division/brigade/whatever unit command button and it will bunch them all up into that General's unit card at the bottom, and indicate so.  You can combine and un-combine them this way.  Only a few AGE games have this extra layer, ACW being one of them that I recall.


It's been awhile since I last played an AGE game, but I've dabbled across numerous ones over the years.  So my terminology may not be on due to my shrinking amount of brain cells.

I have recommended AJE as a decent beginner one since, IIRC, it doesn't have the extended Command Point thing.  Which is usually the biggest hurdle for people hiking the learning curve.  Other than the cointainers and extended CP facets in some, it's not too bad.  Drag 'n drop, baby.  :nerd: