War Plan Orange

Jarhead0331 · August 01, 2015, 05:14:57 PM

This one has been around for a long time, but I always passed it by because I never had much interest in the era. However, with all the talk about RTW lately, I've been going back to thinking about getting WPO. RTW may be a better naval combat simulator, but WPO seems to have a lot more going on, and quite frankly, its a littler easier on the eyes too.

So...anyone have any experience with WPO. Is it worth a look after all these years?

Rayfer · August 01, 2015, 05:16:48 PM

My acronym knowledge is poor....what is RTW?

Grim.Reaper · August 01, 2015, 05:19:02 PM

Quote from: Rayfer on August 01, 2015, 05:16:48 PM
My acronym knowledge is poor....what is RTW?

Rule the waves

jomni · August 01, 2015, 06:03:20 PM

Quote from: Grim.Reaper on August 01, 2015, 05:19:02 PM
Quote from: Rayfer on August 01, 2015, 05:16:48 PM
My acronym knowledge is poor....what is RTW?

Rule the waves

Rome Total War

Gusington · August 01, 2015, 07:13:08 PM

Real Tough Wookie

Slick Wilhelm · August 01, 2015, 07:42:43 PM

War Plan Orange is great, as long as you're into micro-management of the Uncommon Valor/WitP vain. It's the only game which has covered the between world wars timeframe. I think it's limited to 1024x768 resolution, though.

Toonces · August 02, 2015, 12:12:56 AM

If you don't like WitP vanilla (not AE) then I can't imagine you liking WPO as they're the same engine.

If you haven't played WitP ever, then it's hard to say. It doesn't seem like a game that you would like IMO. I've known you for a while, and I don't think this is a series you're going to take the time to invest in to get the most out of it. I'd go with RTW if that looks interesting to you; it has to be more accessible.

Jarhead0331 · August 02, 2015, 08:13:10 AM

Quote from: Toonces on August 02, 2015, 12:12:56 AM
If you don't like WitP vanilla (not AE) then I can't imagine you liking WPO as they're the same engine.

If you haven't played WitP ever, then it's hard to say. It doesn't seem like a game that you would like IMO. I've known you for a while, and I don't think this is a series you're going to take the time to invest in to get the most out of it. I'd go with RTW if that looks interesting to you; it has to be more accessible.

Are you suggesting that I'm impatient and incapable of appreciating and accessing complex games?

Toonces · August 02, 2015, 09:40:25 AM

Could be. ;)

Seriously, though, WitP/WPO really take a huge investment of time to enjoy. We've talked about that to death. And the UI is tough, etc. It's not a bad game, but not really your style of gaming from what I've seen on the forums.

Bison · August 02, 2015, 09:52:57 AM

Reads to me like a gaming challenge has been issued.

mikeck · August 02, 2015, 12:04:28 PM

I have tried WitP as well as orange. I look at the screen, press some buttons...and then feel like this guy

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuYbDP2kDfg

Gusington · August 02, 2015, 12:35:46 PM

12 inch guns at dawn.

I've been interested in WPO for a long time, but this is the first I've heard here that it is as complex as WitP.

Guess it's a good thing I never took the plunge."WitP?? Ain't no one got time for that!"

Silent Disapproval Robot · August 02, 2015, 01:50:17 PM

Lies! Tuna and I are having a lovely time getting into slap-fights with our carriers around Rabaul and Pt Morseby in our PBEM game of WITP. If I could figure out how to move landing craft or load them with troops from the sea, life would be so much better.

JasonPratt · August 02, 2015, 03:46:08 PM

There's a two-thread AAR between undercovergeek and Kyz, currently in the Digital AAR thread, showing a little of what it's like to play WitP:AE.

War Plan Orange is the same thing, but with an older version of the engine, less patching, and with inter-war technology meaning all your pieces are less effective.

It's the only WitP game I've actually played for more than 15 minutes messing around. And even then, it's more like 45 minutes.

One big advantage (sort of) that it has over the Admiral's Edition, is that in theory you can assign various theaters on your side to the AI and only bother managing one theater for the grand campaign.

In theory.

In practice... well, it's good practice anyway. ;) Though some of the more limited mini-campaigns in a theater would be better (I think WPO has those like WitP.)

Anyway, it does indeed have a TON going on under the hood, JH.

Nefaro · August 02, 2015, 04:12:47 PM

The UV/WitP interface can be so damn annoying. And this coming from someone who loves "spreadsheet" sports manager sims and all kinds of slow ass turn-based strategy.

Having to click all those buttons can be maddening, especially when you have to do it numerous times on the same one. That is exacerbated by having to use them even more due to the following issue.

There's a huge problem with getting an overall view of the "big picture". Most grand strategy games have big colored, maybe numbered, graphical representations of your forces spread out across the map. So you can step back and get an overall idea of how you want to direct everything, later, on the micromanagement scale. That's pretty much impossible to do with this game engine since the graphical representation of the forces, on the map, are both miniscule and have almost no details on strength/numbers readily available at a glance.

That map representation issue is the biggest problem with playing WitP, and I find it very frustrating having to constantly dig down and figure out even a general idea of what is in each of the many occupied hexes, on the massive map. Very frustrating knowing there's a great grand strategy game hidden under the UI due to a distinctly uninformative map.