New World War One Gold tutorial series by/for utter newbs

[JasonPratt]

For exactly that reason, I have found my tutorial approach helps a lot: ignore the map. Start as small as possible and slowly work up and out.

I'm actually worried people will be put off (again) from looking at that map shot. It's really a gorgeous hand-drawn map, just beautiful -- no one else has maps like AGEOD.

But it's so... much of a muchness. I feel like the strength of the colors is all by itself one real cause why the map.... daunts. The topography shapes are another cause: realistic but the detail confuses the eye. In a weird sort of way it doesn't help that the map is not very far from being a standard hex map, but with hexes in odd wavy shapes: my brain is trying to process two different information styles at once. One part of my brain keeps saying there are six territories around that Russian army in the north, and around Wilna, and another part of my brain is saying there is no freaking way that could be true. One of the sides of my brain is wrong in trying to process that map.

And then that wouldn't be so bad -- it isn't all that different from other AGEOD maps in that sense -- except everything seems to mean so much. The human brain has to hyperthread multitask a lot looking at that map.


Thus my solution: don't look at the map for as long as possible while learning the game. :D

[Nefaro]

It is a hex map.  Every province borders six others.  ;)

I like how they adjusted the border lines to make it look more like provinces instead of perfectly uniform hexes.   :D

[WallysWorld]

Excellent, Jason! Thanks for doing this.

I have this game and like it a lot. I haven't played it for a while, but no doubt I will fire it up again some time soon.

[-budd-]

Interesting stuff above Jason. It's kinda making my brain hurt, though.

i'm with him^ read the first parts and my brain hurts..in fact i read it twice,as much as i would like to play these type of games maybe it's just beyond me. Tried really hard to GET BOA 2 but alas....no joy...this one looks more complicated than BOA 2 . I'll keep reading and hoping something clicks. Thx again for doing these.

[JasonPratt]

It is a hex map.  Every province borders six others.  ;)

I like how they adjusted the border lines to make it look more like provinces instead of perfectly uniform hexes.   :D

In theory I really really like it.

In practice my brain goes AAAUUGGHH THE 3D EFFECT IS GHOSTING!!!

[JasonPratt]

Budd,

Don't feel bad, it is definitely more complex than BOA2. (Pride of Nations comes closest I expect.)

The first two parts come down to:

1.) The corps chits are what you'll be playing with mostly; the numbers show how strong they are on offense and defense and how fast they move, plus whether they're damaged and have some bonuses to fight with.

2.) The "container" chits (usually headquarters) show how far the containers will project power on the map, and how hard it is to get people moving, and how much they can keep back for throwing out later.

3.) The "general" chits show how annoying and/or helpful the generals are. Do they help armies move faster? Do they go home from a fight early or stay late? If you want to get rid of them politically how hard is it?

(I might be able to reduce some of the descriptions... I'm worried I'm making them too detailed even now.)

Part 3 == here's how the chits fit together in a "stack" or "container" on screen. IGNORE MOST OF THESE BUTTONS FOR NOW! This button allows you to look at more of your stack; this button sends a corps to the reserve window (and back); this button flips your chit over to "damaged" so you can use the men elsewhere. This button sends orders to sack your general, good luck with that. :)

[JasonPratt]

I've now trimmed the first two Parts down by about a page and a half each, removing most of the references to how the details affect other parts of the game (and some of the humor, which might be too distracting).


Fixed a few errors in Part 3, too, but if you have the old version don't worry nothing important changed or was simplified further. (Most of Part 3 recaps Parts 1 and 2 showing how the chits compare with each other in the stack.)

[JasonPratt]

Part 4 now up.

[mikeck]

I love AGEOD games so I am not averse to playing complex games. I bought this the day it came out, bought gold the day it came out and patched it whenever a patch came out. Each time I started it, played through the tutorial, stared at the screen for a minute and then turned it off. It's not the complexity itself but the "order" that you do things and the UI. Also, I'm not a fan of the giant faces on the chits in combat but that's just me.

It's a game I want to like and that I think I will like if I can just make myself play for a few hours.
Thanks for doing this Jason...might be just what I need to finally get going!

[JasonPratt]

Yeah, I don't know any way to turn off the giant chit faces. They don't bother me, I quite like them, I think it gives them more personality than the standard military designators. But those are on there, too, which seems needlessly redundant -- why did the designers even bother?? Seems like that means there ought to be a way to turn the chits to a big x in a rectangle for infantry etc.

Maybe someone else will come up with the answer for that.

[JasonPratt]

Part 5 now up, where I finger vast tracks of land! -- or not so vast, just a couple of tracts really.

[JasonPratt]

Part 6, exquisitely simple movements yet complicated and kind of daunting, oooooo, yet gosh kind of addicting once I've done them a few times, oh yeah, more, more!


Silly humor aside, I can testify that coming at the game this way (STOP IT I SAID SILLY HUMOR ASIDE!!) has at least helped me significantly: I actually played the Tannenburg scenario tonight (while working on this part) all the way through; my very first time playing any number of actual turns in an actual scenario, much less finishing a scenario!

(Granted, the scenario only lasts two months plus an initial pre-phase. And I lost because I didn't take the objective. And I honestly don't know how any human being could take the objective in only two-and-a-half turns, much less why a ton of reinforcements would show up which have no chance at all affecting the scenario in the single turn remaining... BUT I FINISHED AN ACTUAL SCENARIO! WITH SOMETHING LIKE COMPETENCY!!)

[bboyer66]

Great job Jason.

Took me a good month to really grasp AGEOD WW1 Gold. Its a real gem of a game, but it does take time and effort to learn it.

Trust me on this people, if you cant grasp AGEODs other games which use the Athena engine, such as Birth of America 2, and The Civil War, than WWI is not for you. Its much more complex, and the UI is not user friendly in the least. These games all take a good amount of effort to learn being that they are very accurate representations of the conflicts they simulate.

[JasonPratt]

BB,

So is it the Athena engine or the AGE engine? I don't want to call it the wrong thing. (WW1G doesn't use either, I know.)  ???

Also, if you see any errors in the tutorials, please correct me pronto!!

[W8taminute]

Great idea for a thread and thanks for starting it Jason.

WW1G is unlike other AGEOD games and to be honest with you I found it much easier to learn and get into than any other AGEOD game.  I believe this is due to very few abstract representations of what's going on compared to other AGEOD games.  That plus the fact that a player turn is broken into several phases makes playing the game easier to digest. 

When playing WW1G do not attempt to play it like a computer game, rather play it like you would a cardboard board game on your table.  You will learn much faster and that's the method I used to learn this wonderful game.

I really have to dig the CD out of my closet and re-install this now on my PC thanks to this thread and the other AGEOD discussion.  I'll chime in with some tips and tricks as well once I reaquaint myself with the game.  WW1G is a game I've not played in a long time.  A long time.

Great job Jason.

...Its a real gem of a game, but it does take time and effort to learn it.

I agree with you 100%.  But if you love something or the subject matter enough the learning curve can be damned.  You will pick up this game I guarantee it.  Play it like you would a board game and you'll be all right.   8)