Wargame: European Escalation - Catch All

This is currently on the featured items on Steam.

IMAGE(http://computer.games-4pro.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Wargame-European-Escalation.jpg)

I do really like strategy games and I hope that this one turns out to be pretty sweet.

Taken from the game's page on Steam.

About the Game
2 sides, 8 nations, and one battlefield: Europe!

Wargame: European Escalation is an intense and spectacular Real Time Strategy game, where realism and strategy are brought to the front lines.

With a phenomenal range of vehicles and units (over 350 different models), build your army and enter a huge military campaign across Europe of the 80's, as the Cold War is about to become World War 3.

With the powerful IRISZOOM ™, Wargame offers breathtaking graphics and battles as spectacular as they are strategic. Prepare to bring hundreds of units of all kinds--tanks, helicopters, squad Infantry, etc.--under your command in intense battles on gigantic maps stretching up to 60 square miles!

Online service EugenNet© provides a full multiplayer experience with creation of clans, organizing games, and world rankings where up to 8 players can compete simultaneously in massive battles involving hundreds of units!

I loved R.U.S.E. so I will definitely be picking this one up.

I'm so tempted by this, just watching this - suspect i'll hit the preorder when I get to the end

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVeNn...

I preordered on the back of the video and enjoying the mp beta, still some rough edges that I'm surprised are still in at this point but its a lot of fun. At moment I'm content on 1v1's but I'm sure I'll dive to bigger groups at some point.

The video I posted above is an excellent tutorial, this video by diplex http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgQ2l... gives a more direct feel of gameplay.

I picked this up. I plan on playing through the campaign to get familiar with the mechanics and dabbling in the multiplayer.

I pre-ordered as well and have played a few games in the beta. So far I like what I've seen. If we get enough goodjers picking this up, I'd like to try out some friendly multi.

Yes! Yes! Yes!

Still enjoying the MP element a lot, 1v1's is working well for me no team mates to blame me or me to blame when it all goes wrong. Looking forward to the release tomorrow.

This video is a good representation of gameplay - no commentary but some nice tactics imho

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88Cop...

Looking like it may be released tonight

http://www.wargame-ee.com/forum/view...

So far played 2 missions in the campaign and loving it. Regarding the production values my view would be at the moment with what they have this will be the surprise hit of the year. Their is a suggestions thread in the wee forums, if they do just some of those suggestions they will take it from a very good game to an absolute classic.

On another noteworthy item they have confirmed following player feedback in the mp beta that although you can play 1vai and they didn't intend to have coop they now are implementing that within the month. Been really impressed with how these devs are working with the community.

The full game is released and I'm really impressed.

The early campaign missions don't do a great job of explaining the mechanics but the game is so well designed that you can figure everything out quite quickly.

I really like the number of units and the realistic pace. Cover, movement and picking firing positions is very important. I was a little worried about the run and gun infantry from the trailers, but in game infantry employs more realistic tactics and is appropriately ineffective on the move in the open.

So far I'm liking this better than RUSE. I like the modern units and I dont think the ruse mechanic added much. The production values here aren't AAA but I hope people look past this and see that the core design is rock solid.

Post more! Enable me!

Very much enjoying the game. It takes the best parts of RUSE and improves on them. The level of zoom and detail in this engine is really impressive. I am on mission 5 or 6 of the campaign (Peace Treaty). It is a tough defensive mission. I won't give anything away, but remember that chinook supply choppers can fly

A few general things I've discovered:

The amount of units you have available is persistent between missions so if you lose a lot of one unit type in the early missions, you won't have many for deployment later.

Supply is extremely important and you will empty your FOBs more quickly than you think, especially if you take the time to do all of the secondary objectives. If you think you only need 2 supply trucks to resupply that forward tank unit, it is probably going to take 4.

Infantry will not reload and supply while loaded on their transports. You have to unload them near the supply source to get them to re-arm.

My tips are on the control scheme
* let click is the select, right click is the do - however left click is the do when the cursor changes following an action such as fire pos
* fire pos is an excellent way of understanding what your unit can and can't see
* shift stacks orders after the current order. So if you order a unit to x and then hold the shift and have it go to y it will go to x first and then y
* this is true of the unload so you can select the position to go to, hold shift and unlock and the unit will unload at destination, you can take it one stage further and hold shift to get the unit to then return back
* If you want to ungroup all units in a group. click the group, then click ungroup then drag select the group and all members of the group will be ungrouped
* recon is critical, helps you see other units and therefore fire better
* fast move is not a toggle it is an action so you click the unit, then fast move and then click where to. Fuel used by fast move is significantly less

I really like how this game rewards a combined arms approach. Coordinating between arty, recon, air assault, heavy armor and infantry is a thing of beauty.

TrashiDawa wrote:

I really like how this game rewards a combined arms approach. Coordinating between arty, recon, air assault, heavy armor and infantry is a thing of beauty.

Yeah I tweeted out my thoughts after the first 3-4 missions as I played. Very realistic in the use of cover and concealment. Recce units are invaluable and units in overwatch are awesome in protecting leapfrog movements. You absolutely must have antiair units protecting your main body and forward units. Catching an enemy crossing an open field in a crossfire is modeled very well. Good tips pointed out earlier about supply units as well. Don't forget that you can put a command unit in different sectors to accrue reinforcement points even faster. Also early units are MUCH more accurate firing stopped than on the move. The game rewards patient, thoughtful gameplay. I wish terrain was modeled better with ability to put tanks in a hull down position on the reverse side of a hill etc... Loving the game so far, haven't played any mp so far, but would be interested as well.

Terrain is a weak point. I seem to remember RUSE pulling it off a little better. There is some variation in the topography but it looks and plays flat from the zoom distance that you are likely to spend most of your time at.

Stabilizers on tanks are key for firing on the move. I speced up to Leopard 1A4s right away for the better stabilizer. I find myself wishing for M1A1s early in the W. German campaign though because T-72s are more than a match for Leopard 1 variations.

One helpful thing I learned is you can refill supply trucks at FOBs.

TrashiDawa wrote:

Terrain is a weak point. I seem to remember RUSE pulling it off a little better. There is some variation in the topography but it looks and plays flat from the zoom distance that you are likely to spend most of your time at.

Stabilizers on tanks are key for firing on the move. I speced up to Leopard 1A4s right away for the better stabilizer. I find myself wishing for M1A1s early in the W. German campaign though because T-72s are more than a match for Leopard 1 variations.

One helpful thing I learned is you can refill supply trucks at FOBs.

+1, I did the same thing with Leopards. You can rock the 72s with a Platoon of Leopard 4s with the ATGM vehicle behind them. Gets ugly quick especially if you are in cover and your recce assets have spotted them. The AT soldiers are nasty from the forests as well.

Terrain is a weak point. I seem to remember RUSE pulling it off a little better. There is some variation in the topography but it looks and plays flat from the zoom distance that you are likely to spend most of your time at.

Isn't it set in the North German Plain, though?

So my question is, is this a realtime wargame, or an RTS puzzle game where units just appear out of nowhere and you have to gather resources to win? Do you have to use tactics, or can you Zerg rush to victory? Besides RUSE, which I never played, is there another game it's similar to? CoH, maybe?

It is set in the North German Plain. Zerg Rush will get you sent home with a letter to momma. This a basic tactics RTS. Platoon level control. The only resources are supply points that you accrue for holding sectors. These points you use to buy additional reinforcements both at start and as scenario plays out. Terrain plays factor in LOS and cover/concealment. Recce units are key for discovering units in forests and outside your LOS. Each unit has finite ammo and fuel and you need to buy supply units for forward resupply and/or capture sectors with FOBs. One of the most accessible wargames I have played in many moons. It simplifies some mechanics yet reinforces the need for tactics and combined arms. It is not a puzzle unit approach. Highly recommend for grognards and novice alike.

Glad to hear it turned out pretty well. Will put it towards the top of my queue for new things to get.

What is the typical multiplayer scenario? Is 1v1 pretty common, or do things skew towards the team based side of things more?

SpyNavy wrote:

It is set in the North German Plain. Zerg Rush will get you sent home with a letter to momma. This a basic tactics RTS. Platoon level control. The only resources are supply points that you accrue for holding sectors. These points you use to buy additional reinforcements both at start and as scenario plays out. Terrain plays factor in LOS and cover/concealment. Recce units are key for discovering units in forests and outside your LOS. Each unit has finite ammo and fuel and you need to buy supply units for forward resupply and/or capture sectors with FOBs. One of the most accessible wargames I have played in many moons. It simplifies some mechanics yet reinforces the need for tactics and combined arms. It is not a puzzle unit approach. Highly recommend for grognards and novice alike.

100% agree with everything Spy said.

Resource management isn't abstracted. You have to use supply trucks (or even better supply choppers) and forward operating bases to keep your units fueled and full on ammo. Firing positions, cover and concealment are essential. Tactics trump power units; even T34s will rip up modern armor caught out in the open. There is some micro management if you need to unload infantry from APCs or would like to break up tank platoons into individual units for more granular control.

TrashiDawa wrote:
SpyNavy wrote:

100% agree with everything Spy said.

Ditto. There's a serious Harpoon vibe going on. I'm spending most of my time zoomed way out and jumping down to do movement when I get a sense of things. Might be multiplay takes more nuanced controls. I'm way ok with the hands off controls, being horrible at twitchier RTS play.

In general, single plays feeling nearer Close Combat and Combat Missions rather than Company of Heros. The simulation aspects might be light, but does a good job of at least feeling proper. Persistent units puts back a sense of dread of losses. Fuel supply keeps units from randomly puttering around the map for no reason.

And good golly, who thought ancient Cold War nuggets lodged in my brain would ever have utility again. Not many places knowing the difference between a BTR and BRDM comes in handy.

Out of 8 has a review up which is very positive if his opinion matters to you. I agree with most of what he says and his few issues (minus his spot on terrain comments) haven't really bothered me so far.

You guys and James are my best arbiters. Sold! Thanks for the feedback, the videos make this look like one of those shovelware games, and I'm glad to be wrong on that.

Robear wrote:

You guys and James are my best arbiters. Sold! Thanks for the feedback, the videos make this look like one of those shovelware games, and I'm glad to be wrong on that.

Here to enable, er help I mean help.

Very, very nice indeed. This is very similar to what the failed "land Harpoon" game "Patriot" was shooting for in the mid-90's.

What I need to know, though, is whether there is a *key* to rotate the camera. I don't have a scroll wheel on my mouse, I'd have to program in the hold in order to use it, and that's a pain for various reasons. How do I set that function to a key combo?

I finally remembered I have a programmable mouse. So I programmed one of my unused buttons to do it, and also added it to the third button with a left shift key press. Now I'm all set!

You know it's bad when it's been so long since you had to change your mouse programming that you forgot what it can do.

Gamespot has a spot-on review up for this.

It's great to see this game get good reviews. I'm really liking the necessity of a combined arms approach, the unit variety and the cover mechanic with the uncertainty of potential enemy units lurking in every hedgerow.

The only downsides are the lack of map variety, its all boilerplate central Euro farmlands. I'm about halfway through the campaign so this may improve.

I'm late to the party but this game has its hooks in me. Anyone playing multiplayer? I'd be up for a game sometime.