Wargamer's Corner

Wargamer’s preview of Mobius Front 83 sounds slightly lukewarm: https://www.wargamer.com/articles/mo...

It's a bit simple so far, but I trust Zach has something up his sleeve...

Robear wrote:

It's a bit simple so far, but I trust Zach has something up his sleeve...

You got it? Trying it out?

Yes. Not far enough in to say whether it's got any legs. So far, it's a story-based game.

Looks like Tiller's Panzer Campaigns: Scheldt comes out on Friday. New high resolution graphics engine (which will be retrofitted to the rest of the PzC games, even with the recent Gold updates) and features terrain-changing inundations, simulating the defensive flooding the Germans practiced in the Low Countries. Should be a standout game in the series with some very interesting scenarios. It even has a version of Market Garden, although the AI is really only good for the German side in that one. Play that one as the Allies because the AI sucks at river crossings.

It's out! And it looks really good.

Hey guys, is War in the Pacific: AE worth it for someone who's interested in the subject; prefers strategic-level games; but also prefers games at the "elegant" end of the spectrum?

It's currently 80% off at Slitherine. Reading Ian Toll's Pacific War trilogy has put me in the mood for a strategic-level game covering the theatre, but WitP has a reputation for being frighteningly hard-core. I found some old posts here in which it seems the consensus was that the game goes overboard?

Do you want to manage everything in the Pacific theater? Anti-sub patrols off San Francisco? Supply convoys to Pearl Harbor and on to Australia? Search patrols for every airfield? Every brigade from Edmonton to Calcutta?

Check out this a first turn set up for the Allies to see what you might be getting into: Allies Set-up Spreadsheet for AE. (Subsequent turns are not this crazy but still...) Then maybe knock around that forum a bit.

It is not a game for the faint of heart. Lots of folks talk about War in the East being hard core - compared to WitP, it is not at all.

Sorry if this all scares you away, it is an interesting game in many respects, but you should know what you are getting into. Even at 80% off ($16).

Thanks, tboon - that's exactly the info I needed. That spreadsheet is ... something, isn't it?

I guess I'll pass. I enjoy some extremely complicated 4X games (Dominions, Shadow Empire) but WitP looks like too much for me.

There really isn't much else (edit: on PC), is there? OOB: Pacific isn't comparable at all. Victory at Sea: Pacific looks like it's still a mess 2 years after launch - I keep checking its Steam page in vain hope. Shrapnel's War Plan Pacific is full price, over a decade old, and not even available as a digital download. WW2-wide grand strategic games like HOI4 and Strategic Command aren't really comparable, either.

ETA - Pacific Fire on mobile seems pretty fun so far - I've done a couple of the shorter scenarios (ABDACOM and Coral Sea) - but it's hard to tell how much depth there is.

Come to think of it, there are a bajillion Panzer General clones, but why are there so few beer-and-pretzels naval games? The last one I can remember is QQP's Grandest Fleet, from the mid-90s - loved that one as a kid!

Ah, well, hopefully Task Force Admiral will be good...

Ultimate Admiral: Age of Sail is great, and will be even better when done. And UA: Dreadnoughts looks to be the same level of quality. Neither is turn-based, but since you're okay with TFA, these should do you.

Not for carriers, though, sorry. But naval beer and pretzels? Definitely.

Edit - Maybe NWS Supremacy at Sea: WW2? No longer supported or updated, from 2007, but it does have Pacific campaigns, apparently. I have never played it.

Yeah it is slim pickings for WWII Pacific theater. I have been looking at Carrier Battles 4: GUADALCANAL but have not pulled the trigger. I am always leery of phone games that get ported to PC for some reason. May be of interest, though.

I was thinking about this, and Matrix used to have a cut-down version of WitP:AE called "Uncommon Valor", which was entirely playable and enjoyable, based on the Pacific War title that was out around 2002 or so. I can no longer find it in the store (and to be fair, WitP was a later game and had a lot of enhancements. UV only covered the Solomon Islands campaign.

I *believe* that one of the smaller scenarios in the game is essentially UV redone. That could be worth it for $16. If one of the other 5 "smaller" scenarios is also to your taste, that would be a home run. The Solomons is a good carrier fight, and the game really does that quite well, with strikes flying out while ships move around.

Maybe that is worth it?

I think it is worth it. I came off "scary" in my post responding to Mind Elemental because you really need to know what you are getting into when considering this game.

There are really only two smaller scenarios: Coral Sea (May-June 1942) and Rising Sun (Dec 1941-Mar 1942). The other scenarios are the main campaign with different start dates (May 42, Aug 42, Jun 44 and Oct 44). I have not played these because, really, when you get this you are looking to play the main campaign. At least I am .

I do wish that 2by3 would revisit this game to give it a nice coat of paint and some updates. War in the West, while initially having some issues, ended up being fantastic. I am super excited by the soon-to-be-announced War in the East 2 (and WitE still gets the occasional patch) and hope they eventually get around to updating WitP (although I have read somewhere that they will never touch WitP again, which would be too bad).

I believe they actually recommend playing Coral Sea first, although it’s around ten years since I tried the game.

WitE and WitW DO NOT have the overwhelming micromanagement issues that WitP has. They are very playable and provide a good number of smaller scenarios for those not sure if they want to try a campaign. And yet, you can still get into the multi-turn planning mindset for things like amphibious assaults. A very good balance between “regular” strategic wargames and “monster” game mechanics.

tboon wrote:

Yeah it is slim pickings for WWII Pacific theater. I have been looking at Carrier Battles 4: GUADALCANAL but have not pulled the trigger. I am always leery of phone games that get ported to PC for some reason. May be of interest, though.

Just saw this on Twitter re:Warplan Pacific:
https://twitter.com/Matrix_Wargames/...

Warplan itself is going through a lot of growing pains, with people reporting all sorts of weirdness in the systems as well as the AI. Caveat Emptor, at least until they get it sorted out.

tboon wrote:

Yeah it is slim pickings for WWII Pacific theater. I have been looking at Carrier Battles 4: GUADALCANAL but have not pulled the trigger. I am always leery of phone games that get ported to PC for some reason. May be of interest, though.

I've had a lot of fun with it, but I played on the ipad version. It is easily playable and pretty realistic. Key aspects are recon and finding the enemy, managing your carrier operations and then sending strike packages to take identified down. It reminds me of the old Victory Games solitaire board game Carrier I loved back in the early 90's. I bought the pc version, but haven't played it yet.

As for WiTP: It is quite a bit to handle. It's definitely time intensive. I've started quite a few games over the years...'nuff said.

TAZ89 wrote:

As for WiTP: It is quite a bit to handle. It's definitely time intensive. I've started quite a few games over the years...'nuff said.

Yeah, actually finishing a game is on my bucket list. Started many, sometimes I even get halfway through 1942!

All this talk made me re-install. Maybe this is the time.

Mind Elemental wrote:

Shrapnel's War Plan Pacific is full price, over a decade old, and not even available as a digital download.

Shrapnel being terrible publisher aside, War Plan Pacific is fantastic. It does a great job with the abstractions to present you with a reasonable amount of decisions befitting a theater commander. Reminds me a souped-up version of the classic board game Victory in the Pacific. Oh and the AI is competent!

Thanks, everyone! Appreciate all the recommendations.

I have both Ultimate Admiral games on my Steam wishlist. I'll keep an eye out for Matrix-WPP, although it sounds like I shouldn't set my hopes too high.

I also have the original iPad version of Carrier Battles 4 Guadalcanal but never played past the tutorial - I should give it a second look.

Gunner wrote:

Shrapnel being terrible publisher aside, War Plan Pacific is fantastic. It does a great job with the abstractions to present you with a reasonable amount of decisions befitting a theater commander. Reminds me a souped-up version of the classic board game Victory in the Pacific. Oh and the AI is competent!

Oh, I believe it! I was impressed by the WPP demo many years ago. Sadly, Shrapnel hasn't become more reasonable since then.

Yeah, that "no downloads" for many of their more popular titles is really gonna boost sales. I have to think Shrapnel is a legacy business these days, just hanging on with the bare minimum to get what trickle of sales are left. Notice that (for example) Dominions has been put on Steam by Illwinter, the devs, not Shrapnel. That's not a good sign that Shrapnel is a strong publishing house.

Robear wrote:

Yeah, that "no downloads" for many of their more popular titles is really gonna boost sales. I have to think Shrapnel is a legacy business these days, just hanging on with the bare minimum to get what trickle of sales are left. Notice that (for example) Dominions has been put on Steam by Illwinter, the devs, not Shrapnel. That's not a good sign that Shrapnel is a strong publishing house.

Inspired by the posts here, I was poking about the Matrix site for some of the deals there. The thought of picking up War in the Pacific for $16 and giving the game a shot was super tempting, but then I poked about the details of the game and realized that there is no way in my lifetime I'll ever get past the first turn. The level of detail there is amazing, but I just can't see myself going there.

I confess I don't fully understand the Matrix site's policies, does it vary by game/developer? I was looking at other games, saw that some weren't available on Steam (Birth in America 2, e.g.), and then read the download policy. It was something like "download is available for 30 days after purchase," and with that, I bailed. It just felt so 1995.

On the whole I've been thrilled with how much of Matrix's content is now on Steam, with frequent deals. It wasn't that long ago when all their prices rarely dropped much, even on games that were several years old.

So, first off, usually the initial download *link* is only active for 30 days. Once you log in, you have "My Page", which provides a link for downloads for each registered game you have. For any game that is available on Steam, you automatically get a Steam key listed in its entry. Keep the serial number, or the order info from the email, and if you get caught short send an email to Matrix support and they will make you a new download link. I have done this a few times over the years and it's fast and easy (except on holidays when they take off lol).

Matrix has said they use initial sales numbers to determine whether they will put a game up on Steam or not, due to the up front and ongoing costs associated with listing on Steam. But I figure some games are governed by the deals they signed with the publisher. For example, my copies of Distant Worlds on Matrix don't offer Steam codes, but I think it's otherwise available on Steam.

Make of that what you will.

Robear wrote:

So, first off, usually the initial download *link* is only active for 30 days. Once you log in, you have "My Page", which provides a link for downloads for each registered game you have. For any game that is available on Steam, you automatically get a Steam key listed in its entry. Keep the serial number, or the order info from the email, and if you get caught short send an email to Matrix support and they will make you a new download link. I have done this a few times over the years and it's fast and easy (except on holidays when they take off lol).

Oh, that's good to know that you can still download the game after the initial 30 days. Thanks! That does change things, knowing that you can still get access to content you bought. I did know about the Steam key thing, which worked to get me to buy Shadow Empire, which now comes out on Steam this week.

Yep. You will see it once you set up your account, and most games, you can re-download yourself at any time. But the support folks (often the company principles) are very nice.

Most of their older game will not ever go to Steam (so no Wars in America 2 or War in the Pacific on Steam). But yeah, re-download is available when logged in to their site: I did this for War in the Pacific this past weekend.

Distant Worlds Universe is on Steam but the original game + DLCs (all of which are included in Universe) are not. I guess because it is an "older" game that will not be put on Steam. Of course, it being Matrix, it is inconsistent. The newer-ish AGEOD games are on Steam, although I am not sure if that is because AGEOD put them there or Matrix or some weird combo.

Pacific Fire's theatre-wide campaign has turned out to be pretty good! It excludes mainland China and the Soviet Union, but covers the rest of the Indo-Pacific, from Calcutta to Wellington and the US West Coast.

Overall, it feels broadly "right", in that Japan can run wild for 6 months while the Allies grow stronger over time. Currently on my 3rd attempt as the Allies -- in 1942 Japan swept through Southeast Asia and battered on the gates of India and Australia; now it's mid-1943 and I think I'm starting to turn the tide. The Commonwealth armies have begun their counterattack into Burma; Australian and US troops have kicked the Japanese off Australian soil; the Essex-class carriers are starting to arrive in the Pacific, rebuilding US naval strength after I lost all three starting American carriers trying to relieve the Dutch on Java (.... oops....); and my subs are starting to take a dent out of Japan's economy.

Under the campaign's victory conditions, Japan wins if it does better than history. Specifically, it needs to achieve its historical conquests in SEA + any one of India, Hawaii, Brisbane, or Darwin, or else survive into 1946. That's how I lost my first two campaign games in mid-1942: I did well on one front but neglected another. In my first game I over-committed to a doomed defence of Burma and had nothing left to stop Japan strolling into India, while in my second game I did fairly well in the Southwest Pacific and re-took Rabaul, but didn't properly garrison Darwin.

The individual battles also feel broadly right, with the caveat that there's a little bit of TOAW syndrome (aka "50 jeeps vs 1 Tiger"). Equipment and battles are modelled in a fair bit of detail: instead of, say, a squadron being represented by a '4-4-6' counter, it will have 20 Wildcats, or 12 Hurricanes, or 15 Bettys, with each type of equipment having its own stats; and you can dig into the combat log to see which ship/plane fired at whom. The issue is that there's no detail about which stat does what, and battle results can be quirky: K:D ratios can be extraordinarily one-sided, battleships seem a bit fragile (I think I once managed to sink the Yamato with destroyer torpedoes and 8" fire from a cruiser) and I wonder if land-based air is a bit too powerful.

But the combat system overall works: Zeroes will murder early Allied fighters such as Buffaloes and Wirraways; units without fighter cover don't last long (be they unescorted bombers, ground troops on an isolated island, or Force Z or the American battleships in Pearl Harbour); and prepared, entrenched defenders can punch well above their weight.

Logistics are abstracted. Units reinforce more quickly at larger bases, so it's worth rotating chewed-up squadrons or divisions out of the front lines.

The biggest "quirk", I think, is that the combination of a WEGO system and no ZOC rule makes it necessary to garrison even bases behind the line: despite my grip on the South Pacific, Japan was able to waltz into an undefended Melbourne. The counter to this is a "soft" rather than a "hard" rule: these isolated raiding forces are extremely vulnerable to air strikes and counterattacks the next turn.

I think this is worth a look if you're interested in what it does -- a high-level, strategic Pacific War game on mobile. It's cheap, too: A$4.50 or, IIRC, US$3.

Thanks for the write-up, I will look into that.

All the talk about WitP got me to reinstall and start a new grand campaign this past weekend.

I lost Tennessee, Arizona, and West Virginia in the raid on Pearl Harbor and will most likely lose Pennsylvania and Nevada (both have flotation damage > 90%). I think the others will be saved but we will see; all the battleships are on fire and took at least one torpedo.

Also lost Prince of Wales. Repulse will probably sink too, she is on fire, has about 55% flotation damage and can only make 6 knots and so is a sitting duck.

Now I am on Dec. 8. I have set up 420 of ~8300 "things" - bases, squadrons, land combat units, and ships. At my current rate, it will probably take me the rest of the month to finish setting up Dec. 8. After that, things should go faster. Maybe.

People say games like EU4 are "spreadsheet games"; they are wrong. This is a spreadsheet game. I have tabs for tasks forces, squadrons, LCUs, separated by region. I have helper apps for drilling down into production, manpower, and when/where reinforcements are due. There's a lot to keep track of.

I have no illusions about getting to the end of the war - I almost certainly will not. But it is fun for now.

Please, please, for heaven's sake note that War in the East and War in the West are NOT like this game. The system got a complete overhaul and the spreadsheet aspects were pushed into the background. For example, in WitW, you set up depots (in towns, usually, ports or railheads) and the system pushes supplies via truck (or even abstractly, if you like). So you don't have to manage the supplies, just the depots (almost zero touch) and then set the distribution policies to favor certain areas over others.

Much, much, much easier. Oh, and War in the East 2 is expected to be out this month sometime.

For the tactical turn-based aficionados among us, it's worth noting that "The Feud - Wild West Tactics" has received a huge content update. This is a very enjoyable 19th century X-Com (without aliens) that models tactical Cowboy Action style fights - knives, clubs, pistols, shotguns, rifles, dynamite, even bow and arrows all come into play. There are campaigns as well as Skirmish and Survival modes. The campaigns see you upgrading your character skills over time through a "research" tree and experience points.

And they added 3000 maps for Skirmish mode.

I'm really enjoying this game when I need a TBT break. Hope you will too!

Below are a few of the things you’ll find in the patch:

Over 3000 new levels
These include Forest, Grassland, Swamp, Mountain and Desert biomes. You can see these maps in Saga, Skirmish and Survival. In Saga the Mine, Mill and Farms also feature a series of new maps broadening the possibilities.

Survival Mode
A new play mode you can find in the Skirmish area of the game. Take a team of 5 characters and see how long you can last. At the end of each wave a health crate drops from the last enemy, choose wisely which of your posse will use it. Survival comes with personal leaderboards and 3 levels of difficulty.

Resource Defenders
In saga you can now purchase resource defenders that will help you fend off attacks. Click the icon while your posse is on a resource to choose from three different purchase options. Beware, enemies can assign defenders too!

New Events
There is a new Abandoned Mine event with a series of maps as well as Trip Out West event that introduces desert battle maps to Saga. You’ll also find certain events have specific rewards like weapons.

New Hero - Akima
The fierce warrior Akima enters the game with a new weapon, the bow and a complete set of unique abilities. Akima is a tank style character that can draw enemy attention and function as either a melee or ranged character depending on how you choose to develop him.

Rebalanced Research Costs
We took a long look at research costs and benefits in Saga and have made some dramatic adjustments. You’ll be able to research more and create new strategies.

Speedier Fights
We’ve tweaked the reload times for all weapon types, speeding up both friendly and enemy combat as a result.

Numerous Bug Fixes
We’ve fixed dozens of bugs to make for a smoother experience in game.