Reply With QuoteAnyone tried Hours of War yet? Some info:
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009...s-of-pleasure/
http://www.hoursofwar.com/
You have up to (in the full version) 2500 players all playing the -same- hex-based wargame. Or something. Sounds unique!
"No user serviceable parts inside."Originally Posted by rezaf
The thing is, from a software development perspective, making something user-moddable is, effectively, a major feature. Contrary to popular opinion, you can't just slap together an XML format and everything magically works. If end users are going to be touching something, then it has to be polished up to a certain point. At which point you have to ask yourself "To deliver an "easily moddable" product, what other feature am I going to cut in order to ship on time?"
I'm not dissing modding, modders, or developers that ship products that are moddable, mind you. I'm just pointing out that there is no free lunch here, and I don't think companies like AGEOD should necessarily be dinged because they wanted to sell a car that people wanted to drive rather than a car that caters to the hot-rod community.
Anyone tried Hours of War yet? Some info:
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009...s-of-pleasure/
http://www.hoursofwar.com/
You have up to (in the full version) 2500 players all playing the -same- hex-based wargame. Or something. Sounds unique!
Has anyone else picked up Warship Combat: Navies at War? It has my new favorite generic name, but what's more important is that I'm really digging the game. You can more or less recreate nearly any historical naval engagement from 1890 through 1950 with something like 400 different ship classes, with more to come in updates. The game doesn't come with any premade scenarios, but it has a nifty random scenario generator and while scenario creation is rather obtuse at first, it's really pretty simple.
The UI is generally strange, but once I got over the annoyance hump, it's remarkably streamlined for quick play. The graphics are more informative than anything, so it runs great (I think, haven't tested it a lot) on a netbook. At the moment, I'm having a good time with Battle of the River Plate, although I can't figure out how to actually adjust the speed of my fleets.
I've never even heard of this. Sounds interesting.
Troy
I think the speed adjustment option comes out in 1.4, which is due any time.
Yeah, I just discovered that the manual had been updated before the patch was out.
No one else yet? The more I play WC:NAW, the more I like it, and I'm learning quite a bit about naval tactics. The user-made scenarios on the forums have been really good so far.
Some of the best gamer gossip comes from wargames :)
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009...m-battlefront/
Not a good week for Combat Mission creators Battlefront. After waiting donkey’s years for Jean-Michel Mathé to finish his ground-breaking Napoleonic ‘First-Person Commander’ wargame HistWar: Les Grognards, the scamp has jumped ship at the eleventh hour and decided to self-publish. Battlefront are sticking doggedly to a ‘we cancelled because of repeated delays’ line, but the simmering annoyance radiating from their statements suggests subtler shenanigans.
Warship Combat got a glowing review at The Wargamer. I wonder if it would be interesting for someone (like me) who is more of a strategy gamer than a wargamer.
I think Strategic Command 2 is a much better place for a newbie wargamer to start than something like Korsun's Pocket. It has a more Civ-like feel, has optional sprites for units and doesn't use hexes. I've always liked the Strategic Command games. http://www.battlefront.com/products/sc2/
" * Stone Version – All is going swimmingly between Battlefront and JMM until, during an all-night drinking session involving both parties, one of the Battlefront crew makes an off-the-cuff remark about Ney’s performance at Quatre Bras. JMM visibly bristles, then demands the comment is retracted. When the BF man refuses, a five-year relationship disintegrates in a chaos of flailing arms and hurled furniture."
How can this reason not be enough to break off all relations with those le scumbags.
They were probably incredibly pissed when they posted a gigantic, "It's coming be the end of summer" message on their front page. He probably told them that that was the date, absolutely, 100%, and they probably lost patience in once they turned the calendar again.
But hey, now he has another reason for the endless delays!
Hey Janster, that was funny.
Would anyone be up for a low-complexity pbem game of some manner? I would down with the free Napoleonic game on hexwar.com or Advanced Tactics or anything else that I haven't thought of, provided that I either own it or it is free or inexpensive. I will warn you up front that some of my turns make take up to a week.
Hello Everyone,
This has been a great thread that really brings back memories. I started playing board wargames back in the 70s. As the years passed, I got heavily into computer gaming. Of late, however, I have come to realize that I've missed the old social aspects of wargaming (that is, face to face with an opponent, spending the day moving little cardboard counters around a map, laughing, cursing, etc.). I fully realize this style of play has gone out of vogue and available free time is a big factor. However, if anyone is in my area (the west burbs of Chicago) and feels the same, shoot me an email: [email protected]. Thanks!
I'd check out BGG for other players, too.
Then again I should follow my own advice so I can play some of these cardboard monsters with actual other humans ;)
If anybody else is into Ancients Miniatures like me, you might want to check out Slitherine's PC port of the Field of Glory rule set. Not very many scenarios and I'd like more armies, but I'm really enjoying it. And I want someone to MP with.
It also has a great user-friendly scenario editor, so I expect Zama to pop up on their official forum before long.
Troy
I've been really tempted by Field of Glory, but I'm not convinced that hexes work for ancient warfare.
They work as well for ancient warfare as any other, especially because of the importance of facing.
And it's a miniatures game more than a true simulation in any case.
Troy
But is it a true simulation of a miniatures game?
I don't think so. It seems that all the figures are painted, I haven't had to argue over a poorly written rule yet, I can't smell BO and no one has knocked things off the table yet.
Did anyone bite on Empires of Steel? I think the release yesterday was unexpected. The demo did a lot for me, but I just can't see this as a $45 game. I would definitely have bought it at $20 and would have seriously considered it at $30, but $45 is just plain silly, especially when I consider how much I dislike Battlefront these days and with the new Panther release upcoming soonish.
My sentiments exactly. The game is basically Empire Deluxe, but at $45 that's not very compelling. Half that and I'd definitely buy it.
I keep hoping Battles from the Bulge will make it out in 2009 but I'm not holding my breath.
So it looks like we won't get Battles from the Bulge until February at the earliest.
HistWar - Les Grognards looks to be a disaster, based on the demo.
My favorite: Hexwar subscribers are (understandably?) flipping the fuck out because while Hexwar was developing Fields of Glory, nothing was being done to fix things in Hexwar, which people were paying (exorbitantly priced) subscription fees for.
Yeah, deja vu all over again; last year we were doing the same waiting thing for Bulge. Ah well.
Anyone actually try the Histwar demo yet? I like how it only has a "Passive AI" - AI is something you can just turn on and off, right?
I would like to try it, but every time I start a battle it crashes. I have tried all the compatibility mode stuff, fiddled with the settings, no luck.
Troy (and anyone else), I'm in the process of buying Field of Glory, so let us get our game on.
War Plan Pacific:
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/KE_Stud.../WPP_page.html
I bought this recently with some XMas money and really enjoyed it. Reminds me a lot of the old board wargame Victory in the Pacific.
I thought the AI was decent. My first play through as the Allies, I won in June, 1945 through strategic bombing, but I'm certain an expert could do better. The AI did pull a few tricks which did impress me:
1) I left Brisbane open to a raid, and the Ai slipped a fleet in that launched a successful raid. The issue here is that certain ports (Ceylon, Japanese Home Islands, US West Coast) if raided successfully, require the defender to maintain a fleet of a certain size there for several turns/months. This tied up one of my fleets for about 4 months which interrupted my momentum.
2) The AI also tried cutting my supply lines to Australia, which can result in a loss for the Allies if maintained long enough. He launched two amphibious invasions of Fiji (after I took it back) and another of Palmyra. That also interrupted my offensive flow.
3) Lastly, the strategic bombing win results if the Allies have certain islands (Marianas, Iwo Jima, etc), develops them as bases and accumulates strategic bombing points over time. The thing is a raid can destroy base development if successful. Though short on carriers by then, the AI did try large surface fleet raids at several of bases in an attempt to destroy them, delay their development, and deny me the start bombing points I needed to win. In fact, I didn't realize what the AI was trying to do until afterward (it was only really luck that I had fleets in the area the first time it happened), so the AI actually taught me something :) They were not successful as I had fleets covering them, but I thought it was a good try, and one a cagey human player would try against a newbie such as me :)
The only weakness (and it might have not been one) was that to carry out the invasions on my supply lines the Japanese did, he was forced to use a number of damaged carriers. He never had a chance to put them in port and repair/resupply them. So when the eventual big naval battles occurred, he was using damaged carriers which were easily handled by my fleet air. But it might have not been a weakness - it may just been forced to do what it had to do given the situation. But I think his position might have been better off if he had foregone the offensives and repaired his carriers, and tried to catch one of my fleets outnumbered and strike it with fresh forces.
All in all, a fun game, and though replayability is limited, if you love the subject, it's a must have game, IMO.
I've got a $10 off voucher from Slitherine that expires on the 7th and I'm not going to use it. If anyone wants to pick up Field of Glory or one of their other games at a discount, PM me and I'll get you the code. It's also worth 6 pounds and 7.5 euros if any of you forriners want it.
And yes, I am allowed to give it to someone else. Slitherine is cool like that.
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