AnyOne Playing this?

World War II: General Commander is an introductory war strategy game which brings a unique mix of scale, combat dynamics, and force management. An intuitive combination of rules and controls will give beginning wargamers and real time strategy fans the opportunity to simulate Germany’s famous last Blitzkrieg from either side.
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Titanwarrior89
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AnyOne Playing this?

Post by Titanwarrior89 »

Title says is all. Thinking about buying but I want too be sure. DL plus hard copy is 50.00 bucks. So is anyone playing? If so what do you think and how does it play?

Ive read the wargamer review but alot of questions were left out.




Note: By the way don't want to DL the demo: to big, might as well dl the game.
"Before Guadalcanal the enemy advanced at his pleasure. After Guadalcanal, he retreated at ours".

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RE: AnyOne Playing this?

Post by Titanwarrior89 »

Well its all water under the bridge. I just spent 60.00 bucks on this thing. Hope its worth it. Downloading now.
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RE: AnyOne Playing this?

Post by Crimguy »

You're the guinea pig.  Let us know.

I played the demo.  DIdn't put much time into it, but found it interesting.  I was having a lot of trouble controlling my units, but again didn't take much time to figure things out.
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RE: AnyOne Playing this?

Post by Titanwarrior89 »

Let ya know if no one else does. Price and the unknown scares me on this one. I hope I haven't been stung[&o]
ORIGINAL: Crimguy

You're the guinea pig.  Let us know.

I played the demo.  DIdn't put much time into it, but found it interesting.  I was having a lot of trouble controlling my units, but again didn't take much time to figure things out.
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RE: AnyOne Playing this?

Post by Titanwarrior89 »

Jump IN!!!! The Waters fine.[:D] Downloading still.[>:]
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RE: AnyOne Playing this?

Post by Erik Rutins »

Thanks, looking forward to your comments. [8D]
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RE: AnyOne Playing this?

Post by Titanwarrior89 »

Ok,

This is a quick over view with out going over the manual. First game observation.

1. Sound is poor. Not to bad for infantry. Airforce sound - none on my machine. Weather sound effects not bad, but battle sounds need work.

2. Graphics not bad-but can get real mixed up if useing figure icons(when fighting close quarters). Nato symbols easier to keep up with. How ever very little battle sounds-even less with the nato symbols.
3. Unit ID and troops strengths - this is a plus-not bad.
4. RTS on this one was not a click fest!
5. Left click/drag moves map around.
6. click on airfield and air missions pop up-not bad-but when I hit support bombing mission aircraft flew but no effect I could see except for aircraft flying over head-did they bomb? Who knows! No bombing sound or anything being destoryed.
"Before Guadalcanal the enemy advanced at his pleasure. After Guadalcanal, he retreated at ours".

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RE: AnyOne Playing this?

Post by Redmarkus5 »

I downloaded the full game last night after reading Jim Cobb's review, because I have always respected him.&nbsp; I've played all the way from Squad Leader and the AH board games all the way through CM, TOAW and up to Empire Total War, plus everything in between.

Now, this new game has some real promise, as Jim says, but it still needs a lot of work, as many have observed here.&nbsp; In some ways, particularly the isometric map view, it is more engaging than COTA, but the COTA NATO graphics are far superior to this.&nbsp; I have a top-end gaming laptop but there seems to be no way to adjust the games screen res, so the whole thing looks fuzzy and really sub-standard; like I loaded up one of my old games from way back when before XP and Vista.&nbsp; That needs to be fixed asap if you want t sell more of this title.&nbsp; Right now, the simple map is the only one that looks acceptable - the tactical and realistic maps are just too fuzzy to use effectively.

The way that units follow the roads and the overall feel of the first advance I made, was very immersive and felt convincing - I could see where the devs were going with their attempt to really put the player in a WW2 commander's seat.&nbsp; But the 3D units should be dropped, IMO, and the 3D Nato icons could be better presented.&nbsp; (Note: the 3D icons approach would work very well for a real-time Napoleonic wargame.&nbsp; Have you considered that?)&nbsp; In the end, I turned off the 3D icons and just played with the 2D map and the kind of hovering Nato unit cards/icons - it then looked a bit more like a military simulation, although unit selection requires you to zoom in quite closely with these settings.

The FX (artillery, etc) are pretty poor IMO and give the impression that the devs couldn't decide whether they were building an operational wargame or an RTS game.&nbsp; The representation of Air is just horrible - so that bad that I edited the main scenario to remove all the air units rather than have those RTS insects buzzing around in circles over my units!&nbsp; The sound is poor and I turned it off after a while.&nbsp; But I'm a 50 year old board game grognard (still playing RGW daily against a human opponent) so I am prejudiced.&nbsp; Younger players might like these effects.

Finally, I can't yet assess the AI, but as multiplayer is offered only on a real-time basis (there are no turns) then solo play is going to be very important to me and many others, I would guess.&nbsp; If the AI does have the problems I read about elsewhere in the forum, then those need urgent fixes as well.

Those are my initial views.&nbsp; I say "buy it" IF you are willing to work with the devs to improve it.&nbsp; It has a lot of potential but the work is far from done.&nbsp; Nevertheless, it takes these games in the right direction, I think.
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RE: AnyOne Playing this?

Post by Erik Rutins »

ORIGINAL: redmarkus4
I have a top-end gaming laptop but there seems to be no way to adjust the games screen res, so the whole thing looks fuzzy and really sub-standard

What kind of video card do you have? This should just be a matter of tweaking your driver settings to get it to look crisp.

Regards,

- Erik
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RE: AnyOne Playing this?

Post by Titanwarrior89 »

On my laptop the game wasn't fuzzy but some things were hard too read. But again I am have blind anyway.[:D]

Redmarkus4 is right on about the airsupport/air game. Seemed like a flock of swallows. Needs work. Also I noticed that When using the Nato icons that when taking losses a number would float up in red(hard to read the number). This is similiar to HPS's Punic wars. How ever there no graphics of firing during this combat. Would help to get into it. But not a game breaker.[:-]
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RE: AnyOne Playing this?

Post by Redmarkus5 »

I have Nvidia 8800 series, 256mb. laptop plays Call of Duty 5, Total War Empires, etc with excellent quality using highest settings :)
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RE: AnyOne Playing this?

Post by Redmarkus5 »

I'm just trying the Bastogne scenario as the Axis, by the way, and really enjoying it.&nbsp; The air is still annoying the hell out of me though.&nbsp; The basic concept and engine seem very good.&nbsp; I will be watching for patches and mods.&nbsp; I hope the community buys into this approach as its quite realistic after you try 3-4 small scenarios and get used to it.&nbsp; On key is to probe forward/advance to contact with caution - dont go rushing down the road 'blitzkreig' style of it will all be over before you know it.&nbsp; The FoW is severe...
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RE: AnyOne Playing this?

Post by Redmarkus5 »

One additional comment.&nbsp; The way that the road net limits your options, and the focus it forces you to put on considering re-supply routes and flank/rear protection is really good - you do have to think a lot more about this than in many other wargames, I sense.&nbsp; However, it seems to me that only the major roads are represented on the map and that while the region was restricted in terms of movement, there were more alternative avenues of approach than the game currently provides.&nbsp; Am I wrong in thinking this?&nbsp; Obviously, the AI defender benefits from this feature...
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RE: AnyOne Playing this?

Post by Titanwarrior89 »

Well I am playing the Bastogne scenario and its all most done-now all of sudden the game is freezeing. Its froze up my computer 3 times and crashed once.

I have a laptop 2.2gig geforce 6800 with 2gig of ram. Also downloaded the direct x 9.c. It was running great now - puff! I was getting into it. Stung again. Either the game or my hardware or both. Why did it run good for slow long now it won't?



NOTE: This is a edit- it seems when I roll the mouse wheel to quick it may cause the problems I am now having. When I zoom back in slowly it runs ok.
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RE: AnyOne Playing this?

Post by Erik Rutins »

ORIGINAL: redmarkus4
However, it seems to me that only the major roads are represented on the map and that while the region was restricted in terms of movement, there were more alternative avenues of approach than the game currently provides.  Am I wrong in thinking this?  Obviously, the AI defender benefits from this feature...

You can still move and attack cross-country (effectively along those minor routes) but it will take longer and you'll be in a less ideal supply state. The roads are definitely of strategic importance though.
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RE: AnyOne Playing this?

Post by V22 Osprey »

From what it sounds like WW2:General Commander is a good game, it just needs a revamp like what Crown of Glory:Emperor's Edition did to the original Crown of Glory.
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RE: AnyOne Playing this?

Post by GIveloper »

Yes redmarkus4, you have got it, it is all about "roads and strategic cross roads"... we perhaps reinfoirce it including only the roads that really can carry on with a modern war...
We need to improve a lot this game, but before we need to check if it likes. And collect your opinion regarding the general war model.

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RE: AnyOne Playing this?

Post by Redmarkus5 »

Hi Victor.&nbsp; I also read your very good guide about the game and I have a very similar wargaming background to you, so I see all of the things you are achieving or trying to achieve with your design.&nbsp; I think it's great so far, and I hope you get enough positive feedback from other players to keep you 100% motivated!&nbsp;

One key thing I believe you have to decide is whether you are trying to address the (mostly) older board gaming market or the (mostly) younger RTS market.&nbsp; I don't think you can win with both groups.&nbsp; So far, I see the direction you are taking as a boardgamer's approach, but adding the real time element and the isometric views for realism, while avoiding the RTS click-fest.&nbsp; Obviously, I like that direction myself, but I wonder where the market will pull you?

An example of how I would like to see the game evolve is in the crucial Air component - how to model the critical effect of air without the RTS-style air attacks currently in the game?&nbsp; I would suggest that Air should be more abstracted and statistically modelled, with a focus on attrition of all unit strengths, reductions of efficiency and general interdiction of supply, based on who has air superiority, the weather, allocation of mission types, etc.&nbsp; The players should use sliders or some similar device to define their strategy (% allocated to CAS, Interdiction, Recon, etc.) while air supply values are set by the scenario designer to reflect limited numbers of suitable aircraft.&nbsp; Units can then be given supply priority by players and have a chance of receiving airdrops each turn if they cannot trace a supply path.&nbsp; Air drops can also miss and go to nearby enemy units.&nbsp; Random chance and target detection status (spotted, time since last sighting, etc.) should determine the chance and impact of air strikes.&nbsp; CAS should have a random chance of hitting adjacent friendly units as well - a common problem.&nbsp; You might want to consider a separate Air Operations Map, where the players can set their geographic priorities for air operations, so that, for example, they can focus all their assets on the most dangerous enemy movement.&nbsp; Also, it should be possible to strike bridges and supply dumps to interdict/reduce supply efficiency.

Osprey - I would say that this game is somewhat ahead of where the original Crown of Glory was.&nbsp; It does need more work, but it's already a fun and educational game if you can look past the flaws, IMO.&nbsp; CoG never did grab my attention.&nbsp; maybe I should look at the latest addition again.

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RE: AnyOne Playing this?

Post by JudgeDredd »

Ok - I'm in. I'll buy tonight in the hope that the devs get the cash to do what they need to. I wasn't disappointed with the end result of World War One when I bought it in it's "pre-release" state...so I'll take a hit for the boys [:'(]
&nbsp;
I really like the look of the 3D map (would LURV Panther to go this way - I think&nbsp;it would "finalise" the brilliance of their engine!)&nbsp;and I like the strategic element of the roads.
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RE: AnyOne Playing this?

Post by Redmarkus5 »

Damn!&nbsp; Ping of death followed by game freeze in the early stages of the Bastogne scenario.&nbsp; I note that an anti-adware warning popped up right before the freeze, identifying the WW2 General Commander folder as containing the suspect app...
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