A good start to play with the big boys?

[towerbooks3192]

I have been searching the matrix store nowadays and I must say I tried to ask around the forums about which game to start playing to get into the deeper hex-based war-game series. I think I sort of got the gist of how to play this game having played panzer tactics on DS and messing around for a few minutes with Panzer General 2 but giving up because some things are a bit confusing in game. Also have the demo and I must say I fell in love with it so I guess I will be buying it.

So is this a good starting game to play with the big boys? I think games like TOAW 3 is too confusing for me so I need a place to start. How is the replayability for the base game? Does it have a lot of scenarios or random map generators? (the reason I played a lot of HoMM3 though unrelated was because of random maps).

Lastly,I am sure that I would purchase it sooner or later but it is a matter of priority, is it advised to purchase base game plus DLCs all in one go or finish the base game and go from one DLC to the next?

[Tac2i]

Panzer Corps is a very good game but don't believe it has a random game generator. The DLCs are very reasonably priced. Do note that the recently released Africa Korps is priced differently. As I mentioned elsewhere, if you are looking for a hexed based strategy game along the lines of the old board games from Avalon Hill or SPI, then do take a look at Advanced Tactics Gold. Of course Matrix/Slitherine have many great games to entice you with.

[towerbooks3192]

ORIGINAL: Webizen

Of course Matrix/Slitherine have many great games to entice you with.

And that is why I am confused as to what I will purchase off matrix store and where I should start playing war games. The other problem I have with most of matrix stuff is that the prices look so scary and I don't know if it would be worth the purchase or not. I guess I will just play it safe and purchase this one then. Now I am deciding if I should buy all the DLC plus afrika corp (I think afrika corp is a stand-alone expansion?) or just the base game for now?

I am also trying to find a game that would compliment this one. Commander Europe at War perhaps? or something else?

[VPaulus]

The DLC campaign have a different "flavour" from vanilla campaign. And the same thing happen with Afrika Korps expansion. They are all different.
Some prefer DLC, while others prefer vanilla and I'm sure some will like more what Afrika Korps brings of new to the game.
If you like the demo than you'll surely like vanilla campaign. But you'll want more at the end. So it's only a matter of time before you buy all the DLC and expansions. [;)]

And there's no random generator maps. This was already discussed in Slitherine forum and the reason why this model wasn't adopted was due to the poor balanced scenarios we could have then with panzer Corps.
But you've a modding community active, that I dare to say you shouldn't be worried with Panzer Corps replaybility.

[Josh]

Have to agree with VPaulus here, any choice you make be it PC vanilla, the DLC's or the AK expansion... all worth their money. Loved the original 15 years ago, love it still. Yes it's a safe start, easy to grasp and easy to play and loads of fun.
At some time you probably will want to play some "deeper" wargames, after you've played this one to death. Best thing to do is read the AAR's in the subforums, if you like the feel of a game and like the AAR then most likely the game will suite you. Spending money on a game is always ... trickey? You honestly don't know how it is untill you've played it a for a few days, maybe a few weeks even. Sometimes it's wasted money, more often it's not if you choose carefully. I do make occasionally bad choices too, play them a few hours and they end up on the shelf, it happens. Not so with PC though, bestest buy in a long time. [:D]
AT or ATG is a good choice too though, deeper and much more complex, endless replayability, loved it since it got released in 2007. The Decisive Campaign series add more historical flavor.
War in the East and its upcoming sequels and TOAW are good choices too, maybe a bit too complex for the moment.
Over at Slitherines the PC forum is a bit more active, more topics and more mods there.
 

[towerbooks3192]

Ok, One question though. In random scenarios, could I load up some scenarios and play it in an order like a campaign? I mean in campaigns I could purchase/upgrade and make sure to keep my core units for my next mission. Does the scenario enable me to do that? Could I also play something like that US invasion scenario where it starts in the east coast then play the next part of that what-if scenario and be able to carry over and upgrade my units like in a normal campaign?

[Josh]

No and no. [:(] Alass. Would be fun though, but that is what sets a "campaign" from a "scenario"; no core units that you take with you on the next mission. And I don't think there is the US invasion in the campaign, it's been discussed before but not (yet??) in the campaign branch. And as a scenario it doesn't allow a core force, which IMHO makes the campaign much more fun... I mean the handling of your core force.
Well maybe there *is* a modded campaign with the US invasion, don't know about that. There are a few mods out there, including a Pacific theatre of operations, at Slitherines.

[towerbooks3192]

I was talking about the German Invasion of the US scenario in the demo which has 3 (I think) scenarios where you start from the east then the midwest then the west. Will check slitherines when I get the game. I am planning to get it this friday because I can't call in sick since I already used 2 of my sick days at work [:)]. I have to say its pretty addictive and I am still playing the the tutorial over and over again just to get the hang of things. I have to say that after a couple of playthrough with the tutorial and firing up PzG2 I bought from GOG a year ago has improved my understanding of the game and how things work.

Now I am starting to get hooked to this type of game and its good to play while I watch history channel and their many WW2 documentaries.

[Wartath]

Another good entrylevel game would be either Case Blue or Strategic war in Europe.

Case Blue is (in my opinion) substantially better than ATG. I like especially the automatic replacement distributing system and historic flavour. And like all great games, DC:CB is easy to learn, but hard to master. ATG, on the other hand, has much more micromanagement, but it offers truly random maps.

Strategic war in Europe seems to be similar to Time of Fury, but with smaller scale. If you liked Commander: Europe at War, you are sure to like this one.

If you do decide on trying PanzerCorps, I would suggest buying AfrikaKorps. It's cheaper and you can get a good view of the system with it. You can also download the usemade GTPG –campaign, which contains some 70 scenarios set in Europe.

No matter what your choice is, as long as you keep on playing, you'll soon be in the "big leagues". [;)]

[towerbooks3192]

Thanks Wartath!

Panzer Corp is already a winner on my list. I could see it as my sort of Panzer General and let my future son (or daughter) play it one day and say its the PG of my time (Im 20 and unfortunately I didn't grew up playing PG since we can't afford computers back then [:(] )

Is the GTPG campaign compatible with afrika korps and are those campaigns the ones in PC Wehrmacht? Someone suggested me time of fury and Strategic War in Europe and I have read that ToF is a more complex version of SWiE but there are things that SWiE did better than ToF.

I could see that Case Blue is from the same creator of ATG and if I have to choose between both I guess I will choose ATG since at times I prefer making my own history and playing random maps than reliving history and do what has already been done by the axis and allies.

The main reason why I am sort of leaning towards Commander: Europe at war as the game to get along with PzC and all its DLCs and Afrika Korps is because I was looking for something like HoI but turn-based and the mod (or is it an in game mode??) they added an option to play with the whole map like hearts of iron but its a bit sad because it only contains a part of America and no Pacific or the rest of the world below north africa.

As of the moment I am playing the tutorials from the demo of PzC over and over again until I could decide on what to get along with PzC with all DLCs and Afrika korp or just get PzC and/or Afrika Korps and the other game I will choose to compliment it.

I am still keeping an eye out for the upcoming hearts of iron 3 expansion and from what I have read they said that this time it has a custom game mode that gives all nations a clean slate and start building from scratch or jump straight into the action.