Can't decide what to buy

[strontium]

I've got a little extra money lying around and I'm lookin to spend it. Problem is, I can't decide which game I want. I've narrowed it down to three - Conquest of the Aegean, Battlefront, or Carriers at War. If anyone has played any two of these ,or all three, I would greatly appreciate your input as to which one you liked more and why. Thanks.

[ravinhood]

Advanced Tactics or Tillers Campaign series. Get the most value for your $$. Aegean is a simulation, you'll find it boring before you get started good. Battlefront is a conglomeration of a bunch of old scenarios that have been around for 15 years plus....look for the OLD Battlefront series and save yourself some money. Carriers at War while a great game in its day is pretty slim on scenarios to play an another one that will grow old and boring rather quickly. It has a pretty simple interface and not a whole lot you as a player does per turn....wait for christmas specials on those. Get Advanced Tactics or Tillers Campaign series and get that value for your $$.

Now I fully expect a horde of fanboi posters to follow me here, but, just remember "I" told you so when you get one of those you mentioned and found out I was telling the truth. Also, if you can hold out just a bit longer Kharkov should be available pretty soon that's a must buy.

[sterckxe]

ORIGINAL: strontium
I've got a little extra money lying around and I'm lookin to spend it. Problem is, I can't decide which game I want. I've narrowed it down to three - Conquest of the Aegean, Battlefront, or Carriers at War. If anyone has played any two of these ,or all three, I would greatly appreciate your input as to which one you liked more and why. Thanks.

Got all 3, so here goes :

Conquest of the Aegean : caveat : I'm extremely biased towards that one as I'm a beta-tester for them. That said : this is a game about realistic command & controll with a lot of stuff under the hood all wrapped-up in an easy to use interface. You can literally get started in like 10 minutes but to become really good at it you need to learn (and apply) the lessons in operational level combat learned by the IRL WWII commanders.

Check out MarkShot's AAR (pdf in zip) which manages to give an accurate picture of this game :

ftp://ftp.matrixgames.com/pub/conquesto ... 2-2005.zip

Battlefront : perhaps the best boardgame to pc conversion ever - without the boardgame ever even existing. the AI will mercilessly optimize it's attacks so unless you've got prior experience with other SSG games it'll take you a while to get comfortable with it.

Carriers at War : Again a game you can get up&running in in 10 minutes - the key feature here is the suspense and the nailbiting decisions you have to take. Is that sighting you just received the enemy carrier group or not ? Do you wait for confirmation before launching or not ? The last patch has seriously enlarged the number of possible scenario/variants so you never know what you're up against for sure. A game of hide & seek & bluff

Greetz,

Eddy Sterckx

[orwell]

Is there a demo for CotA?

[Widell]

Nope - No demo. I think you need to consider if you want Real Time (CotA) or turn based (AT or others). I play most of the games mentioned here and like them all, so no point in going down the path leading to a p*ssing contest [;)]

[orwell]

ORIGINAL: Widell

Nope - No demo. I think you need to consider if you want Real Time (CotA) or turn based (AT or others). I play most of the games mentioned here and like them all, so no point in going down the path leading to a p*ssing contest [;)]

this is a game about realistic command & controll with a lot of stuff under the hood all wrapped-up in an easy to use interface. You can literally get started in like 10 minutes but to become really good at it you need to learn (and apply) the lessons in operational level combat learned by the IRL WWII commanders.

Is what sounds interesting to me, I don't really care if it's turn or RT, I just want to make sure that I like it as much as it sounds interesting before I sink money into it.

[sterckxe]

ORIGINAL: orwell
this is a game about realistic command & controll with a lot of stuff under the hood all wrapped-up in an easy to use interface. You can literally get started in like 10 minutes but to become really good at it you need to learn (and apply) the lessons in operational level combat learned by the IRL WWII commanders.

Is what sounds interesting to me, I don't really care if it's turn or RT, I just want to make sure that I like it as much as it sounds interesting before I sink money into it.

Ok, here's some additional stuff to help you make up your mind :

http://cota.matrixgames.com/

It has links to reviews and such. One thing to note is that on the 'Net there are exactly 3 locations where wargamers vote for their wargame of the year. UseNet's war-historical newsgroup, The Wargamer website and The GameSquad website.

Conquest of the Aegean won "Wargame of the Year" in all 3 of them. So quality is not the issue here, what you need to find out is if it's a game you'd like so for a 5-minute movie to get an impression of how it all looks check out :

http://cota.matrixgames.com/downloads/c ... 20v2.0.zip

Greetz,

Eddy Sterckx

[Hertston]

Of the three, CotA.  The most innovative and realistic of the three and at the 'cutting edge' of wargaming.  Depends on whether the setting interests you.. Highway to the Reich is well worth considering as an alternative if it doesn't.  Ravinhood is quite entitled to express his opinion, of course, but I as you are new here I will point out that his  particular opinion on the series is unique, certainly on these boards.  

Carriers at War - fun, but no longevity.

Battlefront - not enough scenarios (although a couple of the four are very good), and the game never really 'took off' so there are unlikely to be any more.

[sterckxe]

ORIGINAL: Hertston
I will point out that his particular opinion on the series is unique, certainly on these boards.

Make that last part "the known universe" and I'll agree [;)]

Greetz,

Eddy Sterckx

[Prince of Eckmühl]

CotA is the best of the three, going away, in my opinion. That engine is one of the most important innovations in computer wargaming, ever. There are only a few other families of games, CCx and SMx that rival it. I only wish that it had come along a bit earlier, before the market for wargames contracted so violently.

As to CaW, I was an early adopter and, subsequently, suffered from a terrible case of Ravinhood's Remorse. The game has been out for a while, and ought to be as much fun as the original to play. A lot of folks apparently don't think that it is. I'd just like to see some innovation beyond the interface, which is markedly improved, something that would make the game a bit less generic in its depiction of carrier operations in WW2.

Recently, the developer issued forth a new "official" patch that fixed some bugs and added some content. I downloaded it and attempted to play. The game crashed twice on me in about forty-five minutes of fighting. "Yes, Gregor, my system must be overheating, AGAIN." Ravinhood really is an evil genius, BTW, just ask him. Ravinhood?

PoE (aka ivanmoe)

[cdbeck]

Like others said, CotA is the best of the 3. I never cared much for CaW, did not snych well with me at all. Battlefront is good fun, but limited, as others said.

If you want something LIKE Battlefront but UNLIMITED then I would check out Advanced Tactics, as RH said above. The proof of logevity is there, as there are already 15+ fan and developer made scenarios to add to the base WWII game. The random map generator is awesome and, although I haven't delved into it, the scenario creator is supposed to be intuitive and easy to use. AT is my favorite Matrix game of all, and I own or have owned, many.

SoM

[ravinhood]

It's nice to be so loved [:D]

[strontium]

Thanks for all the input. Looks like I'm gonna go with CotA. Although, I really want to try CaW as well. I've been jonesing for a tactical WWII naval game ever since I played Microprose's Task Force 1942 waaaay back in the day on my HP 486/33. What about HPS Simulations Guadalcanal? Has anyone played that?

[Prince of Eckmühl]

ORIGINAL: strontium

What about HPS' Guadalcanal? Has anyone played that?

Think of the overhead map in TF1942 with VERY LIMITED command options.

That view, played from that overhead map, is all there is to the HPS games.

Some ships sail around, shoot and launch torps, and the game ends.

Even the reporting is scant, so it's hard to ever know (or understand) what occurred in the fighting.

The game does have an IP play module, so you can share the mystery of it all with a friend.

PoE (aka ivanmoe)

[sullafelix]

If you can find CAWII from years ago and are familiar with DosBox etc. go for it. Tons of scenarios including European ones. Dated graphics, but if you started in boardgames it shouldn't bother you too much. I agree with Rh to also try and find the original Battlefront or the whole series  ( Decisive Battles etc.) from SSG. These also have tons of scenarios but again they are old games.
 
Between your three choices I'd pick Cota also.
 
Speaking of old SSG, does anyone have a compilation of the scenarios that were issued with Run5 magazine? I tried to get them from SSG but no go. They sent me to the person who used to work for them in US sales. The person in question doesn't sell anything SSg antmore.Thanks.

[JSS]

ORIGINAL: strontium

I've got a little extra money lying around and I'm lookin to spend it. Problem is, I can't decide which game I want. I've narrowed it down to three - Conquest of the Aegean, Battlefront, or Carriers at War. If anyone has played any two of these ,or all three, I would greatly appreciate your input as to which one you liked more and why. Thanks.

Cota is great as mentioned above. BF is the best of the three IMHO. CAW is the only naval game I like (being an Army Bubba).

Long term BF is my recommendation, short term Cota or HTTR are great choices. CAW if you like naval games (patch v1.02 adds a lot).

JSS