Thinking of buying---A few Questions

[throttle8]

I'm thinking of buying American Civil War – The Blue and the Gray. My main concern is that I do not want a Civil War version of Hearts Of Iron. In HOI, I loved the political side of it, however the micromanaging of all the different units, the defenses, research & development, etc, took away a lot from the game. During the early stages of the game, the management was not that bad. However, as the game progresses, it becomes too overwhelming for my likes.

So, my question to you is how much micromanaging is involved in this game?

Thanks

[Erik Rutins]

Well, there is a fair amount. It's a very detailed game, but the interface is quite friendly and it's not difficult to do what you want to do, it's just that there's a lot to do.

The strength of AACW is in the degree of historical detail though, rather than the lack of it. There are a few smaller scenarios, but for the big campaigns you are essentially playing the entire ACW down to the operational level so you're always pretty busy. You're largely running the military and military production, there's not much of a management load outside that. However, unlike HOI, it's turn-based, so there's also no real-time pressure of any kind.

Regards,

- Erik

[GShock]

Throttle, AgeOD supplies the game with a Demo: http://www.ageod.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=115 <- DL link.
[;)]

[decaro]

ORIGINAL: throttle8

... My main concern is that I do not want a Civil War version of Hearts Of Iron. In HOI, I loved the political side of it, however the micromanaging of all the different units, the defenses, research & development, etc, took away a lot from the game ...

I own both AACW and HoI and can state for the record that these engines don't have much in common, i.e., there's no R&D in AACW, as per its manual, p. 30:

"As new equipment becomes available (starting in 1862), elements (sub units) are automatically upgraded into other, more effective types (e.g., early to late cavalry).

Although there is R&D in Forge of Freedom -- ranging from weapons to new tactics -- most of the time I spent in AACW was to keep units in supply and out of bad wx; I basically (try) to do this w/the supply filter.

Like HoI, there are some overall political choices to make in AACW re emancipation, martial law, etc., but nothing too demanding.

[hazxan]

ORIGINAL: throttle8

I'm thinking of buying American Civil War – The Blue and the Gray. My main concern is that I do not want a Civil War version of Hearts Of Iron. In HOI, I loved the political side of it, however the micromanaging of all the different units, the defenses, research & development, etc, took away a lot from the game. During the early stages of the game, the management was not that bad. However, as the game progresses, it becomes too overwhelming for my likes.

So, my question to you is how much micromanaging is involved in this game?

Everybody's viewpoint is different. But as someone who has played both, I'd rate the micromanagement of AACW as considerably higher than HOI, well HOI2 at least. I know what you mean about the MM increasing as the game goes on, this is very true of AACW too.

I remember the AACW map to be much, much bigger than HOI, so it takes a long while traversing across it for each turn.

Everybody has a different opinion, but no (sane!) person could ever try and pass AACW off as a 'light' or 'casual' game that everybody should try, or indeed as anything other than a game you have to devote a large amount of time and effort to. And still may get stuck with it.

Ultimately it's all about our individual definitions of 'fun'. In AACW I found the hours spent clicking and dragging hundreds of blocks around to form armies that mostly just sat there was worse than work! However some people love micromanagement [:)] Your mileage may vary.....

Try the demo. I don't know how nerfed it is as I bought it before the demo was released.

[decaro]

ORIGINAL: NotaGrog

... I remember the AACW map to be much, much bigger than HOI, so it takes a long while traversing across it for each turn.

You meant much bigger than BoA, right? Except for its scenarios, HoI campaigns encompassed the whole globe!

[hazxan]

ORIGINAL: Joe D.

ORIGINAL: NotaGrog

... I remember the AACW map to be much, much bigger than HOI, so it takes a long while traversing across it for each turn.

You meant much bigger than BoA, right? Except for its scenarios, HoI campaigns encompassed the whole globe!

I meant much bigger in terms of "amount of screen scrolling to get from one end to the other"[;)] Number of screens size.
HOI squashes the world into a smaller space than AACW's US. Bigger is not always better!

[Widell]

ORIGINAL: NotaGrog
HOI squashes the world into a smaller space than AACW's US. Bigger is not always better!

But then again, not very easy to compare the two....very different games. Both very enjoyable in my mind.

[decaro]

OK, but AACW does have a "jump map," comperable to HoI's minimap, both of which can take you anywhere w/a click, but I'm not sure if you can select a unit in either game and then move it via the jump map.

However, in HoI, I can sometimes move units long distances via my infrastructure: was it called redeployment? Sometimes you have the option to redeploy forces in AACW, but I recall that there's a penalty.

[Widell]

ORIGINAL: Joe D.
OK, but AACW does have a "jump map," comperable to HoI's minimap, both of which can take you anywhere w/a click, but I'm not sure if you can select a unit in either game and then move it via the jump map.

Yes, the maps and the drag and drop order giving are similar to the two, but that's about it. Tech tree, diplomacy, events, politics, real time vs turn based, production etc etc are all very different.

ORIGINAL: Joe D.
However, in HoI, I can sometimes move units long distances via my infrastructure: was it called redeployment? Sometimes you have the option to redeploy forces in AACW, but I recall that there's a penalty.

Redeployment is possible in both, only in ACW it's an option whereas in HOI the amount of redeployment is dependant on your investments in infrastructure. Again, very different approaches, even if the gameplay mechanics are deceivingly similar.

[Tronjer]

It also depends what version of HoI2 you're refering to.

In Doomsday you have the possibility to automate economy and trading part, so one primarily has to to care about research and raising troops. Espionage is not crucial for playing WW2 campaign and I deem force management better arranged than in AACW.

On the other hand AGEOD offers a nicely done demo, along with a fully-fleged documentation, giving you a good overlook what AACW is about. If you play it to the end, winning the 12-turn-scenario and still think AACW is your cup of tea, you can purchase it without hesitation.