first impressions

[gwgardner]

The tutorials alone in this game are more fun than some other complete games.

The GUI is intuitive and surprisingly simple in a game with such complexity.

The graphics are excellent but as far I can tell, not a drag on the computer.

It's an immersive gaming experience.

I'd recommend to anyone to give this game a try.

[gwgardner]

Modding is easy and fun too. It was a snap to mod the first scenario (Buford's defense of McPherson's Ridge) to play from the Confederate side.

The possibilities seem endless with this game. I see that others have modded it to simulate Napoleonic warfare, the War of Spanish Succession, the Seven Years War, Jackson's Campaign in the Valley, and so on.

[milkweg]

"The graphics are excellent but as far I can tell, not a drag on the computer."

Sorry, but I feel the need to disagree on this one. The graphics engine is not very efficient and I have i5 3570, 16GB of ram and GTX 580 vid card (have GTX 780 on the way), I get far smoother frame rates in Battlefield 3 than this game and BF3 has a ton of complex graphical stuff going on too.

[histgamer]

As someone who enjoys bf I don't think its fair to compare fps in a first person shooter to a game like this. First person likely has more impressive 3D modeling but they're dumb graphics in that they are not objects that think and respond to whatever is occurring. There are far more moving and thinking parts to render in a sow or even a game like wargame air land battle than in any first person shooter.

ORIGINAL: milkweg

"The graphics are excellent but as far I can tell, not a drag on the computer."

Sorry, but I feel the need to disagree on this one. The graphics engine is not very efficient and I have i5 3570, 16GB of ram and GTX 580 vid card (have GTX 780 on the way), I get far smoother frame rates in Battlefield 3 than this game and BF3 has a ton of complex graphical stuff going on too.

[2ndACR]

You are forgetting that in SOW you have thousands of sprites, firing, marching, attacking etc. That will tax any PC. It is not so much the graphics as all the ballistic calcs taking place. I have fought some mongo battles and see little to any lag in solo play. Now MP, there are times when the stuff lags, but that can be internet speed, PC speed of the slowest machine etc.

Nothing comes close to the immersion feeling than SOW.

Add in Bugle mod and the Peninsular OOB mods and you got some serious sandbox gaming either solo or MP. I have fallen in love with the Peninsular OOB. Have fought some serious battles in MP with that one.

[rickier65]

is it possible to create new maps for SOW Gettysburg? Or is it limited to maps that come with it, or that come with the expansion modules?

Thanks
Rick

[2ndACR]

The map creation from what I understand is still a closed program. Open to team members only. There are more maps and stuff at http://www.norbsoftdev.net/forum/index.

[milkweg]

Bah, you are just making up excuses for lack of efficiency. [8D]

If you close in the draw distance the frame rate increases dramatically so that is proof the issue is the graphics engine and nothing to do with cpu calculations for the AI.

I am not saying I do not like the game and am just giving constructive criticism. They should get rid of the blurry 2D sprites in favour of 3D models and create a more efficient graphics engine. Those trees are really taxing too.

[histgamer]

ORIGINAL: milkweg

Bah, you are just making up excuses for lack of efficiency. [8D]

If you close in the draw distance the frame rate increases dramatically so that is proof the issue is the graphics engine and nothing to do with cpu calculations for the AI.

I am not saying I do not like the game and am just giving constructive criticism. They should get rid of the blurry 2D sprites in favor of 3D models and create a more efficient graphics engine. Those trees are really taxing too.

The Tree's look great though! I personally love how improved the terrain graphics are, its really good imho.

They'd have to dramatically cut down on the sprite ratio to get 3D soldiers in. If you want a RTW game with a limit of about 6,000 guys on the battlefield at any one point then you can go 3D. A mid range card has issues with RTW on huge settings and only about a 5,000 man battle, if you try to crank that up to SOW figures for the bigger battles of 15,000+ sprites on the field you'll need a Titan to run the damn game.

[aaatoysandmore]

I personally liked the old style graphics of 2nd Manassas. Just something about the units that looked more glossy and the trees were awesome in that game, although I had them turned off most of the time so I could see my units. No one can argue though that the ai isn't great.[:)] This is one of the "few" games I don't complain about the ai. I enjoy it very much and it is a great challenge to me.

[aaatoysandmore]

ORIGINAL: 2ndACR

The map creation from what I understand is still a closed program. Open to team members only. There are more maps and stuff at http://www.norbsoftdev.net/forum/index.

Link is not working:

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Go to and look for the information you want.

[aaatoysandmore]

ORIGINAL: 2ndACR

You are forgetting that in SOW you have thousands of sprites, firing, marching, attacking etc. That will tax any PC. It is not so much the graphics as all the ballistic calcs taking place. I have fought some mongo battles and see little to any lag in solo play. Now MP, there are times when the stuff lags, but that can be internet speed, PC speed of the slowest machine etc.

Nothing comes close to the immersion feeling than SOW.

Add in Bugle mod and the Peninsular OOB mods and you got some serious sandbox gaming either solo or MP. I have fallen in love with the Peninsular OOB. Have fought some serious battles in MP with that one.

I play in sandbox mode all the time in SOW and it doesn't tax my computer when I have thousands of units on the map. In fact the whole union and confederate army. I guess it just depends on the system you have and the optimization you do. My system is fast compared to most who probably browse malicious sites (porn lol) and get virus's your virus protector doesn't detect. I do computer maint on the side and you wouldn't believe the virus programs I've found outside of the virus protector most people use. One is not enough anymore. I have 3-5 I use to detect everything an even that may not be enough.

[2ndACR]

http://www.norbsoftdev.net/forum/index

Hmmmm, just copied the link again. Same thing and this one works but the first one does not.

I got a small group that plays co-op against the AI in sandbox. Using the hunt them down, which we prefer, you never know here the AI might pop up. Have to cover every road into a area or find a enemy div in your rear. But yes, the AI can be very slick.

I have never had any lag at all when playing solo, only when we have several players going in MP do we see any lag. Solo things run smooth as silk.

[e_barkmann]

Hmmmm, just copied the link again. Same thing and this one works but the first one does not.

You put a . at the end of the url which broke it.

[2ndACR]

Ah, my bad......sorry about that guys.

[Alchenar]

ORIGINAL: aaatoysandmore

I personally liked the old style graphics of 2nd Manassas. Just something about the units that looked more glossy and the trees were awesome in that game, although I had them turned off most of the time so I could see my units. No one can argue though that the ai isn't great.[:)] This is one of the "few" games I don't complain about the ai. I enjoy it very much and it is a great challenge to me.

I think you are completely right about the graphics. 2nd Manassas had that same broad spread of bright, simple colours that Sid Meier's Gettysburg! had and that isn't just visually appealing, it makes it practically very easy to cast your eye over the map and take in what's going on.

I think that Scourge of War made a big mistake in changing the art style to something that's too complex and turns the screen into a mash of colour where it's difficult to pick out detail.