OK, I'm Just Going To Say It...

[Ripster8]

...I love the time period and I really appreciate the effort that AGEOD has put into TYW, but as a single-player game it is sadly lacking. The AI is largely incompetent, unfortunately. The worst AI blunder is the repeated long winter walks it takes with large armies. It is so sad to see the heaps of little, frozen digital soldaten strewn about the snowy German countryside, especially since they never reach the battlefield! Over the course of one winter the AI Protestants went from 150% of my Imperialist combat power to only 50%. The rest of the campaign was merely a matter of purchasing supply wagons and sieging major cities until the Protestants were vanquished. Not much fun...

There are other issues (the ill-conceived diplomatic boxes and cards, not enough Protestant supply wagons in the GC, lack of a hot-seat mode, among others) but until the AI is improved I cannot recommend TYW as a single player game. Unfortunately, this also causes me to question whether I should buy 'Napoleon at War' which I have been so looking forward to. Any correction of my impressions is welcomed!

[Rosseau]

I just finished playing the original Napoleonic game, and it wasn't bad considering its age. Like Spanish Civil War, I predicted TYW would suffer with these one-man development teams using the Ageod engine. But if the core Ageod development team is doing Nappy, it should be a large and well-supported game.

[KarlXII]

Thanks Ripster for your comments about the A.I. I have been following this game for a while now. For me the A.I is a dealbreaker since I will play it as a single player game 95% of the time. I will wait for further patches until I buy it.

[Ripster8]

It is unfortunate since I love the time period, the attention to detail, etc. But right now TYW is best as a PBEM game. Perhaps a future patch will remedy this. One can only hope!

[Symple]

I actually love this game. And yes, best in pbem play. Here is an option if you hate pbem, play versus yourself. Take on both sides. Play one, exit, play the other and run. This is a lot of fun.
AI as an opponent in any game is not so good.

[Ripster8]

As a matter of fact I am playing a head-to-head GC with myself right now. But it is not quite the same as playing against a competent AI. And PBEM is great but it takes a lot of time to get through 30 years of war!

[Dorb]

I too would love to get, but only play single player, and agree...deal breaker. And appears same level of support as with Espana 1936. So going to have to pass.

[Leibst]

AI way of doing things is beyond HQ possibilities,so is not a fact of suport level, i cant change any of the way AI does things. Just can add some Agents to persuade her to take some decisions.

[Symple]

There is a really nice alternative to pbem and AI, and I would recommend it to anyone who likes this era but not the AI or pbem, play versus yourself. This game is a perfect game to play both sides. I am not sure if younger players ever did this. But when board games were wargames and there was not a computer option and you had no live opponent because like me you lived in a small town, you played versus yourself. Thirty Years War is a splendid game for doing such. After all, you are smarter than the best AI and the game is such a good treatment of this era.

[FeurerKrieg]

I played many a game of Axis and Allies against myself. That's what living in a rural area does to you when you are a kid.