American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

I feel the same way about the old Squad Leader games. I hoped John Tiller's Squad Battles series would be like the old squad leader, and while some things like picking up and dropping weapons are there, the excitement and fluidity were missing.

MG Mike Mihalik
1/III/AoMiss/CSA

Actually I think there have been a number of computer based games that implemented to some degree the old Squad Leader games although none tried to encompass the encylcopedia of rules that came with Advanced Squad Leader. I think Combat Mission series of games probably surpassed the hex based style games for WWII simulation.

I think HPS recommends the AI fight the "defender" side in its scenarios. This mostly because the AI is to sorry to undertake any kind of offensive move even with overwhelming odds. Unfortunately, HPS is probably right. Most people buying games like to play solitare. This is partially due to the lack of opponents with the same interest but also the time it takes to play an email game. One criticism I have of the HPS's idea of Campaign games is that it takes an already impossible to complete in a year battles and strings them into a campaign that could last a lifetime. This kind of game will never appeal to "younger" gamers raised on high action and short scenario games of killing all Humans, Aliens, Elves, etc.

I imagine that most gamers who buy HPS games for solitare play are very disappointed. The AI needs a couple magnitudes of improvement to be a viable opponent. You can crank up the blance so one shot from the AI's regiment wipe out one of yours but quickly gets boring.

LG. Kennon Whitehead
Chatham Grays
III Corps, AoM (CSA)

Hello Kennon. Thanks for this. I think as to the A.I. we are saying the same thing. When I said that it is recommended to play the attacking side that is the same as playing against the Defender which is the stronger side not necessarily due only to the quality or quantity of their weapons but in their numbers, defensive capability, etc. To wit the Vietnamese in the SB:V and TOD games and the Germans in the SB:Eagles, Korea, et.al. As I recall, though the Americans had vehicles and choppers and overwhelming firepower, it was nullified in great part by the cost of them in points from kills and especially the choppers. They were just flying victory points. So the Vietnamese side made for a challenging game when played against...for a little while of course until you finally became careful, figured out how to approach them and kick the snot of them so often that it got boring...that is when I joined the MBC.

I don't know if the CM suppressed hex-based WWII games or not but I must admit that once I played CM and its joint simulataneous combat resolution phase, that for me, the hex-based SB games scale lost their appeal to me though I would still play some of the operational games like Bulge and Market Garden if I had more time. Also the CM approach really eliminated player replaying turns until they got them right and learned a lot of intelligence in the balance by doing it. You can replay a CM turn to an extent but I don't think you can change the outcome much by "learning about the enemy's disposition" though of course if you make a different attack than the first time the outcome would be different. Sorry..getting way off the topic I think about making a strategic level hex-based game. I for one would love such if it could be done, ecomomics and resource-building concepts included.

Thanks again...all interesting and enlightening comments.



<blockquote id="quote"><font size="3" face="book antiqua" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by KWhitehead</i>
<br />Actually I think there have been a number of computer based games that implemented to some degree the old Squad Leader games although none tried to encompass the encylcopedia of rules that came with Advanced Squad Leader. I think Combat Mission series of games probably surpassed the hex based style games for WWII simulation.

I think HPS recommends the AI fight the "defender" side in its scenarios. This mostly because the AI is to sorry to undertake any kind of offensive move even with overwhelming odds. Unfortunately, HPS is probably right. Most people buying games like to play solitare. This is partially due to the lack of opponents with the same interest but also the time it takes to play an email game. One criticism I have of the HPS's idea of Campaign games is that it takes an already impossible to complete in a year battles and strings them into a campaign that could last a lifetime. This kind of game will never appeal to "younger" gamers raised on high action and short scenario games of killing all Humans, Aliens, Elves, etc.

I imagine that most gamers who buy HPS games for solitare play are very disappointed. The AI needs a couple magnitudes of improvement to be a viable opponent. You can crank up the blance so one shot from the AI's regiment wipe out one of yours but quickly gets boring.

LG. Kennon Whitehead
Chatham Grays
III Corps, AoM (CSA)
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

LtCol.Tom Ciampa
2nd Bgde,1st Cav
XIV Corps, AoC

(I've been away for a week, so I'm only now responding to two posts intended for me.)

Eireb,
Thank you for drawing my attention to the "Glory in Grey" volumes. I'll mention them to the volunteers who are working on the generals' bios, in case any of them are interested in purchasing them.

Mihalik,
Thank you for your suggestions. Regarding the book with generals' bios, we prefer to come up with our own bios rather than using some that are out there already. A number of people are really enjoying the chance to research generals (especially the more obscure ones about whom they new nothing), and the overall process is quite rewarding: cutting and pasting would be far more time-efficient, but not as enjoyable. As for your point about colonels leading brigades, etc., we've already designed the game so that 1-star generals give brigades bonuses but those brigades can function without a general, so this is somewhat modeled into the game.

Hi, Gil,

I have been wading through several months of forums over at the Matrix site and will offer further comments there at some point. Just wanted to thank you for all the information you provided about your game. I am especially heartened by your willingness to seek input from your customers. I would also like to thank the other folks here who offered their take on the game, pro and con, so that I could make an informed decision on whether or not to try it.

MG Mike Mihalik
1/III/AoMiss/CSA

Great, I look forward to it.

As for listening to customers, it's plain good sense to do so -- many of our customers know more about the Civil War than those of us on the development team (not that we're slouches...) and/or are experienced gamers, and their comments are enabling us to improve the product by adding new features through patches.

I thought some of you would be interested to know that the long-awaited update/patch to "Forge of Freedom" has been posted for public beta testing. In addition to correcting minor glitches and bugs, we've added a ton of new features, making this represent something approaching a version 2.0. Since we want as much feedback on the patch as possible before it goes gold, I thought I'd let you know. Of particular interest might be the addition of our so-called "historical" scenario, which uses 1860 census figures to make the demographic and economic disparities between North and South much more pronounced. While the game was never meant to be a Civil War simulation -- it is, after all, meant to appeal to a wide customer base -- we do want to be historically accurate whenever possible, so I hope that those of you who own the game will be able to find time to test the beta patch and give us feedback. The sub-forum at Matrix where you can read more is: http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tt.asp?forumid=438 . Thank you.

Beware of loading up the Beta Patch!!! I did and now nothing works, and I mean nothing! I get to the loading screen and after about 20 seconds or so the game crashes. I tried it over and over again, re-booting all with the same results.

I then un-installed the game to see if I could get back to the original. Well, now even that doesn't work. This game is getting mighty frustrating.

I have left messages on the Matrix Board but so far only one response asking me if I have loaded "Flash". Whatever that means.

The game used to work before so beware of patches.

gcollins,
No one else has reported such a problem, and as was stated on the Matrix forum, the odds are that it's happening because of a change to your system made since the last time you installed the game, and not a problem in the patch. It seems that there is a chance that your version of Flash got corrupted or isn't working properly for some other reason, since crashes at the very beginning of the loading process often have something to do with the person's computer having outdated video drivers or Flash. (Flash is a widely distributed graphics program that is essential for running all sorts of programs, not just FOF.) Erik Rutins of Matrix will help you get to the bottom of this, and get your game working again. Others interested in trying the patch should not feel hesitant about installing it: even if gcollins is right and there actually is something wrong with the patch -- and we'll soon know if that was the case -- the odds of encountering a similar problem are quite slim.

OK, got "Forge of Freedom" with the Beta Patch working again. It turns out you need to have the latest version of Shock Wave Player not Flash Player!

In a quick cursory examination, I like what I see. It looks like Matrix "is listening" to player feedback. They have created a new more "historical scenario" that begins in July of 1861. They got rid of a lot of non-historical 'forts' that were all over Virginia in the first release. They also eliminated huge Confederate navies too.

This one has great potential if they keep "listening" to player feedback.

As you've probably seen by now over at Wargamer, the Armchair General site, the Matrix forum or some other site, the long-awaited, massive update patch for "Forge of Freedom" is out. I thought I'd give you a heads-up, though, that next week we'll be announcing an AAR contest, with the first prize to be a cavalry sword replica. Something tells me that this might be of interest to more than a few of the regulars here. So, if you put the game on mothballs while waiting for the patch, you might want to brush up a bit.

I'm happy to discuss the patch itself if people have questions, but am trying to avoid a shamelessly promotional post, so I'm not using marketing phrases like "mother of all upgrade patches" or the like...

Thanks for heads up...


General Jeff Laub
Union Chief of the Army
ACWGC Cabinet Member
http://www.geocities.com/laubster22/UnionHQ/

The AAR's contest was just announced. Since the deadline's in three weeks, I figured I'd better announce it here, so that any one of you who's entering would have more time to work on it. Here's a link to the announcement and rules: http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=1476081

We're looking forward to your entries.

The AAR's contest was just announced. Since the deadline's in three weeks, I figured I'd better announce it here, so that any one of you who's entering would have more time to work on it. Here's a link to the announcement and rules: http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=1476081

We're looking forward to your entries.