ACWGC Forums

For those who are interested in a rather different battlefield environment compared tot he usual HPS/JTS games this offer might be worth a look:
http://www.matrixgames.com/news/2277/Sc ... ercent.off

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Lieutenant General Christian Hecht
Commander I Corps, Army of the Potomac

Union Cabinet Secretary
Support adding a AAR SUB-FORUM

I did not have much luck getting the hang of this game.

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Lt. Gen. C. N. Matthews
Pickett's Infantry Division, I Corps,
Army of Northern Virginia, CSA

Indeed although it has some very interesting aspects like the courier system, would love to have something like that in the HPS/JTS series.

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Lieutenant General Christian Hecht
Commander I Corps, Army of the Potomac

Union Cabinet Secretary
Support adding a AAR SUB-FORUM

I have a fundamental problem with SOW: I more want to sit back and enjoy the show than I want to play the game.

And a complaint: In the 2D map, the eyeball, You Are Here marker is fixed pointing right (IIRC). To help orient myself, I want the eyeball to rotate, pointing in the direction of my field of view. That right there would help me get more into the situation, and the game.

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Civil War Battles Lead Programmer, http://johntillersoftware.com/CivilWarBattles.html
Panzer Battles Lead Programmer, http://johntillersoftware.com/PanzerBattles.html
Campaign Series Lead Programmer, http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tt.asp?forumid=1515

Yes 3d is different, it can be an impressive sight to see these many of troops get going. If the limitation of 200 per unit wouldn't be there it would be even more impressive.
Here an older Histwar video with a 1/2 scale:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mN_d2BKleZM

But I assure you it is normal to lean back, it's not like the HPS/JTS series were you have to do everything yourself in every turn, here you order and see how it develops and only if something is to do you get going.

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Lieutenant General Christian Hecht
Commander I Corps, Army of the Potomac

Union Cabinet Secretary
Support adding a AAR SUB-FORUM

The graphics are beautiful in SoW. You can line up the troops in neat rows, deploy your artillery, mount your cavalry, etc. Then you press the run button and it is like you kicked an ant hill. Regiments start running off in random directions in column, artillery endlessly repositions itself, divisions start off to random parts of the battlefield, etc.

In short the AI controlling units only works until it "sees" the enemy then it loses its mind if it had one. It appears they put all their money and people into graphics and short changed the programming staff. Version 1.06 looks like the last release so there is little chance of it being fixed.

It is still an impressive game that could have been a game changer if it had been completed. And, right you can buy the whole CW series for $40 if they still have the sale on.

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General Kennon Whitehead
Chatham Grays
AoT II/1/3 (CSA)

Yes the problems there explain why it takes HistWar so long to get things fixed like the detection of collisions between units and units/inaccessible areas. At a certain point you have to massively invest to get the details right so it doesn't look like everyone is going nuts on the battlefield.

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Lieutenant General Christian Hecht
Commander I Corps, Army of the Potomac

Union Cabinet Secretary
Support adding a AAR SUB-FORUM

I would buy more JT Civil War games if they had a sale once in a while. Or once ever.

I enjoyed the JT/HPS series in the past but I play SOW far more often for my CW fix because it has a pretty good scripted AI, is enjoyable to look at, and you can pick it up rather cheaply if you wait for the sales. I also enjoy AGEOD's first Civil War game immensely and you can pick that up for a song. The asking price for the JT/HPS games can't be sustainable in this market, can it?

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Brigadier General Richard Simonitch
1st Brigade, 2nd Division
VI Corps, AoS

Well they started to appear in the late 90's and are still played & developed, besides this you see with the FWWC or Panzer Battles that there are even relative new offshoots of the old engines.
Last but not least if WDS takes over development you can be sure that there are still many years for the CW series to go.
So prices do not matter much in this segment and how could they because we don't talk about the millionth shooter but of games in a niche that was barely cover even when taking the last 20-30 years into account.

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Lieutenant General Christian Hecht
Commander I Corps, Army of the Potomac

Union Cabinet Secretary
Support adding a AAR SUB-FORUM