cr1x Posted March 24, 2013 Share Posted March 24, 2013 For years I have been looking for a strategic-level WW2 wargame. I have bought and played countless different games from countless different companies with limited success. My most recent purchase was Strategic War in Europe from Wastelands Interactive – another failure in my opinion. It was only in the last week that I actually realised that the game I have been looking for was the exact same game I was playing 10-years ago, namely, Strategic Command European Theater, so I decided to give it another go. I searched everywhere for my original copy of it but without success (I know it is somewhere in the loft!). In the end I bought it again and re-installed it. Wow, it has aged really well. Interface simple but elegant, graphics clean and simple. I havn't stopped playing it for five days (except when at work). For me it is almost the perfect game. I have tried the many sequels, on this site, but everything seems to have got more, well, complicated and heavy going. The beauty of this game is in how simple it all is and yet it has hidden depths which gives the player so many options, without getting bogged down in so much detail. Genius!!! I know there is a market for the more complicated, advanced versions but I also believe there is a huge market for something more straight forward and simple. I want to conquer or liberate Europe, during ww2 , in one evening not a whole week! What I would love to see is an advanced version of this game. Don't make it more complicated just add a few optional variations to the rules. Slightly bigger map (with more of Africa and the Atlantic). Perhaps a scenario where you have random placement of resources, completely random allegiances. Maybe even slight random variations to the placements of the cities. Any possibility of this happening? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jodl Posted March 24, 2013 Share Posted March 24, 2013 I agree with you that SC1 is still a great game. In response to your request for slightly more realism, have you tried SC2 Blitzkrieg? I personally find myself playing SC2 Weapons and Warfare because I personally like that game's combination of simple-to-play vs. realism. The latest SC games are trending towards more complications: but still they're awesome games! If you don't already own SC2WaW, the good news is you can now buy it at a great price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cr1x Posted March 24, 2013 Author Share Posted March 24, 2013 Hi Jodl and thanks for the response. I have to be honest with you, it is not necessarily realism that I am after. I love the setting of WW2 in Europe and I want to recreate those great battles but i want to do that in a game that offers me, above all else, simplicity. In Strategic Command - European Theater the map is clean and uncluttered and works perfectly using an overhead perspective of the map (as opposed to the one used in all the sequels). The number of different unit types is small and has avoided the subsequent tendency to keep adding new unit types, which slowly but surely adds more complexity. As mentioned in my first posting, I would actually like the option to add more randomness to the setting so that If i want to I can mix things up a bit. The truth is that Strategic Command got so many things absolutely spot on and I would love it if, at some point, the developers would take a step back and revisit what was so great about the first game. The results on Metacritic do not lie and show that the first version of the game was hugely popular, especially among casual wargamer like me. I have friends who loved Strategic Command 1 but had never played a war game before or since. I have no doubt it could be a massive success again, perhaps this time with an ipad version as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pzgndr Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 I am hopeful that the new SC3 game engine will allow a remake of the SC1 original, with some enhancements based on the latest features but also with a keen eye on keeping the game simple and fun as it was in the beginning. All those new unit types do not have to be used, don't ya know? I enjoyed the heck out of the original game way back when, but deep down it always nagged at me that it was too abstract and failed to capture the historical accuracy essence that a classic WWII game should provide. The SC series has grown and evolved nicely but, as discussed, some of the fun factor has been lost along the way. Also, the community has become greatly fragmented with all the different game versions and forums. Not like the old days. FWIW, I'm pretty happy with my latest Advanced Third Reich mod using the Global Conflict Gold version. I'm not planning to update it again until SC3 and then I'll see what I can do with it. I also have ideas about an Army-level ETO mod, a la A3R-lite, that should be fast and fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xwormwood Posted April 5, 2013 Share Posted April 5, 2013 As much as i liked SC1 when it was out, i wouldn't play it anymore today. To simple, in all regards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pzgndr Posted April 19, 2013 Share Posted April 19, 2013 To simple, in all regards. I think the simplicity can be maintained. The major things that bugged me about SC1 were the economics (USA and USSR production increases weren't modeled well), research (too much, too fast sometimes), and limitations with the AI and event scripting at the time. A lot of that is 'under the hood' so to speak and could be implemented in an SC1 remake without losing that original 'fun factor' that we enjoyed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuniworth Posted May 11, 2013 Share Posted May 11, 2013 Bill, it would be cool if the SC1 remake would be included in sc3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon_j_rambo Posted May 12, 2013 Share Posted May 12, 2013 As I age, was hoping for "Strategic Command - the Geriatric Bi-Focal" addition. With my motor skills diminishing & vision/hearing dulling, the simpler the better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrunkenLuftwaffe Posted May 12, 2013 Share Posted May 12, 2013 Hopefully they're working on an iPad version and maybe it'll see an enhancement or two... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pzgndr Posted May 12, 2013 Share Posted May 12, 2013 Join the club Rambo. We'll get Hubert to offer an AARP "Smack-Down" discount. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaMonkey Posted May 12, 2013 Share Posted May 12, 2013 Really? SC1? You guys surprise me, you don't "get it" or is the nostalgia BS getting in the way of rational thinking? SC1 was what it was, it'll never be the same, it was a breakthrough investment of simplicity with dynamic gameplay, we've moved on. The youthful enthusiasm, the passion of the "first time" cannot be recaptured, as much as you try, you know I'm right. Realize it, you old coggers and get on down the road, it's time for SC3, your lame brains can handle it, don't worry, more fun it to be had, don't look back except to remember how good it was. It can be better, just not the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon_j_rambo Posted May 18, 2013 Share Posted May 18, 2013 Really? SC1? You guys surprise me, you don't "get it" or is the nostalgia BS getting in the way of rational thinking? SC1 was what it was, it'll never be the same, it was a breakthrough investment of simplicity with dynamic gameplay, we've moved on. The youthful enthusiasm, the passion of the "first time" cannot be recaptured, as much as you try, you know I'm right. Realize it, you old coggers and get on down the road, it's time for SC3, your lame brains can handle it, don't worry, more fun it to be had, don't look back except to remember how good it was. It can be better, just not the same. The funeral was over 10 years ago, SC-1 died. We were all there, we cried. Now we live, to a new creed of gaming. Our loss was Heaven's gain. It's forgotten. Only Elvis Presley and the King James Bible have survived the test of time. -Legend Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flu Posted June 14, 2013 Share Posted June 14, 2013 I agree SC1 is a fantastic game, it needs just to be better balanced in favour of Allied side, there are many and easy weays to do it. SC2 is good but it has a huge lack: it does not allow to attack with surprise USSR, just this element gets the game unplayble. Please in SC3 maintains the surrprise attack to USSR. it is a basic fature of WWII. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pzgndr Posted June 17, 2013 Share Posted June 17, 2013 flu, I understand about the balance issues. But what do you mean about a surprise attack? Axis can attack USSR at any time of their choosing, and nothing much has changed about that through the SC series. How is SC2 unplayable in your opinion, where SC1 was more playable? I don't get it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill101 Posted June 17, 2013 Share Posted June 17, 2013 I assume that flu is referring to the fact that the USSR has no choice on its unit deployment prior to Barbarossa, so that the Axis can destroy a lot of it on the western border. This has been largely fixed in more recent releases by deploying a very large proportion of Soviet forces on the western border only on the turn that the USSR enters the war. But admittedly this wasn't in SC2 Blitzkrieg or Weapons and Warfare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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