wolflars

But now on to Bill’s scenario in particular… Install goes according to plan if you follow your directions as per above. Currently playing as Axis with most difficult settings. Poland fell as it should which is to say it falls within an acceptable range of historical results. Some nice little side events like Cyprus add flavor. The map is the closest to being the most appropriate scale for this game (scenario) I feel. Although I still feel we are hindered a bit by no stacking and only one on one attacks. Alas, that is the way this game works so be it. Very nice in keeping with the spirit of A3R. It has the right look and feel. You worked hard on this and it shows. The Allied AI is doing rather well on most difficult settings. RAF took out my Strategic Bomber on the first turn before I realized I should move it. One possible issue so far (thru Jan 41) there has been no attempt whatsoever to go after my subs. They have freedom of movement throughout the entire Atlantic. I had no reason to go for Norway (?) so I didn’t. Took out the Danes mostly due to boredom while waiting for the weather to clear for Fall Gelb. This was somewhat interesting as it brought the Royal Navy out. Kreigsmarine lost but escaped. Poor weather prevented air support. In fact, I am not sure if I am just getting bad rolls but I am getting hammered by weather. Skipped Holland as I saw no need since most of my air can hit England easily (ranges might be a bit excessive?) Took down Belgium and Lux. This was interesting because I noticed the French redeploy. It was smart too. Good AI. French army at time of my invasion had 2:1 or better on me but inferior air and armor. Surrounded and took Paris. The AI still likes to target HQ/Leader units so it is easy to “kite” the AI into traps. I took my time in order to avoid unnecessary casualties. I like the “Create Vichy” event. BEF never appeared in France? RAF is showing up piecemeal and getting handled as such. Battle of Britain clearly went to Germany but the weather may save England yet as I could not launch anything viable in the Fall beyond a raid on Scapa Flow with the SOF (I wanted to test the Amph features but did not get to fully). Royal Navy still has the advantage in the Channel and coastal areas as it should. Seelowe may not happen (although with this game engine I could in theory just load everything up anyhow I prefer to play it out as if I actually need some kind of brief naval opportunity). Meanwhile, Italy entered the war for reasons unknown. I may have missed the event but did not see one. Brits hit Libya with initial success but withdrew in the fact of superior numbers without giving battle. Again I found this to be smart AI. Italian Navy got hit hard while supporting land forces (I still think naval bombardment is too strong, my only unit lost in France was a 10 strength Infantry Corps destroyed in one turn from two fleets, hit for 6 then for another 4). As for diplomacy I would like to get Spain but shudder at the cost this would take. Research is certainly expensive and while I have invested some, I have no new technologies beyond subs. If I fail to launch Seelowe, I plan to shut down the Med. Morrocco suffered a coup and joined the Allies so this might play into my plans. Egypt is going to be especially difficult considering the Italian Naval and Air losses (however the Royal Navy is doing little to intercept Italian reinforcements, I even stopped a transport next to Malta to see if the Brit sub would come out to play…it did not). Final comment A3R so far is quite good. I recommend it with few reservations (so far) but I do reserve the right to change my opinion. The developments made to SC2 since I quit have been impressive. The AI is much better and I am glad to be playing it once again. While I still don’t like many of the features, I am okay with the purchase of both WaW and PDE. You got your money battlefront so I suppose both parties are satisfied. How long I play this time around remains to be seen…

All right then, I will throw in my 2 cents. Several comments and observations, some of which are directed towards your particular scenario, some towards SC2, WAW, and PDE in general. First, I gave up on SC2 a long time ago. It turned out to be too generic for my tastes despite its original “beer and pretzels” motif. The AI just plain sucked (but please read on). PBEM resulted in too many ludicrous ahistorical and “gamey” situations. So I quit. But, I have enjoyed WW2 strategy games for decades (AWAW, A3R, WiF, Clash of Steel, etc…box and computer versions alike). So… In the meantime I continued to play just about every strategic WW2 game out there. Most are worse. CEAW has to be one of the biggest disappointments ever. It is so bad, in fact, that I wish I had ordered a hard copy instead of just the download so that I could at least use the disc as target practice or as a coaster. “The map is pretty” is the only nice thing I can say about it. Advanced Tactics despite being ugly is well on its way to becoming marvelous if—and it’s a big if—the user-designers can manage the extremely flexible but overwhelmingly tedious editor. MWIF, “if” it ever arrives still promises to be the greatest WW2 strategy game ever (but with an overly ambitious AI it could fall flat too). Let me assure you, I have played enough computer and board wargames to know what is good and what is bad. Most computer games are dreadful. Yet, TOAW has never left my side despite it’s flaws and I think AGEOD can do no wrong—you can fault me for both of these opinions if you like but I stand firm. I like complex games and simple ones but my two requirements are they must be fun and not take absurd liberties. And for a WW2 strategy game IT MUST be at least capable of mirroring history (this is where SC2 quite simply drop kicks CEAW with it’s no para drops! Can’t even do Crete or Norway! Lame!) Then comes along a little article on the wargamer.com site. So, it seemed necessary for me to purchase both WaW and PDE. From a marketing perspective, it worked on me. Fantastic write up. In general, SC2 has come a long long long long way with the AI. The real test will be how Torch/Overlord situations turn out. But so far I am pleased and do not yet regret the purchase. I won’t dwell on the numerous things that I still don’t like about SC2 but would rather highlight the things that might keep me playing it. First, it is simple. And, second, the AI ain’t bad (so far) and coming from me you have no idea what a compliment this is. Plus, it still seems to have a following with strong, active, and dedicated support from Mr Cater and others. EDIT Sidebar: Although I haven’t looked at the editor too much is there a way to import a bmp to assist in map creation?

Dora or Gustav would be cool, but at this scale are they appropriate? Other than at Sevastopol one would be hard pressed to argue their effectiveness at the strategic level.

so as far as AI limitations, where do we stand? In other words are both sides fully playable vs AI or should we just wait for ver 4? BTW, and I know I've said this before, well done, your hard work shows:)

I'm going to have to agree with pzgndr on this one. Forcing the micromanagement issue will take a lot of the "beer & pretzels" fun out of this game. If you look at the statistical impact of the resource management you will find out they are amazingly accurate for a game of this scale without becoming too complicated. That being said, there is a bit of a quandry when it comes to shaping the Axis strategy. For example there is little need for the Axis player to invade Norway. This bothers me in the original version of the game but game be solved through innovative ideas (script events etc). Take for example, Honch's excellent mod. He included a French and UK sub. At first I thought hmmm how odd until my opponent used them to "blockade" resources coming from Norway. This forced me, as the Axis player, to wish to remove them. Therefore I needed local air and naval units to hunt them which, in turn, caused me to "secure" Norway as an opporating base. This was one of the few times I ever felt pressured to invade Norway. In short, I think staying away from micromanagement is a good idea for this game. HoI is pretty cool but not a lot of fun too play IMHO. SC2 is exactly what Blashy said, " a beer & pretzels" game, which is its appeal.

31, male, USA, veteran (1/25 SBCT) but I did get my wife to play against me, but now she has me designing a scenario based on some fantasy novel...sigh...my prescious Me109s are going to be replaced by dragons...if I can just figure it all out..got the map done so far.

Honch, are you going to update your mod for the patch? I tried to import it after patch install but Japan turns into Rep.Spain, India into Albania and some other weird effects.I hope you do update because I think this is the best mod we've seen yet. It really causes the Axis player to make some tough strategic choices regarding Italy/Africa. Also it brings the otherwise struggling Atlantic War back to life.

Honch, normally I dont bother to post in forums but just lurk and read. But I am compelled to say nice work on this mod. It has revitalized my interest in this game (I started to loose faith while waiting for this next patch). I am a long time wargamer and we are now playing your mod extensively. Good job!