So is there no real Pause? I thought I had read that earlier as well. WTF.
Also, do you know how many Single Player Scenarios/Campaigns are promised? I have no interest in Multi.
Thanks!!
Campaigns aren’t in at the moment but have been stated to be linear (a la Wargame: European Escalation) rather than dynamic. No idea on pausability, but they have added the ability to issue orders to units during the deployment phase as of where it is now. The beta is multiplayer-focused, so any single-player only features will be added closer to or at release.
That’s what they said in this Paradox video at 13:40 in. I agree with your assessment. Whey they heck won’t they allow us to pause to give orders, if that’s the way we want to play.
Paradox: “We can speed up, we can slow down, but we can’t pause”
No real pause, but I feel that bullet time is sufficient to reissue order and exam the battlefield for situation awareness, as it slows time to like 1/10 or something to close to that. I mostly play @ slow for single player play, normal speed is tad too fast for my taste, slow is about right for me. I use bullet time when I need to exam the battlefield, as I said, sufficient, but is not replacement for real pause. time still go by, just very very slow.
As for campaigns, no campaign in beta, so far there is only skirmish vs. AI for single player play(2 division each side so far for Allies: 3rd Armor and 15th Scott Inf., for Axis, 12. SS and 91. Luftlande Division, but Eugen said it will release more division as beta goes on to play with)
Quill18 just put up Let’s Try Steel Division: Normandy 44, Great video for new players.
Darn, no pause means really puts me off. Because to me RT means no S. Have to take a closer look at just how slow bullet time is. And I’ve no interest whatsoever in MP, so if the development focus was on that I may be out on this one regardless. Shame, I like the way it looks, reminds me of that civil war game the ex total war mod guy made awhile back.
The front moving around like that looks freaky, almost like it’s updating too quickly or it’s too precise.
This could really be a lot of fun but I’m afraid it will be a little too much RTS micro for me. I’d much rather have it be draw arrows to lay out plans, manage intel and contact reports, reserves, search for the schwerpunkt. I don’t want to be sending a piat team into a building and clicking on its target.
I know Normandy 44 seems like it has been run over by a tiger tank a few times but there is a lot of cool history here. I can’t remember which book it was that I was reading (maybe Panzer Battles) but stuff like the battles around Caen, Operation Goodwood and the fight against the 21st Panzer were really fascinating when I studied them.
The Map looks fantastic as well. But the real time moving red/blue front line is pretty bad. I’d rather they just go with icons that have scouting reports attached to them.
You can turn off the rec/blue shade of the front line in option, but the line is still there, moving in real time. I like the real time line, as it kind tell you where the enemy push will come from, although without proper recon, you can’t see anything. I think there is some strategic VP points in map as well (need to play more to confirm my suspicion) if you control them, the line will move dramatically without contest, like in rail yard map, if no one is contest the port area, you will see your right flank gaining a lot map space. even though you only have few unit near port, but if the area is contested, then the line shifts back and forth, as the battle goes on. I found you can flank and cut off enemy units, so they are in a pocket, once in a pocket, if you suppress them, enemy units in pocket will surrender.
Finally won my first hard fought skirmish vs hard AI, I was using a custom deck with the scott inf. division vs. 12. SS of AI. in the rail yard map, I was able to control the rail yard in the center in phase A, due to flood of cheap infantry units. But in phase B of the operation, SS deployed a lot infantry + tanks with air/art. support counter attacked and pushed my squish infantry out of the center, I had to give up the main rail yard, retreat and hold the tank advance off with my fall back line in center. I was able to push back from both flank with my reinforced infantry and tanks during phase B and C, and was able to finally lock down the right flank enemy reinforcement entry point. Pretty cool battle. I may try my hand on multi one of those days.
What is the operational level being covered here? It sort of looks like company level but the map seems to be really big for that? My grog credentials are not up to snuff.
Eugen games are generally at battalion level, but with disjointed allocations due to balance. E.g., there may be a short battalion worth of infantry units but only a platoon worth of tanks.
This, pretty much exactly for me as well.
One of my favourite things about strategy games is being able to pause and really take my time to work through different options and strategies.
The fact that the beta is strictly scrimmage with AI and multiplayer leads me to believe that any single player campaign will be minimal at best.
I’ll revisit this in six months and see how well it landed.
Looks beautiful though
I’m very much not a fan of RTS games, but Eugen stuff (or more specifically, Red Dragon) works well for me. The near-pausable real time mode makes it very easy to be as micro as you want. The downside is that it’s strictly singleplayer-only. MP devolves into the usual click fest.
Really wanted a Coop campaign…but it doesn’t seem like it…
I’m never good at these games because I can’t help but lose sense of the big picture because I’m zoomed up, watching the battles unfold. I watched the Paradox guys play on YouTube and the guy was practically zoomed out the whole time. That’s no fun for me. Give me a Close Combat game any day of the week.
I don’t think I’ve touched these games since my QT3 time with Wargame: Escalation. If you need me, I’ll be lurking in that corner over there waiting for Otagan to convince me this is the time to jump back in. :)
Just had my first victory against Medium AI after it took me to the cleaners. There’s a real rhythm to the Wargame system where half your attention is on the tactical battle, while the other half is watching your requisition points and regularly deciding what units you need to bring in - bearing in mind it may take a minute or so until they arrive from the rear so you need to anticipate not react.
I know I am gonna get cracked on the head for asking this – but does the game look good? Are my P-47’s blowing up my panzers with panache? THIS is why I don’t add into the grognard thread.
If you like stuff like Goodwood and the like, Tiller’s Panzer Battles: Normandy (not the Panzer Campaigns operational level game but the grand tactical new system game) is fabulous, in a turn-based, hex-grid way of course.
Without having seen much of this new one, I predict yes - Eugen games usually look great, and run really well.
Just keep in mind that if it’s like their previous games then you’ll typically be looking at icons while zoomed out from the map a fair ways. I still appreciated that the action was happening at a small scale.