tucson3217
Posts: 13
Joined: 2/15/2007
Status: offline
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I have played COTA and HWY to the Reich, and it just does not work for me. I want to like it so much. Its a scale I love, I like the slow RT moving. I loved close combat games, so I thought I would this as well. The order system is very easy to use and I really like it. I like the combined arms nature, the way you call in air strikes...all the 'stats' and numbers and the maps are very, very cool.
But I just never felt it mattered what I did, and I am not sure why, but I could just not get immersed with it. I like cardboard cut out pieces like in SSG decisive battle games, and I like real time tactical (As opposed to sped up arcade fighting, which most RTS games are). But the exchange of fire, the way the pieces stacked up and looked like a jumbled mess, I could not get over the feeling that nothing important was happening.
And I am not trying to be rude, I bought COTA and HWY to the Reich twice (lost first copy, before I started digital download everything) and did the tutorials and tried to get in the right frame of mind and sort of imagine myself giving orders and trying to appreciate the way the rules implemented fog of war with delayed actions, reaction and execution based on fatigue, morale, skill etc...but it just did not work. I read the manuals, and played many of the scenarios. And I prefer campaign games, but that was not the problem either. If I had like the interface the lack of a long campaign with a core group of units would have just been on my wish list for a game I enjoy.
No, the game just failed for me, or I for it. And I was winning my battles and not struggling with the concept or rules either. The final kicker came when I kept feeling like my choices were sort of meaningless and so I decided to implement a big test that I thought might proof my gut feeling or disprove my theory. If my theory would have been disproved, I may have been able to have worked into a frame of mind to enjoy it.
So, here is the test I did, and I hope the designers or Matrix do not take offense and assume I am lying. I have a lot of respect for their work, even if I did not click with the game.
What I did was start one of the bigger scenarios in the HWY to the Reich game. I played the Germans. I can not rememebr any of the other settings, so I am sorry, but I think they were all fairly standard w/ no bonuses to the AI or anything that drastic one way or another. I forget the actual objectives, but I think there may have been 3-5 objectives across a fairly large map. The Germans had perhaps 30-50 units, many of them tracked or motorized. They had some good armor as well. I do not rememebr the computers forces, but they had quite a few units as well.
MY strategy was a s follows, I drew a giant box around almost everyone of my units and clicked on a sort of 'rendezvous' point where we could all meet and be fairly near each other. I pretty much just rushed to the spot I chose, ignoring opportunity fire or anything but just going full throttle to the meet-up area. Once all my forces were massed on what I rememebr as being about the very left hand side of the map, in the center I waited for a few minutes and let all my people re-group and reorganize as best they could in 5-10 minutes. At this point I think the objectives were all to the 'east' of me, some in the center of the map, some further east on the top or bottom and one or two at the very far end.
I drew a huge box around all my units and clicked on the nearest objective and pointed my horde of units to it. They easily defeated whoever was there, and I left behind a few units to 'hold' the spot incase the computer counter attacked. The rest of my units I drew another box around and clicked on the next closest objective, same results, not much resistance even. I did this across the board, leaving a few behind at each place..by the last few objectives it was clear no serious counter attack was going to ever be mounted, so I left only one or two units on these objectives and added the rest to my 'black horde' of german units for the final two or three objectives.
I can't rememebr by how much or little I won, but I did win the scenario. After that, I could not really play it with any sort of excitement. Maybe it was just luck, and I never tried it again, so perhaps it was. Or maybe its not fair to do that, because no game would be designed to ever defend against such a tactic, so if I am flamed for taking a very 'gamey' method and drawing all sorts of conclusions I can see that point of view I suppose.
But no matter, for me I really needed to see that strategy fail badly to absolve my feeling my command choices were of any significance. And since that did not happen, I was never able to enjoy the game. Its too bad, because I do like so many things about it, and think it is an elegant and attractive GUI.
Another game I had trouble ever getting into, has been WITP. Now, I did have a blast running my first turn on the grand campaign as the Japanese. Also I had a lot of fun upgrading all the art and just reading the encyclopedic nit descriptions and land just messing around with the game and interface. My problem with WITP is perhaps that I am just too dumb or something. I love LONG monster games and details (or I think I do!), but for the life of me I could never figure out what I was to be doing with 'industry', and how to use and get a supply chain running. Sometimes I would send supply ships and it seems they did not load the cargo I thought they would...or they would get to their destination and not unload...and also I could not figure out where I needed to be taking this supply. I KNOW there is an AWESOME game in there that I would just LOVE, if I could gt my head around the supply and how to run it and the industry and how to use and run it as well and where to put supply so my factories and industry runs properly and how to build up supply dumps for offensives.
With regards to WITP, I DO think there is hope I can someday enjoy this game like I should, and I really want to. If somebody knows of a DETAILED example of play that I might follow along with, or some other way to try and understand what I should be doing I would really love it. I have been on the forum and to fan sites and read through some of the advice for Japanese players or US players and what to do on their first turns....but it still was not detailed enough or seemed not to answer my questions I was confused over. I get how to make TF, and send planes out on patrol..its just the whole supply chain thing, and the details I need to understand so my ships become loaded, and sent out when loaded and then unload on the other side...As it is, I have fun with the combat portion of the game, but I know that the key to the game is supply....and I love games that emphasize supply (like the board game DAK II fir instance)...and I want to play the game understanding what I am doing and being able to have a plan. I have heard some say they don;t really understand the supply or industry parts too well, but that they have fun playing anyway. I can have fun on the first turn doing that (and the first turn in WITP is longer than most full games !), but unless I get my mind around the whole enchilada, I don't think I will ever go much deeper into the game.because I think I would end up having ports run out of fuel, not able to repair them, or build or upgrade plans and ships and I would not enjoy that....
ok..sorry for the long windbag post! :)
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RE: Is it fair to ask what you think is the best Matrix... - 
. Recently I refrained from most other pc game playing. Perhaps it is due to my old age (~40 ) 
. 
), I like to fire up from time to time a simulator (flight, car, ship ...), or any of my other strategy gems out of my small collection 
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): WitP, SP WaW, ACW, FoF, JC, COTA, CC, TOAW, not to forget all the other Tillers 
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