Tanaka
Posts: 4378
Joined: 4/8/2003
From: USA
Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Q-Ball
I was a tester on WITE-2, so I am very familiar with that one. It's a very good game, but it does not hold my attention like WITP-AE does.
This game is more complex, and has alot more strategy nuances, too much to possibly put here! It takes awhile to get knowledgeable, but if you're not afraid of PBEM there are newer players here
In general, a few things:
1. If you are hung-up on graphics, this is not your game. It's functional enough. If you like WITE-2, you'll be fine.
2. With 1-day turns, it's a big commitment; much more than WITE-2 with 1-week turns. Games are going to take years, literally
3. The forum is AWESOME for advice; you can post almost any question and it will get answered in detail. Use the SEARCH feature first, but acknowledge that it's not very effective all the time
I would take the plunge and buy it, you won't regret it as long as you understand the time commitment
1. I would actually say WITPAE is much better than WITE2 in the graphics department. WITW and WITE2 do not have planeside and shipside combat animations. This is one of the coolest unique aspects of WITPAE. In fact I would say with mods the graphics in WITPAE can look pretty damn good!
quote:
The map art in War in the East 2 works in a completely different way than WITPAE. Rather than large panel bitmaps, it uses a series of somewhat generic tile art ( mountains, woods, swamps, etc. ) to generate the art for each hex. Basically it's a mosaic system not a tableau. Which gives the map a rather bland and vanilla appearance, but likely speeds up game performance and saves space.
Like WITPAE the map art in WITE2 can be modded. You can go in and jazz up the individual art tiles. But unlike WITPAE you can't really give the overall map a sense of individual style or specific geography. It's sort of like creating a wall mural with a pile of generic bricks painted with a limited palette of colors rather than just painting it direct. Yeah, it's like comparing a mosaic to a full spectrum painting. Mosaics can look okay from a distance, but less impressive close up when you just start seeing the individual and repetitive tiles. And modding the tiles only goes so far.
War in the West uses the same art system. I imagine it saves the game developers money in the long run though. Rather than having to hire an artist to craft a whole new map for a specific title, they can just 'plug in the blocks' whenever they need another map or extension. But, it makes for a rather uninspiring looking map and really limits the scope of what you can do as a modder. Which is a shame as the map is the item you usually spend 90% of your time looking at in in grand strategic games. I guess we're fortunate that WITPAE was made the way it was.
We are very fortunate to have Andrew Brown and so many other map, UI, and ship/plane modders... Everything can be modded and I have modded my game myself up to JFB standards...
This is my favorite map currently:
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4268822&mpage=1&key=
2. Agree 1 day turns is a HUGE commitment (Years) but a 1 Day turn PBEM in WITPAE is a strategy game like no other.
3. Unfortunately have to disagree here. The forum has become a difficult place to ask ANY question even if you have searched the forum and manual. There are a lot of helpful people here but also difficult ones that will attack you just for asking a question. Be prepared to be chastised. I think it is because the forum and a lot of the players have been around for such a long time (We go back to PacWar, Uncommon Valor, and WITP) and everything has been discussed at some point you just have to weed through everything to find it. This can be difficult because there is so much out there. Oh and if you take a break for a few years be prepared to have to learn a lot of it all over again.
It is the biggest most complicated difficult game on the planet to learn and playing as the Japanese is a whole other level and game in itself (the economy) so you will have lots of questions. Try and find the answer yourself first but if you can't be prepared to defend your question. Like he said the search function can be difficult to use and not everything is perfectly specified in the manual and patch notes you need more player perspective/experience for a lot of things.
That being said DEFINITELY get this game. As Strategy Dojo also says in his series and I completely agree this is the best game ever made as so many here will attest and you will get a lifetime of game play. I do not think another game this great will ever be made again. I say it is the best game ever made because it was made by experts in every field that came together that will never come together again to make another game like it ever again. Truly a once in a lifetime accomplishment by an amazing team:
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=2173764
< Message edited by Tanaka -- 11/11/2021 4:43:41 AM >
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