mdesarno
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Joined: 8/5/2005
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quote:
ORIGINAL: NeverMan
So I take it that CoG is a bust? This is what it is sounding like from everyone on here. Good, cuz I almost thought about it. What was the other game Matrix put out that was a bust, like Iron Hearts or Hearts of Iron or something like that?
I just hope EiA isn't a bust (especially considering it has so many EiH additions). Crossing my fingers.
Here's my take on it. I'm an original hard core [in this case hard corps] player of EiA from the early days. I'm talkin' 1980s when the game was originally published by ADG.
I got CoG last week because knowing that EiA was coming out on the computer but not being able to play it was killing me. About a day or so later they came out with the 1.1 patch.
My verdict: CoG is very much the same experience as playing EiA. Even after the 1.1 patch, there are some annoying game play bugs that need work, but the developers are very responsive and are putting a lot of work into fixing things. Most of the CTD type bugs are history now, so the game is playable.
The differences are that there is yes, much more micro-management in CoG than there is in EiA. [Remember I am not a beta tester and have only played the original EiA board game and the AH reprint]. The interface is clunky and can be frustrating, but if you stick with it you get used to it. The combat is a lot different than in EiA, but the end results of combat, sieges, movement, foraging, treaties, and most of the rest of it are strikingly similar to a game of EiA. I like the detailed hex map combat a lot, it is really fun. If you like both Panzer General and EiA you should enjoy that aspect of the game. It is also a lot like running a miniatures table top game but on a hex map. It works well and I have not had a single crash, although other players have. But, the 1.1 patch should help a lot of those players.
It actually has some cool things in it that an original board game of EiA doesn't have. Like an open ended way to craft and ratify treaties, and diplomats that can move around the map and perform various spying or diplomatic missions, kinda like Civ III.
I don't mind the micromanagement, because my personal style of play is to build and micro manage stuff, and then go pick a fight when I'm ready. There is a great thread over at the CoG forum near the top that details a good way to start off a game and set stuff like the economy and draft rate. Thanks to that thread, I was able to successfully play a long and fun game the second time I tried it. I've stayed up 'til 3 or 4 in the morning playing it on work nights a couple days recently because it was so fun. Although there is some micro management, it consists of picking 2 or at most 3 sliders of about 8. You do this to prioritize production on a screen for each province. Complexity of this screen is no worse than running the city screen in Civilization. There is another screen to set national priorities like the draft rate and taxes, and I have had no problems with just setting it the way I want and leaving it alone for the rest of the game. Other than those 2 things, the only other thing you have to manage is the trading system. It is a little intimidating at first but it turns out to be easy. You click a city, set the amount of commodities to trade, click a foriegn city, and select the commodities to receive. The advisor tells you if it is a reasonable trade or not. You submit it and the other country either accepts it or rejects it at the end of the turn. Once the main trades are all made, you just go in and initiate more trades when you really need stuff, or occasionally the AI countries send you a trade request you can accept or reject. It's easy and fast once you've done it a few times.
The game is fun and addictive, and some of the more annoying bugs have not impacted my games much, although they did come up. The primary problems right now as I see them are that defeated Armies and Corps will sometimes retreat into enemy territory, and there is an annoying feature that returns your forces to your home country immediately upon an enemy's surrender. The retreat bug can theoretically be avoided by having a backup Army or Corps behind your lines to prevent that from happening, and preventing your depot from being overrun. I've never had the extra troops to try that though. Supply works virtually the same way as in EiA, except depot chains have to be in every province instead of every other province. Units can supply themselves from provinces adjacent to a depot, though.
In the end, I'm glad I got CoG and I can't wait for EiA. I'll probably play them both, because CoG is a good game in its own right. When they make some small changes in mechanics and sequence of play, it will be one of the best strategy games ever.
Oh, and Hearts of Iron is a Paradox game. I have been playing a lot of Hearts of Iron II, and it is a very similar situation. The game is very good, but it needs a couple of things to be fixed for it to meet its true potential. They are also very responsive over there at continued development to please the gamers, and I am confident that both HoI2 and CoG will both end up being two of the best strategy games ever once they are each patched once or twice more. For now, I enjoy them both, knowing what some of the issues are and working around them.
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