Tigleth Pilisar
Posts: 21
Joined: 9/25/2005
Status: offline
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I thought you might like the view of a Newbie who hasn't played many times.
The game has four major components:
Economic: I like what they have done here. They have incorporated complexity on a number of levels. From having a dozen types of goods to accumulate and use, to trading, to impact on production based on your taxation, feudal level and merchant ships. Each province is different. The underpinning concepts of the economic system are excellent.
In particular I really like how the supplying of armies is tied very much to economics. Being at full war readiness with a large army is very expensive - bankrupting really. A player has to worry about how he is going to maintain the supply and money for a large army, and in particular this depends on how far that army is from a "home province". I find the game has done a great job at capturing these concepts.
The problem with this system is that you never really get the info to know what is really happening. Some may disagree with me but there are too many production presentations (at least three different ways) which never reconcile. Some are pre-waste of goods production, some post, some estimate, some last turn's actual, some a country's modification numbers not production. So although the engine is quite good behind the scenes, the interface really makes the user "ball park" things. I understand this is being enhanced in the next fix, and is not a big enough issue not to like the game. Although I like what they have done in the programming of supply, from a user interface and reporting point of view it took me a long time to understand what the hell is going on with supply. Although you can figure it out, I've ended up just letting the computer do whatever it wants with supply since I don't find the reporting very good to the user. (ie: I just build supply depots where I know I need them, but don't really know the monetary consequence - I mean I could figure it out but it is too much work)
Development: Every province has ten different categories of development. The game isn't just about hack and slash, its about building a glorious nation and so this really adds another dimension. The development engine is again straight forward, but reporting is good only at the individual province level. Production has to be done at the provincial level with sliders as does development (not done via sliders but is done at a detailed provincial level). It might be nice to have better collective reports and administrative control. Bottom line the underlying engine is great, but it takes of time to use the engine properly because you have to scroll through all the provinces. For example, I can't quickly scan to see where I've got my best barracks provinces, or low culture or whatever.
Diplomacy: This is one of the best diplomatic engines I have seen. Diplomacy is a big part of the game with a ton of options that really makes game play wide open. Unfortunately I'm still not sure how to use all of these probably simple options, even after many hours of play. For example I see other AI controlled countries forming protectorates which I've never found options on how to do that. I use diplomat characters to influence attitude more than national policy. Bottom line this is a real trial and error system to learn all the ins and outs of - but the depth is there.
Military: This component is fantastic. First, there is the concept of military organization. Collections of units in armies, corps and divisions. The user controls the command structure and generals used in varies military formations he creates. There is also a system for navy. I also like that movement is simultaneous. You give orders, then simultaneously all nations' units try to perform them. Personally I really like this method.
Some quirks are that units are occassionally "lost" on the screen, unintentially disbanded, or impossible to disband, there is complexity with morale and unit attributes that are not transparent on how to influence, you can't control what units get reinforced, and the military details screens are not sorted in a meaningful way nor do they link to the rest of the game easily. But over all the global military system (strategic combat) is fantastic.
There is a second level of detail in the military section - tactical combat. This is where you can use "quick combat" to resolve conflicts or detailed combat. Personally, I love detailed hex combat games and so I just love the detailed combat. They have put in everything a Napoleon lover could want - supply, formations, morale, generals, line of sight, terrain types, weather, and other things. My only knock on detailed combat is that it is not simultaneous like the global strategic moves. Instead it is based on a combination of IGO UGO and a concept of initiative letting faster units move first in their entirety, then the next and so on. Also, I don't find the AI particularly bright on detailed combat. After a while, they are hard to loose to unless you are significantly outnumbered. I don't know if detailed combat is permitted in PBEM or multiplayer games, but it would be awesome to play against a human on this engine. This detailed combat segment is almost good enough to be a game itself.
Another good idea they have are the concept of "experts". If you want the AI to take over any of the above areas, you can let them. I'm not sure how this totally works, because you can still do things in an area you have an expert checked off, but he "may" change it. "May" isn't good enough for me - I seldom let the computer play my moves basically against itself, but it is great for people who don't want to worry about the management of a certain segment.
Overall, it is a great game with a great underlying engine. Some seem to catch on to the game right away, but I suspect those players don't sweat the details like I do - you can play without really understanding what you are doing. It is hard to really understand the detail of what the choices you make economically, diplomatically, even militarily are without some trial and error. This is because the system gives you reports much like tax returns after a turn is processed and gives relatively little or no information about the estimated result of a decision while you are making the move and your turn is active. But if you've got some time to invest learning by trial and error, you would be hard pressed to find a better thought out, multi-faceted Napoleonics game.
And I suppose a final blessing to buy the game comes from the quality of the people in this community. Because the game focuses on "substance" and not "eye candy", you get brighter players (and perhaps older players). I haven't posted much in the forums but I've found the players of this game intelligent, very willing to share and bring up others and generally quick to respond. The game designers also seem committed to improve the game via fixes.
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