WitP-AE is THE magnum opus of all wargames, a true masterpiece of research and detail. The game is not for the faint of heart, however. It is easy to become intimidated by the depth and scope of the game which covers the entire Pacific war from the West Coast USA, westward to the tip of the horn of Africa. You'll be in command of every ship, plane and ground unit that participated in the war. The attention to detail is astounding. Virtually every conceivable aspect of the war is modeled in the game down to the effect of radar, weather, disease, intel reports, drop tanks, resource production, repair ships... Every unit, whether it be aviation engineers, landing barges or float planes plays its own significant and special role in achieving victory. It's all in there and everything serves its purpose as you fight your way across a vast map encompasing almost 1/2 the entire globe.
The massive scale of this game can be a bit intimidating, but once you grasp the basics things move along very smoothly.
This is by far the best and most detailed simulation I have ever played.
Absolutely the best game I have ever played. IF you are looking for a game that taxes your organizational skills this is the game for you. The pacific war was a war of logistics and this game proves it. Love it.
Gems like this keep me investing money in games trying to find hits.
It took less than 30 minutes for me to determine that this game is so bogged down in minutiae that it is unplayable for all realistic purposes. The land order of battle is hopelessly overrun with anti-aircraft and more engineers than you shake a stick at. Every ship in the game is an individual unit. Capital ships I can see, but PT boats, AP's and AK's? To top it all off, with one-day turns, it will take almost as long to play the full war scenario as the real Pacific War took to fight. I spent 50 bucks on this game and uninstalled the game the same afternoon. Avoid this like the plague.
1st, the combat report on WIP is better than WIPAE.
2nd, spotting reports should show on the map but not reported.
3rd, if historic schenario, Russians should be skipped (computer controlled).
4th, get rid of "replacing pilots" - especially for the allies. (wastes time).
5th, clarification on ships - Local Minesweepers (cannot escort convoys)have more range than normal minesweepers which cannot escort convoys very far. "x" designator - I have no problem ignoring them. ML (Harbor?) Motor Launch has more range than PT boats and are really useless.
Basically the games needs to be cleaned up.
One of the best war games ever. I truley enjoyed the attention to detail. Well done. 5 Stars.
I first was exposed to the original WitP many years ago (don't remember the computer it was on) and enjoyed the game a lot, especially since my Dad had fought in WWII in the Pacific. Lost touch with it for years until a friend told me about WitP-AE. This is a great game and portrays the diffultly on both sides of fighting in a area covering half of the world. There is one thing that is a bit of a problem. Using the Historical first move in 3 day turn mode, the game engine should alow the Allies to react and the Japanese to then set up for starting the 3 day per move option. The game would
have a better start.