OT: Making History

WraithLord · #1 May 9th, 2009, 05:05 AM

Just picked it up from SD's impulse (half price for weekend). Fooled around with it a bit. On first glance it looks to be a very nice political simulator.
It has some things in common with Dominions as well. The RISK like world map, provinces, armies and the fact that it's turn based.

Anyone here familiar with the game?

hEad · #2 May 9th, 2009, 01:21 PM

Played this one alot when it first came out. It went through some fairly extensive patching which tightened up the economic part of the game.

The AI is good and very capable of overseas invasions. One of the things i liked about it was the dynamic alliance structure but some grumbled about it. Its not like there is a shortage of WW2 games that stick to the historic alliance script - i like the fact that different countries would ally with each other every game. There is a built in relational factor between nations that tilts the probabilities in a historical manner, but it was good fun when a rampant USSR would paint the land red and an allied coalition formed to stop them. Having said that, Germany, unless played by the player, would tend to be knocked out fairly quickly and this could be a bit of a bummer.

For a grand scale TBS WW2 game, i appreciated it. I always found HOI (which I consider to be comparative) to be a headache after a while. I used to love building up, but when war happened, i always felt that it was too difficult to keep up with the action. I mucked around with the pop up settings, but i found that either you were well informed but bombarded by messages or the game moved along at a nice clip but my units would be bombed or my air forces destroyed and i would be non the wiser.

If only it had a PBEM option, i would still be playing - but overall, i thought the game was a stirling effort. It also appears that Muzzylane is making another game (can't quite remember what it is), but out of respect for their first effort, i'll give it a serious look.

GrudgeBringer · #3 May 9th, 2009, 09:25 PM

I also Played it quite a bit when it first came out and actually was looking thru my games the other day and thought about loading it up agian.

I usually played Germany for the very reason hEad said, it wuld get pretty well beat up if it was AI.

I also tried Japan some, but just couldn't build fast enough to compete once the USA became 'Active'.

IF, you allied with Russia as Germany (and it was possible) you couldn't lose. Just build planes to control the skies in the Channel, take France, and don't fight any Navel Battles.

I won't tell you the rest but it gives you a good start.

I enjoyed the game actually.

WraithLord · #4 May 10th, 2009, 12:16 PM

I also found the game enjoyable.
It has this addictive quality that makes you keep pressing end turn and/or discovering that it suddenly 2:00 AM and you need to be awake for work in five hours

Kinda like MOO2 had but Galciv didn't. The turns flow more smoothly than even dominions.

Yes, its an enjoyable game. One I'd really like to see expanded to explore other areas of human history: like rise and fall of Rome, colonialist europe and much more.

GrudgeBringer · #5 May 10th, 2009, 12:50 PM

Did you play on MOO2 online on TEN in the mid to late 90's?

I was Kargon on there

WraithLord · #6 May 10th, 2009, 04:13 PM

Nope. Was at high school actually and a good thing I only played SP 'cause I'm sure playing with vets online would have traumatized me

I probably sucked hard at computer strategy games back then

Not that I got much better since, but at least I know how to speak and act like I have

rdonj · #7 May 16th, 2009, 10:30 AM

I downloaded the demo and gave this game a bit of a try. It does seem like it could be interesting, but I had a few problems with it.

1. France, russia, japan, the UK, the united states... what do they all have in common? Apparently they are all headed towards mass starvation. I haven't looked at the rest of the major nations yet, but in the demo scenario (the end of diplomacy) it is looking pretty much like no one in the world is capable of producing a surplus of food. I don't get it, how is it that people are supposed to survive in a world without food.

2. Most countries don't have sufficient IPUs to keep their goods and arms at positive values at the same time even in peacetime, and many of them can't keep their arms up at all without importing massive amounts of oil (I'm talking about you, france). And letting your arms drop to incredible negative values doesn't seem like a very bright idea. And when you inevitably run out of goods trying to keep your army supplied, debt begins running rampant. I really don't understand how you're supposed to do anything else in wartime other than produce endless waves of arms from all your cities, digging yourself even further into debt as all of your income dries up. I guess it is possible to operate still, but it seems as though your economy is destined to become worse and worse the longer the game goes on, until no one has any bullets and can't produce anything because lack of food and income have obliterated their IPUs....

Hopefully some of the other scenarios that come with the game make it less pointlessly hard to maintain a stable economy.

WraithLord · #8 May 16th, 2009, 04:53 PM

Ahmm, one could argue that wars tend to be bad for the economy. As for WWII specifically, there was a huge economic crisis in the states prior to the war and most european countries didn't fare well in that regard.
Now, during and after the war most participants had their economy practically ruined. Europe was devastated. So much so that people hungered for quite some time after the war was over.
Probably the notable country that actually gained from the war, economically, is the united states. Selling arms and food and having the war burn the grounds of other countries were factors that helped it I reckon.

I kinda like the game. Not perfect by any means but it passes the time pleasantly enough and doesn't require head numbing planning and accuracy like dominions does.

rdonj · #9 May 16th, 2009, 06:03 PM

I understand and I agree, I'm just baffled at how some of these nations are supposed to survive in peace. The UK, for example. I would have thought they would be economically strong pre-war. But after about 2 turns their economy looks like it's basically going to collapse and nothing is going to bring it back for many, many turns, even if they don't go to war.

Meglobob · #10 May 17th, 2009, 05:05 AM

Bought this for 1/2 price on impulse as well, cheers Wraith for pointing it out.

Its pretty good, nowhere as good as Dom3 but still very pleasent to play.

I am a big Hearts of Iron fan (much better than HoI2 btw) and its very, very similar in gameplay. I think I still prefer HoI thou but I can't complain at the price.

I have been playing Argentina and my economy is motoring along. Still before WW2 and I have conquered most of South America. The USA embargoed me and Great Britain declared war on me. Big mistake declaring war on me as I was in the Axis war alliance with Germany, Japan, Italy and Nationalist Spain. So the British navy without any help from France, USA or Russia got trashed. Interesting to see how it turns out when France, USA and Russia join the war.