sandman2575
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World War One Gold is absolutely superb

Tue Sep 04, 2012 3:04 am

Nothing really profound to say here -- just wanted to voice my tremendous appreciation to Calvinus and everyone at AGEOD who created this amazing game.

I actually bought WW1 Gold back in early 2010 (!). I've tried on several occasions since then to get into it, but I never managed to succeed. There is a *steep* learning curve with this game -- probably the hardest game I've ever tackled (including Grigsby's War in the Pacific and titles of similar complexity, and other Ageod titles as well). WW1Gold is a beast, no question.

Anyway, having some free time on my hands, I thought, "I'm going to give this game one more serious go" -- and for whatever reason, it's all come together. I feel like I finally "get it" -- still very much a newb, of course, but for the first time, I'm enjoying the game, feel like I'm in control of what I'm doing, have a sense of what to do, rather than just feeling baffled by what's going on, as in the past.

I find myself constantly amazed at the sheer ingenuity of this game. The scope and depth alone are incredible -- daunting to be sure, but incredible. But it's one thing to create a complex game -- it's quite another to create a complex game that allows for real flexibility in approach, that keeps you engaged and challenges you in ways that are interesting rather than just tedious. WW1Gold succeeds on all these fronts, and then some. The novel battle-resolution system is brilliant just in itself.

And I must say how impressed I am to find Ageod still supporting this game -- with just a new patch not too long ago. Just amazing commitment to your customers.


Well, if this post serves no other purpose, I hope someone out there who is interested in giving this game a try, but hasn't decided to do so yet, reads this and thinks, "OK, sounds good." I assure that person, it's worth the investment! (It will take time to figure out!! But it is definitely worth it.)

So, to Ageod -- Merci!

CSS
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Tue Sep 04, 2012 5:15 am

Agreed!

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PhilThib
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Tue Sep 04, 2012 8:14 am

You are most welcome ! :thumbsup: :love:
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calvinus
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Tue Sep 04, 2012 8:14 am

Thanks! :coeurs:
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Reiryc
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Tue Sep 04, 2012 5:44 pm

Have to agree with the original poster. Having just purchased the game last night I jumped right in.... after a few turns of feeling a bit clueless as to what was going on, I decided to break down and read the manual. Ugh... the horror! So glad I did and am enjoying this game immensely! 2 things I'd add to help a bit more unless I'm just missing them would be a phase indicator that shows the player all the phases and indicates which phase the play is currently in and which ones will be coming up and more tool tips for all buttons. I think it might help to make the game a bit easier to get into when you make world war 1 platinum :w00t:

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Random
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Tue Sep 04, 2012 7:51 pm

Unsolicited $0.02 CAD

WW1G was my first AGEOD title even though it is not strictly an AGE engine game. The depth of the game is tremendous while the engine creates situations that must have been familiar to the leadership in the actual events. Land combat is deceptively simple and there are many subtle aspects that explain why sometime the unexpected happens. It is a game with great replayability and also great depth. The more you know about the Great War, the sounder the overall design philosophy of the WW1G Team seems in hindsight, particularly regarding resource management, politics and diplomacy.

A huge benefit is that one can modify the game extensively, eliminating or mitigating some aspects that a player might disagree with and Calvinus has even facilitated the ability to add entirely new units. Thanks for this.

So am in 100% agreement with the O.P. and also hugely grateful to everyone involved for WW1G and for them continuing to stop by here and support their game. WW1G probably still owns about half of my total available wargaming time.

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Metalist
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Wed Sep 05, 2012 5:07 pm

I also saw WW1G in a list of five strategy games for history geeks(dunno what geek means):

Game: World War One

Developer: AGEOD

Genre: Grand Strategy

Time Period: 1914 -1918 (The Great War)

Appeals To: Hugely detail oriented wargamers who want to mastermind the WW1 conflict

Despite being panned for it's difficult interface and lack of user guidance for it's complex gameplay, developer AGEOD has clearly put a lot of thought (and research) into how to make a WW1 game as detailed and realistic as possible.

So, there's a two 'grand campaigns', which comprise the main part of WW1 and cover the bulk of the conflict, one has 4 sides, the other has two. There's also four shorter scenarios which encompass smaller, more specific aspects of the Great War (such as the war in Prussia, or Serbia). At the beginning of the game you pick a 'war plan' which affect your initial strategies and provide certain bonuses to your nation.

Each 'turn' lasts a month or so and has several phases, the most important one probably being the military phase, where you organise, move and direct your armies in combat. Combat here is a bit more than 'point and click', you assign the multiple units that make up each each 'stack' to specific roles, such as near backup, frontline deployment, or reserve.

Another interesting aspect that shakes up the game is the addition of random events, such as assassinations and so on. There's also a diplomacy system that is a little different and more complex than a lot of it's competitors (for example, your ambassadors do much of the negotiation and political decision making for you, coming up with their own treaties).

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/five-strategy-games-history-geeks-093900986.html


Just like OP, although i have this game for a long time i still haven't played it seriously, but tonight i decided to continue my game that i started long time ago. Also i guess this year in school we will be learning WW1 in history class, hope i can show this game to some people. :w00t:

sandman2575
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Wed Sep 05, 2012 5:57 pm

Metalist -- glad to hear you're giving it another try! I hope you find, as I did, that if you stick with it, things will really start to make sense, and you'll be hooked.

For me, the big barriers to playing the game initially were the very complex, rather un-intuitive rules, and maybe more, the 'tempermental' user interface. It took me a long time of just tweaking settings in the Configurator, etc. to find a balance that works for me. Map scrolling, especially at the 'highest altitude,' is still quite sluggish, but at max. zoom things are pretty smooth. And in general, you don't need to go panning all over the map often anyway. Also, the cursor was unusably fast until I set mouse speed down to minimum -- now it's quite usable.

The other thing that made getting into WW1G more difficult for me than any other game is the fact that: (A) as the game progresses, the rules change, most notably of course in the shift from "Movement Warfare" to "Trench Warfare", and (B) the rules are highly tailored for each country. So, the challenge is not only mastering a very complex set of rules overall, but also, to know how and when in the game basic rules will change, and how rules will change depending on which country/alliance you play (!).

But I think to really enjoy WW1G, there's no way to avoid spending *a lot* of time with the 200+ page manual. The basic pattern of my experiences with this game, until just last week was: (1) Go through the manual --> (2) Play the tutorials --> (3) Play Tannenberg --> (4) Replay several times; Get completely confused and frustrated --> (5) Go back to Step 1 several months later. I've honestly never had this much difficulty figuring out any other game! But I kept coming back to it, because it was obvious from the amazing attention to detail and depth, that something really good was at the heart of this game, if only I could unlock it!

I think the genius of what Ageod has done here is, in a nutshell, they figured out a way to make World War One a *game* in the first place. When you consider it, WWI is of course very very difficult to make 'fun' -- it's so static, and seemingly so fruitless; and in a sense, 'no one wins.' From a game standpoint, what contrast could be more dramatic than the comparison with WWII, which is comparatively so fluid, fast-paced, and geographically expansive in scope? Or the American Civil War? Or Napoleonic Wars? These conflicts lend themselves to gaming in obvious ways; WWI does not. Which is why Ageod's solution of a game where the rules evolve is so brilliant -- you can try to 'win it all on the battlefield in 1914; after that, it becomes a national-political contest of wills. By accepting that most of WWI can't be won 'on the battlefield' in the first place, they found a way to make the game compelling from a political - strategic standpoint (battles are still important of course, but less from a 'conquest of land' standpoint than from a 'by launching this offensive, can I inflict more military/political/strategic damage on you than you can on me?' idea).

Anyway, I'm 'preaching to the choir' here, I know -- and not really saying anything very new! Just exciting that after a lot of trial and error, I'm finally really hooked on this game --

ShadowofGod
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Tue Sep 11, 2012 2:28 am

I think it's excellent, myself; I only wish I could play it "ultimate solitare." I can for a while, but in 1915 the machine will jam up.

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calvinus
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Tue Sep 11, 2012 7:11 am

ShadowofGod wrote:I think it's excellent, myself; I only wish I could play it "ultimate solitare." I can for a while, but in 1915 the machine will jam up.


Do you mean the game freezes? Have you tweaking setting AI options?
Visit my other games at : http://www.calvinusgames.com

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Flop
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Mon Sep 17, 2012 7:04 pm

I'd just like to echo the original poster, and say that this game is awesome. It had some horrible birth pangs, but Calvinus has really whipped it into shape. I know he's worked very hard to do so, and I appreciate the effort. Thanks!

ShadowofGod
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Wed Sep 19, 2012 11:17 am

calvinus wrote:Do you mean the game freezes? Have you tweaking setting AI options?


Yes, something like that. I've just converted my computer to Windows 7 and have not had time to deal with everything in the way it needs, but I will work on this game over the next months, I promise. As someone who reads a lot on the Great War and that particular time period, I will not let it gather proverbial dust.

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Addams
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Wed Sep 26, 2012 9:49 am

Bought it recently and oh my, what a great game.

The learning curve can be steep indeed but how rare to see a good WW1 game.

Congrats guys.

What the hell happened with some sounds though ? I just had to install a mod cause this damn train sound for example was driving me crazy. Why so long ? Why so loud ? Ah well, no biggie, it's easy to correct at least. :thumbsup:

wodin
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Thu Oct 04, 2012 12:20 am

I recently re bought it, as I lost my copy. I did get it cheap though from Amazon. Still, I had to rebuy as I love it. It's my No1 Grand Strategy game. Infact this genre isn't normally my cup of tea, but as I'm obsessed with WW1 I find the game oozes atmosphere and just seems to play right.

The only thing I wish is like they did with the AGE games add actual casualties..even if it's just fluff\chrome. I

This and AJE are my favourite big scale wargames (well bigger scale than tactical which is normally my thing)

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