ShadowofGod
Sergeant
Posts: 65
Joined: Sun Jun 03, 2012 9:06 pm

I'm about to give up on this game...please help

Wed Nov 28, 2018 1:51 am

After many hours of trying to play this game, I'm wondering if it is worth it. My beefs:

1) . If the Germans choose the Moltke Plan, they can repel the French and British with a minimal force, throwing every man jack against the Russians. They don't sweat it in the least.

2). Much to my disappointment, shell shortages do not threaten for any army. Everyone seems to have enough ammunition.

3). But my big beef is the amount of war supply available to the Western Entente. I wanted to build French super-heavy artillery which cost 1000 w.s.p. But I was never able to accumulate more than 780, and then my amount would drop again.

4). Furthermore, many French and British units would atrophy without explanation, even though they were clearly in supply.

Can anyone help me here:

User avatar
Durk
Posts: 2921
Joined: Thu Apr 28, 2011 4:36 am
Location: Wyoming

Re: I'm about to give up on this game...please help

Wed Nov 28, 2018 3:05 am

Well, one option is to do a little pbem play with two other players, this is very different than against AI where things are sometimes a bit odd.
I have seen outcomes different than those you post. This is a very dynamic game where different options of play lead to different outcomes. Maybe play as the Eastern Entente if you only play versus AI.

ShadowofGod
Sergeant
Posts: 65
Joined: Sun Jun 03, 2012 9:06 pm

Re: I'm about to give up on this game...please help

Wed Nov 28, 2018 3:20 am

I should note I play all-sides-solitaire. Yes it's mind-blowing but I am schizoid enough I can do it. ;)

User avatar
Durk
Posts: 2921
Joined: Thu Apr 28, 2011 4:36 am
Location: Wyoming

Re: I'm about to give up on this game...please help

Wed Nov 28, 2018 3:31 am

I do love all sides solitaire. So experiment even more with opening dispositions, and an active Western Entente posture.

Also, experiment with other powers joining the war, that is, diplomacy options.


I am a huge fan of EAW and have not yet exhausted the permutations as you seem to have done.

User avatar
Straight Arrow
General
Posts: 507
Joined: Fri Nov 07, 2014 5:44 pm
Location: Washington State

Re: I'm about to give up on this game...please help

Wed Nov 28, 2018 7:24 am

ShadowofGod wrote:After many hours of trying to play this game, I'm wondering if it is worth it. My beefs:

1) . If the Germans choose the Moltke Plan, they can repel the French and British with a minimal force, throwing every man jack against the Russians. They don't sweat it in the least.

2). Much to my disappointment, shell shortages do not threaten for any army. Everyone seems to have enough ammunition.

3). But my big beef is the amount of war supply available to the Western Entente. I wanted to build French super-heavy artillery which cost 1000 w.s.p. But I was never able to accumulate more than 780, and then my amount would drop again.

4). Furthermore, many French and British units would atrophy without explanation, even though they were clearly in supply.

Can anyone help me here:



Shadow, I believe EAW is a great game that really captures the feel and favor of WWI. Like Durk, suggested, give a pbem game a try; it's night and day difference.

And yes, once the lines become stable, it's tough to break through on the Western front; try building masses of medium artillery, concentrating your attack force and don't bother jumping off without strong reserves at hand.

Russians should pull out of their Polish areas and fall back along the rail lines. Defend the rails leading into Russia and stay out of Germany. This will give the Huns some large initial gains, but after that, they will find themselves going nowhere fast; Russia is a sponge.

Have the Russians hammer hard on the Austrians; the boys from the dual monarchy are the weak link in the chain.

Use the Italians and Serbs to threaten Austria but do not beat your head against troops entrenched in mountains. The goal is to weaken Austria’s Eastern forces by pulling troops to the west.

The Allies should use their massive fleet to start starving the CP as soon as possible. If the Germans strike back with subs, the Yank will join the war.

The Turks should make a show of threatening Egypt, to pull Allied forces to that front. Then, they should fall back fighting a defensive war. Don't forget to protect Istanbul and the straits. Forget about launching large attacks against the Russians in the Caucasus, it's a waste of blood and troops.

Both sides will start running out of manpower later in the war, so try hard not to throw away lives in low odds attacks.

Ammo shortages are more a problem with getting the shells to the guns. I'm always shuttling wagons back and forth.

Not sure about your Allies wasting away. Were you marching them hard in bad weather and rough terrain? That trashes units fast.

epaminondas
Colonel
Posts: 362
Joined: Thu Feb 08, 2007 9:35 pm

Re: I'm about to give up on this game...please help

Wed Nov 28, 2018 1:13 pm

ShadowofGod wrote:After many hours of trying to play this game, I'm wondering if it is worth it.


Hi Shadow - brace yourself, there's a lot coming down the pipe.

First, is the game worth the many hours you've spent on it? It is, but you won't fully appreciate that until you've spent many more hours trying to figure out what the hell is going on. I've spent months and months doing just that, and in my view it's a classic example of an extraordinary game all but ruined by a ludicrously deficient manual.

At the grand strategic level its potential for manipulating international relations, though simplistic, is as good as anything else going round and delivers real if rare opportunities to significantly affect the course of the Great War. At the strategic level it's hideously unforgiving, with every decision you make on the allocation of resources and effort almost certain to determine the way your war progresses. At the operational level it's challenging to the point of exhaustion in its demands on your ability to identify realisable goals, marshall forces appropriate to these, and factor in the effects of terrain, weather, transport bottlenecks and potential enemy responses. And at the quasi-tactical level it's simply great fun (though often otherwise) tooling up your forces and tracking their progress in the battle display.

What cruels the whole thing is that to make all of this happen you need a comprehensive understanding of the intricacies of the game's operating systems and that's nowhere to be found in the manual. That's not to say that it's unavailable - it's just that you have to put it together for yourself from all the bits and pieces of info scattered around the display. With that caveat in mind I hope the following comments might help.

1) . If the Germans choose the Moltke Plan, they can repel the French and British with a minimal force, throwing every man jack against the Russians. They don't sweat it in the least.


How far into the game have you progressed? The Moltke Plan determines how your forces are allocated and what you do with them is then up to you. The WE response depends entirely on the plan that France selects. If you're lucky enough for them to go with Plan XIII you're laughing, for some time at least, for the most they'll typically throw at you are a few probing operations. But if they go with XVII or XIX things can get very fraught, though not always immediately.

I generally play the CP and when choosing Moltke I assign almost every production point I have for the first six months to the creation of infantry and medium arty which I immediately pump into my proto-westwall. Even with those reinforcements I've found myself rolled on occasion in Thionville, Mulhausen, and even Metz by French attacks that just keep coming. If I don't get my tactical choices just right I'll hold through one attack, or two, or three, but beyond that my boys in the line become mighty few and mighty tired. That's what attritional warfare is all about after all, and maybe you just haven't been attrited yet.

I'm not at all looking forward to the day they decide on XX, but it should be a thriller

2). Much to my disappointment, shell shortages do not threaten for any army. Everyone seems to have enough ammunition.


Again, how far along are you? In my current game I'm at January 1916 and I don't have a shell in the breech of any gun on the East Front. I have plenty of them in reserve (nearly 3000) but they're all sitting in cities way behind my frontline with no apparent desire to get any closer.

It's this sort of issue that makes me so critical of the manual for it offers no advice at all. I can rail my munitions units back to these cities, which by the way I have to identify by individually mousing over the shell icon of each likely candidate, but that's going to take one plus turns to get there, another to resupply, and at least a further one plus to get back to where the action is. As an alternative, I'm presuming that if I could make more rail space available they might toddle themselves up to the front but I've seen no evidence of that so far. In the meantime I'm learning to do without.

3). But my big beef is the amount of war supply available to the Western Entente. I wanted to build French super-heavy artillery which cost 1000 w.s.p. But I was never able to accumulate more than 780, and then my amount would drop again.


This is just as much a problem for the CP, and on my reckoning a fairly accurate representation of the challenges both sides faced in reality. I'm also attracted to pushing out an extra super-heavy or two, but the earliest I've been able to muster the necessary is late 1915. Things do loosen up later, however, as more production comes on stream as the war progresses. Until then, and even then, you have to decide what matters the most to you - in this game you can never have it all.

4). Furthermore, many French and British units would atrophy without explanation, even though they were clearly in supply.


I reckon Arrow has got that pretty much taped up for you, but I would add that there's a difference between being in supply and being supplied. A unit in supply is merely one that has access by rail or proximity to an active source of supply and to determine whether this is the case you can trace things out on the supply overlay. But to be supplied the unit must have supplies 'in stock' and to check this you need to hover over the appropriate icon on the unit display. One would imagine that there would be some kind of correlation between the two but if there is I haven't been able to pin it down since, again, the manual is silent on the matter.

Hope there's at least some stuff in there that you can use.

Bargus
Corporal
Posts: 49
Joined: Tue Jun 26, 2018 5:21 pm

Re: I'm about to give up on this game...please help

Wed Nov 28, 2018 4:20 pm

Hi Shadow,

I'm a newbie to this game myself, and the previous replies all have great info. A have a couple more suggestions for you:

1) It sounds like you're playing primarily as the WE, right? If things are stalemated on the western front, why not try an "eastern strategy:" hit the Turks hard, try to open a front in the Balkans, etc. You can combine this approach with trying to get some of the neutrals on your side as well (Greece, Romania). Additionally, you could try an amphibious attack along the northern German coast. Basically, if one front is stalled, try to open another.

2) Do you have auto replacements on? That may be sucking up some of your war supply.

3) If you're having trouble with a defending ai opponent, maybe upping the "aggression" setting will make it more active. I don't have much experience with that, but it's worth a try to find the settings you like.

4) I noticed the same thing with artillery shells in my game: I never really had a shortage. I wonder if fiddling with the supply settings would change this? Maybe I had it set to "easy supply" or something.

Anyway, hope you're able to get to a point where you enjoy the game. It took me quite a few false-starts before I really "got it." I just finished my first game after owning the game for 5 months (!!). These forums are a great resource; I'd recommend using the search function, or just posting a question...so many helpful folks here :)

ShadowofGod
Sergeant
Posts: 65
Joined: Sun Jun 03, 2012 9:06 pm

Re: I'm about to give up on this game...please help

Thu Nov 29, 2018 8:12 pm

Thank you very much, guys, good suggestions, particularly about the "auto replacements" part. I'm going to give it a try.

Gilmer G
Civilian
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Dec 06, 2018 2:09 am

Re: I'm about to give up on this game...please help

Thu Dec 06, 2018 2:22 am

Hi ShadowofGod,

I'm a fairly long time player. I used to have a name H Gilmer3 and did the first AAR on the game back when it first came out. I actually have the most viewed AAR, I think, and I'm pretty proud of that. It was my first ever AAR and it was definitely a learning experience.

I have played this game a lot over the years. I haven't posted much lately and lost all my old friend contacts, but regardless....

One thing I noticed between aggressiveness of AI, if you play against it. The more aggressive you set it, the more likely they are to start almost doing suicide attacks. In my last game as the Western Entente, A formation slipped by me into France, and I ended up annihilating it and gained about 7 morale off of that one formation, after several battles.

My last game, I played WE, Lieutenant Difficulty, AI Detect +1, Aggressiveness one step above what is "recommended", normal attrition.

At one point, I felt like I was getting my rear handed to me in Egypt and Salonika, but the CP literally kept throwing itself against my pointed sticks in the Alsace-Lorraine regions. Once I got my formations in behind Metz and such and pushed them back to that second river. It really probably was my war to win, but it was tough.

Anyway, don't give up. Yes, the manual is horrible and I only knew how to play from owning a lot of Ageod games over the years. Supply is tough to get a handle on. Build lots of supply wagons and build depots and make sure you protect your depots!! Promote a LOT of generals. My rule of thumb on promotions is if I don't lose morale, I'll promote him, I don't care about victory points. I play to win sudden death. It usually means taking a capital Berlin/Paris, but this last game I actually got 150 morale!! With the morale point taking away mechanism to "even out" the game, I thought that would sink me, but it didn't.

Anyway, my main point is "MAKE AS MANY ARMIES AS YOU CAN" and this means promoting people to 3 stars as quickly as possible. Foch is an excellent army commander. And the overall commanders such as Kitchener. Use them too! They are 3 stars and in charge of armies. In the early part of the game, you might only be able to have Kitchener as the only British army until one of your others actually can be promoted. (Note: Kitchener early is locked, but he eventually unlocks and can be transported to France to build a regular army).

User avatar
Stratman
Captain
Posts: 190
Joined: Tue Dec 26, 2017 6:55 pm
Location: S-Petersburg, Russia

Re: I'm about to give up on this game...please help

Thu Dec 06, 2018 7:04 pm

Gilmer G thanks a lot for this thoughts!

Even though you did not write to me directly :)
I love this Forums because of the post like this!

Gilmer G
Civilian
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Dec 06, 2018 2:09 am

Re: I'm about to give up on this game...please help

Fri Dec 14, 2018 5:03 am

I appreciate your comments that my post helps!

I'll be honest, sometimes I'm "I HATE THIS GAME!" but it is really a lie. Most times it is because something weird happens and the turn errors out and I'm sitting looking at the screen asking, "Ok, is this turn going to go through, or not? And am I about to lose this game save?"

Another thing. Armies with a 3 star with army command enabled, usually have 46 to 52 command points (the 52s are usually generals that have some ability that adds to their command points and the 46s are usually generals with something that minuses command points) and are usually at or around 700 power to 1000 power. If you have a full army that is 400 power or lower, it is because of needed replacements, cohesion, supply, something. Do not be afraid to move them back a little or rest them a little. The added extra power from resting more than makes up for "losing" a turn. Make telegraph units, hospital units, bridging units, and engineer/pioneer units. All of these help in some way. Telegraph adds command points, hospitals help with attrition and replacements because they heal the units a little, bridging units - obvious help with crossing a river and attacking, engineers/pioneers help with sieges and you always need help against big fortresses like Metz. Also, don't neglect artillery. They help in sieges and also help, I believe in killing more soldiers on the other side.

One of the biggest mistakes I see from people playing is not "making an army". Just because it says "So and so general" and it says "3rd Army" doesn't necessarily mean it is an army. If it says X army, but the command points are 24, that's not a real army. A lot of times the game begins like that, and you have to promote the general to get a full army. Sometimes you need to rail the general to the overall commander to be in range to get him promoted. It pays off in the long run. Be familiar with who your overall commander of the army is. His picture will be in the top left with a bronze? diamond for each army attached to him. I usually get to at least 11-12 French armies.

Make sure you have overlapping armies in contact with each other. Armies one region over WILL come to help, depending on numerous factors. This has saved me so many times, I cannot count.

phoenix
Captain
Posts: 157
Joined: Sun Apr 12, 2015 11:24 am

Re: I'm about to give up on this game...please help

Sun Dec 16, 2018 9:34 pm

I've just started again at this game and this thread has been gold. Thanks everyone who answered the OP so helpfully.

I have my own really dumb question - if I play the historical campaign as WE, then does the AI handle the EE? I never see what's happening over there in the east. Is something happening, I wonder? And, can I just load up as EE every now and then, from a save, and play EE also? If I did that would that make it really easy to beat the AI, though? A bit unfair, maybe. Not that I am presently able to beat the AI at all....

Thanks.

User avatar
Stratman
Captain
Posts: 190
Joined: Tue Dec 26, 2017 6:55 pm
Location: S-Petersburg, Russia

Re: I'm about to give up on this game...please help

Sun Dec 16, 2018 10:47 pm

phoenix wrote:
Is something happening, I wonder? And, can I just load up as EE every now and then, from a save, and play EE also?
Thanks.


Yes it is and Yes you can :)
I do recommend play both Antanta factions. A lot of fun
Anyway their VPs add up

phoenix
Captain
Posts: 157
Joined: Sun Apr 12, 2015 11:24 am

Re: I'm about to give up on this game...please help

Mon Dec 17, 2018 4:29 pm

Thanks.

User avatar
H Gilmer3
AGEod Grognard
Posts: 822
Joined: Sat Jul 23, 2011 2:57 am
Location: United States of America

Re: I'm about to give up on this game...please help

Fri Mar 01, 2019 4:42 am

phoenix wrote:I've just started again at this game and this thread has been gold. Thanks everyone who answered the OP so helpfully.

I have my own really dumb question - if I play the historical campaign as WE, then does the AI handle the EE? I never see what's happening over there in the east. Is something happening, I wonder? And, can I just load up as EE every now and then, from a save, and play EE also? If I did that would that make it really easy to beat the AI, though? A bit unfair, maybe. Not that I am presently able to beat the AI at all....

Thanks.


I replied originally to this thread as Gilmer G, but I have somehow managed to reclaim my old login. The game DOES give you messages every now and then such as "The EE has lost (Name of some city). The EE has seen better days."

Something along those lines. You also I am pretty sure get messages about the change of command over there such as when the Tsar takes over command of the army (not a good thing for the Russians, that's for sure).

Also, to get an idea of how the EE is doing, you can press F9 and it will show losses of troops in battle, POW, and most important National Morale. If NM of the Eastern Entente is lower than the Central Powers and the gap gets bigger, then they are having a lot of trouble.

ShadowofGod
Sergeant
Posts: 65
Joined: Sun Jun 03, 2012 9:06 pm

Re: I'm about to give up on this game...please help

Thu Apr 04, 2019 9:06 am

Thank you for your input, everyone!

User avatar
Templer
General
Posts: 592
Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2009 2:33 pm
Contact: Website

Re: I'm about to give up on this game...please help

Thu May 09, 2019 4:48 pm

Don't give up, hang in.

As Straight Arrow says: "EAW is a massive and daunting game".

Maybe you'll make some tea and check out the excellent tutorial videos for AGEOD Wars of Napoleon.
These tutorials are well done because they are beautifully presented. It is easy to follow, it is explained very understandably.

While AGEOD Wars of Napoleon is not the same game, but many mechanics are the same, or at least, very similar.

Don't give up, hang in.

User avatar
W8taminute
Conscript
Posts: 8
Joined: Sat Sep 22, 2012 6:48 pm

Re: I'm about to give up on this game...please help

Wed Jun 05, 2019 4:40 am

All of these advices are very good. I wish I had the patience to absorb all of it in my games against human opponents but I realize that I will never learn this game well enough to play against a human being. I would not give up on this game but if you're struggling with single player do not even dare try fighting a human opponent. You will rage quit faster than a first person shooter gamer that constantly dies and gets no kills.

I started playing PBEM in earnest earlier this year and all three games I played ended in tragedy for me and to this day I'm still scratching my head wondering where I went wrong. I read so many tips and tricks to the game and it was for nothing. I watched in horror as all of my fronts failed miserably in their attacks and yet when they were attacked they crumbled so fast. I was powerless to stop my opponents and it was frustrating. In all three games I played the WE and EE against very competent CP players.

Let me describe some observations I made.

On the western front there is supposed to be entrenchment levels that make it very hard for the attacker to punch through. This is a common theme I read in many threads yet my lines crumbled as if they were not there. I had my men organized into armies mixed with artillery. I did in fact place two infantry and two field guns in corps and did not realize any advantage. My lines fell quickly. Yet when I attacked with sufficient numbers and military organization everything fell apart.

On the eastern front people say that the Russian should concentrate his strength attacking the Austrians. This in my opinion is useless advice as well because my Russians were cut to ribbons attacking the Austrians. In fact they could not even hurt the Ottomans either when they joined the war.

I've also seen the advice in not to attack across rivers but then where can you attack when there are rivers everywhere? I bring bridges and engineers and it makes no difference.

Conversely when I play against the computer I manage quite well. It doesn't matter which side I play I usually do reasonably well against the computer opponent.

It is obvious to me that no amount of studying will help me and therefor I've resolved to no longer engaging in PBEM games.

In any case I can't wait for Field of Glory Empires. Perhaps that new engine will be much easier to understand than this undocumented and convoluted game and it's relatives.

Chana468
Civilian
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Nov 02, 2019 10:17 am

Re: I'm about to give up on this game...please help

Sun Nov 03, 2019 7:31 am

Thanks for your work. I will look to see if I have recommendations.

joker123

Return to “To End All Wars”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 6 guests