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Author Topic: Grand Tactician The Civil War thoughts  (Read 4966 times)

Boyerwulf

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on: April 09, 2021, 10:25:56 AM
   Finally took the plunge on this game to see where it stands in its development.

 To start off, I am just going to play the historical battle of Gettysburg since I have studied, and been to the battlefield numerous times.

   The graphics are meh, and are reminiscent of Scourge of War . You can issue orders from corps on down to brigade level. You can have the AI decide on how it moves, or turn the AI off for a more manual approach (which you will do often since some of the routes, and positions the AI will take make no sense).

  Combat itself seems pretty fine tuned to realistic casualty rates.  Units seem to route, and get disorganized also in a realistic manner.

  Overall the tactical battles show a lot of promise. Would love to see an upgrade in the unit graphics. 

 Now the bad.

   Right off the bat I see that General Pleasonton (Head of Union Cavalry) and General Meade (Commander Union Army) are on the first days battlefield at the start.  They in actuality did not show up till night time of the first days battle.  So it was weird that Pleasonton was right next to Buford at the start of the battle.

 More needs to be done to show you when reinforcements have arrived on the battlefield. Many times reinforcements arrived, and were just sitting idle, because I didn't realize they had arrived.

 At one point 14 Union artillery pieces just kind of charged into the middle of the Confederate lines while limbered, and of course were annihilated. Not exactly sure why that happened. Could have been my fault, or the AIs when I gave a corps,or divisional move order.

 When a unit routes it doesn't just route, and eventually route to  another part of the battlefield to reorganize. It routes and leaves the map entirely.   

 No clue how resupply works (if it does). Units low on ammo seem to stay that way, even if you remove them from the firing line.

 Trying to build breastworks doesn't seem to be working currently.

 At the end of the first days fighting, a continue box said I had the chance to reorganize the position of units, etc.  Problem was that when I hit the continue button, nothing happened and I was stuck with this box on my screen, blocking my view of the map.

 Not sure the rally button works either for commanders. Never was able to rally any units that were routed.

 So this game has a lot of promise, but still has a ton of issues that need to be taken care of before it's even close to being ready for prime time. The first days battle results were actually very close to what happened historically, which is a good thing. The Union I Corps fought bravely, but took huge casualties. The XI Corps was shattered North of Gettysburg. In the real battle, all those routed troops eventually retreated to Cemetery Hill, and Culps Hill. That couldn't happen in the game because routed units just leave the map completely. Only the units that I retreated myself, were able to eventually make a stand at Cemetery Hill.  Unlike the real battle, the Confederates made a big push to capture Cemetery Hill in the evening of the 1st day. But were held off by remnants of the I Corps, and II Corps reinforcements.

 Now these observations are just based on one of the tactical battles. From what I understand the campaign portion of the game is even rougher shape. This brings me to something we see over, and over again, designers just adding too many bells and whistles to a game, and the AI (not to mention human players) having difficulty,or even wanting to use all these detailed bells, and whistles mechanics  You know, maybe instead of deciding which particular rifle every unit will carry, or deciding which good every factory will produce, you streamline these mechanics so the AI has some clue of what it needs to do. It also gives the designer more time to work on things such as the actual strategic, and tactical battle AI, as well as bugs. PC wargame designers might need to start taking note of some of the classic Civil War boardgames (For the People), and how sometimes simplicity, and streamlining makes for a better gaming experience.

 This is the tutorial video I used, and it gives a nice overview of how tactical battles are run .

« Last Edit: April 09, 2021, 11:01:16 AM by Boyerwulf »



Martok

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Reply #1 on: April 09, 2021, 03:35:46 PM
I've had this one on my wishlist for some time now, but have held off on actually purchasing it -- including/because of some of the issues you've mentioned here.  My sincere appreciation to you taking the time to post your thoughts, Boyerwulf


« Last Edit: April 09, 2021, 03:49:07 PM by Martok »

"I like big maps and I cannot lie." - Barthheart

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thecommandtent

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Reply #2 on: April 09, 2021, 08:19:06 PM
I've had this one on my wishlist for some time now, but have held off on actually purchasing it -- including/because of some of the issues you've mentioned here.  My sincere appreciation to you taking the time to post your thoughts, Boyerwulf.

Word for word what he said  :)



Steelie

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Reply #3 on: April 09, 2021, 08:42:29 PM
Ditto. It's on my wishlist as well, but I've been known to remove items when the final result was lacking.

Somewhere, somehow, I woke up in the wrong timeline. I'm pretty sure this isn't even my dimension.


judgedredd

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Reply #4 on: April 10, 2021, 03:00:25 AM
Thanks for the write up - you saved me some money by taking the hit...kudos is all I have to offer  :)



Sir Slash

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Reply #5 on: April 10, 2021, 10:40:49 AM
I was HOT for this one too but looks to need a lot of work still.  :'(  Thanks for the Heads-Up Boyerwulf.

Any Day is a Good Day That Doesn't Involve Too Much Work or Too Little Gaming


Boyerwulf

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Reply #6 on: April 19, 2021, 08:34:10 AM
Lets not lose site of the fact that this title is still in early access. It has a lot of potential, and I myself was more than happy to support the designers with my purchase. Whether I will fund a future product by this designer, will ultimately come down to the quality of this product when it is officially released.