HistWar

HistWar (English zone) => General discussions => Discussion démarrée par: Bletchley_Geek le 14 novembre 2011, 13:45:28 pm

Titre: Wondering about HistWar
Posté par: Bletchley_Geek le 14 novembre 2011, 13:45:28 pm
Hi,

I'm considering purchasing this game - big fan of the period - and I'm wondering if the demo available on the game main page is up to date with the latest updates.

On the other hand, I see HistWar features to overlap with that of Scourge of War, though HistWar supports operational level engagements. I also see the Grognard difficulty level to be really Grognardish. Any opinions?
Titre: Re : Wondering about HistWar
Posté par: oster1815 le 14 novembre 2011, 16:06:23 pm
Hello,

As the game receives almost continuous free updates and/or mods, the demo gives not always the last improvements  :!:

And YES it as the difficulty level to keep your Grognard's hands full for a long time ( but you can have easier levels to begin with...)   ;)

My opinion...
Oster
Titre: Re : Re : Wondering about HistWar
Posté par: Bletchley_Geek le 14 novembre 2011, 16:11:18 pm
Hello,

As the game receives almost continuous free updates and/or mods, the demo gives not always the last improvements  :!:

And YES it as the difficulty level to keep your Grognard's hands full for a long time ( but you can have easier levels to begin with...)   ;)


Thanks for the answer Oster. I DL'ed and went quickly over it while lunch break, and yes I see that the demo is not in sync to the screenshots I can see on the main site and some threads here.

By the way, could anyone point me to an AAR/DAR featuring a battle like say, Quatre Bras?

Cheers,

BG.
Titre: Re : Wondering about HistWar
Posté par: Bletchley_Geek le 14 novembre 2011, 16:15:54 pm
Oh, and a last question. I see that PBEM is supported and this is HUGE for me. Does this work as in CM titles WEGO "mode"? i.e. issue orders, resolve, watch replay?
Titre: Re : Wondering about HistWar
Posté par: oster1815 le 14 novembre 2011, 16:32:13 pm
Sorry for  PBEM -I'm mostly a solo player- bur somebody will certainly reply soon for this....

As for AAR, there are plenty in the International tournament zone,

Good luck  ;)
Titre: Re : Re : Wondering about HistWar
Posté par: Bletchley_Geek le 14 novembre 2011, 16:34:10 pm
As for AAR, there are plenty in the International tournament zone,

Good luck  ;)

Thank you again, Oster :)

(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Jq-4Jl95UnE/TV1tTl2jWwI/AAAAAAAABP8/uFFzC8afEa0/s320/legion%2Bof%2Bhonor.jpg)
Titre: Re : Wondering about HistWar
Posté par: oho le 14 novembre 2011, 18:04:11 pm
If you like the period and want an immersion of a battlefield of 150 000 men you should buy it.
It has a patch now that is really breathtaking together with some graphical mods.
PBEM is a wego with orders every 5 or 10 minutes i think. 
Titre: Re : Wondering about HistWar
Posté par: oster1815 le 14 novembre 2011, 19:28:40 pm
Thanks for the Medal  :p

I hope you now have your questions answered and you'll be soon received in the Grognard's Tavern  ;)

Oster
Titre: Re : Wondering about HistWar
Posté par: AJ le 14 novembre 2011, 19:47:04 pm
PBEM has orders every 15 minutes and we play a lot of PBEM.  Also there is a big "Real Time MP" group  :D
Titre: Re : Wondering about HistWar
Posté par: Bletchley_Geek le 30 novembre 2011, 11:57:22 am
Well, I finally bought HistWar, seems this Christmas I'll be revisiting some of my favorite episodes in Military History :smile:

Now I wonder what mods, other than the awesome Peninsular War & Waterloo "Battle Packs" and assorted Scenarios I've already found on the file depot) are highly recommended (or a "must have").

Cheers,

BG.
Titre: Re : Wondering about HistWar
Posté par: oster1815 le 30 novembre 2011, 16:18:35 pm
Welcome in the Club  :)

For the mods there are plenty fine additions ( buildings, trees, flags, etc...) but I suggest you don't get them all  at once....
There are some conflicts and it is wise to keep one game with all the basics running well,  save,  and make another with the mods .
If you read the previous exchanges on the forum, you'll see what I mean  :!:

When you'll  play Histwar for a while, please let me know what do you think of "Scourge of War" by comparison, I'm also interested in ACW and looking for a good game ....I enjoyed Civil war general years ago  , but I'm afraid it is outdated now . I don't think SoW is popular here and didn't saw much about it .
Good Luck and enjoy  ;)
Oster
Titre: Re : Wondering about HistWar
Posté par: Bletchley_Geek le 30 novembre 2011, 17:06:08 pm
Citer
When you'll  play Histwar for a while, please let me know what do you think of "Scourge of War" by comparison, I'm also interested in ACW and looking for a good game ....I enjoyed Civil war general years ago  , but I'm afraid it is outdated now . I don't think SoW is popular here and didn't saw much about it .

Well, now I have both :)

From the little I've gathered from the Demo and playing a bit the Talavera scenario - great work guys, I was surprised to see the attention paid to Spanish regimental flags - certainly I appreciate many similarities in the approach to solve some problems, and also some fundamental differences in the underlying design philosophy.

What I can say is that SoW User Interface is more "standard", I had to do little work to learn it. Histwar took a radically different approach, which is a bit shocking at first, but I can see it really works well. Perhaps I would say that some of the UI features in Histwar are too clever for its own good. In other places, Histwar is - from my point of view - certainly lacking, certainly in keeping you on track of major events developing on the battlefield.

The choice of names for certain game concepts in Histwar sound sometimes as a literal translation into English, when the word in English doesn't really capture as well the concept, as the French one does. This doesn't happen on SoW, for obvious reasons.

Also SoW scope is "smaller": you won't get to fight the whole Gettysburg engagement, being limited to one Corps at most. That makes sense from a playability perspective, but certainly removes from SoW the appealing John Tiller's Civil War titles had for some (I've for one, fought the full-battle scenarios for Shiloh, Gettysburg, Chickamauga and Antietam). The beautiful thing in SoW is that it can really put you in the place of an intermediate commander (Brigade or Division) who has to interact within the constraints posed by Civil War era battlefield C3I facilities (or better, lack of thereof).

I certainly don't like much the choice of removing Brigade and Division commands since I think it certainly lowers the flexibility for really advanced armies, such as the French. Which I think was a major advantage for them. I'm of the school of tought that what made the French Armies special was the revolution in command, since tactics and equipment weren't THAT different from its opponents.

I was at first appalled seeing a French Army organised in Columns as the Allies in Austerlitz. However, I can live with it and I understand it was a decision to simplify the problems of developing a working AI (which Histwar certainly has). This is certainly a major thing to consider for the scenario designer, who has to decide what "Groups" to introduce into the OOB to cater for the better (which might mean more historical or not) enjoyment of the experience conveyed by the scenario.

On graphics I won't comment, I find SoW billboards and Histwar simple 3D models to be in the same league. Maps  in both games are very good, though I can't really compare. Also SoW is modeling a very concrete geographical area, while Histwar is much more flexible than that.

If anything, I see both SoW and Histwar to be worthy successors of one of the computer wargames I've played out the most:

(http://pcmedia.gamespy.com/pc/image/article/593/593216/austerlitz-napoleons-greatest-victory-20050303021359619_640w.jpg)


Titre: Re : Wondering about HistWar
Posté par: Count von Csollich le 30 novembre 2011, 17:12:33 pm
oh - I absolutely LOVE "the last battle" - it's an awesome PC-game :) - unfortunately it doesn't run on my new PC anymore... - still - GREAT GAME!

edit: and of course the one that followed with Austerlitz!
Titre: Re : Re : Wondering about HistWar
Posté par: Bletchley_Geek le 30 novembre 2011, 17:47:34 pm
oh - I absolutely LOVE "the last battle" - it's an awesome PC-game :) - unfortunately it doesn't run on my new PC anymore... - still - GREAT GAME!

edit: and of course the one that followed with Austerlitz!

They were certainly awesome at the time, and shock for a long time player of John Tiller titles :)
Titre: Re : Wondering about HistWar
Posté par: oster1815 le 30 novembre 2011, 18:23:49 pm
Thank you for your fast and detailed reply  :)

I also enjoyed the Civil War Battles serie which looked so advanced in their time...Civil War Generals was not as historical and maps were crude but it had a good feeling for a large scope of battles,  added to a nice editor* -something I particularly appreciate  :!:-

For Histwar , I'd some tricks to overcome the problems of scope and missing good actions in large battles : first , there is the replay where you can stop and move to hot places, then watch the action ...
Also, I play with smaller battles I design, on small, simple battlefields,  purpose built to watch large cavalry charges on Infantry squares or any other manoeuvers you want .... This makes Histwar a Movie making tool and if you use the f5/f6 views you can feel a good immerssive impression.
But this is only a very personnal point of view and not really hardcore wargaming  ;)

*Is an editor available in SOW ?
Titre: Re : Wondering about HistWar
Posté par: Bletchley_Geek le 30 novembre 2011, 19:09:05 pm
Citer
But this is only a very personnal point of view and not really hardcore wargaming

Well, I do certainly also enjoy seeing battalions charging at each other and all that :) But I meant stuff such as getting messages like these (appropiately delayed and/or requiring AdC's going there and checking):

"26th Light Regiment is wavering at Sokolnitz"

;)

Citer
*Is an editor available in SOW ?

Not an "editor" as in an application, but rather a SDK (whose nature I've got still to  research). I think this has certainly limited the vitality of SoW.
Titre: Re : Wondering about HistWar
Posté par: AJ le 02 décembre 2011, 01:39:38 am
Citer
I was at first appalled seeing a French Army organised in Columns as the Allies in Austerlitz. However, I can live with it and I understand it was a decision to simplify the problems of developing a working AI (which Histwar certainly has). This is certainly a major thing to consider for the scenario designer, who has to decide what "Groups" to introduce into the OOB to cater for the better (which might mean more historical or not) enjoyment of the experience conveyed by the scenario.

At the risk of sounding patronising, which I don't want to be  :? It is up to you as the CinC to decide on the formation your Army Corps are going to fight in, don't like Column, change it mate.  That's what HLG is all about, YOU are the CinC not the Scenario creator, he is just giving you an OOB, Deployment and a Map, up to you how you use it.  If a Scenario creator has put the Army on the Map in "March Column", he is not infering that this was somehow a "Correct" deployment, he merely presumes that the player will make his own deployments in the "Initial Deployment Phase"

Titre: Re : Re : Wondering about HistWar
Posté par: Bletchley_Geek le 02 décembre 2011, 10:13:21 am
At the risk of sounding patronising, which I don't want to be  :? It is up to you as the CinC to decide on the formation your Army Corps are going to fight in, don't like Column, change it mate.  That's what HLG is all about, YOU are the CinC not the Scenario creator, he is just giving you an OOB, Deployment and a Map, up to you how you use it.  If a Scenario creator has put the Army on the Map in "March Column", he is not infering that this was somehow a "Correct" deployment, he merely presumes that the player will make his own deployments in the "Initial Deployment Phase"

Don't worry AJ. I didn't mean formation as in "tactical formation" but as in "operational formation".

I meant "columns" as in the term used to describe those maneuver elements which aggregate several regiments. I think that was the usual term to refer to these during the 18th Century. One of the big innovations - I think - of French Revolutionary armies was to organize into a three-tiered organization, involving Corps, Divisions and Brigades. That's all :)