Looking for a good strategic game.. Ideas?sc

[Krauter]

Just been bored out of my mind here lately and I was looking at the Heart of Iron 2 screenies and they seem kind of interesting. I'm still trying to find a place I can buy it from (for mac) but in the meantime I was wondering if any of you could help save me time or money.

Basically what I'm looking for is something similar to Hearts of Iron 2 (Strategic map, disposition of units, etc... basically a Theatre Commander)

Maybe a little more modern (ie: Cold War scenario?)

Mostly the reason why I was looking into getting something along these lines is re-reading Red Storm Rising and seeing how the Generals commanded the breakthrough of the NATO lines, as well as all the ensuing action had me wishing I had a game which would grant me action along those lines.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Krauter

[Raptor1]

Hearts of Iron...3? :O:

Are you only looking for a grand strategy game, or also operational level games and the like?

[krashkart]

HOI2 is pretty good. IIRC there is a Cold War mod available for it but I have no idea how accurate or complete it is.

[Krauter]

Excellent.. Mostly just a grand campaign style.

On a personnal opinion level, what are the pro's con's of HOI2/3?

[Raptor1]

Let's see...

Hearts of Iron 2 has more mods than HoI3, currently.

Hearts of Iron 3 is less stable than Hearts of Iron 2, and it usually runs slower too. It used to be somewhat of a buggy mess when it was released, but most of this has been resolved.

Hearts of Iron 2 has battle scenarios besides the campaigns, Hearts of Iron 3 does not.

Hearts of Iron 3 is much more detailed, especially when it comes to units (The base unit level in HoI2 is a division, in HoI3 it's a brigade) and the supply system. On the other hand, this means HoI3 is also much more complicated.

HoI 2 is much more rigid when it comes to the course of the campaign (The war nearly always starts at the historical time, and things happen when they did historically). HoI3 is much more dynamic, with things happening because of game mechanics and not because they are scripted to happen.

These are the main differences.

Note that there are quite a few versions of HoI2, there's the original, Doomsday, Armageddon (Which is an expansion of Doomsday), Arsenal of Democracy (Which is a fan-developed improvement on Doomsday/Armageddon), Iron Cross (Which is an expansion to Armageddon or Arsenal of Democracy) and Darkest Hour, which is about to be released.

Excellent.. Mostly just a grand campaign style.

There are quite a few of those, but none about the Cold War since the days of DOS games. Supreme Ruler: Cold War is about to be released, but I have no idea if it's close to what you want or if it will be any good.

There are a few games that model a NATO vs. Warsaw Pact war at an operational scale, though.

[Happy Times]

The best mod for HOI2 is The Stony Road IMO, Arsenal of Democracy was a little dissapontment.
http://www.stonyroad.de/

HOI3 needs modding, i cant play it as it is.:nope:

Paradox bought AGEOD and their games are interesting, ive only played ACW but im going to try BoA2: Wars in America and Rise of Prussia. The others i think have only scenarios and i only play Grand Campaigns.:hmmm:

http://shopus.ageod.com/video-games-History.html

[raymond6751]

I have been game mastering a full recreation of WW2. November 15th we begin turn six, March 1940. Lots of war left. Multiplayer.

Just the thing for boredom.

Link in my signature.

[Skybird]

Strategy? Grand Scale? Operational? Cold War? Red Storm Rising...?

:yeah:

---> Modern Campaigns: Danube '85

http://www.hpssims.com/Pages/products/ModBat/DanubeFront/DanubeFront.html

Initially I was nerved by the interface a bit, some aspects of it. But I then used a mod for map and counters, and then colour-coded the counters myself - I now have learned to love it.

The big campaign game covers all of West-Germany, from Southern Denmark to mid-Austria, plus the relevant parts of the GDR, all of Berlin, parts of France, Netherlands. It is also ideal for solo-play (against yourself, if you want, like often old table-cosims were played by many), but there is also an AI opponent. Play-by-mail is possible, too. There are mods beefing up the balöancing and setup for the great campaign, making it all even more realistic. However, it is very time-consuming to handle the full campaign. Small, limited, local operations are avialable too, plus editors for OOBs, unit statistics, scenarios

Scaling: 1 hex=1 mile, 1 turn=3 hours, counters represent mostly companies, batallions, special units, headquarters, batteries. Certain units ( ATGM laucnhers) can come as 2-4 vehicle platoons/sections (German Jaguars f.e.).

Playing area (65000+ hexfields)
http://www.hpssims.com/Pages/products/ModBat/DanubeFront/D85_Planning_Map_50.jpg

Other superb strategy games I would recommend (beside Chess, of course :) ) :
> Conquest of the Aegean (or the new Battle for the Bulge)
> Steel Panthers MBT or Steel Panthers WWII (free!)
> The Operational Art of War III (new extensive patch just released as functional Beta, changing the looks dramatically for the better).

[Safe-Keeper]

Dominions 3 from Shrapnel Games is wonderfully deep and engrossing, but it's fantasy, so might not be your thing.

[GlobalExplorer]

Revolution Under Siege (http://www.tacticularcancer.com/content.php?id=66)


(http://www.tacticularcancer.com/content.php?id=66)

[Janus]

[...]

---> Modern Campaigns: Danube '85

http://www.hpssims.com/Pages/products/ModBat/DanubeFront/DanubeFront.html

Initially I was nerved by the interface a bit, some aspects of it. But I then used a mod for map and counters, and then colour-coded the counters myself - I now have learned to love it.
I found this thread researching for Danube Front '85, couldn't find a demo for this game on HPS's site though. As far as I understood it the game is part of a whole series - is there a demo for a similar game available or at least a downloadable manual to get a feel for the game?

Does the game have a chain of command comparable to Airborne Assault series where the player can give orders to an HQ unit which will then process the order and task subordinate units to execute the assigned mission or is Danube Front '85 a micromanagement nightmare?
Oh, and will it work with Windows 7?

[Raptor1]

There's no demo that I know of any HPS game. You can download the documentation updates from their website and extract it anywhere to read the manual.

Chain of command comparable to Airborne Assault, definitely not (No game that I know has that besides, of course, the Airborne Assault games). You can issue formations an axis of advance and order the AI to take care of moving those formations, as well as firing and assaulting, but I can't comment on how well it does with it at the moment.

And it will work on Windows 7 just fine if you patch it.

[Janus]

Okay, thanks.
Which of the three modern campaigns games - Fulda Gap, North German Plains, Danube Front - is the most comprehensive (stock scenarios, amount of user created content available)? In other words: which one should I get? :)

[Raptor1]

Well, I don't know about the number of stock and user created scenarios, since I only have Danube Front. I think Fulda Gap's scenarios were incorporated in North German Plain or are available to download as a free expansion, so that game might be obsolete. Danube Front is the only one that includes the complete campaign scenario (The entire Central Front from Austria to Denmark), so go with that if you want to play the grand campaign.

I've tested the AI orders thing some more and it seems it's only any good for automatically moving larger forces around and not useful for combat operations, I suppose that's what it was designed for anyway.

[Janus]

Fast answer again :yeah:
I'm going to get Danube Front now...

[seaniam81]

I would like to say that HoI3 has a command level AI. So you can let the computer handle an HQ and tell it to attack or defend and it will issue orders to units under it's command.