Wargame: European Escalation - zomg T-55 rush lololol

[FunkMonk]

This game just came out on Steam today. This is from a preview last year:

Wargame is a title about war, set in Europe during an alternate Cold War 1975-1985 era where things escalate. The new version of IRISZOOM features better forests, a much larger draw distance, the ability to zoom in to a unit and see every little detail on a T-72 tank, and it looks like you'll want to see it on as large a display as possible.

Just like in R.U.S.E. you can seamlessly zoom out from the closest zoom level to a strategic map view. Being at the closest -- or closer -- levels of zoom doesn't mean you can't have battlefield control though. Simply move your mouse over the unit you want to focus on in the distance, scroll the mousewheel up, and snap the camera to that unit.

The game looks really impressive, what with the scale of the maps you play on and the amount of detail that's there, although RTS veterans will probably stick with switching from the strategic view to a moderately zoomed out level that lets you easily order units around.

Realism plays a large part in Wargame: European Escalation. Not only because it features a ton of military vehicles and aircraft modeled after their real-world counterparts, but also with respect to the gameplay. Infantry can enter houses, buildings in towns can be destroyed, and because there is no fog of war, all unit intel has to come from line-of-sight. Enemy units can be spotted at range which shows a silhouette of their unit moving around, but you'll have to get closer to identify them fully. That is, unless you can make out the exact vehicle just by the silhouette -- something that can be pretty hard given the amount of units in the game.

...

The sheer amount of detail that goes into Wargame: European Escalation is impressive and so are the graphics that make you feel just like you did when you saw World in Conflict for the first time. Even more impressive is how accessible all the information is. All data for hit percentages, effective distance, fuel, ammo, line-of-sight, etc., is displayed in such a way that anyone can understand it after a short tutorial.

http://www.destructoid.com/preview-wargame-european-escalation-209515.phtml

320 different units.

To be honest, I wasn't interested in this one at all until I looked at a few gameplay videos on YouTube. Now I'm contemplating dropping $34 on it with GamersGate.

In this video you can see a Frenchman show his true colors and command an army of godless commies to victory. Earlier in the video he describes the gameplay mechanics. http://youtu.be/NVeNnQT7uF4?t=36m5s

Looks like it might be a winner.

[The Brain]

The 80s were better IRL.

[Ideologue]

Somewhere Sir Hockey is coming in his pants, and he doesn't know why.

[FunkMonk]

Somewhere Sir Hockey is coming in his pants, and he doesn't know why.

I want to thrust my East German T-72s to the sound of 99 Luftballons.

[CountDeMoney]

Looks stupid.

[FunkMonk]

I may snap it up and see if it's any good. I'm in the mood for blowing up Germans.

[Syt]

Reports on the Wargamer forums seem to indicate that multiplayer is fun but that the campaign sucks.

[FunkMonk]

The dudes who do the Three Moves Ahead podcast spooged all over themselves about this game. http://flashofsteel.com/

I have to say the multiplayer is pretty fuckin fantastic. Played some last night and the game just feels right. My T-72As blew up a bunch of Germans in their Leopards and I hid a recon jeep in a tree line to spot for our artillery that utterly disintegrated the defensive position the other team hastily constructed on a hill.

Also this game has a replay system so you can review what happened and figure out why you won/lost/suck.

[Syt]

Is the single player experience wrth mentioning? Also, can you play the MP maps against bots, and if so - how does the AI hold up?

[FunkMonk]

The single player is a nice diversion. It's divided into several campaigns, and like the Three Moves Ahead guys talked about, they're all rather puzzle-like. Overall, the single-player missions are interesting but not nearly as endearing as the multiplayer, where the interactions between unit types really shine.

For now, AI skirmishes are limited to 1v1 against the comp. The devs are working on expanding that to true AI comp stomp skirmishes for an upcoming patch. I haven't fought against the AI in 1v1 so I can't say how it holds up -- supposedly the devs held up the upcoming skirmish patch to work on the AI further. I guess we'll see later how well it fights. 

[FunkMonk]

Game is 40% off on Steam for a few days. They also put out a free DLC yesterday that adds more multiplayer maps, a new attack/defense match mode, and finally a skirmish mode against the AI

[MadBurgerMaker]

Heh.  This game is pretty fun.  First run through, I didn't know what I was doing and just zerg rushed the East German AI's T-34's with Leopard 1A1s.  Sure, it worked the first time, but in the second mission, when I said FUCK IT LOLOL and tried it again, their hidden T-55s and 64s skull fucked me.  Had to stop being a dumbass and use recon units.  Also, a couple of platoons of Leo1A4s really kicked some ass there too.


E:  Furk.  Is there some sort of LOS tool than I'm not seeing?  Kind of like the Close Combat style thing where you can tell where all your units can see and where their view is blocked so you can optimally position your recon units?  I just had a group of T-72s and T-55s cruise around my left flank, wipe out one of my command tracks and an AA unit because apparently my Scorpion couldn't see them as they crossed the open area to his left.  Didn't even see them until they were just about to move into the woods, when it was too late to do anything.  I'm thinking about just moving up and wiping out their main base with my cut off tanks, because otherwise, I'd have to move back through some stupid little town and would probably take some shitty losses. 

Also, how do you tell your recon units to hold their damn fire?  I admire the gigantic brass balls on my Scorpion crewmen who will happily start taking max range shots at MBTs with their 76mm pea shooter and all, but I would really prefer if they didn't make themselves almost immediate smoking wrecks if they don't have to.  Maybe just let the Leopards and infantry that are nearby handle that sort of thing.

Oh and also (heh) is there a way to force your vehicles to face a certain direction?

[FunkMonk]

Yeah this game is pretty good. The multiplayer is fun because of the deck system. You just have to unlock units, which is easy in either a multiplayer game or the singleplayer missions.

There's no dedicated LOS tool but you can use the Fire marker to check LOS. Keep in mind that if you put a unit in a forest they won't be able to see anything but stuff that's right next to them unless you put them at the very edge of the forest, in which case thy can spot everything within reasonable LOS. Also, units at the bottom of ridges are hidden from view from those at the top of the ridge.

There's no way manually tell your units to change facing.

[MadBurgerMaker]

There's no dedicated LOS tool but you can use the Fire marker to check LOS. Keep in mind that if you put a unit in a forest they won't be able to see anything but stuff that's right next to them unless you put them at the very edge of the forest, in which case thy can spot everything within reasonable LOS. Also, units at the bottom of ridges are hidden from view from those at the top of the ridge.

Ah.  That works just fine.  Appreciate it. 

[MadBurgerMaker]

*mumblegrumble* Why can't I resupply my FOBs?  I can bring trucks and helos full of supplies from off the map for points, but can't send supplies to my bases for points?