They just released a new edition, which looks pretty interesting, and I am a sucker for multi-player PBEM capable games.
I played solo campaign for a while, battles (with counters on hex map) are the most entertaining parts for me, but they are not feasible for PBEM imho.
The tactical battles generally are not played out when doing PBEM.
Which unfortunately takes fun out of the game. :|
I got the new version. Looks much more polished than the (original) beta I played back when, but I haven't had enough time to play with it yet to comment much. First game was Prussia, making defensive treaties with Austria and Poland, then stomped on Saxony. The Russians didn't like that and PWNED me. Tactical battles were a bit of fun and came in two optional scales: division or brigade (one division is split into two or so brigades), didn't check the new navy battles yet, though.
Forums look pretty positive, and it seems popular with the folks who enjoyed Forge of Freedom (which seems to have improved a fair bit, too).
Me and Habs both bought this alst night. In preperation, I just order Swords Around A Throne and The Safeguard of the Sea: A Naval History of Britain 660-1649.
Yes, I realize that the second one doesn't cover the relevant time frame, but I cannot bring myself to read the second book in that series before the first. So there.
Quote from: Berkut on March 13, 2009, 09:17:48 AM
Me and Habs both bought this alst night. In preperation, I just order Swords Around A Throne and The Safeguard of the Sea: A Naval History of Britain 660-1649.
Yes, I realize that the second one doesn't cover the relevant time frame, but I cannot bring myself to read the second book in that series before the first. So there.
Try Georges Blond's
La Grand Armee. Readable, and should be cheap used.
Quote from: Berkut on March 13, 2009, 09:17:48 AM
Me and Habs both bought this alst night. In preperation, I just order Swords Around A Throne and The Safeguard of the Sea: A Naval History of Britain 660-1649.
Yes, I realize that the second one doesn't cover the relevant time frame, but I cannot bring myself to read the second book in that series before the first. So there.
A really good overview is:
Napoleon's Wars: An International History, 1803-1815 (http://www.amazon.com/Napoleons-Wars-International-History-1803-1815/dp/0670020303/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236954010&sr=8-1)
QuoteA magisterial account of the wars that engulfed Europe during the rise and fall of Napoleon.
No military figure in history has been quite as polarizing as Napoleon Bonaparte. Was he a monster, driven by an endless, ruinous quest for military glory? Or a social and political visionary brought down by petty, reactionary kings of Europe? In the definitive account to date, respected historian Charles Esdaile argues that the chief motivating factor for Napoleon was his insatiable desire for fame. More than a myth-busting portrait of Napoleon, however, this volume offers a panoramic view of the armed conflicts that spread so quickly out of revolutionary France to countries as remote as Sweden and Egypt. Napoleon's Wars seeks to answer the question, What was it that made the countries of Europe fight one another for so long and with such devastating results? Esdaile portrays the European battles as the consequence of rulers who were willing to take the immense risks of either fighting or supporting Napoleon—risks that resulted in the extinction of entire countries. This is history writing equal to its subject—grand and ambitious—that will join Viking's impressive backlist of European history titles, such as Tim Blanning's The Pursuit of Glory and Diarmaid MacCulloch's The Reformation.
Quote from: Berkut on March 13, 2009, 09:17:48 AM
Swords Around A Throne
:P Great, great book. Easily my favorite Napoleonic title. Elting was one of the most entertaining writers ever to do Napoleonic history, and a real character to boot.
Quote from: grumbler on March 13, 2009, 09:39:52 AM
Quote from: Berkut on March 13, 2009, 09:17:48 AM
Swords Around A Throne
:P Great, great book. Easily my favorite Napoleonic title. Elting was one of the most entertaining writers ever to do Napoleonic history, and a real character to boot.
You should play with us grumbler.
Actually, would you like Seedys spot in our Nappy Wars game? He has been as reliable as expected.
I am off to Cold Wars to flg my books this weekend, but if you still need a Nappy Wars player starting Sunday night, I can do that. Spring Break starts this weekend, so I should have some time.
Aren't you a bit too old for Spring Break?
Quote from: The Brain on March 13, 2009, 06:48:46 PM
Aren't you a bit too old for Spring Break?
Notice that he is going to play a wargame, not go to Cancun. :D
Quote from: garbon on March 13, 2009, 07:00:06 PM
Quote from: The Brain on March 13, 2009, 06:48:46 PM
Aren't you a bit too old for Spring Break?
Notice that he is going to play a wargame, not go to Cancun. :D
These days that amounts to pretty much the same thing, except the latter has real guns instead of counters and dice.
Let us know how the PBEM goes.
Maybe I will play a bit more of it this weekend. :-[
Nothing to report. I think Berkut was overwhelmed.
That being said, it'd be nice to get 3-5 people together to do PBEM of this...
Can you update the original version to the new one for, like, free?
Quote from: Habbaku on April 18, 2009, 02:30:30 AM
Nothing to report. I think Berkut was overwhelmed.
Yeah, I had that with the huge WW3 scenario in TOAW with him.
Quote from: Tamas on April 18, 2009, 03:02:39 AM
Can you update the original version to the new one for, like, free?
http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=2047544
QuoteIf you own a copy of the original Crown of Glory, you are entitled to a $10 discount coupon. Instructions on how to get your coupon and how to use it in the store are available at the link below. Please note that each Crown of Glory serial number is only entitled to one coupon for the Emperor's Edition and once you have retrieved it, we cannot re-send it to you (so don't lose it before you use it!).
http://www.matrixgames.com/discount/cogee.asp
Is it worth it? I saw the potential in the game, but ultimately I just could not spend much time with it.
Quote from: Tamas on April 18, 2009, 06:16:34 AM
Is it worth it? I saw the potential in the game, but ultimately I just could not spend much time with it.
How would I know? I buy games, I don't play them.
Quote from: Habbaku on April 18, 2009, 02:30:30 AM
Nothing to report. I think Berkut was overwhelmed.
Yeah, I just couldn't get the time to play the PBEM game you sen....oh wait.
Anything more to report on this?
VERY steep learning curve. I havent decided (did not play much) if there is a decent game behind all this difficulty, but there is certainly hope for that.
Quote from: Tamas on April 30, 2009, 01:58:56 PM
VERY steep learning curve. I havent decided (did not play much) if there is a decent game behind all this difficulty, but there is certainly hope for that.
Well find the fuck out pls.
I would find out by sending Berkut a PBEM file, but turns I send him seem to disappear into some magic void zone.
Have been playing as Austria in the 1805 GC.
Hard to do much at start in SP as Austria since you have no way of cooperating movements with AI Russia, so the Grande Armee is bound to whoop your ass. Lost Vienna then was forced to surrender once national morale collapsed.
And this brings me to the most impressive feature so far: diplomacy. France took 3 of my provinces (Tyrol and two czech ones), and forced an alliance between us.
Then it proceeded toward Russia. Captured two border provinces after which Russia surrendered. Terms were Corfu, 10 points of colonies, a 1 year ban on alliance between Russian and Britain, and 33% of Russia's income for two months.
In the meantime Spain formed an anti-British pact with Prussia and Turkey, but that did not make peace between France and Turkey so the French armies blitzed to Istanbul, and Turkey surrendered before the capital fall. Price was Cyprus, and reduction of Turkish forces and defense buildings. And sadly an alliance with France, so now Ottomans are in war with Britain, and I cant backstab them.
So I like diplomacy: very flexible (there are tons of options) and the AI seems to make good use of them. (Prussia for example has formulated a treaty of defensive alliance between them, me, and Sweden, paying some money to me as reward)
Advanced economy is still beyond me: I grasp the concepts and such, it aint that hard, but microing it seems tedious, but also seem to give additional details much helping non-war aspects.
Oh and there are nice historical events, some with choices. Like recently France enacted the continental blockade that way.
Game ended late 1807 just after I sneak-attacked Turkey (discovered their treaty with france was one-way only: frenchies werent obligated to help them).
France reached 1000 Glory points thus winning teh scenario.
Thanks, T. Have you played quick or detailed battles?
Quote from: Syt on May 02, 2009, 11:44:29 PM
Thanks, T. Have you played quick or detailed battles?
Both. Did not read up on quick battles in the manual though.
Also, I started a new game as Sweden. Shot myself in the leg with an Insurrection mission I gave to my only character. France made Denmark a protectorate earlier, in other words annexed it. So when I went into war with them in late 1806ish, I was besieging Kopenhagen (after defeating an equal French force in detailed battle), while I sent my dude to Norway to stear up trouble.
Little did I know, that his success meant all of Denmark became independent again. Altough there is the Coup mission for that, thats how I got Mecklenburg.
This means one could do nasty things to countries, especially Austria which has a truckload of "annexed" minors like Hungary and whatnot.
Oh, and the music selection is most excellent.
Had an awesome tactical battle as France in 1792. Started it out against Austria but Prussian reinforcements arrived. There was a clear area between a big hill from the west, and a lake from the east, and my troops duked it out with the enemy for the entire battle there undecisively, while the real important battle was fought for the flanks. The hill was messy with Austrian cavalry holding me up, but only I had artillery next to the lake, so shot open a hole there during the third morning of the battle, then rout sort of spread on the prussian ranks (most austrians fled already). For this, I needed my own reinforcement army, because they not only had fresh infantry units, but also a supply train which was crucial (the AI's were staying back being harassed by my cavalry).
The battle AI is not genius: concentrate on one AI unit at a time with attacks and you should have no great problems with equal forces, altough it does keep a reasonable line and it is in no way inferior to general battle AI standards. Plus, moral and leadership matters a LOT, so you can have your work cut out for you.
So is this game (the Emperor's Edition) worth buying? I notice it's still the same selling price after like 2 years, lol.
Unfortunately, I never dove in in any depth, though I still mean to. The economic part looks daunting, but you can automate it (no idea if it does a good job, though).
I mean to get back to this, but there are so many games. And with CK2 just 3 weeks away...
Also weird, I didn't remember that Sweden game I posted about 3 (three!) years ago.
I was considering buying a copy of this, but it costs $50 for download only. A 2009 update of a 2005 game. What the hell is wrong with Matrix?