Strategic Command WWII: War in Europe

[Jarhead0331]

If this covered the entire war, ie., Pacific, North Africa, etc., I'd probably take the plunge. With just Europe though, I can't get motivated.

What you want is the Order of Battle series.  It covers most of the war.  Its naval module is much, much better than Strategic Command.  You got to have a good naval model to simulate the Pacific.

I have Order of Battle, but I always felt the scenarios were too scripted. For example, when enemy reinforcements were triggered, etc.

[airboy]

To each his own, but it follows the Pacific War.  You get your fleet yanked away on multiple occasions because of a disaster in another theater.  The reinforcements for the Japanese pretty closely follow the Solomons campaign, etc.....  Seems like a feature to me instead of a bug.

[Jarhead0331]

To each his own, but it follows the Pacific War.  You get your fleet yanked away on multiple occasions because of a disaster in another theater.  The reinforcements for the Japanese pretty closely follow the Solomons campaign, etc.....  Seems like a feature to me instead of a bug.

I'm not suggesting it's a bug. I agree it is a feature. Most likely to ramp up difficulty due to inadequate AI. It also kills replayability. You'll get hit by the same reinforcements at the same time and at the same place every time you play the scenario. Personally, I prefer strategy games that aren't as scripted.

[FarAway Sooner]

Yeah.  Heavily scripted games can still offer some replay value (e.g., Unity of Command), but if you're already familiar with the mechanics and the bells and whistles, the replay value here starts to diminish after 20 years.  They've added some nice wrinkles (e.g., the "research" tree), and you can always tweak your unit fix, but the biggest part of those puzzle games is always knowing what surprises are going to happen when.

Once that suspense is removed, completing the games at higher levels feels more like grinding to me, rather than immersive role-playing of a beer & pretzels WW II sim. 

Still, to each their own.  If you're enjoying it, more power to you!

:bd: