This looks interesting...
http://www.grandtactician.com/thecivilwar/index.html
...and apologies if someone (probably Jarhead) has already posted about this six months ago :)
Got a promo email from this developer yesterday, looks engaging.
I might sense a moistening of the loins.
Very early, yet.
My loins are officially moistened !!!!!
looks hawt
So many games, so little time, but I'll be keeping an eye on this one.
"...a real time strategy game..." :-\
This is from Keppelmuller, the Seven Years War guy. I bought his last game but it's still part of my gaming backlog.
Quote from: bbmike on May 04, 2018, 03:09:13 PM
"...a real time strategy game..." :-\
Yeah, that dried my loins a bit.
:buck2:
Maybe it will be pauseable real time.
Last game was plausible, and battles were at a great pace. Sort of how I wish Total War was on pace and scale but without TW graphics.
This vid gives a glimpse of pace towards the end.
I admire their spirit. Based on Doug's reviews, the SYW offering smacked of Napoleon 1813, which is to gaming what Gilliam's "Don Quixote" was, until recently, to movie making.
I wish them well.
Yeah and SYW was one man effort if I remember right.
Now it's more guys, including art, and new engine that can handle, quote:
QuoteThe engine should support everything between 1600-1899, but the setting/theme of the first title will be revealed later
Reposted with better coding.
I for one welcome the attempt! O0
Game looks interesting:
Edit - Got it.
Quote from: Geezer on May 11, 2018, 02:44:20 PM
Never mind. Can't figure out how to post a Youtube video here.
You didn't sacrifice a goat to Mirth.
Quote from: JasonPratt on May 11, 2018, 01:50:34 PM
Reposted with better coding.
I for one welcome the attempt! O0
Total length of video: 2 minutes and 18 seconds.
Time of actual gameplay shown: 30 seconds.
The look of doubt on my face?
Priceless. Doubtful.
Quote from: SirAndrewD on May 11, 2018, 02:50:14 PM
Quote from: Geezer on May 11, 2018, 02:44:20 PM
Never mind. Can't figure out how to post a Youtube video here.
You didn't sacrifice a goat to Mirth.
Render unto Mirth a fattened goat and verily you will be blessed with holy embed links.
Quote from: bbmike on May 11, 2018, 03:04:33 PM
Quote from: JasonPratt on May 11, 2018, 01:50:34 PM
Reposted with better coding.
I for one welcome the attempt! O0
Total length of video: 2 minutes and 18 seconds.
Time of actual gameplay shown: 30 seconds.
The look of doubt on my face? Priceless. Doubtful.
I get the doubtful. I have that when I see game advert vids like that. But not for announcement trailers. That's just how it these days.
Oh, I have no doubt or faith either way on this. I just welcome the attempt.
Received an e-mail with this Pre-alpha game play video:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeT-TYziqn8&feature=youtu.be
Quote from: Tiamak on July 22, 2018, 01:43:37 AM
Received an e-mail with this Pre-alpha game play video:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeT-TYziqn8&feature=youtu.be
Looks quite promising...!
Reposted with embedded code:
A bit jerky on the troop movement but looks VERY promising!
Quote from: JasonPratt on July 22, 2018, 08:47:59 AM
A bit jerky on the troop movement but looks VERY promising!
Looks good to me. I'll buy anything remotely workable that covers muskets and such. Kap-poof!
Already looks fantastic. Really impressed!
Love the period battle map. Though it suggests that the game is going to have set-piece historical battles rather than possibility of battles anywhere on the strategic map (as in Total War or the previous Seven Years War) -?
That is some seriously impressive website design.
Quote from: sandman2575 on July 22, 2018, 09:40:11 AM
Already looks fantastic. Really impressed!
Love the period battle map. Though it suggests that the game is going to have set-piece historical battles rather than possibility of battles anywhere on the strategic map (as in Total War or the previous Seven Years War) -?
+1. That looks really good. I love that it doesn't look too complicated to play and it looks like
manageable real-time. My hopes have risen considerably!
It does look good. Looks like you can pause it, isn't that a stop button icon, lower right.
Quote from: sandman2575 on July 22, 2018, 09:40:11 AM
Already looks fantastic. Really impressed!
Love the period battle map. Though it suggests that the game is going to have set-piece historical battles rather than possibility of battles anywhere on the strategic map (as in Total War or the previous Seven Years War) -?
That would fit the title, Grand Tactician. I have no complaints -- I like Scourge of War (and its predecessors), Ultimate General, and their ilk.
On the other hand, I never did get Brother vs Brother because what I really wanted was Forge of Freedom 2. So I can understand feeling like this is a step backward.
The game does talk about a Strategic layer to the game,supply lines, managing leaders, railroads, the blockade, etc. Quite interested to see how battlefields will be selected, or generated. Maybe once a Strategic Map is shown, we will be able to figure some more things out.
As a sidenote let me just comment on how frustrating Ultimate Civil War General is. It is a game so close to being a classic, but just falls short. Playing the campaign I had won like 16 straight battles, including a total decimation of the Confederates at Antietam. Well I lose the battle of Fredericksburg because I couldn't race my troops to a victory location in time (had eliminated all the enemy troops), and lose the battle. I'm replaced as commander, and the game is over, LOL. The only reason I keep the game at this point is to play out the individual battles possibly in the future.
"I'm replaced as commander, and the game is over"
Ha! That actually sounds like the real Civil War.
Quote from: RyanE on July 23, 2018, 12:05:04 PM
"I'm replaced as commander, and the game is over"
Ha! That actually sounds like the real Civil War.
Just that part ;)
A new gameplay video came out several days ago, it looks quite interesting to say the least.
The YouTube button above doesn't seem to be functioning, weird.
https://youtu.be/ZRdRLmPcBZw
Definitely got my interest. :notworthy:
Holy crap, how did I miss this one??! Looks interesting.
Quote from: AchillesLastStand on February 24, 2020, 09:18:41 PM
The YouTube button above doesn't seem to be functioning, weird.
https://youtu.be/ZRdRLmPcBZw
Seems to work okay for me (FF is my primary browser)?
Quote from: Martok on February 25, 2020, 12:46:24 AM
Holy crap, how did I miss this one??! Looks interesting.
Quote from: AchillesLastStand on February 24, 2020, 09:18:41 PM
The YouTube button above doesn't seem to be functioning, weird.
https://youtu.be/ZRdRLmPcBZw
Edge, tried it several times. Even tried following the instructions in the support section for posting YT videos and didn't work. Thanks for posting it btw.
Seems to work okay for me (FF is my primary browser)?
Been following this one too, looks really cool. It's the second effort from the guy who did the seven years war game a while back that some here had played.
This is looking promising. The original release was supposed to be late 2019, but now it's Summer of this year.
Quote from: Skoop on February 25, 2020, 12:54:52 PM
Been following this one too, looks really cool. It's the second effort from the guy who did the seven years war game a while back that some here had played.
I never played the previous game you mention, but didn't it get some bad press because of an overly complicated economy to micro-manage? The 4 minute mark of the video for this new game shows a long list of goods, i.e. sugar, coffee, etc. and their prices giving me concerns that this game might have the same issues. Otherwise it looks quite good and as a fan of the ACW I remain interested to see how this develops.
I watched the two part Perryville replay on Youtube and the battlefield was quite detailed. Hard to imagine they have modeled the entire country to that level of detail. So I'm wondering if a campaign battle takes place at a location where there was no historical battle if the map will be randomly generated, or show the actual terrain.
Yes you are right, I think the dev took all that feedback into account for this game.
Someone else asked about maps and the devs posted the following answer:
Quote...the maps are hand drawn and auto generation is not possible. There will be historic maps at the appropriate locations and also a number of non-historical ones to randomly pick. Also the number of maps will increase post-release.
Definitely looking forward to this game. O0
Hi Praise in this blog
QuoteSo far we have not shown the game to outsiders of the development team, except in the official updates like these dev blogs. But when a renown strategy game designer Philippe Thibaut asks to have a look at the game... Well, you show the game!
http://www.grandtactician.com/thecivilwar/blog/articles/guest-blog-philippe-thibaut
Quote from: fabius on May 29, 2020, 11:51:53 AM
Hi Praise in this blog
QuoteSo far we have not shown the game to outsiders of the development team, except in the official updates like these dev blogs. But when a renown strategy game designer Philippe Thibaut asks to have a look at the game... Well, you show the game!
http://www.grandtactician.com/thecivilwar/blog/articles/guest-blog-philippe-thibaut
Been following this for a while now....can't remember the last time I was this excited about a new game.
Yeah, think this one could rocket fuel reignite my interest in US Civil War.
My most highly anticipated game of 2020! Can't wait for this one!
Wow! Have I seen this before? I don't think so. Man alive this game looks absolutely fantastic.
I don't throw out "day 1 purchase" lightly, but this certainly feels like that kind of game.
And it looks like it's coming out much sooner than I expected -- "mid-late summer"
https://steamcommunity.com/app/654890/discussions/0/1638675549010918375/ (https://steamcommunity.com/app/654890/discussions/0/1638675549010918375/)
I'm not a Civil War buff, but this looks absolutely fantastic. EDIT -- I guess I channeled Toonces, because I wrote that and then saw he had written pretty much the exact same thing !
I really can't wait for this game. I noticed Philippe has quite the nice website with a lot of interesting products. Maybe I can find something there to keep me busy until Grand Tactician comes out!
This has been at the very top of my wishlist for a long time.
Beta Battle Game Play: Gettysburg
Quote from: al_infierno on July 03, 2020, 11:41:19 PM
Beta Battle Game Play: Gettysburg
Watched it all. Really impressive stuff.
What is obvious is that this is no clickfest.....the battle has time to develop naturally and with lots of time to think even without using the pause key (which for me given my aversion to RTS battles is quite something !)
As a battle simulator is is amazing but when you consider that this system, as well as being able to be used to replay individual stand alone engagements is also integrated into a whole ACW strategic game the scale is mind blowing.
I've no real interest in the ACW, but I might get this just because of the game design.
Quote from: Father Ted on July 04, 2020, 05:46:10 AM
I've no real interest in the ACW, but I might get this just because of the game design.
My thought exactly.
Grand Tactician now has a release date of August of August 21st, where it will release into Early Access.
Steam page hasn't been updated yet.
I've asked about this directly, but it's worth noting that at the time I write this the price is 39.99 for everyone, regardless of regional currency differences.
39.99 USD is actually ~34 EUR, so us Europeans will technically be paying more for the game unless they decide to adjust their pricing.
Quote from: WargamerJoe on July 21, 2020, 04:20:31 AM
Grand Tactician now has a release date of August of August 21st, but it's heading to Steam Early Access first.
Steam page hasn't been updated yet.
thanks but a clarification please. will early access start on august 21 or will early access be sometime prior to august 21st with full release on august 21st?
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on July 21, 2020, 05:30:18 AM
Quote from: WargamerJoe on July 21, 2020, 04:20:31 AM
Grand Tactician now has a release date of August of August 21st, but it's heading to Steam Early Access first.
Steam page hasn't been updated yet.
thanks but a clarification please. will early access start on august 21 or will early access be sometime prior to august 21st with full release on august 21st?
never mind, just saw the tweet....it will start early access on august 21.
I've updated my post anyway as you're right, it is worded a bit weirdly! Apologies.
Thanks for the head's-up Joe. :notworthy:
Great news.
This could be a total triumph if it achieves its aims.
My concern is that we have only seen scripted tactical batttles so far.......the crux will be if they can get the strategic side balanced and well integrated.
Fingers crossed.
The Total War guys should have done ACW a long time ago. Glad to see an indie stepping into the gap. Hopefully the game will do transition from tactical to strategic well.
Quote from: ArizonaTank on July 22, 2020, 09:22:00 AM
The Total War guys should have done ACW a long time ago. Glad to see an indie stepping into the gap. Hopefully the game will do transition from tactical to strategic well.
This title is promising depth that Creative Assembly have never even attempted. The Total War franchaise has in my opinion largely abandoned the serious wargaming crowd for a more mainstream audience whereas this looks to have done the opposite. I share your hopes !
Me too. :dreamer:
If this game is a success I would give anything for them to use their game model and engine on a European of a similar era, like the Franco-Prussian War or the Crimean War.
If my memory serves, back when they first announced themselves it seemed liked it was a toss-up whether they'd go down the ACW route or the Napoleonic route. They may have even run a poll on it to try and decide, not sure.
Clearly you yanks wanted to spoil it for everyone and voted for the minor, uninteresting conflict that is the ACW.
On a serious note, if they had the will to do Napoleonics all those years ago, hopefully they may return to it (or something similar) once The Civil War is out the door.
Quote from: WargamerJoe on July 22, 2020, 11:28:33 AM
If my memory serves, back when they first announced themselves it seemed liked it was a toss-up whether they'd go down the ACW route or the Napoleonic route. They may have even run a poll on it to try and decide, not sure.
Clearly you yanks wanted to spoil it for everyone and voted for the minor, uninteresting conflict that is the ACW.
On a serious note, if they had the will to do Napoleonics all those years ago, hopefully they may return to it (or something similar) once The Civil War is out the door.
Given that at least one of the developer's of this offering has already released his interesting but ultimately flawed Seven Years War game I imagine the chances of a European follow up are pretty high. The issue of course is that with the ACW diplomacy and all of its minefields of credibility v flexibility for the player can be pretty much ignored whilst Europeans being expert backstabbers and master's of subterfuge would require a big investment in a diplomatic mechanism that made sense :).
Having said all of that a game based on this engine for either a Napoleonic or Seven Years War in Europe era would be phenomenal.....
I could see an American War of Independence conflict fitting in pretty well too.....could that satisfy both Europeans and the colonials ? 😉
Quote from: Gusington on July 22, 2020, 10:58:38 AM
If this game is a success I would give anything for them to use their game model and engine on a European of a similar era, like the Franco-Prussian War or the Crimean War.
One of the developers was the brains behind Seven Years War - which showed a lot of promise but was ultimately quite slow and buggy.
An American Revolution game would be choice!
Quote from: Gusington on July 22, 2020, 02:34:14 PM
An American Revolution game would be choice!
Or World War 2! There are so few! >:D
But, on a serious note, I'd like to see Napoleonic Wars done this way as well.
But yeah, there's a much bigger gap for the Revolutionary War in games. Kind of a surprising one.
If they can nail asymmetrical design - Zulu War.
^YES
Can the War of Jenkin's Ear be far behind? :D
Looks great, especially enjoy the look and design of the game. Thanks for the video links will check them out later. :bd:
I just watched "The History Guy" 1 hour 40 try out.
This is absolutely mindblowing.
It is described as having the best features of Total War, Ultimate General Civil War and Victoria 2.
Gaming heaven. :smitten:
Quote from: devoncop on August 05, 2020, 05:21:18 AM
I just watched "The History Guy" 1 hour 40 try out.
This is absolutely mindblowing.
It is described as having the best features of Total War, Ultimate General Civil War and Victoria 2.
Gaming heaven. :smitten:
I watched parts of it too and agree, it looks incredible. I missed if he said anything about letting the AI handle aspects of the economic part of the game....I was hoping I wouldn't have to scroll the long list of goods to purchase, allowing more time and effort on building brigades, movement, strategy, etc.
I'm like 90% sure he said the AI could/would handle economics. My takeaway was that the economics were more important to keep track of as targets for raids and the like.
And yeah, for the first time ever I'm looking forward to a Civil War game. Probably more than any other game on my summer radar right now. Maybe even 2020... depending on how willing I am to distance myself from the Cyberpunk 2077 hype tsunami.
The map transition is really cool, start from paper looking zoomed out view, and then allow you to drill into google earth like detail with 3d map.
Quote from: Rayfer on August 05, 2020, 06:31:56 AM
Quote from: devoncop on August 05, 2020, 05:21:18 AM
I just watched "The History Guy" 1 hour 40 try out.
This is absolutely mindblowing.
It is described as having the best features of Total War, Ultimate General Civil War and Victoria 2.
Gaming heaven. :smitten:
I watched parts of it too and agree, it looks incredible. I missed if he said anything about letting the AI handle aspects of the economic part of the game....I was hoping I wouldn't have to scroll the long list of goods to purchase, allowing more time and effort on building brigades, movement, strategy, etc.
Yeah you can put all that on automatic if you want to.
This has huge potential. For me the real test will be whether the AI can play well at both the strategic and tactical levels.
Quote from: devoncop on August 05, 2020, 05:21:18 AM
I just watched "The History Guy" 1 hour 40 try out.
This is absolutely mindblowing.
It is described as having the best features of Total War, Ultimate General Civil War and Victoria 2.
Gaming heaven. :smitten:
Yep, watched parts of it and it looks like an instant purchase from me. I presume{?}Fort battles will be auto resolved like Naval?
Got a link or is it up on YouTube?
Pretty good video here. Not sure why it isn't embedding.
You can even change the color of your troops trousers and jackets when you recruit them.
https://youtu.be/GgL1eN1rKaY
Quote from: AchillesLastStand on August 05, 2020, 09:36:46 PM
Pretty good video here. Not sure why it isn't embedding.
You can even change the color of your troops trousers and jackets when you recruit them.
There you are, sir!
Some concerns evident about the AI (unsurprisingly given the stage of the game development and the complexity of the game) but the mechanics and game design look truly unique.
I just hope they can tighten up some of the AI behaviour.
Edit :
The developer has just posted this on the game Steam page :
Watching many of the first previews I could see that people try to play it like a typical RTS. Click every unit and move manually. I can tell you this will be very stressful in a large battle. The best way to play it is to sit back and be the Commander. Meaning playing on Corps or Division level and change only details on brigade level. If at all.
Another point is that most of the streamers have turned off the Fog of War, which is a game-changer IMO when you donĀ“t know where and how many enemies you are facing.
This needs to be borne in mind whilst watching some of the Let's Plays. In effect it seems that by moving units individually it may be breaking the OOB based AI which is why some behaviour may seem odd to some You Tubers. It is certainly evident that some of them have not realised there is a built in orders delay system in the game and are repeatedly clicking on a unit to move and getting frustrated when it does not behave like a Total War unit and react with robot like responsiveness straight away.
Quote from: MetalDog on August 05, 2020, 10:18:53 PM
Quote from: AchillesLastStand on August 05, 2020, 09:36:46 PM
Pretty good video here. Not sure why it isn't embedding.
You can even change the color of your troops trousers and jackets when you recruit them.
There you are, sir!
Thank you!
I tried the advice in the thread about how to imbed YT videos and nothing seemed to work. What am I doing incorrect?
Quote from: AchillesLastStand on August 06, 2020, 12:27:23 PM
Thank you!
I tried the advice in the thread about how to imbed YT videos and nothing seemed to work. What am I doing incorrect?
In your edited post, the only thing that was missing are the [youtube] tags. I think the problem most people run into is not realizing you need to click "Share" and get the shortened link (instead of copying straight from the URL bar), but it looks like you did that.
Quote from: al_infierno on August 06, 2020, 12:30:43 PM
Quote from: AchillesLastStand on August 06, 2020, 12:27:23 PM
Thank you!
I tried the advice in the thread about how to imbed YT videos and nothing seemed to work. What am I doing incorrect?
In your edited post, the only thing that was missing are the [youtube] tags. I think the problem most people run into is not realizing you need to click "Share" and get the shortened link (instead of copying straight from the URL bar), but it looks like you did that.
Weird, all of the tags including YT are non responsive, maybe I need to switch to another browser.
Man this game is looking better and better the more coverage of it I see. Can't wait.
My loins are so moist you could float an Ironclad in them.
That is a truly disturbing image that no brain bleach can erase. Bravo, sir!
:2funny:
Played a fair amount of it as part of the testers team. Love to give a ton of comments but they have a pretty strict NDA. This game is made by a 3 man team who are very passionate about the project. Think of it as made by grogs for grogs.
There's some really cool concepts in the game as you can tell with the campaign and battle system.
This will release soon into early access and is in a good playable state, but there is still much work to be done as with all early access games.
When it goes into EA they shall have my Enfield! And my Sharps! And my Spencer Repeater! And my Colt Dragoon! And my money.
(Yes, I actually own those weapons)
In the same theme, hoping this game's a 20 lb. Parrot and not just a 6 ib. Smoothbore. :coolsmiley:
Battle of Perryville: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cenYrJDs-U
Slash you may be tickled to know that I live across the river from the site of the old Cold Spring Foundry, where the barrels for the Parrot guns were cast and tested. The hill I live on was the testing target and even now 150+ years later, old ordnance is still found. About 25 years ago there was a massive forest fire here set off by lightning which ignited some of it.
How interesting. I would take care gardening then. And maybe burning trash too. :hide:
The Wife does all the gardening :)
Good stuff!
https://www.cshpicone.com/gaming/interviews/strategy-mega-interview
^Nice article. Again, I can't wait for this game! ;D
Impressive game...i hope they add some soundtrack (music).
Quote from: Anguille on August 10, 2020, 02:41:06 AM
Impressive game...i hope they add some soundtrack (music).
There is already a very good soundtrack but for some reason at present it only plays intermittently and at higher zoom levels. I am sure it will be sorted out.
Here is a link to the manual for testers.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xnXTol0TP-4oo3LqdMKNiP-5aCYSGokevH4LXF268YY/edit
Quote from: Anguille on August 10, 2020, 02:41:06 AM
Impressive game...i hope they add some soundtrack (music).
Interesting - practically the first option I select in any new game is music "off".
Quote from: Father Ted on August 17, 2020, 03:32:07 PM
Quote from: Anguille on August 10, 2020, 02:41:06 AM
Impressive game...i hope they add some soundtrack (music).
Interesting - practically the first option I select in any new game is music "off".
+1 In most games I find the music distracting and turn it off.
Quote from: Rayfer on August 17, 2020, 04:10:29 PM
Quote from: Father Ted on August 17, 2020, 03:32:07 PM
Quote from: Anguille on August 10, 2020, 02:41:06 AM
Impressive game...i hope they add some soundtrack (music).
Interesting - practically the first option I select in any new game is music "off".
+1 In most games I find the music distracting and turn it off.
I generally lower it to where it doesn't detract from the game, if possible. If there's no volume control, it generally just gets turned off.
I like when a strategy game has a nice catchy, warbeat-esque soundtrack (or something otherwise fitting) that gets me in the mood to march into enemy territory and start some big fights. I prefer the music to be a bit simplistic and repetitive as to not be distracting, but not so repetitive as to get annoying quickly.
The soundtracks in WarPlan, Field of Glory: Empires, and Dominions 5 all come to mind. They're catchy enough to be fun to listen to on their own, but not too distracting to disrupt your rhythm of play.
Music off. Spotify playlist on. Nothing like grinding your enemies into dust to 'War Pigs,' or, '...And Justice For All.'
Quote from: MetalDog on August 17, 2020, 05:02:07 PM
Music off. Spotify playlist on. Nothing like grinding your enemies into dust to 'War Pigs,' or, '...And Justice For All.'
I'd go with Bolt Thrower's "IVth Crusade" as my preferred "war metal" soundtrack, but I can get behind this sentiment (and awesome classic picks) wholeheartedly :knuppel2: \m/
Atta boy! \m/ \m/
I consider myself pretty well versed in music and I have never heard of this.
Same and same, Gus. Sounds like fairly well enunciated growlcore. I dig the label name in the bottom right hand corner. "Earache my eye! If you don't get up and get ready for school, you're going to have a butt ache!!"
Quote from: MetalDog on August 17, 2020, 07:13:46 PM
Same and same, Gus. Sounds like fairly well enunciated growlcore. I dig the label name in the bottom right hand corner. "Earache my eye! If you don't get up and get ready for school, you're going to have a butt ache!!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJW67QN24SA
O0
The right soundtrack is very important to me. It would like a movie without soundrack.
Some of my favorite games have also fantastic music: Knights of Honor, Civilization VI, Glory of the Roman Empire and Civil War 2: Generals. For the latter, american folk music of the time really helps me dive into the historical period. But yeah, if the soundrack isn't good, like in MOO3, it's better to lower the volume. The first game i had, MOO, didn't have a working sound on my computer so i always played Queen: made in heaven.
The first thing I do with every new game is turn off the music. ;D
Quote from: Geezer on August 18, 2020, 07:15:42 AM
The first thing I do with every new game is turn off the music. ;D
Whereas the John Tiller ACW music is wonderfully atmospheric for me at least so I guess we are indeed all very different :)
The music of Shogun 2 and Medieval 2 (TW) are absolutely epic.
I really like (and turn up) the music in BOA:WIA.
Pillars of Eternity 2! \m/
Nothing beats the first Homeworld
8)
http://www.grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=24757.0
Quote from: Geezer on August 18, 2020, 07:15:42 AM
The first thing I do with every new game is turn off the music. ;D
Yup
I noticed today that the game has the soundtrack for sale separately! (For those people who can't find out how to find and use the music in the folders, perhaps. ;) )
Quote from: devoncop on August 18, 2020, 08:56:49 AM
Quote from: Geezer on August 18, 2020, 07:15:42 AM
The first thing I do with every new game is turn off the music. ;D
Whereas the John Tiller ACW music is wonderfully atmospheric for me at least so I guess we are indeed all very different :)
+1
Early access starts today. Soon, I hope...
Quote from: hellfish6 on August 21, 2020, 09:43:20 AM
Early access starts today. Soon, I hope...
Noon EST according to the chat on Steam. Going to download while I'm working and dig in after my end of day. Hopefully some first impressions tonight.
Just happened to have the day off and the wife is out of the house <:-)
Game downloaded and spent about an hour with it.
First impressions are very, very good. The interface is polished and pretty clean.
But the game is deep, and there is a bunch going on. It will take me a while to learn it. Still, it looks like everything I ever wanted out of a strategic ACW game. Reminds me somewhat of a mix between Matrix's Forge of Freedom and Ageod's Civil War II, and that is a good thing.
Still, very early in my toe dipping, so no idea how the AI holds up, or if ultimately it manages to hold my attention.
My noon appointment cancelled so getting a quick spin.
First impression overall...man I have so had reenactor videos in these games ruined for me after spending over a decade in the hobby going from buck private to officer. Now all I do is nitpick their gear. I couldn't help but yell "FARBS!" more than once.
Liking the initial impressions on presentation and UI. Mechanics seem straightforward.
There are a few formatting resolution issues with ultrawide monitors, so beware on that front. Some stuff is cut off and the toggle to disable the field manual is hidden behind the manual. Also seems to be no way to zoom the OOB screen on an ultrawide and therefore it's nearly impossible to read. I'm sure these will be sorted fast.
Quote from: ArizonaTank on August 21, 2020, 12:19:15 PM
Just happened to have the day off and the wife is out of the house <:-)
Game downloaded and spent about an hour with it.
First impressions are very, very good. The interface is polished and pretty clean.
But the game is deep, and there is a bunch going on. It will take me a while to learn it. Still, it looks like everything I ever wanted out of a strategic ACW game. Reminds me somewhat of a mix between Matrix's Forge of Freedom and Ageod's Civil War II, and that is a good thing.
Still, very early in my toe dipping, so no idea how the AI holds up, or if ultimately it manages to hold my attention.
Got it too but haven't put much time into it yet. The Early Access info detailed in the game makes it very clear there is a lot more to come. It openly states the Campaign AI and balance need work, there are limited saves and limited battle maps, all of which are historical.
This is a definite buy for me but I am going to wait either until full release or further through the Early Access process.
I don't want the inevitable bugs and balancing issues to disillusion me so I fail to return to the game when it is more complete.
This is my mature and considered approach.
This is my grand plan
The chances of it surviving first contact with the enemy (in this case a host of gushing reviews from early adopters like Sir Andrew,Arizona Tank and Rayfer above) are probably not good.
Gentlemen. Consider your responsibilities... ;)
Well I will admit sometimes it's fun to watch a game grow and change (Factorio, Oxygen not included), at least when the developer continues to work, support and communicate with the fans and customer base.
Then you get the games that arrive on EA have a strong 2-3 weeks of sales along with developer communication and then becomes vaporware. I've bought a couple of those games too.
Got to finally get to work and get on my 2:30 call, but I will say, I've seen finished Civil War Grand strategy games in worse shape than this EA title.
It's very polished for what it is. Clearly a ways to go in some areas, but I'm so far impressed, even if the videos have Farbs.
I feel like I'm going to have to buy this game and some beer, and settle in for a long, long night.... :coolsmiley:
Me too!
So I've definitely had some bugs, the UI went missing on me, a CTD, and I don't know how some of the mechanics work (I upgraded the rifles of most of the Union Army... not sure if/how/when it is actually implemented and the units get new weapons). I'm trying to standardize my army on one rifle, one carbine and a couple of artillery pieces for the bonus.
But overall it's fun. Definitely don't buy into this if you're on the fence - give it at least a few weeks for the most egregious bugs to be fixed. It's largely holding to its promise of being the be-all and end-all of ACW games.
Downloaded and poked around for a bit. Good first impressions. The game looks great. And it appears to be the first game I've seen at this scale to have an actual, relevant Shenandoah Valley.
I can confirm the ultrawide issues. Menus cut off at 3440x1440. Looks fine at 2560x1440, albeit with black bands on the edges. Hopefully that will be fixed.
I'm encouraged.
Grand Tactician ACW sounds very interesting. I was a big fan of Sid Meier's Gettysburg and I bought Ultimate General Civil War while waiting for this. I would like to wait until the game is a little more finished but each positive review makes it more difficult to wait ....... Looking forward to more impressions of the game.
Quote from: MOS:96B2P on August 21, 2020, 05:31:25 PM
Grand Tactician ACW sounds very interesting. I was a big fan of Sid Meier's Gettysburg and I bought Ultimate General Civil War while waiting for this. would like to wait until the game is a little more finished but each positive review makes it more difficult to wait ....... Looking forward to more impressions of the game.
^This
A question. Is/will there be mp?
Quote from: ArizonaTank on August 21, 2020, 12:19:15 PM
Just happened to have the day off and the wife is out of the house <:-)
...
That is the greatest gift a wife could give to her man. Ladies take note. LOL
Quote from: devoncop on August 21, 2020, 01:14:00 PM
...
The chances of it surviving first contact with the enemy (in this case a host of gushing reviews from early adopters like Sir Andrew,Arizona Tank and Rayfer above) are probably not good.
Gentlemen. Consider your responsibilities... ;)
Was it Napoleon who said all plans go out the window on first contact or something like that?
Eisenhower I think. Nope was von Moltke. maybe both :-\
""No plan survives first contact with the enemy, what matters is how quickly the leader is able to adapt"- Helmuth Von Moltke.
Sorry googled it ;)
But the game does sound interesting. I don't think I have many if at all Civil War Games. I think the only one I have is Civil War Gens 2. :hide:
"No plan survives first contact with the enemy, what matters is how quickly the leader is able to adapt - Helmuth Von Moltke" - Dwight Eisenhower ;)
Quote from: MetalDog on August 21, 2020, 05:33:52 PM
Quote from: MOS:96B2P on August 21, 2020, 05:31:25 PM
Grand Tactician ACW sounds very interesting. I was a big fan of Sid Meier's Gettysburg and I bought Ultimate General Civil War while waiting for this. would like to wait until the game is a little more finished but each positive review makes it more difficult to wait ....... Looking forward to more impressions of the game.
^This
A question. Is/will there be mp?
Found this quote from a developer about a month ago.
"The game will not have multiplayer on release. But we are planning on getting into multiplayer later"
Patch notes are posted on the next patch which should be available in 5-7 days. It includes adjustments to the UI for widescreens.
Battles:
- AI brigades now use fallbacks if outflanked (not only if morale is low)
- increased melee losses
- reworked retreat mechanism away from the enemy
- broken groups are now not taking offensive actions any more
Campaign:
- fixed too high attrition due to rainfall
- fixed non-disappearing empty units, when moving between hierarchies the moved unit remained - in its old group in the background
- opening a main panel now pauses the game
- fixed: fort engagements with annihilated troops led to disappearing UI panels
Others:
- UI adjustment to fit widescreen resolutions
I actually did about a 51 minute first impressions video for this on Youtube, but, well, won't upload. Stuck constantly at 0% processing no matter what I tried. So no good things for anyone.
Sounds exciting but i am going to wait for the final release, don't have time to play this right now.
I was pretty psyched...
(https://i.ibb.co/2Skx8MJ/540313-10150689134196857-1217589311-n.jpg)
I take back everything bad I've EVER said about you SirAndrew. :hug:
Quote from: SirAndrewD on August 22, 2020, 01:18:50 AM
I was pretty psyched...
(https://i.ibb.co/2Skx8MJ/540313-10150689134196857-1217589311-n.jpg)
Does that cooler make you a farb? >:D
Are those regulation Civil War sunglasses and jeans?
Quote from: devoncop on August 21, 2020, 01:14:00 PM
This is a definite buy for me but I am going to wait either until full release or further through the Early Access process.
I don't want the inevitable bugs and balancing issues to disillusion me so I fail to return to the game when it is more complete.
This is my mature and considered approach.
This is my grand plan
The chances of it surviving first contact with the enemy (in this case a host of gushing reviews from early adopters like Sir Andrew,Arizona Tank and Rayfer above) are probably not good.
Gentlemen. Consider your responsibilities... ;)
Also my grand plan
Step 1.) Wait until out of EA.
Step 2.) Spend the money I saved on pre-ordering Iron Harvest.
Step 3.) .....
Step 4.) Profit?
I want to make that above pic of SirAndrew my new avatar but I'm afraid.
Is anyone else finding the UI difficult to navigate around in?
Quote from: steve58 on August 22, 2020, 10:48:05 AM
Does that cooler make you a farb? >:D
It's filled with potted meat and pemmican.
Quote from: Gusington on August 22, 2020, 01:20:31 PM
I want to make that above pic of SirAndrew my new avatar but I'm afraid.
If you use that one how would you be able to use this one...
(https://i.ibb.co/2Nxb5tW/540022-10150688957816857-1079304981-n.jpg)
Oh..wow...well...my video posted..
I know one always must take Steam reviews with a large grain of salt, but it sounds like this game needs to cook a bit. This is certainly an eventual buy, but like Bannerlord I'm thinking letting this simmer a bit isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Quote from: Toonces on August 22, 2020, 05:15:25 PM
I know one always must take Steam reviews with a large grain of salt, but it sounds like this game needs to cook a bit. This is certainly an eventual buy, but like Bannerlord I'm thinking letting this simmer a bit isn't necessarily a bad thing.
It absolutely needs to have a robust save feature. Messed up last night and tried to do my battle impression video in two parts, forgetting that the battles didn't save like the campaign does.
But, yeah, your campaign is going to break and you'll lose your save unless you go and manually back it up occasionally.
That said, I'm finding it a lot of fun. More fun than first iteration of Bannerlord. The difference here is that I'm not sure Bannerlord is ever really going to get where I hoped it would be, and I saw that in some ways right away. This game absolutely has the nuts and bolts already in place. Right now it's just bug smashing, balance, quality of life and UI that needs work, not the wholesale adding of hugely missing features like Bannerlord.
I'll admit that I am wrestling with a refund at this point.....although completely understand it is an early access game and comes with bugs, it also cost $40. Not necessarily "feeling" it right now and does appear to have a number of issues to sort out...but probably the thing that has me the most nervous is the developer's previous game (7 Year War) never really worked out for me so not a lot of positive history to bank on. And from what I understand, the final game will only be roughly 10% more than early access cost so getting a cheaper price for EA is not a major decision point for me.
I just really like the Civil War and "if" the developer is able to pull off everything, certainly would be a dream come true....just have my doubts if it will get there....but I freely admit that is only speculation, nothing to back it up. So I might just refund now and jump back in when I see a lot of the features added and more positive feedback....I'll think on it for another day or two:)
Quote from: SirAndrewD on August 22, 2020, 05:28:50 PM
Quote from: Toonces on August 22, 2020, 05:15:25 PM
I know one always must take Steam reviews with a large grain of salt, but it sounds like this game needs to cook a bit. This is certainly an eventual buy, but like Bannerlord I'm thinking letting this simmer a bit isn't necessarily a bad thing.
It absolutely needs to have a robust save feature. Messed up last night and tried to do my battle impression video in two parts, forgetting that the battles didn't save like the campaign does.
But, yeah, your campaign is going to break and you'll lose your save unless you go and manually back it up occasionally.
That said, I'm finding it a lot of fun. More fun than first iteration of Bannerlord. The difference here is that I'm not sure Bannerlord is ever really going to get where I hoped it would be, and I saw that in some ways right away. This game absolutely has the nuts and bolts already in place. Right now it's just bug smashing, balance, quality of life and UI that needs work, not the wholesale adding of hugely missing features like Bannerlord.
I'm really into the game but as you point out the UI and save functions need work.
Initial thoughts so far after playing for about 3hrs.
I'm experimenting with the '61 campaign as the Union. (I know the developers have said stay away from the '61 campaign but I can't. Therefor I will limit my comments to just general impressions and not focus on obvious bugs that the devs are working on.)
Font size - need to be bigger. My old eyes can't see everything because the print is too small. I'm running the screen resolution at 1900xwhatever the next number is you get the point.
No tooltip popups where they are needed most - Meaning when I hover over text in a unit card I can't get additional information regarding why I'm losing so many men to non combat related causes.
Lag - The software code needs optimization in order to have the game run smoother.
The game is fun despite the problems - There is really a hidden gem in this game once all the bugs are worked out. The game is very deep but not difficult to grasp. Some mechanics have no documentation yet but once things are better explained this game will be fun.
No naval battles controlled by the player - Naval battles are auto resolved.
My recommendation is stay away until out of EA or at least until most of the game is polished before actual release. I knew what I was getting into but my gut feeling is to help support the devs. That is the main reason why I decided to purchase. If this game does indeed survive to maturity it will be epic. I'm willing to gamble my 40 bucks on the game but you may not agree. Go with your gut on this one. If you think you should wait then wait.
I concur, my $40 was dev support. The game needs a lot of work, but as I said, I've seen games in far, far worse shape in EA.
I'm mostly going to have fun with this possibly doing more videos and getting my history fix using this game to talk about history. Teaching is well in my rear view but I still enjoy doing it and miss it.
I really wish I was physically able to reenact again! Games like this awaken that spark in me.
Quote from: W8taminute on August 22, 2020, 09:02:35 PM
Initial thoughts so far after playing for about 3hrs.
I'm experimenting with the '61 campaign as the Union. (I know the developers have said stay away from the '61 campaign but I can't. Therefor I will limit my comments to just general impressions and not focus on obvious bugs that the devs are working on.)
Font size - need to be bigger. My old eyes can't see everything because the print is too small. I'm running the screen resolution at 1900xwhatever the next number is you get the point.
No tooltip popups where they are needed most - Meaning when I hover over text in a unit card I can't get additional information regarding why I'm losing so many men to non combat related causes.
Lag - The software code needs optimization in order to have the game run smoother.
The game is fun despite the problems - There is really a hidden gem in this game once all the bugs are worked out. The game is very deep but not difficult to grasp. Some mechanics have no documentation yet but once things are better explained this game will be fun.
No naval battles controlled by the player - Naval battles are auto resolved.
My recommendation is stay away until out of EA or at least until most of the game is polished before actual release. I knew what I was getting into but my gut feeling is to help support the devs. That is the main reason why I decided to purchase. If this game does indeed survive to maturity it will be epic. I'm willing to gamble my 40 bucks on the game but you may not agree. Go with your gut on this one. If you think you should wait then wait.
I agree with all your points detailed above. The UI is awkward at best, and needs work. Do you have any insights as to what to do with the Goods and Trade, and Production screens? All in all it has the start of being a truly great ACW game.
I got it and found it difficult to get going. I'm likely to put it aside until the devs or somebody on Youtube makes it easier to get started. It's a little overwhelming from my coddled, 2020 perspective.
Quote from: glen55 on August 23, 2020, 01:13:56 PM
I got it and found it difficult to get going. I'm likely to put it aside until the devs or somebody on Youtube makes it easier to get started. It's a little overwhelming from my coddled, 2020 perspective.
This YouTube, 3 video series helped me get started on an 1861-start Union campaign. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-dBoiyz_5M
Rayfer
I'm still trying to figure out what to do with the trade and production screens as well. I've left them to be automanaged by the AI but I'm sure there is some information there that can be of use. Maybe even be manipulated by the player such as building/upgrading factories and farms but I haven't figured it out yet.
Quote from: W8taminute on August 23, 2020, 04:12:47 PM
Rayfer
I'm still trying to figure out what to do with the trade and production screens as well. I've left them to be automanaged by the AI but I'm sure there is some information there that can be of use. Maybe even be manipulated by the player such as building/upgrading factories and farms but I haven't figured it out yet.
Exactly....! I didn't see where either one had an auto-manage button like the Finance tab does? May putting Finance on auto-manage includes goods and trade, and production as well?
Quote from: Rayfer on August 23, 2020, 01:25:34 PM
Quote from: glen55 on August 23, 2020, 01:13:56 PM
I got it and found it difficult to get going. I'm likely to put it aside until the devs or somebody on Youtube makes it easier to get started. It's a little overwhelming from my coddled, 2020 perspective.
This YouTube, 3 video series helped me get started on an 1861-start Union campaign. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-dBoiyz_5M
Thanks, I didn't look at that one because the 1861 campaign is said not to be finished, but if the video goes over general gameplay it would still be worth looking at, I think.
Won my first battle in the 1861 campaign as the Union! Whoo hoo!
It was my 4000 infantry backed up by 7 six pound guns vs. his 2000 infantry, 300 cavalry, and 8 six pound guns. I had 964 losses against his 650 but after I wiped out his arty he fled.
I also noted that in order to get the war going you have to select the policy called "Volunteer service 3 months" or some such policy. Doing that with Lincoln as president caused the war to begin.
I watched a U-Tube video tonight about the game by TortugaPower. In the video his commander ordered a detached unit to take an objective. A horse & rider appeared on the field and rode out from the main force. The messenger on horse back rode over to the detachment and delivered the new orders. Until the new orders were received the detachment continued to march in a different direction. I thought the messenger thing was very cool. I wonder if the messengers can be intercepted? Maybe killed or captured?
Quote from: MOS:96B2P on August 23, 2020, 10:18:41 PM
I watched a U-Tube video tonight about the game by TortugaPower. In the video his commander ordered a detached unit to take an objective. A horse & rider appeared on the field and rode out from the main force. The messenger on horse back rode over to the detachment and delivered the new orders. Until the new orders were received the detachment continued to march in a different direction. I thought the messenger thing was very cool. I wonder if the messengers can be intercepted? Maybe killed or captured?
I like that feature too, but I'm not sure if they can be killed or captured. You can turn off 'order delay' in the options menu if you want your brigades to immediately do what you order them to do.
One thing I like about the messenger system even though it means delayed orders is that it recreates the uncertainties of battle. This is not Total War with a USCW skin on it. In fact the battles do not feel like Total War at all. I imagine however if you remove the option for order delay the game would still be different from the Total War series.
Big update today. Details on Steam. Appears to me it is not compatible with prior saves. Also it is suggested you do a 'file integrity' check. I did and found 7 files that needed updating, which Steam did automatically.
Edit: Update broke the game for me and many others. Crashes to desktop and 'program not responding' issues prevent play. I hope the developer addresses this soon, it is an engaging game.
Ouch! Damn that's tough. Sounds like there's still lots of work to be done. #:-)
It's improved a ton since Thursday for those that the latest patch is stable for. I've found the battles to play out much better.
UI is also very improved.
Quote from: SirAndrewD on August 26, 2020, 10:53:28 PM
It's improved a ton since Thursday for those that the latest patch is stable for. I've found the battles to play out much better.
UI is also very improved.
That's good to know because I was enjoying the game before the update. I'm sadly one of those who are having issues.
Game ran fine for me after yesterday's update however I ran into an 'old' bug where your campaign save game got wiped out if you exit a battle. This happened on a fresh 1862 campaign that I started post new patch. :(
Apparently they did a quick fix update. I'm back up and running again with no problems.
How are things going with the game? Anything new or interesting?
Quote from: MOS:96B2P on September 05, 2020, 08:27:56 PM
How are things going with the game? Anything new or interesting?
There have been a couple of updates with improvements recently. There is another expected within the next few days. The 1861 campaign is still mostly unplayable and is the target of some of the fixes coming in the next few days. The 1862 start is playable but still needs work. I suspect it is still a long ways off from a full release. Steam has long, itemized lists of all the update changes, too much to detial here.
Quote from: Rayfer on September 05, 2020, 08:32:44 PM
Quote from: MOS:96B2P on September 05, 2020, 08:27:56 PM
How are things going with the game? Anything new or interesting?
There have been a couple of updates with improvements recently. There is another expected within the next few days. The 1861 campaign is still mostly unplayable and is the target of some of the fixes coming in the next few days. The 1862 start is playable but still needs work. I suspect it is still a long ways off from a full release. Steam has long, itemized lists of all the update changes, too much to detial here.
Okay, thanks. I went over to Steam and looked around. If I can keep from buying it until at least Halloween .... ;D
The developer has been busy with fixes and updates. Still a long ways off from full release but he added another 1861 campaign starting in July (the original, still available, had a late February start). He is starting work on the economy/production/goods and trade aspects, which so far have not been covered much at all.
It sounds very promising. :D
Another big update yesterday on Steam.
Latest Patch 0.7505
Uploaded Sept 23, 2020:
Campaign:
- fixed: dummy commanders always start with attribute values zero
- fixed: commanders do not take over status and attributes from battle back to campaign
- fixed: suitable commanders not shown for replacements
- fixed: Go-West policy increases support in Arkansas instead of Arizona
- reworked campaign finish
- pause button now suspended when renaming units
- fixed: ships without tech constructable when deactivating checkmark "tech available"
- fixed: forts that are set to be removed at a certain date are removed when reloading a saved game after this date
- stopping armies in campaign now does not stop subordinates
- fixed: perk selection sometimes selected wrongly (if a different perk was selected before)
- fixed: ship to construct is added to fleet instead of pool if a ship was created for a fleet before
- added further commander pictures
- added further soldier images
- fixed: "2nd battle crash"
- fixed newspaper messages popping up for policies that are not active
- fixed: repeating policy newspaper messages after battles
- double assigning of commanders is not possible any more
- non-arrived units cannot be merged any more
- navy commanders can now not be commander in chief any more
- filter prefs are now saved
- retreating units cannot be stopped any more
- shorter retreat distances
- game stays paused if leaving menus/newspaper (if it was paused by player before)
- fixed: trade agreements are not recognized
- surrendered units now disappear from campaign map
Battles:
- added new 3D models for maps
- sunrise now in the east
- retreating units cannot be stopped any more
- fixed: no music is being played if battle is won
Other:
- improved scene loading speed
- added new commander pictures
I'm happy to see that they are still working on the game. I haven't touched it in a while but I so want this game to succeed. Keep going strong Grand Tactician!
Looks like they are still making improvements to Grand Tactician. Another patch was released on 13 October.
Quote from: MOS:96B2P on October 18, 2020, 09:00:48 AM
Looks like they are still making improvements to Grand Tactician. Another patch was released on 13 October.
It's slowly but surely coming together. But still a long way to go.
Ok so I fired up the game over the weekend in response to the new patch that some YouTubers are saying have changed the game drastically since early release.
I played for about 3 hours or so in addition the 8 I had put in a few months ago. I've come to the conclusion that while this is a good game it is nothing more than building up armies in a strategic layer and then watching them duke it out on a tactical layer. While the economy and industry are very deep in this game there really isn't much the player needs to do to affect them. Simply spend money and build up your armies then send them out and watch the fights begin.
I'm bored. Next game please...
Quote from: W8taminute on November 23, 2020, 09:40:17 AM
Ok so I fired up the game over the weekend in response to the new patch that some YouTubers are saying have changed the game drastically since early release.
I played for about 3 hours or so in addition the 8 I had put in a few months ago. I've come to the conclusion that while this is a good game it is nothing more than building up armies in a strategic layer and then watching them duke it out on a tactical layer. While the economy and industry are very deep in this game there really isn't much the player needs to do to affect them. Simply spend money and build up your armies then send them out and watch the fights begin.
I'm bored. Next game please...
Unfortunately, I have to agree. Deleted it yesterday after playing a few hours with the newest update. But I'll definitely go back at some future time when there is more to it than what you posted.
Sad to hear. :'(
Quote from: Rayfer on November 23, 2020, 10:11:47 AM
Quote from: W8taminute on November 23, 2020, 09:40:17 AM
Ok so I fired up the game over the weekend in response to the new patch that some YouTubers are saying have changed the game drastically since early release.
I played for about 3 hours or so in addition the 8 I had put in a few months ago. I've come to the conclusion that while this is a good game it is nothing more than building up armies in a strategic layer and then watching them duke it out on a tactical layer. While the economy and industry are very deep in this game there really isn't much the player needs to do to affect them. Simply spend money and build up your armies then send them out and watch the fights begin.
I'm bored. Next game please...
Unfortunately, I have to agree. Deleted it yesterday after playing a few hours with the newest update. But I'll definitely go back at some future time when there is more to it than what you posted.
Yeah I think I'll delete it off my drive as well. I will like you say keep my eyes out for when the finished product is completed. I still support these guys but I'm done for now.
Quote from: Sir Slash on November 23, 2020, 12:13:54 PM
Sad to hear. :'(
Yeah. If you haven't done so already save your money on this one.
Doesn't GTACW have stand-alone historical battles, apart from the strategic layer? If the strategic layer is a bust and/or the interfacing of the strategic layer with the dynamic battle layer is a bust, is the historical battle layer by itself still worthwhile?
I haven't tried the stand alone historic battles so I can't really comment but I will say this. I enjoy the tactical battle system of this game in campaign mode. So I would think the historical battles would be enjoyable.
I just went ahead and picked this up.
What can I say? I'm a ACW fanboy, I have to give this a try at least!
I'll be interested to hear your impression of the game.
For those still playing/interested in this game, there was a substantial update by the developer today on Steam. To much to post here, but it is a huge step in the right direction. Areas impacted include policy selection options as well as building and weapons upgrades of armies.
I continue to watch this with interest but will wait for final release.
Feedback seems very positive on latest patch.
What's the consensus on the AI?
I think the game is pretty good. The AI needs some more work but it's miles better than it was.
And the developers are quick to patch any glitches. Best ACW game out there for me.
Looks like I'm reinstalling this bad boy.
I bought this a few weeks ago, but have only just booted it up and played a single battle for a few minutes. I hang my head in shame for not giving this more time and being able to post impressions.
I can definitely say it's a very pretty game, but beyond that, I got nuttin'. :-[ Hopefully I can dig into this game some more this week.
Quote from: devoncop on February 28, 2021, 04:39:33 PM
I continue to watch this with interest but will wait for final release.
Feedback seems very positive on latest patch.
Same here
The real question, before I waste extremely valuable and limited time on re-installing this game, is now that the game has been patched is there anything to do now other than march troops around a pretty map and then watch them shoot each other?
Quote from: W8taminute on March 01, 2021, 04:56:46 PM
The real question, before I waste extremely valuable and limited time on re-installing this game, is now that the game has been patched is there anything to do now other than march troops around a pretty map and then watch them shoot each other?
Policy decisions and recruitment are huge parts of the game. Recruitment and organisation of armies and the officer Corps always were...... but National decisions are much more nuanced and less clear cut since the recent patch according to players who already have the game.
Quote from: W8taminute on March 01, 2021, 04:56:46 PM
The real question, before I waste extremely valuable and limited time on re-installing this game, is now that the game has been patched is there anything to do now other than march troops around a pretty map and then watch them shoot each other?
I think you may just have argued computer wargaming out of existence...
^ LOL!
Quote from: Father Ted on March 01, 2021, 05:40:07 PM
Quote from: W8taminute on March 01, 2021, 04:56:46 PM
The real question, before I waste extremely valuable and limited time on re-installing this game, is now that the game has been patched is there anything to do now other than march troops around a pretty map and then watch them shoot each other?
I think you may just have argued computer wargaming out of existence...
I thought that too when I read it but decided to give him the benefit of the doubt ! ;)
Quote from: devoncop on March 01, 2021, 06:31:07 PM
Quote from: Father Ted on March 01, 2021, 05:40:07 PM
Quote from: W8taminute on March 01, 2021, 04:56:46 PM
The real question, before I waste extremely valuable and limited time on re-installing this game, is now that the game has been patched is there anything to do now other than march troops around a pretty map and then watch them shoot each other?
I think you may just have argued computer wargaming out of existence...
I thought that too when I read it but decided to give him the benefit of the doubt ! ;)
:2funny:
Here's a great take on this game. Early in a Confederate campaign. This guy knows his stuff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pn7LlYpQin4
If anybody knows how to convert that into a link, please do so. I'm old, not tech savvy and
frankly, not that bothered.
Quote from: gregb41352 on March 01, 2021, 09:32:00 PM
Here's a great take on this game. Early in a Confederate campaign. This guy knows his stuff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pn7LlYpQin4
If anybody knows how to convert that into a link, please do so. I'm old, not tech savvy and
frankly, not that bothered.
The quick way to do it is to hit the Share button on YouTube and copy the shortened link.
I'm going to check out that video. I've watched some of that YouTubers content before and I agree he is good and he knows his stuff.
But before I watch that video it seems my question has been answered. I won't be re-installing the game.
Oh well, maybe the video will convince me otherwise. Don't get me wrong I really want to like this game but so far for a grand strategy game there really isn't much to do other than push troops around that you have recruited and dressed up in pretty uniforms. LOL!!
Was so super keen for this.
Then saw the early access plays.
Close to pulling the trigger now. Then saw that AI not producing Art for it's armies.
It's looking very close to the good enough line, but not quite there yet.
Quote from: fabius on March 03, 2021, 07:08:25 AM
Was so super keen for this.
Then saw the early access plays.
Close to pulling the trigger now. Then saw that AI not producing Art for it's armies.
It's looking very close to the good enough line, but not quite there yet.
I agree but with such an ambitious project and such a small development team I can see absolutely no reason to jump in until the full release and after some respected reviews are out.
I can put up with a slightly sub par UI if necessary for a game such as this and even in EA the game achieves many ground breaking things but a deficient AI or game breaking bugs are a total deal breaker.
In the case of Grand Tactician, patience is your friend.
Yeah. The AI is a big one.
I bought his first 7 Years War game. And as impressive as that is for a first, and one man effort. The AI made campaign battles a null experience.
Plus, I think the EA price is the same as full release will be. Could be wrong on that
That said, this one is going in the right direction at an impressive pace. I'm not a million miles away from getting in.
To be fair, the devs problem for building an AI in a game like this is huge. I remember twenty years ago the common wisdom was that nobody could ever build a strategic/operational/tactical game because the complexity needed for the multiple level AI.
Then Shogun: Total War blew that common wisdom out of the water.
But even then, many games in the genre have tried and failed...usually just at one level.
For example, HOI III is decent enough at the operational level, but sometimes makes real bonehead mistakes at the grand strategy level. Then there were games like Histwar Les Grognards that tried mightily to provide a multi-level AI, but failed at all the levels.
For a WWII game for example. Its would be one thing for a robo-Monty to go trouncing the human German player in North Africa. But the strategic game would go to pieces (and therefore the entire game) if while it was pushing hard in Egypt, the AI forgot to garrison England's beaches, and patrol the channel.
So I hope the dev is working hard on making the AI right at all of the levels. I would offer to them that at this stage, AI is more important than additional graphics and eye candy. Failure to get the AI right will be a sure path into a Humble Bundle at the $1 level.
Alrighty then. I spent about 2 hours with this tonight.
First off, the game is beautiful. I absolutely love the maps with the army icons on them. I've personally never seen a game do it quite like this and I'm wondering why it took so long because it's bloody brilliant.
I played a couple of historical battles (well, tonight part of two battles) and I did boot up the campaign.
The historical battles felt pretty good to me. Just like Scourge of War, it's quite a bit like herding cats. You get this idea of what you want your troops to do, but it never quite looks exactly like what you had in your mind. This is both fascinating and aggravating at the same time.
The orders delays suck, just like they should.
The AI in the single battles put up a reasonable fight IMO, at least for someone as unskilled as me.
I'm struggling a bit with the way orders are implemented. I kept searching for ways to be more specific with my orders, like telling a group to go somewhere and "defend." There are icons that can be selected for a number of things, but determining how to actually give the orders was not intuitive. I did watch the tutorials, but didn't feel like that really explained things. I'm definitely going to have to go on YouTube to watch some Let's Plays to see how to make the functions work. Compared to SoW I really felt a lack of ability to explain what I wanted my troops to do. Still, the battle was tense, a complete mess, and just when I thought I was going to win, reinforcements showed up that certainly would have defeated me before I could reorganize my troops into a cohesive defense. Good stuff.
The campaign map was utterly bewildering. I'm not sure how anyone can make a judgement about the strategic depth without investing some serious hours into this game. Perhaps if you're an HOI veteran then the strategic map makes sense. I was just completely lost. I clicked around a bit to see what all the shiny buttons do, but I have always sucked at the strategic level anyway.
Overall, while I didn't see anything inherently wrong with the game, I can understand the consistent conclusion that this game has a lot of potential, but still feels unpolished. Take this with some grain of salt as I'm not the best at Grand Strategy games. But it felt rough to me, in a way that's hard to articulate. Having said that, for $40 I think playing just the single battles from both sides will be a worthy investment. If I can ever figure out the strategic layer then the game is a no-brainer. Still, it won't be for everybody. Some interest in the subject matter would help a lot.
I guess I'd say that if you're an ACW buff like me, this game is worth jumping into. I think it will eventually set the standard in the same way Scourge of War did.
If you're lukewarm on ACW, well, it still seems to be a very interesting wargame approach. 40 clams is not life-changing money to me, but it does buy a lot of tacos so...
Put another way, Carrier Battles 4: Guadalcanal was (I think) $30, with no strategic layer and just a handful (maybe 10 or so?) single battles, playable from both sides.
Grand Tactician has the same number of single battles, playable from both sides, plus a strategic layer that looks very in-depth and complex, for only $10 more. From a value perspective, this seems to be a better buy.
Obviously I have to have both, but I think it's worth pointing out that Grand Tactician is at a pretty fair price point compared to other games, for what you get out of the box, IMO.
Cheers for that Toonces....
One of the clearest assessments I have read from someone who like myself is no strategic or tactical genius but enjoys the setting of a game and has a decent knowledge of the actual history.
I think it is almost inevitable I will pick this up on release and no one can doubt the hard work and constant updating that is going into the game in Early Access. Reading the Steam forum comments the consensus is that while it is still a work in progress the game is improving in leaps and bounds and as you point out the scope and ambition are mindblowing and it does indeed look gorgeous.
I hate to be so equivocal on a game, you know?
I think, for me, I'm becoming increasingly overwhelmed by grand strategy games. There was a time when I grooved on them, but lately I find myself drawn to games with a tighter scope. For example, while I'm a huge fan of WitP:AE, I strongly prefer, now, a tighter focus on one strategic area. This is why I'm so interested in getting Uncommon Valor again. Similarly, while I'd like to play an entire campaign in Scourge of War, I have no real desire to zoom out to managing the entire war effort for the U.S. of C.S.A. Just a bit zoomed out...let me manage the Gettysburg campaign, but I don't want to manage all of the theaters around it.
It seems (I haven't played long enough) that Grand Tactician does allow for these battles to go on for multiple days. Theoretically that could increase the tactical scope over something like SoW. But it doesn't seem that there's an option to, say, play 1862 eastern theater only for example.
There is a layer between what GT is, and the tactical battles, that I wish existed...that pesky operational layer which is really where I feel most comfortable. It could be in GT, but if so I didn't come across it just yet.
For me the game is worth it just for the potential, but I'm a ACW fan. If the subject matter was WW2 or some obscure 19th century war, I'd be far less enthusiastic.
Yeah WITP and even HOI are far beyond my organisational ability even though I admire some of the mechanics.
In HOI the issue is worldwide realtime fighting.....totally ridiculous even with pause abilities. In WITP the micromanagement load even given it is turn based is too much.
I think on the slowest setting Grand Tactician looks manageable as the numbers of armies and fronts is much less than WW2 but it will definitely take some learning. The History Guy You Tube presentations are fascinating and I will continue to follow the games progress.
The flavour and immersion in the game seems second to none.
Please STOP making me want this game! :dreamer: You know how weak I am. Not looking anymore, not looking. :hide:
Yeah, I gave up on HoI when I realized that there was virtually no way to follow--much less influence--the outcome of battles. Lots of great concepts in there, but the RTS component just really bogs down in a larger setting.
That's one reason I continue to prefer TBS to RTS Strategy. Maybe that's just another way of saying, "I'm getting old." ;D
+100 :DD
It's not even done and it's the best US Civil War game that exists.
It's just going to get better.
Just buy it, you can do worse than supporting work like this with your money, even if it doesn't pan out.
We don't get games like this anymore so dang it just...don't hesitate on it.
Quote from: SirAndrewD on March 10, 2021, 01:43:41 AM
It's not even done and it's the best US Civil War game that exists.
It's just going to get better.
Just buy it, you can do worse than supporting work like this with your money, even if it doesn't pan out.
We don't get games like this anymore so dang it just...don't hesitate on it.
+1 I'm enjoying this game more than any other in quit awhile. The latest updates have made many improvements across the board.
So I'm reading the entire manual for Forge of Freedom intending to fully get into that game again after putting away for a long time, but was wondering how Grand Tactician's status is now? It is pretty well fully playable in early access or still needs quite a work of it yet?
I haven't played GT for a couple of months, but the last time I checked the naval/amphibious game felt a little underdeveloped. Not that it won't get there, but at the time it needed some attention from the developer, who, to be fair, is working on what could be an epic USCW game.
^ Yeah, I really haven't given it the go I should have given my interest in the subject matter. I did play out the Gettysburg scenario and really, really enjoyed it. But I haven't tried the campaigns at all yet.
Large update/patch available today on Steam, 4.5 GB's. Long list of fixes to the campaigns, battles and other misc. stuff.
6 minute update video on where the game stands as it nears full release. Game has come a long way since going early access. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8ApinRLXEU
Fingers crossed for a great game. :smitten:
I've been messing around with it recently. It is much better now than it was in October. I think it will be a winner
[edit: for those interested, History Guy Gaming is doing a Union campaign using the most recent patch(es). It is up to 11 episodes now, but may give you an idea of how the game plays. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qvzWuSPC4o ]
Quote from: Tripoli on July 10, 2021, 10:55:09 AM
I've been messing around with it recently. It is much better now than it was in October. I think it will be a winner
[edit: for those interested, History Guy Gaming is doing a Union campaign using the most recent patch(es). It is up to 11 episodes now, but may give you an idea of how the game plays. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qvzWuSPC4o ]
Thanks for posting the link Tripoli.... :notworthy: I'm into #1 now and see that's it's well done.
Quote from: Tripoli on July 10, 2021, 10:55:09 AM
I've been messing around with it recently. It is much better now than it was in October. I think it will be a winner
+1....really happy with the way the dev has stuck with it....
can't say the same for many games out in early access land...
Now I'm tempted.
But on a scale from Panzer Corps to WITP AE how hard is it to learn ?
Quote from: Pete Dero on July 10, 2021, 03:03:24 PM
Now I'm tempted.
But on a scale from Panzer Corps to WITP AE how hard is it to learn ?
Its not particularly hard. With that said, I don't think they've published a manual, and there are only 2 tutorial videos thus far. When I play, I'm spending a lot of time just trying to figure out the "buttonology" I assume that on release there will be a manual and that will help a lot. It is definitely easier than WITP AE
The game is leaving Early Access and will be released on September 21st. I've been watching this game for quite a while now and haven't bought it yet, but I'm super interested now that the release date is close.
This day, August 21, 2021, marks a full year of Grand Tactician: The Civil War (1861-1865) in Early Access. That release, a year ago, saw the game receiving already positive comments from the game media, even as the game was far from finished. Now, after one full year of further development, the game has finally received a release date:
September 24, 2021!
(1800 UTC, which is 1400 Eastern / 1100 Western US time, 1900 Central European)
Grand Tactician: The Civil War (1861-1865) initial Early Access version vs. version 1.0:
3 --> 5 campaign scenarios (Pre-War 1861, Summer 1861, 1862, 1863, 1864)
10 --> 16 historical stand-alone battle scenarios (1st Manassas, Wilson's Creek, Pea Ridge, Glorieta Pass, Shiloh, Perryville, 2nd Manassas, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Chickamauga, Olustee, Wilderness, New Market, Bentonville, Appomattox)
Over twice the number of battle maps
Over 1,500 historical commanders
Improved performance and stability
Improved battle and campaign AI
Improved game play balance in battles and campaign
Updated and scalable User Interface (UI)
Improved information in form of addition tooltips and in-game manual ("Field Book"), an external manual, and tutorial videos.
Grand Tactician release notice (https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/654890/view/2961666917073538055)
Yeah, I need to sit down and do a full campaign with all the latest additions. Should be really fun now. Like forge of freedom with better graphics.
Leaving early access next month. https://www.pcgamesn.com/grand-tactician/release-date
The developers, who have continued to update and improve the game since it's release,
dropped a major patch updating from sprites to 3D. It looks pretty cool.
I know some have issues with this game but I've just compared it to Ageod's Civil War 2
and honestly there is no comparison. My opinion Grand Tactician is the best Civil
War game ever made. Never had much use for Ultimate General but I was (and am)
a big Ageod fan so saying that their Civil War game has been surpassed is a big deal.
Quote from: gregb41352 on December 05, 2021, 03:23:41 AM
The developers, who have continued to update and improve the game since it's release,
dropped a major patch updating from sprites to 3D. It looks pretty cool.
I know some have issues with this game but I've just compared it to Ageod's Civil War 2
and honestly there is no comparison. My opinion Grand Tactician is the best Civil
War game ever made. Never had much use for Ultimate General but I was (and am)
a big Ageod fan so saying that their Civil War game has been surpassed is a big deal.
+1 My sentiments exactly. Love the game.
Nice comments guys. I'm going to have to check out the new 3D units. I really like this game but the only thing from me saying this is better than AGEOD's Civil War 2 is the fact that there really isn't much to do wrt to building up the economy in Grand Tactician.
I feel that Civil War 2 doesn't allow for control of battles on a tactical level but you can micromanage the economy whereas Grand Tactician is the exact opposite.
The 3d units are a real game changer.
Maybe I'm nuts but they seem a lot more responsive on the map too.
This game keeps getting better and better. Truly what I've always wanted in a Civil War Grand Strategy game.
I always thought forge of freedom was the best all around civil war game and this game is similar to that as you get the strategic and tactical levels represented.
Quote from: Skoop on December 06, 2021, 08:25:00 PM
I always thought forge of freedom was the best all around civil war game and this game is similar to that as you get the strategic and tactical levels represented.
Yeah, I really enjoyed Forge of Freedom. Real forgotten gem.
The tac battles were a bit weak but fun and I really liked how they worked with the strategic layer.
GT really captures that feel on a much bigger level. Still hoping for a bit more in the way of maps in the future but that's apparently on the way.
I seriously have to invest some time learning this game. I played out the Gettysburg single scenario and thoroughly enjoyed it. However, when I booted up the campaign I was utterly overwhelmed....seriously need to RTFM on this one.
Quote from: Toonces on December 06, 2021, 09:36:25 PM
I seriously have to invest some time learning this game. I played out the Gettysburg single scenario and thoroughly enjoyed it. However, when I booted up the campaign I was utterly overwhelmed....seriously need to RTFM on this one.
It's worth it and not as bad as it seems.
If you can penetrate something like War in the East 2 or similar ilk it's childs play.
Heck, I can play it well enough through my middle aged, near sighted alcohol soaked goggles.
It's also improved a lot across every iteration.
Quote from: Toonces on December 06, 2021, 09:36:25 PM
I seriously have to invest some time learning this game. I played out the Gettysburg single scenario and thoroughly enjoyed it. However, when I booted up the campaign I was utterly overwhelmed....seriously need to RTFM on this one.
Try out the new in-game tutorial it is very well done!
How's the AI in the game? I've been reading posts on Steam that there is some issues with it. Otherwise I'm getting close to buying it.
Quote from: Tanaka on December 08, 2021, 04:37:33 AM
Quote from: Toonces on December 06, 2021, 09:36:25 PM
I seriously have to invest some time learning this game. I played out the Gettysburg single scenario and thoroughly enjoyed it. However, when I booted up the campaign I was utterly overwhelmed....seriously need to RTFM on this one.
Try out the new in-game tutorial it is very well done!
Took a quick look and loaded the tutorial. You're right, it is really well done. it's for battles but I didn't see a tutorial for the strategic layer....did I just miss it??
edit: found it, there is a campaign tutorial...haven't tried it yet.
"History Guy Gaming" has been doing some play throughs on Grand Tactician for awhile. They are entertaining and well done (He is also the guy who did the in- game tutorials). His youtube channel is here, and is worth a look if you are trying to decide whether or not to buy the game:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsJCJD1tAzTZ1eUUiskH-9w
^I'll second that suggestion. History Guy Gaming is not only informative but also entertaining.
Quote from: Tripoli on December 10, 2021, 11:37:14 AM
"History Guy Gaming" has been doing some play throughs on Grand Tactician for awhile. They are entertaining and well done (He is also the guy who did the in- game tutorials). His youtube channel is here, and is worth a look if you are trying to decide whether or not to buy the game:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsJCJD1tAzTZ1eUUiskH-9w
Well that did it......... I bought the game. There is a LOT of cool stuff here. I'm still learning everything, reading the manual, watching more videos and playing the tutorial. So far I'm very impressed. I also like that the developer seems to continue to work on the game and make improvements.
Showed up for the grand tactics, but stayed for the soundtrack. Hot dog this game is fun to listen to!
Love the map in this game. The artwork is fantastic and the map shows a lot of information while being easy to browse and find what you need. No idea how this thing actually works but I'm having a blast listening to it and looking at the pretty artwork.
New patch out on Steam....patch notes say the emphasis was on the strategic and tactical battle AI....!
Quote from: Rayfer on January 21, 2022, 11:10:49 AM
New patch out on Steam....patch notes say the emphasis was on the strategic and tactical battle AI....!
I love the fact that the devs are working on AI. I think there is never too much they can do in this area.
Too many games work on eye candy and "life" improvements, or even worse, new features that the AI doesn't know how to use. They do this because these things are easy wins. While AI development is hard work so it gets scant attention.
But the effect of this AI neglect is that pretty soon the human player learns how to exploit holes in the AI and the game drifts off the players hard drive.
A good AI is what keeps me playing...and buying the devs future games.
Occasionally, I bump into an AI that does something that is brilliant (or at least appears that way)...those are the games I keep in my heart...
Completely agree with you Tank and the fact that they didn't just release the game and forget about it.
There have been numerous post-release patches.
Also much more likely to buy future releases from them. Long ago, an American Revolutionary War
game was mentioned but I haven't seen anything recently as to future projects these guys might undertake.
Update patch 1.05 hit today on Steam...downloading it now. Lots of fixes but also more AI improvements and an emphasis on army and fleet management.
Does anyone know of a more barebones version of the manual? I want to print it out but all the pretty parchment background will waste a TON of ink.
So I sees this one is now available on Epic Games. On sale for ~$38 (same as Steam) minus another 25% (25% off coupon) for a grand total of ~$28. So many games, so little time :( :-\
I was going to use my coupon to grab it from Epic but many of the reviews I read on steam say it still needs work.
Another huge update hit Steam on 6/3 revamping the economic aspects of the game, as well as some tactical battles enhancements. The game is quite playable as is and the developer has been doing fixes, updates, etc. on a regular basis.
Ooooh. Did you say they revamped the economic system? I may have to look into this.
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on June 05, 2022, 09:44:24 PM
I was going to use my coupon to grab it from Epic but many of the reviews I read on steam say it still needs work.
The Steam reviews are 1311 total ratings with 1043 positive, 268 negative ratings. Recent ratings are "mostly positive" (33 ratings) with an overall rating of "very positive". (1264 ratings). According to my profile, I've played it for 53 hours (actually, my game time is probably 33% of that, as a lot of that time is me mowing the yard while the game is on. :D With that said, here's my take on the game:
BLUF: The game is worth buying now. While it still needs some work, it is far advanced from what is was in early access, and the small team responsible is continuing to work on it and make regular updates. IMHO, that is in and of itself a reason to continue to support them. But more than that, this small team is putting together one of the best strategic-level USCW games out there, along with a pretty good tactical engine. Frankly, the scope of what they are tying to do is pretty impressive, and the fact that they have already accomplished a significant portion of their vision is an incredible feat.
Moving on to the game itself: The operational-level AI is pretty creative. You sometimes get surprised by sudden appearances of enemy forces on flanks where you didn't expect them (think Chancellorsville-type surprises). The fact that experienced gamers occasionally get surprised by the AI (which does not cheat), is a testament to the thought and effort that the developers have put into this title. With that said, the AI in the tactical battles is okay, but could use some improvement. The AI forces still tend to bunch together too much, although less than in earlier releases) I've just started playing a new game, using the economic system, and it appears to be pretty good, illustrating some of the supply bottlenecks (for instance in Niter and Salt) that hampered the CSA and USA effort. THe new system is also making naval blockades more important than earlier versions of the game.
Other strong points are that you get to organize your armies the way you want to fight. You can create your TO&E for your units and pick their leaders according to the strategy that you want to follow. Armies need to rest, resupply, reorganize and recover before they can move, recreating some of the glacial pace at which operations occurred during the period. Weather, fatigue, training, leadership, order delays, logistics are all modeled reasonably well.
The one thing I would like is an option for more random assignment of leadership characteristics, to reflect the difficulty that both Lincoln (and to a lesser extent Davis) faced when selecting commanders. Similarly, I would like a political system that gave more incentive to use political and not military considerations when selecting leaders or making economic decisions.
If you aren't sure, take a look at the "History Guy Gamer" play through of the game. He's been playing it for awhile now.
His most recent playthrough here is using the new update with the new economic model. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UZ9zRYl_eU&list=PLgYUpdX_kl3dHjKDQan2MDYioAh9knU8Q
It's now on sale on GOG for 25% off. :)
Quote from: Tripoli on June 06, 2022, 08:01:35 AM
If you aren't sure, take a look at the "History Guy Gamer" play through of the game. He's been playing it for awhile now.
His most recent playthrough here is using the new update with the new economic model. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UZ9zRYl_eU&list=PLgYUpdX_kl3dHjKDQan2MDYioAh9knU8Q
I watched the first two vids and I'm interested. The strategy level with the tactical zoom level looks like a really immersive experience. It would be great if there was a WW2 grand strategy game like this.
Steam has this one on sale until the 17th for ~$36...
Quote from: Tripoli on June 06, 2022, 08:01:35 AM
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on June 05, 2022, 09:44:24 PM
I was going to use my coupon to grab it from Epic but many of the reviews I read on steam say it still needs work.
The Steam reviews are 1311 total ratings with 1043 positive, 268 negative ratings. Recent ratings are "mostly positive" (33 ratings) with an overall rating of "very positive". (1264 ratings). According to my profile, I've played it for 53 hours (actually, my game time is probably 33% of that, as a lot of that time is me mowing the yard while the game is on. :D With that said, here's my take on the game:
BLUF: The game is worth buying now. While it still needs some work, it is far advanced from what is was in early access, and the small team responsible is continuing to work on it and make regular updates. IMHO, that is in and of itself a reason to continue to support them. But more than that, this small team is putting together one of the best strategic-level USCW games out there, along with a pretty good tactical engine. Frankly, the scope of what they are tying to do is pretty impressive, and the fact that they have already accomplished a significant portion of their vision is an incredible feat.
Moving on to the game itself: The operational-level AI is pretty creative. You sometimes get surprised by sudden appearances of enemy forces on flanks where you didn't expect them (think Chancellorsville-type surprises). The fact that experienced gamers occasionally get surprised by the AI (which does not cheat), is a testament to the thought and effort that the developers have put into this title. With that said, the AI in the tactical battles is okay, but could use some improvement. The AI forces still tend to bunch together too much, although less than in earlier releases) I've just started playing a new game, using the economic system, and it appears to be pretty good, illustrating some of the supply bottlenecks (for instance in Niter and Salt) that hampered the CSA and USA effort. THe new system is also making naval blockades more important than earlier versions of the game.
Other strong points are that you get to organize your armies the way you want to fight. You can create your TO&E for your units and pick their leaders according to the strategy that you want to follow. Armies need to rest, resupply, reorganize and recover before they can move, recreating some of the glacial pace at which operations occurred during the period. Weather, fatigue, training, leadership, order delays, logistics are all modeled reasonably well.
The one thing I would like is an option for more random assignment of leadership characteristics, to reflect the difficulty that both Lincoln (and to a lesser extent Davis) faced when selecting commanders. Similarly, I would like a political system that gave more incentive to use political and not military considerations when selecting leaders or making economic decisions.
If you aren't sure, take a look at the "History Guy Gamer" play through of the game. He's been playing it for awhile now.
His most recent playthrough here is using the new update with the new economic model. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UZ9zRYl_eU&list=PLgYUpdX_kl3dHjKDQan2MDYioAh9knU8Q
Thanks for the great overview of where the game is now! I know that the consensus on Early Access was "rough but promising" and so I've been waiting to see if it got the polish and attention it needed and it certainly sounds like it! With AGEOD games no longer working well on modern hardware, I've been itching to try something new in the USCW!
You can't go wrong owning this game, it's really good.
The devs have stayed pretty committed to updating it and keeping it in a good state before moving on to another project.
fyi: on sale at Steam for $33.74 (https://store.steampowered.com/app/654890/Grand_Tactician_The_Civil_War_18611865/) until 12/19
I bought it at Green Man today for ~31.00, fyi.
O0
Definitely a solid buy! I haven't invested nearly enough time in it, but there is absolutely a lot of game in there.
Quote from: steve58 on December 12, 2022, 02:58:40 PM
fyi: on sale at Steam for $33.74 (https://store.steampowered.com/app/654890/Grand_Tactician_The_Civil_War_18611865/) until 12/19
A whole bunch of good game in there for that price!!!
Quote from: Gusington on December 12, 2022, 03:46:38 PM
I bought it at Green Man today for ~31.00, fyi.
Are you sure? I don't see the game listed on GMG.
This is still on my to-buy list...
Hopefully, with the latest updates, and ongoing support it would be a good buy.
Achilles - yep. It may be a geographic thing. Maybe not available wherever you are.
Quote from: Gusington on December 13, 2022, 07:37:01 AM
Achilles - yep. It may be a geographic thing. Maybe not available wherever you are.
I am in USA and in Ohio, I don't see it either. Do you have a direct link to the purchase page? I forget which game in the past, but I had an issue where using GMG site search I couldn't find it, but somehow got a direct link which I could. It was weird. I already own the game so this is more out of curiosity as to why shows for some:)
....for a $1.73 difference...? ::)
I'm pretty sure I saw it on GMG yesterday as well. Today, poof. Just poking around on the GMG site, I see some of the game deals have a countdown timer and some seem to have limited keys. Odd...
Quote from: steve58 on December 13, 2022, 09:29:11 AM
I'm pretty sure I saw it on GMG yesterday as well. Today, poof. Just poking around on the GMG site, I see some of the game deals have a countdown timer and some seem to have limited keys. Odd...
Maybe....they might have had a limited amount of licenses. But weird, in the past when they ran out of stuff, the item would stay and just say out of stock. Mystery.....
Sorry at the office today so I can't get a link right now. I'll try later at home.
YOU GOTTA BELIEVE ME!!
Quote from: Gusington on December 13, 2022, 10:16:26 AM
Sorry at the office today so I can't get a link right now. I'll try later at home.
YOU GOTTA BELIEVE ME!!
(https://i.imgflip.com/2iqwsg.jpg)
But I can't find it either #:-).
I do have access to the receipt and it was indeed from Green Man, 31.99US.
Very strange, i have bought a bunch of games on GMG and have never seen Grand Tactician listed. Will just get it on Steam as the price difference is nil. How is the learning curve for this? Noticed it had an extensive manual.
FYI the first DLC for this has been announced, Whiskey and Lemons.
Looks to be a deep dive into the Valley Campaign based on the name and description. An entirely new Eastern Theater focus map with Regimental level command.
Should be interesting.
Indeed. Thanks for the head's-up Sir Andrew.
Wake me up when he does a Nappy DLC
It will be a complete separate game for a Napoleonic version which would be great too. Getting this game in a steam sale is a no brainer if you haven't already.
You know what would be interesting with this engine, a Mexican War dlc, but that might be treading on separate game territory as well.
How is this game now? I've been following it for a long time, but haven't bought it yet. I like to read the gamer reviews, but some are praising the game while others say it has problems.
Quote from: WallysWorld on July 05, 2023, 04:24:08 PMHow is this game now? I've been following it for a long time, but haven't bought it yet. I like to read the gamer reviews, but some are praising the game while others say it has problems.
I like it. Check out VTH gaming site on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/@TheHistoryGuy/playlists. He has done a lot of Grand Tactician. I think his most recent campaign as the Union is here: https://youtu.be/3UZ9zRYl_eU?list=PLgYUpdX_kl3dHjKDQan2MDYioAh9knU8Q
Quote from: WallysWorld on July 05, 2023, 04:24:08 PMHow is this game now? I've been following it for a long time, but haven't bought it yet. I like to read the gamer reviews, but some are praising the game while others say it has problems.
Every game has problems.
I'm not aware of a Civil War game that's had this level of scope and ambition that's come as close as this one has to actually achieving it.
It's worth having if you have an even passing interest in the subject.
I think the game is one of the best there is on the subject.
IMHO it is more simulation than game, and this may turn some folks off.
For example, the game pretty accurately models the difficulty both sides had in mobilizing for war. The early scenario starts in February '61, and it certainly takes until May or June before the Union can have even a basic army ready to field. This long draw up to battle may put some folks off, but it is realistic. Logistics and strategic transportation nodes are vital (like Cairo Illinois for example). It takes a while to move and keep your troops fed.
IMHO if you want to better understand the grand strategy and operational challenges of the Civil War, there is no other game like GTACW (AGEOD's Civil War II comes close). If you want to play a game...then Strategic Command ACW (by Sliterine) is probably a better choice.
It's interesting...waited a long time for this game and bought it on release as the civil war is my favorite topic. Never have been able to get into it. Anytime I tried to play out a tactical battle, never felt right to me so was hard to get past that to even appreciate its other qualities.
Seems like I am in the minority on this....
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on July 05, 2023, 07:35:43 PMIt's interesting...waited a long time for this game and bought it on release as the civil war is my favorite topic. Never have been able to get into it. Anytime I tried to play out a tactical battle, never felt right to me so was hard to get past that to even appreciate its other qualities.
Seems like I am in the minority on this....
If you haven't tried it lately the tactical battles are significantly improved from release. They took major strides after they switched to 3d models over sprites.
Quote from: SirAndrewD on July 05, 2023, 07:51:01 PMQuote from: Grim.Reaper on July 05, 2023, 07:35:43 PMIt's interesting...waited a long time for this game and bought it on release as the civil war is my favorite topic. Never have been able to get into it. Anytime I tried to play out a tactical battle, never felt right to me so was hard to get past that to even appreciate its other qualities.
Seems like I am in the minority on this....
If you haven't tried it lately the tactical battles are significantly improved from release. They took major strides after they switched to 3d models over sprites.
I have tried after each update and still doesn't seem right to me...again could just be me and not clicking.
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on July 05, 2023, 07:57:44 PMI have tried after each update and still doesn't seem right to me...again could just be me and not clicking.
Eh, it happens. I've been largely like that in Eugen games.
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on July 05, 2023, 07:57:44 PMI have tried after each update and still doesn't seem right to me...again could just be me and not clicking.
I can see that. It took me a little bit of time, and some trial and error before I became used to the tactical battles.
I agree, this is currently the best civil game in active development. The engine is really unique and I'm guessing they will be applying it to other periods of history, like for example, Grand Tactician Crimean War ?
Purely speculative on my part as the devs are still working on the civil war title dlc that will add an rpg element where you play the campaign from the point of view of a regimental / brigade commander.
Forge of freedom was the only game I've played that was similar.
Also, if the tactical battles don't feel right, try playing with the settings. You can turn down the command restrictions and courier delays so that it plays like a total war rts. Also use skirmishers liberally.
For me not about the settings, the battles just seemed off and ai was kind of all over the place. Made odd decisions and seemed pretty easy regardless of the situation because of it.
Certainly others having a much better time which is great, just not what I had hoped for.
Grand Tactician: Crimean War would get my money yesterday.
Quote from: Skoop on July 06, 2023, 11:07:23 AM...
Forge of freedom was the only game I've played that was similar.
...
I'll argue that Forge of Freedom is probably the best strategic and operational TBS USCW game ever. Don't get me wrong, I like GTACW but it took a while for me to appreciate its nuances.
With Forge of Freedom, however, I can play a turn based tactical battle (even hotseat), build buildings in cities, produce units in cities, and form divisions, corps, armies. The only thing lacking is turn based naval battles.
Even AGEOD ACWII doesn't compare. It's convoluted engine where things are calculated for the player under the hood is a wretched mess. I've tried desperately to want to like that game but no one on this planet could explain to me the precise mechanics on how supply works, battles are fought, morale, etc.
I really like FoF so that's why I'm sort of hesitant to buy GT. I figure that other than the outdated graphics, FoF can do just a good of a job as GT can. Still thinking about it. Appreciate the replies.
Quote from: WallysWorld on July 06, 2023, 12:34:21 PMI really like FoF so that's why I'm sort of hesitant to buy GT. I figure that other than the outdated graphics, FoF can do just a good of a job as GT can. Still thinking about it. Appreciate the replies.
FoF's tactical AI was a mess. They would always try to flank you by marching their army across the front of your lines within firing range.
Regarding AGEOD's ACW2, I loved it and had no trouble with the logistics (that I can recall, it appears I haven't played it since 2017). You had to pay attention to road networks and depots it I recall correctly.
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on July 06, 2023, 11:11:23 AMFor me not about the settings, the battles just seemed off and ai was kind of all over the place. Made odd decisions and seemed pretty easy regardless of the situation because of it.
Certainly others having a much better time which is great, just not what I had hoped for.
Maybe you need to up the difficulty in tactical battles then. I think there's settings to make the AI more aggressive and cunning or more docile, sometimes it's down to the historical traits of commanders. Having said all that, you can dupe the AI like total war matches, like forcing them into a bottle neck and turkey shoot them. I've seen more people complain that the game is punishing in early campaign and get rickrolled by the confederates, which is kind of historical. Give it a whirl though, you'd be missing out if you didn't give the campaign at least one due diligence play through.
Quote from: Skoop on July 06, 2023, 03:22:16 PMQuote from: Grim.Reaper on July 06, 2023, 11:11:23 AMFor me not about the settings, the battles just seemed off and ai was kind of all over the place. Made odd decisions and seemed pretty easy regardless of the situation because of it.
Certainly others having a much better time which is great, just not what I had hoped for.
Maybe you need to up the difficulty in tactical battles then. I think there's settings to make the AI more aggressive and cunning or more docile, sometimes it's down to the historical traits of commanders. Having said all that, you can dupe the AI like total war matches, like forcing them into a bottle neck and turkey shoot them. I've seen more people complain that the game is punishing in early campaign and get rickrolled by the confederates, which is kind of historical. Give it a whirl though, you'd be missing out if you didn't give the campaign at least one due diligence play through.
Thanks but have given it enough of a try. I am just having a different experience than others here which is fine. In the end could be totally me but just not a game that has kept me interested. As they continue to release updates I'll always give it a try to see if anything changes. I realize any ai is not perfect but just didn't seem the ai handled things well that I saw and just didn't connect with it. I appreciate people trying to change my mind but as others said, not every game games with people the same way:)
I love FoF to death, but it sure had a ton of quirky quirks!
For no good reason, though, I was never able to get into its predecessor (Crown of Glory?) about the Napoleon Wars (even the Emperor Edition, somewhat upgraded to Forge standards), which in theory should be even better due to the scope.
Quote from: JasonPratt on July 07, 2023, 09:05:33 AMI love FoF to death, but it sure had a ton of quirky quirks!
For no good reason, though, I was never able to get into its predecessor (Crown of Glory?) about the Napoleon Wars (even the Emperor Edition, somewhat upgraded to Forge standards), which in theory should be even better due to the scope.
Lots of quirky quirkiness in both of those games but I love them. I could never figure out how to build up your economy in Crown of Glory Emperor's Edition. But the land and naval battles were fun.
Although unlikely I get it, the new dlc is scheduled for release on august 25 fir those interested.
I will certainly get the DLC day one.
Even though the two dev videos below did not really inspire me much...
It's not that they are bad...the DLC just seems luke warm. But maybe I'm wrong :Dreamer:
Quote from: ArizonaTank on August 05, 2023, 11:00:18 AMI will certainly get the DLC day one.
Even though the two dev videos below did not really inspire me much...
It's not that they are bad...the DLC just seems luke warm. But maybe I'm wrong :Dreamer:
...
Like you, I'll get it because I want to support the developers. I think they did a great job with Grand Tactician. However, the Whiskey and Lemons concept just doesn't grab me.
Quote from: Tripoli on August 05, 2023, 11:51:03 AMQuote from: ArizonaTank on August 05, 2023, 11:00:18 AMI will certainly get the DLC day one.
Even though the two dev videos below did not really inspire me much...
It's not that they are bad...the DLC just seems luke warm. But maybe I'm wrong :Dreamer:
...
Like you, I'll get it because I want to support the developers. I think they did a great job with Grand Tactician. However, the Whiskey and Lemons concept just doesn't grab me.
Yeah I'm more interested in the new patch that fixes stuff than creating my own character...
I was thinking about this the other day, they should add a quick battle generator where you can set up your own one off battles. There's actually an insane amount of units and weapons, many times you don't even see them in the campaign.
Want to try out 1860s French vs British, set one up in the battle generator. Want to see if a Calvary brigade armed with winchesters and Gatlings could stop pickets charge, try it out in the battle generator.
Also, I'll probably get the dlc and give it a play through, it's a cool concept. I much rather would have a Mexican war dlc or Crimean war dlc, but those maybe new stand alone efforts.
Whiskey and Lemons DLC releases today....saw it being $24.99 with a 10% release discount.
I have never said this before about a game. But I am also looking forward to the release of the expanded soundtrack.
The band Wasel and the Weasels (despite being Finnish) has really captured the era IMHO and I actually bought the first soundtrack DLC. I look forward to the soundtrack from Whiskey and Lemons as well.
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on August 25, 2023, 07:39:59 AMWhiskey and Lemons DLC releases today....saw it being $24.99 with a 10% release discount.
I was looking forward to this dlc but $24.99 seems high. :tickedoff:
I'll have to look more at the regimental gameplay that's added with this.
I remember a while back everyone trying to get copies of scourge of war before they disappeared and the main point was that it models civil war down to the regiment.
Well now here you go Regiments are now modeled in grand tactician.
My first character is a "outrageous, psychopathic, individualist fire eater."
Sounds appropriate.
Not the Balder's Gate thead! :evil:
Scourge-o-War will be back eventually, and it still has its place as live tactical 1st/3rd person action, including especially for multiplayer.
Nice that GranTac is down to regiments, tho! That's better than Forge of Freedom which drilled down to the brigade level for its battles.
Seems like initial feedback a little rough on this one.......was hoping this dlc might have made things click for me so will see how it goes
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on August 25, 2023, 06:00:42 PMSeems like initial feedback a little rough on this one.......was hoping this dlc might have made things click for me so will see how it goes
Oh yeah. The battles are quite the mess on this version.
Whatever warts the game system may currently have, at least the designer/developer cares about trying to get things right. That's a lot more than some of the others out there, and for that reason alone I'm willing to support him and buy the new DLC, even though the only thing about it that really interests me are any bug fixes that happen to be included. Perseverance should be rewarded.
Quote from: Philippe on August 25, 2023, 07:40:17 PMWhatever warts the game system may currently have, at least the designer/developer cares about trying to get things right. That's a lot more than some of the others out there, and for that reason alone I'm willing to support him and buy the new DLC, even though the only thing about it that really interests me are any bug fixes that happen to be included. Perseverance should be rewarded.
100% agree.
They've been a bit back and forth on versions and yeah, they're going to have to sort the battle AI on this one. They had it right for a bit and now it's a hot mess of blobbing and individual units going to their deaths.
But yeah, they've had it a bit better in previous patches and they'll hopefully get it ironed out soon. The game has too much potential to just write it off.
Not seeing it as available on GOG for some reason.
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on August 25, 2023, 10:21:15 PMNot seeing it as available on GOG for some reason.
Says on their release info that Epic and GOG would follow shortly after Steam....no idea what shortly means
Quote from: Skoop on August 05, 2023, 01:06:37 PMI was thinking about this the other day, they should add a quick battle generator where you can set up your own one off battles. There's actually an insane amount of units and weapons, many times you don't even see them in the campaign.
So I've been investing some time in this game (finally) and I re-read this thread from the first post. Very interesting to see my own posts from 3 years ago!
I bought the Whiskey and Lemons DLC figuring that would give me more incentive to do the grand campaign, which I still find overwhelming. And I did watch the tutorials.
Given my short time with the W&L DLC, it does feel...I don't want to say unfinished. It's just that, when you're some low-level knucklehead, and your commander decides to settle in for 5 days of nobody doing anything, you're kind of set on 20x speed for some indefinite period of time. At first I was sort of stoked on a CK2 element to the game, but so far it's been underwhelming. I spent a good hour just watching the clock tick off at 20x tonight - not fun gaming. Eventually I booted up the Gettysburg scenario again. Very good! I like the fact that it expands over multiple days, which gives some substance to your decisions. I didn't like that as the bad guys I lost for some unknown reason, apparently my army's morale broke, even though I had those pesky federals on the fence. I had a great pincer going, I thought! Could be another RTFM moment.
My thoughts from 2021 are still relevant. I struggle with the inability to control my units' movements with more fidelity at the brigade level. While I'm cool with orders at the higher levels of the CoC, I'm still having trouble communicating what I want done.
The campaign is just...hard. Too much for me. I said this before and I say it again - you gotta invest the time to get it. I haven't.
BUT, the game really is beautiful, and the scaling from the map to the unit level is just amazing. I totally feel it's worth the money. It's just...there's a lot going on. But geez, the Battle of Gettysburg makes a LOT more sense tonight, having played it out as the bad guys. It's easy enough to force the Federals onto the outskirts of Gettysburg, but getting them off those hills is a real bitch.
Edit: The reason I quoted Skoop is that I agree: this game desperately needs a quick battle generator!!!