To End All Wars - First Impressions

[Reiryc]

Not getting EAW yet due to time/money constraints but hope to in future. I did in the past play "Commander The Great War" and wondered if anyone on here who also played that game and has now bought EAW could comment on how the two games compare? Thanks

Have both and enjoy both very much.

They are 2 very different styles of playing the great war. I'd say commander is more of a lite wargame in that there are few details and the units are more generic. Still great fun though and am glad I have it.

EAW is more detailed and less control on some of the production but has better feel to ww1 in my opinion. The game is very enjoyable to play but one that requires a larger time investment. For me at least, this larger time investment is enjoyable throughout and i don't find it tedious. Some games that require larger time investments can get tedious but this game doesn't get that way for me.

While I enjoy both and played commander a lot when it first came out, this one has held my interest for much longer (I'm a beta tester so been on this for a looong time) and still am playing it daily.

[Chuske]

Thanks guys. How does the complexity/time commitment of EAW rate compared to AACW1 and AACW2?

[Templer]

Thanks guys. How does the complexity/time commitment of EAW rate compared to AACW1 and AACW2?

Easy to say: Is higher, definitely.

[Ace]

Same/similar system, but with lot more units and with navy component as well

[GlobalExplorer]

Thanks guys. How does the complexity/time commitment of EAW rate compared to AACW1 and AACW2?

approximately the same

[H Gilmer3]

approximately the same

I'd agree.

[animalshadow]

Major Victory, 1915 Early July:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=311669913

Final Battle of Paris, 1915 1st July:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=311670211

I'm really impressed with TEAW, I've tried to start campaign 3-4 times each time failing at Belgium. I've read manual, understood main concept of Corpses and Armies and voila - Victory
All the time and was balancing between 100-105 points, I was very caution on every Turn and it paid off.

That's screenshot of last big battle of Paris, but I had about 3-4 earlier, one time Allied forces even breached encirclement and was in really big trouble, cause south part of front was near collapse and that breakthrough could lead to collapse of north front and total campaign in France.

All the time I was trying to stick with Schlieffen Plan till my forces on the Alsace-Lorraine line successfully defended against Allies which I've used at full on my side and opened second road on Paris from the South-East.

At Serbia I had troubles, but previous campaigns taught me that if you see Radomir Putnik, don't attack Seriously that guy gave lot of troubles. I just secured footholds on the south and on the north waiting till Bulgaria joins CP.
At Eastern Front I had success at the East Prussia and on Austrian line securing Russian 1st line of defence with a big expansion on Kishinev(my hometown )-Odessa way.
Turkish Front - Secured Suez-Alexandria Region with 3 armies and Kuwait with one. Made hude leap at Caucasus. Kars was besieged, while other cities on Erevan way were captured.
I've lost almost all colonies but at huge cost to Allies, raiding their ports and towns trying to capture their forces on the march.
Even assaulted Sevastopol from the sea with Austrian Fleet assistance.

After Major Victory, I've accidentally pressed Next Turn and game continued.
Is it worth continue fighting? I mean, is this made by design or not? Will WE & EE Continue fighting till the end even if Paris is taken and I have 150 points? Have someone tried it?

P.S. Really enjoyed this campaign, thank you AGEod

[Kensai]

Yep, so happy that you had fun. This is a lesson to everyone, if you stick to realistic play, there is no way an AGEOD game won't satisfy you.

animalshadow, I hope you stick around and improve your skils (or even investigate other AGEOD titles). Your potential next challenge could be that on taking on a real human player on a PBEM game.


PS. I gassed Paris as well. Seems a terribly good strategy before the final assault...

[animalshadow]

Yep, so happy that you had fun. This is a lesson to everyone, if you stick to realistic play, there is no way an AGEOD game won't satisfy you.

animalshadow, I hope you stick around and improve your skils (or even investigate other AGEOD titles). Your potential next challenge could be that on taking on a real human player on a PBEM game.


PS. I gassed Paris as well. Seems a terribly good strategy before the final assault...

I've noticed that AI is trying to use Napoleonic Era tactics on the whole period game, AI just build big stacks and trying to give a grand battle, which I did first times too.
This time I've used mobile forces, lot of Corpses near main Armies and it worked well, hope that AI will be fixed soon.
I've tried other titles, really liked AJE, waiting till it be available on Steam to buy Punic Wars expansions. Tried Civil War II, but it's looking too complex to me(gonna revisit it again anyway).

Gassing Paris was a desperate move I gassed one time, about month earlier and enemy forces breakthrough, after that I've managed to fight them, so they returned to Paris, but it was a hard job.

I'm looking forward on PBEM, but waiting for smaller scenarios.

P.S. I've tried RUS, then I've found out about Gold Edition and stopped playing, I just can't play when I know that big is coming up. Waiting for Gold Edition and Steam release and will grab it on the first day.

[John Sedgwick]

It's a stable, well balanced release - no mean feat for a game of such epic scope. EAW is pushing the outer limits of what the engine can do, but not necessarily in a bad way. Seems some corners had to be cut - e.g. starting the German Army in Liege to keep pace with the Schlieffen plan on the first turn - and I must confess I had my doubts, but overall I am extremely impressed by EAW 1.00.

The new interface looks a lot more polished; many icons are slightly larger and easier to interpret at a glance, but it lacks the unique visual character of previous games, and the collapsable button menus feel clumsier than the old UI in terms of number of clicks to select, but I'm getting used to it.

The AI has some kinks to be ironed out, but that's to be expected. I consider it a training opponent for the real show - PBEM!

[Altaris]

It's very nice to read through the comments here. We set out aiming to create a WW1 game which stayed true to the nature of the war, but remaining fun to play as well. As I was playing through the PBEMs in beta, I was very happy with the results we achieved towards these goals.

I love the artwork too, I was just blown away at how nice it all looked the first time I saw the reworked graphics!

[Templer]

I just spread some of the graphics of battleships for a German forum.
This shows clearly how great the artwork of the battleships is, but in contrast, how sad the artwork of the U-Boots.

[animalshadow]

Here goes my 3rd First Impression
Few days ago I've started Western Entente Campaign, after finished Central Powers Campaign.

First of all I've brought all British Colonial Forces(except Africa) to the Belgium(This helped a lot) and started to push with French forces through Ardennes and south part of Franco-German border.
After few big battles I've managed to close pocket at Belgium.

Belgium Pocket: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=313541798

At June 1915 I've managed to destroy all of the main german forces at Belgium. All of the survivors gathered on the west of Liege: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=313543591

On 2nd June they will try to breakthrough: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=313544176
But, king Albert I had his revenge destroying breaking through German forces

Here's a look of Western Front on September 1915: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=313545423

Africa is fully under Entente control.
This poem fully describes how war in Africa went:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIiwjoPqJZE

Eastern front looking good too, East Prussian is almost under Russian Control. Russians had problems at Poland, but now they're pushing out CP forces.
Serbia is looking untouched.

UPDATE:

War was won 1916. Late July

Victory!: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=314079284

Western Front overview: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=314079959

Final Battle of Dresden: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=314079682

[H Gilmer3]

Well... I just finished my first game. I really like this game!! My AAR is over and the Entente won!

I had absolutely no issues with CTDs or lost saved files. I had absolutely no issues with loading a game. I did have an issue of General Pershing going AWOL, (I bet he was in Las Vegas having some fun!!)

I did not feel like there is an entrenchment feeling on the West Front. I am not sure if it is possible to recreate that. This does not take away from the game.

The events, the ones I get to play with decision cards, and the ones that are surprises, add a lot of flavor to the game. The way using chemical attacks for the first time is handled is excellent.

I'll take the experts statements at face value that there are more units in this game than Civil War 2, but it does not feel like there are. I don't think this detracts from the game one way or the other.

I think the forming of armies and corps could be explained better, but it did not hinder me from making armies and corps. I think it was probably surprising to see Foch leading from the front, though, but I felt like I had to use generals like him like that, because they are good generals.

I think the scoring system could be tweaked slightly. Less points for naval battles and a tiny bit more for land battles.

There are the usual text issues, but that does not bother me. Placeholder names instead of what should be the name. Texts overruns on some screens, but not many.

Art - the art is just fantastic. The portraits are excellent. I laugh at people who are unfamiliar with this type of game criticizing the graphics. These graphics are top of the line for a war game of this sort, if you ask me. The map graphics are unmatched.

I doubt Ageod would ever do it, but when you win the game (or lose it) it would be kind of cool to have a video or a slideshow, for instance if you win WW1, you get a slide show of newspapers and even quotes from the leaders. Just something that makes it more immersive. Or a video for an event, like when Paris or Berlin falls. Just a thought, but that would be icing on a very excellent cake, if you ask me.

I wish the display of some things would be spruced up or handled in the tooltip. For instance, when I am sieging a city, a lot of times I have to move them all over to one side to see the level of siege and sometimes if the region is small it is hard to move them around without actually plotting moves to another region. Just a thought.