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Strategic War in Europe

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Vampiro 10 Aug, 2014 @ 4:33pm
A few flaws in an already decent game
Hi :)

I have played this game for a bit now and have discovered some things I like, and some I don't like.

I really enjoy the difficulty, which can be quite high, depending on the chosen nation(s) and scenario, but that you can also adjust it (production points).

Also, the combat system itself works well.

One thing I am uncertain about: Why can units, especially mechanized infantry and tanks, attack multiple times each turn but only once can multiple units launch a coordinate attack. Is that a balancing decision?

You should please update the manual, e.g. the description of the options menu is not correct anymore and it makes me wonder what else has changed in comparison to the original version.

1. The turn-based-system has a couple of flaws.

It is impossible to properly manage the troops of your alliance. If you play, let's say, just England, the US may take up space in Italy that you actually need to withdraw your units (Palermo, Harbour) or launch an attack from multiple fields. If you do control all countries in your alliance you can at least prevent blocking the way, but you still cannot launch joint operations. This is a really big bummer and renders mixed frontlines (e.g. on the Axis side the southern eastern front in the later scenarios) useless, because you cannot attack from multiple fields but the Soviets will.

The same problem applies to air combat.

My suggestion would be to consider splitting the actions into movement/attack etc. and the economic bit (deploying units, research etc.). So, if you play let's say Axis powers, you should be able to move ALL Axis units at the same time. After that, all Axis countries can have their "economic" turn one after the other.

2. According to the (outdated) manual there is a chance your bombers can supply your invasion force. It seems to not be working, even if there are no enemy fighters around and I have air superiority. The only means I could use to supply my troops is ships (how many ships bring how much supply?) and the mulberry harbours.

3. Please add some options that you only see movement etc. when it's actually not hidden in fog of war; currently it can slow down turns so much without any real benefit.

4. Add more tooltips, please.

5. Playing in windowed mode sometimes causes the game to crash. Also, it switches to a low resolution and as a consequence not all information panels etc. can be fully seen anymore.

========

Despite these points that should imho be improved, I think Strategic War in Europe is (already) a good game and worth playing. You just need to adapt to the aforementioned flaws.



Last edited by Vampiro; 10 Aug, 2014 @ 4:36pm
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Stormwoken 13 Aug, 2014 @ 6:51am 
Good points. Most of those have been bothering me, as well.
If you don't mind, I'd add an observation of mine to these: when you attack through your allies' territory, everything you conquer will be awarded to your allies instead of you (happened to me in Italy and Balkans/Greece playing as Germany).
#1
Vampiro 13 Aug, 2014 @ 9:33am 
Thanks! Please feel free to chip in!

Have not yet noticed this issue, mainly because I did invasions with England, defended with Axis (1944 Scenario) and did 2 or 3 runs with Germany starting in 1939 and 1940 I believe (meaning I did not control the future Axis-members). Plus one short attempt as France ;-D

The system that the territory goes to the country from which the unit moved is a bit annoying (it applies to Hearts of Iron, too), I agree. In HoI you would have to, by way of example, parachute from Africa to get Gibraltar and use Nationalist Spain to assisst. A solution in Strategic War might be to give the territory to the country whose unit moved in the enemy territory.
#2
Stormwoken 13 Aug, 2014 @ 11:36am 
Thanks. This could, perhaps, become a bit of a bug-report/suggest feature thread =)
I believe the territory thing was done in order not to make a map look like a piece of checquered cloth, which can happen if several armies attack one enemy simultaneously. However, this seems to be the worst solution, as it can happen that you contribute to the victory with 100% and yet remain without the territory in question.
#3
Ivanhoe58 22 Nov, 2015 @ 1:49pm 
It's a good game, makes me think of the Avalon Hill classic Third Reich. But I find the point of not being able to make co-ordinated attack with your allies a real bummer. There must be a way to improve that?
#4
sio467 25 Nov, 2015 @ 11:34am 
This game system does work a little differently than traditional turn-based board/computer wargames and all of your observations do well to illustrate those differences. For me the two notable deviations from traditional gaming convention were 1) no stacking of land units and 2) air units based in mountain terrain. If you can suspend traditional game design expectations, you will come to the conclusion that this game is a hidden gem even with all of its peculiarities.

As you pointed out, Joint Operations don't really occur in this game. This is a function of the game's design in the sense that each of the 25 countries can be played as it's own unique and individual side. If 25 people were playing the game, each person would want his own turn. As a result, when you are playing for each country (rather than letting the AI control your alliance) joint operations need to be executed sequentially rather than coincidently. Hence, Order of Movement becomes critical to making the best use of an alliance's minor country combat units. Here is an incomplete but useable list for the Axis order of movement 1) Germany 2) Italy 3) Vichy France 4) Finland 5) Romania 6) Hungary 7) Bulgaria. So the planning and execution aspect of an attack needs to be contemplated and approached differently in SWiE than in other games. It really requires longer term thinking (i.e. 2-3 turns ahead) to ensure that units are placed at the optimal location in the front line. In my opinion, this is where this game is frustratingly challenging but equally refreshing and interesting.

Another example is Attacks from multiple directions. Per the game manual (page 20) "Each of your units may participate only in ONE such attack per turn." Considering the game's scale (1 hex = 100 miles) this kind of makes sense. The combat capability of a unit engaging in a multi-directional joint attack, then moving 400 miles to engage in a different jointly coordinated multi-directional attack in the same time cycle generally didn't occur in this era.

FOW can be controlled by adjusting Preferences on the Gameplay tab using either the Visibility Range slide or the FOW Display Check Box.
Last edited by sio467; 25 Nov, 2015 @ 11:36am
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Strategic War in Europe > General Discussions > Topic Details
Date Posted: 10 Aug, 2014 @ 4:33pm
Posts: 5

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