Rule the Waves II vs I (Wanting to buy one)

[coyote]

I got into these games watching tortugapower play them on youtube, and I'm finally ready to buy one of them. I really like the dreadnaught era and guns on ships, and the first one is a bit cheaper. I dislike aircraft, and all the micro they seem to entail, but I love the manual torpedo launching of II as torpedoes in I seem to be an exercise in frustration.

Is all of the UI changes, new features and bug fixes of II worth it over I even if I dislike aircraft? Do you all have a favorite between the two?

[jwsmith26]

I think many of the changes in RTW2 improve the game from 1900 to 1925. RTW2 is just a better game even if you don't want to deal with aircraft. Aircraft have very little impact until the mid 20's and even then only if you, as the player, push the technology. In RTW2 you can also turn on slow aircraft development as an option and reduce the amount of research devoted to aircraft technologies to reduce the impact of aircraft. If you are only interested in the period covered by RTW1 I would still purchase RTW2 and just end the game when aircraft begin to impact you, which should be about the same time that RTW1 ends.

[sittingduck]

Welcome to the forum. I fell into this by watching Tortuga's, as well as several other's, YouTube posts. Like yourself, I prefer the "Black Shoe" side of the game.

Get RTW2... Aircraft gameplay can be minimized by the Slow Development option but I haven't gone that way yet. One game setup/start option selection I use is US, large fleet, historical, harsh terms, and manual build. This lets me play primarily with ship building and as aircraft are developed I only actively focus on fighter, torpedo, flying boats and tag dive bombers late. After the 40 aircraft airbase is available I build a cordon of airbases on the coasts, the Caribbean and South East Asia. As these get bigger and more numerous they work as static carriers. I don't develop carriers until the mid/late 30's and have gone thru many games with a large (USA!) surface fleet and only 3 to 5 carriers, max. I concentrate on taking as many possessions in these sea zones only, and air bases smother enemy ships with little effort on your part. And I stop at the 1955 end date which again limits the air power gameplay.

The appeal of this game is that you will never get the same game no matter what options you decide to try. RTW2 would be my advice, for what it's worth. Enjoy.

[coyote]

Thank you both. I will be picking up RW2 today!

[akosjaccik]

I am probably late by now, but if your experience is limited to YouTube, I'd say take a look at the RtW2 Demo version, you can download it from here, the forums, from it's respective topic. Starting from '20, you can gain a firsthand experience before shelling out the money - including the aircraft.

[anthropoid]

RTW2 is a great game and definitely worth it. My only real complaint about the game is that the game interface cannot handle if your desktop is set to enlarged text.

[tortugapower]

Jan 11, 2020 10:09:13 GMT -6 coyote said:

I got into these games watching tortugapower play them on youtube, and I'm finally ready to buy one of them. I really like the dreadnaught era and guns on ships, and the first one is a bit cheaper. I dislike aircraft, and all the micro they seem to entail, but I love the manual torpedo launching of II as torpedoes in I seem to be an exercise in frustration.

Is all of the UI changes, new features and bug fixes of II worth it over I even if I dislike aircraft? Do you all have a favorite between the two?

Just a quick note: as far as I'm aware, torpedo-launching is the same in RtW1 and RtW2.

The only reason that might not be clear from my series on YouTube is because I have steadily fallen down the rabbit hole of ship micro-management (not necessarily a good thing, I admit). That means that many of my earlier series in RtW1 were done in "Rear Admiral" difficulty, where control of torpedo launches is not allowed. In my later series in RtW1, I switched to "Captain" difficulty, which allows control of torpedo launches. This I continued into RtW2.

That said, I also think that if you don't have either, RtW2 is the clear choice! There are options to limit aircraft in the game (and could be more options like that forthcoming).

[cabusha]

At launch RTW2 was quite buggy, but the frequent patching has ironed out enough of the kinks I've finally parked RTW1. I'd say grab 2, and just run with the slow aircraft development start option checked.

[coyote]

Jan 13, 2020 15:40:10 GMT -6 tortugapower said:

Jan 11, 2020 10:09:13 GMT -6 coyote said:

I got into these games watching tortugapower play them on youtube, and I'm finally ready to buy one of them. I really like the dreadnaught era and guns on ships, and the first one is a bit cheaper. I dislike aircraft, and all the micro they seem to entail, but I love the manual torpedo launching of II as torpedoes in I seem to be an exercise in frustration.

Is all of the UI changes, new features and bug fixes of II worth it over I even if I dislike aircraft? Do you all have a favorite between the two?

Just a quick note: as far as I'm aware, torpedo-launching is the same in RtW1 and RtW2.

The only reason that might not be clear from my series on YouTube is because I have steadily fallen down the rabbit hole of ship micro-management (not necessarily a good thing, I admit). That means that many of my earlier series in RtW1 were done in "Rear Admiral" difficulty, where control of torpedo launches is not allowed. In my later series in RtW1, I switched to "Captain" difficulty, which allows control of torpedo launches. This I continued into RtW2.

That said, I also think that if you don't have either, RtW2 is the clear choice! There are options to limit aircraft in the game (and could be more options like that forthcoming).

That's why I still can't launch! I keep playing in admiral mode, but I may need to switch over to captains mode. My destroyer and cruiser wings are very passive it seems. And of course, the DD's with +12 torpedoes that only launch at stopped, sinking, ships.

[Warspite]

RTW 2 all the way. RTW is good. RTW 2 is better.

[zoomar]

Get RTW2. It includes many upgrades that improve the overall experience besides the extension to 1955 with aircraft and WW2 type technologies. I also much prefer classic dreadnought era and surface engagements so I always play with the "slow aircraft development" option turned on. This essentially eliminates the introduction of useful offensive aircraft until the mid-late 1940's. Oh, you'll get zeppelins and primitive float planes, flying boats, and fighters by the early 1930's, and they are good for scouting, but little else. I played one game until 1955 at which time the capabilities the available torpedo bombers were maybe equivalent to a Fairey Swordfish. By then, I had 30kt battleships and battlecruisers exceeding 80,000 tons with 18" armor, tons of radar assisted director controlled AA, and the best anti-torpedo protection my money could buy. They could laugh at 5 aerial torpedo hits and swat those pesky airplane down like flies. My favorite moment in a 1945-50 war against Japan came in a large invasion support battle. Seemingly unaware the game was set on "slow aircraft development", the Japanese AI had invested heavily in carriers. I only had two small carriers packed to the gills with scouts and a few fighters. With relatively primitive aircraft, the enemy carriers were essentially wasted steel. After my heavy ships easily withstood the Japanese carrier attacks with only one battleship so heavily damaged it had to retire from the action, I dealt with the smaller Japanese surface fleet and then enjoyed ordering my battlecruisers to chase down and destroy the enemy carriers attempting to flee. Every. Last. One. Plus I successfully got Formosa by invasion and South Korea in the peace agreement. "Slow aircraft development" is the way to go if you'd rather stick with battleships. The only down side using this option is that it seems to confuse the technology research modules a bit. You'll see your scientists inventing radar and all sorts of aviation-related advances before you can build your very first scout floatplane or aircraft carrier.

[euchrejack]

Jan 27, 2020 2:12:28 GMT -6 coyote said:

Jan 13, 2020 15:40:10 GMT -6 tortugapower said:

Just a quick note: as far as I'm aware, torpedo-launching is the same in RtW1 and RtW2.

The only reason that might not be clear from my series on YouTube is because I have steadily fallen down the rabbit hole of ship micro-management (not necessarily a good thing, I admit). That means that many of my earlier series in RtW1 were done in "Rear Admiral" difficulty, where control of torpedo launches is not allowed. In my later series in RtW1, I switched to "Captain" difficulty, which allows control of torpedo launches. This I continued into RtW2.

That said, I also think that if you don't have either, RtW2 is the clear choice! There are options to limit aircraft in the game (and could be more options like that forthcoming).

That's why I still can't launch! I keep playing in admiral mode, but I may need to switch over to captains mode. My destroyer and cruiser wings are very passive it seems. And of course, the DD's with +12 torpedoes that only launch at stopped, sinking, ships.

You can still set Flotilla Attack in Rear Admiral mode.  It's what sends the destroyers out to deliver their torpedoes.  Whether or not the dang destroyers will actually launch their torpedoes, is another story...

[dorn]

I would just mention that in history there were not so many succesful flotila attacks on capital ships or cruisers if enemy was aware of that. Most attacks were unsuccesful.

It was more about forcing enemy doing something and pay attention to destroyers (eg. Yamato at Battle off Samar).

This is I think nicely done in RTW and only higher succesful torpedo attack by destroyer is mostly because of aggresivity of players with their capital ships and cruisers.