Post by marcorossolini on Jan 9, 2016 18:13:54 GMT -6
I ran across this game (paradoxically) on the paradox game forums (thanks Director). It sounded mildly interesting, particularly as it focused on WW1 (my current area of interest in naval warfare).
I'll be frank. It's incredible. I'm loving it. It's epic in scope, maddening in the cruelties it wreaks on you (who put that naval treaty there?) and amazing in its possibilities. The naval warfare feels realistic (as it should) and I haven't felt so excited about what's been happening on screen for a long time. This has been the naval warfare game I've dreamed of for a very long time. It's almost liberating how it does away with all the bells and whistles. No graphics, no nothing, just pure gameplay and fine gameplay it is too.
The ship building aspect has always been something I've wished for in a game and at long last it has arrived and it is awesome. Took a little while to understand the ins and outs but once it's there, it really makes the experience worthwhile. There's something exhilarating in designing these ships and making all those decisions and tradeoffs and then the ultimate test of battle revealing whether you were right or wrong. So far, with 20/20 hindsight and a decent number of WW1 era warship books under my belt, not all many of my decisions have been that wrong, although my tendency to push the outer limit of weight means that whilst making awesome superships (I hope), the bill that goes with them and the time to build them does get quite interesting.
My command decisions however generally err to toward the more... "exciting" option. One memorable battle recently resulted in about 10 of my British dreadnoughts (as well as 5 Battlecruisers and indeed super battlecruisers- given how much my brand new Illustrious class BC weighed compared to all the other dreadnoughts), running into the German High Seas Fleet - in the middle of the night at pistol shot range. Needless to say, it was an interesting night. 3 Flashfires (one of theirs, two of mine) and about 12 torpedoed capital ships later (about 5 of mine and 7 of theirs) and 4 sunk CLs and 6 sunk DDs (all mine) later and there was quite the graveyard in the Baltic (I'd taken Finland from Russia, don't ask why). The divers looking for metal for NASA antennas are going to have a field day.
It's been an extremely fun learning experience and although I'm concerned it might be getting slightly repetitive, I still haven't plumbed the depths of enjoyment possibly afforded by the US, Italian and Austrian navies (maybe even something like the CSN or something too).
I do have a few questions and comments though.
1. Am I able to change the organisation of my fleet? I'd like to be able to follow (my own perception) of historical practise where I have destroyer squadrons led by CLs and the like. Plus it'd be convenient to have squadrons tied together. It's a tad irritating when I find half my BC force is out somewhere in the other part of the fleet and it's inconvenient to try to get them back.
2. How are the battles "balanced" (if at all)? It seems like they are... but then I have a few CLs running into their entire BC force and only escaping under cover of darkness. Plus sometimes I seem to be doing convoy/coastal defence and I see from reports that my heaviest Dreadnought is in the area kicking up dust.
3. It's been my plan for a while to build up these huge forces of dreadnoughts like there were in WW1 (Britain had something like 50 BBs and more coming off the slipway each year?), this seems quite impossible in the game confines, or am I just not having the right conditions?
4. Having allies seems quite useless (compared to the impress scores of destroyed ships I'm tallying up) is this really the case?
Amazed how superb and addictive this game is. Looking forward to whatever the future might hold.
I'll be frank. It's incredible. I'm loving it. It's epic in scope, maddening in the cruelties it wreaks on you (who put that naval treaty there?) and amazing in its possibilities. The naval warfare feels realistic (as it should) and I haven't felt so excited about what's been happening on screen for a long time. This has been the naval warfare game I've dreamed of for a very long time. It's almost liberating how it does away with all the bells and whistles. No graphics, no nothing, just pure gameplay and fine gameplay it is too.
The ship building aspect has always been something I've wished for in a game and at long last it has arrived and it is awesome. Took a little while to understand the ins and outs but once it's there, it really makes the experience worthwhile. There's something exhilarating in designing these ships and making all those decisions and tradeoffs and then the ultimate test of battle revealing whether you were right or wrong. So far, with 20/20 hindsight and a decent number of WW1 era warship books under my belt, not all many of my decisions have been that wrong, although my tendency to push the outer limit of weight means that whilst making awesome superships (I hope), the bill that goes with them and the time to build them does get quite interesting.
My command decisions however generally err to toward the more... "exciting" option. One memorable battle recently resulted in about 10 of my British dreadnoughts (as well as 5 Battlecruisers and indeed super battlecruisers- given how much my brand new Illustrious class BC weighed compared to all the other dreadnoughts), running into the German High Seas Fleet - in the middle of the night at pistol shot range. Needless to say, it was an interesting night. 3 Flashfires (one of theirs, two of mine) and about 12 torpedoed capital ships later (about 5 of mine and 7 of theirs) and 4 sunk CLs and 6 sunk DDs (all mine) later and there was quite the graveyard in the Baltic (I'd taken Finland from Russia, don't ask why). The divers looking for metal for NASA antennas are going to have a field day.
It's been an extremely fun learning experience and although I'm concerned it might be getting slightly repetitive, I still haven't plumbed the depths of enjoyment possibly afforded by the US, Italian and Austrian navies (maybe even something like the CSN or something too).
I do have a few questions and comments though.
1. Am I able to change the organisation of my fleet? I'd like to be able to follow (my own perception) of historical practise where I have destroyer squadrons led by CLs and the like. Plus it'd be convenient to have squadrons tied together. It's a tad irritating when I find half my BC force is out somewhere in the other part of the fleet and it's inconvenient to try to get them back.
2. How are the battles "balanced" (if at all)? It seems like they are... but then I have a few CLs running into their entire BC force and only escaping under cover of darkness. Plus sometimes I seem to be doing convoy/coastal defence and I see from reports that my heaviest Dreadnought is in the area kicking up dust.
3. It's been my plan for a while to build up these huge forces of dreadnoughts like there were in WW1 (Britain had something like 50 BBs and more coming off the slipway each year?), this seems quite impossible in the game confines, or am I just not having the right conditions?
4. Having allies seems quite useless (compared to the impress scores of destroyed ships I'm tallying up) is this really the case?
Amazed how superb and addictive this game is. Looking forward to whatever the future might hold.