Wargame: European Escalation

[Karstein]

First I saw of this was the massive splash on Steam's front page, and became a little more interested when I heard it was an RTS. However, there seems to be pretty much no reviews of this game right now and no demo, so I haven't bitten yet.

Is anyone playing it? How are you finding it so far?

There's a pretty interesting video of the beta here if anyone else wants a look.

 

[KaOTiK]

It looks interesting to me too. Haven't seen or heard anything about it though. But in the end, I'll grab it when it goes on sale and might get around to playing it within the same year I buy it

 

[Karstein]

Quite unanimously good comments on RPS as well. I'm edging closer to picking this up.

 

[Genx87]

Looks like a more complicated world in conflict.

I will put this on my radar.

 

[novasatori]

It is a good game, I had been playing the beta for a few weeks and now I am playing retail.

I would describe it as Supreme Commander meets Dawn of War II/WiC with modern units. It is more about macro and overall strategy than micro, which is a nice change of pace.

The graphics are great and I like the "realism" aspects of it.

If anyone has questions about it I can try to answer them.

 

[Regs]

It is a good game, I had been playing the beta for a few weeks and now I am playing retail.

I would describe it as Supreme Commander meets Dawn of War II/WiC with modern units. It is more about macro and overall strategy than micro, which is a nice change of pace.

The graphics are great and I like the "realism" aspects of it.

If anyone has questions about it I can try to answer them.

Great! I'm also interested. Any resource management involved? Is it Civ or Total War like in any fashion?

 

[Maximilian]

Im intrigued, wish there was a demo.

 

[novasatori]

Great! I'm also interested. Any resource management involved? Is it Civ or Total War like in any fashion?

For multiplayer the starting resources are set at the start of the round. For example if the host picks 6000 point start, then depending on how many people, like a 4v4, each person is allocated 1/4th of 6k points, or 1500 points to build starting units.

Then you have control zones on the map which are labeled with a point income number, which you capture by putting a command vehicle there.

The point income allows you to call in extra reinforcement units from your deployment zones.

That is it for resource management really, but you do have to manage logistics. Your vehicles run out of fuel and all of your combat units have finite ammunition. So you will need to either visit a FOB or call in supply trucks/helicopters, which also have finite supply.

Say an abrams runs out of fuel, you can call in a supply truck to your deployment zone, send it to refuel him and then send the supply truck back to a FOB to get resupplied and then send it to refuel/resupply something else.

 

[Karstein]

So I finally grabbed it this evening. I was actually reluctant to fire it up for a while as I had that nagging feeling that I'd try it out, get bored/frustrated after 5 minutes and close it again without a thought.

Well, I just finished the first campaign mission (after ~40 minutes - I was certainly allowed to take my time) and I'm happy to say that it was great fun! I actually laughed out loud on one or two occasions about the amount of destruction I was dishing out (Hey infantry units, remember those trees you were hiding in? THUNK THUNK THUNK THUNK THUNK... *ground is void of trees or infantry units*).

I didn't find it overwhelming although there are a lot of stats flying around. Actually ordering your units about is really quite simple, though, so it's not like I was having to crunch numbers the whole time or anything. It did certainly feel strategic, particularly towards the end of the mission when I was trying to work out the best area of cover for my frontal attack while sneaking another force around the other side of the city.

The overall atmosphere felt nice as well, detailed enough graphics and some thumping audibles to put you right on the scene.

Probably the only thing I wasn't really impressed with was the overall presentation of the UI - it is incredibly basic looking and a bit confusing in places. You also only receive help at random intervals. For other stuff such as 'what the hell do I do with my supply truck once it's depleted?' I was completely lost as it never mentioned anything about it. I'll go put my 90s hat on and read the manual, I guess.

Anyway, just some first initial thoughts - my first couple of paragraphs being potentially the most pertinent if you are concerned about being overwhelmed or feel there's a chance you might find it instantly tedious.

 

[Karstein]

Oh and one more negative actually - the achievements are some of the most lackluster I've ever seen:

'Complete this mission' x22
'Complete the first operation for <insert side>' x2
'Complete all operations for <insert side>' x2
'Complete all operations' x1
'Unlock all units for <insert side>' x2

A shame, but not a deal-breaker.

 

[Maximilian]

Impulse bought this, downloading now.

So bored with the selection of strategy games over the past few years. Theres been nothing to replace or compliment starcraft/CoH/sins.

 

[Karstein]

I just finished the 3rd campaign mission (took about an hour and a half!) and am still enjoying it thus far. There are so many goddamn units to unlock; it's hard to keep track of them all. Haven't delved into multiplayer yet, but I might do soon.

 

[Maximilian]

Hmm this game isnt actually all that bad, its pretty fun. I played the RUSE demo and didnt like RUSE at all but this is better. The online community is surprisingly polite for some reason. Ill give a mini review of my experiences so far:

Single player
Ive played the campaign a bit, i just finished third mission, the campaign seems pretty stale its definitely not as engaging as world in conflicts campaign but the missions are reasonably challenging and the gameplay is fun.

Multiplayer
This is where its at. Multiplayer has this thing called a "deck" no idea why its called that but basically your "deck" is the types of units you will bring into battle with you and the list of units is very extensive! Luckily all units have their purpose stated clearly such as "anti air" etc, you dont need to remember what the hell a flakpanzer gerald is or what FAGOTs do You can unlock more units by playing online or by playing the campaign, or both.

Anyways you pick your deck, join a game or host your own and go. Pretty straightforward. Also like i mentioned earlier people are generally pretty friendly online which isnt something im used to or bothered about but others may find that a relief.

Graphics
Theyre pretty good, its more of a large scale game so there isnt the detail present in say company of heros, its more along the lines of supreme commander. Although if you zoom in the detail is far better than in supreme commander.

Gameplay
This game is a bit like world in conflict but with added realism, you need to use combined arms to be effective or if you play online with friends at least spam units that compliment eachother e.g. 1 guy spams tanks + AA, another choppers the third guy can go arty etc. There is no base building at all, you build 1 building and that is the FOB (forward operations base) which is basically a big supply depo, your supply trucks and other units can refill here.

You must keep your units supplied with ammo + fuel (not as much of a drag as you may think) i initially was skeptical about this but its not that bad. You can see which vehicles are gas guzzlers by looking at their stats. M1A1 abrams has 2000 litre fuel capacity and its operational range is 500km which is a bit lousy. Leopard 2A4 has a 1350 litre capacity and its operational range is 500km so it will go further with less fuel. You keep units supplied by sending in supply trucks which refuel/repair/rearm your stuff, theres supply helicopters too but i havent unlocked them yet. Luckily supply trucks don't actually use fuel themselves they have unlimited range so no dodgy situations where you have to send a second supply truck to refuel the first supply truck that ran out of fuel.

Cover is also an important gameplay element, keeping your units hidden in forests is a good idea.

Theres directional armor so just like company of heros the front of a tank is the strongest part, dont let the enemy flank you.

Scouting plays a big part in the game, your tanks have huge ranges but they cant hit what they cant see so using recon units is a great way of spotting enemies from afar and also spotting for your artillery.

Arty is handled by artillery units that you buy rather than an off map call in.

Unit call ins are with points, you start with a set amount of points but get more over time as the game goes on, the more territory you acquire the faster you get points. There seems to be a limit on the amount of the same unit you can call in though. You can have four M1A1 tanks at one time, if you lose them all that's it you don't get any more to call in, you can call in four M1's or M113P's which are similar.

Overall
This game surprised me, i was a bit overwhelmed at first but i gave it a chance and its pretty damn fun. Its a real team game although like world in conflict a single very good player on your team can easily tip the balance in your favor so individual skill counts a lot. Im still a newb at this though and have probably neglected to mention a lot of stuff lol but its a fun game. Glad i got it, once i figured out what a deck was for and how to spawn units it was easy enough.

This will be a nice compliment to my current array of strategy games which consists of company of heros, starcraft 1, sins of a solar empire.

 

[Regs]

For multiplayer the starting resources are set at the start of the round. For example if the host picks 6000 point start, then depending on how many people, like a 4v4, each person is allocated 1/4th of 6k points, or 1500 points to build starting units.

Then you have control zones on the map which are labeled with a point income number, which you capture by putting a command vehicle there.

The point income allows you to call in extra reinforcement units from your deployment zones.

That is it for resource management really, but you do have to manage logistics. Your vehicles run out of fuel and all of your combat units have finite ammunition. So you will need to either visit a FOB or call in supply trucks/helicopters, which also have finite supply.

Say an abrams runs out of fuel, you can call in a supply truck to your deployment zone, send it to refuel him and then send the supply truck back to a FOB to get resupplied and then send it to refuel/resupply something else.

Sounds a whole like COH meets Ruse. Doesn't sound bad at all, but I'm more of a macro guy. Maybe I will check it out soon.

 

[Maximilian]

Well ive put around 40 hours into this game so far, its damn fun online!

PACT shits all over NATO

 

[Karstein]

One thing to note is I really enjoy watching recorded live games/replays of this game. Selkares and ryl998 have made some great ones in particular.

 

[Karstein]

There was a new patch today:

GENERIC:

- Readjustment of certain realistic payloads ammunition for armored cars (20-30mm).
- The minimum range for at least 1 AP damage is reduced: small AP will now have to approach much closer to inflict damage.
- Fixed issue likely to hit is too high, affecting units level 3 and 4.

NATO:

- Availability of Chasseur FAMAS decreases from 32 to 20.
- Availability of the Legion FAMAS decreases from 16 to 12.
- Availability of 2e FAMAS REP decreases from 12 to 8.
- The accuracy of Canon XM-150 of the MBT-70 decreases from 9 to 7.
- Cost of KPZ 70 has decreased by 5 deployment points.
- The speed of the UH-1M gunship increases from 175 km/h to 300 km/h. (error that does not take into account the new engines, such as UH-1D).
- Increased the M150 RoF to put on an equal footing with other vehicles to load external ATGM.
- Cost of UH-1C Heavy Hog has decreased by 5 deployment points.
- Cost of UH-1M Gunship has decreased by 5 deployment points.
- M551 Sheridan Speed increases by 5 km/h.
- M551A1 Sheridan Speed increases by 5 km/h.
- Improved optical M551 Sheridan to Normal.
- Improved optical M551A1 Sheridan to Normal.

PACT :

- Decreased range of recoilless Tarasnice (OT-62 OT & TOPS-2A-65 Vydra) to 1000.
- Cost of T-62M-1 has increased by 5 deployment points.
- Cost of T-62M-V has increased by 10 deployment points.
- Cost of Spadochroniarze has increased by 5 deployment points.
- Availability of Vysadkaru decreases from 20 to 8.
- Increased the RoF UAZ-469 Konkurs to put on an equal footing with other vehicles to load external ATGM.

NOTICE : If you did the XP SP3 compatibility workaround under windows 7/Vista, it's worth trying to undo that, because we fixed issues concerning this. This will allow you to run DX11 again.
DX11 provides higher performance on modern GPUS, plus AntiAliasing compatible SSAO and motion blur.

Fix : DX11 crash running with Fraps, TeamSpeak, or other overlays.
Fix : Mouse disappearing or clamped to a small region with Windows Vista/7 and font/icon magnification
Fix : DX11 crash in some cases.
Glitch Fix : Low brightness with graphics settings on Very Low.
Glitch Fix : VSync on as default setting.
Glitch Fix : Units are not blurred when you use the track cam.
Glitch Fix : On some graphics cards, when running DX9, trees and grass were a bit clipped on the top/sides.
Glitch Fix : Less flickering when max video memory has been reached.
Improvement : Improved tree/grass rendering performance.
Improvement : Large performance increase on nvidia graphics cards (up to +60% FPS) when you used Autodetect settings. As a rule, avoid manually setting the Instancing Mode to Hardware Instancing on nvidia cards.
Improvement : Tweaks on the graphics settings autodetection.
Improvement : The ground quality setting now adjusts the distance at which the trees pop. No need to hack the Option.ini anymore.
Improvement : The units are nicer when you run on low/very low graphics settings.
Improvement : The game generally uses a bit less video memory - so it will tolerate better graphics settings on powerful but low memory GPUs.
Improvement : The outgame GUI FPS is largely increased on old GPUs.
Improvement : The objects and textures appear faster on dual core systems.
Compatibility : If for some reason, the game fails to boot on DX11 under vista/7, it will show a dialog box allowing you to run in default settings mode with DX9 (DX11 can be enabled again through the options menu).
Compatiblity : Better crossfire support with DX9 under Vista/7.
Compatiblity : Disappearing trees fixed on NVidia 7xxx series.
Compatiblity : Shadows fixed on NVidia 7xxx series.
Geek Stuff : you can disable the Camera Flare in the Option.ini if you really want to. (RenderLensFlare = false)

The FAMAS change is good as they were way overpowered compared to other NATO infantry. It's also good they balanced this by nerfing some PACT infantry a bit, as they always had a better infantry roster overall.

Just to update - I still enjoy this game, but don't have nearly enough time to play all that much (somewhat limited to weekends). I'm also going through a 'let's be constructive' phase.

 

[thecrecarc]

So, I am now considering this game. I haven't played a good RTS in awhile. Any new opinions now that it has been released for awhile?

 

[brandonb]

Does anybody know if this game would support eyefinity? Is the UI (if any) configurable where you can move it around the screen, etc?

 

[brandonb]

Looks like according to another website that this game does indeed support eyefinity. With it on steam sales, I believe it's time to pick it up! Sounds like alot of fun.

 

[ibex333]

First I saw of this was the massive splash on Steam's front page, and became a little more interested when I heard it was an RTS. However, there seems to be pretty much no reviews of this game right now and no demo, so I haven't bitten yet.

Is anyone playing it? How are you finding it so far?

There's a pretty interesting video of the beta here if anyone else wants a look.

I just bought it today and playing it now. So far I hate it.

1)Units look like thy GLIDE, not drive. (unless, maybe, you zoom all the way in) It's not the first time I see that in games, and to say that it angers me, would be a huge understatement.

2)For a game that takes into account things like, frontal, side, and back armor, it's inexcusable not to include any way for a player to easily turn and face the enemy whatever side he wishes.

3)Tanks move with the speed of a Formula 1 race car. C'mon now... Those T34/85s had a top speed of 33 miles/hr ! Other tanks, especially the newer ones were much faster. I know... But still, a tank shouldn't be moving as fast as a car in the game. Not unless that tank was a modern day M1/A1 Abrams or it's Russian counterpart.

4)I hate too much micromanagement, but this game is all about macro, and there's very little micro. Too little, to my liking. It feels like to really be good at this game one must mostly play zoomed out all the way to map level, but then what's the point to have an ability to zoom in? Just to see all the pretty stuff?

5)Backstory is not very good. Should have been better.

6)The overall interface, button placement, etc, etc is HORRIBLE imo.

7)Tutorial is missing. Instead they use the first mission as a tutorial, providing hints along the way. These hints range from crystal clear, to subtle, to completely unclear.

8)No formations! Again... No fucking formations... You are stuck with the default formations they give you. And I hate it when people argue, and say formations are irrelevant and not important.

9)If there's a wreck on a road, your tanks can drive RIGHT THROUGH IT as if it's not there! Like it's an illusion. A mirage. Wrecks stay in place, since they are purely visual, and dont "physiclaly" exist in the game world. Attention to detail... Many game devs dont seem to have a slightest idea of what that is.


I'll take Men of War, RUSE, World in Conflict and CoH over this any day! I want my $25 back. No wonder so little people are playing online.

or better yet, if you want to play a nice RTS which feels similar(units wise), try Act of War, and it's excellent expansion High Treason.

 

[Craig234]

Ibex, that's a nice review; I remember playing an RTS where to close up view was pretty much only for 'pretty graphics' (was it Supreme Commander?) Didn't like that.

So, the screenshots that show close up things are not how it looks playing?

That's not good - but the game is still of interest from other reviews.

 

[Regs]

40% off on steam. D/L now.

 

[Craig234]

I got it... not downloaded.

 

[thecrecarc]

The 40% discount is still active on amazon, and apparently wargames also got a free DLC? that is refreshing to see in an age where companies nickle and dime you for everything. I am seriously considering it now....