Will the single player campaign for this be linear (ala World in Conflict, same missions that everyone plays, story driven with characters, mostly scripted), or will it be a more dynamic campaign, where the locations you fight are more determined on past victories or defeats, your units for the fight are avialable based on logistics, etc (not scripted)?

Sorry I have no idea. Not sure I’ll ever play it.

this game gave me chills on seeing it at first, it looked pretty awesome. the trailer I watched made me wonder if it felt more like SupCom from what I saw though, seemed like tanks blasting stuff at silly short ranges and Apaches getting right on top of whoever to open fire (ummm, what pilot in his right mind would do that? they would be hugging trees and slowly poking around), but your review sounds extremely promising.

barring the UI of course.

just how important is recon though? if you have tanks on top of a hill, and they are overlooking a wide open area (ie little cover), do they still manage to spot enemy units at long range? or does some poor fool have to wander out for them to engage at range?

If it's anything like RUSE was then recon is absolutely VITAL.

Just bought it! Downloading right now. Gonna get my butt handed to me playing multiplayer in just a little bit!

apparently recon is quite complex, done with proper line of sight and every unit has an "optics" grade, which determines how far they can see, how easily they can see concealed units, how easily they can spot small/medium/large units etc. sitting on a hill is meant to provide better viewing distances, but i can't confirm because there's no actual fog of war display.

regardless, as toot said, recon is the most important part of the game. almost all units can shoot further than they can see, so having units with good optics providing line of sight for the rest of the units is paramount to winning the game. i havent played an RTS where recon is this important. especially since arty is so powerful- best way to prevent getting smashed by it is to kill the enemy's recon units before they see your forces.

since there's so many deep forests, you have to scout them out to ensure your opponents dont have any nasty surprises inside.

...

awesome falcrack, see you on the battlefield!

After playing a few games, I concur, recon is absolutely critical. I enjoy getting me a few arty and laying down some long distance hurt, but arty is useless unless you have good recon.

It is definitely not a clickfest, the primary strategy is deciding what set of units to order up, where to place them, using cover effectively, good recon, knowing when to retreat and when to advance, etc. Units do not really have special abilities that are activated by microing them.

Each unit has a given amount of supply, both in fuel and weapons, and to refuel and rearm them (and repair if necessary) you must send a supply truck(s) or supply helicopter(s) to fill them up, and when the supply vehicles are out of supplies you send them back to an FOB (forward operating base) to restock them again. The FOBs do not have an unlimited amount of supplies, and can be exhausted. Instead of transporting around specific supplies, they carry around a single generic type of supply which is converted into whatever the unit needs, be it fuel, ammo, or repairs. FOBs can be captured and used by the enemy.

At the start of each game, you have a certain amount of command points to spend on vehicles, and you place them in your initial command zone. You are not restricted to certain types of roles, like in WiC. So you could have a mix of heavy tanks, Apache helos, and heavy arty if you like.

In order to capture command zones you need to send a command vehicle to a command zone and have it be stationary. The more command zones you are in possession of, the faster you accumulate command points. A command vehicle is a simple jeep, which counterintuitively costs a huge amount of command points.

I have to say, the more I play this game, the better I like it. It may achieve what no other RTS has done so far, turn into a SupCom slayer for me. SupCom will always have a place in my heart, but in the all important decision of how I want to spend the bulk of my computer game time, this may take the place SupCom once had.

Yeah, me too. I see you’re on the forums already. You’ll see SupComFan and his trademarked rudeness and mockery from time to time over there

Yeah, been trying to convince folks that having fixed wing aircraft in the game would be cool. Prolly not gonna happen though. Oh well.

Im sure, if done correctly, it would be pretty cool. But I think it was something deliberately left out by the design team, for whatever reason. ie every map would have to have an airfield for instance (unless you’re in favour of off-map support but that doesn’t gel with the nature of the game imo).

Im not fussed.

Well, we have off map reinforcements. I don't see the difference if the unit coming in from off map is a tank or a plane. Oh well though, it is a great game regardless, and I don't spend my time in the game thinking "man, I wish there were planes in this!".

Well, except when helos are dominating the map. Then I would like a good fighter or two to sweep them away.

I thought their previous games, Act of War, did jet aircraft pretty well.

You summon them from a direction to a target, and they enter the map from the edge, fly towards the target, attack it, and then disappear from the map by flying "up". It kinda simulates an attack run.

You can also summon air-air aircraft in a similar manner, they will fire at any jets that they come across.

yeah that was fun in the context of that game, but i prefer no off-map stuff in WEE. everything can be seen and shot at. off map support is really just a special ability, and i like the lack of it (just like i did with supcom).

this game is awesome. just hoping there will be more polishing to come (not that there's anything heinously wrong with it or anything). just some more customisation options would be good.

Dont reinforcements come from offmap?
You could view aircraft as temporary reinforcements :P

Anyways i havent played the game so just sayin'

Fade2Gray for Wargame: EE

feel free to add me.

The game is definitely growing on me, though the way some units are stat wise amuses me to no ends when you compare it to reality (yeah yeah I know, Gameplay > Reality), and it took me a bit to get over it.

for instance, M1s literally need to refuel every 2-5 hours during combat ops. Bradleys and M113 based vehicles can operate for a full day. Yet M1s have 2000 fuel, M113s have 300. heh.

I'm amused to no ends how Bradleys/Marders that are out of TOW missiles can bum rush a platoon of T-72's and come out on top if it is at close range. It should just be a case of *plink plink plink* and that's it.

but... I'm getting over the fact that it is not as realistic as I figured, and am definitely enjoying this game so far.

also, for anyone else who is playing, and Apaches/Havoks are driving you insane, make sure you unlock the Chaparrel/Gainful's best version ASAP. they deliver epic rape to them. other than that, nothing else out there that cases a rude shock that makes you think "ZOMFG" when you encounter them so far.

-RAISTLIN- has sent you a friend request

yeah, obviously im not very knowlegeable about military vehicles, so prefer balance over realism but can imagine why some things don't quite add up. the AP value is the max range damage a unit can do, and obviously that goes up the closer you get to what you're firing at.

I know that for games, gameplay>realism, but I think it would be a mistake especially for a game like this to stray too far from realism for the sake of gameplay. With a game like supreme commander, no one really expects a lot from it in terms of realism, but realism is a draw for some players, like myself.

Its only a “mistake” for people like GRF who have actively served in the military (or indeed military buffs, but fvck them). I’d wager most of is had never heard of 90% of the units available, so it makes no difference.

I used to play M1 Tank Platoon by Microprose, back in the days when the manual had more bytes of information in it than the game itself :)

I miss that kind of simulation-oriented game, where it tries to be as realistic as possible within technical and gameplay constraints.

I'd like to see a sim-based RTS that starts from realism, and then makes concessions to balance and gameplay.

Kinda like how you can play a racing sim with "full realism" but then turn on various options like automatic transmission, racing line, traction control, steering assist etc.

Haha I loved m1 tank platoon.

you're looking at it.

Due to getting a big cheque from a tax refund, I am considering buying this. How active is multiplayer?