Great game - naval warfare is brutal though

[Nats]

Just wanted to say I am really enjoying playing this wargame. I bought it many years ago but never really played it much but lately I've started playing it properly and its fantastic. I have played quite a few wargames in the past - HoI series, Making History series, Panzer General, etc but this seems the best of the lot for WW2 depiction. I love the fact its simple so you can manage multiple allies and fight the whole war over the whole world completely painlessly.

The way you can attack and then swap units to attack again, which gets over the lack of stacking somewhat is well thought through and the game really seems to recreate a lot of the strategies used in the real era such as blitzkrieg, artillery bombardments, fighter escorts and flanking strongpoints.

I also love the graphics especially the 3d units and weather effects, and the sounds are well done as well. The events are very interesting and keep the game rolling along fairly historically whilst still providing opportunities for diverging from historical strategies.

My only issue would be the naval warfare really - I feel that capital ships are far too easily destroyed by subs and destroyers considering this hardly ever happened in history, except for the very odd rare occurrence, due their screening fleet. But maybe its just the fact I haven't learned how to use them properly yet to avoid getting attacked so easily? Definitely I cannot take my German fleet out of the ports without getting them badly damaged it seems but maybe that reflects history well?

Overall this is a superb game - would love to see an updated version in the future - any plans for one?

[BigJohn]

Totally agree great game not so great naval component, this is one of the reasons I play Europe less naval. Really hate the bump into a ship and BOOM part. You need to search with subs and always try to send naval in large groups include CVs if close to land where Maritime bombers are located. Subs drive supply to zero then sink. Sub strength has been reduced over the years but they are still to strong.

[Nats]

Yes I wish the devs would provide an alternative for the naval combat - maybe wider vision distance would help or better evasion rate? I am not really sure how they could alter it to make it better but it should be addressed its the only thing in the game that is painful.

In my view all capital ships should be stronger to reflect their screen fleet ships, against anything other than airborne carrier attacks, and carrier attacks should be made much stronger (they are fairly weak at the moment). Whereas maritime bombers, because they were lone planes, should be made weaker against anything other than subs.

Just needs the figures adjusting for some of the ships and planes really. But I really enjoy the ground and air combat in the game. And overall I prefer this game over WiE because I do enjoy the Pacific War.

[BigJohn]

Yes the land and air components are awesome. In the matrix Europe forum a guy wrote a mod for the Naval part, can't say I've ever played it but he put a lot of time into it.

https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4577856

[atshii]

With long turns the naval component of the game is a big abstraction and probably will always be. For me the sore point is/are the amphibious landing units, coming beyond Gibraltar and making the double move landing in a same turn in Italy/South France does not feel right.

The above mentioned naval mod changes the naval combat, try it out for a game or two to see how you like it. Especially attacking carriers is changed a lot, it is worth the read to check out what the creator of the mod had in mind while working on it.

[Nats]

I have downloaded and will try tonight, looks great. Can it be used with 3d icons? But I assume it will mean restarting the 1939 campaign from scratch? :-(

[atshii]

Originally posted by Nats:

I have downloaded and will try tonight, looks great. Can it be used with 3d icons? But I assume it will mean restarting the 1939 campaign from scratch? :-(

Yep, you need to start a new game.

[BigJohn]

Originally posted by atshii:

With long turns the naval component of the game is a big abstraction and probably will always be. For me the sore point is/are the amphibious landing units, coming beyond Gibraltar and making the double move landing in a same turn in Italy/South France does not feel right.

The above mentioned naval mod changes the naval combat, try it out for a game or two to see how you like it. Especially attacking carriers is changed a lot, it is worth the read to check out what the creator of the mod had in mind while working on it.

I've long argued that LRATs should be introduced much later in the game, say 1941 In the wrong hands (PBEM) the amphib component can be quite gamey.

[GoldenTalon]

Agree naval needs work - like better modelling of ZofC. I like some ideas in Naval War Mod on this point.

[Nats]

Just one quick question I have a few ships in ports but cannot repair them why is that? One can be repaired but the others cannot. I have plenty of spare mpp to enable the repairs. It it maybe the size of the naval yard or something? I cant see where a size is stated though.

[GoldenTalon]

Originally posted by Nats:

Just one quick question I have a few ships in ports but cannot repair them why is that? One can be repaired but the others cannot. I have plenty of spare mpp to enable the repairs. It it maybe the size of the naval yard or something? I cant see where a size is stated though.

Is port damaged (less than 5)?

[Nats]

No I dont think so its the start of the 1939 game playing as Germans - most ships are understrength when you start but I cant repair them.

[GoldenTalon]

Originally posted by Nats:

No I dont think so its the start of the 1939 game playing as Germans - most ships are understrength when you start but I cant repair them.

Never seen that before. Some ship start out not in a port so that's one thing to check. Can you post a screen shot?