Wargame: European Escalation

[Grimreapo]

Spoiler!

I see that Warsaw Pact countries are still using NATO codes, little pet peeve of mine :\

Nope, the replay is from a NATO PoV, as a PACT player I can see all of the Soviet call signs. I'll do a screenshot...

How is this different from all those WiC clones?

"How is Ostfront different from CoD2?"
It is nothing like WiC, WiC was closer to DOTA with calling in off map airstrikes/spells and using unit abilties, WARGAME is closer to a PVP version of Close Combat with some mildly abstracted features (for example, when using supply tucks they supply all units with the correct ammo) for PVP. It is snuggles in the happy medium of the simple but fun RTS games like SC2 and the much more complex bad boys like Combat Mission, I really like it...

Also what WiC clones? Other than ToW:Korea what other cold wars games have their been? Much, much fewer than WW2 and Modern Warfare...

I'm still on the fence regarding this one, but that AAR got me a bit closer to buying it. Thanks for that Grim.

Thanks, I'll do another one as soon as I get another another good game!

 

[Grimreapo]

Another match, this shows off why recon and having LoS of a target is very important (remember I screw around with LoS in repoays):

Here my recon tanks move infront of the BMPs along to the highway keeping my eyes open.

Soon my tank comes under fire from these two recon vehcials, I soon start to return fire but my tank gets taken out!

Here I comment a bit of a mistake, I place my support infantry in this forget too close to the front line, this will bite me in the *** later but the they start to come close.

Here on the right flank my infantry is overrun by some APCs, wiping them out but this will be the last action the right flank for quite a while!

Here my BMPs take out the recon tanks but if you notice a infantry soon unloads from a Fuschs on their right flank!

Close combat happens with both sides using thier RPG to take out the APCs!

Although wounded my units route the infantry as Artillery hits around my forces!

Back in his zone his artillery fires down onto my forces but they really dont add much in the upcoming battle...

With a big push coming up it looks like I am in trouble as they over run my ATGMs but I have an ace up my sleeve!

This is a CZECH SPG that will fire onto the incoming forces, unlike his SPGs there are very close to the front line and are able to lay down effective fire!

Success! The blob is stopped by my fire and then my BMPs start firing onto the wounded tanks.

Wiped out they turn around and start to flee! However he knows where my SPG are so he counters...

The missle armed Lynx are soon taken out by my Tungston AA tanks!

Feeling retro I call in the WW2 era ISU-122 (although updated) into the battle in 2 groups, these are cheap as I wait to see what he does next but...

Rushing into the foret they take out one group of ISU-122 and they start to make a beeline to my DANA artillery, I must pull back!

As my ammo trucks and DANAs have MG they are able to slaughter the infantry in the open!

Here you can see some capture suppy trucks they the other team captured, however thier loss means little and they are still in the forest!

I call in a recon HELO and it start to fire down on them as some infantry advances but unless I am something that can wipe them out quick they could cause damage!

Which I do, my flamethrower T55 soon puring on the gas and they are wiped out in seconds...

Still firing its artillery the map away they send in forces into the tree line but my units are ready...

These light armoured TOW units start firing into the line but my DANAs are soon on it!

He is pushing veyr hard, getting close to the tree line but....

My HIND deals with them! A while pass as he falls back but then I notice something on the right flank, I send my HIND...

Wounded but not dead my my HIND gets some pretty bad dmage, my HELO then turns around and goes back to base as I then turn my DANAs on them as I do he advance up to the treeline again...

Rushing into my lines I need to refocus my line and take those APCs!

The Flame tanks before shoot at the flak guns but....

My poor HIND is taken out!

Still pushing and still my DANAs push them back!

My T55 take out the tank, woundering them even though they are weaker but it matter little as...

I win! If you notice the score on the right of the screen it slowly crept up to 1500 point the kill score of 1v1 rank allowing me to win the game, it was close and NATO player was far to aggressive but it shows how LoS matters!

Oh and here for Grabbed_by_the_Spetsnaz, PACT codes!

 

[ductape3]

I got it and it really is an amazing game. Feel free to add me for some teamwork matches Steam username: ductape

 

[Grabbed_by_the_Spetsnaz]

Is this game Download only? I can't seem to find it at any stores...

 

[dogbadger]

Much as i like them in theory, in practice I don't tend to stick with RTT games -but i might jump on this one.
I'd rather buy a retail release but if that's not coming any time soon I worry about falling behind other players.
I did like WiC but by the time i got into it the playing standard was so high it was hard to contribute to the team.

Best thing about this game is the setting/era - which is where i wish they would go with arma.

 

[tofupunk]

So what's up with the leveling system? I'm not sure I agree with having to grind to get all the units. Seems like a hard thing to balance correctly.

I'm still looking forward to this, but unlocks in general are really starting to get on my nerves.

 

[I. Kant]

Thing looks interesting, but if we're talking pet peeves, the Polish-related achievement names are plain terrible.

"Dabrowski's Mazurka" is a gross offender. Do not use inflected noun forms (here: the genitive/ accusative), please. "Dabrowski's mazurek" (in the nominative). Absolutely game-breaking to me.

 

[Grimreapo]

Is this game Download only? I can't seem to find it at any stores...

The guys who are making it are self publishing (or using a small publisher), so I think its download only...

So what's up with the leveling system? I'm not sure I agree with having to grind to get all the units. Seems like a hard thing to balance correctly.

If you mean units in game then you can buy them with vet and let them earn it in combat, neat system...

If you mean the meta game with decks, it oddly enough works even though its a RTT/RTS game and I dislike unlocks. The units in the starting decks sum up the basic ideals of the NATO/PACT, teaching you how to USE the units and how you can win using them. For example the starting PACT tank is the T62 which is "middle of the road" tank, not as good at the T64 and not as cheap as the T55 it does its job staying at range and still get mauled by infantry in close combat but it teaches you how to use tanks well. If you are playing ranked, then having a limited starting deck (and along with your opponent if your doing rank) allows you play without worrying how you should build your deck, if you had the FULL unlock at the start you could make a HORRIBLE deck and not know why you was losing. With there being 300 units in the game, it would be REALLY confusing to know which unit to use and you rank up so fast (you can get lvling up points for playing unranked) then you soon gain access to the units...

Also you can only have 25 units in a single match (although you can use variants of a same unit), so those choices really matter and unless you know how the game works even a East German T34/85 can really **** up your expensive Abrams...

 

[[Mad_Murdock]]

Hmmm, looking better and better with those AARs, I was EXTREMELY skeptical at first, especially given this is the RUSE engine, but I will have to look into picking this up and giving it a whirl.

I do wanna say you're doing a very good job in those games. I've had a lot of experience with RTSs over the years, but Ive always been really hesitant to take my game online because I tend to be a slow and methodical player who likes to micromanage and hates to throw away units, while even in RTSs I find it is usually the rusher who always wins.

 

[ductape3]

I will have to look into picking this up and giving it a whirl.

You really should, its an amazing game.

Ive always been really hesitant to take my game online because I tend to be a slow and methodical player who likes to micromanage and hates to throw away units, while even in RTSs I find it is usually the rusher who always wins.

A random rush that is not well planned WILL fail in this game if there is any type of reasonable defense set up. This game relies on combined arms and a heavy dose of tactics.

When you lose a unit in this game, you feel it. if not immediately then during the inevitable counter attack after you have wasted all of you units. Each unit matters because there is a high probability that you wont be able to afford another for some time.

If they have recon and you dont, your units will be shelled and shot to oblivion before you get a chance to respond. if you lead a charge with out supplies, your offensive will grind to a halt as you run out of fuel and ammunition. if you try to tank rush with out supporting aa, you will be picked off from the air. If you don't have a spotter for your artillery, then it will just look pretty and waste ammunition.

A mid-range tank costs generally 40-60 points base and will increase rapidly as you buy levels of veterancy. Then you have to buy additional command vehicles at a cost of 200-300 apiece, they will be how you can replace lost units and buy crucial units to counter your opponent during the game. now you are going to need some AA to keep those tanks safe from helo attacks. And some more to keep your command safe. Those will cost 15-65 each generally.

Now if you are playing 1v1 or 2v2 you will usually have to be entirely self sufficient, so you need some support in the way of helos for rapid response or artillery for suppression to make your units more effective and sometimes even get a kill. That's going to cost somewhere between 50 and 175 a pop.

And last but certainly not least, you need to keep all of those units fighting and moving. This means supply trucks or helicopters which range from 15-60. Maybe even another fob to help keep them in supplies, that's 100.

You can see how this all adds up very quickly, especially when you start with only 1500, and even more so when you should keep 300-500 in reserve for dealing with whatever they do.

Yet despite all this, there is relatively little micro managing The game is an incredible work of balance and finesse and a very unique and enjoyable game.

 

[Grabbed_by_the_Spetsnaz]

So apparently there IS a retail copy coming to certain regions, AUS/NZ seems to be one, so I'll wait for that!

However there are some "concerns" I have with this game, namley balance issues...

1) For starters simply looking at the roster on the website, I can see low/med tier tanks do very little damage, have no amour, and cost about the same as an APC with an ATGM, but ATGM's are both stronger and have bigger range than the main cannons on these tanks, so what is the incentive for running with low/med level tanks and tank destroyers?

2) Seeing afew player commentaries it seems in larger games players simply mass artillery and AA and basically become unstoppable... Is this true?

3) Actually... he forgot Poland, or so it seems, MOAR POLISH troops pls!

4) Will thier be different terrain other that the grasslands we see in the demo? Such as forests, mountains, desserts etc?

 

[Grimreapo]

So apparently there IS a retail copy coming to certain regions, AUS/NZ seems to be one, so I'll wait for that!

However there are some "concerns" I have with this game, namley balance issues...

1) For starters simply looking at the roster on the website, I can see low/med tier tanks do very little damage, have no amour, and cost about the same as an APC with an ATGM, but ATGM's are both stronger and have bigger range than the main cannons on these tanks, so what is the incentive for running with low/med level tanks and tank destroyers?

ATGM are VERY limited, have to fired whilst still and it all depends on the vet lvl of the unit as I seen rockets go up and hit the sky. ATGMs are also usless to use on infantry...

2) Seeing afew player commentaries it seems in larger games players simply mass artillery and AA and basically become unstoppable... Is this true?

The current points you get in 1v1 are 1500, most team matches on unranked tend to over 3000 and alot more with some people playing on 1v1 maps...

3) Actually... he forgot Poland, or so it seems, MOAR POLISH troops pls!

Polish units are in the game! I just pefer the Czech/East German stuff!
>_>

4) Will thier be different terrain other that the grasslands we see in the demo? Such as forests, mountains, desserts etc?

Hells High Way the 1v1 map is a very heavy forest map, there could be mountians but I am not sure about deserts because its mostly set in German although a team based map is set on THree Mile Island...

 

[Grabbed_by_the_Spetsnaz]

ATGM are VERY limited, have to fired whilst still and it all depends on the vet lvl of the unit as I seen rockets go up and hit the sky. ATGMs are also usless to use on infantry...

Still find it a little un-nerving... but I'll take your word for it!

The current points you get in 1v1 are 1500, most team matches on unranked tend to over 3000 and alot more with some people playing on 1v1 maps...

So what your basically saying is arty spam only happens when you have an absurd number of points? That's pretty re-assuring

Polish units are in the game! I just pefer the Czech/East German stuff!
>_>

Guess you didn't get my G.W.B reference, I was talking about the game not having many unique Polish units (APC's and a couple of helo's), not your playstyle

Hells High Way the 1v1 map is a very heavy forest map, there could be mountians but I am not sure about deserts because its mostly set in German although a team based map is set on THree Mile Island...

Cool! I'll take your word for it!

Reply's in purple


Fabulous!!

 

[Grimreapo]

Good news! The game is out and if you play single player you will get stars that will allow you to unlock new units for mutiplayer as well!

 

[sampsa]

Slowly, ever so slowly this game is downloading. But eventually I'm going to challenge and beat you all. You count has started, braze yourselves.

 

[tofupunk]

Ugh.. this is very cheap on

http://www.pcworlddownloads.co.uk/product/lp28692/wargame-european-escalation/

but I can't buy it in Sweden. Wonder if using a VPN will work.

 

[tofupunk]

VPN got me past registration, but you need a british credit card to complete the checkout. Bummer. Anyway, 10

 

[kapulA]

So far, only the 1v1 forested map is in-game or am I wrong? Are the plans for city/urban maps and more war-torn landscapes? Would really like to see those

 

[Borkac]

i dont like this kind of games but this looks good

 

[sampsa]

1v1 is actually very rare. But since the game takes place in Germany / Poland every map has forests and little towns.