This looks like World in Conflict meets Ruse and due out this month. The devs of RUSE in fact are the team behind this game.

Their are over 300 unique units and the gigantic maps stretch up to 150 km²!

I guess it could also be compared in a way to sins of a solar empire.

The game is set during the cold war and has 8 sides including Poland, Czech, British, German, French as well as the ubiquitous US and USSR.

The game claims to be realistic but certainly from what I have seen is not, especially when it comes to infantry. However on a "battle" level on such a huge map may in fact be a good representation of the basics.

I am not sure whether you need to build units.

We had a news snippet for it a while back here:

http://www.wargamer.com/news/6761/screenshots-feature-new-wargame-european-escalation-screenshots-released

Interesting.

I thought the general consensus was that Ruse is an RTS that doesn't do too well in the execution.  Wonder if they learned from that?

I have  RUSE and played it for, I think, about an hour.  Didn't do a thing for me.

It does look tempting. 

Game website:

http://www.wargame-ee.com/

Originally Posted By tgb123 (9 FEB 2012 7:23am)

I have  RUSE and played it for, I think, about an hour.  Didn't do a thing for me.

Me too

That said, I am interested in what this game is like. Should be doing a review of it.

RUSE wasn't bad. I liked the fact you didn't have to micro manage every single little unit out there.

Looking forward to this one, if for no other reason than it's nice to see something NOT set in WW2.

Did I mention the game is meant to be out in 2weeks. So the wargamer should prolly hit them up for a media copy.

I did not like RUSE either btw... I hope they treat infantry better in wargame EE

o after looing (guess which ey is not woring) I have realised you have to unloc units and that it is mostly intended as a multiplayer game much lie BF3 and its unlocs. 

So those who hate competition and just want to relax should stay away for now and stay tuned to see if sirmish and single player campaign are any good.

New video

Still I don't like the fact that the vehicles are race cars zooming on even terrain.  And the infantry are marathon runners who never get tired and don't look for cover during battle. 

Originally Posted By jomni (10 FEB 2012 4:21am)

Still I don't like the fact that the vehicles are race cars zooming on even terrain.  And the infantry are marathon runners who never get tired and don't look for cover during battle. 

That's because the whole game, like with RUSE, is meant to be an abstraction. You're controlling the overall units themselves, not every sngle little squad. Just ebcause the little guys aren't in cover on the screen doesn't mean they aren't taking cover on the battlefield...you just wouldn't see that level of detail from your commander's point of view.

Originally Posted By jomni (10 FEB 2012 4:21am)

Still I don't like the fact that the vehicles are race cars zooming on even terrain.  And the infantry are marathon runners who never get tired and don't look for cover during battle. 

I agree with you jomni. But on the flip side it has morale and things lie that believe it or not. 

The stats and armour alll have values for the sides top and perhaps even bottom which is cool.

P.S. I have started my steam pre-download.

Here is a live stream which gives a better idea of game speed. Its slower than I thought and will be played higher up because of map size.

Uses NATO symbology too. Watched a tan platoon that was listed as "worried" lol

Ranges seem realistic too.... sheez this loos good!

http://www.livestream.com/tgapples

True, there may be abstraction and a lot of good stuff under the hood.  But they could have worked on more realistic animations to make it more believable.

In Ruse, It's ok because it looks like your moving casio chips over a diorama map.

But this game, they make the terrain look so real and the zoom out like a view from sattelite or UAV.  

Maybe it's not an issue of game speed but animation speed.  That zoomed out looks alright.  I just won't look closer. Lol!

Was a fun live stream to watch.  The guy just complained about how much micro management.  He needs to do which he is not used to (which is RUSE).

He whinges lie an Englishman for some reason

Its a french dev game and the english on that channel started hastling the french army and vehicles in general and in the game... was funny really. 

I'm just seeing that rocets stunned his tan s and they could not move. But then unrealistic things lie tans slowly healing near supply trucs... they say its not very much and very slow though.

He just said his roland had run out of ammo... music to me ears that ind of detail.

this game does have many abstratcions though, I wonder how long paras tae to come and tehn how small and inneffective they are when they arrive.

Just saw units route... sweet.

He pointed out the spamming of small arms / autocannons on tanks will make them panic and thinks it should be fixed.

For me it's a viable strategy and makes other units useful.

o just had my first game and was great fun. The maps are so big that you really need to plan. Re-enforcements are a looong way from the front. It leaves lulls in the battle when both sides tae stoc of whether they have enough supplies to attac.

Some pics from my game. Notice the unique damage. The units get low on fuel and ammo too unless they are supplied by trucs.

I would warn people that this game is similar to a large scale company of heroes with a bit more realism than anything else. You have to capture territory to get money to bring in more units. But supply and command are important.

http://cdn.steampowered.com/Manuals/58610/WARGAME-EE_MANUEL-ONLINE_INT.pdf?t=1328906615

Here is the lin to the manual. Not sure if you guys will be able to read.

But you can only play 1vs1 against the AI. inda sux for a lot of my friends who want a more relaxed game.

HOwever there is a single player campaign.

Originally Posted By destraex (11 FEB 2012 3:48am)

(iii) Terrain seems to have no gradient to it, or when it does its not very natural.
(iv) Armoured vehicles seem to be able to traverse any terrain. For instance you can hide an army of tancs in a thic forest. This should be the domain of infantry and wehre they shine

Ah like race cars on a race track. 

How did you get a copy?  Beta? Demo?

pre-order off steam

you can download straight away and play the multi BETA

After playing the multi beta a bit a few more impressions...

The maps are mostly flat, however their are contour like rises and plateaus. I have only seen two maps in the beta though and their are supposed to be 20 or so. 

You micro manage mostly. I do not think you can just give out tasks and I do not think units will do anything smart on their own unless you a panicking and running to cover then coming out when they regain thier nerve.

Its like WIC (world in conflict) with huge maps and less click fest, coupled with supply and more wargame features. It is however still an RTS.

If you do not like click fests then you should probably shy away from this one. It involves the tactical battle (click fest) and the strategic slower side of things. This game does have a lot more planning and strategy ... even tactical possabilities to employ than almost any other RTS I have seen. Why? Because the map allows a lot of room for movement which makes reconaisance and supply very important. Flanking is made easier too.

It uses dx11 too which is nice.

Their is a lot of detail in the game like targetting computers rebooting mid battle for arty or fuel leaks etc.

If you zoom in on my pictures you will see tanks stuck in mud and all sorts of nice details.

As you go up ranks by playing single or multiplayer you unlock new units. You actually get command points to spend unlocking units of your choice. Each unit usually has a number of sub-variants to unlock in order should you wish to do so.

For instance a t72 may be unlocked and iirc their are 3 other variants that you can unlock of the t72 other than the base vanilla t72 unit.

Some images from my games: enjoy

As you can see in this picture. One pilot is panicked and the other calm. I have about half my fuel left and am low on ammo for all weapons. These boys will last a bit longer in the field but will need supply trucks or a supply base soon.

I have not noticed yet that units actually run out of fuel.... but I do not ever recall letting things get that bad.

A BTR stuck in the mud, the effect only lasts for variable seconds and he will be on his way again. All infantry you buy come with APC carriers. Althought you can if you wish buy APCs on their own.

One of a group of four tanks has de-tracked. Should I wait for him or keep driving? The formation is disrupted and understrength. Perhaps I should wait... perhaps this will hand the enemy the initiative?

A fuel leak and a targetting system problem. You can see clearly here also the big white arrows. Capture an area with white arrows and your re-enforcements will use these entry points. How do you do this? You need to put a command vehicle in a stationary state in the area. Killing all of the enemies command vehicles is also generally the short way to win. The other common way is reaching the limit for kill points (which are based on deployment points). The more valuable the unit the more points you get for killing it. Don't lose your forces.... but by the same token spamming with USSR style cheap tank wave assaults is still a viable tactic as these will not be worth many points.

You can see here at the bottom how many units I have selected and their unit cards. In the games main menu you have the option of making custom card decks that usually dictate what units you have available in game. Most low level players will just be adding all of their units. But as you get higher you can only field 5 of each class of base unit (and the base units varients). So the choices of what to field will become harder.

Here you see the stats for each unit are fairly detailed. Fuel and weapons ranges being fairly realistic. Armour values for instance include top and bottom as well as all sides

I have notices that some varients are fairly hard choices to make as some capabilities actually can go backwards for extra cost. You can also mix units from all armies of each pact together. 

If you get the top AT infantry they can be one shot killers VS tanks if you get them in the right spot. this takes many players by surprise as they see wire guided missiles closing in. Infantry are also very good at holding ground and hiding.

Although I have not tried the hide in building feature yet.

My choppers "stun" a tank formation with their attack. I actually like the fact that armour is susceptible to being knocked around inside the tank even if the armour is not penetrated.

Here some APCs approach a road. If I had them instead of choppers selected in this shot. I would choose the command "move fast" to make them use the roads. Using roads makes units move very fast and reduces the chance of detracking and other cross country problems. You see a lot of novice players not using this. At higher tiers I am sure people will sight roads and intersections.

One side of a map. Just on this side of the map alone their are 10 or so territories to capture. The battles are really like meeting engagements and players will often mass artillery on their starting grids and just scout while they wait for you. A tactic they soon regret once your get in and scout for your tanks long range.

Me escorting an allies units. As you gain points by capturing territory and holding it you can bring more units onto the field. However unlike other RTS games it is much harder to gain an advantage this way. You cannot capture all of the ground on a map and generally have to pick and choose strategically. Do you capture a flanking arterial road of a road that you can hold easier running onto your end of the map. Do you hold the centre points? You can only build so many command vehicles and they cost money. Once you reach your pop cap you cannot build more. I have not had more than three but their are often 10 or more territories to capture.

After the battle. Most games I have played (which is only 4 or so) end because the points limit has been reached.

You can see on the right the XP gained and the level I need to get to to unlock my next 6 command stars. The stars will buy me units.

In this one shortly after I have my next level and some stars to allocate to an army. Beware though. You must choose whether to specialise and allocate all points to one army or just put some into each side.

So, I've played a bit of the multiplayer beta in preparation for a full review.

I like it.

There is a lot of tactical flexiibility thanks to the large maps (allowing room to maneuver) and large number of units. Of course, you have to unlock all of the "good" units, but you are given some basics in each category. You are limited to only five units in each category and better units are more expensive, but veteran players will still have better stuff simply because they have played the game more.

That said, I like the unit variety. You get scouts, tanks, tank destroyers, infantry (anti- air, anti-tank), artillery, anti-air artillery, helicopters, and a bunch of other types I am forgetting. Basically, there is something to counter any opposing strategy. And since you can't field everything, you'll have to choose a strategy and hope the enemy can't counter it with their unit selections.

This is one of the few games that makes supply of units really, really important: ammunition and fuel run out quickly, so you must have supply trucks/helicopters shuttle between your base and the front lines to keep your units properly fed. You can destroy enemy supply trucks and turn expensive, powerful units into useless flaming piles of burning metal.

Captured objectives give resource points, and must be captured with fragile, expensive commander units. This makes base-switching uncommon as opposing sides are hesitent to send in their commander units if the enemy isn't cleared out. You must also capture and hold objective locations with big giant arrows because that's where new units appear.

The game has a fast pace and most games are under 20 minutes long, which I like.

I'm not a fan of the flat maps with the occasional plateau.

The graphics are nice and the interface is distinctive, though I'd like a list of all your units just in case you forget about things you ordered (like I do).

That's about it for now.

Hi, can anyone tell me if the multiplayer beta includes a single player skirmish mode? Thanks

Originally Posted By HoundSkull (16 FEB 2012 9:52am)

Hi, can anyone tell me if the multiplayer beta includes a single player skirmish mode? Thanks

 

It does not. That will become available when the game is released in one week.