Originally Posted By sandman2575 (7 APR 2012 7:32pm)

Of the big 3:  FOF / AACW / GG War between the States --

 

Anyone care to opine which is the least overwhelming / most accessible for the complete Civil War Newb (namely, myself) - ?

 

(Kind of struck by the disparity of prices on the Matrix site:  FOF = $49.99, AACW = $19.99, GGWbtS = $33.99 ... i'm leaning toward FOF, but it's more than 2x price of AACW, which gives me pause...)

You get 2x more the game with FOF as you not only get grand strategic but also tactical if you should so choose to play out the individual battles.

Originally Posted By sandman2575 (7 APR 2012 7:32pm)

Of the big 3:  FOF / AACW / GG War between the States --

 

Anyone care to opine which is the least overwhelming / most accessible for the complete Civil War Newb (namely, myself) - ?

 

(Kind of struck by the disparity of prices on the Matrix site:  FOF = $49.99, AACW = $19.99, GGWbtS = $33.99 ... i'm leaning toward FOF, but it's more than 2x price of AACW, which gives me pause...)

My :

I love, love FoF. The tactical battles alone are worth it. And there are tons of ways to customize the game. This is the Civil War game I always recommend.

I tried GGWbts but found it complicated and hard to get into. It seemed like a complex game of Risk to me. I plan to try it again one day.

I tried the AACW demo but also found it complex. I also didn't like the graphics that much. I also plan to try this one again one day.

Don't pay 20 bucks for AACW:

http://www.amazon.com/Ageods-American-Civil-War-1861-1865-PC/dp/B000WF7HHC/ref=sr_1_3?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1333893322&sr=1-3

or, for a little more including BoA2  

http://www.amazon.com/Ageod-Strategy-Collection-Battles-1750-1918-DVD/dp/B002MCZMX4/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1333893322&sr=1-1

But the real choice is going to boil down to if you want tactical battles

I get the impression that Azz wants something easy to get into, like GG's game.

Did the devs of GGWBtS ever add the higher-res fix for it, like their WW2 one?  While that didn't support widescreen resolutions, it at least used up more monitor property from the way it sounds.  Running at 1024x860, on a 22" LCD monitor, makes a game look like a postage stamp... or vaseline.. depending on how you have your vid card aspect ratio settings.  IIRC it can go to 1280x1024 at least, but dunno if the same is possible in the Civil War one.

This is the game of the civil war Azz wants: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mvh8nuvEovA&feature=related 

Originally Posted By Wolverine101 (8 APR 2012 6:21pm)

This is the game of the civil war Azz wants: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mvh8nuvEovA&feature=related

Played that game to death back in "the day"...very fond mammaries!

Forge of Freedom for the win! 

Although, if you're really into the ACW you really need to purchase all 4 excellent games: FoF, AACW, GGWBtS and Scourge of War. 

If you're really into the ACW you really need to purchase all eleven of the John Tiller American Civil War titles at

http://www.hpssims.com/

http://johntillersoftware.com/

with still more on the way.

Originally Posted By berto (9 APR 2012 3:59pm)

If you're really into the ACW you really need to purchase all eleven of the John Tiller American Civil War titles at

 

http://www.hpssims.com/

http://johntillersoftware.com/

 

with still more on the way.

Good god, man!

Can't you see?!  Azz wants a first-person shooter/tower defense game set in the civil war!

Originally Posted By berto (9 APR 2012 3:59pm)

If you're really into the ACW you really need to purchase all eleven of the John Tiller American Civil War titles at

 

http://www.hpssims.com/

http://johntillersoftware.com/

 

with still more on the way.

Are u kidding?

That is how I developed Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in the first place!

Originally Posted By Nefaro (9 APR 2012 6:18pm)

Originally Posted By berto (9 APR 2012 3:59pm)

If you're really into the ACW you really need to purchase all eleven of the John Tiller American Civil War titles at

 

http://www.hpssims.com/

http://johntillersoftware.com/

 

with still more on the way.

 

Good god, man!

 

 

Can't you see?!  Azz wants a first-person shooter/tower defense game set in the civil war!

 

 

 

Lol!

 

 

 

Originally Posted By jomni (10 APR 2012 2:18am)

Civil War Generals 2.

I tried loading that up, with the upgrade from http://cwg2enhanced.com/ and it looked absolutely terrible.  I mean - so bad that I found it difficult to focus on it without going cross-eyed. 

Must've been the quite low-res mixed with the poor old gfx.  It was more painful than most oldies.

Sandman if you want the least overwhelming and most accessible for a novice, for my money it's GGWBTS.  I have all three.  ACW may be the cheapest right now, and it sure is pretty to look at.  I just never got into the interface for force management.  FOF is a far richer game, for sure, and its best attribute is its immersive detail, and the blend of strategic with tactical.  The steep learning curve that goes with all that complexity is its major drawback, though, in my opinion. You can, of course, dial back the complexity and play a simple no-frills version, but that's too plain to hold much interest. WBTS lets you layer the complexity, too, but the basic game isn't so vanilla as to bore you, and you can increase the challenges and variety as you go along.  It's a good vehicle for PBEM, too.

Originally Posted By Nefaro (10 APR 2012 6:47pm)

Originally Posted By jomni (10 APR 2012 2:18am)

Civil War Generals 2.

 

I tried loading that up, with the upgrade from http://cwg2enhanced.com/ and it looked absolutely terrible.  I mean - so bad that I found it difficult to focus on it without going cross-eyed. 

 

Must've been the quite low-res mixed with the poor old gfx.  It was more painful than most oldies.

 

 

Ahhhh there he goes with his graphics thingy again. lol I have it Nef and it doesn't look bad at all and I'm playing on a 25" screen. You're too picky.

Originally Posted By TBWheeler (10 APR 2012 10:42pm)

Sandman if you want the least overwhelming and most accessible for a novice, for my money it's GGWBTS.  I have all three.  ACW may be the cheapest right now, and it sure is pretty to look at.  I just never got into the interface for force management.  FOF is a far richer game, for sure, and its best attribute is its immersive detail, and the blend of strategic with tactical.  The steep learning curve that goes with all that complexity is its major drawback, though, in my opinion. You can, of course, dial back the complexity and play a simple no-frills version, but that's too plain to hold much interest. WBTS lets you layer the complexity, too, but the basic game isn't so vanilla as to bore you, and you can increase the challenges and variety as you go along.  It's a good vehicle for PBEM, too.

Many thanks for this -- and for everyone else who weighed in on my question.

I pulled the trigger on FoF ... price was indeed a bit steep after you figure in the extra $ for the physical copy (for deep games, an actual manual is a must for me), shipping etc....  Still, I feel good about the choice.  GGWBTS was runner up -- and of course there's no reason i won't pick it up in the future.  I've always found the AGEOD engine and UI a bit baffling -- I know their games deserve their quality reputation, but I've never been able to really get into them - my loss, I"m sure.  And there's always time to learn those as well...

Curious though that Matrix site lists FoF and AACW as "Intermediate" difficulty, and GGWBTS as "advanced" difficulty - ?  Not that one should put too much stock in what are pretty subjective ratings after all.  Although I gathered from Jim Allen's reviews on Out of 8 that GGWBTS was the groggiest / hardest learning curve of the 3.  But, to each his own, yes?

I'm pretty psyched to get into some Am. Civil War, an area of military history I've neglected for way too long.  I've been way too focused on WW2 for way too long in fact -- i.e. one of those strategy gamers that Nefaro thinks so highly of.  Have had my eye on Scourge of War for a while too.  Next sale perhaps?

Originally Posted By Wolverine101 (11 APR 2012 9:34am)

 

 

Ahhhh there he goes with his graphics thingy again. lol I have it Nef and it doesn't look bad at all and I'm playing on a 25" screen. You're too picky.

 

While I still have old games like Fallout 2 running, and they look passable, the CWG2 game just looked exceptionally bad.  I suspect the old game 'art' made it doubly worse, as the 2D art was evidentally rather poor even for back then.  It looks like a bunch of colored blobs to me, now.

Originally Posted By Nefaro (12 APR 2012 7:58am)

Originally Posted By Wolverine101 (11 APR 2012 9:34am)

 

 

Ahhhh there he goes with his graphics thingy again. lol I have it Nef and it doesn't look bad at all and I'm playing on a 25" screen. You're too picky.

 

 

 

While I still have old games like Fallout 2 running, and they look passable, the CWG2 game just looked exceptionally bad.  I suspect the old game 'art' made it doubly worse, as the 2D art was evidentally rather poor even for back then.  It looks like a bunch of colored blobs to me, now.

 

 

I fire it up fairly often on my 42 inch screen.  Maybe I got used to it when I was younger, but it doesn't look that bad to me.

Just note that I set the video to stretch out (and kept aspect ratio) so that always makes stuff look worse.  But the 800x600 resolution was so tiny on this monitor that it was the size of a postage stamp, nearly, so I was leaning forward & squinting a lot.   I couldn't find a happy medium and ditched it.  Hell.. I've got numerous Civil War games that look great, so I wasn't too concerned about being nostalgic.