Commander - Europe at War or PanzerCorps as my next game?

[UnknownSoldier]

Hi everyone, I didn't know where to post my inquiry so I decided to do it in this forum since it is one of the game I am considering.

I am currently enjoying Battle Academy on my mac as my first Slitherine game. I really like the game with its tactical squad based strategies.
However, I'd also be interested in a game with a more macroscopic scope. From what Slitherine and its partners offers for Mac OS; Commander - Europe at War and PanzerCorps (coming for Mac during the summer) are the two that piqued my curiosity the most.
I've checked the screenshots and read a bit of their respective forums but I'm not sure which I should go for. MHCEW seems to have the largest scale, you control the war fighting across continents while PC seems to zoom in a bit but I can't put my finger precisely at the scale you control your forces.

Which game do you suggest? I guess PC, being more recent, might have a more active multiplayer community. Also, does MHCEW include the Pacific theatre?

Many thanks.

[BuddyGrant]

Hi everyone, I didn't know where to post my inquiry so I decided to do it in this forum since it is one of the game I am considering.

I am currently enjoying Battle Academy on my mac as my first Slitherine game. I really like the game with its tactical squad based strategies.
However, I'd also be interested in a game with a more macroscopic scope. From what Slitherine and its partners offers for Mac OS; Commander - Europe at War and PanzerCorps (coming for Mac during the summer) are the two that piqued my curiosity the most.
I've checked the screenshots and read a bit of their respective forums but I'm not sure which I should go for. MHCEW seems to have the largest scale, you control the war fighting across continents while PC seems to zoom in a bit but I can't put my finger precisely at the scale you control your forces.

Which game do you suggest? I guess PC, being more recent, might have a more active multiplayer community. Also, does MHCEW include the Pacific theatre?

Many thanks.

I'm sure others will reply with more detailed info, but here's my $0.02...

CEAW Best Comparison: A very advanced version of the old Avalon Hill Third Reich board game, if you are familiar with that.
PzCorps Best Comparison: It is basically a remake/update of the Mid-90's Panzer General Game, if you are familiar with that.
Some Differences - CEAW Vs. PzCorps: CEAW is a grand strategy Corps level simulation of the WWII European Theatre of Operations (no Pacific Theatre), and includes fairly simplified accounting of manpower and oil resources as well as production capacity of the key WWII nations. It's all played out on one large map that covers the portion of the globe impacted by the European conflict, turns represent 20 days, and the only play options will be what year you want to begin the war (EG: 1939-1944). PzCorps is also a WWII European Theatre of Operations sim, but not at the grand strategy level. It breaks down the WWII European battles to many smaller scenarios where the game map is a single battle area, like a portion of France for a scenario on the Battle of The Bulge (for example). Both are excellent games IMO, and both are easy to learn, though CEAW is much deeper and therefore will be harder to master.

One advantage of PzCorps is that it is a newer game, and there appears to be a ton of company support behind it with many new add-on scenarios. There may also be more online multiplayer activity as you suggest for the same reason, though you can check the AAR forum here to get an idea of how many play CEAW in multiplayer mode. One advantage of CEAW is that a user group has been allowed to make game enhancements as well, and they created a more complex & even deeper version of CEAW called CEAW - Grand Strategy. One more thing, although I much prefer CEAW and believe it is one of the greatest WWII sims ever made, it's not really ideal for solo play. I think it's just too complex a game to have a particularly good AI, and with the simpler PzCorps it is possible to have a challenging solo game. If you can I would recommend picking up both games though, CEAW for some deeper and potentially more rewarding play, and PzCorps for a quicker fix of strategy enjoyment.

[UnknownSoldier]

Thank you very much.
This is exactly the kind of answer I was looking for.

[ferokapo]

One word of advice on PanzerCorps: It is in no way strategic, sometimes not even tactical, but random thrashing around with units. I have played the original PanzerGeneral and successors a lot, and I was enthusiastic about PanzerCorps, because it adds some new elements that are nice, such as Heroes. However, the original PanzerCorps and the first two Downloadable Campaigns have very small maps, while the units have comparatively high movement rates. The AI will attack somewhere out of nowhere, because it can whirl around its units within 2 or 3 turns from one end of the map to the other. You, of course, will do the same. So, you will rarely have any resemblance of a front line. This limit is not due to the game engine (the Scenario Editor allows much bigger maps), so future mods might take advantage of this and produce something like the epic Moscow maps of Panzer General. Plus, PanzerCorps did not fix the biggest short coming of PanzerGeneral: The inadequate represenatation of air units.

Most others disagree with me on PanzerCorps, and find it an enjoyable game. However, I think even they would agree with me that there is no strategy in it and little tactics.

[UnknownSoldier]

OK, but looking at a screenshot like this one: http://www.slitherine.com/screens.php?pic=836
The map seems quite big, but I don't know how far the units can move. I think I'll have to try the PanzerCorps demo on Windows and see how it goes.

[amcdonel]

To get an appreciation of the depth of CEaW Grand STrategy - you can look at the game manual for details on the game, features, strategies & tactics. You can download the manuals - in PDF, iBook or Kindle format.

See: www.gs-manual.org

Enjoy which ever you choose!!

[UnknownSoldier]

Thanks everyone for the advice.
I tried the PanzerCorps demo and right now I might not be in the right mood because I'm not as impressed as I think I'd be by looking at the screenshots.
I am also reading CEaW original manual (GS 2.1 is 643 pages long, wow) and I read part of the Amerika in flames AAR and it looks quite fun.

[UnknownSoldier]

I think that with the D-Day sale I'll grab a copy of CEaW.
Thanks everyone!