Two questions

[Vokt]

How good is AI here?

Will it be allowed to create expansions for this game with e.g. Napoleonic Wars or WW2 as possible subjects or there will be future releases with those mentioned subjects using this same game engine?

[lordzimoa]

The AI is pretty tough and will punish your mistakes, especially on the higher AI settings.

Yes, there are more games coming based on this engine, set in different settings, but we will not comment on this in detail yet.

[lordzimoa]

For those who are interested here some reviews:

CTGW review at 7idgaming (84%)

Quote:

Who would have guessed. A clear candidate for the award "Best Wargame 2012." The game can be recommended to any strategy game fan, and not just pure world war wargamers.



Next review of Commander: The Great war from Strategyprime 4/5 stars!

CTGW review at Strategyprime (4/5)

Quote:

Overall, it is a recommendable title, well worth trying out.



Rock, Paper, Shotgun likes Commander: The Great War!

Rock, Paper, Shotgun about CTGW

Quote:

I’m about halfway through my first 118-turn Commander: The Great War campaign at present, and can’t recall enjoying a grand-strategic WWI title more. Lordz seem to have judged the scale, pace and workload just about perfectly.



Commander The Great War review at The Wargamer.

CTGW review at The Wargamer

Quote:

It is also highly addictive and fun to play, (I’m always a bit leery of using words like fun in conjunction with wargaming) but all credit to The Lordz Studios/Slitherine/Matrix. They have produced a great title, and one that is extremely enjoyable. My advice is to go and buy if you are interested; you are going to be in for a bumpy but fantastic and immensely fulfilling ride!



CTGW review at Wargamer France

Quote:

The developers worked hard to integrate innovative concepts in a proven system. The Great War is very well depicted and the game will please both the newcomers and the expert wargamers.



CTGW review at Game Theory

Quote:

To summarize my summary, if you are a fan of strategy games, I believe this is one that must not be passed up on. Play it, learn it, then dominate in Commander – The Great War!



CTGW review at GamersHall (84%)

Quote:

I was quite fast showing an addictive behavior, so I can heartily recommend Commander: The Great War to any passionate PC general.



CTGW review at All PC Game (80%)

Quote:

I have wanted a Great War wargame for some time now. Those currently on the market just did not appeal to me. I had a feeling this would be the game to fill that void. Man on man was my gut feeling right on the mark.



CTGW review at Tacticular Cancer

Quote:

Commander: The Great War certainly (and rightly so) feels more like arm-wrestling than a graceful sword duel. Yet for anyone who has grown tired of years of panzers, blitzkrieg, Stalingrad and Normandy, this game should be just the ticket.



CTGW review at Caponier (8/10)

Quote:

In general, Commander: The Great War is a must-try all who love turn-based wargames of this type, and anyone interested in the First World theme.

[Samhain]

The Great War is the best Commander game yet and I sure look forward to any future ones.

[FOARP]

How good is AI here?

Will it be allowed to create expansions for this game with e.g. Napoleonic Wars or WW2 as possible subjects or there will be future releases with those mentioned subjects using this same game engine?

No AI is as good as a human player, the CTGW AI is no exception to this. That said, the AI will push you hard and rarely makes face-palm mistakes like abandoning the front or trying to defend a fortess with artillery - but these do occasionally happen.

[Vokt]

Thanks for the replies. It seems that AI has been improved in this game with respect to other Commander titles but still not really a challenge, wrong me?

[lordzimoa]

not really a challenge, wrong me?

Yes, we wrong you, the new AI is very capable and will punish you when you make a mistake.

[FOARP]

not really a challenge, wrong me?

Yes, we wrong you, the new AI is very capable and will punish you when you make a mistake.

It's defintely true to say that the game will punish you for making mistakes (e.g., leaving your supply line uncovered, not escorting transports, not establishing sufficent air defences). If you fail to over-run Serbia in 1914 you'll find British and French troops turning up there and making things difficult for you. Fail to advance far enough into France in 1914 and you'll face a solid barrier to advancements later on. Don't guard Austria-Hungary's frontier with Russia sufficiently and Przemsyl and Lemberg will fall. Get the balance between east and west wrong as Germany and you can potentially face defeat on both fronts. The AI knows to bombard your forces and then follow up with the attack, and to launch steady wearing-out attacks against weak spots in your line - try to maintain a hard-to-defend position and the AI will punish you for it.

Things I've never seen the game doing though -


1) Amphibious invasions - even the scripted Gallipoli landings in the 1915 scenario aren't pressed for more than one turn. The AI will keep a steady flow of forces headed towards whatever battle-zones you're fighting on - Palestine, Sinai, Serbia, Spain, France - in all of these cases I've seen the AI steadily reinforce with French/British/US/Portuguese troops, but I haven't see it launch an amphibious invasion. Maybe it does this if you run the Entente all the way off the continent - but I haven't seen it.

2) Determined encirclements - particularly the Central Powers against Russia in 1917, you should see these (actually, you should see a very hard to avoid Russian collapse) because there's big holes in the Russian line, but actually its fairly easy to keep the Central Powers at bay whilst playing as Russia just by disbanding forces you can longer afford to maintain and making offensives elsewhere to distract the CP. The offensive through Belgium into France in 1914 is the only major turning manoevre you'll normally see.

3) Battleships being handled with aparent awareness of the rules - too often you'll see battleships and cruisers being used to attack your forces close to your ports, where you receive significant bonuses.

4) Handle the Italian front sensibly when playing as Italy. Sure, the AI will keep up a defence here, but you'll see it send all surplus forces to France. Since a double-line is needed not to lose ground, this means that you can steadily push the Italians back so long as you have artillery support available.

[Vokt]

Things I've never seen the game doing though -


1) Amphibious invasions - even the scripted Gallipoli landings in the 1915 scenario aren't pressed for more than one turn. The AI will keep a steady flow of forces headed towards whatever battle-zones you're fighting on - Palestine, Sinai, Serbia, Spain, France - in all of these cases I've seen the AI steadily reinforce with French/British/US/Portuguese troops, but I haven't see it launch an amphibious invasion. Maybe it does this if you run the Entente all the way off the continent - but I haven't seen it.

CEAW AI failed at this subject since the inmense majority of its amphibious operations never made any sense. AI most of the times left unsupplied the disembarked units so they became easy targets.

I assume that CTGW AI will not be doing this anymore.