Why this game?

[springel]

I post this in a couple of subforums, because I expect to get different answers .

I recently bought PC 1 Gold in a sale, and I acquired one module for OOB (Red Star) to be able to take a look at all the fan content.

Now I want to start a campaign in one of them, and I am lookin for arguments for one system over the other. What are the differences, strong or weak points?

Or should I dive into WH 40K Armageddon, to have fun with tanks? Or even Fanatasy General, which I also own without having played it?

[terminator]

You can join the beta...

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[Epperaliant]

Panzer Corps is basically a budget version of OoB, has much simple rules, no pacific theater and cardboard models with no animations except some "pew pew!" muzzle flares and explosions. It can run even on a dishwasher but for some reason I always had very bad scrolling performance on my gaming rig.

Armageddon has better looks than Panzer Corps but still worse than OoB.
The game system is even simpler than Panzer Corps, frankly way too much for my taste but it's a good time waster.
Also, the game loads battle animations on the fly causing stutters when units attack, even on ssd systems. Very annoying.

Cannot comment on the other game, never played it.

[Edorf]

In my opinion better looks don’t make a better game. At least this is true for strategy games. As of now PzC1 Gold is a fully updated game with every dlc included. PzC2 is really not that much different from PzC1 gameplay wise. None of them are by any means complex strategy games, Armageddon less so. OOB is a bit more advanced than the other three mentioned games.

[cutydt02]

Animation - Okish, not as complicated as Fantasy General but hey, i love ww2 theme.
Graphic - Still okish, better than older and worse than newer game. But more important that its suit my eyes by its simplicity color theme.
Mechanic - At average level, i know some Turn-based ww2 game is more complex, but again, i love average level. Not hard to learn and easy to love.

[springel]

I played the first tutorial battle some time ago, on easy mode. Started over yesterday, but at normal difficulty, and I played the same way, expecting to easily run over the opposition. That was a nasty surprise. Yes, I won, but not without receiving a mercy new tank unit, because my old tank unit decided to go hunting on its own. So that was good

I looked at the summer sales: I can buy everything OOB on Steam for €63, but on Slitherine, even with the Summer Sale discount, it would cost me €169. Usually I buy directly from Slitherine/Matrix, but with such a big difference that is not an option for me.

[springel]

So I couldn't help myself and took the Steam sale for the complete OOB collection.

Now this game, and its whole family of General derivatives (and most RPG's) have this dilemma:
I like to play blind, because, obviously, why else would you need Fog Of War?
But you will make unfortunate decisions that will damage your precious core troops, so one is tempted to restart a battle to do it better and to be stronger in the rest of the campaign. But a second run is something different entirely: now you are just trying to solve a puzzle, without the tension of the unknown.

So now there are two ways to play it:
1) solve each battle-puzzle in an optimal way, with repeated tries.
2) play at a difficulty level easy enough to take the unavoidable extra damage of the surprises, and never restart.

I would like to play the second way, because now I have already more content than I can play.
How do you play?

What difficulty should I start with: I am thinking Easy (2nd), or should Normal (3rd) be survivable while taking a few errors hard on the chin? I mean, a loss of a scenario without restart does mean the end of a campaign? Or does it?

[conboy]

springel,
As for me,

2) play at a difficulty level easy enough to take the unavoidable extra damage of the surprises, and never restart

is the way to go. I think you learn too much about the scenario in the first playthrough to challenge yourself in the next playthrough. That is, unless you are trying to find an "optimal" solution, which is subjective and might be very time consuming. Others have a very different opinion!

I don't think there's a whole lot of puzzle-solving in OoB. Most scenarios can be won with good tactical application of your troops without requiring a specific, single path to victory. Even I did try to point one out in each scenario in the 3d Infantry Division Campaign, each scenario can be won by a different operational path.

I used to play on level 4 but I found it (too) stress-inducing. Level 3 is my comfort zone, it provides a challenge and allows you to make some mistakes. But each player has their own level of comfort. Most scenarios can be won on Level 3 without too much difficulty.

If you lose a scenario, you have to restart the campaign -- UNLESS you have saved the previous scenario, which is a very good idea anyway. Always save your last victorious scenario, that way, if you lose the next, you can restart at the last victory and try to get a win on the next playthrough. Some scenarios are very difficult for new players, so you should always have a restart point saved.

As far as quantity of games in OoB, Erik, Bru, and others have already filed a great deal of high-quality user-made campaigns and scenarios that address a huge variety of historical WWII situations (and other not-so-historical but fun ones). Look in the Scenario Design subfolder and pick the Custom Scenarios, Custom Campaigns, and Custom Multiplayer Scenarios folders. It'll take you years to play through all that good stuff.

Welcome to the OoB community!

conboy

[Hubbfrosch]

I play the game with normal difficulty and did so right from the start. If you read the briefings and stick to the mission objectives, it should be OK for the most part to play 'blind'. But OOB can send you into a downward spiral that fully hits you only a few scenarios later.

On my 1st playthrough I restarted the campaign at some point, because I had many mechanised forces (tanks, all infantry with halftracks...), but overall too few units.