Slitherine

Hello! I Played Panzer Corps Beta for the first time today and here are a few of my thoughts. I entered the 1st tutorial scenario and basically there was no information...the game simply started and it was up to me to figure out how to play it. Since the game was very similar to Panzer general II and I have spent hours playing that game, I figured it out very quickly, but anyone new to this genre of game might be confused on how to start and what they should be doing. I would recommend enhancing the tutorials with turn by turn written or oral explanations or suggestions on how to move units, how to attack and fire, objectives that need taken, etc. Basically, a new player should be led through the 1st tutorial as if they knew nothing at all about the game (veterans of this genre will skip the tutorials). Bear in mind that most young players today want flashy graphics and fast paced action. This type of game is more about strategy, so in order to hook new players into playing this type of game, you need them to get started quickly with as much information as possible, making the first tutorials relatively easy without compromising a sense of accomplishment. This genre of game is highly addicting, so if you can manage to keep them interested for the first 15 minutes or so, the nuances of the game begin to manifest themselves and you realize just how strategic and above all fun and addictive this game can be.
I switched to 1939 campaign mode after about 5 minutes, and was very impressed with several things. The ability to choose whether to use fog of war, weather, and supply is an outstanding feature, especially for lazy or inexperienced players. The difficulty setting was also perfectly implemented in the way it is presented. I have not had time to test the differences in a scenario yet, but will do so and report my findings in the future. One impression I had was that on normal difficulty in 1939 campaign mode, the Polish troops might seem a bit overpowered, but it was not a huge issue. A nice addition would be to include some kind of floating damage number after an attack above the selected units...wargamers tend to obssess about numbers and stats and it would be a welcome addition.