What would you want to see in a new Allied General?

monkspider · Post by **monkspider** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 8:30 pm

Let's talk about an Allied General remake. I am quite fond of the old game, though not as much as Panzer General, it is still a beloved old classic.

One thing that made Panzer General and Panzer Corps so special is the way it starts off slowly either in Spain or Poland and then builds up to Norway, the Low Countries, France, England, the USSR, and then finally the USA. It builds toward a steady crescendo which is one of the things that makes the campaign work so beautifully. You have a small initial force, and two or three easy battles you can use to build them up, and then you get thrown into the fire with France and even moreso after that. It is a quality that the non-German campaigns in PG2 lacked. For example, if you played as the British, you were thrown into the invasion of Italy right off the bat with a huge, pre-made army. Allied General at least attempted to maintain the slow escalation of the campaign but not nearly as well as it's predecessor. From a gameplay perspective, following the historical course of World War II as the Germans naturally works very well.

With the USSR, this pace can be reasonably accomplished by starting off with the Battles of Khalkhin Gol against Japan, Poland, Finland and THEN Barbarossa. The Western Allies are more difficult. You can have some easy battles with the British against Italy, as Allied General attempted to do in their first one or two scenarios, but after that you are thrown into some tough Afrika Corps campaigns and with this option you lost the ability to participate in the battle of France in the Western Campaign.

The other thing that Panzer General had that Allied General lacked was fun and imaginative ahistorical scenarios. The way the campaign worked, you could potentially invade England or capture Moscow or even invade the USA! That is really exciting stuff! Allied General doesn't seem to have any possibilities that are quite as exciting. A speculative Allied Invasion of Norway (Operation Jupiter) just isn't as much fun. It could be a core challenge of the Panzer Corps team to think of speculative scenarios that the Allied player could try to shoot for that might rival those of Panzer Corps.

I also wonder if it would be better to have separate games for the USSR and US/UK? Maybe a Panzer Corps: Red Army and a Panzer Corps: Western Front or something?

TheGrayMouser · Post by **TheGrayMouser** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 8:35 pm

Well, one plausible idea for an Allied Corp campaign would be "Pattons Dream Comes True" where if you defeat Germany decisively(in game terms) as the US, you get to push East vs Russia, perhaps with some German Aux units in support.

MartyWard · Post by **MartyWard** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 8:41 pm

Regarding the thread title, would it be to much to ask for an M1 Abrams?

monkspider · Post by **monkspider** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 8:47 pm

That is a really good suggestion GrayMouser! It would be a fun goal to shoot for, and let the Allied player end the game with a bang. Perhaps the Soviet player could have an similar goal, with a chance to push toward Paris and then finally England, with the goal of establishing a continental Soviet Union!

texican · Post by **texican** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 9:17 pm

Guards units for the British. SE types, I guess?

And "losing" a scenario does not end the campaign, but maybe gets you removed for a year, to appear in command later.

El_Condoro · Post by **El_Condoro** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 9:33 pm

TheGrayMouser wrote:Well, one plausible idea for an Allied Corp campaign would be "Pattons Dream Comes True" where if you defeat Germany decisively(in game terms) as the US, you get to push East vs Russia, perhaps with some German Aux units in support.

That's the basic idea of the campaign I am about to release. Next week for Beta 1.00 if anyone is interested.

VPaulus · Post by **VPaulus** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 10:29 pm

Sounds great, El Condoro.

Xerkis · Post by **Xerkis** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 10:39 pm

El_Condoro wrote:
TheGrayMouser wrote:Well, one plausible idea for an Allied Corp campaign would be "Pattons Dream Comes True" where if you defeat Germany decisively(in game terms) as the US, you get to push East vs Russia, perhaps with some German Aux units in support.
That's the basic idea of the campaign I am about to release. Next week for Beta 1.00 if anyone is interested.

Bring it on!
Patton without the Diplomats to slow him down!

El_Condoro · Post by **El_Condoro** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 10:52 pm

It's not quite that! Thank God for the diplomats, I say. It's more that you, as the player, get to bring on or respond to Russian aggression. Patton gets a cameo role.

This is the (work in progress) documentation to give you an idea of how it progresses.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/16283408/Panzer ... mpaign.doc

Kerensky · Post by **Kerensky** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 11:09 pm

I personally have no problem with more hypothetical scenarios, as they allow greater degrees of flexibility and strong game play orientated content. That said, however, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. We don't want to end up going after a bridge too far.

Xerkis · Post by **Xerkis** » Wed Aug 31, 2011 12:55 am

Kerensky wrote: We don't want to end up going after a bridge too far.

Ah man! You gave away what I was working on

Xerkis · Post by **Xerkis** » Wed Aug 31, 2011 1:04 am

El_Condoro wrote:It's not quite that! Thank God for the diplomats, I say. It's more that you, as the player, get to bring on or respond to Russian aggression. Patton gets a cameo role.

Hey, you call it what you will – and I’ll call it what I will.

El_Condoro wrote:This is the (work in progress) documentation to give you an idea of how it progresses.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/16283408/Panzer ... mpaign.doc

I bow in reverence.
With just a quick look, I can tell you are putting a ton of work in to this. I can’t wait to play it.

El_Condoro · Post by **El_Condoro** » Wed Aug 31, 2011 1:11 am

Thanks. I'll start a thread in Scenario Design so as not to hijack this thread, which has a different focus. Cheers

[Edit:] here viewtopic.php?p=253732#253732

Iscaran · Post by **Iscaran** » Wed Aug 31, 2011 9:07 am

Well an alternative choosable route with US/UK vs Soviets might be interesting

.

One could even imagine a "Kamtchatka" Landing scenario (+ progress from the east)

Obsolete · Post by **Obsolete** » Wed Aug 31, 2011 11:27 am

Well an alternative choosable route with US/UK vs Soviets might be interesting.

You may want to pick up PeG then.

impar · Post by **impar** » Wed Aug 31, 2011 11:59 am

Obsolete wrote:You may want to pick up PeG then.

Bought and played that too. The range of Artillery, AA, etc was crazy. And the point system for air cover wasnt very well impleented.
Didnt liked it.
The high point of the entire series, to me, was PG2.

MartyWard · Post by **MartyWard** » Wed Aug 31, 2011 1:11 pm

For Allied Corps I think it could start as early as France. Sure the Brits will probably get stomped but they could begin to build up their core forces. Then it should go to North Africa where the Brit's could get even more stomped (for a time) experience then the US could join for Tunisia and then on to Italy and back to France for the end game.

billmv44 · Post by **billmv44** » Wed Aug 31, 2011 2:19 pm

I would love some USA vs USSR scenarios after defeating Germany.

tnourie · Post by **tnourie** » Wed Aug 31, 2011 4:35 pm

billmv44 wrote:I would love some USA vs USSR scenarios after defeating Germany.

Second that!! Especially multiplayer, but I'd like to campaign it first as practice. . .

Iscaran · Post by **Iscaran** » Wed Aug 31, 2011 6:45 pm

Have played PeG for years....

.