HistWar: Les Grognards Demo

[CountArach]

It was released about 25 minutes ago... yes I have been refreshing the forum for about an hour.

Download here:
http://www.histwar.com/news/histwar-...available.html

I'm 27% of the way into it and brimming with excitement.

[HopAlongBunny]

Beat me to it....Hurray!!!!!! :)

[rajpoot]

Oh yes, oh yes! It's just 273 MB......Four hours......I'll go watch some TV till then...

[CountArach]

First impressions:

This game is deep. Really, really deep. There is so much to take in and it is going to take a while to digest it all and figure everything out (A thorough combing of the manual will be necessary). However, the order-giving system is very intuitive and not at all a huge problem. There is also quite a lot of UI information crammed into a small space which means that the screen rarely seems clogged in the most important areas.

The AI is quite good - I've been pleasantly surprised to see it going into square formation to deall with cavalry threats, before unlimbering the guns to fire at the cavalry and then only advancing once the cavalry are routed.

The graphics aren't too crash-hot - the smoke annoys me a bit and there is a problem with units that are occassionally disappearing. Other than that, given how many soldiers are on-screen, I don't mind the graphics at all. I also suppose this is only a problem with the demo which has most of the graphics options disabled.

The sound could do with a bit of work I think. The musket noise annoys me a bit, but I love the sound of cannon fire. The trumpet calls are great as well.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

The site won't let me download the demo. I hit "ok" like the instructions say but then it asks me for a password, even though the instructions say you don't need one.

Why do some developers like shooting themselves in the foot?

[CountArach]

The site won't let me download the demo. I hit "ok" like the instructions say but then it asks me for a password, even though the instructions say you don't need one.

Why do some developers like shooting themselves in the foot?

The site still works for me.

[HopAlongBunny]

Download worked fine here too; I just clicked the dl, clicked the password pop-up and it all went w/o a hitch.

There is a lot going on in this game, just going through the tutorials now.

[rajpoot]

Keep clicking OK.....I'm using firefox and it has this inbuilt Download Accelerator, which kept popping up that password window again and again. I just clicked OK each time.

I underestimated this game's complexity. I tried the tutorials last night for an hour, but I can't say I've picked up much. Most my units seemed to ignore all my move orders.....don't know why.....

[HopAlongBunny]

The movement hierarchy for orders seems a little confused. I ordered one movement command at corps level and all attached units stood around; issued individual orders to each regiment and they started to move. When I would click on the corps HQ, the orders I had issued to it would show on the map, but none of the regiments were doing that order. (for tutorial 2)

Going to have to play some more I try to disentangle what does what.

re: Alexander the Pretty Good: if you use NoScript make sure you temporarily allow the site.

edit:

further to playing around with movement orders; followed exactly the steps in the tut. instead of messing around and got the entire corps underway; gave order to deploy on the line near the village and everyone moved off to do as told (so far so good); game completely locked up as those orders were being executed.

[HopAlongBunny]

Preliminary Thoughts:

There is an awful lot going on in this game
Do the tutorials and learn to locate and flip to different menus
Learn the utility of each of the displays
Learn what all those symbols mean

The tutorials give you the basics for getting around the game. If you haven't leafed through the manual some things that happen won't make sense.

I have been playing at “gods-eye view”. Immediate orders rarely are; order execution is dependent on commanders and sub-commanders – these guys have ratings (charisma and initiative) that influence how well/fast they get things done. So do not be surprised if orders issued to different corps are enacted at different times.

Make sure you issue the right order for the job you want done.

The manual implies that drawing the line beyond the enemy position will make the line attempt to take the enemy position (I imagine in order to reach its actual goal) I have seen this work, and I have seen it lead to a lot of units standing around “concentrating” forever. So far, it seems the most reliable method is to use the “Attack Unit” command if you want something done.

Artillery.

Still figuring out how all the commands work exactly. “Fire on Zone” works nicely as an area denial mechanism; again “Attack Unit” seems most effective in laying the smack down on a specific enemy;
“Barrage” is something I'm still playing with.

This barely scratches the surface.
The AI has been slagged for being passive/incompetent. In the tutorial it definitely is; more a strawman for practicing how the basics work.

In my first battle outside the tutorial I faced a huge Russian army. I deployed my corps in a defensive line and let the game run. The AI took the initiative (after a while) and attacked. It eventually swept my units from the map. So the AI can do things and is not inert. It would have been different with a more active player – certainly longer. Whether the AI is up to holding off a player in a more dynamic battle remains to be seen. I suspect it will have trouble keeping up with constant change and shifting tactics...but we'll see :)

[CountArach]

The AI in the demo isn't the complete AI. So it gets even better.

[HunGeneral]

Interresting - I might donwload this demo and give it a try.... if I have the time for it...

Thanks for the info.