Having played simplier computer wargames such as hearts of iron, panzer general, risk, axis&allies, total war - I’ve decided I’d really wanted to try something more complex and detailed. So I picked-up War in the Pacific from Maxtrix games. This game floored me with a level of complexity that I couldn’t had hardly imagined and thusfar haven’t been able to play past 4-5 turns in the ‘tutorial’ scenario without getting my butt handed to me. But also unfortunately, there is limited ability to control production and try to do things on an economic level to give the Japanese much of a chance in the long run. So in sum, the game is little to complex and limiting in the outcome for me.
I’m looking for any suggestions of a wargame that operates on something around the operational level, is based on WW2 history, but also allows for non-historical choices in military/economic/etc production. Thanks.
The difficult part of your bill to fill is the non-historical units within a realistic setting. What kind of non-historical units do you want? It seems like you want realism in every aspect but the one where it most counts. Also, games with economic management tend to be much less realistic in the combat aspect than games that give you a certain amount of points to “buy” units for a particular mission.
As far as the non-historical units go, this would be more in the lines of applying additional research and production capacity for more modern equipment or shifting focus from one area to another. For example, my understanding is that during WW2 Japan did not rush to improve the quality of their aircraft following Pearl Harbor and as a result was significantly later outclassed by technologically advanced allied warplanes. By the time IJ realized the need, their production facilities were taking a pounding preventing the mass production of the needed aircraft (such as the A6M8, the Ki-84, and the Ki-100). But what if focus had been maintained on aircraft production and improvement throughout the war and the same aircraft were introduced a little earlier (months to years).
In Germany, how would things been different if instead of producing V1 rockets, the resources had been saved for submarine production to cut off the British home isle? Would the outcome of the war been any different?
These are the things I’d like to see be able to change in the type of game I’m looking for. Otherwise, outside of specific battles, the ultimate outcome is already known.
Yikes. I would ask your question with this kind of additional detail over at the Wargamer forums. They will be more than happy to help and those guys know all the games.
ParadoxMan, I’ve only just started War in the Pacific myself, if you’d like to give it another whirl, maybe we could get a little PBEM started to get both of us more acquainted with the game? I’m rather stunned by the level of logistical planning that this game requires, but I’m not willing to let myself be beaten by it…
You bet I’m willing to give it a shot. I’m not exactly sure how to set-up a PBEM game yet but that is probably the best way to start figuring out how to play this game. Send me an e-mail anytime you’d like to start and we can work out the details.
I would say Heart of Iron II likely gives you enough flexibility climbing the tech tree to focus on submarines rather thah V1s. Its more strategic than tactical though.