Hearts of Iron III

[PZ]

Thanks, I'll do that if the installation fails on my other PC.  I tend to be running out of space on the PC I'm on right now. Worthless old s#$%  >:(  (I love this emoticon but rarely get to use it)  ;)

[Art Blade]

:))

[PZ]

Well, I managed to install the demo on my regular gaming PC so all is good in the world of gaming.  After starting the game, the first music to be heard is Richard Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries (German: Walkürenritt) to inspire us armchair commanders.  ;)

Hearts of Iron is an extremely detailed game of strategy in which you can decide to command everything, for instance supplies, resources, politics, warfare, etc.  Alternately you can leave any or all of the functions to the game's AI which is evidently quite good at managing it all.  I did that for a while and just watched the political scene unfold, with the game popping up dialogs informing me of new alliances, broken ones, new trade agreements, units being attacked and such.  Here is the highest magnification of the game board in which the characters, tanks, planes, etc. are all animated (try that with a board game)
[smg id=1494]

Then just for fun, I assigned Adolph as the Chief of the Army and let the cards fall where they may.  Interestingly he attacked Poland immediately, but for a reason that I am not aware (too new at the game) Poland won, and a message from one of the advisors popped up announcing that "we need to reclaim that territory from the despicable Poland"

The game is probably a bit too complicated for me to enjoy at the current time, but I seem to be inexplicably drawn to it for an unknown reason.  ;D

[DKM2]

Installed, patched and played a little.
Big learning curve from previous versions, I had to stop before my brain started to hemorrhage.
This game has always stood alone, by far, just for the sheer size of it.
Like standing at the edge of the Grand Canyon, sheer awe.

Has a huge fan base though, was on the forums and 1200 were online,
makes Ubisoft look small with their few dozen at any given time.

[PZ]

I can see how this could become quite immersive. Sort of like a chess game in which you play it for months - move, consider the implications, move again.  It was fun to watch the game pieces go through their animation routine.  It is also interesting that you can interact with hundreds (thousands?) of historically accurate individuals in the game - makes it interesting to perform "what if..." scenarios to see which leader might have made a difference.

I understand from the forums that people actually read WWII history books in order to better play the game.

[RedRaven]

Well i'm sold. going to get a copy first thing monday morning. Give it a good play till OFP2 at the weekend.Reading WW2 historical books is a great idea if the game programming is rooted in it. I've been watching documentaries on Modern warfare and Hardware to glean what i can to improve my abilities in ARMA2.

[fragger]

I understand from the forums that people actually read WWII history books in order to better play the game.

For a general understanding of WW2 history I highly recommend an older doco series called "The World at War", made in the 70's and narrated by Lawrence Olivier. Very well done in that it covers all major events in the war in a good chronological way, giving you a good grasp of how events were unfolding in time relation to one another. Also has tons of footage that I haven't seen in other docos on the subject, and interviews with major players who are no longer around, such as Hitler's architect Albert Speer, U-boat boss Karl Dönitz, Traudl Junge (one of Hitler's personal sectrearies), James Stewart (yes, the actor, he flew Flying Fortresses), Arthur "Bomber" Harris (head of RAF Bomber Command), Curtis LeMay (head of US Air Force in the Pacific), and many others. Great show to watch for getting your head around the big picture of the war.
Another terrific newer series is "The War" by Ken Burns, this also contains lots of newly-unearthed footage, but is solely about the American experience in the conflict.

[PZ]

Thanks for the information fragger - I'm a WWII fan from way back, enjoying reading and watching many different perspectives.  :-X

[deadman1]

Another good source is the "Battlefield" docu series which has lots of in detail information on most of the major battles during WW2, such as units involved, how hey manouvered and the events leading up to the battles.

[RedRaven]

 :-X Cheers Fragger & Deadman. documentries are the only thing that justifies TV, and well made/researched productions are certainly worth investing in (i'm a big BIG fan of David Attenborough's wildlife stuff - probably best asset BBC has ;D )

I know whats going on my list for Santa..... :)

[PZ]

A bit more reading about the game reveals that it would take lots of hours in playing and research to get the most out of the game.  The characters in the game are the "real thing" and are advertised to be historically accurate in their AI.

For anyone playing, I'll be interested in your opinions of the game play.  :-X

[Art Blade]

deadman, your new avatar is heavy  :-X

[deadman1]

I´ll post the picture in the gallery for you all  :)

[Art Blade]

hehe, CS! Active player? Something you'd like to post about in a new topic? :)