Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic (
More info?)
Andy, thanks for the update. I will have to consider downloading the
demo and trying it out.
Sheesh, I haven't even gotten to Children of the Nile yet, and I bought
it.
- Richard Hutnik
Andy Brown wrote:
> I posted this about it on c.s.i.p.g.war-historical a few months ago.
>
> In some ways, it's CC-lite, but in others, it's what CC should have
been.
>
> The user interface is much simpler than CC but, IMO, just as
effective.
>
> It's a battle generator. The free demo contains only one game (Brits
> attacking Germans, 1944) which is good enough to show how the system
works
> but which sells itself short in terms of what the system does.
>
> The retail version of the game ($20 US, or you can buy all 8 of the
Sean
> O'Connor games for $40 US), has the following:
>
> You can be Italian, French, British, German, Soviet or US.
> You can attack or defend.
> You can choose your force from a variety of available tanks, squads
and
> heavy weapons.
> You can choose one of five levels of difficulty (affects the size of
the
> enemy force).
> Every game generates a new map using a random seed, so a particular
battle
> can be replayed any number of times. However, there is currently no
scenario
> editor.
>
> You can play the campaign, where you choose a nationality and
progress
> through WW2 fighting a series of historically appropriate battles for
that
> nationality (you don't know the difficulty setting for each campaign
game).
>
> There are five basic terrain types around which each map is based:
villages,
> desert, forest, lowlands and hills.
>
> The game contains a lot of historical anomalies. Sean O'Connor
designs
> quickplay games (think Freecell, Solitaire and Minesweeper) rather
than
> wargames in particular, and it shows. If you can live with some
interesting
> design decisions, however, the game is very good at recreating
company level
> engagements in real time.
>
> Although the game runs in real time, it is definitely not a
clickfest. The
> interface is so intuitive and easy to use, I'm surprised no one has
used it
> before now. As someone who thinks Panther's RDOA/HTTR is too busy to
handle,
> I nevertheless find Firefight very easy to keep up with. The plan is
> everything and click/twitch skills are not required to play the game
> successfully.
>
> The AI is adequate and is based around the fact that troops won't
move if
> they think they might die. They take cover and return fire if they
are able,
> and cower helplessly if they are not. Success in the game is built
around
> suppressing the enemy long enough to get some of your force up close
and
> dirty. The lack of movement can be quite frustrating at times but I
have yet
> to see any of my units killed by the suicidal prompting of some
obscure AI
> routine while my attention was on some other part of the battlefield.
>
> Unfortunately, there is no network capability. The game is solitaire
only,
> although some inter-human competition can be achieved by seeing who
can do
> best at any given battle.
>
> I'd summarise it as a Close Combat clone with a lot of Steel Panthers
> features and would recommend it to anyone looking for something else
that
> recreates company-level.tactics during WW2.
>
> Hope it helps,
>
> Andy
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