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Welcome to Let's Play Commander: The Great War  Commander: The Great War is a hex based strategy game where you pick an alliance in WWI and control your armies, navies, air forces, as well as research, production and supply management. The game is turn based where starting turns are 1 week to simulate the alliance system pulling belligerents in and then two weeks after that. It was created by The Lordz Studio, the people who created Panzer Corps (also a great game to start with if you want to ease yourself into wargaming). It has 5 campaigns: players can start in 1914, 1915, 1916, 1917, or 1918 with turn counts ranging from 121 to 21. One of the best features too is that the AI is really quite good and punishes you accordingly for mistakes. It also uses the Slitherine PBEM+ system for online play. Instead of emailing files manually, everything is taken care of in client through online servers. It works really well and makes playing online a snap. What is the scale/how abstract is this game? The game is pretty abstract when it comes to units and scale. Each hex is about 20-30km. Infantry units are generally armies while garrison units are closer to corps or you can think of them as reserve units. Each unit has 10 steps rather than a set number of men. I will go into more detail about features of units as they come up and combat comes up, but needless to say it is abstracted in the name of simplicity. Turns can take just a couple of minutes to 15 or so if you really need to think. You most likely won't see the 30-45 minute turns of more complex games.  Why should I play this? Commander: The Great War, like Panzer Corps, is a great way to get into wargaming. The smooth graphics, interface, and abstract nature make them "easy to play but hard to master." They can familiarize players with wargames and hexes without bombarding them with too much information. It isn't an easy game; the AI is actually a bitch until you get used to it and crazy stuff can happen with PBEM. Rather it is a simple game where you don't get bogged down in minutia. It is a ton of fun, and you would be surprised at how much replay value you can get from WWI. LP Format This will be a screenshot LP with goon choices ranging from production and strategic priorities to maybe even operational priorities. We can do lucky units but I wouldn't get too attached. I am shooting for 2 or 3 updates a week but possibly less if there is a lot of goon decision making. That said let's kick this off with our first decision. Fair warning, the first updates after this will be slightly info heavy as we get into game mechanics.  July 23, 1914. After the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the Austro-Hungarian Empire is itching to teach the Kingdom of Serbia a lesson. Austria has three full strength armies poised for attack, with three lesser armies on the border ready to fight. Serbia has 2 full strength armies but 5 made up from reserves. That said, Serbia is in a good position with rivers and mountains protecting them from Austria. The main drawback for Serbia is her manpower is such that she will have trouble sustaining and replacing losses. So goons, what is it going to be? A Clay all day baby! Fight for mighty Srbja and free our Balkan brothers from the yoke of Austria. B March into the mountains and show those terrorist dogs that they are no match for the Empire. Keep in mind alliances abound and this conflict could spiral into a World War! Also how would you like everything to be presented visually? Counters full war sperg! Little dudes it is barely a grognard game let's keep this looking nice. Central Powers Turn 1 Part 1 Turn 1 Part 2, Turn 2, and Turn 3 Part 1 Turn 3 Part 2, Turn 4, Turn 5 Turn 6, Turn 7, Turn 8 Turn 9, Turn 10 Turn 11, Turn 12 Turn 13, Turn 14 Turn 15, Turn 16 Turn 17, Turn 18 Turn 19, Turn 20 Turn 21, Turn 22 Turn 23, Turn 24 Turn 25, Turn 26 Sea Lion starts here Turn 27, Turn 28 Turn 29, Turn 30 Turn 31, Turn 32 Turn 33, Turn 34 Turns 35-38 Turns 39-42 Turns 43-46 Turns 47-50 Jakse fucked around with this message at May 9, 2013 around 21:33 |
| # ? Feb 12, 2013 22:18 |
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| # ? May 22, 2013 10:30 |
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Reserving for whatever.
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| # ? Feb 12, 2013 22:20 |
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I own this game and while it may seem simple at first it is quite complicated and very fun. This is one game in which I vote for little dudes as the counters don't really offer much information (and you don't stack units on the same hex). Play as the Baddies. Best of luck!
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| # ? Feb 12, 2013 22:55 |
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I hadn't heard of this game, but it looks interesting. I vote we use Little Dudes because I've never been a fan of using counters in wargames, for whatever reason. 
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| # ? Feb 12, 2013 23:01 |
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Ah Matrix games. Unknown but interesting games and never a sale in sight. Maybe this LP will finally tip me over into buying this. There are just too few WWI games around anyway. I suppose we should fight for Serbia. No need to just go for the big country. I can't find any pictures of the counters in the first post. Hard to decide that way. Is there a lot of useful information on them?
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| # ? Feb 13, 2013 00:03 |
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Serbia may be interesting for a while, but I believe B - Austria should give us more excitement (and inevitable failure) over more fronts. Also, I feel sorta obliged to vote for the monarchy that gave birth to my great-grandparents. And I would prefer counters assuming they are the NATO standard stuff.
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| # ? Feb 13, 2013 01:29 |
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Still letting people vote for a day or two but for those who want to see the counters: To be honest they don't show any extra information. Standard NATO symbols except the reserve armies/corps have no markings at all. We will get into this next update but the pertinent information is the number, the color of the number, and the flag.
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| # ? Feb 13, 2013 02:14 |
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the little dudes get new hats and uniforms as the game goes on  Seriously these counters are terrible, they actually show LESS information than the sprites, from which you can tell vaguely how upgraded the units are.
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| # ? Feb 13, 2013 08:20 |
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B-Austria! Nothing would go better with all the Kaiserreich LP's than it's actual grandfather. And let's please stick to Little Dudes
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| # ? Feb 13, 2013 08:40 |
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Jakse posted:Still letting people vote for a day or two but for those who want to see the counters:
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| # ? Feb 13, 2013 13:31 |
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We must have some of that glorious Srbjn clay. Also dudes.
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| # ? Feb 13, 2013 13:46 |
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Austria-Hungary is hungry for Dudes
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| # ? Feb 13, 2013 23:01 |
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Clay all day, little dudes
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| # ? Feb 13, 2013 23:06 |
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Austria and little dudes. The counters in this game are awful and actually display less information than the graphics tiles (the graphics show upgrade levels and the counters do not.) There is no reason to ever use counters in this game.
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| # ? Feb 13, 2013 23:33 |
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Austria. Want to see an empire stretching from Moscow to London.
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| # ? Feb 13, 2013 23:55 |
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I listen to too much Serbian music to not vote for the Serbs (plus, I just think starting with a smaller country may be better for this). Also, dudes.
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| # ? Feb 14, 2013 01:14 |
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Glad the counters are out and yes, even though they convey less information than the little dudes I thought I would give the thread the option. Going to have the next update tomorrow so feel free to keep voting but keep in mind that due to alliance systems this very local conflict may quickly get out of hand (aka this chooses our entire alliance).
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| # ? Feb 14, 2013 01:20 |
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I say Austria
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| # ? Feb 14, 2013 03:00 |
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I've seen a lot of fighting for stolen clay in various LPs, but seldom do I see people willing to go take some clay. Austria
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| # ? Feb 14, 2013 03:35 |
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Sjrb Clay is the only way.
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| # ? Feb 14, 2013 03:43 |
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Liberate Serbia with your army of little dudes!
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| # ? Feb 14, 2013 07:10 |
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Serbs As this should lead to GLORIOUS MOTHER RUSSIA, laterAnd russia has maximum little dudes
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| # ? Feb 14, 2013 07:15 |
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Aye, Serbs > Russia for max little dudes!
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| # ? Feb 14, 2013 11:20 |
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Austria and dudes.
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| # ? Feb 14, 2013 11:30 |
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Austria barely wins 9-8, update coming to this very post soon. July 23, 1914: Turn 1 (Part 1) Austria. The very name itself means eastern empire. Hapsburgs at one point ruled Spain, Austria, the Netherlands and Italy! Through marriage we gained power and became the peak of the human genome.  We were Holy Roman Emperors for 300 years! Though that time has past we must now retake our place as the eastern empire. States like the Kingdom of Serbia exist because we allow them to exist. No more it seems. It is time to prove to the world that we are still strong.  Here is our situation. We are facing an unknown number of Serbian forces with 3 full armies and 3 town reserves. The terrain is rough and we must cross rivers. It also appears that the few Serbians units we have seen have minor entrenchments. Even with the difficulties facing us we cannot back down, though this includes a promise from Russia to defend Serbia! In the bottom left hand side we see symbols near our flag. This shows how well our country is doing at a glance. The 30 by the factory is our current number of production points. Factories in our cities produce these each turn. We use them for creating, maintaining, and repairing units, research upgrades and maintenance, and for management. The 1200 represents our total manpower. Creating and repairing units will drain this pool. Because this is a pool of overall fighting age men, the more we draw into this the more we will start lowering our standards and straining our economy. The 5 shells are our armaments production. Normal armies have attached artillery battalions but massed artillery buildups and capital ship combat will drain our shell stockpile. The train is our rail capacity. At this time we have the infrastructure to transport one unit per turn. The anchor is our sea capacity. We are a mighty land power and so far have had no use for transports and a merchant fleet for moving troops. The flag represents morale. Victory, defeat, death, and special events can cause this number to fluctuate. If it drops too low our population might stab our mighty soldiers in the back and force surrender.  Selecting a unit brings up this information. The I by the red box shows that it is at level I as far as technology goes. The two shields show our defense and max defense. The shovel shows entrenchment (in terrain, not level of trenches, that is visual) and the battery shows efficiency. The more you fight, the lower your supplies, the further from home you are the more efficiency goes down. Low efficiency impacts attack and defense and can jeopardize a unit. The helmet shows attack value. For now, that is all we need to know. Quick note. The beauty of this game is that efficiency will change the color of the number on units as it drops. If you see yellow or red, be careful!  Clicking on terrain allows us to examine the battlefield. The important notes are movement for all units and the defensive bonus it gives. Much of Serbia is rough terrain so in addition to any trenches or barbed wire we encounter we will also have to contend with natural defenses.  Here we see the disposition of our men again but also see the cost for us. It takes 20 pp to produce an army, 10 manpower to fill it out, 4 pp PER TURN to maintain it, and 3 turns to produce. Also, we can see the men. Currently they have soft hats and only their rifles but soon they will be outfitted with grenades, steel helmets and more! Now then, on to business  This is our overall position. Our northwest border with Germany is secure despite that whole 1866 incident. Switzerland is neutral, but we do have territory in the west that the lowly Italians claim is rightfully theirs. The situation in Serbia has been laid out, but in the North we have 3 towns that border Russia, only one of which is garrisoned. Keep this in mind during planning. Let's see everything we can spend our pp on before we make any decisions.  This is our unit production screen. Here is where we recruit and outfit our new armies. Garrison and reserve armies cost only 10 pp but don't have a lot of offensive power. They do defend well enough in fortified positions. Armies cost 20 pp but also take longer to create (3 turns versus 1). Cavalry cost 25 and can be powerful early but our scientists think their usefulness will drop off. The other major unit we want to look at now is artillery. Though our armies have supporting units, creating mass build ups take time and money. 40 pp's give us a stockpile to use for massed artillery attacks. Though it costs armaments to use and can be expensive, artillery will be invaluable in breaking stalemates should our mighty armies stall out.  This is our research screen. It shows us how technological advances are progressing. For now, we can only research infantry techs. Industrializing our weapons will increase our infantry defense by 4, anti air will boost that by 2, and the barbed wire allows us to strengthen our heavy trench fortifications. As long as we have labs researching this (shown at top) they will automatically fill up. We can pump pp into labs to increase the speed of research, but this will also increase upkeep. Finally, using focus points we can make one part of the research go slightly faster (about a turn) at the expense of the others. Here is one thing I love about this game. Despite all of this info, the game doles it out in small portions. As you will see, our first battle will involve only 4 units total and result in very few casualties. We also have only two belligerents now and only one thing to research. It will get more complex, but it really does ease you in.  The management screen shows our economy. It shows how much production we have, how much we are using in upkeep, and what our balance is. It also shows rail capacity, shipping, and shell production. Just like with research labs, we can spend pp to increase outputs which increases upkeep.  Finally, we have diplomacy. It shows the disposition of the other nations of the world to us and our cause. At the bottom, it shows other parties and when they will jump in and on which side. Our faithful German allies will show up in two turns, though this will force France and Belgium to fight, with England declaring war shortly after. Russia, having promised to defend its Serbian allies will jump in just after that. My how quickly this will get out of hand! That 4 turns for Russia gives us time to plan for them, and although they will have some forces ready by then, full mobilization will require some time from the mighty bear. Our opening moves First of all, to protect our interests we should deploy our navy to keep any intruders away from the Balkans.  Although those green hexes mean our ships will fight better with the support of home waters and nearby ports, we are going to completely block this area off.  Unless our fearless generals get more creative, this will suffice for now. Just a note that our capital ships are the pride of our navy and our people. Losing them could prove disastrous for morale. Now to get this war properly started!  We deploy our 2nd Army forward and make contact with a Serbian mountain reserve. Our commanders give us a combat prognosis which, based on attack, defense, entrenchment, and terrain, gives them an estimate for how the battle will go. They estimate 2nd Army losing at least a division or so, but the enemy will fare worse.  Combat! This is how combat is resolved. Sure enough, our recon was accurate. The enemy still holds their ground, but they are weakening. Subsequent attacks should reduce their fighting strength and/or effectiveness.  1st Army now deploys to the west of the enemy. Although we take a penalty for crossing a river (the bridge symbol at the bottom right of the prognosis) recon indicates we should fare even better than last time. It seems the enemy is cracking.  After the onslaught from two mighty Austrian Armies, 3rd Army finishes the enemy without any difficulty. If the enemy is destroyed or retreats, the victorious unit is allowed to move up one hex. In this case we do so. After a week of heavy fighting though we have lost around a full corps, we have destroyed one of Serbia's and we are now closer to expanding our empire and getting vengeance for the loss of Archduke Ferdinand.  This is the situation now. The first turn isn't over because it is time for goon decision making (oh God). Austrian Strategy Focus on Serbia We started this war to teach them a lesson. Although the threat of the bear looms in the north, we must save up for artillery to flush the rats out of the mountains. Focus on Russia Fan out our units in the south and gear all production to taking on the bear in the north. We made our point and now we must prepare for the bigger threat. This is the first binary decision, but since this is a goon strategy thread, feel free to bold ideas like management or research. This early though, I think the most important thing is deciding the main Austrian focus. I'll let people vote for another two days unless we want to get to the action since finishing turn 1 and doing turn 2 will be much shorter. Jakse fucked around with this message at Mar 2, 2013 around 19:49 |
| # ? Feb 14, 2013 18:49 |
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You should focus on Serbia. Lightly garrison the frontier with Russia with a scattering of garrisons and hold some real armies in reserve to plug any gaps that spring up. Russia should be slow to mobilize, giving you time to dig in. You should also concentrate on getting an artillery piece built since it will allow you to smash the Serbian defenses and drive them into the Adriatic.
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| # ? Feb 15, 2013 01:11 |
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What Russian threat, the war shall be over in few weeks. Serbia.
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| # ? Feb 15, 2013 01:22 |
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Focusing on Serbia seems like the best idea, since we have the advantage at the moment. If we knock them out quickly enough, we can redeploy our troops to the Russian border before they have a chance to properly mobilize. Also, it seems like there aren't any forces in Belgrade. We should take advantage of that, if possible.
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| # ? Feb 15, 2013 01:28 |
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We have a few turns until Russia even declares war, let alone begins to mobilize. Focus on Serbia.
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| # ? Feb 15, 2013 01:51 |
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Dr. Snark posted:Also, it seems like there aren't any forces in Belgrade. We should take advantage of that, if possible. Belgrade is under fog of war, there's almost certainly something on it.
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| # ? Feb 15, 2013 01:54 |
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steinrokkan posted:What Russian threat, the war shall be over in few weeks. Exactly. And surely our German allies will take care of France just as quickly as they did in 1870, how could it possibly go different? So let's go for Serbia. Also I vote that from now until the end of the game we build as many battleships as we can per turn, every turn. What could go wrong?
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| # ? Feb 15, 2013 02:28 |
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steinrokkan posted:What Russian threat, the war shall be over in few weeks. Serbia. Serbia indeed. That's the decision that best represents the general thinking of the period, though I don't recall exactly how the war's opening moves went historically. WWI is an incredibly bizarre era when viewed from a modern perspective. Unless you count the American Civil War, WWI was the first truly industrial war caused by, and fought with, pre-industrial social, military, and political thought. Notably, it was the first big European writer's war - because of the spread of literacy, we got extensive written material about the war from the common soldiers themselves. Ultimately WWI directly caused the end of the aristocratic era, the end of most political theory of the time, and the end of the classical romanticism of warfare (in large part because of those written accounts). Remnants of each survive to this day, but nothing like they were before WWI. If you go back and study the period it's genuinely disorienting how differently people thought about the world, despite the technology being fundamentally familiar to us today.
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| # ? Feb 15, 2013 02:44 |
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Let's go punch Serbia in the dick. We'll show you how we treat people who exist on our borders. 
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| # ? Feb 15, 2013 02:45 |
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The faster you take out Serbia, the faster we can move on to that meddling Tsar
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| # ? Feb 15, 2013 05:29 |
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Incidently where can you get this fine game.
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| # ? Feb 15, 2013 05:50 |
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AtomikKrab posted:Incidently where can you get this fine game. You can get it from Matrix Games, here: http://www.matrixgames.com/products....The.Great.War. Below is the WW2 version, operating on the same beer-and-pretzels grand strategy style, although the engine is an older version that suffers from being resolution-locked: http://www.matrixgames.com/products...ope.at.War.Gold
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| # ? Feb 15, 2013 07:17 |
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We must take some clay. Serbia!
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| # ? Feb 15, 2013 07:43 |
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gradenko_2000 posted:You can get it from Matrix Games, here: Too expensive for my blood... for now at least.
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| # ? Feb 15, 2013 08:28 |
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AtomikKrab posted:
Matrix Games in a nutshell.
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| # ? Feb 15, 2013 08:34 |
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| # ? May 22, 2013 10:30 |
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I actually went and bought it, and about 8 hours later finally decided to stop my entente campaign. It's a good game, and has a lot of decision making, but I'm not sure that the AI can stand up once you know what you're doing. I made a bunch of early bungles and still turned it around decisively after just two years of war. That bodes pretty well for the goon game.  Hoping the LP covers the supply mechanics though. Not reading the manual (I assume there is one) tends to have negative strategic consequences.
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| # ? Feb 15, 2013 13:45 |
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