Unity of Command Forums

Well maybe not, but for me it comes pretty close.

This is the kind of game I have long lamented no longer exists for the PC platform; a well produced middle-weight strategy game.

AAA publishers have long ignored this genre. Independent companies tend to produce grognard centric detail encrusted bore-athons.

This title has style, gameplay, and a satisfying meatiness. Two thumbs, way up.

A bit more granularity:

Pros:
Fantastic UI. Other developers should take note
Sharp, coherent sense of style. I admit the busts took a bit of getting used to, but now I am quite fond of them
Manageable scenario size and unit count. I am one of those who faint when faced with a screen of more than 20-30 units

Cons:
The music doesn't really do it for me for some reason. Perhaps a bit too bland - doesn't convey that you are playing a wargame
Perhaps a bit too bloodless overall - we ain't playin checkers!

Thanks Astyreal, and welcome to UoC forums!

We were aware the UI is a sore spot for a great deal of wargames out there. So we put a fair amount of effort in to make something that would stand out at least a bit. We feel the players deserve it.

re the music thing,

yes, have to agree about the music. I am tempted to just turn it off but there is insufficient background sound until a battle occurs so this feels somewhat hollow. My suggestion (too late - I should have been in the Beta!) - would be to fill the silence of no music with distant background battle sounds (i.e. Similar to Norm Krogers (Sp?) World at war series, where you hear the crump of distant artillery and the rattle of heavy machine guns every so often - and when the weather intervenes with snow storms or rain, you hear the (faint) appropriate wailing wind or slush of track through mud when you select the weather overlay for example etc..
Would the developers like to give that some thought to the sounds for any future update or DLC????

The plan is to add more music tracks. My suggestion to aesqe (who is in charge of music and sounds) was to make the whole thing "more sparse", which would I guess agree somewhat, but not entirely, with what you're suggesting. In the end it's his call. I like his tracks as they are, I just wish there were more of them.

And yeah, we considered ambient sounds but the release deadline swept that from the table. Hopefully we'll add something like that in the future releases... eventually.

Astyreal wrote: ...
This is the kind of game I have long lamented no longer exists for the PC platform; a well produced middle-weight strategy game.
...
Independent companies tend to produce grognard centric detail encrusted bore-athons.
...

It's interesting to note how this game seems to meet many wargamers requirements and needs! It looks like developers listened to players instead of trying to impose their (war)gaming philosophy. Or maybe it is only good timing between players who felt they were left out from the genre and acute developers.

Anyway, I'm playing a computer wargame again!

MB

Certainly is nice to see a game that is well.. A game and not a simulation, i mean fair enough for those that want that. But when most WW2 strategy games seem to fall into that category.. well it becomes a lot less fun. Granted one still hopes for Company of Heroes 2. But certainly nice to see someone make a WW2 turn based strategy game that is simply just fun

I'm certainly looking forward to more content in the unity of Command series.

As to music, certainly could feel a bit bland at times, but i think that might also be something as simple as taste in music. So that's harder to argue

Meta Baston wrote:It's interesting to note how this game seems to meet many wargamers requirements and needs! It looks like developers listened to players instead of trying to impose their (war)gaming philosophy. Or maybe it is only good timing between players who felt they were left out from the genre and acute developers.

Anyway, I'm playing a computer wargame again!
MB

Nah, it's totally a case of imposing our philosophy However, the thing is that our philosophy revolves around a simple central idea that games primarily should be fun for people who play them. Everything else is secondary. Tinkering with intricate simulators may be intriguing but it's not necessarily gaming in its essence.

I LOVE this game, but for me the smaller scenarios seem like more of an appetizer. Now I'm hungry for MORE!

More units, more space, and more turns to pound the enemy.
Seems once I start giving them a good licking, it's over.

This game cries out for a larger campaign. Perhaps not the entire front, but rather 3 grand campaigns: one for each Armee Gruppe: North, Center, South. The fast-play nature of the system would easily allow the player to manage the number of units, and the operational area at any given time wouldn't be that much larger than the smaller scenarios, which are about 1/3 of the Armee Gruppe Front.

How about 60 turns+ and the entire Armee Gruppe Sud operational area for 1942/43?

Prestige Points could be accumulated immediately upon the capture of objectives, and reserves and replacements could become available as they did historically.

PLEASE, PLEASE, DO make a larger scenario... and do it soon...I can't wait.

gdrover wrote:I LOVE this game, but for me the smaller scenarios seem like more of an appetizer. Now I'm hungry for MORE!

More units, more space, and more turns to pound the enemy.
Seems once I start giving them a good licking, it's over.

This game cries out for a larger campaign. Perhaps not the entire front, but rather 3 grand campaigns: one for each Armee Gruppe: North, Center, South. The fast-play nature of the system would easily allow the player to manage the number of units, and the operational area at any given time wouldn't be that much larger than the smaller scenarios, which are about 1/3 of the Armee Gruppe Front.

How about 60 turns+ and the entire Armee Gruppe Sud operational area for 1942/43?

Prestige Points could be accumulated immediately upon the capture of objectives, and reserves and replacements could become available as they did historically.

PLEASE, PLEASE, DO make a larger scenario... and do it soon...I can't wait.

I like the idea of additional scenarios, but the game is supposed to be about strong AI in appetizer-size packages that are hard in strategy but not too overwhelming in scope. What you're proposing might be a bit big.