My thoughts so far on the MOD

[[GG] Lord Ashram]

Random observations I have had so far; feel free to add!

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There is more micromanging, as it seems units have to constantly be kept on the move and reacting. Maybe this is because there are not as many long straight lines on the field, and I tend to have units rally further back and be available to be brought up every game.

You dont SEE the whole battlefield! When I dont bring Mounted Scouts, I have had entire games pass without laying eyes on the opposite side of the field! All I can do is HEAR it and get updates, unless I send someone to look... very cool.

Natives are *fun*, but gotta be used right or they get stuck and smacked... use THEM to trigger routs as the supersticious enemy screaming men with tomahawks! Oh, and don't forget to turn off fire at will or they will give themselves away.

Withdrawing is good time. When your men are beat from a long battle, sometimes it is more fun just to get them together and march them home. Feels like the defeated side withdraws in order half the games I have played. Looks and feels nice.

People, including myself, have to learn to skirmish again:) For the British, put those lights in loose order and advance constantly firing on your opponent until you can bring the Line up to firing; dont hold back! Americans? Get the Boys, Lights, and especially Rifles up there and start shooting EARLY. But DONT get stuck in until you have no other choice.

Cavalry is a scary, scary thing.

Oh, and I never thought I would say this, but mounted scouts are actually... useful. Am I crazy?

[[GG]AndrewKent]

Yes, this mod is a ton o' fun. I just wish I could play some more games!

The big maps and small units make for lots of maneuver.

And, as you pointed out, sometimes you just get reports from the distant flank. In a game the other day with Von and Flippy, and a couple of others this was the case. It was 3 attackers vs 2 defenders. I was working Flippy's left flank, but felt the tide turning against me. I couldn't tell what was happening on the other side of the map. Then I see Von's troops on the horizon and Flippy's ally crumbled. Suddenly the fortunes reversed and we had poor Flip in the vise.

I've been deliberately not looking at the mini-map. I think it much more fun not to have that crutch. I sure wish there was some way to deactivate it in MP.

Love this mod!

AK

[[GG]AndrewKent]

Oh...and what I'd really like to do is play a 4V4 and have my general in command of nothing but warparties. That would be big fun.

AK

[[GG] Lord Ashram]

Ah, thought of one more:

I like the lack of guard limits and arty limits that the high costs can allow. It is just fun to not know for sure what the enemy is bringing to combat, and to be able to take advantage of the enemy's weaknesses.

Oh and I SO agree; we should SO get rid of the minimap:(

[[GG]Lord von Döbeln]

But if we get rid of the minimap noone will see how cool the signature maps is....
True - the minimap is a bit of anachronistic satellite-photo technology in these games. Would be nice if it could be removed to increase even more the fog of war.

As for the mod it feels to me like it is pretty well balanced as is providing the players use the different factions/units in the proper way. I have won and lost with both the Americans and the British, attacking and defending against good opposition. The key as has been stated many times is in the correct use of the different factions' strengths and exploiting the opponent's weknesses. It is a VERY fun mod IMO, and between my mapmaking for AWI, the TIG campaign games and AWI games I have hardly any time for real life. It's SWEET!

[GG]vD

[flippyxtrem]

What I like about AWI is its gotta be quick tactics...you cant offord to be slow...and the STRATEGY!! STRATEGY!! fire and manuver...the Skirmishing in AWI is so much more than NTW...and the ambushes as well...the Unit Sizes help make micromanagement of units much easier...and the arty sizes and the fact that arty can be taken out my infantry easily by just shooting it has made the game very interesting...

Cheers

[[GG]TheAlmightyFork]

AWI... NTW is two or more drilled, disciplined armies beating the hell outta each other.

AWI is one drilled disciplined army beating the hell outta a bunch of amateur. I love playing the Americans, you really have to be on your feet and d**nED GOOD! You have to know what your doing. And the terrain is much different, forcing you to adapt european linear tactics to the bush.

[saddletank]

Hi guys

I've not seen the mod yet but the screenshots show battlefields very open in nature. Do you plan to make battlefields that have more woodland, broken terrain, scrub and farmland (crops, fences, etc) so that the game feels more like an 18th c North America environment?

[[GG] Lord Ashram]

Actually, all of the screenies are from standard NTW maps... the actual AWI maps are almost COMPLETELY covered in trees in such... in fact, I have to say that the maps are really the high point of the game! (Even tho they are the part I had no hand in!)

So no fears, we are on top of it!

Ash

[[GG]TheAlmightyFork]

heh. i still have to get back to making maps. RL has been killing my time lately

[[GG] Lord Ashram]

Skirmishing has a different point for the two sides. For the Americans, you want to use skirmishing for as long as you can, picking at the British at range, and delay the main line engagement as long as you can.

For the British, however, you only want to engage enemy skirmishers with your lights so you can fire on them and absorb fire, and immediately bring your line up and into combat as quickly as possible. Basically you WANT to skirmish to save your main line, but you want to skirmish as LITTLE as possible; just long enough to degrade enemy skirmishers and keep them pinned in place or slowed enough for your main line to catch up.

[saddletank]

Thanks very much for your confirmation that the maps will feature much closer terrain, sounds like this mod will look the part as well as play the part.