My first impressions with the game were a WW1 Germany game, since I am a nub. It was incredibly fun (and not to mention difficult) to fight both Russia and France, but I ended up victorious in the end. Some features and problems of note however are:
1. France does not do anything. At one point, since Russia was kicking the crap out of my allies (OE, A-H, and Bulgaria), they had managed to get behind my lines, and even took Warsaw from me (well, took it back I suppose). I had to leave my western front with only a total of 45 divisions, in order to send everything I could to beat back the Russians. This was in 1915 mind you. France and Italy had more than 80 Divisions, including a territory that I just didn’t have enough division to occupy, and which one could simply use to gain entrance into Germany proper, but they didn’t take it. It was actually completely empty. It was 1922 before German forces once again took the offensive in France. They didn’t do anything in 7 years, not a single offensive. Hell, the Italians tried harder than the French.
2. I love the new Dissent system, or perhaps it’s a refinement of the old system? I don’t know, I just liked how I always had to combat dissent, instead of just being able to naturally keep it at 0, like vanilla. Similarly, I love units actually lost troops in combat, instead of just organization. I wasn’t noticing it until after a battle with France. I lost a full 6 Divisions, and I didn’t know why. It turns out they were getting wiped out in battle. That was exciting.
3. If you don’t do things historically, the event chains break down. When given the option to attack France, (Attacking France and Belgium; France, Belgium, and the Netherlands; France and Switzerland; or just France) I simply choose a straight attack into France. By the end of 1915, the furthest I had reached was about 3 territories deep, and I couldn’t advance anymore because of reinforcement problems. So I switched my attention to Russia, Serbia, and Romania, since my allies were getting pwned hard. Keep in mind, that neither Britain nor the United States entered the war at the point, and only Britain entered the war when I declared on it in 1922. So anyway, 7 years later, I fight long and hard, take Serbia, force Romania out of the war, and take Moscow, Petrogravad, and Finland while A-H takes everything else. After doing my duty, A-H is basically on cleanup duty, so I switch focus back to France. While they have upgrade and teched out their units, I have outclassed them in unit combat experience, leadership, and tech, so it’s quite the steamroll. (Italy takes this time to take the offensive against me in southern Germany, embarrassingly reaching Munich. I cry a little, but push them back with little difficulty). I finally occupy all of France, and over half of Italy, and A-H is only within 4 territories of Omsk, but no peace events have fired, and my people are pretty pissed, because its 1922. So I attack Britain, and then the events fire, including my decision to send Lenin, which I do. The allies peace out, I put mild terms on them, and Russia goes Soviet…where it never peaces out with me. I have to send my Calvary units, and take Omsk, and go all the way to Vladivostok before I can annex the thing. I ask for all the territory from A-H (well demand it anyway), until it gives it to me, then I free Russia, since my TC cannot handle the constant eruptions of god-awful, soulless, patriots of partisans. (I swear I have fought more Russian partisans than French divisions in this war)
All in all, a very fun game, but WW1 scenario defiantly needs some polish, especially with the French A.I. I would have lost the war if it just had decided to go on the offensive, at any point during its 7 year stalemate with me.