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dulcamara

Second Lieutenant
88 Badges
Jul 29, 2010
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Just picked it up this week and on paper it's right up my alley. In grand strategy games my favorite method of playing is to project soft power and use political/economic/covert/etc influence to affect the work. The Cold War is one of my favorite historical eras. And I love games complex enough to require a bit of a learning curve.

But the utter lack of any tutorial - or even adequately explaining the many different variables in the game and how they interact - is inexcusable. One can read the manual start to finish, watch those totally inadequate video clips (which give little info not imparted in the manual), and muddle around in the game for hours without really understanding what's going on. The information is presented haphazardly (the lack of overall summary screens for the various aspects of your region is ridiculous), the GUI is utterly non-intuitive and confusing and often difficult to navigate via mouse, and the interaction between various elements isn't always made clear even with hours of playtime. And if you just decide to bring the hammer down, warfare is sloppily executed and presented. For specific complaints there are too many to list really.

Some complex strategy games become more enjoyable once you get a grasp of their deeper nuances through play, but SRCW somehow became less satisfying the more I learned. Again, the clumsy GUI is party to blame. And the relatively dead forum (even back when the release was newer) would indicate I'm not alone here.

My impression is that the developers got waaaay to far into designing this framework before they realized it just wasn't a fun & playable system (if they realized this at all), but decided to forge on ahead anyway. Huge missed opportunity there, as I believe it had potential at some point. IMO the sooner they realize this by scrapping future products of the system (like the 1936 version), and build another one from the ground up - maybe bringing someone on the team who understands GUI and the player experience, so it doesn't have such a sprawling and unfriendly Aspergers feel.

Sorry to be so harsh. I only take the time to write this because the game had great potential, and I'd like to see a re-try from Battle Goat on a new system, with lessons learned from SR.
 
There is actually a relatively sizable fan base. And the forums are pretty active. Just not THESE forums. Try the BG forums. Most of us have been fans of the series since before CW though so we are far more used to the intricacies. While CW didn't fix alot of our complaints it did add in new systems which some were happy about. The UI change took some getting used to for most of the vets as well.

http://www.bgforums.com/forums/

Matter of fact SR1936 is due out Q4 of this year.. its not being published by paradox though which is why this forum is pretty much abandoned.

Edit: Also its worth noting that if you have the steam copy chances are you're not fully updated. You'll need to contact balt to solve that issue.
 
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Thanks for the reply Fistalis. Too bad I didn't know about the other forum when trying to learn the ropes - this was the one linked from the SRCW website.

Interesting to hear that there is a community sticking with the series, even though it sounds like they recognize its shortcomings themselves. I just felt like the drawbacks far outweighed any enjoyment I would have gotten from mastering the various systems in the game.

Should add that even in my narrow experience the AI seemed fairly ridiculous. I tried a couple games as Israel to get the hang of it from a simplified smaller region that still had interesting diplomatic & military situations. But from the default "$100 million for a Non-Aggression Pact" from every single country, or the fact that I was able to steamroll Jordan in 1949 with no major reactions from the other Arab states - I mean, that's basic stuff right there.

Part of me wonders if the game is better & more plausible playing as US & USSR rather than in sandbox mode. But alas, I gave SC too many hours already - with my limited time it's off to other games. Definitely a disappointment.
 
...this was the one linked from the SRCW website...
Actually, on Battlegoat.com, the forum linked at the bottom of the left hand menu is not this one, it is the forum Fistalis mentioned. We try and watch this one when we can but the other has been the primary forum for the game for about eleven years now.

Sorry to hear that the game did not meet your expectations. I noticed you haven't registered the game. Did you try only the demo or have you just not registered?