Is it possible to play more than one nation at the same time?

[DaleDVM]

Until the AI becomes so good that it plays better than a human. Like in 20 years or so. I have a couple of friends that would like to play 1 vs 1 through the entire war. However we would like to play an Axis vs Allies type of campaign controlling all of one side. If we are each controlling only one major power success and or victory will be highly determined on how good the computer countries do. This would be very annoying to say the least.

We like to play board games so we are willing to take a long period of time to do this... I doubt we will get other gamers to take weeks to finish a slow methodical game like we play it. What do you do when you only have 2 people and you want to play out the entire war?

I'm not sure if the game supports anything like this? Can a scenario be made to achieve this? Is it a feature in the game already? Can a patch be made to do this?

 

[Alexander Seil]

It is impossible. You could make all Allied countries into one country named Allies, and all Axis countries into an "Axis" country, but that would be pretty silly.

 

[Peter Ebbesen]

The closest you get is if you let one player play the UK and the other Germany, and then you each take military control of every nation in your alliance. The AI will still be running research, production, and IC allocating for these nations, but you as players will be controlling the entire war machinery of either side, Axis or Allies. The Comintern will be the only major concentration of forces not under your control.

 

[DaleDVM]

Doh! I am so confused as to why they can't easily change this? Maybe they don't want to...

It is silly that I can do it but I have to have 3 computers for the axis and another 5 or so to get all of the major powers for the allies...

Then I can run around the room giving orders and pausing alot and then letting it run... It's cardio WWII.

 

[Peter Ebbesen]

Why is it silly for one player not being able to control more than one nation at a time? I cannot, on the spur of the moment, think of any computer game that allows that. There are some turn based where you could do it by taking turns, but that is another ballgame.

 

[Alexander Seil]

Well, some games do give players control of a side, but...how the hell do you do THAT in real time, even with pause???

 

[Brasidas]

Why is it silly for one player not being able to control more than one nation at a time? I cannot, on the spur of the moment, think of any computer game that allows that. There are some turn based where you could do it by taking turns, but that is another ballgame.

Peter:
An adaptation of A&A by Hasbro did allow it. It was aweful at first, but
with patches it became playable. I dig it out now and then, but I think
I've only played it twice since I discovered HoI

Dak:
If that's what you're used to, this is a very different game. A&A starts in
'42, whereas with HoI and HoI2, you have a real opportunity to mold the
nation's economy and military in very ahistorical directions. It's an
excellent strategy game, but it's a much bigger step up in complexity than
A&A from Risk.

Until the AI becomes so good that it plays better than a human. Like in 20 years or so. I have a couple of friends that would like to play 1 vs 1 through the entire war.

Somewhat. While you can't have control of economics, production, and
research of more than one country, you ARE able to take military control
of allied nations. At the cost of a few DI points, as in HoI.

For your purposes, you'd be looking at controlling two out of three of the
grand alliances: Western Allies, Axis, or the Soviets. Given research
control constraints, and the fact that you can't control the Sino-Japanese
war if you're Germany (as you would not yet be allied), the axis player
would need to choose between focussing on Germany or Japan.

It is silly that I can do it but I have to have 3 computers for the axis and another 5 or so to get all of the major powers for the allies...
It's cardio WWII.

No, at most you'd need three, if you can trust the computer (playing against
itself) to get to a historical 1939 WW2. And if you want to mold more than
one nation each to a strongly different character before the war, then
write a scenario. But if your satisfied with focussing on one country each
until the war:

If you want to do an Axis and Allies style game, with one player playing
both the West and Comintern, you could probably make a very simple mod:
throw in an event that creates an alliance between Russia and the UK
when the Axis DoW's them. You assume military control, and presto.

To sum-up: you can't control the entire world, you can control all the
battles fought by one of three factions. With a little modification, you
can meld two of those factions into one. The result is, in A&A terms,
if you play as the UK, a computer will be spending the IPCs for Russia
and will probably be dumping them in Karellia and the Ukraine (where you
need them).

Without modding, you're looking at Axis vs. UK+USA OR Axis vs. Russia, with the other "ally" being played by the computer.

 

[Zanza]

Modding an Axis vs. Allies scenario shouldn't be hard. There are tags for Axis (AXI) and Allies (ALS). Add in Comintern, Japan, China and one neutral country and you basically have Axis vs. Allies, no?

That'll take a day or two of work for someone who know what he does...

 

[unmerged(16695)]

yeah, it should be very possible, as zanza said. but- all the troops for each side will be the same, no matter which "country" they come from. ie, all US, British, Canadian, Austrailian, etc units will be of the exact same stats. not exceptionally realistic, but it will get the job done.

 

[DaleDVM]

Thanks for all of the input.

I haven't played games like axis and allies in over 15 years now. I tend to play very complex board games like World in Flames and World War II. Also old Avalon Hill games, Third Reich, Squad Leader and so on... It is very refreshing that more complex computer games like HOI are coming out.

The type of board games I play are set up for 1v1 play. One side controlling the axis and another the allies. These games have rules for when certain countries can join in the war, production limits, force pools, etc. based on politics and historical events of those years.

I imagine that HOI 2 is very similar to these grand strategy board games in many respects. I haven't played a computer game that allows control of other countries, but that is what I want... A complete WWII simulation of the greatest scope and depth that I control vs an opponent. Having computer allies that blow the entire war for me or my adversary, ruins it for me.

I know some people like to see what effect they can have on WWII as a small minor country. I just don't think any minor country could have changed the war all that dramatically (maybe they could lengthen it or shorten it by a few months) so I find that less fun. Personally I like to see how the entire war could have played out differently when the major powers were handled in another manner. The only way I can do that is to handle all of one side or the other.

Just my 2 cents worth and obviously a big wish from the developers... How great would it be to be able to replay the war with that kind of scope? I must admit that most people wouldn't take the month or two it would take to finish a game like this but I play board games so that's what I like...

 

[Alexander Seil]

Well, more micromanagement does not always equal more realism, which seems to be your goal. I wonder if some people in the OKW really wanted what you want - total control. But, just like in the real world, in HoI2 Italy is out there to screw things up for you.

 

[Icecold]

But, just like in the real world, in HoI2 Italy is out there to screw things up for you.

How true :rofl:

Cheers, Ice

 

[unmerged(16832)]

I bet someone could create a mod like that, where all the countries that join the allies become part of the 'allies' nation, and those that leave become independent again. Same for axis and comintern.

 

[Chaingun]

Can a scenario be made to achieve this??

I strongly suspect it can. Whether anyone will go through the trouble of merging all countries of an alliance into one giant country is another matter.

 

[jdrou]

A&A starts in
'42, whereas with HoI and HoI2, you have a real opportunity to mold the
nation's economy and military in very ahistorical directions. It's an
excellent strategy game, but it's a much bigger step up in complexity than
A&A from Risk.

Actually the "Iron Blitz Edition" of Hasbro's A&A had multiple scenarios and a scenario editor. Still no comparison to HoI or HoI2 though.

I would also like the ability to run multiple countries. The only way I could see to do it is if you could run multiple instances of the game on the same computer in a multiplayer game (might be possible now if you have enough RAM) and have the clock continue to run even when an instance is minimized (I believe Paradox games currently pause while minimized).

 

[Brasidas]

I bet someone could create a mod like that, where all the countries that join the allies become part of the 'allies' nation, and those that leave become independent again. Same for axis and comintern.

But going back to the micromanagement vs. realism thing... it wouldn't give
you more control over the economies and research of all the minor allies,
it would just pool their IC's and kill their research programs. No blueprint
sharing, no focussing on a country's research strengths, and one of
Washington, London, or Moscow would be the source of supply for ALL
the allied militaries (remember he's talking 1 on 1).

Going back to the minor mod idea, you could probably play with the 1936
campaign to just give you military control over either side. If I recall from
vanilla HoI, SU started out with milcontrol of Tannu Tuva without an alliance.
Also, your puppets remained in an alliance after you left it, yet you would
retain control.

This would allow you to control not only both fronts against your axis buddy,
but allow him to fight both the spanish civil war and the sino-japanese war.

Methinks you'd be spending most of your time on "very slow".

 

[Permanganate]

But, just like in the real world, in HoI2 Italy is out there to screw things up for you.

Just like in HoI1 too. Aieeee, the stories we could all tell...

I suppose you could just go get another computer or two, or have your friends get one. HoI2 doesn't seem to have very high system requirements - heck, I have enough in my bits box to make another computer that will run it - so it shouldn't be that expensive. You could play whatever game you wanted to; LAN parties are wonderful things.

 

[unmerged(16099)]

Why is it silly for one player not being able to control more than one nation at a time? I cannot, on the spur of the moment, think of any computer game that allows that. There are some turn based where you could do it by taking turns, but that is another ballgame.

I have seen wargaming grogs make this request on occassion. Some folk are probably just more used to controlling the entire Axis or Allies in a WWII strategy game. Think of 'Strategic Command' for a game like this. The player does not really control multiple nations, but the alliance of nations is a single entity in gameplay terms.

 

[unmerged(33236)]

I have seen wargaming grogs make this request on occassion. Some folk are probably just more used to controlling the entire Axis or Allies in a WWII strategy game. Think of 'Strategic Command' for a game like this. The player does not really control multiple nations, but the alliance of nations is a single entity in gameplay terms.

Dak

Go and look at the matrix games site they are developing a WWII game by the the famed author Gary Gisby , I will probblly by the game as but, I stll think form what I have read that HOI2 will better ina different way.

Terry

 

[unmerged(16099)]

Dak

Go and look at the matrix games site they are developing a WWII game by the the famed author Gary Gisby , I will probblly by the game as but, I stll think form what I have read that HOI2 will better ina different way.

Terry

The game is called 'World at War'. It's complexity seems to be somewhere between Strategic Command and Axis & Allies.