Generally I'm loving it. I'm working on a Japan playthrough, so I can only comment from that game. I haven't experienced the problems with the battle planner, because I still made my frontlines for my armies separately, works like before (which isn't always great, you do need to babysit them every now and then). I never realized I could give a front to my FM. But then, that might have to do with the fact that I'm playing Japan and I have 1 army to the north of China, 1 invading the east, 1 invading the south. By the time they join up the war is almost done... I also don't really see how I should give 1 order to a FM for all the pacific Islands. I use multiple smaller armies to invade different parts of Asia. Even India, 1 from north, 1 from east, grind on...
The good:
- Command Structure, this is enough for me to get a feel of fronts, HoI3 was too much, this is good IMO;
- Adding Airwings to armies;
- Decisions, especially the timed ones, I was afraid to use "Ichi Go", it gives a great boost, but China was giving me a hard time...;
- Difficulty, the AI is noticeably better, I had a lot more trouble with China than before and they cut me off more than once. It also has to do with the new borderwar mechanic type of thing going on from the Marco Polo incident, but that is also positive. You really need to spend energy (PP) into escalating the war and really get it going. I was really worrying that I would't get China done before I could conquer the rest of Asia;
- Generals and traits, you get more feel for them and you can guide and shape them, they also feel more like people falling ill and getting wounded;
- New Japanese Focus tree (its pretty large and it gives a lot of choices);
- Naval overview;
- Special forces actually feel special now. I use my marines as actual naval assault specialist, when they establish a beachhead the regular infantry comes in and takes over the front, marines move to a new invasion;
- PP is actually worth something and I always have too little.
The Bad (or could use some work/tweaking whatnot):
- Naval game, supposedly convoys and subs should work better, but it feels the same (useless);
- Generals and traits, I find it unclear how many traits you can give them if they level up, I could give a FM some traits from the start so I did, but now he can't gain more, what gives? Also the balance is kind of wacky, did anybody ever get "invader"? You need so much experience in naval invasions that you might get that trait in 1950. And I'm playing Japan while doing loads of naval invasions. This also goes for other (terrain) traits, I've fought 2,5 years in China, but I got 1 general that got a terrain trait, seriously, that's a bit rough...I was expecting my generals to really get better after fighting a war for 2,5 years. It's a good change in general, but the balance is off and the way it works isn't very clear.
All in all it's pretty good expansion IMO. Could use some balance so you actually benefit from the General traits etc.
Looking ahead: Naval rework please! It still feels bland and subs/convoys still don't work unfortunately.
The good:
- Command Structure, this is enough for me to get a feel of fronts, HoI3 was too much, this is good IMO;
- Adding Airwings to armies;
- Decisions, especially the timed ones, I was afraid to use "Ichi Go", it gives a great boost, but China was giving me a hard time...;
- Difficulty, the AI is noticeably better, I had a lot more trouble with China than before and they cut me off more than once. It also has to do with the new borderwar mechanic type of thing going on from the Marco Polo incident, but that is also positive. You really need to spend energy (PP) into escalating the war and really get it going. I was really worrying that I would't get China done before I could conquer the rest of Asia;
- Generals and traits, you get more feel for them and you can guide and shape them, they also feel more like people falling ill and getting wounded;
- New Japanese Focus tree (its pretty large and it gives a lot of choices);
- Naval overview;
- Special forces actually feel special now. I use my marines as actual naval assault specialist, when they establish a beachhead the regular infantry comes in and takes over the front, marines move to a new invasion;
- PP is actually worth something and I always have too little.
The Bad (or could use some work/tweaking whatnot):
- Naval game, supposedly convoys and subs should work better, but it feels the same (useless);
- Generals and traits, I find it unclear how many traits you can give them if they level up, I could give a FM some traits from the start so I did, but now he can't gain more, what gives? Also the balance is kind of wacky, did anybody ever get "invader"? You need so much experience in naval invasions that you might get that trait in 1950. And I'm playing Japan while doing loads of naval invasions. This also goes for other (terrain) traits, I've fought 2,5 years in China, but I got 1 general that got a terrain trait, seriously, that's a bit rough...I was expecting my generals to really get better after fighting a war for 2,5 years. It's a good change in general, but the balance is off and the way it works isn't very clear.
All in all it's pretty good expansion IMO. Could use some balance so you actually benefit from the General traits etc.
Looking ahead: Naval rework please! It still feels bland and subs/convoys still don't work unfortunately.
