Which game?

[kiwiLB57]

Apologies.

I am sure this topic has come up a million times, but I cannot seem to find the info I am after.

Anyway: I have been away for six months and have come back to find several new and exciting iterations of my all time favourite game HOI2.

When I left I was playing Armageddon and loving it. Now I find AoD, Iron Cross and Darkest Hour and frankly, I am confused.

I have read the feature lists of all three "new" developments but have not got a clear picture of the differences between the three.

I would happily purchase all three, but can they co-exist? Is there an order that they should be installed? Is there a natural progression from Armageddon through the three new games? I just need someone with knowledge to speak to me slowly and clearly and lead me by the nose!

I have three months sitting at home watching the grass grow before I have to go back to work and would like to put some serious time into HoI2 and/or its heirs before I rejoin the rat race!

Cheers and beers

kiwiLB57

 

[Fernando Torres]

Hello,

AOD and DH are the two stand alone games.
IC serves as an expansion that can be applied to either of them.

I could answer specific questions related to DH on DH specific forum : http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?554-Darkest-Hour.
Feel free to ask questions there.
Here are also a few links that could be useful to grab more information : http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...g-reviews-dev-diaries-wiki-and-download-links!

 

[Pier]

AoD is out the longest and has is the most polished. It is a stand-alone game. It also has the most changes from Armageddon: advanced money sliders, IC concentration and infrastructure bonus, naval brigades, up to 10 tech teams, keeps track of losses and kills, national focus policies, a revised combat system where quality > quantity. The tech tree and events remains largely unchanged from Armageddon, although research is more expensive, and only the biggest nations are able to fund the full 10 tech teams. I highly recommend this one.
Mods are coming along slowly, but CORE is very decent at this point. Dev support has recently focussed on bug fixing, code streamlining, and AI improvements, making for an overall better game. They could still add some features here and there, I think.

Iron Cross basically is nothing more than a mod, and will work in combination with Armageddon, AoD as well as Darkest Hour. Some people like, a lot of people don't. For example, it adds a lot of provinces, but they all have 0 IC and resources, doing nothing but slowing the game down. If you liked mod 34 in Armageddon, you like this one, because it's very similar. I am not a fan.

Darkest Hour has only recently been released, and has the usual day 0 problems (minor bugs and imbalances), but the devs are hard at work fixing these. It also is a standalone game. It has a major revision of the tech trees, and lots of events are now decisions, allowing for some deviations from history. Combat is more in the style of the Total Realism Project mod, needing advanced tactics even for Poland. It is also the only game that comes with a fully working WW1 scenario, although it needs some polishing. Supposedly very mod friendly, as well as having a challenging AI that chooses from multiple strategies.


If you want to start playing today, I would go for AoD. In a couple of months, when the DH 1.01 patch is released, I would pick that up as well (it's only $10,-).

 

[Epaminondas]

AoD is the most mature of the three games at present and the one that introduces the most game-changing revisions. The devs there have rethought almost all the game systems and, in my view at least, the revisions have introduced new levels of realism and playability. They've also left the game very open to further modification so that 'tuning' the system to your own notions of how things should be is relatively easy. The game offers many scenarios so you can choose to dip your toe in the water or jump in the deep end. The 1.07 version has just been released and CORE has produced their own 05.21b beta keyed to that - if you're looking for something to keep you off the grass for three months that will do it.

DH is another extensive revision of the HoI/Arma system but the developments seem to me more linear and thus less 'disequilibrating'. Whereas it can take quite a while to adjust to the AoD system revisions, you can pretty much fire up DH and get into straight away. In that sense, it's a more direct progression from Arma than is AoD. It's also visually lush and uses a new map that will require you to adjust your tried and tested strategies somewhat, but that can be managed 'on the run' and shouldn't slow you down much in adapting to the mod. It offers two scenarios, one starting in 1914 and the other in 1936. Both are 'grand campaign' games so you don't get to edge up on things, but with the less revolutionary nature of the changes that's not a real problem. Unfortunately, the 1914 game is not yet well developed and can only be managed via a lot of fudging, but when it's revised it should be quite something. The devs are working on the first revision for the entire mod, but at this stage they're unable to give any date for its release.

IC is, as Fernando says, more of a 'game improvement' than a mod. It's most obvious contribution is also a new map and it has some committed fans, but I've opted for the more extensive revisions provided by AoD and DH.

Hope that helps a little, Kiwi.

 

[kiwiLB57]

Thanks for the quick replies guys.

So the options are Arma+IC / AoD+IC / DH+IC?

That is awesome!

I am freakin excited! I can't believe all this has cropped up since I have been away! Superb work Fernando and everybody else behind the various titles. I think I will grab all three and get amongst it. Hopefully it is a terrible summer as I will be working on my HoI tan till I get dragged back into the office in August.

Regards,

KiwiLB57

 

[Fernando Torres]

Exactly
You really want to skip ARM + IC though as both AOD and DH are basically ARM "on steroids".

 

[Rocket88]

It should also be mentioned that the DH team have done a fantastic job on speeding up the game [code optimisation - whatever that is ]. I now get to the 'choose a scenario' screen in about 10 seconds from clicking the launcher icon - and once you are playing the days and months can go past so fast i have had to adjust message settings so the game autopauses for me ..... New map is also excellent.

I have successfully played IC with DH - I like the tech tree approach of IC - but had forgotten how 'fast' combat etc is - very similar to vanilla Armageddon compared to DH and AoD.

I endorse the earlier comments about AoD - some really thoughtful and interesting features introduced. The automated trading and production sliders are a joy to use - they in turn release you from (potentially) a lot of micromanagement which effectively speeds up the game as well. There are also a series of other mods besides CORE (one of my favourites).

If you can afford all three then enjoy your summer!

ps shameless plug time! - if you follow the link in my sig you get a sneak preview of the tech tree for the 36 campaign

 

[gradenko_2000]

Between the two standalones, AOD is far more stable and balanced, although it mostly goes off in its own direction as far as the combat system is concerned.

DH is still new and has some very slight teething problems, but has more potential (nebulous idea as that may be), insofar as its modding system, modularization and Decision-based system. It's also blazing fast.

Both AOD and DH have their own UI improvements, though I'd lean slightly more towards DH as the winner here - the trade, slider, intel and diplomacy automation is far better than AOD.

If money is at all a concern, DH is your go-to unless you can pick up AOD on a sale.