Hi all,
My copy arrived on Thursday and I've now had a chance to play a few games. My first was as Japan and it was mostly a learning experience. I managed to win with a 'Cut the Sea Lanes' victory, but I dont think I would have been able to do that against a human opponent. I simply didnt have enough forces to actually hold onto Espiritu Santo, but the AI never really came after me in force.
My 2nd game as Japan was another fairly easy win (again, by cutting the sea lanes). It was a little hairy at the beginning because I had some trouble securing Oil in time, but once I did, I never encountered any real resistance.
My 3rd game is in progress as the Allies. Its March 1944 and the Japanese fleet has all but been slaughtered for at least 6 months. BUT here is the problem - I'm just not getting any of the 'random' Marine reinforcements. I've received 2-3 the whole game. Thats it. So its not possible for me to win simply because I'm not getting randomly generated reinforcements?! That seems really poor IMO. I have smashed every Japanese base I'm allowed to hit. Even 'destroyed' bases prevent you from moving farther so I'm stuck. It feels fairly silly to have all 12+ CVs and 20+ surface combatants who cant sail past the wreckage of the enemy bases to hit something farther in...
I believe there needs to be some ABSOLUTE MINIMUMS to the number of Amphibs that are received. At the very least, one every other turn should happen. Without that it makes no difference how well you do if you're screwed by the lack of Marines.
That aside, I'm currently enjoying the game. It has some quirks, but it gives a nice feel for grand Pacific strategy without bogging down in the details. I think I personally would have preferred a
few more bells and whistles, but I realize that the line has to be drawn somewhere and that feature creep is a very real danger.
I'm not sure how much replayability it will have vs the AI, but I'm going to try and get a friend or two interested over the holiday season and maybe see how it plays H2H.
Some thoughts, some issues
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