Recent reviews by piimantou

I remember being somewhat skeptical when Fire & Maneuver (the previous game released by Armchair History Interactive) came out and the gameplay was not very compelling to me. I'm not that much of a fan of Armchair Historian myself, so I wondered if that was the best he was capable of. Evidently not.

Master of Command (MoC) refines the fundamental tactical gameplay offered in Ultimate General: Civil War (UGCW); if you've played it you know what I'm talking about. The isometric view of the battlefield and abstracted systems lends itself to a simple but compelling tactical game. At the operational level, MoC also inherits the weapon-outfitting system of UGCW. I would really just call it a roguelike version of UGCW. Given the demise of the UG series of games, I'm happy to see that it has inherited this gameplay format. Blended together with asymmetrical balancing of the sort one might find in Napoleon: Total War, which looks to be another major inspiration for this game despite the slightly different periods (Seven Years' War vs Napoleonic Wars), I am excited for the future of this game. It's going to be something I come back to again and again, for sure.

Cards on the table: I played both Victoria 2 and 3. Many compare the two, and they are part of the same series with the same focus on an intertwined political-economic simulation, but they are entirely different games with entirely different systems. For my part I much prefer the systems of 3.

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The main mechanism through which the player interacts with the economic simulation is through constructing buildings, which is not in itself engaging. What makes it engaging is the addition of increasing constraints that force the player to make interesting trade-offs and opportunity costs. Limited arable land for agricultural buildings means a limit on what can be produced; MAPI means a limit to how much one can specialize a region over others; costs and productivity mean one has to make sure all factor inputs are properly in place to actually implement the production methods that technological research brought about; and so on. I also very much enjoy the increasing complexity to diplomatic affairs as compared to Vicky 2, especially after Sphere of Influence.

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I love watching the tiny little carriages pull into towns, and eventually become little trains.

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It's alright, but well-boosted by radio mods.

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I could replay this game endlessly. Even taking aside stellar mods like Better Politics Mod or the mods that add increased economic mechanics (e.g. through new production methods or intermediate industries/goods), even if you just played the same country in vanilla again and again with the same goals, the trajectories of games are often unpredictable. In focusing on creating systems that encourage the AI to emulate historical decisions rather than railroading them into particular pathways, the devs have ensured that every playthrough can be significantly different.

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I know that there are tons of people out there who figure out specific exploits to all the Paradox games that leverage particular mechanics, but trying to play a proper well-rounded nation with a realistic development trajectory is difficult. I love that the game continues to add features that increase the complexity and number of things that must be juggled, from MAPI to the latest ownership mechanics. Running an economy is incredibly difficult in real life, as any policy change ripples throughout the web of interactions between different economic agents.

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There is the odd bug but I can't tell whether it's from the game itself or my personal habit of modding games until I break them.

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I can't complain since my PC has pretty good specs, all things considered. It's not struggling, at the very least.

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It's a Paradox game... Unfortunately, that means that the price point is high, and will be kept high by follow-up DLC. That's a hit-or-miss situation; already, I've stopped playing CK3, EU4 and Stellaris mostly because I haven't been able to catch up to the DLC and feel like I'd be missing out if I didn't play with them on. I would say that most players should be selective with what Paradox game they pick because they should want to stick with it. I'm sure I want to stick with Vicky, but ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ if I wouldn't prefer it to be a little cheaper.

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Click here to use this template in your own reviews. [blackiceinteractive.com]

It's amazing that for someone who's so avowedly anti-Chinese (even though I'm Chinese) that I absolutely refuse to contact anything Chinese in everyday life as a personal protest against the Chinese Communist government, this game - a game made by developers in the UK - was the one thread that pulled me back and re-connected me to my cultural history and arguably the greatest epic of Chinese history. The game-play itself is amazing as well; over the course of a month, I've clocked up a quarter of the hours I've clocked on Shogun II or Rome II. It just keeps pulling me back in. 11/10 GOTY

Gave me a half-day long depressive breakdown

11/10 would sink into the abyss to see Monika and Sayori smile again