A game we need

[sic-disaster 311]

I did know Necrovision as one of my best friends plays it.

However it is so far away from what i'd like to see i thought it useless to mention it.

In the end it is very small scale too, and imo doesnt do justice to WW1 at all.

Still, there are interesting stories to be told about WW1.

One of them is that of the movie The Lost Battalion, which is about a failed assault on the German lines. While all other battallions fall back, one manages to remain behind in the woods, without trenches etc. Right smack in the middle of No Man's Land, basically.

They simply didnt know the others were retreating, and remained in position waiting for the other battalions to catch up.

They remained there for days, while the Germans try to pry them out of the forest and back into their trenches. I didnt research it to see how much of the fights were fiction and how much of them are based on facts, but it is a true story.

Another story i really like is that of the Christmas truce.

Just imagine living in that horror, when at Christmas night and you thought things couldnt get any worse than this, and when you thought things couldnt become stranger after you saw the enemy put up christmas decorations in and around their trench, you hear a solemn voice drifting over No Man's Land, singing a song you cant understand but which you know from loving child memories as a Silent Night.

As more and more of the enemy starts to sing along, others from your trench recognize the song and sing it in their own language.

And then an unarmed man hoists himself out of the trench, perhaps gone insane, or perhaps blindly trusting in Man enough that he wont get shot on Christmas Eve, and starts to walk through the No Man's Land.

And against orders from HQ to fraternize with the enemy, the soldiers build their own truce, singing songs, playing soccer between the trenches.

Some soldiers even visited the trench of their enemies.

Now i realise ofcourse that this hasnt any gameplay value, but at the same time scenes like this really have to offer something to the world i think.

They deserve to be seen. This would be very interesting to see in a game too.

[WhoCares 0]

...

Problems generally lied elsewhere, like in lacking tactical mobility. Which drastically improved in ww2 and gave totally new mobility and greatly improved marching speeds also after breached defenses.

Usually the problem started already a step before this - to be able and properly exploit a breach you need to know about it and be able to direct your forces accordingly. But in WW1, as soon as the attack started High Command pretty much lost contact with its forces - most communication was handled by wire - radio was still in its very infancy. There are usually few wires going from enemy trenches to your friendly HQ and during a battle the few available lines (further in the back, and for the germans going through a hostile countryside) were often hopelessly jammed.

By the time the HQ of the attacker learned and tried to exploit a local success, the enemy was usually able to plug/push back the gap due to the advantage of internal lines.

The non-existant infrastructure for reinforcements and supplies across the frontline didn't help either.

The command structure, quarrels and the egos of the generals involved often didn't help either. Sometimes local commanders saw opportunities but simply were not allowed or even explicitely stopped by orders from the General Headquarters. Coordination between different forces weren't flawless either, e.g. between the Brits and French, but also between neighboring forces of the same nationality...

There were also many other interesting theaters - after all it's a World War ;)

The 2x eastern front, the german east Prussia and the austro-hungary Galicia against the russians, additionally the Balkans (esp. Serbia) and the Alps (Italy) for Austro-Hungary.

The Ottoman Empire against Russia in the Caucasus, against the Brits in Palestine & todays Iran/Iraq and Galipoli was already mentioned.

Lawrence of Arabia.

Lettow-Vorbeck and his force of sailors and Ascaris in southern Africa.

Big naval battles in the North Sea, and also some naval action in the Mediteranian and Black Sea.

.............

There is a nice WW1 turn-based strategy wargame sold online by Ageod covering all this and more, like diplomatics, supplies,... WW1 (+Gold expansion might also be required; vanilla game had still some quirks when I last played it and I haven't upgraded since then...) Of course, the smallest infantry unit you usually control is a Corps :p WW1 Forum

There is also a nice wargame/simulation covering the naval war in the North Sea, called Jutland. You can control the fleet, Divisions and/or individual ships on a strategic map and in 3D battle, but you can't directly man the guns yourself (but assign individual targets) ;)

Only tested the Demo and it isn't bad, but the sound and graphic whores might probably be embarassed. :D

Edited August 28, 2010 by WhoCares

[Imperator[TFD] 444]

Sure, the soldiers at the front hated it and didnt want to be there, most of them being conscripts and pressed into service. However, the ones that survived a while blocked those thoughts out and didnt think about it after a while. They were there, that was all they were concerned about. They gave up hope of an end. After time had gone on long enough, they had no feelings regarding home anymore, as they simply were not understood by the people back home who didnt grasp, or didnt want to grasp, the reality of the war. The only ones who understood what a soldier meant, were the other soldiers.

The civilians back at home had put on a blindfold. They simply did not want to hear anything other than 'the war is glorious'.

Veterans of the war with mental complaints were shunned and put down as traitors and cowards by a lot of the people who stayed home and did not sacrifice a single thing.

Opening your mouth and telling how the war really was being fought was a truth the populace simply did not want to hear. Shut up and back into the fight, cowardly soldier!

Mate, this has happened for every war in history, heck it still happens even today.

[sic-disaster 311]

True, but not on the scale it happened in WW1. Even parents would call their own sons the vilest things sometimes.

Next to that, a modern soldier pretty much knows for how long he will be sent away, and also can get some rest back on base.

A soldier in WW1 (if he survived that long) would be away for 4 years straight with little to no leave, and when on rest was only behind the lines 1 or 2 km but never out of earshot of the war. There was no getting away from all the dead and wounded, as they were everywhere.

Today people have a better understanding to war, and many people oppose it. They try to see it and understand it. They want to understand it.

During WW1 many people literally were blind to the war. They did not want to see or hear about any downside of it.

They'd say stuff like 'well, the food here is really bad, because all the good stuff goes to the front to our boys. Naturally it's much worse here and we are much worse off'.

But ofcourse the food on the front wasnt even nearly as good as the stuff back home, and malnutrition plagued the soldiers. As Remarque said it somewhere: "Cabbage and bread made of sawdust".

As far as wars go, WW1 was the vilest, ugliest war ever fought, wich was worsened by the complete lack of understanding and willingness to understand by the populace back home.

Soldiers didnt get any emotional support after the war was over because the populace thought they were exaggerating, allowing the war to keep messing with their minds.

Many is the grandchild that didnt like grandpa because he was 'grumpy' all the time, many was the son who grew up with no love or understanding because his father was incapable of showing it anymore.

Ofcourse these symptoms still remain today, but in general the situation is a 100 times better than it was back then, almost incomparable.

[Laqueesha 474]

True, but not on the scale it happened in WW1. Even parents would call their own sons the vilest things sometimes.

Next to that, a modern soldier pretty much knows for how long he will be sent away, and also can get some rest back on base.

A soldier in WW1 (if he survived that long) would be away for 4 years straight with little to no leave, and when on rest was only behind the lines 1 or 2 km but never out of earshot of the war. There was no getting away from all the dead and wounded, as they were everywhere.

Today people have a better understanding to war, and many people oppose it. They try to see it and understand it. They want to understand it.

During WW1 many people literally were blind to the war. They did not want to see or hear about any downside of it.

They'd say stuff like 'well, the food here is really bad, because all the good stuff goes to the front to our boys. Naturally it's much worse here and we are much worse off'.

But ofcourse the food on the front wasnt even nearly as good as the stuff back home, and malnutrition plagued the soldiers. As Remarque said it somewhere: "Cabbage and bread made of sawdust".

As far as wars go, WW1 was the vilest, ugliest war ever fought, wich was worsened by the complete lack of understanding and willingness to understand by the populace back home.

Soldiers didnt get any emotional support after the war was over because the populace thought they were exaggerating, allowing the war to keep messing with their minds.

Many is the grandchild that didnt like grandpa because he was 'grumpy' all the time, many was the son who grew up with no love or understanding because his father was incapable of showing it anymore.

Ofcourse these symptoms still remain today, but in general the situation is a 100 times better than it was back then, almost incomparable.

QFT.

Modern media and technology have brought war to the general public. War hasn't changed, but the public's perception of it has.

[dale0404 5]

What we need is game that bases WW1 on this.

I would certainly buy it!!!

[Laqueesha 474]

Try 'ere, mate: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Storm_(computer_game)

Sequel: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bet_on_Soldier

[jtec 0]

I suppose the amount of research needed in terms of story and reference is what would be off putting for anyone to create a ww1 game. Its bloody hard getting reference even for modern day stuff let alone ww1!

[CW001 10]

Darkest of Days had a rathe rlovely section on the Eastern Front.

Also, World War 1 Medic!!

http://www.bay12games.com/ww1medic/

is rather good fun, although I'm completely hopeless at it

And if memory serves, there's a mod for Hearts of Iron floating around somewhere.

[Leopardi 0]

What we need is game that bases WW1 on this.

I would certainly buy it!!!

Red Orchestra: Heroes of Stalingrad will have WW1.

[CW001 10]

Red Orchestra: Heroes of Stalingrad will have WW1.

:butbut:

Source plz, I need to not believe or I may die of joy.

[ProfTournesol 956]

:butbut:

Source plz, I need to not believe or I may die of joy.

From what i've seen, it is very far from being completed.

[sic-disaster 311]

It's a mod project. They currently are making some stuff on the UDK which they can port over to RO:HOS later on. It's called Iron Europe.

As for reference, i'd guess most of the important stuff you could find in history books for a general overview of the war.

For a more personal insight in the war (as in soldier-level), one book you'd definitely have to read is All quiet on the Western front by Erich Maria Remarque.

Another book is Somme Mud, which is basically a slightly edited version of a war-diary by a Canadian soldier called Lynch.

That would get you a long way imo.

[bascule42 10]

A top down vertical scroller called "Over the Top" (NOT the Stallone movie about an arm wrestleing truck driver), where you run to the opposite trenches avoiding machine gun fire. Alternative name, and blurb:

Give johnny foreigner a taste of

Cold Steel!

Or possibly CoD -2.

Necrovision was a cracking game though.

Edited September 5, 2010 by Bascule42
In no way do I endorse giving ANYONE a taste of "Cold Steel".

[von_paulus 0]

I'm a WWI buff, more than anyone, I'd like to play a game with a high degree of WWI immersiveness feeling.

But I'm afraid it's not commercial attractive to have a trench simulator. In most of the times the war in the western front was static. And even when it wasn't, was really slaughtery, like in Somme and Verdun. Would you march regardless of machine guns nets, into the enemy trenches, in a orderly fashion? Would you do a night raid into the no man's land?

That's a kind of war that probably will never be bought into a computer game, specially an infantry kind.

However, IMHO, there are three games that already portrayed, with some immersive feeling, that war.

Historyline, Wings and more recently Over Flanders Field.

[WhoCares 0]

Almost forgot this little Flash game: Warfare 1917

[-)rStrangelove 0]

BlueMax on the C64 was the best ww I shooter ever.