SOW WATERLOO VS HISTWAR2 Napoleon - differences and comparisons

[rudy]

Maybe the naked guys on horses could still have those fancy thigh-high riding boots with the coloured tassles on the outside. And a shiny gold helmet with a long horsehair pony tail down the back.

Ya, that might work.

[rudy]

My wife wants you to keep working on full uniforms.

[tim]

:laugh: well the game will be very moddable rudy so if you want to put those types of sprites in for your own enjoyment go ahead :blink:

[nimitstexan]

Waterloo I am going for a campaign look - albeit a bit brighter than ACW. But with oilskin shako covers, greatcoats, few plumes etc and with some variety amongst the troops. So there's more colours at Waterloo and the sprites look brighter due to that but they will not be parade ground glossy toy soldiers.

Its not uniforms specifically I was referring to, but the whole color pallette in TC and particularly SoW. When SOW is running, it looks like you are looking at the world through dark tinted glasses.

[Zeke]

Interesting discussion - I also have both games and having a big interest in the Napoleonic wars I'm excited that finally two developers are having a real go at bringing out a good Napoleonic game (the last good one was Sid Meier's Waterloo)- Lets face it the big boys have tried and failed Total War was terrible from a design and historical perspective and it failed completely to bring the sheer scale of Napoleonic warfare to the PC Screen and lets not mention Imperial Glory or Cossack II !!!! :whistle: .

Portraying the Massive Scale (some of these battles featured armies over 150,000-200,000 strong)will be a huge challenge to portray graphically and for the AI also with Waterloo the Anglo-British tactic of holding the fortified farmhouse's was key to wellington's success how well this is played out in the SOW Waterloo will be key I suspect (will troops be able to fortify building?)

The first Histwar game when it first came out had real issues both graphically and with the control aspects and the before mentioned gui was frankly terrible - however subsequent patches improved the game and the AI but there were still some issues and it just fell short from the mark in my opinion although I have to give credit to its single developer JMM for a very bold attempt and it is still the best game out there that bring table top gaming to the PC. Histwar2 hopefully promises more.

Between the two games I have to say I prefer SOW both in Graphic presentation and in how you control your armies its more for me But lets face it I'll buy both games when they become available as I like supporting developers who have a passion not just for game making but for historic accuracy as well.

While we wait patiently B) there is a great Napoleonic Mod for SOWG - Tim looking forward to seeing more excellent sprites having had a go at just tinkering with Sprites I have to admire your talents!!

[Destraex]

I hear napoleon total war III is not bad while you wait.

Also with regard to civil war games have you tried ultimate general?

[Saddletank]

Napoleonic Total War III mod for Napoleon Total War is the best mod out there by simply miles. I've played the single-player campaign extensively. Not played MP though, people seem too competitive for my tastes. Nothing comes close to touching it elsewhere in the Nap TW area of mods.

However compared to Scourge of War it's like comparing a plastic bath duck to a swan. There is no comparison.

[montecristo1981]

Tank,

Video looks good on moddb. I have Empires - so i just need the nap add-on to play that mod?

[con20or]

I checked that one out, another good TW mod recommendation from you Tank. I enjoyed the LOTR one you mentioned last year too.

[Karle]

I have enjoyed reading the comments above and, though it is some two years and five months since the last post, thought I would add my thoughts and see if anyone else has further comments. Since the last post SOWW has been released and HistWar Napoleon has released a new patch 05f (RC4).

I am new to this forum (this is my first post), but not new to Napoleonic wargaming. My first game was on an Apple IIe (which game consisted of only issuing and receiving orders with no depictions of “soldiers”) and I have also played Talon Soft Waterloo as well as NTW including the mods Dartmod and NTW3 (and have tried some modding). I have just now purchased SOWW (and the Quatre Bras and Ligny add-ons) and am beginning to learn how to play hoping for a more historically realistic experience. (I did also play with the SOWGB demo which gave me a good idea about how the game works) I have also watched a number of videos showing the Histwar Napoleon game. I would also purchase this game, but I have heard that it only works with DirectX 9.0 (c) and not with later versions of DirectX. Does anyone know if this is still the case? Windows 10 has DirectX 13.

I agree with the comments about the NTW soldiers. Yes, the uniforms in NTW look great, but everything else suffers as a result and in battles one does not stare at close ups of the soldiers. For me what is visually important is the total visual effect which includes the “soldiers”, the size and accuracy of the units, the historical accuracy of the movements of the military units and the expansiveness of the battlefield. I must say that I am fascinated with the expansiveness of the battlefield in HWN and the way the various units move properly in column across the field. The various battalions and regiments look complete the way they are depicted. It reminds me of the battle scenes in the film War and Peace (Russian version). When all these other visual elements are done well, then the “soldiers” as depicted in HWN and SOWW are in my view good enough. I am hoping for such expansiveness and visual experience in SOWW. In NTW everything is far too compact. I remember from my visits of the Gettysburg battlefield standing on the confederate lines at what is now Confederate Avenue and noting how so very far away the Union lines on Cemetery Ridge were.