Scourge of War Waterloo vs Waterloo Napoleons Last Battle – Ideas and sugestions

[ferragus]

Both games are separated by 14 years, which in terms of software is almost an eternity. But still WNLB remains the only game which can be compared with Scourge of War Waterloo. In fact SoWWTL is the natural successor to breakaway’s 2001 title, it not only is very similar in its basic objective, a real time tactical simulation of the battle, but the head programmer was involved in both titles. I must however refer that although its graphics are obviously dated and its gameplay offers some flaws especially as to the AI behavior, WNLB remains a very enjoyable and highly repayable game that mixes an historical accurate gameplay and visuals with an intense, immersive and gripping overall experience that can call on any player with a fondness to this historical setting.

Scourge of War Waterloo delivers the same experience with not only upgraded graphics but especially with a much more complex command structure system through which we can much better rely on our subordinates decisions which in turn helps us control a huge army without getting distracted in micromanaging all our battalions and brigades. This system although practical, still requires a good amount of practice before being mastered. It is also not as polished as we would expect on the first impact (mainly because of pathfinding issues, ignored orders and lack of feedback), but it kind of grows into us in a way that we tend to ignore the systems faults and end up enjoying the overall experience. Being a WNLB diehard fan, this is finally the first game that actually rivals my affections!

This being said, let me now bring the matter to hand. What strikes me the most is that, being a successor to WNLB, SWWTL leaves so many of its good ideas behind, ideas that in my opinion would turn a very good game into an almost perfect one! Let me list some of them:

- Information on the game screen both visual and audible. In WNLB we could not be everywhere so when something important happened we would either get a written message or a sound effect (sometimes both) like “Reinforcement have arrived” or a “huzza” (or vive l’empreur) when we routed an enemy, a “retreat” or an “enemy officer spotted”. These details although a bit repetitive, helped allot in getting a sense of urgency in matters around the battlefield and I miss them in Scourge of War.

- Reinforcements. I have already read somewhere that this is being considered for the future. The arrival (or not) of reinforcements was one of the most important aspects of the scenarios in WNLB. They helped turn the tide when defeat or victory seemed certain and consequently gave a very dramatic feeling to the scenarios. We could also make our plan counting on them, only to be crushed because they didn’t arrive on time.

- Cohesion. Cohesion is not exactly the same as fatigue and it impacted very much on the effectiveness of fire and the ability to charge (particularly with cavalry) On WNLB we had a cohesion bar and we could see a battalion getting disordered when they lost it. A unit would lost cohesion when crossing difficult terrain and of course being under fire in which case morale would fall rapidly.

- Clearer toolbar information. OK, I know this is debatable as we have all the information available, but I miss those nice crisp and spot on icons we got in WNLB relating details such as non-cavalry terrain, leader and terrain bonuses and even the selected unit’s nature, grade and nationality.
- Morale indicating flags. Unit flags in WNLB dropped as morale was falling. This was a very good way to follow the intensity of the action and helped us better choose where to reinforce the defense and where to intensify our attacks without having to keep selecting each unit to check it. I also think that, historically, units engaged on a firefight would have some sense of its own and its enemy’s routing point so this would not be as unrealistic as one might think.

- Path lines and blocks. Informing us of the total amount of space a unit will occupy on destination, These were visible when selecting the battalion, but also the brigade, division, corps and army leader and were a good way to accurately plan your operations on a large scale, particularly if you want to TC. This has been implemented, but not has clear and only on the brigade level.

- Scenario editor (sandbox mode). The scenario editor on WNLB was very simple and had the option to formulate an automatic OOB with balanced forces with the options of only infantry, only cavalry, infantry with weak cavalry and infantry with strong cavalry (and arty or no arty) we could also chose the victory locations we wanted and of course we could choose the OOB by ourselves.

Other details I would love to see implemented but maybe bot as important are as follows:

- Historical documentation. WNLB had a complete encyclopedia about Napoleonic warfare and about the campaign and the battle itself. Also each scenario had a complex description of what really happened with nice maps to support and ended with useful tips for both sides.
- End of scenario details and birds-eye view replay. I miss spending countless minutes overviewing the end of battle details, like casualties received and caused, High officer casualties, surrendered units and taken artillery pieces. They even conceded medals to the units with the best combat ratios (It would be fantastic to upgrade these units during the sandbox campaign mode!) And a new idea, the ability to capture colours!

I know that Scourge of War is a different game with a different take on the subject and produced under a different context. I know this “details” would be very time consuming and the team didn’t have much of it with such a strict release date. I also know that although produced in 2001, WNLB was made by a much larger team with probably an even bigger budget. My intention is not to promote WNLB which is already abandonware, so please don’t get my intentions wrong, I would just like to know people’s feedback about this ideas, discuss them and check if we can maybe expect some of them in the future!

Sorry for the long post…

Regards to all!

[AP514]

WEll, I too was hope'n for a upgraded WNLB...with the great AI of SOW series...

as of right now I am hopeful of the mods that might make the game more playable.....

I too want more Visual Clues/Sounds about a unit....Like disorder-- have the line look like the Advance/Fall back of lines as they are now. Flags droop for moral or have them wave for rally...

The biggest Thing is the battle lines are a CLUSTER F.... Fire lines are X'd all over themselves..no way to order lines to pass by the other(even if it will disorder them)
I ordered a unit to move up(to take a beat up units position in the front line) and the route was all the way down behind my line and then around in front(of the fire line) and march back up to the middle of my divisional line formation..all while under fire....

All in All I AGREE with the OP....

[IronBMike]

Very different games with different goals, but both great games.

You are spot on OP, with the presentation and interface of WNLB - it was perfect.

One thing that was great in WNLB (I think added in a later patch) was the ability to choose a target for a charge.

IIRC Norb actually worked on WNLB.

I still play WNLB and ANGV a lot. If anyone wants to play an online game, let me know! I'd love to do a coop or versus.

[IronBMike]

Just an FYI - ferragus and I successfully played a few multiplayer battles last night in WNLB! This is a nice little companion game to SOW.

If anyone would like to join our little group, PM me or him!