Making History: The Great War Game Manual 11 RESEARCH Research can be set directly from the Research Tree. Click the Beaker icon on the control panel to open it. There are three technological eras in the game. The later eras have a higher percentage change of successfully adding to research each turn. If you have any cheats or tips for Making History II: The War of the World please send them in here. You can also ask your question on our Making History II: The War of the World Questions & Answers page. Making History: The Great War Game Manual 11 RESEARCH Research can be set directly from the Research Tree. Click the Beaker icon on the control panel to open it. There are three technological eras in the game. The later eras have a higher percentage change of successfully adding to research each turn. I am talking about Battlegoat (no, have no clue) Studios' newest edition to their Supreme Ruler franchise, Supreme Ruler, the Great War (or SRGW), covering World War I plus. Given the subject, the boss asked me to step outside my comfort zone and review this grand strategy game, an echelon of command not my favorite.
Making History: The Great War. PC game review. Publisher/Developer: Muzzy Lane. $29.99; World Wars package (The Great War and War of the World), $34.99
Passed Inspection: Great historical detail and breadth, excellent AI, allows innovative strategies, much replay value
Failed Basic: Steep learning curve, bland graphics, only two long scenarios.
All war games allow players to change history: Pickett’s charge may work if done well; an early Allied attack in the West could end World War II in 1939. Yet, all these examples work within strict parameters. Players have limited freedom of action to keep the games from being wildly ahistorical. Muzzy Lane’s Making History series shows how to give players vast latitude while not going into science-fiction style alternatives. Their latest game, Making History: The Great War, is great example of how intense research in a period creates a game that allows players to think and act outside the box without violating the realities of the period under study.
Appearance Isn’t Everything.
The graphics for this game won’t win even Honorable Mention at an eye-candy convention. Maps—covering around 200 countries, colonies and protectorates—are simply bland with cities tending to look alike, resources blurry at even the closest zoom and terrain features such as rivers and mountains not very outstanding. The military sprites have the correct uniform types but do not inspire any “OOOHs.” Some ships and aircraft, including zeppelins, are exceptions to the usual blandness. Animations indicate movement and combat but can block access to the yellow-orange blotches that provide information on battles. The poster-like announcements of events at the beginning of turns provide nice breaks from the visual monotony, as does the parade of era-correct flags.
However, game play depends on functionality, not glitz and Making History: The Great War provides functional graphic effects in spades. Twelve map overlays provide information on matters such as diplomacy, national stability, resources, demographics and supply. Each map has color-coded sub-categories related to the issue—for example, the resource map is broken down into resource type with levels of production. Zooming in and out, these maps can give players solid understanding of their empire. This understanding is further expanded by a myriad of tables accessed through seven tabs that open up windows for factors like politics, the military, trade and production. Each window, in turn, yields multiple levels of detail on the subject. The military window shows all of an empire’s forces and then breaks them down by land, sea, and air units. This breakdown continues in groups for each unit type with a further panel to give empire-level orders. Helpful tool tips clarify each sub-division of all factors in a window. Moving around maps and the research tree can be done through arrow keys or “grabbing” with a left click and dragging the map.
Simpler but perhaps more important are the elements in the bar at the top of the screen. The elements represent the stockpiles of arms, food, metal, steel, fuel, oil, coal, gas shells and money. Mousing over each shows how much of that resource is in storage versus the amount in demand. The similar boxes to the left show the same things for road, rail and shipping capacity. Right-clicking anywhere on an empire allows selection of the empire’s statistics and status for economics, internal affairs, research and diplomatic ties. Taxes can be raised and diplomatic actions made from this window. The sound effects in this game are as bland but functional as the graphics and the music, while nice for a few minutes, invokes Benjamin Britten at his most somnambulant. The tutorial scenario uses Austro-Hungary during the summer of 1914 to teach basic gameplay, and the 56-page PDF manual is fairly comprehensive but lacks page numbers in the table of contents. The tutorial and manual are helpful but nothing can truly prepare gamers for the scope and detail of the game. New players may be better off playing “plucky little” Belgium to begin.
In the Deep End
Making History: The Great War is a turn-based game with week-long turns. Other than the tutorial, the game comes with two scenarios: the inevitable July 1914 run-up to the war and one that begins in 1912. Players can choose one of the eight Great Powers or select a smaller country. The game can continue for eight years after the scenario start with victory decided by the amount of victory points gained through territorial gains, military power, regional improvements and research.
The July 1914 scenario begins with all powers ready for war. Austria-Hungary will go after Serbia, and war of some sort will happen. Military matters become the focus of play with the other aspects subordinate to the demands of war. True, peace can be made, but usually just as a breather before re-starting the fighting. The 1912 scenario is where all aspects of the game are of equal importance.
In 1912, the world is open for players. Perusal of resource stockpiles is a good start to determine direction. Shortages in metal, coal and food can be rectified by right-clicking on regions to create infrastructure to increase output of coal and metals or to build better farms for more food. If stockpiles are solid, building amenities like hospitals, power stations and universities in regions may help stability. Improving roads and railroads allows for better transport of goods and resources—and troops if necessary; some heavy artillery units require railroads. Any improvements cost resources so players should resist the urge to overbuild and should look at what their cities are producing to either decrease the need for a resource or increase a particular capacity.
If needed resources are not present in an empire, trade is the answer. Trade is handled in two ways. Empires can choose to buy or sell resources on the world market or try to get a trade agreement with a specific nation. Prices are fixed by the game but players can control the amount purchased or sold. Limitations on trade not only affect diplomatic relations and money but also reduce rail and shipping capacity. Every import and export reduces these capacities.
Cities are another important cog in the economic wheel. Clicking on a city (or scrolling through cities) shows the number of factories it has and if it recruits troops. An empty factory slot can be filled with the factory type, dependent on the city’s infrastructure and available resources. An order slot reveals possibilities for buildings. Again, the benefits of factories may be outweighed by the costs of not only building them but providing the raw materials for production. Other buttons show the city’s tax income, buildings, factories and recruitment order.
The research tree has three levels: pre-industrial, early industrialization and machine age. Great powers begin with most of the early industrial projects already completed but a few remain. Depending on players’ strategy, uncompleted industrial projects can be mopped up or players can begin researching the machine age. The costs in money and research points are found by clicking on the encyclopedia button, which also explains benefits accrued and prerequisites. Research points are gained by building universities and research centers.
Despite all the building, Making History: The Great War is not a country-building game; improvements and resource management are secondary to governing. Selecting the country tab brings up the issues players must cope with internally. Right-clicking a region and then choosing “Select (Whichever Empire Being Played)” will bring up the government window. Clicking the flag opens the governmental choices list. Here, players can adjust taxes and increase or decrease funding to social programs, religion, education, propaganda and purging corruption. Also possible is ordering a trade offer from a colony, relocating a capitol or, if a rebellion occurs and a splinter nation is created, funding a coup against the rebels. All these options should be made in conjunction with the regional map overlay to check on national stability and unrest.
Diplomacy is the other hand of governance. Clicking on a nation or picking it from the list from the diplomacy tab allows the usual functions of trade agreements, military access, territorial concessions, alliances or war. The shadier side of diplomacy has financial support for the government, faction or coup attempts. Diplomatic moves of multi-ethnic empires should coincide with domestic policy.
The Sharp End
Regardless of how pacific players act, their empire will eventually be drawn into a war. Signs of impending conflicts can be seen in notification pop-ups at the beginning of turns, announcing diplomatic moves and wars as well as interesting events like the Titanic’s sinking. Some events will have no interest to players but others may be crucial, particularly those events that require players’ response. For instance, the US won’t care about the activities of the Dervish but will care about Mexican affairs. The diplomacy window will list wars and allow players to support sides. However, taking sides requires a military.
An empire’s military has four parts, the troops, navy, fledging air force and artillery. Each of these is broken down by type, e.g., infantry, engineers, dreadnoughts, rigid airships and field guns. Troop types are recruited from cities, artillery is built at cities with steel and tool factories, ships are constructed at shipyards and planes at hangers. Although always called armies, troops seem to be regiments, guns are batteries and aircraft are squadrons. Ships are shown individually. Units can be merged into larger groups which can then be split. The military panel yields group positions, costs and combat power. This panel is also used to set readiness and mobilization levels. High levels increase combat prowess but is expensive. As war looms, armed forces should be readied but going to general mobilization too fast is not only expensive, it sends a dangerous signal to neighbors. Units are moved individually by selecting them and right-clicking on destinations. Movement options include road and rail travel if transportation capacity is sufficient. Aircraft need an airbase at the destination, but naval forces move freely.
War can be started in two ways: by simply moving a unit into a foreign country or declaring war via diplomacy. The latter course is best as players can call on alliance members to join the fray. Land combat happens when enemy units meet in a region, although heavy howitzers can bombard from adjacent regions, with observation balloons decreasing the chance of friendly fire casualties. Battles are marked by splotches; their names appear when moused over. Clicking on a battle shows each army’s number of units, attack and defense modifiers, and morale. Once commenced, players can only reinforce a battle, which will end when one side’s morale drops to a low point. Morale drop is a function of a force’s percentage losses, so a large force can lose several units without significant morale effects. Naval combat is very similar, but submarines and merchant raiders can interdict enemy shipping.
Battles can last for weeks and players who focus on one area of operations may feel bored just clicking through turns. They would be wrong. Events are happening around the world and the AI has surprises. Allies may change sides, war weariness may cause civil war and the AI may do something completely opposite of the historical track, such as Germany abandoning the Schlieffin plan and using Moltke the Elder’s “Russia First” strategy. Players should look to their colonies, either to defend them or go on the offensive. Research will provide new weapons that may decide the war. All this time, players also need to tend domestic affairs. Military operations, though crucial, are only part of this game.
Replay possibilities are tremendous given the number of countries to be played, a very surprising AI and multi-play via Steam. A newly added editor will allow mods when a manual is finished for it. Waves plugins free crack mac.
Making History: The Great War can be improved. An auto-victory option based on gains and losses could accommodate players who don’t want to wait 435 turns to see which empire has the most points. Another option would be to give players a bit more control over battles. These recommendations in no way neglect the fact that this game is a superlative experience in learning, creativity and entertainment.
Armchair General Rating: 89%
About the Author
Jim Cobb has been playing board wargames since 1961 and computer wargames since 1982. He has been writing incessantly since 1993 to keep his mind off the drivel he dealt with as a bureaucrat. He has published in Wargamers Monthly, Computer Gaming World, Computer Games Magazine, Computer Games Online, CombatSim, Armchair General, Subsim, Strategyzone Online and Gamesquad.
| Making History: The Calm & The Storm | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Muzzy Lane |
| Publisher(s) | Strategy First (Original Edition) Factus Games (Gold Edition) |
| Series | Making History |
| Engine | Gamebryo |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows |
| Release | NA March 13, 2007 (Win) INT March 13, 2007 (Steam) |
| Genre(s) | Turn-based strategy |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Making History: The Calm & The Storm is a World War IIgrand strategyvideo game released in March 2007 by developer Muzzy Lane. Similar in ways to the popular board games Axis & Allies and Risk, Making History is turn-based with basic industrial, economic, resource, research and diplomatic management included.
As of patch 2.03 players are able to play as any nation that had international recognition from 1936 to 1945, although players are encouraged to select from one of the more powerful entities of the era, namely Nationalist China, France, National Socialist Germany, Fascist Italy, Imperial Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States or the Soviet Union.
The game has been successfully marketed by its developer as an educational tool, with the game described in a December 2007 Newsweek article as 'already part of the World War II curriculum in more than 150 schools'.[1]
Gameplay[edit]
In Making History players control the nation of their choice through a period of World War II and the years preceding it, as defined by the scenario selected. Included with the game are scenarios which start in 1936, 1939, 1941 or 1944, each crafted to reflect the historical situation at that time, while players may design their own scenarios using the either included scenario editor or SQL programming.
Combat[edit]
Combat in Making History is resolved through a random number generator and the arbitrary chance to hit, inflict damage and absorb the damage of various unit types. The chance to hit value can be further Modified by supply level, technology, and terrain. Each unit involved in combat is given the chance to attack an opposition unit during each turn of combat.
Units are further broken down into land, air and sea classifications, and the chance for a specific unit to hit an enemy unit is different according to the unit type. A fourth classification of 'city' is used to allow the game to simulate medium and heavy bomber raids of industrial infrastructure without the strategic bombers being excessively powerful against military units.
Many sea units possess the ability to absorb some hits without being destroyed and can be repaired in controlled port cities.
Diplomacy[edit]
In-game diplomacy with allied non-player controlled (NPC) countries is generally fairly arbitrary, with each scenario programmable to offer the non-player controlled nations ('NPC's) one or more war plans to select from at random at the start of the game. Each NPC war plan can be customized to be immediate or in-game event/date-driven; thus in the scenario The Limits of Peace an NPC-controlled Germany is almost certain to attack Czechoslovakia, the NPC USSR will attack Finland, NPC China will attack Communist China and NPC Japan will attack China regardless of any player actions.
Aside from the war plan each nation is programmed to implement the diplomatic system with NPC controlled entities does not lend itself to much use. Relations with NPC-controlled nations are not easy to influence in a positive manner at a meaningful rate and will often only offer or accept alliance propositions when fighting a mutual enemy or facing destruction.
The game has drawn some criticism on its allocation of the conquered territory when conquered by multiple allied forces, with the engine programmed to assign ownership to whichever force arrived first. For example, this can lead to Romania, Hungary or Bulgaria 'conquering' and controlling large swathes of the USSR as allies of Germany, despite only contributing minor forces.
Economic management[edit]
Making History features an economic management system that forces players to consider the economic cost of military buildups and waging war, as well as the diplomatic consequences on trade. The game includes a penalty system for controlling the production in regions with an assigned culture different from that of the controlling nation and the ability to liberate annexed countries (thus maximising this production under a new independent but allied entity).
Population[edit]
Each region has a population, and from that population figure, the game creates a workforce, or Manpower Units (MPUs). MPUs are required to run factories, mines, oil fields, or to create new military units. Spare MPUs in each region are automatically assigned to food production, and regional food production is heavily influenced by the amount of labor available in the form of these MPUs.
Industry[edit]
Industrial production is localised in controlled cities, each of which has an Industrial Production Unit rating (IPU). This can be expanded by building Light, Heavy and Advanced Industry. Cities are further categorised as Pre-Industrial, Industrial or Advanced. Pre-Industrial cities are 1-10 IPU capacity, Industrial cities 10–50, and Advanced 50-200, with IPU production capped at 200 for any individual city. Upgrading a city from Pre-Industrial to Industrial and Industrial to Advanced costs further resources, but enables continued industrial expansion. Additionally, more advanced cities require less food and goods, making them more efficient.
Infrastructure[edit]
Each region has food, fortifications and transport rating between 0 and 4, with 0 totally undeveloped and 4 fully developed. Improved food infrastructure increases food production, fortifications add air defenses and give defensive combat modifiers, and transport infrastructure improves mined / oil resource production and the movement speed of land forces passing through that region.
Research[edit]
The game includes a basic technology tree, with some technologies requiring prerequisites be completed first. Base technology starts at a post World War I level and progresses through to Jet Fighters, 'Advanced' units representing historical late / post World War II technology, nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles (such as the German V2).
Players can also develop 'tactical' technologies (such as Manoeuver Warfare) which confer combat bonuses on attacking or defending land forces.
Resources[edit]
The game includes five basic resource types -
- Goods, required by national economies to function at full capacity, and also to generate cash income. Goods are produced in cities as a result of industrial activity.
- Food, required by national economies to allow population growth, and also to generate cash income. Food is produced in regions from a combination of available labor, the region's agricultural infrastructure and any regional or seasonal penalties (such as winter, or desert terrain).
- Metals, used in the construction of ships, aircraft and armored land forces, as well as arms. Steel is produced in mines located within game regions.
- Coal, used predominantly to feed industrial production, also able to (very inefficiently) produce synthetic oil. Coal is produced in mines located within game regions. Every point of industry (IPU) requires one unit of coal.
- Oil, used to produce arms. Armies without arms quickly lose combat effectiveness, and oil is widely undersupplied through the standard scenarios, making acquiring it a high priority. The price of oil in the game is arbitrarily set significantly lower than the other commodities, despite often being subject to massive demand in the virtual world economy. Oil is produced in oil fields located within game regions.
Multiplayer support[edit]
The game supports up to 8 players playing multiplayer over TCP/IP internet connections, however, offers no formal matchmaking/game lobby systems. Players must arrange multiplayer games privately and manually connect. The multiplayer game is also turn-based, with players making their orders simultaneously and each player's orders being processed at the end of each turn as is normal in a single-player game.
Scenario Editor[edit]
A GUI-style Scenario Editor is included in patch 2.03 and allows customisation of many attributes, including the names, locations and industrial status of cities, the population, ownership, and culture of regions, and the starting technologies, armies, and resource stockpiles of individual nations.
The game is further customisable through the use of the SQL programming language, allowing modification of the preset NPC diplomatic behavior and attitudes, however, these settings are not accessible in the Scenario Editor itself.
The scenarios have been uploaded by users to GameBanana after the official scenario portal was shut down.
Use as an education tool[edit]
The game has been successfully used as a history education tool in many American schools, with a December 2007 Newsweek article on the use of wargames in education reporting Making History was already part of the curriculum in over 150 schools.[1] The use of the game in local schools also received news coverage in the city the game's developer Muzzy Lane is based in (Newburyport, Massachusetts) in the local newspaper The Daily News.[2]
Gold Edition[edit]
On July 30, 2008, Muzzy Lane released a Gold Edition of the game. The Gold Edition features a new scenario 'Rise of the Reich' that starts in 1933, new combat concepts including separate combat strengths for units on attack or defense and the capacity for partisans to launch insurgencies and liberate ungarrisoned conquered territories, along with numerous enhancements to the economics system such as increasing the supply and price of oil and reducing the cost of food.
New Scenario: Allies vs. Axis[edit]
On December 1, 2008, Muzzy Lane released a new scenario for the Gold Edition: 'Allies vs Axis' as free content on the MAKING HISTORY Gaming Headquarters website. The scenario allows players to control the entire Allied or Axis alliance beginning just as Pearl Harbor is attacked.
New Scenario: Triumph of the Reich[edit]
On April 20, 2009, Muzzy Lane released a new scenario for the Gold Edition: 'Triumph of the Reich' as free content on the MAKING HISTORY Gaming Headquarters website. The scenario proposes an alternate history where Germany and the Axis alliance have captured Europe, key parts of Africa, and Asia. The defeated USSR has dissolved into several new nations, Great Britain has installed a puppet government and fascist powers are bent on capturing the only remaining adversary, the USA. The scenario gives players a rare chance to play the US at a distinct disadvantage.
New Scenario: Red Revolution Unbound[edit]
On December 1, 2009, Muzzy Lane released a new scenario for the Gold Edition: 'Red Revolution Unbound' as free content on the MAKING HISTORY Gaming Headquarters website. The scenario allows players to explore the alternate history that is the Soviet Union who sought to speed up the Marxist Revolution.
The scenario can be found in a new website after the MH Gaming Headquarters website was closed.
Sequel[edit]
This is the first game in a whole series of grand strategy games. Muzzy Lane released a sequel, Making History II: The War of the World, on June 22, 2010 and continued with Making History: The Great War in 2014 and Making History II: The Second World War in 2018
References[edit]
- ^ abPhilips, Matthew (Dec 28, 2007). 'Your Grandfather's War'. Newsweek.
- ^Curley, Katie (December 31, 2007). 'Local software company combines games, education'. NewburyportNews.com.