Fort Sumter: The Secession Crisis
A very faithful implementation of the original board game, which is a Eurogame by design with a historical ACW theme tagged on it. The game does have a decent AI and can be played solitaire as a result. Statistics on your own profile is available and so you can track your own performance vs. the AI. The only downside is the program still has a bug, freezing the solitaire game play from time to time and it seems Playdek was not aware of the issue. The multiplayer is easy to set up and game with score, measuring how you fare against others. However, there is no world ranking in the game, and different level of AI there is not. You can get notification in email when it is your turn in a game with another. A chat room is available but most of the time it is dormant. There is an alternate mapboard to give the game a variant, non-location look but I doubt people to use such a boring map. The gameplay is abstract and there is no manual inside the game or here on the Steam. You have to download it from the boardgame publisher GMT, as long as you are aware of it. This is absolutely a minor for the newcomer as the game itself is abstract and you are quite probably knowing what you are doing in the first few games. Once you get a hang out of the system, the game is smooth and quick to finish in 10 to 15 minutes. Overall, Fort Sumter is a game of tile-placement competing for control of the areas on the map. Score: 6.5/10.
– Real player with 79.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Alternate History Singleplayer Games.
I’ve been on the road a ton in the past couple of weeks and played the hell out of this. In about 60 offline games and a half-dozen online games I haven’t noted any gameplay bugs or rules/cards implementation problems as noted in another review. The recent AI bugfix improved the AI, and it’s competent enough in a mechanistic sense, but it' still a bit weak against experienced players, especially as it relates to setting things up in terms of the long game and Final Crisis. To be fair, that’s something the many human players don’t grok until they’ve played a while (which I have as an owner of the board game).
– Real player with 51.2 hrs in game
Twilight Struggle
I’m coming up to 1000 hours of online play over a twelve month period. Despite the lack of support from Playdek, this is a great game well worth buying. Hands down, one of the best strategy games ever released.
This is an excellent port of the boardgame and is the better alternative for frequent play. I save my hard copy for special occassions because this is just so convenient. Set up and play are a snap. AN entire game can run in just under an hour. Even better, it functions well on tablets so you can play in bed or generally while relaxing. Much better than being stuck in front of a desk or laptop.
– Real player with 1304.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Alternate History Simulation Games.
I’m going to write two reviews, one for fans of the board game of which this is an adaptation, and one for people who have no experience with TS at all.
If you have never played TS before, I highly recommend you play against a human opponent (preferably one who is a competent player) before you try going up against the AI. You’ll have a few moments of fun, for sure, and if that’s all you’re looking for you would probably get a better value for your money elsewhere. But in the process of having that fun against the AI, you’ll learn all kinds of bad habits which, ultimately, will make you a worse TS player. I recommend definitely should NOT buy this game UNLESS you have a friend to play against, but if you do, then I think you SHOULD consider buying it.
– Real player with 144.6 hrs in game
CONFLICT OF NATIONS: WORLD WAR 3
BUT - Alright another 300 hours down the tube and I have to amend nearly all of the below. There are mechanics in the game that allow for players that are in your coalition (Alliance) to move freely through your territory. Which is great in theory; until it cannot be revoked. There is a leave timer for your alliance set at 24 hours; the player leaving can start and stop this timer as many times as they please to get just the right amount of time to land in your homeland cities effectively removing you from the round. You will find a great many people hanging around trolling with this mechanic. So much so that any alliance made in a round is more dangerous to you than helpful. In speaking with staff, I’ve been told the same rules apply here for people legitimately playing as those whom are trolling. So; what this boils down to is if you want to invest upwards of 40 days in a round where someone will gleefully destroy themselves and you for the joy harassing another on the internet; or not. If you want to pay for this experience or not.
– Real player with 2675.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Alternate History Simulation Games.
I like to play the game but it has a option for total paytowin. It destroys most rounds if someone spent alot gold to repair units, sabotage your city you cant counter. I understand that deployers need money but like in most games pay to win is the wrong way. Shame since it is a grat game.
Play Example:
I played Japan it is round 18 on a 24 hour cycle so i spent around 2 1/2 weeks in this round allready.
I managed get a coalition going with surrounding neighbors.
A few Ships are defending the Coasts and Industry is looking good.
– Real player with 612.5 hrs in game