I would also recommend it for the simple fact that I dont know of many pieces of media (never mind games) that cover the Pre-Dreadnaught era of naval warfare. Which I honestly find more fun in the game than when you get to the Dreadnaught era, even if I enjoy the game as a whole.
It's a much more complicated game fighting wars in the Age of Sail; and one of the biggest problem is that the game board is never 'clean'. Wind speed and direction is so critical to battle that sometimes it's better off not fighting simply because you don't have advantage in wind, even if you have advantage in men & material. Frankly, weather doesn't play enough of a factor in these games because it's so important that you have to defeat the weather before you defeat the enemy. In situations like that, the game can become less fun, but more authentic, and drive a harder problem to solve.
Definitely applies for their Age of Sail game, and I do enjoy that one too. but I was talking about Pre-Dreadnaught steam ship warfare. The ships like this, or this, or Semi-Dreadnaughts like this. And while they have a bad reputation, I love the ugly French bastard fleet.
This was before autoloader systems really existed, before long range fire control existed, and ships that were only barely considered stable in calm water. And as much as I like the Dreadnaught-era warfare for its large fleet battles at long range, there is something to the "Get in close and slug it out" style of the Pre-Dreadnaughts that I find more entertaining. It is also more about positioning since your secondary's make up the bulk of your firepower in those ships. And you will learn to fear Torpedo Boats, because in an era before effective anti-torpedo and flood protection systems existed, I have absolutely lost battleships to a single torpedo that caused it to capsize before I could even do anything to save it.
I would also recommend it for the simple fact that I dont know of many pieces of media (never mind games) that cover the Pre-Dreadnaught era of naval warfare. Which I honestly find more fun in the game than when you get to the Dreadnaught era, even if I enjoy the game as a whole.
It's a much more complicated game fighting wars in the Age of Sail; and one of the biggest problem is that the game board is never 'clean'. Wind speed and direction is so critical to battle that sometimes it's better off not fighting simply because you don't have advantage in wind, even if you have advantage in men & material. Frankly, weather doesn't play enough of a factor in these games because it's so important that you have to defeat the weather before you defeat the enemy. In situations like that, the game can become less fun, but more authentic, and drive a harder problem to solve.
Definitely applies for their Age of Sail game, and I do enjoy that one too. but I was talking about Pre-Dreadnaught steam ship warfare. The ships like this, or this, or Semi-Dreadnaughts like this. And while they have a bad reputation, I love the ugly French bastard fleet.
This was before autoloader systems really existed, before long range fire control existed, and ships that were only barely considered stable in calm water. And as much as I like the Dreadnaught-era warfare for its large fleet battles at long range, there is something to the "Get in close and slug it out" style of the Pre-Dreadnaughts that I find more entertaining. It is also more about positioning since your secondary's make up the bulk of your firepower in those ships. And you will learn to fear Torpedo Boats, because in an era before effective anti-torpedo and flood protection systems existed, I have absolutely lost battleships to a single torpedo that caused it to capsize before I could even do anything to save it.