Panzer General

[Danielos]

Since everyone here seems to be talking about Panzer General these days, I wonder if there are any old farts here that has actually played the game or its sequels? How was it? Was the combat system working well? Was it FUN??

 

[Dale]

Panzer General series is my number 1 all time favourite game. Second is Imperialism series, then third is Civ series.

 

[Olleus]

It was very good and realistic in many ways. I can't think of any other game that had as much strategical and tactical depth to it with as few 'rules'. Lacked immersion though, but I guess thats what you get when you compare a 15 year old game with more modern releases.

 

[Lucky The Fox]

Panzer General, Pacific General and Fantasy General were brilliant, others I haven't played but I doubt they're bad either. Just the right combination of depth and approachability. Only problems I had were with the fact that it didn't simulate sea warfare too well and it became a bit overwhelming on bigger maps.

 

[Belisar]

Since everyone here seems to be talking about Panzer General these days, I wonder if there are any old farts here that has actually played the game or its sequels? How was it? Was the combat system working well? Was it FUN??

This is a brave and wrong assumption, because it is still beeing played (at least by me and http://www.panzerliga.de/dt/index.php fellow mates).
It is one of the best all-time strategy games, and I would probably rate the first version the best in terms of gameflow, overview and fun (although there are a few problems like the unsplittable move-fight rounds of the single units which forces one to plan the whole turn of a battlegroup in great detail).
My favorite map is one which you try to avoid in the main campaign, ElAlamein, really gives a lot of panzer action in the desert.

 

[Jean-Luc Picard]

And for those who have never played in any of General games (few posts above there was a mention about Pacific and Fantasy) which one would you suggest to start with?

 

[karramba]

Things you need to know about PG system and how one unit per hex is going to affect the game in a positive manner:
1. Units don’t perish when hit in combat they live to fight another day if they can retreat from the fight so elite units play a big role in the game.
2. recon and Intel plays a big part especially when advancing into enemy territory it gives you a very clear view how the flow of the battle will go, which unit in which hex, plan of retreat in case you get overpowered, where to bomb, where to put covering units, from where to flank so you can reach the enemies backline of defense (reducing his covering power). Recon is also good allowing your blitz attacking units or fast advancing units not to experience the "ambush effect" which deals more damage and make them like sitting ducks with no more movement points to retreat.
3.Cover units have a radius of cover "let us say all adjacent hexes for early units and like 3 hex radius for late units and more for elite units" so when being attacked by let’s say air bombers the air defense unit will have the initiative and start firing first reducing the attack power of the bomber or in case of being flanked or attacked by land the artillery defending will start firing so the play a big role defending them is priority because they play a big role in providing cover to routing units while retreating until they get resupplied.
What I remember about the game (which is awesome applying it to civ) goes like this:
A. blitz attack can only work with elite units on a not enough defended location.
b. turn goes like this attacker recon, position, protect end turn then defense position according to attacker plan try to take out covering units and bring more units to flank his backline from other locations then end turn and the battle begins on third turn so what do you think isn’t that an improvement to the old SOD system I would say yes cuz I’m a big fan of PG. excuse my poor English please hope you will get the idea though

 

[Clrdk]

Panzer general (the first one in the serie) is one of the best games I have ever played

 

[Gre_Magus]

Apparently the original Panzer General can be bought on Amazon... for $90! There is also a more recent Xbox Live and boardgame in the same "series" but I don't know if they're any good. Whoever owns the rights to the original games ought to put the first few games together and release them on Steam for $10 or so!

 

[bonafide11]

Yeah I was wondering if the Xbox Live one is any good? Thought about downloading it and giving it a chance after I saw its what Civ V is based on. Not sure how different the Xbox Live one is from the original though.

 

[warpstorm]

The X-Box version shares a name. That's it. It is nothing like the old SSI games.

 

[Sero Sed Serio]

I used to play the Panzer General demo when I was 9-12ish. Goooooood times. I played it over, and over again.

 

[LiDDiS]

I was 11 or 12 when it originally came out but I never played it because in those days I was more interested in warcraft 2 and starcraft. I'd forgotten all about it until civ5 brought up the discussion about it. I'd really like to try it now, I wonder if there's like a 'freeciv'esque freeware version of it?

Edit: Hmmm, some guy made a freeware remake of Panzer General: http://www.panzercentral.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=45039 Trying it now!

 

[LiDDiS]

That xbawks one looks like trash.

 

[tranx]

Moderator Action: This forum regards abandonware as piracy - please do not link to so called abandonware sites
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889

 

[gunnergoz]

If PG had a flaw, it is that the units had a very "scissors/paper/rock" sort of balance to them. Once one cracked the formula, one could counter almost any situation with the right combination of units. And once one upgraded the core units to the "super" versions (like Tiger Tanks) then they were almost overbalancing.
On the plus side, the game had a great feel to it, immersing you with flavor and making you work hard to get your core units to gain experience so you could upgrade them. And if you lost one of those cores, it was a real bad day!
One thing I must say that I liked about the scissors/paper/rock system (despite my earlier comment about how the system was a bit gamey) was that it did make players think about the relationship between different weapons systems and units. So you learned something about the synergy between air power, air superiority, AA defenses, blitzkrieg tactics, AT units, engineers, recon, etc and how to use them together. No stack of doom for sure, but more like learning to build a super team that could be used with tool-like precision to crack open almost any defense. The tricky part was to not "use up" your best units doing that.
So I am looking forward to how Civ V will take these ideas and run with them...

 

[cspyr0]

Are there any recent flash/indie games with similar gameplay that someone can recommend?

 

[Abremms]

Are there any recent flash/indie games with similar gameplay that someone can recommend?

Elven Legacy is decent. its a fantasy game with elves and such, but its turn based strategy with one unit per hex. defiantly a descendant of the PG play style. its not the best game ever made, but its pretty decent. it actually looks quite a bit like the screen shots of civ5 have shown so far. you have front lines of infantry and pikes with archers behind for support.

might be a good place to look to see how the early civ5 game might play, i dunno. PG was still a better game, but both work on the same fundamentals.

 

[moscaverde]

There are many gameplay videos of the game.
Only advice is to not watch late in the day or you'll sleep.

 

[Savoir10]

Panzer General II is still one of my all time favourites. It still has some active fansites with new mods and campaigns coming out every week. Great Game.