Preview East vs. West gets some loving at Strategy Informer

[Trash]

Tags: East vs. West; Paradox Interactive; Strategy Informer

East vs. West: A Hearts of Iron Game is the follow up commercialised Hearts of Iron III mod from the people who brought us the rather decent Arsenal of Democracy. I've not been paying too much attention to it but thankfully Strategy Informer did and brought us both an interview and a preview of the upcoming Paradox game. Mentioning a ticking Doomsday Clock in the preview sure got my attention.

This is more than an update of Arsenal of Democracy though – for starters the time frame is significantly different. Spanning a whopping 45 years (which is ‘whopping’ because the game ticks through at hourly intervals, which was for the 37’-45’ timeframe of the vanilla game), you get to pick any country in the world and guide it through one of the most tense periods in human history. Obviously the prevalent theme of nuclear war permeates the game – the Doomsday Clock, a visual representation of the papers Einstein and Oppenheimer would publish commenting on how close humanity was to destroying itself - is forever on display for you to see. The state of the game influences the clock, with it either ticking closer or away from ‘Midnight’. We haven’t been told explicitly what happens when the clock ticks noon, but we imagine it can’t be good. They have talked though about how you can essentially ‘reset’ the game by causing everyone to wipe each other out and then rebuilding from there. I can’t help but feel that loading an earlier save would be easier.

If that doesn't make me want to phone Dmitri from the war room I don't know what does. Anyway, I do like the ambition and scope presented here. Check out the East vs. West interview as well.

Strategy Informer: The time span of the game is 45 years, which isn’t technically the longest span ever but considering this game ticks through on an hour-by-hour rate, people are in for a long-term game over a short-term one. How does the game progress? What kind of narrative is there?

Gellert Keresztes: We have three main stories in the game – the square off between Nato and the Warsaw Pact that developed through-out the time period, the fall of empires and colonialism, with many of the colonies freeing themselves, and then pan-Arabism. The whole relationship between Isreal and the other Arab nations.

When you play the UK, you could try to prevent the colony nations from forming... or you might start off by freeing some to buy some time to prevent others from leaving. At the same time though, that means a certain segment of your population is going to be pissed at you, so you’ll have low national unity. It’s a bit of a trade-off but it’s always an option to try and play against history, same with the Soviet Union as well.

We use a dynamic events system that’s not tied to the time-line at all. In previous Hearts of Iron games there’s been a lot of linear progression, but in East vs West all of our events are tied to certain conditions, that can be met at any time. You could start the Vietnam War whenever you wanted, for example. It all depends on what you do. We had one play test where someone was fighting the Korean War and then launched the Vietnam War as well. We also have this thing called ‘defensive’ wars, which is wars you can fight to protect other nations.

Thanks to Tzaero for pointing this one out to me!

 

[Spectacle]

The state of the game influences the clock, with it either ticking closer or away from ‘Midnight’. We haven’t been told explicitly what happens when the clock ticks noon, but we imagine it can’t be good.

If the clock ticks noon, wouldn't that mean we're 12 hours from midnight, and in a safer state than any time since the doomsday clock was introduced?

As of today the clock is set at 5 minutes to midnight...

 

[Hellraiser]

They changed the politics icon from commie bro-kissing to the red phone. Not sure if or .

Anyway the game will totally allow for nuclear Armageddon to take place without it ending the game. It would be hilarious if the East and West nuked each other to ash and the New World Order would be established by Zimbabwe as all but Africa was annihilated. Much potential here making this sure to be LPed many times here on the Kodex.

Also paging bro Vaarna_Aarne to let him know more news of East vs West is available.

 

[Whisky]

They have talked though about how you can essentially ‘reset’ the game by causing everyone to wipe each other out and then rebuilding from there. I can’t help but feel that loading an earlier save would be easier.

A potentially post-ITZian Paradox game? Man, this game keeps sounding better and better.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Well, the real daunting task is figuring out what the formal title of Idi Amin, World Emperor would be. I mean, this was the one he had as the president/general/dictator/marshal/leader of just Uganda:

His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular

 

[Hellraiser]

Idi Amin, real life troll or just a nutjob who got into power? Probably both. Still, lots of LP lulz potential for this one.

 

[Sranchammer]

Idi Amin, real life troll or just a nutjob who got into power?

Neither. A misunderstood freedom fighter.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Idi Amin, real life troll or just a nutjob who got into power? Probably both. Still, lots of LP lulz potential for this one.

Just a nutjob. He kept insisting that God was speaking to him when in exile, that's just one of the many nutty things he did. The guy was pretty famous in world politics for the crazy letters he kept sending to various heads of state. And of course, the British warned the Americans who were convinced that they could work with Idi Amin that he's "not only incompent but completely insane."

Neither. A misunderstood freedom fighter conqueror.

Fixed.

 

[Whisky]

I read once that his profile documents in the British military described him something along the lines of, "A nice enough fellow, but not one you'd want in any significant position." Never actually saw the documents themselves though.

I guess Paradox could do something similar with "His Royal Highness" and paraphrase it as: "HEPLFMAHD Idi Amin Dada, VCDSOMCLABEFSCBEAGUP"

 

[fizzelopeguss]

Cautious about this, modders usually can't help but go full retard with fanboy favouritism

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Cautious about this, modders usually can't help but go full retard with fanboy favouritism

This was actually something Arsenal of Democracy wasn't so bad at. They were pretty even-handed and remember to give the majority of countries multiple new tech teams. Pretty much the biggest change was that AI Germany COULD WIN.

 

[Kattze]

I would be if there are any assurance that non-state entities (ie. guerrillas, separatists etc.) can be adequately modeled and used by countries as proxies against other states.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

I would be if there are any assurance that non-state entities (ie. guerrillas, separatists etc.) can be adequately modeled and used by countries as proxies against other states.

Well, if they have the Resistance mechanics from For The Motherland to work with, it's entirely possible for controlled guerillas to be implemented by modifying the existing mechanic.

 

[Tzaero]

Funny thing I just noticed on the Paradox forums.

One guy opened a thread complaining the lack of Macau in the game, and some others say if Macau is out they should also remove Hong Kong.
Then some guys say they won't buy the game if it isn't in it.
Eventually on page 3 a dev goes, "We don't want to loose potential costumers! Is everyone happy?"

It was added back into the game

 

[Kattze]

I love how one of the posters was comparing the inclusion of Gibraltar with Macau, saying that 'it is smaller than Macau so why was it included'. Its obvious to anyone with half a brain that Gibraltar was an important strategic point between Mediterranean and Atlantic unlike Macau, which was merely gambling depot for crass, materialistic nouveau-rich mainlanders looking to squander their cash.

 

[Sranchammer]

I try to avoid the Paradox forums

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Out of curiosity, were the ones complaining Portuegese or assorted gooks?

 

[Kattze]

Someone from HK I think.

 

[oscar]

So, in-game the Vietnam War would be a few infantry divisions set on 'Anti-Partisan Duty'?

 

[Trash]

I try to avoid the Paradox forums

Yeah. The discussion is, well, retarded most of the time. Apart from a few good modding threads it's usually on par with youtube comments regarding intelligence and relevance.

So, in-game the Vietnam War would be a few infantry divisions set on 'Anti-Partisan Duty'?

Either heavily event driven or something like that. Unless they really managed to do something with the mechanics. I think the only decent to good large Vietnam scenario I ever played was one for The Operational Art of War III.

Think it is this one actually for those interested in trying to stop the dominos from falling.

 

[MetalCraze]

Hopefully it will be a finished game on release and not a typical Paradox beta where you need to wait for literally 20 dlcs before you will be able to even get all the damn portraits and flags so you aren't fighting black-shield nobodies (it's so hard putting all that into the game from the start) let alone actual gameplay features.

 

[Kukulkan]

I hope Kaiserreich gets a sequel mod developed for East vs West with the Italian AAR's ending being the canon one. Also, this game in regards to Albania should give some reasons to turn it into bunkerland. Historically Albanian was threatened by the USSR, Yugoslavia, and Greece. There should be a random event where one of the three decides to invade you. The Soviets would do so to puppet you and force a change in the governments. Yugoslavia and Greece would both invade desiring to annex you. Building the bunkers would give you a fighting chance should that happen. However there should also be a chance that none of them invade so the bunker project would turn out to be a waste of time.

 

[Irenaeus]

They have also announced this "dynamic events system" for EU4, I wonder if that will work as intended. I also liked the concept of ‘defensive’ wars, which is something I missed in their other games.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

I hope Kaiserreich gets a sequel mod developed for East vs West with the Italian AAR's ending being the canon one. Also, this game in regards to Albania should give some reasons to turn it into bunkerland. Historically Albanian was threatened by the USSR, Yugoslavia, and Greece. There should be a random event where one of the three decides to invade you. The Soviets would do so to puppet you and force a change in the governments. Yugoslavia and Greece would both invade desiring to annex you. Building the bunkers would give you a fighting chance should that happen. However there should also be a chance that none of them invade so the bunker project would turn out to be a waste of time.

Absolutely not. If you play as Albania, you should just get to inflict all sorts of Hoxha insanity on your populace.

 

[oscar]

Either heavily event driven or something like that. Unless they really managed to do something with the mechanics. I think the only decent to good large Vietnam scenario I ever played was one for The Operational Art of War III.

Think it is this one actually for those interested in trying to stop the dominos from falling.

I recall you saying good things about Squad Battles: Vietnam.

 

[Trash]

Either heavily event driven or something like that. Unless they really managed to do something with the mechanics. I think the only decent to good large Vietnam scenario I ever played was one for The Operational Art of War III.

Think it is this one actually for those interested in trying to stop the dominos from falling.

I recall you saying good things about Squad Battles: Vietnam.

Love that one. My faulty English is the problem here, I meant that for large scale strategy the only really worthwhile Vietnam scenario I played was that one for TOAW3.