🚀 go-pugleaf

Jeff Salzmann (jks...@vaxb.isc.rit.edu) wrote:
: {snip}
: 	I bought my roommate a copy of C&C for his birthday, the day it came
: out. He bought me WC2 two weeks ago. I guess I'm qualified to compare, since
: I finished both now. Here goes...

I haven't ever played C&C, so I'll only talk about the WC2 side of it.  
I'm not trying to compare, only reponding to comments about WC2.

1&2 Deal with GUS, if you don't have it, no problems.

: 3) This is the biggie- Warcraft II is basically a game of securing and 
:    building. No matter how much better your troops are, you better have more.
:    It's more a matter of quantity than troop properties. C&C has flame tanks
:    that waste infantry, but humvees waste flamers, etc. WC2 has none of that.
:    Keep making more Ogre juggernauts and kill the 92 destroyers. Yawn. Build.
:    Attack. Build. Attack. Build. Attack. C&C has a better balance for that.
:    None of this kind of 'spread of power' in WC2, at least none I could 
:    perceive. All this was obvious in C&C, even without the manual. 
:    Can't say the same for WC2.

Sure, the juggernauts can kill lots of destroyers, just like you say
the flamers can waste infantry.  However, unless they have an aerial
spotter (or tower) they cannot even see the turtles and therefore cannot
shoot at them.  In addition, they are powerless against flying creatures.

On the other hand, the destroyers will generally waste the flyers, but 
will be killed by Battleships/Juggernauts or the Turtles/Submarines.  

Similarly on land, towers are very powerful, but vulnerable to 
Catapults/Balista.  Howerver, the Balista/Catapults need to be defended 
against footmen or knights.  These troops will just sit there helplessly
if attacked by Dragons/Griffons...but good archers or berserkers can easily
kill their value in flying units.

In general, there seems to be a good variance and a purpose for most types
of troops in most scenarios.  Of course, the computer isn't very smart
with scenes where sea combat is needed...primarily because it refuses to
let peons on the transports.

: 5) Both games fall short on the "we're being attacked" problem. Nine guys
:    pick their respective asses while a building gets smeared about five or six
:    'squares' away.

True, at least they will defend eachother...although that can result in 
knights chasing enemy units deep into enemy territory where they get
massacred.  If there is a single archer in the group, he will attack the
enemy if it gets in range and this will generally trigger the surrounding 
units into action.

Tom