!!CTGW PC Manual, Gameplay Guide and Tips!!

PC/MAC : Commander the Great War is the latest release in the popular Commander series to bring the thrill, excitement and mind-breaking decision making of these difficult times to life.

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lordzimoa
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!!CTGW PC Manual, Gameplay Guide and Tips!!

Post by lordzimoa »

Hi guys,

Below some very useful info on how to play CTGW, PC and iPad are exactly the same, instead of clicking or scrolling a mouse, you tab, double tab or pinch zoom on a tablet, but the game mechanics, features and gameplay are completely identical on all platforms.

So read the manual and gameplay guides for a better understanding of the game, it is easy to learn but hard to master. ;-)



Manual:

Here you can find the CTGW Manual PC version in PDF:

http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam ... 1406292810




Gameplay Guides:

!!!!Strongly recommended for all CTGW player, read this excellent Steam play guide by Dr.Duh!!!!:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... =293198723


Great playing guide for Commander: The Great War at Pocket Tactics:

http://www.pockettactics.com/features/f ... war-noobs/




Movies:

New Commander: The Great War gameplay video from the HistoricalGamer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHzsHY17Nds


Part Two of CTGW gameplay video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G95vEvt ... HzY3JIuwsw




Miscellaneous:


Great beginners quick gameplay advise by Dr Duh:


Don't worry, it isn't just you - the game AI is definitely a challenge. I consider myself a very experienced long-time wargamer (I was playing Avalon Hill boardgames back in the '60s) and I still got my butt kicked the first several times I tried starting the game.

So first thing is don't expect a walk in the park the first time just because you pick easy settings. Do try to learn something from each defeat though and try again. I suggest alternating back and forth between the two sides and rather than just worrying about your own moves, try to pay better attention to how the AI is playing so that next round you can try to emulate it - or better yet, understand why it plays the way it does.

Some say learning the game by starting in 1914 is easier because you don't have to handle as much in the early turns - you start out with just Serbia, then add France, and then Britain and Russia. I'm not so sure that's right though - although your unit count may be lower at the start of the 1914 campaign, every single thing you do with those units has a greatly magnified importance. The situation is still fluid. The trench lines aren't established yet so you don't start from a stalemate position and even small mistakes can doom you.

Some specific tips on starting in 1914:
1) Whichever side you're starting with, say Serbia, look at where you can make a continuous front. If you don't have enough units to fill the entire line then you're going to be in big trouble fast. Either re-evaluate where you can fall back to shorten your lines, or realize you're going to need more units to plug those holes fast. The first turn or two after mobilization, most countries are going to need to spend everything on garrison units just so they won't have holes in their lines.

2) Bends in the line, or bumps in or out - the AI will want to attack at points along your line where it can bring 3 or 4 attackers to bear on a single defender. Avoid bumps that allow 4 attackers and minimize bends where you have a unit exposed to 3 attackers. Put your stronger infantry units in those vulnerable spots if you have them. Use garrison units first in bends where they only face 1 attacker, or along straight lines where they face two if you must.

3) Try to back your line with reserves spaced along it. When you get attacked, look at the result - if the damaged unit has a white 7 or 8 strength, the best thing is probably to apply replacements (2) in place. If it is a yellow 7 or 8, or 6 or below, you want to get that unit out of the line. If there is a full strength reserve directly backing it, just swap the units - then apply replacements (only 1, since you moved). If there isn't a suitable reserve directly behind the damaged unit, look down your line - see if you can shift the damaged unit out, then shift a whole section of line down one space, all the way back up to where you can pull a reserve unit into the line. Watch the AI do these things.

4) See the AI always use its fighter units to attack one of your units before a ground attack, even though it looks like it does no damage? Try it yourself on an attack. Disappointed that it did no damage and not going to bother doing that any more? Check a defender's unit card before and after your next fighter attack - hey, it lowered the defender's efficiency by 1. So always use your fighters first on your most important attacks in a turn.

5) Order of attacking units is important. Use this order: Fighters, airships, artillery, bombers, infantry, garrison. This will maximize your damage done and minimize your casualties.
jsbarker702
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Re: Commander: The Great War PC PDF Manual

Post by jsbarker702 »

What about a guide for the iPad version if there are enough differences?
lordzimoa
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Re: Commander: The Great War PC PDF Manual

Post by lordzimoa »

Gameplay and feature wise there are none really, but after next patch we might update the manual and include the latest balancing and game-play changes, biggest change since release is the addition of small garrisons in both versions, explained with some ingame tutorial info at this point, but not in the older manual.
lordzimoa
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Re: Commander: The Great War PC PDF Manual

Post by lordzimoa »

Great playing guide for Commander: The Great War at Pocket Tactics:

http://www.pockettactics.com/features/f ... war-noobs/
wptaimuty
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Re: Commander: The Great War PC PDF Manual

Post by wptaimuty »

Hey.

I'm new to this whole forum thing, but I thought I would give it a shot.

I bought the game the other day (in memory of the 100th anniversary of WWI) on my steam account, and I've been struggling with it. I've gone to the Steam forum, but I guess most people are having the same problem I am. The problem I'm having (and apparently many others) is that the AI are too overpowered. No matter what difficulty I play on (even handicapped), they trample over me.

When I attack Serbia, they repel my attack and conquer Budapest. When I attack Belgium and France, I can't even reach Antwerp. Even when I set production to infantry to get ready for the Eastern Front, the Russians (and the dozen units) annihilate my three German units. I just don't know what to do.

I've read the manual, watched online tutorials, and ensured I was playing on the easy difficulty (handicapped), but I keep getting my butt kicked. Most of the tutorials I've watch were posted a year ago, and the game seemed much easier. I'm not sure if it was just because it was an older version, but the AI seemed a lot less ... over daunting.

I'm a huge WWI fan and have been waiting all year for the 100th anniversary, so I wanted this game to be special. However, having my butt handed to me over and over despite all my research and tactics is really bumming me out. If someone could help me (by either giving me tips or a patch that lowers the AI's power), that would be much appreciated.
lordzimoa
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Re: Commander: The Great War PC PDF Manual

Post by lordzimoa »

New Commander: The Great War gameplay video from the HistoricalGamer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHzsHY17Nds
carlisimo
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Re: Commander: The Great War PC PDF Manual

Post by carlisimo »

wptaimuty wrote:When I attack Serbia, they repel my attack and conquer Budapest. When I attack Belgium and France, I can't even reach Antwerp. Even when I set production to infantry to get ready for the Eastern Front, the Russians (and the dozen units) annihilate my three German units. I just don't know what to do.
As a fellow new player, I find the Entente much easier to start with. I was able to win my one game with them by grinding down the Germans near the Swiss border while being surprisingly successful with Russia along the northern stretch of the Eastern Front.

Then I tried a few games as the Central Powers in which I ground to a halt in the west and collapsed in the east. It seems like you have to get every single move right in the first few turns as the C.P. Things like attacking Brussels with units that are further east, so that once you take it your other nearby units can fan out west of the city. City attacks are always preceeded by a fighter, artillery, and zepellin bombardment.

After a few restarts and a lot of saving-reloading (yes, it’s come down to cheating), I was able to take Brussels and Belgrade pretty quickly. It took a long time for me to take the rest of Belgium (plus Calais, but not Verdun) and Serbia (just around the time Italy went to war). After that I kept the Western Front static and tried to recover from the Russian onslaught in the east. Danzig and Koenigsberg are surrounded by Russians. I let the French use gas first, so now Bulgaria is on our side. Unlike my previous games, I think I found the three most defensible tiles in the Sinai so England isn’t making any headway against my upgraded Ottoman infantry.

My only new units are Ottoman, due to upkeep costs for the Germans and Austro-Hungarians. They’re doing well in the Caucuses. There’s hope in the west, too. Now that I wasn’t the first two use gas, I used two artillery units against Verdun for two turns in a row and was able to take it. Are they running low on fresh units? It was a surprise that they didn’t cycle the infantry out after the first gassing. My submarines in the Atlantic have been pretty successful, though it means the US is on its way in.

Then I hit the eternal-AI-turn bug, so I’ll report back after the iOS patch.

Point is, the Central Powers campaign is much harder and it feels like you have to be perfect just to have a chance. Don't let units get cut off, only leave strong units in salients, focus your research on making infantry more survivable... and good luck.
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Re: !!CTGW PC Manual, Gameplay Guide and Tips!!

Post by Hannay »

Against the AI, as the Central Powers try and build at least one German U-boat every other turn (or every third turn, if pushed), even at the cost of sacrificing short-term army offensive power. The long-term result is a double pay-off: the subs will strangle Allied convoys and, ultimately, help you fight your own convoys through the Atlantic, boosting German economic capacity. Although this strategy brings the USA into the war much earlier, I have played it a number of times and each time seen a Central Powers' victory by late 1916. I doubt it would work as successfully against a human opponent.
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Re: !!CTGW PC Manual, Gameplay Guide and Tips!!

Post by Calvinist »

I made pdf and a Kindle ebook of some of these resources: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id= ... sp=sharing
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Re: !!CTGW PC Manual, Gameplay Guide and Tips!!

Post by jennytrippi »

Great, With this Game Guide and Tips I will surely conquer all difficult games stickman boost
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