Strategic Command – WWII: War In The Pacific

Peter Robbins, 7 August 2024

In this First Impression, we will be examining Strategic Command: WWII: War In The Pacific, developed by Fury Software and produced by Slitherine LLC. For the sake of transparency, this review is based on a press copy provided by Slitherine LLC, for which we extend our thanks.

This is my first experience with the Strategic Command series, so please take that into consideration. I aim to provide an honest assessment, unswayed by previous iterations of the series, which I have heard are highly regarded.

Let’s dive in and take an objective look at the game.

click images to enlarge

Cursory Evaluation

I have found it highly enjoyable to familiarize myself with this game. Do not be misled by its appearance; it is not the most graphically advanced wargame I have encountered. However, the graphics, which are sprite-based, do grow on you over time. The visual style is reminiscent of, for example, PanzerKorps rather than more modern 3D graphics like those in PanzerKorps 2. The fully zoomed out maps in particular are rather blah and pixelated, but they get the job done.

Graphics aside, this game excels in its underlying mechanics and dynamics, which we will explore based on approximately 10 hours of gameplay before writing this article. The complexity of this game is comparable to Warplan Pacific—mid-level, approachable, yet detailed – a good balance. It is not as intricate or complex as Grigsby’s War In The Pacific, but that is a testament to the latter’s depth. Nevertheless, this game stands out on its own merits and offers a slightly higher level of complexity than my other recent favorite strategic/operational level wargame, Hex of Steel, which I highly recommend.

Basic Game Info

Developer: Fury Software
Publisher: Slitherine LLC
Topic:World War 2, Pacific Theater, Strategic Wargame
Art Credits: Jean-Vincent Roy; Christian Walter
Cost: $39.99 as of August 1st, 2024 on Steam
Time Scale: Variable, for example 1 Turn = 10 Days down to 1 Turn = 1 Day.
Map Scale: Full Theater Pacific down to Operational/Grand Tactical scale.

Game Content

You get a hefty amount of content in this wargame. There is the larger main pacific campaign, 1941 Day Of Infamy, starting from Pearl Harbor and goes for 75 turns, at 10 days per turn. The below pic shows the choices. What is really nice about this wargame is that they include Strategy Guides for all of the scenarios, and they are of a consistently solid detailed level of guidance! This aspect of the wargame is impressive. I’ve not seen a level of guidance as consistently good as this before in a strategic wargame. I’m not wonderful at strategic wargames (there I said it). I’m just much more inclined to maneuver based on an operational scale or lower, and I need guidance for strategic wargames. I’m really happy they included these out of the race blocks with the game.

As shown above, you get a good amount of content in the base wargame.

You also get the below guides and manuals. The guides include outstanding information, specific to the AI scripting that is present in the given scenario. Here are some shots from one of the guides, just to give you an idea of the detail included.

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Editor Included

You additionally are provided what at first glance is a very powerful Scenario & Map Editor. The editor includes AI scripting capabilities. That is a really nice touch. You have substantial control over how the AI behaves and their general operational plan (OPLAN) at the outset of the custom or edited scenario.

This is where I foresee the game getting community love in droves via its Workshop support in Steam.
Hopefully.
That is always a remains to be seen of a new wargame, especially for an existing series of the same game engine (the honeymoon can be over sometimes and users just play the core and await more official DLCs or series entries). As far as I can tell, this is the editor they used to create all of the scenarios supplied with the wargame, including their maps.

Basic Mechanics & Gameplay

Each unit is either depicted by a 3D sprite, which are nice to look at, or their military symbol equivalent to the WW2 era. If you are primarily a board gamer, and don’t care for Axis & Allies board games-style “dolls” to be depicted, then switch your view to show the symbology for unit markers. Each unit is typically a corps, division, single naval ship, or garrison in size. The unit sizes, capabilities, quantities, and arrival scripting can vary wildly in any given scenario depending upon the major or minor side you are playing for.

Speaking of, you do have control when starting a single player match to select which of the allies you’d like to play for, and which you’d rather let the AI control. That is a nice touch for the Allies as you end up with 6 or more for which you have to worry about the strategy. It’s not a difficult game to get through a turn for, so this is not too much of a concern, but if you are just starting to learn the game, I’d recommend you stick with one country to play for in your first run at the larger 1941 Day Of Infamy campaign.

Above is the interface set to symbols based unit markers. While most other screen shots in this impressions article are using the 3D unit setting.

The long blue lines in some of the screenshots you’ll see are supply lines. If you hover your mouse over them they’ll show the country end points of the supply line. If any enemy is located near the supply line and they are set to “Raider” mode, they will affect your throughput of supply. If they end up with enough raiding against a particular line, it may very well lop it off entirely, which will greatly affect your MPP which are Military Production Points. “Raiding” near ports also has a similar effect, as well as damaging industrial centers.

The main mechanism for moving units and committing to combat is AP or Action Points. If you attack without moving, you are doing a Prepared Attack. If you attack after moving, it’s a Hasty Attack. The Prepared Attack gets a bonus. The Hasty, penalties. Morale is also used similarly. Have an HQ near your units, within command radius, and it will provide a boost to MR or Morale Rating for the unit. Simple mechanism, but they are easy to understand, and they seem to work evenly for AI and Human Player alike. No major lopsidedness observed in a short amount of play time.

A nice feature (similar to ToaW IV) is operational movement. You can, if you are on a hex with a connected rail line, move very long distances, but at the cost of MPP of 10% of the current production cost of that unit. What is interesting is that there are also ways via research to improve Logistics, which reduces this cost. An interesting strategy over the long haul. If the unit is air capable, then that is another operational movement option. All of the unit’s APs are also used up immediately if you do this type of longer range movement.

MPP in effect is the main logistics commodity in the game. I like the simplicity of that, as I don’t have to track umpteen different metrics (just fits my personal tastes).

The below screenshot shows a simple listing from the manual of generally what you need to attend to in a given turn.

There are five key areas of gameplay to consider during your turn, and considering each of them in the following sequence will ensure that nothing important is missed out:

Read any Reports – To help you assess the situation

Orders – Move, Attack, Reinforce Units

Politics and Diplomacy – Declare War, Monitor Developments, Invest in Diplomacy

Research – Invest Research Chits

Military Production – Purchase Units, Deploy New Arrivals

Another set of good tips from the manual are listed below:

Here are some general thoughts on things to consider every turn:

Reinforce or move to safety any battered units, replacing them if they were defending key positions.

Look for any other key positions that aren’t currently defended, but are threatened by the enemy, and see if you can place or move units to defend them.

Now make your moves and attacks. Some useful things to know are that:

Units that attack before moving will generally have more effect.

Units attacking across rivers suffer a penalty, so try to cross elsewhere if possible.

Use your aircraft to reconnoiter before advancing deep into enemy territory.

Armored and Mechanized units are vulnerable to infantry assault in urban areas.

Damaged units need reinforcements and good supply to recover.

Keep your HQs, air and any other support units close to, but not in, the front line.

Consider whether you need to buy any units to either replace losses, or for use in the near future. Plan ahead, as there will be a delay between buying a unit and its arrival.

Upgrade any units that can be upgraded, but keep an eye on your available expenditure as some upgrades are more important than others. For instance, upgrading your navy probably isn’t very relevant if the enemy is attacking your capital.

Consider whether you have any remaining income to undertake any research or diplomacy.

Consider providing Elite Reinforcements to any experienced units.

Partisans can spring up if their trigger points aren’t covered. Keep an eye out for them!

Forests block line of sight, so bear this in mind when planning your moves.

Check out the main Manual and Strategy Guide in the Manuals folder or access them in game using the buttons at the top right of the screen.

Have fun! That’s what it’s all about, so don’t get too hung up on doing everything right the first time. It will come, and sometimes a decisive defeat is the best teacher.

Purchasing Units

You use MPP to “purchase” units. It takes some time to gather up the resources to produce said units, and then those units become available on a tidy little Production Table. Research options (which you place Research Chits into over time) can speed up the production of certain units, provide certain upgrades to units, and or make certain rules/processes through the game more efficient, or productive. So, don’t fore-go reading up on Research, but we’ll not be diving too deeply into that here in this first impression.

In the above shot, you’ll see the Production Table, which I’m particularly fond of. It’s a really nice and easy to understand set of dates and what will become available. This is one of the better designed information screens of the game.

Without digging too deep into them for this first impression, Diplomacy and Research does exist in the game. They are simple chit based influence metrics primarily, so I’m not going to show them off in too much detail for now.

Suffice it to say, they are roughly on the same detail level as what you’ve seen in this article elsewhere. For a better idea of how they both work, please refer to the user manual, which is available here (See Chapters 8 and 9)

One quick interesting mechanism found in the game around Research, is that as and if new equipment is available, those are then applied to individual units either automatically, or manually. Research items will clearly depict which of the two they represent. Manually-applied research is activated on a unit via its upgrade mechanism, which is available by right-clicking on the unit and looking for the upgrade menu item. Automatic research based upgrades are, well, automatic. You don’t have to expend anything directly on a unit for a unit to take advantage of that newer effect or efficiency

Diplomacy & Research

Below are just a few screenshots related to the Diplomacy and Research functions of the wargame. They should give you an idea of the complexity and detail involved. It’s all pretty straight forward, but a welcome (simple) addition to the wargame. The developers approach to both is easy to understand, and effective in playthru to open up several strategies as a player. Note that some scenarios switch these mechanisms off, mostly smaller scenarios.

Multiplayer Interface

The tried and true PBEM++ system is present and well implemented. Hot Seat capabilities are also included. The one thing missing is traditional PBEM, which was noticeable as most Slitherine produced products cater to that more traditional pass the file approach. This wargame does not include that. NOT a huge deal breaker here. Most folks like the ease of PBEM++ now anyhow.

Evaluation Of Wargame

I feel that someone that enjoys playing Operational Art Of War IV or Warplan Pacific would enjoy this wargame. It’s roughly on par with that level of complexity and dynamic content potential, as far as user generated scenarios and maps. The editor is quite powerful. I think its ability to script in AI generated “decision points” is a really nice touch, and unique amongst this level of detail pacific theater strategic wargame. Think of the decisions as similar to those in Rule The Waves 3 if you’ve happened to play that or its predecessor.

I particularly enjoy the supply system, the strategic movements, and the raider modes provided in the game. The sea lines of communications being literally depicted and having actual meaning to the game is rather unique in the genre. I’m sure other wargames have depicted them, but the addition of making warships nearby being able to be set to supply raiding mode, is a lovely little mechanic. It makes sense, and they implemented it in a simple but effective way. “This means something. This is important.”¹

The combat is a little simple in approach, but the information provided in the mouse-over for predictions includes visuals and text abbreviations for what modifiers are in play. Relatively intuitive, but still feels a bit simplistic vs the supporting mechanism choices found in, for example The Operation Art Of War IV, if we are comparing (which, we are wargamers, we do that for a living).

Multiplayer does exist for the wargame, with a solid implementation of the tried and true PBEM++ system by their production company Slitherine LLC. This can be hit or miss sometimes, as the development team is basically given the specs to PBEM++ by the parent company and likely told, “have at it.” So it can be hit or miss whether the developers hit the mark on making this simple and effective. In the case of this wargame, they hit the mark. It is easy to see your challenges, and to create new ones.

Overall, Strategic Command: WWII War In the Pacific is a nice entry in this strategic warfare series. I personally think it plays out best at the whole Pacific theater level, in its Day Of Infamy campaign. The simplicity of certain mechanisms just feels a little hollow if you play it on a small map at a shorter time scale. Not to a huge degree, but it is noticeable.

Some Additional Screenies to Enjoy

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