From: ddrumm@amiganet.chi.il.us (Daniel Drumm)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.games
Subject: No Greater Glory by SSI
Date: 30 Dec 92 02:56:41 CST
Organization: Amiga Network Information Systems

        No Greater Glory is the last Amiga game made by SSI for the 
Amiga. As a sendoff, it's not a bad game. A UK Amiga mag gave it a
40 out of 100, basically they reamed it. I think that's unfair.
What do the British know about the Civil War anyhow? Besides, Euro
users like lots of fast graphics and stuff. Ok, basically here goes:
 
        No Greater Glory puts you in either the role of Jefferson Davis
or Lincoln as commander-in-chief. The game starts in the year 1861.
You start by choosing your cabinet. Appointments are made with 3 
factors in mind. Region of the nation the appointee comes from, the
ability of the appointed, and what faction he represents (moderate
or radical). The radical faction of the south is hard line and the
north radicals are abolitionists. The appointments are to Sec of
State and Sec of the Navy, War, Treasury, ambassador, etc.
        You then plan the national budget, build your navy, recruit 
troops, choose draft strategy, choose tax rates and bond interest.
This part of the game I think is very good. Not too much detail that
gets bogged down, but enough so you feel like the president. You
can see the results of your decision making as well. Political
support is calculated for each state based on how many troops they
have there, who is representing them, and if you have silenced the
press or declared martial law there. The enemy can also create
subversion in your territories. Navies are important for the
north. Fortifying port cities and building riverboats and rail
networks is important for the south.
        Next is strategic movement. You can use navies or the rail
system, or rivers. This is nicely done. The game shows the logistic
complexities the south had due to the inferior rail network. The
south is strong near the Mississippi due to the flexibility river
movement gives you. Most states are broken into two "areas". Some
states have three. Any troops in one area is an "army". You appoint
what generals you want to command the army based on the prestige of
the general and the ability of the general. The game uses prestige
well. You have to appoint idiots like McClellan to the largest
armies otherwise you will lose alot of support in the state that the
general is from. You have to almost let them get ripped in battle,
so they lose prestige and can get replaced. Or, you can try to
ween the able generals like Grant and Lee on minor battles with
smaller armies to build their prestige up past the top generals.
Prestige is ranked from 1-10 of the generals from each side to
choose from.
        Military movement comes after all of this. You give your general
an order to move his army from one "area" to another. Sometimes
they do, or if they have low initiative, sometimes they don't. As
you might expect, generals also have a initiative rating and some
like McClellan really like to sit around on their ass. This is
really frustrating, esp. when you order an army to move into a
city and do battle and the general just says "we need more training"
Troops are rated on morale and experience. Seems like for the north,
the troops recruited from the New England area have higher morale
than anywhere. As you might guess, drafted troops have worse
morale.
        You can emancipate the slaves, choose foreign policy towards
England and France. They may choose to blockade run supplies to
the south if the north blows them off. Your final score takes into
account what you promised the Europeans in exchange for cooperation.
Alot of times, it's the rights to Mexico or something. You come
up for re-election in the proper year for each side. You can
conduct naval operations, sea invasions, incite riots. It's great.
        Overall, it's a top notch wargame. The programming gives a real
feel for the complexities facing both sides. The north has alot
of economic power and rail movement, but terrible generals. The
south have super troops (early on) and good generals. The south
have much more loyal and able cabinet members. There is alot to do,
but it ALL has bearing on the game and it never gets to be "too
much" number crunching. The AI is excellent. The computer is very
good at organizing and executing military operations as the south.
You can attack an area from two sides with different generals and
this is hard. Sometimes generals won't attack. Or one will and one
won't. It's nice to see how the generals are rated. If you want the
game to be harder, you can randomize the generals abilities. This
gives more of the feel that Lincoln and Jefferson had. They didn't
know who was good and who wasn't. It's harder this way. I play
with historical generals and cultivate the good ones. 
        You can play and play the game. One small change often changes
the way the game unfolds, so there is high replay. There are
many different ways to win. The south may sue for peace or both
sides may negotiate a settlement or the Europeans may intervene
militarily on behalf of the south. Overall, I'd say it's alot better
than Gettysburg or any other Civil War game. It's more fun than
most "pure" wargames. The AI is good, unlike The Perfect General or
Battles of Napoleon or Lords of the Rising Sun. Overall, I like
it alot. 
 
        This review is written like shit, bad grammar, rambling ideas.  
I wrote this review dead tired, so I know I sound like I may not
be the best source. But I do know wargames, I played boardgames
for many years. This ranks right up there with me. It's sort of
a military-economic-political sim. It manages to do all of them
well. It doesn't sacrifice the battlefield AI for the economic
model. That's the highest recommendation I can give it. If you
ever watched the PBS series The Civil War, this is the scale and
type of game that goes down well with that series. It's grand
strategic, but with plenty of detail. It captures the Civil War
in much the same way that Third Reich by Avalon Hill captures WWII.
 


Daniel Drumm      _#      **MMp     g#00   `N##0"    _agN#0P0N#           _#L
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