A Very Pretty, VERY Complex Game - WARNO Launch Review

So WARNO has finally Launched out of Early Access, its been a long time coming! This video aimed at newer players gives an overview of what the game has to offer, its pros and cons.
Community stuff:
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Ryzen 3800, RTX 3080, 32Gb Ram.
Chapters:
00:00 Intro/What is WARNO
03:01 Story
03:55 Gameplay
08:46 Map Editor/Modding
09:26 Sound & Graphics
10:12 Summary
11:49 Community

[@ed301]

Day one player here, it’s kinda weird seeing it Official now. It was like watching a baby being born and watching it develop new skills and ability’s over time. Watching mistakes and accomplishments. Now it’s graduated and on its own. One of my top two favorite games ever.

[@Bandanner]

Out of interest what is your other favourite game?

[@tbj1972]

👍👍 I am in total agreement with you!

[@ed301]

@@Bandanner WW2 Online, on Steam. Quite a bit more realistic that Warno, but its a FPS game. It can be slow at times but there are great moments of terror and excitement. I've been playing this one off and on for over 20 years

[@fastfolky]

Thank you for the summary. I have embedded this video in the opening post of a forum that I frequent to give an overview of the game, it's just that good.

[@Bandanner]

Thanks for sharing it :)

[@EroticOnion23]

Definitely need varied objectives in army general. Like assassination, convoy destruction, hold/take the hill, escort, destroy/protect supplies/units, etc.

[@Bandanner]

Yeah exactly things like that would be fantastic.

[@sd_league]

@@Bandanner tbh I just want more variety on the campaign map, the battles them selfes I like more clean, maybe ambushes but thats it. Too much clutter and you end up with an annoying mess like CoH3. Total wars 3 forms of battle: Skirmish, Siege, Ambush, always were fine by me. But in TW you have cool agents on the campaign map etc. that part is still lacking in WARNO.

[@Bandanner]

@@sd_league Men of War 2 has a bit more variety for the conquest style campaign.

[@ArrigoSacchi87]

Interesting you mention CoH3, because they've improved the campaign for me since launch. That evolution is welcome for sure

[@snakeoo7ca]

These would serve as good mission types too

[@natethelate4553]

Finally an explanation on what this game actually is

[@Bandanner]

That at least is not as complex as learning to play the game haha

[@0DTEVIXCALLS]

Thank you Bandanner! See you on the frontlines!!

[@Bandanner]

You will only see me if you bring plenty of recon! :P

[@Jasp137]

God, I love this game, as a player I am really happy about the release! As a modder I have to say I am frustrated. But still, kudos to eugen for finally launching this with 4 whole more AG Campaigns.

[@Bandanner]

Give it time, they seem to have got ahead with the map editor, hopefully that means we won't have to wait forever for other mod stuff.

[@ArrigoSacchi87]

It was a positive sign that even their launch trailer was focussing on the engine...I think they are embracing it more

[@illuminated1158]

So can modders not create more AG campaign's? Because if they think they will make MORE money from warno by not allowing that they really haven't learned the longevity of having a fully moddable game and the amount of money it brings in over time..

[@Bandanner]

@@illuminated1158 you will eventually be able to, the building blocks are in already but the feature set is not in the editor yet. This is one of the things that will take time.

[@Jasp137]

@@illuminated1158 I really hope the others are right and i do think we will get more modding support in the future. For AG Campaigns you can already change the Units that are deployed in AG and you can at least open the maps in the editor (they will probably expand that). My frustration is about not being able anymore to change names, like a units name or get new textures in. I and some others can throw their mods in the bin for now until they bring that back. Also they got rid of a constant that people used to make scaling conversion mods.

[@13thrule]

very well put together review

[@Bandanner]

Thank you :)

[@dakaodo]

Great quick ref for new players to get hooked into the community! I've enjoyed your videos ever since I found your channel a year-plus ago. I got into Wargame Red Dragon a bit late, and never connected with a Discord/YT community. The few games I played against randos were a hideous affair; I only learned later that WRD's lobbies had a bit of a rep for being toxic in a way only unfulfilled 50-year old grognard neckbeards can be. XD

[@Bandanner]

Thanks! And Haha yeah getting into WRD late can be a bit of suffering. It's why I always ended up sticking to the 10vs10 tactical games in WRD in the later years.

[@krukan6]

I love this one. Playing since day 1. Mostly playing Skirmish with/against friends or AI. I played Wargame Airland Battle, Red Dragon and Steel Division 1 and 2 but think this is ahead of em.

[@Bandanner]

Out of interest which game did you like more out of SD1 and SD2? I never played 1 but people always say good things about it.

[@krukan6]

@@Bandanner SD2 is alot better. I tried going back to play some SD1 but cant enjoy it like I do with SD2.

[@yellow9616]

Got the game at 1.0. Haven't even opened it yet. A Korean peninsila dlc would be sick

[@historyisawesome6399]

2 of the 5 campigans in wargame rd dragon are set in korea the last game was asia focused

[@yellow9616]

@@historyisawesome6399 thank you for that info. I'll check that game out

[@L1eutenantMaster]

Compared to Red Dragon, it is safe to say Warno improved in many aspects. And the fact they are willing to listen to the feedback and change their plans (for example the FOB) is a good sign in my eyes for the futur of the game. And now I am going to throw this positive vibe with the one and only negative thing I have to say about Eugen x) As a modder the only thing I wish Eugen did better was to communicate better about modding. it went from "modding post/end of ea" to "surprire unit cfg edit is now a thing" to then ghosting every. single. dam. questions. To then dropping a map editor out of the blue. I would have agreed with them to start the modding stuff post launch, I would have liked them to just confirm it instead of giving the silent treatment. However since I have stopped checking their discord for the past year maybe they finally change their stance on that matter ?

[@Bandanner]

Yeah the whole modding side is something they have massively struggled with. I can confirm that they intend to allow custom models but they just don't have a time frame. How much they will hand hold is a different matter entirely. But the intent seems to be making your own operations/AG campaigns and eventually adding in your own models.

[@L1eutenantMaster]

​@@Bandanner honestly all I am asking them is to allow for custom text/names and to stop making their models not modding friendly. they have the tech to split the vehicle and the payload but still sometimes combine both in the model directly x) They tackle this two topics and I would be happy.

[@sd_league]

Thanks for the shout out :) Nicely balanced review! also dont lie Bandanner, you will never forgive someone misslabling a RTT as a RTS! :P

[@Bandanner]

I'm a very forgiving person!

[@53strat55]

I could never get into Wargame or Steel divison 2, only 1. Warno somehow touches the right spot. Still waiting for Broken Arrow but Warno has so much more quality of life. Only thing I miss is the urban battles of Broken Arrow which are allot of fun.

[@rugerdie4054]

Compared to Eugens previous games I really appreciate the quality of life and ease of getting into it. Furthermore limiting units to late Soviet/NATO I think makes it a better balanced game that again is more accessible. The Ai is decent especially at high levels and allows players such as myself with low APMs to still have a challenging but fun experience with game (pause, to go grab food, do chores, study or plan better combined arms tactics)

[@Bandanner]

Yeah its nice they focused on the AI a bit more this time, they will keep improving it, the devs working on that have been very responsive.

[@richardjones8546]

Really wish they’d make a Ruse 2

[@Bandanner]

You need to take that up with Ubisoft sadly. They control the IP etc and I am told they don't want to let it go.

[@bert9373]

I bought warno on full launch so just to try it out cause i had pleanty of fun in steel division but when i bought it, for some reason i got the EA pack as well even though I never owned the game before the launch. Not that I am complaining but it’s kinda odd

[@Bandanner]

Haha just take it and keep moving, at least if they realise they won't take it off you.

[@werewolf1336]

Very good review. Thank you for posting it. That said: Not a strategy game. In military terms it would be considered operational level. Don't believe me? I suggest you look up the definition of strategy (and don't look it up using a gaming site).

[@Bandanner]

Glad you liked the video. As for your other comment, it's a strategy game in video game terms which is all that matters here :P

[@jasonvega9942]

can you deploy defenses like you could in sd2? in army general

[@Bandanner]

No there are no defensive structures in WARNO. The intent was to keep the gameplay more fluid so they didn't add that bad in.

[@flyingtanks9313]

mmmm. Lunch

[@pennywise5095]

Looks great but i would like to know about dlc pricing anyone knows? Thnx in advance

[@Bandanner]

It's on their dev blogs I think, but the Nemesis DLCs are I think 4.99 EUR and the bigger DLCs with multiple divisions, army general campaigns and operations are planned at 24.99 EUR

[@cameronwells82]

You can pry Wargame: Red Dragon from my dead cold fingers.

[@Bandanner]

Oh we will never let go of WRD, it's still a very good game.

[@historyisawesome6399]

If you like single player i recomend playing ALB

[@OpRazorwind]

Should i play this game if im so sh*t at Wargame (i played AirLand Battle) i cant even beat the Normal difficulty bot? ( i have 17.2 hours)

[@Bandanner]

I mean honestly 17.2 hours is not long in this type of game, to get really good at them you can expect to spend hundreds hours in it. What you need to ask yourself is do you enjoy wargame even if you are bad at it and want to learn it more? If yes then you will likely enjoy WARNO too. If the answer is no then maybe they aren't the type of game for you :)

[@user-uh5bx1zg7b]

steel division?

[@lithentondanarian8982]

The game still has a long way to go, and quite frankly doesn't hold a candle to Wargame: Red Dragon or Steel Division 2 for that matter. I very much suspect that when Broken Arrow comes out, eventually, this game will die on its arse incredibly quickly.

[@-Markus-]

I dont think so, more likely it will divide the small playerbase between the two games. And neither of them will fare good after.

[@lithentondanarian8982]

@-Markus- Did you play the most recent Broken Arrow test a couple of months back? On average, over 5,000 people were online in games. Last time I checked WARNO it was barely breaking a thousand active players, which is not good, considering that SD2 averages between 500-700 players regularly and that's quite abit older now... that's not good going at all. I have spoken with many people who are of the same mind that Broken Arrow will kill WARNO or at least beat it into the ground.

[@-Markus-]

@@lithentondanarian8982 A playtest will always attract attention, and Broken Arrow was not without a good deal of hype, wich seem to have settled down a lot since then. Ive heard people of both opinions, prefering the one or the other. In the end though I still think the only thing that will happen is that a small niche genre is divided even further. Broken Arrow wont become bigger than Warno/SD is. It might have an initial run of new hype but it will drop quickly.

[@Bandanner]

I think Broken Arrow will have more players overall, by its nature its an easier game to get into compared to Eugen's games. And it has a publisher behind it who can properly promote the game. However its likely going to continue to be the case people find WARNO due to playing broken arrow and end up getting both. The hostility between the games simply does not need to exist. Also currently WARNO is hitting over 3000 players since release which for such a niche game is quite good after 2 years of EA.

[@lithentondanarian8982]

@Bandanner That 3000 players will drop off real quick. It's not that hard of a game to get into, it's certainly easier than SD2 that's for sure. I think the competitive community in WARNO will stick with it but that's about it, the game still needs a lot of content in the way of Divisions and Maps. Personally.

[@beeftothetaco]

compared to red dragon i'd say "complex" is a bit generous, but the balance changes they made in the 1.0 update are nice

[@Bandanner]

Not sure what you mean by generous? It's not supposed to be a positive comment, just a fact that their games are complex/difficult to get into as stressed several times in the video.

[@beeftothetaco]

@@Bandanner lol ok

[@historyisawesome6399]

@@Bandannerits fairly simple compared to rd a lot of things are simplified and they amount of units on the field is much smaller makeing it easyier to Mange units spot each other faster so your not going to to get ambushed by 20 atgm units in like a tiny woodline

[@trillu7163]

These Eugene games just feel too sped up to me. Everything is zooming around the map and it feels off. I feel like if they slowed down movement speed it would be a lot better. Just my take.

[@AWZool]

Haven't played in a while. Is AD still a joke & towed artillery a micromanagement mess?

[@Bandanner]

They improved Airborne a bit so its not so powerful as it was the last patch. Towed arty you will still have to move about if you don't want it to get country hit. Though there are now hot keys for making them reconnect to a vehicle but I forget what they are.

[@doobs5342]

@@Bandanner you can box drag select a group of towed arty and their transports then right click one of the transports. All selected guns will choose a vehicle and attach to it.

[@SimDeck]

To much of a fast paced click fest for me. Would love a slower paced version of the game. Might as well play space invaders.

[@dakaodo]

I'm just grateful this exists to offset the truly click-fest hell of CoH. For you, there's always Combat Mission Shock Force. :D

[@SimDeck]

@@dakaodo Yeah, you are right. I do in fact play those games. I love the visulas of these fast paced games though. Would love a slow paced combo.

[@desdichado92]

WARNO is an RTS game in which you can be at the top of the leaderboards with 10 APM. Maybe try not being so old lmao

[@historyisawesome6399]

Try combat mission

[@milancetkovic7496]

try regiments then, it's similar to Warno but it's only single player

[@tangofrown3352]

combat mission for fetuses

[@historyisawesome6399]

I love combat mission i really want a yugoslav wars edition or i wish they add a syrian campigan to cmsf2

[@Bandanner]

Never played the combat mission games I don't think, I just know the latest one in the Cold War was not well received?

[@historyisawesome6399]

@@Bandanner it was mixed reception the engine hasent been updates since like 2016 and the engies is from 2008 so it had a bunch of technical issues and couldebt really handle the size of engagments. Unfortunatly its a one of a kind type product so i doubt they will make a new engine just hope armour brigade 2s relese spurs them to action anyway black sea and shock force 2 work fine and are worth checking out

[@historyisawesome6399]

As a eugen sytemes fan i have played every game -act of aggression. And im mixed on it there are some pros sone cons Pros - quality of life and graphics are greatly improved -they got rid of the -20% accuracy thing for redfor equipment like it was so stupid that a m60 had better accuracy then a t-90 -no protype units that werent inteoduced until 2004 -better ai then red dragon army general dosebt consit of placing 2 atgm units down the main road and waiting for then to arrive with like 300 light tanks. Cons -its set in 1989 with is a overused setting 1985 is a better yeat -ai almost never uses air units -the campaing is really sloggy like in sd2 with most devolving into trench warfare on the same map over and over agian -lack of wp diversity like they could have added polish sf or somthing to hold us over -ai is easy to handle and rarely push an advantage. -divisions all feel the same for army general -a complete lack of toxicity in mp. -small scale you have about 20 units on the feild in alb or rd you usally have about 100 Overall for singleplayer my list is as fallows -ALB (not comparable to any other in terms of quality) -warno -rd -sd2 -EE Sd 1944 In mp terms -rd -warno all the others are dead or there steel division Alb is the best theres the most unit varity out of any of the divisions so useing dinfrent battilions feels fun. Set in the golden year of 1985. There other events that occur in the world that effect you operations. You can use strike cards to give your force an advantage the ai uses its airforce and will not suicide its self into you. The battles are huge the biggest in the seris including steel division the battles feel truely massive. And the prototype units are for the most part things that entered service in real life by 1989 not 2009