Making History: The Calm & The Storm

Last updated
Making History: The Calm & The Storm
Making History - The Calm & The Storm (cover art).jpg
Developer(s) Muzzy Lane
Publisher(s) Strategy First (Original Edition)
Factus Games (Gold Edition)
FriendWare (Spain)
BigBen Interactive (France and Italy)
Rondomedia (Germany)
Akella Games (Russia)
Lace Mamba Global (Japan)
Series Making History
Engine Gamebryo
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows
ReleaseNA March 13, 2007 (Win)
INT March 13, 2007 (Steam)
RUS January 23, 2008
JPN February 19, 2010
Genre(s) Turn-based strategy
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer

Making History: The Calm & The Storm is a World War II grand strategy video game released in March 2007 by developer Muzzy Lane. Similar in ways to the popular board games Axis & Allies and Risk , Making History is turn-based with basic industrial, economic, resource, research and diplomatic management included. The game was released as Strategic War Command in Germany. [1]

Contents

As of patch 2.03 players are able to play as any nation that had international recognition from 1936 to 1945, although players are encouraged to select from one of the more powerful entities of the era, namely Nationalist China, France, National Socialist Germany, Fascist Italy, Imperial Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States or the Soviet Union.

The game has been successfully marketed by its developer as an educational tool, with the game described in a December 2007 Newsweek article as "already part of the World War II curriculum in more than 150 schools". [2]

On July 30, 2008, Muzzy Lane released the Gold edition of the game. This edition introduces a new "Rise of the Reich" scenario starting in 1933, new combat concepts including separate combat forces for units in attack or defense and the ability for partisans to launch insurrections and liberate unannexed conquered territories, along with numerous improvements to the economic system, such as increasing the supply and price of oil and reducing the cost of food.

Both versions are distributed through the Steam platform, with the first one being the cheapest, and reaching the price of 0.49 dollars during sale season. Also the Gold edition can be found on the page of the current distributor, Factus Games, the studio responsible for the latest installments of the series.

Thanks to the fact that the game comes with a scenario editor, players have been able to create scenarios and distribute them over the Internet, expanding the game experience.

The game was translated into Spanish, German, Russian, [3] Italian, [4] French [5] and Japanese on the Gold Edition. [6]

Gameplay

In Making History players control the nation of their choice through a period of World War II and the years preceding it, as defined by the scenario selected. Included with the game are scenarios which start in 1936, 1939, 1941 or 1944, each crafted to reflect the historical situation at that time, while players may design their own scenarios using the either included scenario editor or SQL programming.

Main countries

The following countries are listed in the default scenarios of the game, however, there is the option to choose other countries.

  1. Note: the Rising Sun Flag corresponds to the flag of the Japanese Empire's Armed Forces during World War II and not to the official flag used by the Japanese State, however, in the game it is shown as the flag used by Japan at the time.

Combat

Combat in Making History is resolved through a random number generator and the arbitrary chance to hit, inflict damage and absorb the damage of various unit types. The chance to hit value can be further Modified by supply level, technology, and terrain. Each unit involved in combat is given the chance to attack an opposition unit during each turn of combat.

Units are further broken down into land, air and sea classifications, and the chance for a specific unit to hit an enemy unit is different according to the unit type. A fourth classification of "city" is used to allow the game to simulate medium and heavy bomber raids of industrial infrastructure without the strategic bombers being excessively powerful against military units.

Many sea units possess the ability to absorb some hits without being destroyed and can be repaired in controlled port cities.

Diplomacy

In-game diplomacy with allied non-player controlled (NPC) countries is generally fairly arbitrary, with each scenario programmable to offer the non-player controlled nations ("NPC"s) one or more war plans to select from at random at the start of the game. Each NPC war plan can be customized to be immediate or in-game event/date-driven; thus in the scenario The Limits of Peace an NPC-controlled Germany is almost certain to attack Czechoslovakia, the NPC USSR will attack Finland, NPC China will attack Communist China and NPC Japan will attack China regardless of any player actions.

Aside from the war plan each nation is programmed to implement the diplomatic system with NPC controlled entities does not lend itself to much use. Relations with NPC-controlled nations are not easy to influence in a positive manner at a meaningful rate and will often only offer or accept alliance propositions when fighting a mutual enemy or facing destruction.

The game has drawn some criticism on its allocation of the conquered territory when conquered by multiple allied forces, with the engine programmed to assign ownership to whichever force arrived first. For example, this can lead to Romania, Hungary or Bulgaria "conquering" and controlling large swathes of the USSR as allies of Germany, despite only contributing minor forces.

Economic management

Making History features an economic management system that forces players to consider the economic cost of military buildups and waging war, as well as the diplomatic consequences on trade. The game includes a penalty system for controlling the production in regions with an assigned culture different from that of the controlling nation and the ability to liberate annexed countries (thus maximising this production under a new independent but allied entity).

Population

Each region has a population, and from that population figure, the game creates a workforce, or Manpower Units (MPUs). MPUs are required to run factories, mines, oil fields, or to create new military units. Spare MPUs in each region are automatically assigned to food production, and regional food production is heavily influenced by the amount of labor available in the form of these MPUs.

Industry

Industrial production is localised in controlled cities, each of which has an Industrial Production Unit rating (IPU). This can be expanded by building Light, Heavy and Advanced Industry. Cities are further categorised as Pre-Industrial, Industrial or Advanced. Pre-Industrial cities are 1-10 IPU capacity, Industrial cities 10–50, and Advanced 50-200, with IPU production capped at 200 for any individual city. Upgrading a city from Pre-Industrial to Industrial and Industrial to Advanced costs further resources, but enables continued industrial expansion. Additionally, more advanced cities require less food and goods, making them more efficient.

Infrastructure

Each region has food, fortifications and transport rating between 0 and 4, with 0 totally undeveloped and 4 fully developed. Improved food infrastructure increases food production, fortifications add air defenses and give defensive combat modifiers, and transport infrastructure improves mined / oil resource production and the movement speed of land forces passing through that region.

Research

The game includes a basic technology tree, with some technologies requiring prerequisites be completed first. Base technology starts at a post World War I level and progresses through to Jet Fighters, "Advanced" units representing historical late / post World War II technology, nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles (such as the German V2).

Players can also develop "tactical" technologies (such as Manoeuver Warfare) which confer combat bonuses on attacking or defending land forces.

Resources

The game includes five basic resource types -

  • Goods, required by national economies to function at full capacity, and also to generate cash income. Goods are produced in cities as a result of industrial activity.
  • Food, required by national economies to allow population growth, and also to generate cash income. Food is produced in regions from a combination of available labor, the region's agricultural infrastructure and any regional or seasonal penalties (such as winter, or desert terrain).
  • Metals, used in the construction of ships, aircraft and armored land forces, as well as arms. Steel is produced in mines located within game regions.
  • Coal, used predominantly to feed industrial production, also able to (very inefficiently) produce synthetic oil. Coal is produced in mines located within game regions. Every point of industry (IPU) requires one unit of coal.
  • Oil, used to produce arms. Armies without arms quickly lose combat effectiveness, and oil is widely undersupplied through the standard scenarios, making acquiring it a high priority. The price of oil in the game is arbitrarily set significantly lower than the other commodities, despite often being subject to massive demand in the virtual world economy. Oil is produced in oil fields located within game regions.

Multiplayer support

The game supports up to 8 players playing multiplayer over TCP/IP internet connections, however, offers no formal matchmaking/game lobby systems. Players must arrange multiplayer games privately and manually connect. The multiplayer game is also turn-based, with players making their orders simultaneously and each player's orders being processed at the end of each turn as is normal in a single-player game.

Scenario Editor

A GUI-style Scenario Editor is included in patch 2.03 and allows customisation of many attributes, including the names, locations and industrial status of cities, the population, ownership, and culture of regions, and the starting technologies, armies, and resource stockpiles of individual nations.

The game is further customisable through the use of the SQL programming language, allowing modification of the preset NPC diplomatic behavior and attitudes, however, these settings are not accessible in the Scenario Editor itself.

The scenarios have been uploaded by users to GameBanana after the official scenario portal was shut down.

Use as an education tool

The game has been successfully used as a history education tool in many American schools, with a December 2007 Newsweek article on the use of wargames in education reporting Making History was already part of the curriculum in over 150 schools. [2] The use of the game in local schools also received news coverage in the city the game's developer Muzzy Lane is based in (Newburyport, Massachusetts) in the local newspaper The Daily News. [7]

Gold Edition

On July 30, 2008, Muzzy Lane released a Gold Edition of the game. The Gold Edition features a new scenario "Rise of the Reich" that starts in 1933, new combat concepts including separate combat strengths for units on attack or defense and the capacity for partisans to launch insurgencies and liberate ungarrisoned conquered territories, along with numerous enhancements to the economics system such as increasing the supply and price of oil and reducing the cost of food.

New Scenario: Allies vs. Axis

On December 1, 2008, Muzzy Lane released a new scenario for the Gold Edition: "Allies vs Axis" as free content on the MAKING HISTORY Gaming Headquarters website. The scenario allows players to control the entire Allied or Axis alliance beginning just as Pearl Harbor is attacked.

The scenario can be found in a compilation after the MH Gaming Headquarters website was closed.

New Scenario: Triumph of the Reich

On April 20, 2009, Muzzy Lane released a new scenario for the Gold Edition: "Triumph of the Reich" as free content on the MAKING HISTORY Gaming Headquarters website. The scenario proposes an alternate history where Germany and the Axis alliance have captured Europe, key parts of Africa, and Asia. The defeated USSR has dissolved into several new nations, Great Britain has installed a puppet government and fascist powers are bent on capturing the only remaining adversary, the USA. The scenario gives players a rare chance to play the US at a distinct disadvantage.

New Scenario: Red Revolution Unbound

On December 1, 2009, Muzzy Lane released a new scenario for the Gold Edition: "Red Revolution Unbound" as free content on the MAKING HISTORY Gaming Headquarters website. The scenario allows players to explore the alternate history that is the Soviet Union who sought to speed up the Marxist Revolution.

The scenario can be found in a new website after the MH Gaming Headquarters website was closed.

Sequel

This is the first game in a whole series of grand strategy games. Muzzy Lane released a sequel, Making History II: The War of the World , on June 22, 2010, and continued with Making History: The Great War in 2014 and Making History II: The Second World War in 2018

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Axis & Allies</span> World War II strategy board game series

Axis & Allies is a series of World War II strategy board games. The first version was initially published in 1981 and a second edition known colloquially as Axis & Allies: Classic was published in 1984. Played on a board depicting a Spring 1942 political map of Earth divided by territories, players take the role of one or more of the five major belligerents of World War II: the Axis powers of Germany and Japan; and the Allied powers of the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Turns rotate among these belligerents, who control armies of playing pieces with which they attempt to capture enemy territories, with results determined by dice rolls. The object of the game is to win the war by capturing enough critical territories to gain the advantage over the enemy.

<i>Civilization III</i> 2001 turn-based strategy video game

Sid Meier's Civilization III is the third installment of the Sid Meier's Civilization turn-based strategy video game series. It was released in 2001, and followed by Civilization IV. Unlike the original game, Civilization III was not designed by Sid Meier, but by Jeff Briggs, a game designer, and Soren Johnson, a game programmer.

<i>Axis & Allies: Europe</i> 2001 board game

Axis & Allies: Europe is a strategic board wargame produced by Hasbro under the Avalon Hill name brand. Designed by Larry Harris, who designed the original Axis & Allies board game, Axis & Allies: Europe focuses game play on the European Theatre of World War II.

<i>Hearts of Iron II</i> 2005 video game

Hearts of Iron II is a grand strategy computer war game for Microsoft Windows based upon its predecessor, Hearts of Iron, which was developed by Paradox Development Studio and published by Paradox Interactive.

<i>Greyhawk Wars</i> (game) Fantasy board wargame

Greyhawk Wars is a fantasy board wargame that was published by TSR, Inc. in 1991. The game was designed by David Cook as a strategic simulation of the eponymous Greyhawk Wars on the fictional world of Oerth, the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game.

<i>The Russian Campaign</i> Board wargame published in 1974

The Russian Campaign is a strategic board wargame published by Jedko Games in 1974 that simulates combat on the Eastern Front during World War II. Avalon Hill later bought the game and produced several editions.

<i>Axis & Allies</i> (2004 video game) 2004 video game

Axis & Allies is a real-time strategy World War II video game developed by TimeGate Studios and published by Atari for Microsoft Windows. The game was released on November 2, 2004. It is based on the board game series Axis & Allies from Milton Bradley and also on TimeGate's Kohan series. Set in the years after Japan and the United States entered into the war, the game allows the player to act as a World War II commander to build military forces to fight against other generals, using military units and technologies from the war. The player is able to rewrite and recreate the history of World War II.

<i>Rise and Decline of the Third Reich</i> 1974 grand strategy wargame set during World War II

Rise and Decline of the Third Reich or more commonly Third Reich is a grand strategy wargame covering the European theater of World War II, designed by John Prados and released in 1974 by Avalon Hill. Players take on the roles of major powers—Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States—from 1939 to 1946.

<i>Guadalcanal</i> (1992 game)

Guadalcanal is a board wargame published by Avalon Hill as part of the Smithsonian American History Series. The game simulates World War II naval battles near the Solomon Islands and is primarily designed for two players. It uses the same game design as the Smithsonian edition of Midway.

<i>Battle of the Bulge</i> (board wargame)

Battle of the Bulge is a board wargame published by Avalon Hill (AH) in 1965 that simulates the World War II battle of the same name. General Anthony McAuliffe (ret.), who had been commanding officer at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge, was a consultant during the game's development. The game proved popular and sold more than 120,000 copies, but was dogged by criticisms of historical inaccuracies, and was finally replaced by a completely new edition in 1981. A third edition in 1991 was released as part of the Smithsonian American History Series.

<i>Hitlers War</i> (game) Strategy war game by Metagaming Concepts

Hitler's War is a strategic level World War II board wargame first published by Metagaming Concepts in 1981, and then by Avalon Hill in 1984 that simulates the war from Operation Barbarossa to the Fall of Berlin. Critical reception was general favorable, using phrases like "very good", "An incredible bang for the buck", "single most satisfying game of its type" and "well thought out."

Empire of The Rising Sun (RSN–1995) is a board wargame published originally by Avalon Hill, designed by Bruce Harper with much input by Dave Casper into the naval warfare rules. This is the Pacific War companion game to Advanced Third Reich (A3R), using similar rules, and containing once again a copy of "Ultra" magazine with a synopsis of the game. A previous version, occasionally discussed in the pages of The General magazine, had been in development the late 1970s, but was never published.

<i>War in Europe</i> (game) Board game

War in Europe is a grand strategic "monster" board wargame published by Simulations Publications Inc. (SPI) in 1976 that attempts to simulate the entirety of the European theatre of World War II from 1939 to 1945. One of the largest wargames ever produced, War in Europe features 4000 counters, four rulebooks, and nine maps that when placed together cover an area of 38.5 ft2. The game is nominally a three-player game, but each side can be represented by teams of players. SPI estimated the full game would take at least 180 hours.

<i>Conquistador</i> (game) Board game

Conquistador, originally subtitled "The Age of Exploration: 1495–1600", is a board game published by Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) in 1976 that simulates the exploration of the New World in the 16th century. Players take on the role of European countries sending expeditions to find gold and establish colonies. Although the design uses the trappings of board wargames such as a hex map, combat is not a major part of the game.

<i>Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War – Dark Crusade</i> 2006 video game

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War – Dark Crusade is the second expansion to the real-time strategy video game Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War developed by Relic Entertainment and published by THQ. Based on Games Workshop's tabletop wargame, Warhammer 40,000, Dark Crusade was released on October 9, 2006. The expansion features two new races, the Tau Empire and the Necrons. Including the Imperial Guard from Dawn of War's first expansion pack Winter Assault, a total of seven playable races in this expansion.

<i>Civilization V</i> 2010 video game

Sid Meier's Civilization V is a 4X turn-based strategy video game in the Civilization series developed by Firaxis Games. The game was released for Windows in September 2010, for Mac OS X on November 23, 2010, and for Linux on June 10, 2014.

<i>P.T.O.</i> (video game) 1989 video game

P.T.O., released as Teitoku no Ketsudan (提督の決断) in Japan, is a console strategy video game released by Koei. It was originally released for the PC-9801 in 1989 and had been ported to various platforms, such as the X68000, FM Towns, PC-8801 (1990), MSX2 (1991), Sega Genesis and the Super NES. Players could assume one side of the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II, acting as naval commander, organizing fleets, building new ships, appropriating supplies and fuel, and even engaging in diplomacy with other countries. The player can choose one of several World War Two battles to simulate, or could control the entire Pacific campaign well before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

<i>Making History II: The War of the World</i> 2010 video game

Making History II: The War of the World is a World War II grand strategy computer game released in June 2010 by developer Muzzy Lane Software. Making History II is the successor to Making History: The Calm & The Storm and gives players the ability to take full control of any world nation, colonies, regions, cities, and military units during the time leading up to and during the Second World War. In 2016, along with the other games in the series, Making History II was sold to Factus Games.

<i>Gulf Strike</i> (board game) 1983 board game

Gulf Strike, subtitled "Land, Air and Sea Combat in the Persian Gulf", is a board wargame published by Victory Games in 1983. The first and second editions were hypothetical games focussed on American responses to Iranian aggression in the Persian Gulf. The third edition, published in 1990, was updated to reflect the reality of Operation Desert Shield during the Gulf War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piercing the Reich</span> Board wargame

Piercing the Reich, subtitled "The Battle for Aachen, Siegfreid Line Campaign, September–October 1944", is a board wargame published by Moments in History (MiH) in 1995 that is an operational simulation of the Battle of Aachen during World War II.

References

  1. "Strategic War Command" (in German). Games-Guide. 8 April 2013. Retrieved 3 June 2022.
  2. 1 2 Philips, Matthew (Dec 28, 2007). "Your Grandfather's War". Newsweek. Archived from the original on October 9, 2008. Retrieved September 17, 2008.
  3. "Making History Akella Games" (in Russian). Archived from the original on 24 July 2009. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
  4. "Making History: The Calm & the Storm PC" (in Italian). Multiplayer It. 29 February 2008.
  5. "Making History : The Calm & The Storm (FR)" (in French). JeuxVideo. 25 May 2011.
  6. "メイキング ヒストリー ゴールドエディション 日本語版" (in Japanese).
  7. Curley, Katie (December 31, 2007). "Local software company combines games, education". NewburyportNews.com. Archived from the original on January 29, 2013. Retrieved September 17, 2008.