Info about Fire & Maneuver:

Official game description:
  
Overview
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From The Armchair History team comes Fire & Maneuver, a unique strategy game made by history buffs for history buffs, wargame enthusiasts, and casual players alike. Striking the perfect balance between history and playability, F&M combines true-to-life units created through extensive historical research with clever but engaging mechanics developed by a passionate team to create a strategy title that has a little something for everyone.  
Find yourself plunged into Victorian warfare, where every moment seems to bring some new tactical or technological innovation. Forget about such matters as politics and economic affairs, as your sole purpose in F&M is military victory. Fight against your friends in recreations of historical battles, or forge a new path for Europe as you veer off the tracks of history. Consider carefully whether to push your campaign offensively or cede the initiative to your opponent, as constant offense will drain your precious resources. And with new countries and units always in development, discover new ways to write your name on the pages of history.  
Turn-Based Combat with a Twist
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No plan survives first contact with the enemy, and F&M places you in the same position as historical generals: anticipating your opponent’s movement.  
The game’s innovative “simultaneous turn system” requires careful consideration of your opponent’s potential actions. Instead of passively waiting to react to a move already made, you must actively consider all possibilities, deciding which tactical choice your opponent is most likely to make… and which you can accept not responding to. Withdraw to better ground, vigorously attack, or simply dig in and see what your opponent does - the choice is yours, and your orders are final.  
Campaign Mode
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Play through four unique campaigns including the Franco-Prussian War, Crimean War, Austro-Prussian War, and Caucasus Theater. Each campaign is playable from either perspective and can be fought in multiplayer against a friend! Customize your divisions and personalize your troops using the all-new regiment skill tree. The unique historical event system, as well as a military doctrine system, makes each campaign playthrough completely unique.  
The new linear scenario system also makes its debut, which allows you to battle through strings of historical battles, recreating famous campaigns such as the Expedition of the Thousand.  
Multiplayer
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Fight your friends or match wits against other armchair generals as you engage in everything from preset historical scenarios, stepping into the shoes of Moltke or Bazaine, to utter historical fantasy, pitting British redcoats against German Krupp guns on the Steppes of Russia.  
F&M is designed to reward good generalship over random luck. Wear your laurels proudly as you defeat other players, confident that you truly earned each victory.  
Factions 1853-1871
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Take command of the greatest armies of Europe and beyond, and marvel as your troops develop through the Early and Late Periods of gameplay.  
 **Second French Empire**  
A well-balanced and versatile force with a bevy of units to choose from, including the highly durable Foreign Legion… but beware your foes’ superior numbers and quality of artillery.  
 **North German Confederation**  
Formerly the Kingdom of Prussia, this new nation boasts strong commanders who lead a patchwork of well-armed units from across the German States, from Bavarian and Württemberg infantry to the dreaded Krupp artillery… but beware the short range of your fast-firing rifles and the danger this poses to your men.  
 **British Empire**  
Rigorously drilled infantry lay down punishing volleys, and the famed Highlander infantry from Scotland can repel any foolish enough to charge their lines… but beware the cost of your units, the highest in the game.  
 **Russian Empire**  
Draw upon weight of numbers and the zeal of your soldiers to sweep the enemy from the field, with aggressive columns of infantry while the feared Cossack Cavalry flank behind enemy lines… but beware losing control of your men in the heat of battle.  
 **Ottoman Empire**  
Fill the battlefield with your forces comprising a seemingly endless tide of militiamen, including the bizarre “Bashi Bazouks,” known in the West as “The Crazy Heads”… but beware the lack of discipline endemic to Ottoman armies.  
 **Austrian Empire**  
Find the balance between two forces in one army, including expert skirmishers to engage your opponent at long range… but beware this sole advantage becoming a liability as the fight draws closer and closer.  
 **Kingdom of Italy**  
Nationalism allows you to draw on expert mountain troops and political paramilitaries both… but beware your specialized troops’ lack of professionalism.

Release date: 19 Apr, 2023

Categories: Turn-based Strategy, Tactical Combat, Multiplayer, Single-player Story, Unit Management, Character Progression


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics: No data
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes: No data


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Engaging and Fun Gameplay (weight 0.83): Players generally find the game enjoyable, fun, and engaging, highlighting its strategic depth and unique mechanics. Many appreciate its potential and the overall positive experience it offers, especially for a smaller developer.
- Unique Historical Setting (weight 0.39): The game is highly praised for its unique 19th-century historical setting, particularly the Crimean War, which is rarely featured in strategy games. Players appreciate the historical accuracy and the feeling of commanding armies in this specific era, akin to tabletop wargames.
- Appealing Art Style and Visuals (weight 0.26): The game's art style, visuals, and overall aesthetic design receive significant positive feedback. Players find the artwork amazing, unique, and visually pleasing, often comparing it to graphic novels or the Armchair Historian's signature style.
- Innovative Combat System (weight 0.12): The combat system is noted for its originality and depth, particularly its simultaneous turn structure and unique health bar mechanics (cohesion and losses). Players appreciate the absence of RNG, which emphasizes player skill and strategic nuance.
- Diverse Factions and Quality Audio (weight 0.11): The game offers a good variety of factions, each with distinct playstyles and balanced unit rosters. The voice acting is also highlighted as a positive, adding to immersion and quality.
- Fair Monetization Model (weight 0.07): Players appreciate the developer's fair monetization strategy, including making DLCs free and allowing early access players to keep the game. This approach is seen as player-friendly and supportive of continued development.
- Tolerable Bugs and Responsive Devs (weight 0.04): While some minor bugs exist, they are generally considered tolerable, especially for an early access title. Developers are noted for their responsiveness in addressing and fixing issues.

Common complaints:
- Poor UI, Controls, and Tutorial (weight 0.97): The game suffers from a poor user experience, primarily due to a confusing UI, unintuitive controls, and a severely lacking tutorial system. New players struggle to understand mechanics, and the campaign mode offers little guidance.
- Unfinished, Buggy, and Abandoned (weight 0.86): Players consistently report that the game is unpolished, buggy, and feels unfinished, leading to frequent crashes and performance issues. Many believe the game has been abandoned by its developers, contributing to its current poor state.
- Weak and Exploitable AI (weight 0.68): The AI is widely criticized for being broken, unintelligent, and easily exploitable, making battles repetitive and unchallenging. This significantly reduces the game's strategic depth and replayability.
- Poor Value and Monetization (weight 0.65): Many players feel the game is overpriced for its current state, especially considering the additional paid DLC content released for an unfinished product. This monetization strategy is seen as exploitative.
- Poor Graphics and Optimization (weight 0.55): Reviewers find the game's graphics and overall visual presentation underwhelming and uninspired. Despite simple visuals, the game is poorly optimized, leading to performance issues like low FPS.
- Repetitive Campaign Mode (weight 0.55): The campaign mode is described as monotonous, repetitive, and lacking depth or replay value. Players find it unengaging and poorly designed, with little sense of progression.
- Low Multiplayer Activity (weight 0.52): The game has a very low active player count, making it difficult to find multiplayer matches. This indicates a lack of community engagement and further contributes to the perception of the game being 'dead'.
- Missing Language Support (weight 0.22): A significant number of players, particularly non-English speakers, are disappointed by the lack of language support, especially Russian and Chinese, which hinders accessibility and immersion.
- Unclear Unit Movement (weight 0.1): Players report issues with unit movement mechanics, including unclear movement costs, unintuitive pathing, and difficulty in understanding unit interactions and damage outcomes.
- Inferior to Other Titles (weight 0.06): Many reviewers compare the game unfavorably to older or competing strategy titles, noting that it falls short in terms of polish, gameplay, and overall quality.
- Minor Historical Inaccuracies (weight 0.04): Some players noted minor historical inaccuracies in battle maps and unit representation, though this was not a primary concern for most.

Gameplay feedback:
- Victorian Era Tactical Wargame (weight 0.14): The game is a grand tactical, turn-based strategy wargame set in the 19th-century Victorian era. It focuses on historical conflicts like the Crimean War, allowing players to control nations, choose regiments, and emphasize tactical gameplay.
- Simple Turn-Based WEGO System (weight 0.1): The game features a turn-based, simultaneous-play WEGO system with simple core rules. Players noted its ease of play and a lack of random factors, suggesting a focus on pure strategic decision-making.
- Detailed Unit & Combat Mechanics (weight 0.09): Gameplay involves managing unit types like infantry, artillery, and cavalry, with specific mechanics for movement, firing rates (e.g., breechloading vs. rifled), and environmental effects. Cohesion acts as morale, and some units have siege capabilities, though cavalry balance might need adjustment.
- Engaging Core Gameplay (weight 0.09): The gameplay is generally considered decent and interesting, with a helpful tutorial. Generals issue orders, and troops move in real-time after orders are given. Game length is comparable to chess, and losses are attributed to player skill.
- Unique Factions & States (weight 0.08): The game features multiple European factions, each with unique stats and special features. Players can unlock several factions initially, though some, like the Ottoman state, are noted for their difficulty.
- Diverse Game Modes & Campaigns (weight 0.07): The game includes a campaign map with different modes like quick match and custom match. The Crimean War is currently the main campaign, and players appreciate the campaign structure as a good innovation.
- Progression & Faction Unlocks (weight 0.05): Progression is integrated into gameplay, with grinding primarily for leaderboards. Players earn XP and 'Merit' (in-game currency) after the tutorial, which can be used to unlock factions, typically requiring 10-20 PvE battles.

Performance notes:
- Poor performance and optimization (weight 0.08): Multiple players report significant performance issues, including low frame rates and general lag, even on lower settings. This suggests poor optimization that negatively impacts the gameplay experience.
- Mixed views on performance impact (weight 0.04): While some players report normal hardware requirements and that low FPS is less critical for a turn-based game, the prevalence of performance complaints indicates that the current optimization is not meeting player expectations, despite the genre.

Recommendations:
- Do not buy in current state (weight 0.3): Many players advise against purchasing the game in its current state, citing various issues that make it not worth the money or time. They suggest waiting for significant updates or price reductions before considering a purchase.
- Mixed overall game reception (weight 0.14): Player sentiment on the game's overall quality is mixed, with some giving high ratings and strong recommendations, while others provide lower scores due to perceived incompleteness or issues. This indicates a divided player base regarding the game's current state.
- Recommended for strategy fans (weight 0.12): The game is highly recommended for fans of turn-based strategy, especially those interested in the Victorian era or specific historical conflicts like the Civil War. Its unique theme and tactical depth appeal to this niche.
- Free version highly recommended (weight 0.06): The free version of the game is strongly recommended, suggesting it offers enough value to be worth trying without financial commitment. This allows players to test the game before deciding on a purchase.
- Potential for future improvement (weight 0.04): Players acknowledge the game's potential and hope for continued development and improvements. They believe the game could become much better with further work from the creators.
- Caution with DLC purchases (weight 0.03): Players are advised to explore the free content before purchasing any DLC, and some are holding off on DLC purchases until more updates are released. This suggests caution regarding additional investment.
- Request for more localizations (weight 0.03): There is a desire among players for additional language localizations, specifically Russian and Chinese, to broaden the game's accessibility.
- Alternative game suggestions (weight 0.02): Some players suggest alternatives for specific gameplay experiences, such as waiting for the next Field of Glory game for fire combat or downloading Pike&Shot for user scenarios, indicating the game might not fully satisfy all niche interests.
- Desire for mod support (weight 0.02): Players believe that adding Steam Workshop support or player-made mods would significantly enhance the game's rating and overall appeal.
- Optimization is recommended (weight 0.02): There is a recommendation for game optimization, suggesting performance issues or areas where the game could run more smoothly.
- Unique game theme (weight 0.02): The game is recognized for its unique theme, setting it apart from other titles in the genre.
- Developer trust issues (weight 0.01): One reviewer expressed reluctance to purchase future games from this developer without a proven track record of highly-rated projects, indicating a trust issue based on the current game's state.

Other player notes:
- High potential, needs polish (weight 0.24): Many players acknowledge the game's strong core concept and potential, despite its current rough state. There's a general hope and expectation that the developers will continue to improve the game and address existing issues, including bug fixes and unexplained mechanics.
- Anticipation for next game (weight 0.12): A significant portion of the feedback expresses excitement and anticipation for the developers' next project, 'Master of Command,' with some suggesting that the current game's experience might pave the way for a better future title.
- Pricing model concerns (weight 0.05): The change from a free-to-play model to a paid one has generated some negative feedback, with players expressing disappointment or questioning the pricing, especially regarding base factions.
- Desire for more DLCs (weight 0.05): Players are eager for new content, specifically requesting more DLCs covering various historical periods like the early First World War, colonial campaigns, and other 19th-century conflicts.
- Tutorials are helpful (weight 0.04): The game offers in-depth tutorials, which are generally accessible, though some players still feel they don't fully grasp all mechanics.
- Mixed graphics feedback (weight 0.03): Feedback on graphics is mixed, with some finding them decent while others suggest they need improvement.
- Offline game experience (weight 0.01): A minor point noting that the game is an offline experience.

Emotions:
- Satisfaction (weight 0.23): Players are highly satisfied with the game's unique setting, tactical depth, and engaging gameplay mechanics, particularly the combat system and troop diversity. The overall quality, visual style, historical accuracy, and lack of bugs also contribute to a fun and immersive experience, making it a standout strategy game for many.
- Disappointment (weight 0.22): Disappointment stems primarily from the game's unfinished state, numerous bugs, and poor performance, especially concerning AI and campaign monotony. Players are also let down by the perceived abandonment of the game by developers, leading to a lack of updates, unaddressed issues, and a feeling that the game does not live up to its initial potential or price.
- Frustration (weight 0.21): Frustration is largely caused by persistent bugs, frequent crashes, and performance issues like lag and slowdowns. Players also experience frustration due to poor UI design, unintuitive controls, lack of proper tutorials, and the perceived abandonment of the game by developers, which leaves critical issues unaddressed.
- Hope (weight 0.08): Players express hope for the game's future, driven by its perceived potential and the belief that developers will continue to provide updates and bug fixes. There is a strong desire for improvements, including language support, and confidence in the development team's ability to enhance the game over time.
- Excitement (weight 0.03): Excitement is generated by the game's historical accuracy, unique blend of strategy and history, and high-quality visuals and gameplay, particularly the musketplay and mounted attacks. Many players had long anticipated the game's release, finding it a must-have for strategy enthusiasts.
- Sadness (weight 0.02): Sadness is primarily linked to the game's perceived abandonment by developers and the resulting lack of continued support. Players lament the game's demise and its current 'dead' state, indicating a loss of a potentially great title.
- Desire (weight 0.02): Players express a strong desire for additional content and improvements, including more time periods, the ability to choose sides in historical battles, and enhanced AI. There is also a clear wish for more language support, additional campaigns, and future DLC.
- Appreciation (weight 0.02): Appreciation is directed towards the passionate and responsive development team, particularly for their quick bug fixes and regular updates. Players also value the cool details like voice acting with correct pronunciations and the developers' transparent approach, including their decision to transition to a paid model over microtransactions.
- Confusion (weight 0.02): Confusion arises from the game's initial learning curve, lack of proper guidance, and a confusing UI. Players struggle with unclear game interactions and often don't know what to do, especially in the campaign, leading to a difficult onboarding experience.
- Anger (weight 0.02): Anger is primarily directed at the developers for releasing the game in its current buggy and unfinished state, especially given its price. Players feel their money was wasted and express frustration over developers charging for what they consider a 'dead' or broken game.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.01): Players find enjoyment in the game's strategic and tactical levels, particularly appreciating the historical time period and the original combat system. The fun campaign and great multiplayer experiences also contribute significantly to overall gameplay enjoyment.
- Admiration (weight 0.01): Admiration is expressed for the developer's work, especially considering the small team size, and the game's high-quality artwork and historical period representation. Players are impressed by the overall quality achieved despite limited resources.
- Joy (weight 0.01): Joy is derived from the game's overall quality, its beautiful art style, and the immersive experience it provides. Players particularly appreciate the aesthetically pleasing army and map designs.
- Acceptance (weight 0.01): Players show acceptance of the game's current state, including the presence of bugs. While acknowledging issues, they find the bugs relatively tolerable, indicating a degree of resignation or willingness to overlook minor flaws.
- Anticipation (weight 0.01): Anticipation is focused on future game releases, with players looking forward to what the developers will create next. This suggests a positive outlook on the developer's future projects.
- Amusement (weight 0.01): Amusement arises from the humorous depiction of battle outcomes and the often comical behavior of the AI. These elements provide unexpected moments of lightheartedness during gameplay.
- Love (weight 0.01): Players express love for the game itself, particularly highlighting its unique time period and engaging game mechanics. This indicates a deep affection for the core experience.
- Engagement (weight 0.01): Engagement is driven by the game's strategic gameplay, which stimulates the mind, and its engaging difficulty. Players find themselves deeply involved in the challenges and tactical decisions presented.
- Nostalgia (weight 0.01): Nostalgia is evoked by the game's ability to recreate the feeling of playing 'tin soldiers' from childhood. This connection to past experiences enhances the emotional bond with the game.
- Curiosity (weight 0.01): Curiosity is expressed regarding potentially purchasing the game, especially if it's on discount, and a desire to see its future development. This indicates an interest in exploring the game further or observing its evolution.}