Newbie questions ... gameplay and editor

[DaveyJJ]

Hi,

I'm an older, tactical war gamer (designer, historian and cartography freak) looking for both a game I can play that features many fronts (esp. Western and Italian), smaller scale action, and the ability to create small scale engagements for my own amusement.

MoW and the upcoming MoW:AS have come very very highly recommended and I'm ready to jump in, probably to MoW:AS paid beta, but if need be to MoW as well. I have a few questions about both gameplay and editor ...

1. Am I correct is assuming I can play in Normandy and Italian-type scenarios with the game? The East Front doesn't really hold my interest at all, btw.

2. With the editor, which I assume makes single-player games only (what I want to do), how easy is it to create small, fixed-force battles (platoon and support or less per side) where one side is (fairly static) AI defenders and the other player-controlled attackers with a victory trigger location? BTW, I have seen the videos of the editor and am asking this more from a logic/gameplay/setting up sides point of view rather than creating the terrain (which I am confident I can do well).

3. Is is relatively easy to script some basic behaviours into the AI side? For example, if X% of men are lost retreat to location A? Or how easy is it to modify the aggressiveness of an AI defending or attacking force?

4. Finally, does the editor actually support Italian style terrain/buildings?

5. In the upcoming MoW:AS paid beta, is the editor accessible? And should I go that route right now (assuming it supports western and Italian theatres) instead of investing in the original? (I have beta-tested software for 15 years now so am familiar with beta testing.)

Thank you for taking the time to reply! Great looking game!

David