Making History: The Calm and the Storm Gold Edition

yea this game's nice

what I especially like is how non-recruited people do have a purpose unlike soi4 - here, I can press gang literally the entire population of my minor country into the cities only to realize that I need to import all my food from china and nobody is available to operate the artillery

Absolutely amazing, so simple yet so involved and so much fun. Playing as smaller countries like Netherlands or Argentina is especially fun. Does not feel dated whatsoever, highly recommend.

Dont buy, game is broken. The old game was better. the economics not you cannot use but one or 2 cities to build troops else you will go negative goods/money or some critical resource. Then, when you get attacked by France, and the instant you step INTO France, the rest of the world declares war on you. You can't get prepared because you cannot build enough weapons to maintain a STANDING army. So every enemy attacks with their entire armies at once. While you may be able to have one small, maybe 3000 power that can defeat enemies, it cannot be everywhere at once and you lose all your cities long before you can return with your army.

It's a computerized Axis and Allies, Risk game for the wars between 1930-1945 with multiple modes to explore and dominate starting in different eras. It takes a little more than 25 turns to complete a year and you can build troops containing everything from mount infantry, tanks, bi-planes, jets and any more... even atomic bombs that will level cities. (YOU DON'T GET TO SEE THE ACTUAL SIMULATED BATTLES LIKE IN TOTAL WAR) but If you are into turn style war games that you get to manage nations until global domination, especially that of real world events, then this is a good game.

This game just never gets old for me. Hours and hours of game play, and with the editor you can play this game any way you like. I have many other better games on steam but for some reason when i just want to relax, ill fire up this one and its always a good time.

I've been playing this game for years and still love this game too much. don't look at the steam time I have original cd of this game. Me and my brother still playing this game in multiplayer and i can easily say i spent 3k+ hours in this game.

[h1] Making History Gold {/1] I have played this “version” for 4+ hours as The Soviet Union (Russia.) This version is similar to the original Making History WW2 of many years past. This version loads smoothly with my crap computer and the save-games work well.
I recommend this version only as a trainer sort of game. The tech-tree and city build queues as simplistic. The graphics are, as the rest of the game, basic.
Of the games in the series I like the ‘Great War’ (WW 1) simulation even though my computer takes a round about way to, load. I have played it for hundreds of hours and am in the process of conquering the world (I already won) by invading the USA, as Germany.
The other ‘War of the World’ (WW 2) games are fine to play. I have extreme difficulty loading them. MOST of the time I have to reboot, take a shower and diddle around to get a save-game to reload. That is sad- it may be due to my computer.
Anyway, all the games are interesting. Germany is by far the easiest to play and usually wins with some judicious playing. The UK blows- very difficult to keep the ‘Empire’ together with a rampant Germany/Japan on the loose. There is more that I could say about those plays but I will limit my post to this game.
Enjoy, experiment.

I have to respect the balls of one of the developers telling me that the digital only copy on steam is "exactly the same" as a physical boxed copy.

Making History: The Calm and the Storm Gold Edition is a turn-based WW2 grand strategy game. The game is alright i haven't played it that much it does get a bit repetative but the game isn't bad or anything. The turn-based system is really straight forward. You do everything you want to do in a turn, you press the next turn button and the things that you did are completed the next turn. And repeat till the game ends. The wars are really simple as well. There is really not a whole lot to explain. The coolest thing is probably the industry and economy tho. I really enjoy selling resources on the market, earning money, improving my infastructure with the money, wasting a few turns to improve my factories make them bigger and shit, buy resources from the market this might sound complicated but believe me when you get in the game and you play around with it for a little bit you'll quickly get used to this system. Its not a complicated system or anything which kind of sucks. It is a bit too simple. The money isn't worth it that much anyways you can only buy resources with it. You can't give money to a nation to buy some of their land or i don't know ask them to build an artillery for you or something no you can't do that. So the economy/industry is really cool to mess with but in the end the money you gain doesn't matter that much. One of the other things i'd like to mention is that goverment type seems to mean absolutely nothing. I played like 3 nations in my almost 3 hour play time. 2 authoritarian countries and 1 democratic country. And even tho the government types were different it didn't really matter. I didn't get any bonuses or debuffs because of my government type. You can't even change your government type with policies or something that doesn't exist. Which sucks. You can only install a friendly government in a peace deal thats all. That part really made me sad.

+The game is turn based which sounded really weird and awkward before i played the game but after playing the game i can say that yeah the turn based system works. I don't know why i was so scared.
+The economy is tons of fun to mess with. I mean idk a whole lot about economies and money and shit like that. I just enjoy seeing green number turn red. But yeah selling stuff, buying stuff is tons of fun. Its simple but fun. Thought it sucks that we can only sell and buy resources like metal or coal and we can't do anything else with money. We can improve some stuff in our country but thats it. I wish we could buy licenses or at least give some money to a foreign nation to like build a infantry or a plane for us.
+I really like the UI. I found it really weird at first but after playing it i started to get used to it. The UI is good once you get used to it.

+/- Tons of start dates. There is even some special scenarios. Now this is great my problem is however the end date. I wish the game would just go for longer. Some scnearios have different end dates but it seems like 1945-1946 is the most common one in the scenarios. Thats not bad or anything i just wish it would go for a bit longer.

-Alternative history things are certainly possible but the only way to really do alt history is to declare war on nations that normally weren't involved in a war or take land that historically wasn't yours things like that. You can't seem to change your goverment type. At the same time the goverment type doesn't seem to change anything in game. So you do have different goverments like Fascism or Communism or Democracy but they don't have any advantages or disadvantages at the same time you can't change your government type in the game. So it doesn't matter in the end but its still sad to see that these things mean nothing.
-Some borders are not correct. For example Turkey has Hatay in 1933. We didn't have that province until 1938-1939. Hatay isn't really even shown in the game its just a part of a bigger province entirely. Which isn't bad or anything other games did the same thing its just weird that we have this land in the 1933 start date. Its not a huge problem but it is something that i noticed and i wanted to mention it.
-The training is alright but it could have been better. For example how the fuck do i justify a war goal ? I don't think i do well i don't think i can. I can just declare war but then the Allies will step in and i'll get fucked by the British. There must be a way to stop them from participating but i don't know how. And the game doesn't teach you that either. The game does have some manuals that you can use but i couldn't find an answer in those either. If i could justify a war goal and fight for a righteous cause or something then the Allies probably wouldn't bother me. The nation that i attacked probably wouldn't be able to join any factions. I did justify a war goal, i am fighting for a righteous cause after all but thats the thing you can't. Either you can't justify a war goal at all or if you can do it then i don't know how. You can just declare a war but the nation you declared war on will find an alliance to join and you will be fucked.

The game is alright. Nothing special its not awful but not great either. If you have some extra money lying around, if the game is in a huge discount and if you are interested in the game then yeah go for it. Otherwise you don't really need the game.

One of the better WW2 Grand Strategy games I have played. It is sorta like a cross between Axis and Allies and Hearts of Iron with just the right amount of depth to not feel overwhelming. The graphics are outdated compared to modern titles but once you get past that the game is great. The Ai seems more than competent and has given me quite a challenge so far. The Ui is ok and works well enough but could use a couple of quality of life upgrades but nothing game breaking. If you like WW2 grand strategy titles just buy it.

The game, Making History: The Calm and the Storm is similar in meta to HOI4, but has a different entry point for the player. First you start in 1933 and the game is not "flowing" as in HOi4, yet time flows, turn based but has a running timer which not penalizing makes one move through a turn.
The economic and research aspects are simpler than its dopple ganger yet offers a good variety and allows for multiple replay. The research is not nearly as exhaustive or creative but it is comprehensive, you can develope strategic bombing, military doctrine, and/or advanced weapons just not as illustrated or presented in such an impressive manner.
The turn based aspect imho makes this game generally more fun for me than the paradox games in the vein of HOI titles, Victory tiles, CK titles again in my opinion. While the subject of my review is more "hexy" wargamey in game executables it does take advantage of a nifty UI that without a tutorial one can get into the game.
One must like long rung ups and tinkering in a game before the conflict begins if so then you will like this game. By starting in 1933 you can really do alternative concepts prior to historial play by the AI. However the AI is limited to German and Russian alternative choice paths for the AI, so you can defang Germany and have the USSR go after capitalist and the middle east.
Now I was and have been locked into France so my above statement probably applies to major countries and you can play any country in the world so variety is very cool.
The major detail admin challenge as in many 4x styl grand level games is production and tracking and upgrading and ,,, yikes. Ok depending on the country the number of counties and cities ( each provide differnent things, counties do resources and cities do things/research) you have to wade through the list of each to get them operating at peak efficiency. Same with your counties in terms of upgrading them or expanding what the produce. That is rugged by micro and if you like it you can change it up monthly or every turn ( turns are 2 weeks), Same thing with producing troops and planes and ships.
There is no pure historical tie in no shermans no panzer 4's, just tanks with an adjective same for fighters and bombers - so again that is or can be a negative, Conversely on the Map you do get to have Chicago produce troops and Illinois produce corn so go figure.
Ships are also generalized so no Yamato, but again they do id troops as colonial troops or marines or mountain units just no specific names.
The whole world is your oyster. You could sail your fleet around the world, the move command for units is pretty unique. You have to know the area you want your guys to move to so as you get to know the map you can sale from the port of Cherboug half way around by selecting say for example: the gulf of Tonkin and your ships are routed. So at this point let me state it is area movement like HOI4. You can from one screen just go through every unit give them move commands select location from the drop down selector that appears. Unintended consequence is learning world georgraphy, Il De France is the county that holds the city of Paris, which is true of every country. Play Haiti and you get one city and one county and its a long road to world domination. 82 hours in and much to discover and the music is fitting too. Not for every one but if you like Strategic Command, HOI3, or HOI4, Unity of Command, Order of Battle you will probably like this, Commander the great war is another. I think if you play OOTP Baseball you might find this interesting, lol you might.
I like it the game has a fun wide open aspect but you can play it historical as the axis or allies. Thanks for reading

Hadn't heard of this game before it turned up in my Steam suggestions list. Just put 40 hours into the game, and really enjoyed it.

Familiar Risk/Axis and Allies type combat. Vaguely historical allocations of resources, tech and units between the various contenders. Some very un-historical elements, like Canada and Australia having minimal food.

What really made the game fun for me was the excellent Alliance and War declaration AI. Random enough to create a different history most every time; but with enough logic that it made some historical sense. The big powers seemed to have some countries they were likely to defend, but not every play though. The story generation was the thing I enjoyed most; the game lives up to its title.

I've enjoyed this game very much. I've played Clash of the Continents scenario, very good way to learn the game. I've won that on Grey (Amsterdam) easiest, Orange (China) and Yellow (USA) both slightly more difficult. I'm currently working on winning as Red (Chile) definitely harder. I think that both Blue (South Africa) and Green (South Australia) will be another notch harder. I'm currently working on the Rise of the Reich scenario 1 game with USA the other with USSR.

My Tips to people new to the game:

1. Coal is king, you need it to build anything, improving cities, making Goods, making Arms, building troops, did I say anything. Set production of any Coal resources you own or acquire to Maximize ASAP. Make capturing Coal resources a high priority.

2. Improve Cities. If playing Clash of the Continents you only have 1 city and it is max production, make some mobile units first turn to immediately capture surrounding countries. When you capture a City if it's production is less than 10 set it to build Light Industry. If it can build Basic Infantry in say 6 turns or less do that so you can defend you new territories.

3. Research WAIT on it. You need to capture a good number of territories before you worry about research. IMO start researching Improved Infantry first, Light Tanks next.

4. Check on other countries Cities regularly. Then bottom right button that looks like a fold opens information about the world. Click 2 button from left on Top the the far right tab (Cities) then at the headings click IPO. That rearranges all the Citties of the World to show the highest production Cities first. Any of these close to you are a priority to capture.

5. Amphibious Assaults are tough. You suffer a large penalty for these assaults. NEVER try this on a Capital, instead do a massive assault on a territory next to or near them, hopefully one that shows level 1 or 0 Fortifications.

6. Tanks are great for assaults. High Offense ok defense. I have noticed that the AI is smart enough that if you assualt with only Tanks you suffer a penalty (25 %) against Infantry so take some Infantry with you, remember I said Improved Infantry is first to research,

Want a grand strategy game that doesnt require you to "study" for endless hours how to play it, AND is not so simplistic that it doesnt feel like a grand strategy game?

Then Making History gold is your ticket!
This game is the perfect balance between simplistic and too complicated.

You get most of the aspects of other GS game, like your economy, industrial production, resources, diplomacy, etc. Just like in other GS games, but at a much simpler, easier to learn and faster to manage level. Yes, at the cost of some flexibility of course.

About the only negative i can find for this game, is the combat system is a bit over-simplified. Here is mostly about your "attack value", all armies/units have an attack value, and battles are mostly decided on who has the highest number. I wish more weight had been put into tactics, like flanking, encirclements, type of units used, etc. But dont let this mislead you, the strategy and large scale tactics are still here, just not as detailed as i would like.

Still, its a very fun game to play. I have (and really like) Hearts of iron 4, wich is the one i go to when i want a deep, long (as in several day to finish a game long) and complex playthru of ww2, but when i want a faster paced (e.g. end ww2 in one night), not so complex but STILL deep enough game, i come back to Making history Gold.

If you are even remotely interested in Grand Strategy WWII games, dont think about it, just go buy it!

I almost forgot...
Dont make the mistake of buying Making history 2 thinking it will be a modern & better version of this one. Trust me, its NOT!.
Get this one instead.

This is by far my favorite WWII strategy game. for its great diversity in game play makes almost every game diffrent. For i tend to play more as Germany, and most of the time i employ a similar stratagy; which is to bulid up industry, as to allow for mass production of primaraly tanks. But even though i make similar choices in my game play, the AI usially behaves slightly diffrently.
For somtimes the AI may field a primaraly defensive army, and other times it may field a primaraly offensive army; the same can be said about other countries foreighn policys.
However what ever the AI does they always play a smart game, being tactically aware of every move you make, and doing there best to counter, resulting in a challenging game every time.


Also as for playing as the smaller nations it can be a struggle, for i have been recently playing as Canada and aside from the lack of raw materials, the small population makes it impossible to industrialize every one of your citys. But where others see this a negative, i see this more of a positive. for it trys to keep things historically accurate, by limiting smaller nations. However that being said i was still able to conquer Japan, all of Africa, and most of Europe as Canada. Mind you i did not accomplish all of this before 1945, but it does show it can be done.

Over all i would recomend this game to all stratagy lovers, especially those who have playes Axis ans Allies, for this game has a very similar feel, for although it does not let you command individual regiments in a battle, its attantion to detail when it comes to the global map, and all of the little things such as city development, research, and resource management results in a rich but not overly complicated game play.

I highly do NOT recommend this game. If you wish to play as one of the major powers AND simply conduct battles for the various territories/zones (similar to Risk or Axis & Allies) then you MAY get some fun out of this. However, playing as any other nation OR playing a non-aggresive strategy as a major power is a waste of time. My major problems are as follows:
1) Agriculture/Food: I played games as Spain, Canada, Australia to see how it may be possible to become a major exporter of food to allies. To my surprise, as I increased the Agricultural capability of my zones/provinces I saw no appreciable increase in food production. Thinking that the problem was lack of infrastructure and roads, I increased that as well. Again, no change in food production to the better... things only got worse. In fact, playing as Canada and Australia - two nations that export billions in food... my nations were starving and I had to always import food from... Nazi Germany or USSR (who I was at war with).

Making history was good, we can all agree on that. But this version takes it to a whole new level. The small, yet important changes make this game the supreme basic Making history. One of the easiest gaes to pick up and play with ease if you are a veteran to the RTS genre. 10 billion times less confusing than hearts of iron 3. get this game for a grand old time, and the great war if your into micromanaging huge nations to incredibly long battles. This game is for the impatient. The Great War, is for the hard core RTSer. Overall 9/10. 10/10 WOULD FRANCE AGAIN.

Making history gold is an extended and updated version of making history : The calm and the storm.

I personally prefer making history gold over Making history 2 : The war of the world.

Its basically making history the calm & the storm with some of the elements of the war of the world , but with an easier system , so its easier to manage your nation.

I also wasnt a fan of the new design of how the world looked , this still has the old look and feel of making history the calm & the storm so thats a nice add for me personally.

I've been a fan of the series for years and own both none steam versions too , and i've put a lot of hours in the game.
for the low amount you pay for the game its most definitly worth it !

Overall this game can be really fun, but as time goes on on it gets slightly boring. It has A lot of potential if they were to add in steam workshop. As of right how its fun but could be better. 7/10

edit: you can find mods on their website!!!
9/10

This game is a gem that I have just had the pleasure of buying at a great price and having a good time with. I have only played a short time, but this game is so awesome I just had to come over to this screen and tell the world how awesome it is.

It's easy to pick up, fun and addictive to play, looks pretty cool, and honestly: it's really complex. There is A LOT that goes with this game. Not only does trade, diplomacy, and economy matter, but the game revolves around these aspects quite a bit.

Obviously being set during WW2, your job is simple: build an empire or outproduce everywhere (or both); every decision has a consequence, and I gotta admit, it gives the average person an insight into the functioning of nations today.

Wanna be an industrial power? You're gonna make less food; wanna field a large and powerful army? Hope you have financial reserves because guns aren't cheap.

It's a cool little game, and I have a feeling I'm gonna fall in love with it. I kinda already have.

Get it.

One of my favorite games of all time. Don't let the Steam play time fool you, I've been playing this game for 7 years and it's a nice mix between simplistic and complex with enough moddability to make Skyrim take notice. The best way to describe the game would be to take Axis & Allies, make it far more indepth yet put it on an interface that even someone new to video games could understand.
This video can help newcomers with understanding how the game works.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sser5Scn_Vg

The premise of the game, is you take control of one of the world's many countries during World War 2, by any country, I mean anyone from the Industrial Superpower that is the United States to tiny little old Ecuador, and try to survive the tumultous battles of World War 2. Now, this game, as the title implies, doesn't exactly follow the usual script and you're free to fight the war in whatever manner you choose. You can choose Germany, and decide to never attack Czechoslovakia in the first place and instead build up your industrial might so that you can bring down France sooner. Or you can focus military production purely on navy to surpass the Naval might of the United Kingdom... or you can declare war on everyone around you and try to survive an all out brawl.

I love this game, and would highly recommend it to anyone who has been a fan of Geopolitical games, Axis & Allies, or even just a fan of Turn Based Strategy games. Plus for 10 dollars, how can you go wrong?