I played it a bit last night, but it was fucking slow. it seems the AI is overly active in this one and there are some tweaks that get you precious seconds for each hour. other than that, it seems that 1.1 (which is included in the GG version) introduced some game breaking bug that adds a huge amount of Consumer Goods demand when mobilizing, something like that.
although I don't really know how to play the game, I'll wait for the next patch, chances are that any bug right now can make the game even harder for me.
KillerGran: it's indeed complex, however, every single aspect can be controlled by the AI. you can almost watch the AI play the game. you can set AI control for: production, tech research, diplomacy, politics and intelligence. add that to the Theatre's system (which lets the AI handles operations in certain areas) and you have can play the way you want. I guess it's even better for newbies this way, so if you don't know what to research, let the AI do the job for you. don't know what trade deals are the best for you country? let the AI handle them.
the in-game tutorials sadly is just a walk through the screens, so it's better actually to print/read the manual. but the real help is the strategy guide that you can download, which is 70-page long. there's also a quickstart guide which is also helpful. although they still could improve the in-game tutorial, there's no better game to RTFM instead of crying that the game is complex, because it indeed is.
the words above were backed by NUCLEAR WEAPONS!
