No Greater Glory is one of the best strategic games of its era. It still stands as probably the best Civil War Strategic Game. While its graphics, and sound were dated in its own era, and today is far from even the worst of games, its AI was decent and on the most difficult of settings with the randomizer in place, it is down-right tough. The game, unlike games that followed a few years later like Gettysburg, does not focus on the battlefield level.
The game places into strategic control of the North or the South in the spring of 1861 and goes from there. You will need to create a cabinet and make developmental decisions. While rudimentary, the prestige settings will give a flavor for the State-minded focus of Americans at that time. It was a fundamental reason for Lee to fight for Virginia and not the Union. A new developer could take this basic concept and develop a robust game starting in 1858-1860 with the Election and in the South with decision making of the loose Confederacy that was developing.
I think basic decision tree logic with make choices and then narrowing choices could help you define the character that you want to lead you preferred side. This could
help define the appeal and support of states and impact how the areas respond to your leadership.
I think the cabinet choices could pose even more scripted choices and impact the game and international diplomacy. I would wish for more elaborate leadership selections and a longer list of Generals and supporting Generals. I would like to see a more robust list of naval choices and perhaps even naval leadership positions. Because games that came after No Greater Glory used the idea of tactical placement of troops and control of unit levels, I believe incorporating that into the game would be nice. I would suggest that such detail might be too much and simply allowing the player to select a location to move the troops and giving the general a series of orders from a list might be enough to give that tactical flavor.
This game was truly terrific at the time it came out and I would suggest it for a Civil War buff to give it a try and enough it for the simplicity that it gives and the accuracy it tries to portray. Enjoy.
