I have both of these games because I've had a lifelong interest in warships of this period.

Jutland is much better balanced than DG. One thing I don't like about DG is that in my opinion, the Russian Port Arthur Squadron's battlehsips, particularly Tsesarevitch and Retvizan, are undervalued compared to the Japanese predreadnoughts. At the Battle of the Yellow Sea, Tsesarevitch went toe-to-toe with Togo's Mikasa for hours, and was getting the better of the exchange until Admiral Vitgeft and his staff were killed by a lucky shot. You can't do that in the game, because one on one, the Japanese ship will pound the Russian into powder, in minutes, every time. Russian gunnery was much better, according to Togo himself, than you see in game. I wish there was a difficulty slider you could apply just to one side in DG, so one could tune the battle to suit herself.

Jutland, on the other hand, is simply fun. It's very well balanced. I did a duel just to test the game mechanics, between the American dreadnoughts New York and Florida and the German Kaiser and Kaiserin, with advanced criticals and poor ammo handling "on." They only affect the Entente powers and not the Hochseeflotte ships. After two hours of slugging it out, New York's captain and executive officer were both dead, two 14" turrets were out of commission, and the ship had taken moderate damage including serious flooding and a list that had her speed slowed five knots off her top, but was still in it to win it. Florida lost her main director and was on local control, and had out of control fires that the damage comtrol parties were furiously battling. Kaiser's captain was dead, and the ship was fourteen minutes from sinking. Kaiserin had two turrets out but was still hanging in the fight. You could see dozens of shell hits on the ships, it looked like British post-Jutland battle pictures.

Tonight, I took the place of Admiral Franz Hipper, and led the battlecruisers of Scouting Group I into a clash with the Royal Navy's 3d BS, composed of HMS Dreadnought and five King Edward VII predreadnoughts. It was a 90-minute free-for-all, climaxing in a daring torpedo attack by the V-class destroyers and a toe-to-toe slugfest that left three of the German ships with light damage, HMS Britannia sunk by an explosion, and three of the other British battleships, including Dreadnought battered like the Germans but unbowed. The German objective was to withdraw in good order to the Jade, accomplished with only the loss of three destroyers. Great fun. Well balanced fight, and one that called for concentration and thought, I was tired after it was over. I crossed the British "T" early on when i turned for the Jade, and it was SMS Derfflinger, pride of His Majesty's fleet, who racked up the kill on Britannia. One minute, she was steaming away from the fight at 9 knots, showing light damage; the next, she was gone and I missed it-nothing left but burning wreckage. Crazy!

Jutland is definitely the better title for the investment.

Miao, Cat