Jump to content

TOW2 released version first impressions


General_solomon

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 68
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

beerhunter

You completed all three campaigns already? :)

Nooo, I'm play this game sloowly to enjoy every detail... Like I said, just stopped my troops for a while to get some breathe... Been on Tebessa, put artillery in position to render enemy trenches... My Tigers are ambushing any counterattack that enemy could land on me... Easy and slowly, theres no time boundaries like in CM... Heh, been so pathetic on this, isn't it?!? Remember me on my past...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No one actually liked the music in ToW1 so we decided to get rid of it and let the players use their favorite music instead. There are folders music\game and music\menu, you can place your favorite music files there (this is described in manual).

Cant find those folders.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nooo, I'm play this game sloowly to enjoy every detail... Like I said, just stopped my troops for a while to get some breathe... Been on Tebessa, put artillery in position to render enemy trenches... My Tigers are ambushing any counterattack that enemy could land on me... Easy and slowly, theres no time boundaries like in CM... Heh, been so pathetic on this, isn't it?!? Remember me on my past...

i am like you, i love to play campaigns very slow to enjoy the battles. That's why i am hoping by the time i get my computer next week we will have some user created scenario's.

I also like the fact that you don't have to rush to beat the time.

i want to have the option to play for as long as there are enemy troops and not worrying about the time.

hopefully the CM:Normandy will include the unlimited time option.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, me too -- I like to play the battles slowly. And there's a great moment of stillness right after the chaos and carnage of a vicious firefight when both sides seem to reel back to rest and regroup...It's exciting to zoom in to grunt's-eye view and look out at the sunbaked, dustblown horizon of smoking tank wrecks, shattered buildings, the sporadic rattle of distant small-arms fire...you can almost hear the troops catching their breath, maybe gulping down a Hershey bar and sneaking a last quick look at that snapshot of their girl back home before the sergeant says "fall in!"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In fact, first click orders all passangers to exit and second bails out entire crew. Halftracks and other passanger vehicles usually have only one crewman - driver - so second click let out only him. You can select crewmen and passangers before ordering them to exit just like in ToW1.

I think you still misunderstand what I am trying to say. Yes, right about first and second click. But, in the demo, SOMETIMES, the first click would let EVERYONE exit the vehicle (vehicles with passengers), INCLUDING the driver, which seems to be a bug. So, is this still in the release version?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think you still misunderstand what I am trying to say. Yes, right about first and second click. But, in the demo, SOMETIMES, the first click would let EVERYONE exit the vehicle (vehicles with passengers), INCLUDING the driver, which seems to be a bug. So, is this still in the release version?

We didn't encounter such a bug. Anybody else seen this? Game may register two button clicks instead of one because of various reasons. Hardware mouse button problem too:)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The battle is calmed down, my tired soldiers sit and wait... Listening lion roaring, hawk cries...

GREAT!!!

Where is the add-ons and new campaigns and battles? Any chance to move TOW2 to another battlegrounds, like eastern and western front? Give us more, more, more!!!!:D

Yeah, eastern and western front - that would be great.

Dear battlefront, i hope you realise that TOW2 has a lot more potential as his predecessor. And with a patch, addons and mods.... it could be the king of wargaming :-)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

- Haven't had the "one click all out" thing happen to me so far.

- Loved the 1, love the 2.

- 15 missions IS a tad short. It does seem "add-on money" likely.

- When picking up ammo in numbers (several nades or gun clips), i can't use the arrows to pick up more, only manually entering amount works.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I for one love the new game despite a few learning curves with the new game play once mastered I think it could with additions of another campaign, patch, or what not surpass any other RTS that I've played to date in many different way's.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

First kinda bug (?) for me.

Upon finishing the 1st battle on US campaign, game crashes as the SAVING... screen appears.

Pop-up window says, error, out of memory (I got plenty of space left on my HD).

Other than that, fantastic! And best of all... Bersaglieri !!!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hallo,

I have only played the demo so far (have been a life long player of the close combat games and more recently TOW1).

In my opinion the TOW series is Close Combat in 3D, with more options and much better. Though I do miss the campaign strategy side of things where you have battle groups and move them around the map to win a series of battles and ultimately the campaign. The campaigns at the moment are lineal in nature. Perhaps this will come?

Firstly I want to say that TOW2 is fantastic and I am going to buy it. The graphics, game play etc are super.

Little things I noticed that could be improved or fixed or perhaps just clarified. (Simply reading the online instruction manual has already answered a lot of my questions and made the following list considerably shorter):

1. I found that when I entered a vehicle and drove around in it the graphic flickered strongly. My computer is able to play this game comfortable with all the options turned up full, so this is not I think a computer based problem.

2. On this theme it would be nice when one is in a vehicle to be able to give directional orders such as left, right, backwards, forwards at a key press rather than having to turn and use the mouse and directional arrows.

3. I could not mount any infantry on any of the tanks in the demo perhaps this is available in the full version?

4. The repeat of the same voice commands/responses, and the voice sounds of panic, get a bit irritating, is there a way of turning them off. Option: no voices? Or perhaps programme the game so that it does not always have to say something or it could have a wider range of standard phrases to use.

5. I found that vehicles were able to drive over terrain that would be impossible even for a tank. For instance the steep ridge between the 105mm artillery position and the town was able to be driven over by the German tanks, and mine, and the incline is generally about 80 degrees and sometimes as good as vertical. Most tanks of this era could at the most climb a 30 degree incline. I drive around terrain like this to stay realistic however the computer does not.

Cheers

Alan

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Russkly

Where your tanks were when they were hit? Maybe leIGs actually had LOS.

Crews bailing out - in most game situations this will result in almost certain death from small arms fire, so they decide that it's better to stay inside:)

Regarding the infantry manning the guns - they can be fired even at Gunner skill 0, but the results are usually unsatisfactory. Infantry may be prohibited from using the artillery, but this will result in strange situations when infantry will be slaughtered by a tank and no one will attempt to use the nearby functioning gun with dead crew.

Vehicles are much more tricky to use, but this is reflected in the game. For example, enemy vehicles require 50 skill.

Thanks for replying, Sneaksie.

In answer to your questions:

SPOILER: In the 1st scenario (Kasserine Pass) of the British campaign, deploy the units in their default positions and then move them back towards the end of the wadi they're in (retreating, as it were). The LeIGs cannot have LOS, and there can also be no FO that far forward at that point, I don't think.

Anyway the arty zeroes in immediately on the moving vehicles and infantry, and I have lost half the platoon in 30 seconds.

Same happens (at any stage in the scenario), if, on reching the gully at the back of said wadi, you turn into the adjacent wadi on the left to approach the first village the Germans attack. Even single infantrymen get targeted by unerringly accurate arty.

Defintely a bug, in my book, and rather annoying.

Re: bailing out. I take your point, but I had one instance of a PzIVF2 M-/F-Killed with only the bow MG working. I had a Daimler armoured car firing on it from 50m to the front, and 2 Valentines firing on it from 100m from the rear. Threw in some HE from 2 105s as well. It's true that to bail out would mean death, but presumably there was a mechanism for tank crews to surrender?

On that point do enemy units surrender at all in ToW2?

Agree with Good Guy about infantry manning arty. AT guns I can get, but not arty - even platoon subalterns were not trained to operate arty. Perhaps down the barrel aiming in extremis, as you say, but nothing more.

As for AFVs (excepting half tracks perhaps), I'd like to hear of examples where standard infantrymen manned and operated a tank. Whilst min. levels of 50 make sense for enemy tanks, what about friendly tanks? I just can't get my head around infantry driving a tank around and firing the main armament.

Also, lots of the voices are American, not British, which detracts a little from the realism!

Lastly (I promise), and apologies if it's staring me in the face, but how do you stop the game pausing and jumping to the particular spot every time someone gets killed? I couldn't find a menu option to turn that feature off.

Playing each scenario through a few times, and it is great fun.

R

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hallo,

I have only played the demo so far (have been a life long player of the close combat games and more recently TOW1).

Little things I noticed that could be improved or fixed or perhaps just clarified. (Simply reading the online instruction manual has already answered a lot of my questions and made the following list considerably shorter):

I haven't played CC for quite a time now, but i think i will be able to draw scheme of every stock CC3 map from memory if i need too;) CC series got me hooked on wargames and WW2 history.

1. Moving can be made smoother, but this will adversly affect FPS. Currently this is an engine limitation.

2. It seems you want tank sim:) Theoretically this can be done. BTW, there is a great ww2 tank sim Steel Fury.

3. This is not implemented, however, in JSH mod for ToW1 this was done for some tanks. Maybe mod authors we'll make the same for ToW2 (BTW, Italian vehicle mod is being developed for ToW2).

4. Exactly which frases got on your nerves?

5. Of course this was a bug, in certain circumstances map of impassable terrain was not loaded in demo. However, in full version this bug was not confirmed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

SPOILER: In the 1st scenario (Kasserine Pass) of the British campaign, deploy the units in their default positions and then move them back towards the end of the wadi they're in (retreating, as it were). The LeIGs cannot have LOS, and there can also be no FO that far forward at that point, I don't think.

Anyway the arty zeroes in immediately on the moving vehicles and infantry, and I have lost half the platoon in 30 seconds.

Same happens (at any stage in the scenario), if, on reching the gully at the back of said wadi, you turn into the adjacent wadi on the left to approach the first village the Germans attack. Even single infantrymen get targeted by unerringly accurate arty.

Defintely a bug, in my book, and rather annoying.

Ahh:) This was not arty, there are minefields, both anti-tank and anti-personnel! That's why Germans are forced to go through all three passes.

Re: bailing out. I take your point, but I had one instance of a PzIVF2 M-/F-Killed with only the bow MG working. I had a Daimler armoured car firing on it from 50m to the front, and 2 Valentines firing on it from 100m from the rear. Threw in some HE from 2 105s as well. It's true that to bail out would mean death, but presumably there was a mechanism for tank crews to surrender?

On that point do enemy units surrender at all in ToW2?

No, surrender is planned for later, we couldn't make it in time. Currently soldiers usually panic in such situations and panicking soldiers are as good as dead in terms of victory conditions. But panicking crew not always bails out (buy the way, this leads to some funny situations when fully functioning tank don't fire because of panicking loader or crewman decides that he got enough of this and bails out trying to flee while his former comrades continue to fight).

Agree with Good Guy about infantry manning arty. AT guns I can get, but not arty - even platoon subalterns were not trained to operate arty. Perhaps down the barrel aiming in extremis, as you say, but nothing more.

Maybe we'll make no-LOS firing available only from certain Gunner skill level.

As for AFVs (excepting half tracks perhaps), I'd like to hear of examples where standard infantrymen manned and operated a tank. Whilst min. levels of 50 make sense for enemy tanks, what about friendly tanks? I just can't get my head around infantry driving a tank around and firing the main armament.

For friendly tank soldiers need at least 1 of Gunner or Driver skills, and ordinary infantrymen have zeroes in these skills. Even if soldier has like 10 Driver skill, this would be a nightmare for him to drive a tank - try this. Tank will move very slowly and twitchy, engine will fail frequently and so on.

Also, lots of the voices are American, not British, which detracts a little from the realism!

You mean that British soldiers speak like Americans? Can you tell which frases are American for example?

Lastly (I promise), and apologies if it's staring me in the face, but how do you stop the game pausing and jumping to the particular spot every time someone gets killed? I couldn't find a menu option to turn that feature off.

This option is located in config program, options.exe, where you set graphic options after installation. It called 'SmartPause'.

Playing each scenario through a few times, and it is great fun.

I'm glad you're enjoing it:)

R

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Within buildings is there any way to control which openings the soldiers will move to? It might be nice if issuing a defend order with direction makes them move to the openings (if any) in that direction.

Does infantry stance work in buildings? If so... does it offer additional defensive bonus if they are prone vs standing at the openings?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mines?? What should do about them? How can you clear the mines?

Well, a tank can demine anti-personnel mines just by going over them and detonating them, thus creating a safe pasage in the minefield. Infantry can pass above AT mines safely. You can also demine by strong enough nearby explosions (bombs, powerful HE shells and grenades) which set off the mines.

Problem is that there are both AT and AP mines laid in the passes in this mission, just don't go there :)

SPOILER: During one of the British missions you are tasked to prevent enemy engineers from demining your minefields.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Within buildings is there any way to control which openings the soldiers will move to? It might be nice if issuing a defend order with direction makes them move to the openings (if any) in that direction.

Does infantry stance work in buildings? If so... does it offer additional defensive bonus if they are prone vs standing at the openings?

Soldiers automatically go to windows in the direction of highest threat in that moment and try to cover all sides (if there is sufficient number of them inside the house). They also automatically sit or stay while inside the house - they won't see anything while prone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tank will move very slowly and twitchy, engine will fail frequently and so on.

I think this is realistic, as driving a tank is totally different from driving a car or truck. Inexperienced or impatient tank drivers could very well damage or destroy a Tiger's/Panther's gear, just by starting the engine and pulling away without using clutch and gas smoothly - this was an issue with some inexperienced German training units mostly, which sometimes were rushed to the front in 1945, but even happened to experienced crews who transitioned to Tiger/Panther tanks. But in theory, infantry can at least move a friendly tank and provide direct fire, but with extended loading times for the main gun, as they have to get familiar with the instruments.

@Sneaksie: Are loading times changed for inexperienced crews????

There are several videos on youtube covering driving lessons in a German tank driving school (German Army, driving a special version of the Leopard 2 - driving school version with a cab on top -> for the instructor) on youtube ("Panzerfahrschule" = "tank driving school"), and there is a video about a company that provides 30 mins tank-sessions (costs 30 euros) near Berlin, where civilians can drive a Russian T-55 "wrecker" - a tank retriever. Quite interesting, all civilians are able to drive the T-55 (which rather feels/behaves like a WW2 tank than let's say a modern Leopard 2 packed with electronics) after being introduced to the steering arms (T-55s don't have steering wheels), the pedals, and the internal voice com. They actually drive the tank after being briefed for 5-10 minutes:

I should add that T-55 tanks are waaaaaay more "user-friendly", their gears and clutches weren't as finicky as the ones in Panther or especially Tiger tanks.

But the tank movement in the game is not realistic. As you can see in the video below, tanks can drive curves without having to stop and turn on one spot - before proceeding to the next waypoint. This is a refurbished Jagdpanther:

Tanks in TOW1 and TOW2 stop in their tracks before going to the next waypoint, even if the next waypoint resides let's say 10 degrees from the initial heading, only. This leads to frustrating situations in the game, as it's not possible to quickly bypass enemy gun positions: friendly tanks (well and enemy tanks too) are extremely vulnerable during these moments, as they aren't firing/defending themselfs either. It's frustrating to loose tanks that in reality could go with 30 - 50 km per hour and which could perform curved movements very well. Tanks could drive curves. Check the original footage about Allied or German tanks. The desert campaign was pretty much about mobile warfare, but in the game, it's rather about sitting ducks (tanks) waiting to catch an enemy round.

This is one of the details which keep me from buying the game.

Can you tell which frases are American for example?

Btw, is it possible to have the phrases less frequent (when giving orders) and maybe more random?. The voice samples are extremely repetitive and kill the immersion big time. Having several different phrases for the same command would change a lot, with a given unit just being silent for let's say the next 3 commands, before responding with a voice sample again. Then there should be phrases like "Yes sir", "On my way", "Affirmative" or "I'm on it", for example, to have some more varied voice responses.

@Russkly:

You have to use the close tag to properly quote someone:

{QUOTE}quoted text goes here{/QUOTE}.

Just use these brackets instead of the round brackets above --> [ ]

Maybe we'll make no-LOS firing available only from certain Gunner skill level.

That would be a good addition, and it would be more realistic.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


×
×
  • Create New...