Madmatt

Yes, in single player at least you can. I have not tested with Multiplayer yet. Madmatt

Actually, in the unit list I do see "orderlies" for various nations, but I haven't actually played with them yet, so I can't comment on what they do, or what they look like... Madmatt

Two things, sometimes the armor penetration chart lags a little behind what the mouse has selected and I tend to quickly zip through units while taking screenshots, so it may actually be showing stats for a previous weapon. More importantly, I have never seen small arms take out a vehicle like an armored car so I don't think you have anything to worry about there. Actually, there is a third point, what you're seeing is still pre-release, and graphics like those charts may still change so I wouldn't be too concerned about it just yet. I will have a look in game though all the same. Madmatt

I will be posting a full list once everything is confirmed. Madmatt

Although I don't know you personally Mord, I would have to say that to me, you see like a very hygenic and well read cretin...Just thought you might like to hear that... Madmatt

While its not for certain, due to how IL-2 handled maps, I kind of doubt that a full map editor like you have grown accustomed to in CMx1 will be possible in ToW anytime soon (or at all). What we are shooting for though is a scenario/battle editor. It's very early still in our cooperation with the developer, and we don't want to scare 1C with tons of demands of "gimmie gimmie gimmie" just yet. Madmatt

Okay, I will see what I can do. I may actually combine this request with another feature/gameplay movie I am working on. Madmatt

1. I cant say how far any one soldier can get as I haven't ever had anyone make it more than 3 battles. 2. You can have rain, fog and snow, but weather is the same throughout the battle. Never saw any lightening as such but only breifly played a rain battle. In addition to summer and winter maps, you should have also seen autumn (fall) ones as well. Madmatt

Its very hard to see shells in flight (they are drawn as thin, flashes of light) but from what I have seen in some of my long range engagement tests, yes this does *seem* to be modeled. In CM, obviously, being able to watch the trajectory, pause and replay it over and over made it much easier to check, but I will keep my eyes open and report back what I find. Madmatt

Well, you command everything really. Just like CM, there is no actually command position that you fill, your basically the overall battlefeild conscience of your side. You issue orders to individual guns, crews, tanks, vehicles and squads. But you can also command a specific member of a squad or crew and have them do something all on their own. You don't have to micromanage every member of a squad, they will cover each other when they advance, lay down fire, and take cover on their own, but if you want to issue specific orders to every guy, you can. Madmatt

I noticed this too actually, but also noticed that I havent seen it really affect the battles too much. What's interesting is that I saw early interface screenshots that did have a button/unbutton command. Just another one of those things we will ask the devs about. I will say though that tanks seems to attract a LOT of attention in these tight little battles, so being unbuttoned is probably not a good idea either, but I do intend to ask them about this. Madmatt

You can move the mouse to the edge of the screen to move forward/back and move left and right, but they didnt do the side pans at the corners like we did. Oh well, you cant have everything. I will say though, I find ToW's variable camera modes very intuitive and from what I see you can even tweak the sensitivity of the mouse itself to tailor it to your own specs. I need to play around with that though to be sure. Madmatt

Currently, there are 5 campaigns (UK/US, Polish, French, German, USSR) and each campaign has between 3 and 13 pre-set battles that you play through. Progression is linear, and success is required (at least as of right now) to proceed to the next battle. We are looking at the possibility of some changes to the current system implemented, but its too early to comment on that. Madmatt

Let me just make a brief comment (so I can return to testing the game itself). There are a lot of assumptions being posted here but there are based on anicdotal evidence. While the screenshots you have seen would seem to indicate the the penetration values may be compressed, there is no evidence yet that the game itself actually uses these compressed values. What does that mean exactly? Basically, a distinction must be made by what is shown to the player, in a static format (such as those penetration amounts vs. range charts that appear for each ammo type) and what the game itself actually uses. This was also a factor in CMx1. For example, in CM, we show you a firepower rating for a squad, what many people don't realize is that number is purely arbitrary and the code itself never used such a firepower rating, it computed small arms in a much more consise and detailed way. I have been conducting long range gunnery tests in ToW, and I have seen kills out beyond 500 meters while it would seem based on the penetration table displayed they might not be possible. What does that mean? It could be as simple as the fact that the devs havent updated the graphic files for those penetration tables yet. I honestly don't know, but rest assured this will be asked of them. This is still a beta I am playing and taking screenshots from and not all graphics are yet incorporated. One of the reasons they have decided to sign with us is because of our focus on historical accuracy, and they have proved very willing to hear what we have to say so far. Having said that, I have to say that now that I have played through probably 75% of the battles available (43 currently), the battles, to me at least, really feel very well balanced, have a great back and forth flow to them, and more importantly (although often overlooked) they are FUN. The AI puts up a good fight, doesn't do anything really stupid, seems to react well to whats going on and makes you work for a victory or feel stupid that you got your butt handed to you. What continually impresses me is how tightly designed and intergrated all the various facets of the game really are, and this is something that is so hard to convey without getting hands on time with it. Madmatt

The new link was missing a "p" at the end of the file name. Its fixed now. Madmatt

Yeah, you can do that. You can also use a Next Unit/ Previous Unit controls and the selected unit is always focused on. And those icons off screen are also clickable and doing so again centers the view on that unit. The camera features in this title are VERY flexible and intuitive. Madmatt

But don't ever accuse me of not being sympathetic to having to click through a bunch of extraneous stuff to get a video either... For that reason, I have video again mirrored on our local server. Actually, it always was, the link to it was removed on the Gallery page though. Its back now. Madmatt

Half-assed marketing? Interesting... We don't give release dates on games until we know them. If you want to call our honesty "half-ass" then be my guest, but I can't agree with it. So far, the only complaint I saw about the video was due to the codecs that were needed, and that has been fixed (thanks to Worthplaying). 3rd party hosting actually isn't 2002, its the what all game developers and publishers due in order to help spread the word about their games, create exclusivity to various outlets for content and to help offset the huge overhead costs associated to the amount of bandwidth required to steam this sort of content out to the general public. As to our download platform, its been out for months (its intergrated with our new eLicense licesing system) and works great but its not really meant for videos and content of this type but rather for the games themselves. As to getting game info, I have no idea what your complaining about, each of our games has a dedicated forum and website with lots of info available to you. If you have a question, simply ask it, but if we tell you "WHEN ITS DONE" (as in the release dates of CMC or CMSF) then guess what? Thats your answer. Madmatt

The names in CM were taken from phone books and real period documents of the nations represented, so if they are a bad joke, then your the only one that seems to think so. As to adding more names, that looks like a possibility yes, although each nation already has far more than would ever be needed it seems. Madmatt

Hehehe, well I am one of the BTS guys and I don't recall that term so it must have been something that Steve pulled outa his ummm....yeah... As to the other questions, there is no Kill Probablity or firepower ratings shown. Best thing to do is watch and see what results your guys have when they shoot. As to LOS interuptions, we are still evaulating all of this. But for right now, if you try and target something out of LOS you will get a message from the unit indicating that they dont have LOF or LOS to it. It really seems that while the UI does give you a lot of info, it tries to do so based on information that would be obvious and not the more "under the hood" abstract calaculations like for instance you might get in CMx1. Thats why you dont get %'s or firepower ratings ever shown. Madmatt

Camera shake....hmmmmmm... Not that I recall, but I bet it could be added down the road... Madmatt

My offer was directed to joesnuffy since he started this post. Normally vehicles try to avoid trees but there is a command you can give them where they basically move straight ahead and if they are big/heavy enough they can knock over trees, fences and other obstructions in their way. I will have to experiment to see if there are trees that are too big to knock over. I know that not all vehicles can do that though. Madmatt

Yes. Madmatt

We can't give you everything is the first game now can we? We need to leave some goodies for the addon(s).... Madmatt

Tell me what you want to see and I will make up a screenshot just for you. You just want to see infantry moving through a thickly wooded area or something more specific? Madmatt