Madmatt

Weapon data is not editable, scenario data does appear to be (or at least is right now). The biggest battle I have yet played (or made with my evil editing skills) had well over a 150 guys on my side, but I think trying to do a Uber-Huge battle in ToW would probably drop your PC to its knees. Part of my QA processes though is to stress test this game so I will see just how far it can be pushed and let you know what I find. Madmatt

Yes, you will get a little pop up on any unit you mouse over, so if thats called "Live Mouse Reporting (which is a new term to me) then YES, thats what you get in ToW. The reason it's different in the second screenshot is because you can't see where the mouse is placed and I was probably on a soldier and not the gun itself. Madmatt

Just like with all of other releases, you should be able to purchase from us when it goes on sale no matter where you live on the same day. Madmatt

Units seem aware of causilities that occur around them and will take moral hits as their comrades are killed or their squad leader is killed. In fact, loosing a squad leader has an added impact as normally you can doubleclick on the SL and your entire squad will be selected. Once he is incapacitated you can no longer do that, although you can still select all the guys by other means (clicking them one at a time to group them together or using the drag and select method with the mouse). I think this adds a nice cohessiveness element and an encentive to keeping your SL's alive. Madmatt

One shot can and will kill a soldier but the health of each guy is shown using a bar (same as his moral/spirit). Usually when guy takes a hit, you will hear him scream and that bar will drop down a great deal (its not like you are bullet sponges). You can also guys that just get winged and the health will drop a small bit. From what I have seen though, guys who's health is very low seem to move, react and fight about as well as you would expect someone who's health is very low. Not well at all, and usually tend to attend to their own needs and ignore the players attempt to use him as cannon fodder. Madmatt

From what I have seen, you can actually name individual troops and crewmen if you edit the mission files. Normally though, the names are randomly generated from a list of common first and last names based on nationality. Madmatt

Since we seem to be comparing the realism inherent in ToW as it compares to CM let me talk about an obvious abstraction in CM which people seem to accept without question and one in which is vastly more important than occupy-able buildings. Ammo... In CMx1, your infantry will never, ever run out of ammo. Sure it can go into a depleted ammo state, but they will always manage to crank off a few more shots if need be and will do so for as long as the battle lasts. We explain this by abstracting the scrounging of ammo off the dead and wounded. In ToW, every clip, magazine, drum, and belt of ammo is tracked down to individual round. This weapon and ammo tracking is done separate from the tracking of a soldier himself which makes it possible for you to move a trooper over to where a comrade (or enemy soldier) has fallen and choose exactly what of his equipment you want to pick up or swap out. You could for example drop your Kar 98k and pick up a MP-40 and 4 clips of ammo and a few M-24 grenades. You could drop off your M-34 belt of ammo to the MG team. You could crawl through your trench line and pick up a fallen AT Rifle and ammo. That is a level of realism that CMx1 games simply could not do. Proper ammo and weapon management is just about the single most important tactical consideration and yet was totally abstracted in CMx1 and this was accepted almost totally without comment. The design of a game is often a delicate balance of features, playability and realism. And lets be clear here, the devs have already said that the engine CAN allow for building occupation and was even in the game at one point and we (Battlefront) are going to find out exactly what problems they had with its implementation and see if maybe it could be re-addressed at some point. Now, about my comments with T-72. There are lots of people that enjoy that game and got from it exactly what they wanted, a fun modern tank sim. With its graphics, dynamic and destroyable environments it offered what no other tank sim had, up until that point, and I am still not sure that even Steel Beasts 2 PE (which I do wish to check out) was able to do some of the things that T-72 did. Was it the perfect tank sim, no, but my excitement for it, like for ToW was and is genuine. But you don't need to take my word for it. We release demos for all of our games and everyone has their own expectations and desires for a game that they bring to a table. If you don't like ToW, fine, that's your prerogative. But I think it kicks ass and I will continue to try to tell people about it as best I can. Madmatt

Why not? Use the Aussie mirror, it seemed fast for me. Madmatt

Just a reminder guys, this is a Theater of War forum, not a PC or SPWAW forum so if you want to discuss those games, you need to do it on their forums, not here. Madmatt

There are three Camera Control styles. Free Camera (which I always use), Attach to Mouse and Attach to Center. (I know those terms will get changed to make more sense). I think Attach to Mouse is what you would want as it will cause the camera to always keep the mouse cursor in view. Attach to center allows you to basically plant the camera unto fixed point and rotate around it. Currently there is no ZOOM mode (Mousewheel controls camera height) but I am asking the developers to add a zoom component. Madmatt

I have not seen rafts or assault boats as such, but I also havent seen a battle where they would really be needed either. Madmatt

You may on occasion feel like control is slipping away from you, but its not because the AI went on autopilot, but rather bacause the AI is kicking your butt...Or at least thats what happens to me sometimes... Madenatt

MUCH better drivers! There are also formation commands you can issue as well as a handy "custom formation" command that will look at group selected units current position and spacing relative to one another and maintain the same spacing and orientation as they move. Madmatt

You can give Hold Fire and Hold Position commands and then order your unit to lay down, effectively keeping them from exposing their position to enemy units until which time you want them to pop up or fire. While I havent yet setup a good PaK gun ambush myself, I have seemed to stumble into plenty of them when I play against the AI... Madmatt

Yeah, I have added that file to the Video Gallery page. Its pretty good too and shows much more than my Infantry one. Madmatt

Umm okay...This thread got a little surreal there for a moment but to answer the current question of "If XML file manipulation is so easy, why doesnt every developer add one in" is pretty simple. It really is a matter of focus, time, effort and resources. So much post release support for a good game now comes from 3rd party involvement and modding that a lot of time a developer just expects that the community will take care of this stuff themselves. Also, not every developer is really all that thrilled about their lifes work getting manipulated and changed at will either (yes, ego does enter in to this) so they arent always in a rush to spend time and effort to make it easier to do so. Doesn't modding give a game added longeivity? Sure, but it can be a matter of diminishing returns. The core game has to be good otherwise its not worth modding it so I would prefer a developer get the basics done first, and worry about extrenal mod support later. I can look at the ToW structure and tell its going to be a modders dream though, it will just take some time to get this all established and working. And lets be clear, this stuff (for example a XML based scenario editor) isnt easy to code either, it has to be tested, documented and run through the paces just like everything else and in this business, every second of interuption from the primary goal of getting the game done, really does count. Madmatt

Mace, don't you have a sheep needing your tender loving care? Now why would you go and spread unfounded rumors like this...bad boy... Do you really think we would neglect to mention such a cool and invaluable tool as a mission recorder and playback device...silly silly Aussie... Lets just say that Moon was right in what he said...Il-2 really did have a cool mission recorder and playback tool....Hmmm, yup it did at that... Now, what engine was ToW based on again.... Hmmmmm.............. Madmatt

No, I moved him. You have total control over your units and will never really feel out of the loop, but just like in CM, your units will act on their own behalf at times as they aren't so thrilled about standing still and getting killed. Madmatt [ July 28, 2006, 05:17 PM: Message edited by: Madmatt ]

Let me weigh in with some answers. Right now, voice sounds are not implemented in my build but I believe there are audio cues to alert of stuff like this. Currently you get a top down and side diagram showing you where damage has been inflicted as well as a little message/status window that will mirror all crew/soldier messages for currently selected unit. You will get announcements that the Main gun is destroyed or the unit had no valid line of site to the target etc... 2. Yes, you can issue a command called Target Ground, which allows area fire. You can also tell the unit which weapon you want to use. Remember in CM how sometimes that Panzefaust unit wouldnt use them when they close assualted? Well its no problem anymore, just order them to use the PzFaust and they will, unless they did it for you. 3. yes, you can order gunners to target Wheels/Tracks, Hull or Turrets. 4. I havent really seen one unit totally sneak up on another yet, but I also havent tried to crawl undetected to a enemy position yet either. 5 No cover arcs, and none needed either. Remember, in CMx1 a covered arc is actually a targeting limitor, it PREVENTS a unit from scanning in too wide an arc for targets and thereby getting fixated on a unrealistic target. The AI in ToW is strong enough to pick targets on its on. Of course you as the player may have your entire squad concentrate fire on a single target for example, and you can do that at will. 6. Animations are VERY fluid. Wait to you see the animations of a crew bailing out or recrewing a Hetzer. Its a thing of beauty! 7. With the time I have had with the game to date, penetration and ammo effects are consistent with real world performances. 7a,angle of incedence of shells does appear to be modeled and I think the devs comments on this long ago. 7b. Looks like its done much the way CM does it. Thats something that the devs will have to comment on. 7c. HUGE list of ammo types... Jesus, do you people ever LOOK at the screenshots I post? 8. Scale is 1 to 1, again, look at the screenshots to see this for yourself. 9. Appears to be Borg Spotting, and done very similar to CM. One cool thing though is that you might be able to hear a unit and see trees collapse as it knocks them aside deep in a forest but you wont actually see the tank until its spotted by one of your units. I intend to do a lot more testing with spotting in the near future. Not sure any of you recall, but refining the spotting system and reaction times with CM was one of the things I used to do, and gave Charles nightmares about for years after. Madmatt

Oh one other comment about the universal recrewing. We are looking at some other options with this (maybe make it a setting that can be turned on or off) but the thing to remember is that the original crews usually have a lot more skill with their weapons and vehicles than any replacement crew will ever have, so while its cool to keep repopulating the crew of the PaK with your spare infantry, by and large, they won't be all that effective doing it. This is due in part to the fact that every soldier in the game is rated on various skills such as leadership, scouting, sighting, driving etc... Madmatt

Sure, its gamey and pushes reality a bit, but then so does using bailed crews in CM as ad-hoc scouting units... The key thing to realize is that its FUN, and actually seems to work very well and far from skewing play balance, actually seems to improve it. Its the one thing that really struck me about ToW. Every time I encountered an abstraction or something I thought was a little gamey, I was amazed at how taken as a whole, all the game elements really came together to improve overall balance and flow. Its obvious that 1C has put massive amount of time and effort in ToW to strike that sweet spot between play balance, realism and overall fun. With regards to the script issue, no its not pre-scripted, but rather it uses a scripting engine. Pre-scripted would be like in Chance Encounter where on turn 10, those three Hellcats are going to show up in CMBO. With scripting, the scenario designer could have said that if the Germans still had the Tiger, the three M-18's should arrive, but if they only had the StuG's then maybe bring in some extra infantry instead and just one Hellcat, or add a random timer to how long it takes for them to appear, or maybe make them arrive somewhere else. Basically scripting allows you massive amounts of freedom to make a battle much more dynamic and interact directly with the players actions and not just pre-set in stone set of conditions. Madmatt

From what I have found so far by digging in and getting my fingers all dirty is that ToW uses a very elaborate (and seemingly powerful) scripting structure to dictate resinforcement schedules, placement and makeup. That in of itself seems to make scenarios play very differently depending on how you actually play them. I will be honest though, I am not what you would call a script savvy guy so a lot of what i am seeing is all Russian to me (literally in some cases) but from my extensive background with IL-2 (ask Harv or jwxspoon about my Bastogne mission!) it looks like the scripting capabilities of this game will keep people busy for a LONG time with what it seems to be able to offer. Madmatt

Over the weekend I plan to release an article that will cover much of what you ask. Basically its a game overview and discussion comparing, contrasting it to our beloved CM. Madmatt

In the unit list I do see French Partisans listed but I couldn't in good conscience voluntarily play the French Campaign until I played the others first so I am not sure if they are featured in any of the battles or not. Madmatt

hehee, i was hoping for this questions. Units seem VERY intelligent about pathfinding and if the water is shallow enough, they will ford across. Not sure if they can get stuck or not, but I did see a Pz III (i think it was) have trouble going up the reverse slope after he crossed a shallow stream... Then again it could have been because I flanked him with my KV-1 and was pumping rounds into his hull.... By the way, the sounds of vehicle engines in this sim are amazing. You can actually hear engines sputter and stall, rev up and down and work hard as they move their metal masters around the battlefield. I am really going to want some *alone time* with their sound engineer so i can incorporate the same into CMSF! The eagle eyed among you might have noticed a speedometer as part of the vehicle interface. With that you can actually see as the vehicles shift gears as they drive around. Very cool. Madmatt