M Hofbauer

btw, Guy Sajer in one of his books mentions that that machine gunner eventually died of hemorrhoids, tragically a day after the war was over.

Never say never unless you're absolutely sure and even then don't say it. 'cause around here there is always a dick with a scanner to prove you wrong. </font>

he was merely explaining to you exactly where that term originates from.

no ****. I was being sarcastic, I didnt do any counting: even then, a ratio of 1:4 is just ridiculous. seems you're not grasping that in all its weight...heck, you even make pull out some of my books... for the invasion of Poland germany committed 1,5 million soldiers but less than 3,000 tanks including 69 Pz III and 205 Pz IV. The po0lish had 130 7TP tanks, 55 M-17, 49 R-35 and less than 500 useable TK/TKS minitanks. for the french campaign the germans had 136 Divisions with a total of 2,8 million soldiers...and committed a total of 523 Pz I, 955 Pz II, 349 Pz III, 278 Pz IV, 128 Pz 35(t) and 229 Pz 38(t). The allies had 148 Divisions with a total of 3.7 million soldiers...and the armor: 534 FT-17, 945 R-35, 821 Hotchkiss H-35/38, 261 Somua S-35, 314 Char B-1, and roughly 100 tanks other french tanks of various sorts...add 310 british tanks. now you do the math. The number of tanks per infantry found in CM battles, especially CMBB for the war in russia, was unrealistic by above standards. Together with the focus on a rather detailed armor system and the oversimplification of infantry into generic squads means CM catered heavily to the tank-hungry audience. Can't blame them - judging by the tank pictures in war books and publications the public is focussed on tanks. But those CM battles were realism gold (platinum!) compared to the ratios found in those ToW AARs we've been shown so far. And dont get me started on air support, or, to be more precise, the real-world scarcity thereof on the average piece of WW II frontline. I dont know that game you are speaking of. I can tell you though, that Close Combat, the original CloseCombat, had a rather healthy tank ratio. Allies had tanks only every once in a while, and the germans only very rarely. But if they were there, they made a huge impact and required a totally differennt tactical approach. Even a lousy Stuart or a Marder SPG, heck, even a SdKfz 250 with its machine gun dominated the battelefield. I think that is an important comparison because I had the impression ToW would go a similar way. Whiocjh is why IO thought the range issue with the guns wouldnt be that much of a problem, since it would focus on infantry so much and only had occasional tanks in it. And that tank would not be very likely to see an enemy tank, much less to speak of outspoken armor battles. But now I see that this game seems to be quite a ridiculous tank fest. (it cant be the players moon and rune in those AAR games since they used battles from the game) so there, harumph

rune, aeeing the first screenshot I was immediately wondering whether you didn't "buy" the Char B1-bis, since - I guess this must be universal knowledge among CM players - its frontal armor is practically immune to german KwK and PaK guns of that era (all but the mighty 8.8). In hindsight it was a good choice, seeing how much german aircraft filled the skies over the battlefield. Did you know before your game that there is that much emphasis on unrealistic direct close air support, and decide against the Char B-1 bis accordingly on purpose? And how much is this purchase screen worth if much more of your units stem from sudden reinforcements anyhow, which you have no choice in or even knowledge about their composition and quantity?

agreed, methinks that if the current ratio of two tanks and one aircraft per one leg soldier (as in the AAR's so far) is kept up during the game there indeed will be very little room for melee.

Then why didn't they just add the animations? It wouldn't have taken that long, maybe 20 minutes or so. *plays frisbee with CM cds* </font>

interesting. noteworthy idea. commendable thinking.

of course there was melee in CM. actually, getting below 40m to start the melee mode (recognizable by flying grenades and the sounds of fighting/clubbing with guns or whatever those sounds were supposed to mean, I always thought it sounded like dry branches snapping)(bones maybe?) was often the best way to use your infantry effectively. RMC/hotshot2, I would be content if the melee would be abstracted in a similar way in ToW. But thats only me - all the rest will wonder and bitch about a melee thats in but not shown in full animated colorful 3D glory. So its gonne be left out completely. Thats what I am looking forward to in the game, I am really curious. Especially if they have run out of ammo. What happens then, hotshot2 ? will they just stand there and stare each other to death ? I remember some nice scenes from Mil Mi-24 flight simulator where I was watching enemy squads get mixed up. They had a limited own activity and would shoot at each other, but this was intended as a nice side show on the ground, barely noticed by the player. So they would only fire bursts every ten , twenty seconds or so. The rest of the time they would follow their path or, well, stand right next to the enemy soldiers when the squads would get mixed up due to weird movement paths making the enemies meet in one place. It was eerie, funny. p.s.: when I say I am looking forward to it I don't mean to be sarcastic. I really am interested in that. I liked CC most after the map had been largely cleared, or when you had only two men with rifles left and tried to still make a fight with the remnants of the enemy. edited: typos

that point is moot. it doesnt take 3 T34's or even nerfed ranges. any Pz IV due to its turret front armor will die as soon as it is exposed to direct sunlight or fresh air. edit: I just realized that the humor in above statement isnt obvious enough for someone who hasnt been with the CM game and/or board, like - maybe - ComradeP: My irony stems from the fact that in CM the PzIV fares pretty notably bad. ComradeP, just curious, have you ever played any of the CM series (CMBO, CMBB, CMAK)? [ August 06, 2006, 06:57 AM: Message edited by: M Hofbauer ]

in case you hadn't noticed: there's been a change in paradigm. colorful RTS is all the rage now here. the emperor's new clothes are shiny flashy graphics. and of course everybody better get with the program and hail the new golden calf. Not a major problem for me since I had always admitted to being a CC fan; but indeed it is funny to see some of the local CC hater crowd (individual soldiers, no turns, campaigns, upgrades, medals!) having to adopt to the new vogue... at the very least ToW really does bring very fresh and different air into these boards...

such a dynamic, self-regulating system cuts both ways. It worked very fine in CloseCombat (btw. when I say CloseCombat I mean the original CC1). other games with RPG elements (gather experience, upgrade weapons etc.) that lack such a regulating system tend to become more and more lopsided either way. Of course it seems weird to get punished in the next battle for playing well in the battle before. But it can work very fine to adjust the game to be just the right challenge to the single player. we'll have to wait and see how it works out in ToW; but it's not a bad thing per se.

in other words, it wont look good so there will be no kung fu at all. instead they will stand at rifle's length apart and aim their guns at the opponents left eye. Or stick it in. And fire. as with any good boxer they are probably safe if they "hug" the enemy. I am looking forward to all this.

thanks tovarish ! All right, allow me to give you a screenshot tour of the few moments where planes are visible. The plane you see in the top left of the second shot just passed overhead in the next shot. </font>

just wondering... is rune suppoed to be one of those super hardcore "CM grogs" referenced by BTS in their statement that veteran CM players tested and instantly liked the game?

I think it is especially important w/r/t the kind of audience you're selling it too. I could do with abstraction. But >90% of the intended customer base cant, they would harp about that more than they have killed units in SuddenStrike in their short life- and attention-span.... visuals are only that. AgeOfEmpres never got to me because the gameplay lacked. the unit animations were great. they were praised in every game magazine. but if it only hollow eyecandy where a set looped animation shows one guy beating the other with his sword and the health bar going down at a fixed rate with no regard to the animation that ccompanies it, well, it just doesnt cut it for me. buit I am wandering off, because it is already apparent and Im confident that ToW will not go down that route, even though it *does* emphasize graphics over gameplay (lacking a word for it, more precise would be tactical flexibility, options, tactical realism etc.- "lets call it visual realism over tactical realism.") issues in the above case, as you admitted. all the best, M.Hofbauer

That's the same point I was wondering about. If you try to do that with heavy bombers, the bombers will go down together with their bombs. Perhaps bombers fly in at a fixed altitude, or perhaps the "maximum altitude"/the "ceiling" a map supports is low (although I wonder where the artillery shells would go, as they would definately end up higher than those bombers).</font>

If you read the FAQ you'll see that the Mortar teams are all in the buildings. Where they can't fire, and block the entrance of anyone else. This is a known bug, and the devs. are trying to fix it. </font>

check the screenshots: http://www.battlefront.com/products/tow/screenshots/pages/ww2%202006-07-25%2012-01-09-56.html

all your buildings are belong to us.

whats irking me about the He-111 air strike is that they seem to fly terribly low. Not sure what bombs they used as a loadout. My other computer is toast so I cant just try that out, but if I remember anything correctly from playing IL2, if I would try to pull such a stunt there with regular larger bombs, SC250, SC500 and such, then I would surely have been affected by my own bombs.

oh, so we get to ask for screenshots as long as we dont use the same thread but each make sure we start a new one ? you have a task...

in nicely cleaned german Staatsforst of 2006... less so in the Pripjet...

thats because couple of years ago in the early stages of the programme there was only one of them issued per company, since it was antibacterial it was to be passed on from one to another...and the company CO got to have it last and keep it.

so in the end when every computer in the world has two copies of ToW we will get to see the japanese "knee" mortar or the british Northover pojector? How much for the Ampulomet? Sturmpistole?