phil stanbridge

Right okay thanks for the update. The two single battles in the demo were pretty good, that was all

seems to be a few teething bugs! I'm sure they will all be sorted in due course.

Ah yes sorry about that. I preordered obviously. I didn't mind paying the shipping charges - at least I get a decent printed manual.

Single battles are missing from the menu too!

It's out now! I downloaded my copy this morning. I guess I will wait 'till the patch turns up before I get into a campaign. I've been playing the tutorial for now, but I've still got TOW2 to play!

Okay, thanks, I managed to eventually play this one out to its conclusion which was very rewarding. I played it much slower and kept my tanks back until I had taken out the guns. However, the following mission (#3) is impossible! You can't play it slower (my preferred style) as you get attacked from the outset as you know. How do you win this mission? I have played it through 7 times now, and every time I get totally destroyed. Its very frustrating. I've tried using my wolverines at the rear, by speeding them to the crest of the hill so they are hull-down, which works fine, but it doesn't stop the base being over-run. I have tried a combination of infantry and tanks in the village, but they get destroyed by insanely quick german tanks. I've tried my guns in the base, and well behind it, to no avail. They don't last more than a few rounds. I've even tried popping smoke in the ravine where the attack comes, but this doesn't help either! I've got a squad in the trenches, but they get overrun and destroyed straight away, or route by themselves even when told not to move, and to hold fire, and have command nearby. I basically haven't got a big enough force to defend with.

hehe - well, I chose Stuarts in my force makeup - I noticed that a crew had won some sort of award, and were pretty decent. I wanted to save the Shermans, but then I ran out of points, so I couldn't actually field much on the battlefield at all. I think I went in with 2 Stuarts, 2 Shermans, 5 lots of infantry at deployment, with 3 M10s and a handful of mech infantry as reinforcements. I didn't have very much at my disposal. But I didn't have the points! I will replay, and do as you say - I presume it is best to use the auto allocation for the order of battle? Also, if you 'restart' it from the campaign menu rather than your savegame you appear to have the default order of battle and all the original allocation - I can't work out if this is like starting the mission from scratch, without your skills gained from the last battle.

I've just started to get to grips with the campaign, my first ever in TOW2. I struggled like mad in the first mission after taking a pounding, and I lost a lot of equipment, but somehow managed to win. The second mission is an all together different monster. I cannot beat the computer. I've played it out several times now, each time slightly differently, but with the same end result. I get my backside smacked hard. I've just lost almost every man on the map including crew, who the Germans appear to like chasing and shooting at point blank.. I'm trying to figure out this order of battle too. I seemed to have lost a lot of good equipment in the first battle. I ended up quitting in disgust! I'm not sure how/when the enemy sees fit to ceasefire/end the mission. So how do you win this scenario? I captured the artillery, and sent a couple of Stuarts up with them. Then I get ambushed, then there is a huge German counter-offensive with lots of tanks, and infantry, which I cannot hold back. I was left with M10s without any ammunition, which were sitting ducks. Then my halftracks get picked off by advancing enemy tanks, and in the mean time I have lost all my decent infantry. I can't believe the speed this attack happens too. I have nothing left to counter it with. So, any thoughts/advice?

Hey, go easy. I came up with that conclusion based on the first post of this thread. I was under the impression BFC didn't want to focus on campaigns as a result of what was said. If I am wrong, then I stand corrected simple as that. I'm also hoping I am wrong, because I love the fluidity of the campaign, and even though I do class myself as an 'old-timer' I did purchase SF and loved it. In fact, I've put quite a lot of money BFC's way. I know what Elmar means as well - the campaign system as it stands has lost some of that 'atmosphere' that I felt if offered in CMBO/CMBB/CMAK.

..So all we will have in Normandy is a series of single missions? No more semi-dynamic campaigns, or choices to be made that may effect the outcome of the whole campaign?

hehe thanks for stating the obvious Moon. I guess I walked into that one.. I realise it's a completely different front, and a completely different game as a result, but what I really meant - are the graphics improved or features or anything along those lines in Kursk, apart from perhaps that damage model info? Regardless, I've just purchased both and am downloading now.. Bang goes my life for a week.

Hi guys, after absolutely loving the Kursk demo I have decided I want to take the plunge and purchase TOW 2 and the Italian addon for it. But what major differences are there between the products? Why is Kursk standalone yet the Centauro campaign not? Many thanks for your answers.

ah lol well there you go. I must read the manual!! Thanks for the tip - I will try it out.

Yep that's all fair enough - I just found the lack of time limit an interesting concept in the Kursk demo. It means you can really work out a plan - and spend time micro-managing every last aspect of it before committing the troops. Seems to work well.

Mike, I've spent a considerable amount of time in the first single mission, and have managed to progress quite nicely. But I think I need to sit down and read the manual There is an awful lot to take onboard, and there seems to be a lot of things 'behind the scenes' so to speak working here. I do think (my opinion of course) that the infantry needs some fine-tuning/tweaking, but then this is only a demo, so maybe little things will be adjusted? Even though the AI seems to take control of 'most' situations quite well, you do need to keep a careful eye on things. For instance, I group moved a squad into a nice position which was under some cover, and the men would remain standing, facing in the wrong direction, once at the destination. I had to singularly select every man, and turn him around, and then put him into ambush mode. That sort of micro-management isn't much fun really, especially when under fire. However, having said that, the squad didn't wander around - they were just 'standing' which was a bit bizarre, but maybe as a result of my orders. I did proceed to lose a few of the squad as a result. If I had move each man individually, maybe this wouldn't have happened. Either way, it's frustrating.

Thanks for the replies chaps. Okay I should have done a search but it didn't enter my head, sorry about that. I can understand that 4 hours could be considered 'too long' and ammunition would obviously run out etc etc, but I'm not on about 4 hours of constant fighting. I like to spend time planning the mission. Not just guessing what I think the scenario briefing means. All I would say, it seems to work in Kursk, curiously! Thanks for the link to the threads I'll go have a look.

After playing the Kursk demo I realised one of the reasons I like it so much is because there doesn't appear to be a time limit for some of the missions. This got me thinking - one thing I do not like about Shock Force is the structure introduced by limiting the missions to a certain amount of time. It tends to ruin the immersion factor for me, even if it is realistic. Could this be a removable 'feature' in Normandy?

I'm loving the demo thanks very much - but I have some issues with infantry, so rather than posting a new topic I thought I would add my questions to this. Basically, how are you supposed to use infantry successfully in this game? I have found that I have to 'sneak' and 'ambush' JUST to stay alive. If I use 'move' or 'storm' or anything like that to get to a position quicker, I get toasted by HMG fire/AT fire or by unseen AAA fire from serious distances. The men get mown down too quickly in my opinion. It seems the enemy HMG is ridiculously accurate at extreme distances, and then there are those pesky AA guns that seem to be able to shoot into the air AND at the ground with inpunity. I've obviously got a lot to learn, and I'm happy to experiment, but at the moment the only way I can really successfully advance is by using a couple of Panthers or a Tiger, and use them solely. Anything else seems to attract the attention of every enemy on the map! So I've been having to keep my infantry way back, out of sight. I cant advance them at all unless i use gamey tactics and send them up the flanks, and then the map runs out.. Even then, I will lose the majority. Also, aren't the German tanks supposed to have smoke rounds? I can't even smoke my way across the map because my 81mm mortars expend their rounds too quickly. Any ideas?

Looking forward to this, and Normandy, and erm.. Nato, and all the other modules. Oh god, you are going to cost me a fortune...

I've got an Ahtlon X4 955 @ 3.2ghz running with the demo, and although it isn't perfect it's far from 'jerky' and unplayable. I'm using an Nvidia 9800GT. It's acceptable. It's definitely a cpu bottleneck - maybe an extra GB of ram would help too.

Just visited. Thoroughly enjoyed it!

Ooooh now that is unfair Mr Cape.. By the way, you live in a beautiful part of the world. I wish I could go back

I haven't played the demo yet, but I also preordered based on the strength of the last titles and the new features. I am a CM guy through and through, and TOW2 takes a slightly different approach for me. It does remind me somewhat of the old Close Combat franchise which I grew up with. I'm looking forward to it!

lol.. I don't have the photoshop skillz to lie. It destroyed it mate. Exploded, caught fire, and then I killed all the crew. That was an awesome kill.

Interesting moment here. My team are deemed too close for comfort, so they chuck a demo charge at the tank instead.