Big Dog

Thank you. I assumed the tutorial instructions were a little more detailed to let me know how best to move, etc. I guess I need to brush up on my high school Russian. Das vidanya.

Okay, I want to ask the first stupid question. I am playing the tutorial. I keep getting oral instructions in Russian, with the English version appearing in print. Is there any way to change the spoken language to English?

Perhaps an answer might be to limit the distance (or time) a unit can be in an amphibious transport. I am not aware of the longest distance covered by an invasion force in the Pacific, but I doubt they started in California and saled all the way to Iwo Jima. I recall one of Eisnhower's concern for delaying the Normandy invasion was the length of time the troops were aboard their ships, and this was a matter of days. If invasions could only occur over a short distance, all of the islands would gain in importance becasue you would need one to invade the next. Perhaps an Amrican unit would have to transport to New Caledonia before getting on an amphibious transport to invade Guadalcanal. I also like the idea of a lend-lease convoy (as in SC 1) that could be interdicted. However, I would like to see such interdiction be able to occur by air and other capital ships. I love seeing the MPP convoy from British held Singapore travel right through the straits between Malaya and Sumatra, and through two Japanese Battleship groups. But put a submarine there and you have something. If air and ships could interdict, especially a lend-lease route, the islands would also gain in importance.

Why can't the game provide both scenarios, a what-if for play balance and a historical version?

Doesn't the manual tell you where to garrison? "Be aware that there are event scripts to encourage Japan to keep garrison forces in Manchukuo or else USSR's Activation Level may increase, so keep a unit in each of the following: Harbin, Kiamusze, Manchouli, Tsitsihar and Yenki. Any other Japanese units in Manchukuo can be moved to take part in operations elsewhere." This is on page 89 of my electronic copy of the manual.

I do not know how many troops you have in 1942 in Burma, but I need everyone on the front to hold the line. Infiltration is one thing. If a partisan unit appeared, that would be one thing. Moving whole air groups miles behind enemy lines is another. And, yes, I think it was a stupid move for the AI. It cost the Japanese two air groups and only kept two corps away from the front for four turns (rain kept my air from flying). However, it is a jarring departure from what is otherwise a very good game. I realize that it may be impossibe to code this to prevent this one instance, as I have not seen it occur elsewhere.

I have noticed that I can lose a unit, have it appear in the units screen with an asterisk, but not be able to rebuild it because of the hard limits. Is this intended, that some units could be destroyed and not rebuilt? This particularly happened with the British (India) armor. I never built any so the only armor that appeared was script driven. However, when destroyed I could not rebuild because the game would not let me build any British armor.

I've played a couple of Operation Z games as the Allies against the computer and both times witnessed Japanese airbases appearing behind my lines in Burma. Both times Rangoon fell to the Japanese, awarding them Burma, but my lines still held in Burma, generally along the road to China. Apparently all unoccupied villages in Burma become Japanese at that point, even those behind my lines. Suddenly I am surprised by two air units based behind my lines in Myitkyina! Those sneaky Japanese just operated through my lines. While I understand that the program has all unoocupied towns change allegience upon the fall of a capital, it just seems odd that this means your rear areas can be occupied by operational movement. I guess land units do not do this since there is no connecting passage. However, this does not stop air units. Boy, those are some gutsy airmen to operate in with no land units.

Hubert: As always, I am amazed by your prompt attention to any issues and your continued devlopment of this game. Your involvment is obviously a labor of love. Doug

Hubert: I just thought it was superior German AI binoculars. Doug

Hubert: Yes, it is Fall Weiss and it is unmodified other than setting the difficulty to intermediate. And, yes, spotting and strike ranges are 4/5. Incidentally, when I ran it a fourth time, it again attacked the French tank. That makes four for four. Doug

Hubert: Always play with FoW. WaW 1.03. Difficulty Intermediate. Experience Bonus +0. I just tried 3 tests. German plane attacked French tank all three times. Doug

I have had the tank attacked a number of times, not everytime, but at least equal if not more times than any other unit. Doug

This it the key question. Will the original TOW allow building entry if we purchase this add on?

I have read alot about the Russians not defending up front. Most of the more experienced players seem to suggest that the Russians simply place their initial defense line back and give up the Western cities. I am curious. I understand that the proponents of this strategy do not even put up a screening force. What line do you initially defend? Leningrad, Moscow, Karkov? Do you place any units at all in the forward cities such as Minsk, Riga, Odessa, Kiev or Smolensk? What slows the Germans? Simple movement? The time it takes to rebuild the captured cities for supply purposes? Given the longer time it takes to build fortifications, are any able to be built before the Germans arrive? I look forward to your responses.

Is there any reason to send the BEF to France in 1939-40? I have never seen it slow the conquest of France. It seems much more useful conquering Norway during this time. There does not seem to be any diplomatic loss for not supporting the French and all sending it seems to accomplish is to risk its unsupplied destruction. :confused:

Penetration is also extemely unrealistic in the extent the units penetrate. Certainly, a part of Blitzkreig tactics was to penetrate and envelop. But in all verisons of SC, a single unit will penetrate hundreds of miles behind the front lines, well out of any hope of supply. This feature requires you to garrison every city to prevent one of these walkabout units from penetrating the Russian line at Karkov and capturing Kubishev.

I just want to make sure I understand. Is it better for an FO to call in a strike while inside an FO Stryker? I tend to dismount them so that they can climb buildings and be less of a target. However, am I sacrificing speed or accuracy by leaving the vehicle?

I found on another thread that updating Apple Quicktime could solve this problem, so I tried this. When I restarted TOW, it froze during the loading the battle screen when the bar is supposed to move across the screen under the photo. So I reinstalled the Uber Patch (without uninstalling anything) and it seems to work fine now.

I am having the same problem, but in the first battle of the German Campaign (Poland). In the middle of the game, I got the error message and it told me to contact the vendor. [ February 11, 2008, 06:51 AM: Message edited by: Big Dog ]

I need help trying to understand how to use infantry, particularly on the advance. I am not new to wargames, been playing since 1963, computer games since their inception. However, this game has me bamboozled. I'm talking about the training missions, too! Everytime I try to advance infantry, they simply turn into corpses. In the attacking training mission, on easy, whenever I advance on the second or third line, my infantry dies. I have tried to use historic tactics. I have tried to use the tactics the training scenarios suggest. I have tried crawling, crouching, open formation, line formation, close formation, but nothing seems to work. My tanks generally win the day (maybe because the defenders are spending too much time killing my infantry), but most of my infantry is dead. It has gotten to where I never use my infantry. I really want to like this game (Yes, I have loaded the Uber Patch). I am not saying that advancing infantry should not be vulnerable. However, my poor use of them makes me frustrated. It is also making my recruiting them very difficult, becasue they do not want to serve in my army.

For UK IT - does it only increase MPP for the British Isles or does it also increase Canada and Egypt? What about convoys?

I understand the problem. However, it presents a gamey way to stop the Norwegian convoy. I could have invaded a year earlier and stopped it that much sooner.

Playing the Allied in an AI game, I noticed a couple of odd non-actions by the Axis AI. In order to divert some Axis troops, I invaded at Kiel. The Axis responded by attacking with two units on the Southern side of the Kiel canal. The next turn, I transported my troops out through Kiel and the Kiel canal (interesting in and of itself). The Axis never reoccupied Kiel. For the next two years of the war, Kiel remained an unoccupied Allied port, and, more important, the Norwegian convoys never came back. I invaded Italy and took Rome. Italy surrendered. Albania became Allied, and the Axis never occupied it, allowing the Allies to transport into it a couple of turns later. Similarly, while Greece remained "Italian," the Axis never sent in a garrison, allowing Greece to be conquered by a single invading corps, invading directly into Athens. It may be impossible to code, but it seems very strange that the Axis would not reoccupy Kiel, particularly in view of it being a convoy port, and you would think the Axis would occupy as much of old Italian territory as it could following the Italian surrender.

Thank's Captain Andrew, that would explain it because there was no warning, no suggestion of Axis success in diplomacy. Just one day Spain was at 40% and then the next it was at war. Is there a similar script for Turkey? I guess I will finally have to learn how to edit scripts, because I do have difficulty accepting this occurrence as historical (maybe hysterical). I will presume that the script only occurs when the Axis is AI because I never had it occur for me. Another question based on declaration of war for the USA. Previously, it seemed that the US either entered the war either the same turn or the next turn after Pearl Harbor (or Germany declared war on the US). Now, when playing the Allied side, it seems that the US stays neutral for months after Pearl Harbor (I do not spend any chits on the US). Has there been a change in the US's willingness to declare war on the Axis after Pearl Harbor?