Avwriter

Did none of you people bother to read the information posted on the official page for the patch? You had fair warning. It clearly states, "Due to the changes in this patch, older save games will not work. You will have to restart any in-progress campaigns/battles." You had the option to finish your current mission or campaign prior to installing the patch.

You can press the space bar to pause at any time. WHile paused you can examine the battlefield and plan move for your forces. You can even issue multiple orders while the game is paused, and they will be carreid out when you unpause. Its not really turn based, but it does give you time to think. This may be what you were talking about.

Got mine, North Carolina. Was a little dissapointed that the manual is black and white.

Has anyone here received the confrimation email that their copy has shipped?

[ May 08, 2007, 04:22 PM: Message edited by: Avwriter ]

"Well that makes sense. Has anybody noticed what the differences are ? Apart from the mentioned even playing field (which is how i like it) have you noticed that the enemy also get an advantage in numbers and re-enforcements etc in the campaigns?" I don't think so. As far as I can tell, the only difference between the levels is in the variable damage inflicted by the weapons of each side. The numbers of troops on each side stay the same, and as far as I can tell the "intelligence" of the AI also stays the same as well.

The Russian for rat is "krysa."

I understand that, but this is the closest thing I have seen. Apparantly the term was used pretty commonly after the war. In the course of my surfing, I did find a glossary of WWII slag on one Russian site, but no mention of the Stug there.

Okay, I spent a little time over at the Russian TOW site. There are some links there to historical reference materials in Russian, which eventually led me to an academic article on the history of the Stug III. This may not be what you are looking for, but it mentioned that a large number of these guns were captured by the Soviets at the end of the war, and that "until the early 1990s, they were referred to by the name "Artshturm" (Артштурм in Cyrillic). Apparantly, the term originated from an incorrect translation of the German word "Sturmgeschütz." In case someone is interested, here is a link to the article: http://armor.kiev.ua/Tanks/WWII/StugIII/1/stug3_1.php

The DVD does not need to be in the drive. Registration works is identically to the downloaded version.

For what it's worth, the Russian word for elephant is "slon."

Oh, my. Looks like the Pygmies left the Bentley dealership and headed over to Toyota. Alas, still no tricycles. .

If you are speaking of the general class of weapon, as opposed to a specific gun (i.e. the Stug III), the Russians used the acronym SAU (САУ in russian letters). It stood for "Самоходные артиллерийские установки" which literally means "self-propelled artillery pieces."

"Moon, I don't know how you are able to keep from losing your marbles. It's been like a bunch of pygmies storming a Bentley dealership screaming for tricycles in here lately." Benpark, that is hysterical. I just have to ask, did you hear that somewhere, or did you make it up yourself?

You gotta love the detail, right down to the serial number on the side.

Be sure to use the full range of views available. Learn the camera, get comfortable with it, and change your view constantly. It is deceptively easy to let yourself sit back in "God view" the whole time and move your units around like chess men. This is especially true during your first few battles. However, in doing this, you miss out on on much of the terrain detail, which is a crucial tool to surviving and forming a strategy. Most maps have a lot of gentle slopes and other terrain features that you don't really see with the camera zoomed out. When you are picking out the next spot to move your tank or squad, bring the camera down to gorund level and check out the view from that position. You may find that the position is less advantageous than you first thought.

Thanks Normal. Very informative. Those diagrams are great. You have a real knack for illustration. This battle offer the opportunity to master a number of skills and concepts that will come in handy in later tougher battles.

"Enven, the game has been released as announced for download, and the crap is going to be shipped out of the warehouses as soon as preparations are finished in the next days. Martin" ROFLMAO!

Below is very relevant post by Normal Dude from the general forum. I hope he does not mind my reposting it here, lest it get lost. "Normal Dude Member # 19807 posted April 29, 2007 07:29 PM -------------------------------------------------Dunkirk is easy if you willing to be very patient. The first infantry wave is easy to take out. The ATG positions are brilliantly placed, one group in a reverse slope being overlooked by the distant guns, with mobile armor. I couldn't have done it better myself. So here's what you do: After the first French infantry wave is dispatched, crawl your men up the woodlines as close as you can get away with, generally the woodline right before the lateral road. Put a good scout up in the tree area by the road intersection that crests the hill. Make sure they are hold fire/hold position. Move the tanks up behind the men so that they are ready to crest the hill. DO NOT let them crest yet. Next, I take a Pz38(t) (NOT NOT a 35(t)), which has awesome frontal armor, and flank to the right and take out the two Frenchie tanks in the field. Then, I crest with the 38 all the way at the right side of the map, making sure that it's frontis facing all of the gun positions, most which you should be able to see with your hidden infantry. This tank is going to be a decoy, and it withstand the 75mm French punishment for a long time with it's front armor. Once the French guns are engaging the 38, CHARGE! Send the infantry in to engage the forward French battery with grenades. If you have a sniper (I always do), his first shots to the side of an ATG often make the crew scatter! JUST slightly crest the tanks and have them all gang up on the distant ATGs in turn. Throw your artillery on those distant guns as well. In this process I lost 2 tanks and about 25% casualties to two infantry squads on Veteran level. But then you get reinforcements. The French tanks, once stripped of their ATG overlook, are a piece of cake for Pz IVCs and Pz 38t's to take out. Make sure if you use the 38's you only let them shoot when it will count, because they have a very low ammo load. Once the tanks and ATGs are gone the entrenched infantry are a shooting gallery for the tanks."

For those having difficulty with the Dunkirk battle in the German campaign, discuss it here.

I will start off with a few very simple ideas, just to be sure everyone has a firm grasp of the obvoius. 1. A TOW battle is not a race. Typically for the first few minutes, there is very limited information available about the positioning of your enemy. So don't rush out to the middle of the map with your guns blazing. Put your men in the crawl or crouch position, and hold back your tanks. Send out just two or three men to see what lies over the next hill. 2. Don't forget to ue the Hold Position and Hold Fire buttons. You don't want to give away your location too early. 3. Just becasue you are ordered early in the battle to shell the enemy with artillery, does not mean you must fire immediately. Wait a bit until you know for sure where the enemy is positioned. 4. When attacking artillery and tanks, always try to approach from multiple directions at once (i.e. bring in a tank from one side and a squad of troops from the other). Such targets can only fire back in one direction at a time. [ April 30, 2007, 03:11 PM: Message edited by: Avwriter ]

Okay folks, TOW is a brand new game, and I dare say most of us have already had our clocks cleaned at least a few times, regardless of which battle or campaign we chose to begin with. Everyone likes a good challenge, and this game supplies that in spades. But at the same time, it is easy to get discouraged if you play the same mission over and over again, and still cannot make any headway. This is the place to share your ideas and experiences about surviving your first battles.

Thanks Madmatt and BFC!

I would like to see smaller timeframe between the battles. I would also like to see branching campaigns, where victories and defeats affect more than just assets. For example (a crudely simple one), if you are playing the German side and win a major battle in Poland, you would perhaps move on to Belgium or Dunkirk etc, but if you loose the battle, you will face a different battle in Poland before moving on. I don't know if the mission editor supports the possibility of creating campaigns in this manner, but I hope so.

bump