DeLaVega

And if you directly start on the hard level you know each position of every AT Gun whenever you play the game again. And the reinforcements always enter the map at the same point. So, now suprise there.

Kiloalpha4, from these pictures you could think they are in the game. On which way they got lost, I can`t tell you. :-(

In this mission my PAK 38 killed the T-34. I think the tank was turning around, then my PAK had a clear shot at the sensitive ventilation system. The bullet sneaked through the inner organs of the tank, afterwards knocking out every single crew member ...one after another. Actually I don`t know how they did it, but it brought the PAK crew a medal afterwards. Jaguar, and then I can only suggest the same what I suggested for the Dunkirk Mission. Make use of Quicksave and enjoy the shootouts. Afterwards there will be missions which can drive you crazy even with QuickSave and Tigers. This shouldn`t mean that you have to use it as often as in FPS. But there will be missions, where the enemies reinforcements will appear in the back of your tanks, there`s hardly time to turn them. :-( And then there are also battles which are decided by luck: 1 imobilized Tiger and 1 Panther of mine, against 5 Shermans and 1 M10. 2 of the Shermans were M4A3 76mm. So, this bunch entered the map firing from all barrels and in 6 times knocked out both, the Tiger and Panther. Hm, I thought I cannot win this mission anymore with these 1,5 tanks. Then I tried another time and then only the Tiger knocked out 5 Shermans, the Panther the M10 and both survived ...for the next wave. If I had restarted this mission again and again, I would have gone crazy, because this was already the second or third wave. Or let`s say ...crazier than I`m already are. Maybe this difficulty depends on that I play in Veteran level, but since I didn`t try the others I have no comparison. If there wouldn`t be this unfair scripted reinforcements, I wouldn`t save the game at all. But I don`t like if you defend to the right and then to the left without giving you a little prep time. As if the enemy waves are stealth units and are not heard or seen before they enter the map.

"Tommy in se garden, 12 o`clock!" "Oh,oh." "Bloody hell that was close!" "Verdammt, where is sis Kerl? I mast have seeing sings. Shall wi call for reinforsments, Herr Hauptmann?" "No, if ser wos one, sis guy is gone. Let`s head beck to Berlin." "I coult swear I saw somesing." "Wot part of beck to Berlin yu didn`t anderstend? Now shut ap end draif! My Frieda waits wis dinner. I better don`t be leit, or not even sis silly excuse wis se Tommy can save me." "But ser wos one!" "Woult you ...pleas? If I haf to listen to sis crap until wi are hom, I better shoot you nau!" "Wot was sat sound?" "You idiot hit a mine!" "Now wi can walk beck to Berlin. Frieda will kill me. ...And sen I will kill you!"

That`s nice. Although I think I won`t touch the editor. I`m more the consumer type of guy when it is about games. Ready to consume the first ToW mods, by the way.

I also had crashs in two missions yet (Citadel and Villers Bocage) which also corrupt the savegames. The more often you try to reload the savegame, the earlier it jumps back to the desktop. What a stupid bug. Afterwards it doesn`t even show the loading bar and crashes directly back to the desktop. You only can restart this complete mission.

Looks like Tiger chess. Although I couldn`t find the King and his Tigress. Anyway, awesome screens! And all of them have an individual number? That would be a very cool feature.

After a few failed connections yesterday and one game which was actually running I have to say that it`s not worth to wait until the map or whatever is loaded or connected. And then you only have a handful of units, no reinforcements or possibilities to extend the battle somehow. And by the way, who designed these maps? They look like, as if made by a random map generator. So, why didn`t the put the "generator" in the game? The MP mode is really a joke. I know that ToW is a different game, but anyone who has tried out the "Route N13" 8 player map in Company of Heroes or the 8 player maps in Supreme Commander knows what`s possible. I can live with long loading times and an exhausting way of looking for mates to play with, if the result is somehow rewarding. But after at least 5 minutes of waiting I want to have a full Battalion to command and not 3 tanks, 3 recon vehicles and 1 assault gun. ...and steer them over maps which look like the surface of the moon. Until it`s working acceptable the MP mode should be erased from the feature list of this game.

Let `em come! http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/1355/tow1go9.jpg' alt='tow1go9.jpg'> This coverless poor fellow... ...turns into the hero of the day! We regret to inform you... ...that your sons died in the glorious struggle for Russia, defending a ... gas station. :-(

Try to load up some screens. If it works: Some impressions from "Operation Zitadelle" http://img466.imageshack.us/img466/4503/tow4wu5.jpg' alt='tow4wu5.jpg'>

Oh man, I waited for almost 50 minutes now and I didn`t get any response from anything. Only my router was still showing traffic. Grrrrrrrrr. So sorry for all of you guys who joined in! What`s this for a crappy MP mode?! Unbelievable. IL-2 always worked fine. Seems this one was not 1C`s favourite son.

CBR and I are looking for 2 players to meet up in a 4 players game. CBR will host that game in about 1 hour from now (should be 11.40 on the Battlefront site). His IP address will be available at this page. http://www.battlefront-newsletter.com/MPLobby/tabid/61/Default.aspx If there are 2 with ICQ connection, you can contact me at my ICQ number. Otherwise we will meet in the game and talk there. DeLaVega

you1: I took the bridge on the right side and a CharB showed up. I took the bridge on the left side and ... nothing happened. Could be a coincidence. Or maybe he was on his way to Berlin, with Mr. De Gaulle himself in it.

Thanks CBR. Hm, seems a little too complicated. As I`m impatient the sweeties stay on my harddrive.

Marc: Du hast sehr recht mit Deinem Review. Ich denke zwar, das die Ketten wirklich so schnell "anfällig" sind wie im Spiel (teilweise beschädigt durch zu extreme Drehbewegung ohne Feindeinwirkung), aber in allem anderen kann ich Dir nur recht geben. Ich verfolgte alles was es zu diesem Spiel gab seit 2003. Ich liebe IL-2, halte es auch für detailliert und realitätsnah, also war es für mich sicher, dass hinter 1C Qualität steht. Die Screenshots (auch die mit den ballistischen Daten) sprachen für sich. Die Unbekannte, bei der ich mir noch nicht sicher war, war das Missionsdesign. Als dann laut wurde, dass ToW über 40 Missionen haben soll, konnte ich mich nicht wirklich freuen, hatte ich doch auf eine Zufallskarte mit Kampagne a là "Steel Panthers" gehofft. Grafik, Sound, alles kann ich verschmerzen, nur "vorgefertigte Missionen" nicht. Warum hat 1C nicht einfach die ganze Europakarte aus IL-2 genommen und in ToW gesteckt? Dann fehlen eben mal hier und da ein paar Bäume und der Tiger besteht eben nur aus 2000 anstatt 3000 Polygonen, aber es wäre eine Spielwiese geworden, wie CM. So viel besser sehen die Karten nach all den Jahren nicht aus, was hat 1C an einem offeneren Design gehindert? Mit den abgeschlossenen "Leveln" muss man sich doch schon den Vergleich mit schnellen RTS Spielen gefallen lassen, obwohl ToW ja was anderes sein will. Auch die Kartengröße finde ich für die realistischen Schussweiten viel zu klein. Häufig beschießen sich die Einheiten schon nach Verlassen der Aufstellphase. Und die Sache mit den Gräben habe ich schon woanders gepostet. Ich spiele im Moment die deutsche Kampagne, bin in der Verteidigung von Kovel, und bis jetzt gab es keine Karte ohne Gräben. Wenn die sich wenigstens an immer anderen Plätzen befinden würden, aber so weiß ich doch beim zweiten Mal spielen genau, wo die Einheiten des Gegners stehen. Und das ist, was mich am meisten schmerzt. Die Halbherzigkeit, mit der daran gegangen wurde. Dabei meine ich nicht die Jungs von Battlefront. Sie haben Mut bewiesen, dieses Baby zu übernehmen. Es wirkt so, als wenn die jetzige Version genau die ist, die 1C 2003 programmiert hat. Dann wanderte sie mit Änderungsideen in die Schublade, dann hatte Codemasters keine Lust mehr, dann sagte sich 1C: Na, Fans gibt es immer. Bringen wir es eben so heraus wie es ist. In Erwartung des Erscheinungstermins habe ich mir noch mal alle Screenshots angeschaut, die irgendwo zu finden waren und da gab es doch tatsächlich ein Bild, auf dem russische Soldaten einen 12 cm Mörser zusammengeklappt auf dem Rücken transportieren. War wahrscheinlich nur eine Konzeptgrafik. Ich mag das Spiel. Von allen ist es das, was ich am meisten und längsten erwartet habe. Nun scheint es, dass wir die 2003er Version haben und müssen es eben irgendwie auf 2007 bringen. Die Grafiken sahen damals schon unglaublich aus, was hat die Jungs davon abgehalten, auch noch eine große Spielwiese für uns darein zu packen (heul). Der lange Panzerkampf am Anfang der Zitadelle Mission ist genau das, was ToW für mich im Geiste darstellt. Spannung. Das Auswendiglernen von AT-Stellungen an Gräben und das vordefinierte Eintreffen von Verstärkung hat für mich nichts mit dem zu tun, wofür das Spiel eigentlich steht. Bei "Faces of War" und "Company of Heroes" sind Scriptsequenzen unterhaltend. Bei Spielen die realitätsnah sein wollen möchte ich Entscheidungsfreiheit. Und nicht, wie Marc es schon sagte, bloß andere Panzer mit denen ich einen weiteren Schützengraben angreife. Es gibt wirklich sehr gut umgesetzte Funktionen in ToW. Zum Beispiel merkt man richtig, wie sich der Schütze verbessert und nachher alles mit einem Schuss trifft. Das motiviert! Ich weiß, dass das Spiel mit Battlefront in guten Händen ist, von daher habe ich die Hoffnung noch nicht aufgegeben. Gebt uns eine Karte die ToW würdig ist, schüttet Einheiten darauf und die Spiele können beginnen.

But when I want to get it from the harddrive?

After I have played on a few maps I have to say that they look pretty much the same, except for the trees and the seasons. Actually they look as if taken directly out of IL-2, except for the trees and the seasons. I think, if the maps already have to look like twins, why there are only so few? Where`s the replayability, if the trenches (for example) are always at the same place? So, whatabout a randomly created campaign or random quick missions? Dear Moon or Madmatt, has 1C planned something in this direction? If not, ...for this reason I want to start a call for a donation to the modder, who can fulfill the most essential task in this ToW Quest and manage to put all the single and campaign maps together to create a campaign in which you can drive the enemy to the last map, or be driven to the first map. I`m willing to offer a donation in the amount of an add-on. And if this god of creation, the Lord of mods, Mr. Map Connector still has energy, maybe he can let his magical hands touch the LOS/ AT-gun/ get up to reload/ ignoring the "hold" order issues and then I`m quite sure, my donation won`t be the only one.

user 73: Do you have ICQ? I got me one account yesterday to make a meeting easier. And then I lost my ToW MP virginity. At the first map I had 2 frames per second, then made some MP adjustments, afterwards it ran fine, but the second game I played wasn`t funny either. We chose the ONLY map for two players. Poland vs. Germany (the title: Clash of Titans !!!! ) and it was quite unbalanced in my opinion. You couldn`t buy freely and my only TITAN was the Pz 35t. ...since the IIc and Ib are armoured bicycles. Needs to be modded. But other than that, ...let`s cross swords. If you use ICQ add me in your list ...under engagement preparations.

Flintlock: The second one of the Wespe series makes me feel pity for these guys. Ouch. Well done Flint! How do I get the screenshots in here? About this "Instant UBB Code"?

Thanks Elmar, this gives me a little hope. In the moment I`m in the Citadel mission. And there has to be trenches. Although the game crashed badly (again and again) and I couldn`t even reload my savegame. Hope this happens only in this map.

The maps are big? Right now I`m playing the german campaign and very often (except there`s a hill in the middle of the map) the units shoot each other right after the placement phase. I thought the maps were much bigger. Maybe they are in the other campaigns. But don`t think so. :-(

Jaguar: But since such things like reinforcements are scripted, it`s more like a FPS, don`t you think? Many things in this game you find out by trial and error. In a later mission you have to take one train station and afterwards defend it. But the enemy attacked almost directly after I took the station, so no time to prepare. Then planes strafed my tanks 4-5 times. Only with luck my elite tanks survived more or less. If I imagine that I would have repeated the whole map (which is quite difficult, cause it`s first time of the ZiS 3 AT gun and this kills the PzIV easily from far away) I would have started another campaign. After I played all the campaigns I restart without saving. Sneaksie: What I dislike is that in the german campaign most missions are attacking a trenched position. This gets boring after a while. Not to mention that there were not soooo many entrenched positions everywhere.

Jaguar I used almost the same units like you. Left the men behind, only took one, proned to the front and used him as a scout. I took the right road, attacked the AT-Guns at the settlement first. After they were gone I took the ones with the tanks in the middle of the map. Because of the scout I saw their facing direction and rushed them over from the right. You also can use the quicksave and -load feature, if you got stuck there.

But as Elvis suggested, I think it`s easier to meet with the help of ICQ (for example), therefore I got me one new account just now. If you also have it, add me in the contact list.

Kook, I used this page: http://www.battlefront-newsletter.com/?tabid=61 But have never tried it before, so I don`t know if it`s work smoothly.