Han

And my second question? Or is that a big no-no? ;-)

Thanks again for the response. Is the limit on the number of objects hardcoded or can I exceed it with the only penalty being a possible slowdown of the game? (my computer is running all the maps without as much as a hickup) One way to get around the limited number of objects/trees might be the creation of a special "bocage" object, something like an extended bush, preferbly including a slight raise in the ground just like the real thing. Would it be possible to create such an item, or would it be possible to contact the designers of the game to create such an element?

Looking forward to the Korea game here. Haven't got Africa (yet) though, so I can't comment on that. Gotta say that the controls do grow on you. Once you get the hang of it the handling of numbered groups makes the game quite a bit easier. Still, I remain with the opinion that the interface can be made more user-friendly. For the force selection screen I'd like to see a map preview and the battle briefing. That would make it a lot easier to make informed decisions about the types of units you need for the battle. During the battle team-icons like in the picture attached would be helpfull. Ideally the icons would glow up when a team or vehicle gets fired upon. That would increase overall situational awareness. As for the Caen-maps: credits to the creator. Having spend quite a bit of time on GJS maps I'm fairly familiar with the area, and I could have recognized some of the maps without the map name being displayed. I quess the main thing I'd have done different is making the hedgerows more continuous. Right now there are quite a lot of open spaces between the bushes which results in quirky LOS with enemy AT-guns taking pot-shots at my troops from large distances trough the gaps between the bushes; often from several hedgerows down the road. This means a lot of micro managing of troops and vehicles is needed, which takes my attention away from the tactical side of the game. I am however very much tempted to try my hand at making a Normandy map for ToW myself ;-) Are there limitations to the number of objects/trees like in ToW1?

Thanks for the response. Might be a feature for the Korea version of the game? A map preview is very helpfull when you're composing your battlegroup IMHO.

Is there any way to preview the battle maps before starting the actual battle? I can't find any in-game function to do this. (I'm aware you can view the maps in the map builder) A preview of the map would be helpfull in determining the types of teams you need to select in the battlegroup selection screen.

The German Caen campaign is sorely missed here as well. The lack of (LOS-blocking) hedgerows and the abundance of trees on the Caen maps makes for very difficult battles; the only way to know the line of sight of your units is to go down to ground level with the camera. Which makes the battles an unnescessary micro-managing affair in my opinion. The new vehicles and units are excellent. If you don't mind the above mentionned micro-management I think you'll enjoy the campaign.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruiser_Mk_VIII_Challenger I think in the Steam version (which I have) the crew is missing as well.

I bought this game last week. I'm not completely new to ToW: I own the original ToW as well. Back than, I felt the game had a lot of potential, but found it exceedingly difficult to play: I had a sense of lack of control during the battles. For this reason I didn't bother with this game for long, now was I tempted to buy ToW2 for that matter. Until last week I came across a Steam-sale: 75% off ToW2: Kursk. Being Dutch, I quess I couldn't handle the tempation of a 75% descount :-) For good measure I also purchased the Caen-expansion. Years ago, with a couple of other modders I created the Gold-Juno-Sword mod for Close Combat. The Caen area has held a special interest to me ever since. (modding as well; I don't think I've played a game the last 8 years or so that I haven't adapted to my own tastes in some way or another :-) ) My first impression of ToW2:Kursk is positive. Soldiers and vehicles look a bit larger than in the previous game which makes it a bit easier on the eye. I quess I'm getting older. It's graphically pretty much the 3D Close Combat I've ever hoped for. (noticed for the next release, Korea, there will even be a strategic map which doesn't look dissimilar from Close Combat!) The designers of this game did a good job. Close Combat is however better in one respect. The interface. To sum up my gripes about ToW I need five words only: IT DOES NOT FEEL INTUITIVE! First and foremost it's the interface which I feel is to blame. When starting a battle, I've got lots of units under my control. The link between my units and me however, in other words the interface, is not logical to me. When I select units by creating a box with the cursor (as you do in pretty much all games) I'm seeing tons of individual soldiers in my selection bar. Mostly the infantry is to blame, but bailed out vehicle crews are clotting up the unit-selection bar as well. In my opinion the logical way to organize the interface is top-down. You don't select individual soldiers but teams: a vehicle or a squad of infantry. To solve this problem without loosing the ability to control individual soldiers like you can now, I'd like a unit-bar at the bottom of the screen where each vehicle (or bailed out crew) and each infantry squad is represented by one icon/button, similar to the ones in the unit selection screen. When I press the icon for an infantry unit, it automatically selects all soldiers of the squad. Sure, the same feature is already usable when you give group numbers, however I always have difficulty remembering which group has been given which number. Again, I'm getting older. Nevertheless, as it works now with those group numbers, it feels clumpsy. The second thing that's not intuitive are the maps. The Kursk maps are ok; large open swats of hilly terrain with the occasional build-up area. The Normandy ones are not that life-like. The battle of Normandy is known for the hedgerow-fighting. There's one thing seriously missing on the Normandy maps in the Caen-expansion: hedgerows! Right now, the maps do have a Normandy "feel" over them, with the lines of trees visually representing hedgerows. However, only my own LOS is blocked. My virtual soldiers have a completely different view. Their LOS is only blocked by the occasional tree-trunk. Enemy fire can come from everywhere; there's no logic in the way the map is represented to me, to find out where I have to look for the enemy. They could be hiding in the next line of trees, they could as well be two lines of trees further down the road. A good map should be easy for the player to "read": especially on LOS and (visual) cover. Than the focus can be on tactics instead of on the need to constantly check the LOS of units. The nice thing about Normandy is that LOS-blocking hedgerows offer an excellent opportunity to create intuitive maps. The maps available with the stock game are good, but could because of that be better. In my opinion, a good game is easy to play, yet hard to master. Because the interface is not logical and the maps are hard to "read", ToW2 is both hard to master, and hard to play. The sense of lack of control puts potential customers off. Well...not being a marketing-specialist..at least I can say it did put me off after trying the original game. The good thing is, that I think it might not be hard to correct these issues. That would make a good game polished. Just my 2 cents worth...

Is it possible to rescale the tank graphics to 1024x1024? I had a look at those graphics, but at 512x512 you won't see those emblems indeed. CMBB has some nice armor graphics, and those might be usefull for ToW, but they're on a different scale. btw posted some screens in the screenshot tread at the main board.

Couple of screenies from work in progress: Cagny An '88 overlooking the town Pak 40 in ambush Tiger crossing the railway Couple of '88s guarding the ridge, shot up Shermans visible near the railway line View from the other side

Wow! Thanks! Downloaded and installed Just wondering...I noticed you changed the color of the numerals to red. I'm working on a Cagny/Goodwood map; would it be possible to put divisional emblems on the front of the tanks; like the charging bull for 11th armored?

Where could I download this skin? (and/or the map in the background; doesn't look like a stock one?) Is it possible to adapt CCM textures to ToW? Or is editing so difficult that nobody tried it much so far? Gotta say that scripting is fairly complicated anyway. Tread is running a bit off course right now

Thanks again... Other people playing the scenario...makes me wonder. Are there any custom scenarios for download somewhere? I noticed CMMODS has some, but that's only a handfull compared to what I'm used to with Close Combat? Are there any custom skins for example for Normandy Panthers and Tigers?

Thanks! That looks like a very managable piece of code to me. Gonna have a look if I can get this working!

Gotta second that CC2 had the best/most immersive campaign of the Close Combat series. Battles and operations that had impact on the outcome of the campaign. Seeing what ToW is right now, I think a CC5 or CC2-like campaign would be hard to create, and wouldn't do justice to all the equipment that is around either which would be a shame. I'd settle for a CC3-like campaign. Although CC3 was often called a "club-med tour of the eastern front", I'd say that such a campaign would suit ToW very well. Besides, it wouldn't be all that difficult to realize. One would need some extra options during battles like cease-fire and retreat options. If it would be possible to easily create multi-day operations like CC3 had, the replayability of ToW would benefit greatly from that. I suppose creating a CC3-like campaign is already possible given enough knowledge of scripting. However the complexity of the scripting is such that it seriously limits the number of people capable of creating new campaigns.

Thanks! Looks pretty complicated...gotta say my knowledge of scripting is not advanced enough to write something like this myself

I've been trying my hand at scripting the weekend, and mightily complicated it is. I feel it takes some advanced programming knowledge to get anything decent done. And I'm not all that good at programming Anyway, here's a sample I put together. Basically it's a script where two halftracks with guns arrive as reinforcements, move to position, unlimber, the guncrews man the guns and rotate them in a certain direction. Works so far. RunTrigger ( "reserv" ) Now this script works ok as long as one knows how long it takes the group to advance to it's setup-positions. I was wondering if there is any way to make the setting up of the guns dependant on arriving at "Rect_1"? That would make the script a bit more dynamic. Is there any "library" of pieces of coding that can be used for making working scripts? Any help would be appreciated!

@ Gundolf: I can see why tankcrews would take with them some AT-devices as a precaution against the eventuality of having to bail out, and than run into enemy armor. However I would think that especially tank crews where highly trained specialists, so their commanders would not want them to act as infantry when their mount was shot from underneath them. That would be a waste of valuable human recourses. Not to mention that I've seen tankcrews attack right after they left their tanks, and right after they got banged by numerous shells on their tank. I'd imagine that an experience like that would be unnerving to say the least, so chances are those crews wouldn't be in any shape to continue an attack. I noticed this tread: "work in progress report" I see some of the items I previously mentionned are already planned for. Handling of infantry teams like in Close Combat, smoke, house combat. Excellent news indeed! @ Gnasher: is it possible to script a CC3-like campaign; in such a way that when certain victory locations are captured one can advance/has to retreat and such? From what I read in your post it sounds like a heck of a lot of work to create a decent campaign, and than it's still fairly scripted affair.

I suppose the chance that a tank brews up is hardcoded than?

I'm using JSH v1.2, which does have Tommy Shermans, but no Achilles and Typhoons as far as I can see? Another type of Campaign would be a good thing indeed. As much as I like the CC5 Campaign for which I created the GJS mod, it's not very well suited to ToW. I think a CC3-type of campaign would fit ToW very well. A series of operations stretching over a few days, with the ability to advance, retreat and cease-fire. That would be quite an improvement.

Glad to hear 1000 statics is not a fixed limit. I'll try to keep the number as low as possible though for better performance.

A year or so ago I downloaded the first demo of ToW. I was less than impressed and it didn't remain on my computer for long. Two weeks ago I decided to give it another try, mostly because of the new patched demo, and the editors that come with the patch. This time around I like what I see! I read that the developers of the game are Close Combat fans; that's noticable in the game. ToW comes a long way in being the 3D version of Close Combat I always dreamed of. The graphics are top in my humble opinion; the tanks, the way damage shows on them when they are shot up, crews bailing out and such. The guns, recoil and all - I can't get enough of it! ToW plays well, it's one of a few realistic battlefield-simulations. I'm not a big fan of Command-and-Conquer clones myself for that matter. It's a huge memory-hog though; framerates tend to suffer on my computer, especially when reinforcements arrive on the scene. For that matter the Battle Generator is something I like very much, it enables editing smaller battles that run well on my rig. The less well...maps seem to be fairly generic. All maps look fairly similar, fields, the occasional farm, trees scattered all over the place. Even a map like Provorovka which I imagine to be fairly devoid of trees in real life has trees all over the place. Normandy theatre maps lack bocage, which is IMO an essential part of the Normandy battlefield! Anyway, with the map editor more realistic maps can be made, I'm looking forward to seeing those created! The handling of infantry is a bit cumbersome in my opinion. While it's a neat feature that one can select and order around individual soldiers, it leads to a lot of unavoidable micro-management. In reality soldiers work together as teams; for that matter I like the approach of Close Combat, where you select and order around teams instead of individuals, a lot better. I'd like it better when selecting a team would be default, whereas detaching soldiers from the team would be optional. That would reduce the amount of micro-management needed quite a bit. There are a few things I sorely miss in ToW - the ability to have infantry enter buildings being foremost. Another issue is the inability to move HMG-teams after the battle starts. Also lacking is an option to end battles by a ceasefire instead of having to fight every single engagement to the last man. Another issue is that as it is now, crews of destroyed tanks double a (potent) infantry. In reality, crews of destroyed tanks would retreat to fight another day instead of continuing to attack the enemy. As a member of the Close Combat Gold-Juno-Sword mod team I've got a slight bias towards the British Normandy theatre of operations. There are a few important items missing in the British inventory as it is now. On my wishlist would be: - the mighty 88, AA version - the British 17pdr ATG - a British version of the M9 halftrack - the Achilles TD - (rocket) Typhoons! That would be my two cent's worth...

I'm running the game on a low-end computer, so framerate is a problem. Although at the moment the map runs well in tests; as the landscape is fairly open, the numbers of trees and far trees are low. Maybe that gives some more room for statics as well... Anyway, I'll see if I can post some screens soon!

In the testing of a map I'm working on (Cagny/Goodwood) I ran into the following. I ran a game with a couple of Pak43's and a few dozen Shermans on the opposite side. The Paks had a field day but eventually succumbed to a flood of tankers doubling as infantry. I noticed that from the 15 or so tanks littering the fields only one or two brewed up. All the others had a neat hole in them, but didn't burn. Is there any way to increase the likeliness of some tanks (especially Shermans) brewing up?

Hello all, First post here, please patience with my ignorance I just got ToW last weekend and started fiddling around with the mapmaking tool. Currently working on a Cagny/Goodwood map. It has a fairly large number of statics on it; especially the stone walls weight in for numbers. In the manual I read that there is a limit on the number of statics of 1000. What happens when you get above that? Does that crash the game?