Lemonade

I say chaps, let Tartari finish his work in his own pace. Rushed things are no good.

I love the series too, but only the first two parts of the saga. Hell's Highway was a big disappointment for me. Too easy (third person cover camera, over the top accuracy of player weapons) and too "consolish" feel. And the 4th instalment? I wouldn't even touch it with a ten foot pole. I highly recommend Rendroc's WarZone mod to be used with RtH30 and EiB! It rocks! Especially with Hollywood FX enabled.

That's exactly what I meant by the smile. It's a damn good offer! I just wanted to let you guys know about this bargain, as I think some of you might find it very interesting.

I was browsing Graviteam forum today and found this: http://graviteam.com/forum/index.php?topic=10363.0

Superb! Then it's the best time for me to postpone my Achtung Panzer battles and feed the computer with ToW3 installation! Thank you!!!

Ahah! I somehow felt that there will be a status update today. Good show, Tartari! So, when can we expect le grande première of no.1 - ToW3 WW2 Kursk?

We're awaiting your mod with great anticipation, Tartari. Don't let the forum silence deceive you. My ToW3 installation file is on stand-by, awaiting the release of your work. P.S. I don't understand 1C's ToW politics at all. They've made a great game, but they left it completely without care. I was expecting a patch for ToW3 fixing some issues, like path finding after quickloads, but they just don't seem to care about their best tactical game. Amazing. :eek: What's worse, they seem to have decided to discontinue the series!!!

I have yet to try CM:BN (waiting for the price to drop a bit), but I agree that in ToW series tank models are absolutely marvellous, top-notch and beyond what I've ever experienced in true real time strategies (only if crew would be able to use those, so precisely modelled, AAMGs... and if only tanks could be unbuttoned...). By the way, have you guys noticed the tricks 1C used to simplify them? Take a Tiger tank, for example, and do a close-up for the wheels. The wheel geometry is very low-poly with softened normals, but it looks like it was high-poly model because of a bitmap plane in front of it. I'm not sure what was the purpose of this, as current machines are more than able to process hundreds of thousands of polygons moving real-time, nevertheless, I think it was worth noting as one of those clever tricks that frees a little bit of resources that might be needed somewhere else. Cool stuff. All I always wished in 3D real time strategies, is the smoke and dust (from explosions) that could last longer. Way longer. Take Steel Panthers for example or Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30/Earned in Blood with Rendroc's Warzone (Hollywood FX enabled) mod. You shoot - there's smoke/dust accumulating all around you. Lasting long, denying your LOS. Also some cool stuff, but unfortunately never really implemented into other games. All we always have is smoke/dust particles disappearing after 2-3 seconds. Often with no lifetime randomness.

You rule man! :bows: It's awesome that there's someone willing to port stuff from the first two games into the third. I say you should be on 1C's pay list for all the effort you have put into it, and for making the third instance of the series live much longer that 1C has probably ever predicted it would. Shame on you 1C! I'm impatiently awaiting for ye grande premiere.

Yeah, unless you save/load a mission a couple of times. And suddenly all of your units go bananas. It's unbelievable that 1C couldn't come up with a patch to fix this issue. As much as I love the series, this single bug kills its third instance for me. Although, I very much appreciate your effort, Tartari (to port the WW2 maps and units into ToW3, which must be helluva work to be done). You're my ToW guru.

That's great. Thanks for clarification. Can't wait for the mod! Sorry for asking, but I just had to.

Hi Arzok! That's one beautiful tank you have there. Great job! Still, there's one thing I'd like to ask you. As far as I know, M4(105)'s weren't in production until Feb'44. So you surely wouldn't meet one during the North African campaign. Will it be a part of some other campaign you're working on then?

I never had to kill any captured pixeltruppen to win the mission. Though I agree with @DARK MORCAR, that there must still be some hidden opponent's units in the objective zone that you must have missed.

I believe that "the betterness" you mention which they managed to implement in ToW2, are distant sound effects, right? I think this was achieved either by a skilful mix of close recordings with distant ones (sound weighting dependant on in-game distance), or by proper equalization of sound files. I've always wondered how could you tweak a sound file, that was recorded from a close range to a weapons barrel (or explosion), to achieve the effect of distant sound. Anyone?

Based on my experience with the game, I'll try to point out advantages and disadvantages of SPGs available in Kursk. German side StuGs: + Low silhouette comes into mind. The game engine really seems to take this into account when plotting projectile arcs. + Very good frontal armour at relatively low price. Also, pretty damage resistant (at least when it comes to vehicle's frontal plates). + Low velocity 75mm main gun really comes in handy when you need to lob the projectile over small hills, at medium to long distances (but so can short barrelled PzIVs). I've done this several times. Elefants/Ferdinands, Nashorns, Marders... (okay, they are tank destroyers but I thought I'll include them): Never liked them and I don't believe I've ever used them due to either being low on ammo (Elefant/Ferdinand) or being open-topped. So I can't say anything about them. Wespe/Hummel: It's fair as an artillery piece (more Wespe than Hummel), but you'll do much better if you let LeIGs do the arty missions. It's just there isn't enough room on the map to efficiently use those cannons. So I'd strongly suggest to completely forget about these units. Ivan SU-122 (my favourite) + This is an excellent Panther destroyer. And you don't even have to use HEAT rounds to turn the cat into fireball. High Explosive round fired from ca. 300 meters can turn a Panther into a fireball (ammunition detonation caused by concussion) or at least eliminate its crew and causing severe internal damage (armour spalling). + Plenty of HE shells (see above) + It's fast! SU-76 Frankly, I kind of disliked this vehicle throughout the whole game. It's open topped and thus very vulnerable to mortar and HE artillery fire, with armour almost like paper and weak main armament. Not a good choice if you ask me. Still, when SU-122 or 152 are not available or you're low on OOB points, you have to choose it. I found out, that the best use of those vehicles, is to place them in ambushes, preferably in villages or towns, or in dense vegetation, where enemy is expected to come at them at a very close range. If it gets hot, our SPG can always drive back and hide behind a building or bushes. Do not ever let this unit shoot from open field as its incredibly prone to being knocked out by almost every shell out there. SU-152 and SU-100 I don't think I had the opportunity to use those vehicles, but they should seem to be more potent than my favourite SU-122. But, a 152mm HE shell should eradicate almost any Jerry armor threat there is to be met, including Tiger tanks. Can't remember if there were any ISU SPGs in Kursk, but ISU-152 with its impressive frontal armour and calibre, and ISU-122 with its long barrelled gun should do even better. Common: - With both tracks out or engine failure, SPGs are pretty much cooked. So I've always placed them in a safe distance from enemy lines, preferably on hills overlooking large parts of the map or in ambushes, secured by my other units that could react in case something bad happened. That, to minimize the risk of being hit at the side when a unit becomes immobile. + The most important advantage comes from the OOB specifics. Very you use them as a slot filler when there are not enough tank slots. If you ask me, 1C should get rid of those unit-specific slots in favour of universal ones, that would allow you to freely composite your army for the battle. Like it is in Steel Panthers or Close Combat.