ConfusedBuyer Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 Which is a good game to get started with in terms of gameplay and learning curve? I'm looking for something more like the old Close Combat stuff (though I really appreciate the much more educational elements in Battlefront/Big Time Software games).... TIA!!! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ConfusedBuyer Posted December 13, 2011 Author Share Posted December 13, 2011 I should also say that I'm really disappointed in there being no printed manuals offered anymore...I really don't want to spend hours online looking at a pretty .pdf file or whatever...is there maybe some kind of solution here?? (No, I don't have the toner and paper for hundreds of pages....) 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broadsword56 Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 My 2 cents, having played both: CMBN is much closer to the old Close Combat experience, only much better and in 3D. TOW 2 has been an admirable series in certain respects, but it's more of an eye-appealing clickfest (and Kursk isn't even gorgeous if your computer can't deliver a good framerate). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moon Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 I should also say that I'm really disappointed in there being no printed manuals offered anymore...I really don't want to spend hours online looking at a pretty .pdf file or whatever...is there maybe some kind of solution here?? (No, I don't have the toner and paper for hundreds of pages....) This isn't entirely correct. Printed manuals ARE available for most of our new releases. In fact, we are one of the few companies left over that offers printed manuals, at all. The last one for Normandy came in at a hefty 200 pages, too. However, once a manual is out of print, we usually do not reprint it anymore. The cost to keep printed manuals available months or years after release is way too high compared to the interest in them. PS. The solution is to print yourself or have it printed for you. Our new releases include a print-friendly PDF (black text on white background) to that end. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ConfusedBuyer Posted December 13, 2011 Author Share Posted December 13, 2011 My 2 cents, having played both: CMBN is much closer to the old Close Combat experience, only much better and in 3D. TOW 2 has been an admirable series in certain respects, but it's more of an eye-appealing clickfest (and Kursk isn't even gorgeous if your computer can't deliver a good framerate). Interesting...so Kursk requires serious hardware, then? I've got an overclocked 4.5 GHz 2nd-Gen iCore 7 with 16GB system RAM and AMD Radeon 6950 with 2GB of video RAM and a Crucial SSD...hope that's enough for years and years! Funny, I would have thought CMBN is the more "academic" of the two, with Kursk being the more videogame-y! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boche Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 yes you are correct, TOW is more of a "game" that CMBN, which is more of a simulation. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris69 Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 Interesting...so Kursk requires serious hardware, then? I've got an overclocked 4.5 GHz 2nd-Gen iCore 7 with 16GB system RAM and AMD Radeon 6950 with 2GB of video RAM and a Crucial SSD...hope that's enough for years and years! Funny, I would have thought CMBN is the more "academic" of the two, with Kursk being the more videogame-y! Your hardware should suffice for either game. CMBN is definitely the more academic of the two and Kursk the more gamey one. I own both ToW1 and 2, and I prefer CMBN even though it has a clunky interface - because it simply does everything else better. Infantry is still not that much fun to handle in ToW2, and tanks.. well, the fidelity of the CM-series in tank modeling remains the best. There's also a lot of micromanagement in the ToW-series that I don't have much love for (picking up stuff, making guys throw grenades myself, ...) but that's certainly a YMMV-issue. That said, ToW2 is not a bad game and can definitely be fun (plus the controls are much more intuitive than CMBN), but if you haven't played it yet I strongly suggest trying a demo beforehand. CMBN has a much steeper learning curve, but IMHO it's more rewarding in the long run. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil stanbridge Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 Both games are fun and worthy of investment. I believe the lag experienced in Kursk has been addressed in a patch. But it is pretty intensive. But then so is Normandy. In my opinon Normandy is the better of the two games, being much more of an authentic simulation. If you want a quick ten minutes at a time, then go Kursk and enjoy the beautiful graphics and sound effects. If you want to learn a more long-term and authentic battlefield simulation go for Normandy. If you feel flush, get both 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bastables Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 Men of war assault squad is better as a gamey pretty RTS than theatre of war and CMBN is better as a simulation. TOW 2s sort of slips between the two in the spectrum. I'd suggest getting CMBN and waiting for a men of war steam sale over this december. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MG TOW Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 I am/was a big fan of TOW2. But have to say CMBN is the better game. The individual infantry soldier AI is so much smarter in CMBN. In TOW2 you have to move the squad using precooked formations and then tidy it up by moving and nudging individual soldiers. CMBN for the most part the soldiers get it right and adopt placement and formation naturally. And they live longer for it. The only aspect where TOW2 comes out slightly ahead is that it is very pretty. Beautiful backgrounds and terrain shading, and water. Pleasing to look at, graphically it is slightly better than CMBN. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LJFHutch Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 Men of war assault squad is better as a gamey pretty RTS than theatre of war and CMBN is better as a simulation. TOW 2s sort of slips between the two in the spectrum. I'd suggest getting CMBN and waiting for a men of war steam sale over this december. Definitely, though personally I find it hard going back to MoW after having played the CM series. Theatre of War had a great atmosphere, graphics and brilliant sounds but it just didn't work in so many ways. In terms of those it is superior to CM, however the game itself felt like a huge letdown for me, the random battles were extremely limited (so little control it makes me wonder why the even let you choose anything instead of just a "generate randomly" button), multiplayer seemed completely dead and so it seems the guts of it were in the campaign, but that wasn't great either and I lasted only about 6 missions in. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgtstinky Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 Well, for me it CM BN since I own a MAC OS X. I hope Battlefront continues to make games like CM so I can play! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLotusEater Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 I own both Combat Mission Battle for Normandy and TOW 2 Kursk and Africa. TOW 2 has overall better graphics and the tanks' armour damage aesthetics are something CMBN doesn't have. I'm talking about pieces of armor falling off a tank when it gets hit and holes in the exact spot where shells penetrated it. In big open battles TOW 2 seems pretty realistic, it's just when the fight gets close (like in urban and house to house fighting) it gets very "gamey." Urban combat isn't very good in TOW 2 at all. Also the infantry in TOW 2 doesn't move together as in squads or teams. They move like ants across the field unless you micromanage them all. The tac ai (meaning the built in ai for every individual soldier and tank for taking cover, firing, popping smoke, retreating, cowering/keeping your head down) is not very good compared to CMBN's making it unrealistic and forcing you to micromanage everybody in the battle (Pause button ftw1!!1) Fire Missions for artillery and CAS missions aren't modeled very authentically in TOW 2. On map artillery can fire anywhere on the map accurately without having to have a line of sight, just as long as the shell is able to land there. TOW 2 currently does have more variety with more tanks and vehicles and is easier to get into since it's user interface isn't as complicated and battles can be won by simply "lassoing" sections of infantry and giving them orders to move. It's not entirely necessary to micro manage every single individual soldier to win a battle in TOW 2 but sometimes the missions are so hard that you might have to but it's fun to watch the battle with good graphics. CMBN is my favorite game but i used to love TOW 2 and thought I could never get into the CMx2 series cuz of the graphics. But watching CMSF walk-through videos on youtube by a user named "tanit" convinced me that the amount of strategy and authenticity in the CMx2 series is far and away better than any other game I can find. :cool: 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mord Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 Another point that hasn't been touched on yet...CMBN has a VERY powerful editor and technically one could make a map in about 30 seconds. The editor, at least mapping wise is very simple to use and doesn't take a degree in programming to figure out. You could probably teach someone the basics of how it works in about ten minutes, if that. And there's the re playability factor. There are user created scenarios being designed as we speak and more will come when the Commonwealth module arrives and all the designers fire up the editor. Scenario design isn't as easy as in CMX1 but it is probably of a higher quality. Mord. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LJFHutch Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 Absolutely agree Mord, I tried a few times to see what I could create in the editor in exactly 60 seconds and it was pretty impressive 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mord Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 I've always found that to be a huge selling point with this series for me (besides the WEGO). The closest editor I've ever seen to CM's as far as ease of use goes was the one in Steel Panthers but that wasn't 3D of course....Combat Mission has the map making down near perfect. Mord. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wombat_of_war Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 I should also say that I'm really disappointed in there being no printed manuals offered anymore...I really don't want to spend hours online looking at a pretty .pdf file or whatever...is there maybe some kind of solution here?? (No, I don't have the toner and paper for hundreds of pages....) i dont know what is near where you live but i find its cheaper to go to one of the mass photocopy places, they can usually print out a couple of hundred pages plus bind them very cheaply. where i live im looking at probably $30 in ink plus binding. or i can go get the whole thing done for around $10 or so with comb or wire binding(wire is great for opening flat ) 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c3k Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 With specs like that you'd do your a computer a disservice not to buy both! Then ypu'd do us a disservice if you didn't post back here with your impressions. Otherwise get CMBN. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wodin Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 CMBN anyday of the week. No contest. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ConfusedBuyer Posted December 15, 2011 Author Share Posted December 15, 2011 Wow, some real food for thought here (or cannon fodder, as it may be). Thanks, everyone! I think I'll get ToW2:K because to move in the opposite direction would be setting myself up for disappointment. Besides, I'd like my new rig to show me some eye candy! Seriously, thanks for the thoughtful replies. Long or short, they all make me want CMBN right now! But like I said, I'm just eager to put my new machine through its paces.... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ConfusedBuyer Posted December 15, 2011 Author Share Posted December 15, 2011 i dont know what is near where you live but i find its cheaper to go to one of the mass photocopy places, they can usually print out a couple of hundred pages plus bind them very cheaply. where i live im looking at probably $30 in ink plus binding. or i can go get the whole thing done for around $10 or so with comb or wire binding(wire is great for opening flat ) That's pretty expensive considering the game's just $30-$50...besides, economies of scale should translate into savings (I'm assuming more than just a couple of hundred copies in sales). Besides, I really really dig real binding! Anyway, I guess I'll just have to, uh, "soldier on" here.... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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