New again to the game

[SargeRock]

Hello All,

I played the original Battlefront back in 2000, played for about 6 months then moved on. My PC gaming now consists mostly of World of Tanks and I want to get back into the Battlefront games again. Is Battle for Normandy the best one to get back on track with?

Thanks

[sfhand]

Welcome back... you can easily download the demo of CMBN and see what you think. Just as a reminder, the game has come a long way from 2000 so expect a learning curve.

[Sergei]

World of Tanks, you say? Then you may find this video familiar. It's from a PBEM of the demo.

[womble]

Is Battle for Normandy the best one to get back on track with?

Beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Some advice:

Don't expect to win right off the bat. Even though the AI is somewhat limited, just having someone throwing lead at you requires that you react appropriately, and there aren't many games that prepare you for that need. The interface isn't the most helpful ever to let you get a handle on how to enact the "appropriate" behaviour, either, but the tools are largely there if you stick with it. Every time the AI kicks your butt and you reload a turn to see how you should have done it, you learn something new, until you've got something to throw at a human opponent.

[Assuming you're coming from an RT environment and you'll be more disposed to RT play] Try WeGo. It's (IMO) how the game is meant to be played, and if you only play RT, you'll miss some of the unique touches this game offers.

Do read the manual. All of it, except maybe the editor section to start with. Play the tutorials. Start with QBs since scenarios often have limited replay value, and it sucks to lose the opportunity to do a scenario "right" because you haven't figured out how to call arty [or whatever] yet. And Campaigns are not the "intro to the game/central attraction" that they are in other games. Save them until you've got a bit of a grip on the game at least.

Forget everything you think you remember about CMx1 (except how exciting it was). It's a new game with entirely different rules and conceptual basis for its mechanics.

Enjoy it. It's great.

[Agua]

OH, and don't start playing the scenarios in the order they appear on the scenario menu. In fact, pick just about ANYTHING other than "A Delaying Action".

[DarkFib3r]

...Try WeGo. It's (IMO) how the game is meant to be played, and if you only play RT, you'll miss some of the unique touches this game offers.

I'm interested in what you think makes WEGO superior to RT. Historically, I played CM (including CMBN and CMSF) exclusively WEGO, but I have recently switched to RT and I am enjoying it a lot more. Granted, it takes away from some of the realism of issuing an order and suffering through 60 seconds of agony when you realize it was a bad order. But being able to quickly give your squads on-the-fly orders in reaction to unanticipated events also has an element of realism.

I'm interested in your point of view and would welcome hearing it.

[Sergei]

Wego is great fun because when something interesting happens, you can replay it, and even save the replay. I enjoy watching these emergent vignettes, like when one man kills six enemies in a row in close quarters fighting or when a Bazooka rocket flies over a Panzer on top of a hill, falling behind the hill and hitting a company commander waiting in the "safety" there.

In realtime mode you can't truly appreciate the beauty of combat in case you miss some critical event elsewhere.

[DarkFib3r]

I completely agree with you - the video replay is an awesome feature and can make up a significant component of the fun. I can remember spending a lot of time locking to an enemy unit and watching, from a first-person perspective, as is wandered into my kill zone. I also agree that in real time you can miss a lot of action when things start happening simultaneously.

When I first responded, I assumed that the original poster felt that WEGO was better because it was more realistic, while that may not have necessarily been the case. Is there a feeling that WEGO is better because it is more realistic?

[womble]

I'm interested in what you think makes WEGO superior to RT. Historically, I played CM (including CMBN and CMSF) exclusively WEGO, but I have recently switched to RT and I am enjoying it a lot more. Granted, it takes away from some of the realism of issuing an order and suffering through 60 seconds of agony when you realize it was a bad order. But being able to quickly give your squads on-the-fly orders in reaction to unanticipated events also has an element of realism.

I'm interested in your point of view and would welcome hearing it.

As well as what Sergei said, I feel that the ability to rewatch the turn so you get to see everything (within limits) that your truppen see and make them react as you think they should/might next time you give orders is pretty key. Sure, RT reflects the fact that they might miss things, but I feel you miss far more than a survival-focused grunt-in-the-weeds would miss. When you're supposed to be taking the part of every squad/team leader as well as the Bttn CO, I think that's important.

I agree that it would be nice to be able to tell a team it's okay to back out of the hornets' nest you told them to wander all the way across, that your "Quick" order didn't mean "advance into the teeth of vicious fire as far as you can bear, then get pinned and Panic", but more "have a look and duck back if you take fire, but if there's no opposition hustle forward," and WeGo requires you to make compromises to get that sort of entirely reasonable behaviour, but overall, I feel the amount of information provided by WeGo play, its accessibility and the resultant entertainment are much more important.

Is there a feeling that WEGO is better because it is more realistic?

Not "more realistic", no, but "more precisely modelling the command role of the player", however realistic that is