HC comparison

[santek]

There is an old and excellent game called "High Command" which was quite the same kind of game. It had many qualities and some disavantages compared the SC demo (I will just list a few advantages):

- Stacking units: we could stack units until a certain number. Extremely useful when you suffered after a hard attack and there is no more space on the front line and you still have many armies behind... Moreover we could stack air units with land units. The air units could not defend against land attack, they just suffered losses and retreated automatically to the rear.

- Submarine: are so easy to sink in SC. How can I (as German) send some in the Mediterranean or even in the northern Atlantic? Why develop sonar technology as it is so easy to sink subs? An excellent refence would be "Das Boot" or "Silent Service". A battleship is NOT made to sink subs and only late specialised air units could attack subs. They have sunk many tons in many seas during WWII. The US won against the Japanese in the Pacific mainly beacause of subs.

There was a special order for all naval units: "raid" so they desapeared from the screen until you recalled them for repairs or a special mission.

- Ressources: why are there 4 kind of MPP? As they just give MPP. In HC you need x number of mining pts and x number of oil pts and x number of Industrial or shipyard pts to build something. Moreover it was possible to increase a little the industrial capacities even if there were only a few ressources left.

- Production: minimum production unit was the division that could be merged into a corp or an army. Which is more real than just sending some reinforcement for a unit. So that you could build an air scad and send it very fast to front. On this matter I do believe that air units do not need to spend MPP to move or they should be able to move further on airfields we could build if not already existing. I hate to have to wait until I have enough to build an air or an armoured unit. Moreover any unit cannot be produced in a second, German infantry units took in real a full year! So they had to plan the human ressources a long time in advance.

The shipyard capacities prevented the Germans to build more than what they wanted. So that the UK always had a better navy even with less human ressources. That is why Germany prefered to build subs (fast to build and hard to sink).

- Units: the para are a great kind of unit they have been very useful on nearly every front. HC managed them like any other infantry unit but added an air transport pts that could be built. This air transport pts was used either to transport the para troops or to send supplies to units that where out or too long of their supply lines.

Destroyers are excellent in sinking subs or defending convoys.

- Transport: in HC the transport had to be built and they could be used to transport goods, supplies or troops. They could of course be destroyed so that they had to be guarded. So there was a command "escort" for naval and air units, the naval units desapeared until they were recalled and the air units remain on the same spot but could not be moved until they were recalled.

- Technology: soft attack capabilities, please do not forget all the improvements in this domain.

Nuke is a must by end of the war.

- Bigger map.

- Order: when the ennemy unit defending a place is destroyed, the attacking unit will take the place of the defending unit. Which prevent the defending party to rebuild something and allows the attacker to take directly the place.

There must be much more to say but these are the main advantages.

Of course HC had a big disadvantge compared to SC: it was really difficult and long to manage. Too many things to do for one turn. For this SC is far better.

When I first heard of SC I thought "Great finally an advanced HC". I thought it would be quite the same but more user friendly with a larger map (with asia, america and Africa). So I would like to say to everybody who wants the game asap: "PLEASE be patient, it is much better to have an excellent game that will force you to divorce, to fail your exams, to be fired,... than a kind of beta version.

Anyway I would like to thank the devs and the guys who had the idea of making such a game because not many people in the industry now believe in such a game. And it is a shame! Because there will always be fans.

[Canuck_para]

I guess you are new here. This comparison has been discussed in detail, as has Clash of Steel. However, welcome to the SC Forum and buy the game and enjoy it.

[santek]

Originally posted by Canuck_para:

I guess you are new here. This comparison has been discussed in detail, as has Clash of Steel. However, welcome to the SC Forum and buy the game and enjoy it.

Yes quite new, I spent many time playing the game...

[Canuck_para]

Originally posted by santek:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Canuck_para:

I guess you are new here. This comparison has been discussed in detail, as has Clash of Steel. However, welcome to the SC Forum and buy the game and enjoy it.

Yes quite new, I spent many time playing the game... </font>

[Norse]

Santek, all the things you have pointed out have already been discussed. The para-units etcetc, just look thru the forum and you'll find some interesting discussions.

Anyway, I just want to point out a single thing to you.

You write "battleships were not made to sink subs". Well, you are right. But you don't move "1" battleship, you move a battleship fleet with its support vessels.

For instance, Germany had 88 major surfance ships of different kinds by 1939, including battleships, heavy battlecruisers, cruisers, and so on. This is represented in the 2 cruiser units, which again is not 2 isolated cruiser ships, but 2 cruiser fleets.

Think big, think worldwar 2, this is Strategic Command where the big decisions are made.

Smallest unit is the corps which is about 50000 fighting men+support (logistics, transport, staff, medics etcetc).

Just because the corps unit got '1' man printed on it, doesn't mean it is just 1 guy.

~Norse~

[ July 11, 2002, 05:41 PM: Message edited by: Norse ]

[mitko123]

Hi, does anyone know how to play these old games on XP? I get an error message, something about missing memory...

thanks for any tips you might have

[Sheff]

It's a memory issue. Older games use types of memory that newer pc operating systems don't use anymore. But you can simulate it really easily. Just go to the file that starts the game(probably either a .exe or .bat) and right click it and select properties(down at the bottom of the window that pops up). There will be a tab called "memory" at the top of the properties window, click it. There should be a list of a few different kinds of memory on this window. The extended and ems(i think those are the names, i don't recall) sections are probably set to zero or something like that. Change these values to allocate some of this old style memory to the program(how much depends on the game just play around until it works ). And everything should work fine after that! :cool:

[mitko123]

Thanks a lot. Yeah, I think it said missing EMS memory or something like that. Could you just tell me what the "O" means and what kind of numbers should I enter? I mean, are these values allocated percentages or they are actual K(say 256K, etc)?

[Sheff]

They are actual numbers of memory. There is a pull-down menu with choices for the ammount you want, or you can select automatic(but it's better to just pick one of the settings yourself, I think).

[mitko123]

thanks again. I did that, unfortunately I cannot set the conventional memory to 640. It reverts back to auto even after I apply the changes. The XMS and EMS are fine, I can change these. oh well, I will wait for the release of the game and play the demo in the meantime.

[Sheff]

Make sure you set the initial setting as well, and try to click off the "protected" checkbox that should be under it's pull-down list. You don't need to use all the maximum value either, these games don't require much memory. Good luck, I hope this will work!

[Marc]

The current Computer Gaming World has a two page spread on "Get DOS Games to Work on Windows XP".

Cheers

Marc

[mitko123]

Thanks guys, i still can't get it working. If I come across CGW, it might be worth buying it.

[santek]

Originally posted by mitko123:

Thanks guys, i still can't get it working. If I come across CGW, it might be worth buying it.

It is not worth trying with XP, you had better to take an old machine and install an OS up to 95 and start it with dos not windows. Then it should work. Good luck!

[rleete]

I really don't see why anyone would bother. I bought it new, and still consider it one of the worst ripoffs I have ever experienced. Much more complicated than Axis & Allies, but with the same end result. Way too easy to "trick" the AI, and a win was almost guaranteed.

The comparisons with SC are a disservice to Hubert, as his game has all the earmarks of becoming a classic. The AI in SC has shown a great deal of promise to deliver a good game, time after time. Something HC never did. Yes, Hc was more "detailed". But with no decent AI, it was relegated to the unused pile, and is now freeware. I wish I had the 30 bucks I paid for it back, just so I could use it to buy another copy of SC.

[Valadictum]

I tried CofS in XP. I didn't get a memory problem, I got a graphics card problem. I've got the latest in G4's! Too new I guess.

CofS deleted and disposed of. I wait with great anticipation for SC.

Go Hubert go!!!!!!

[jwi71]

Sorry for the late reply but for those who are having trouble getting older DOS games to work in XP, try the compatibility wizard. The compat. wizard is under help, fixing a problem and it should be listed there. If not, do a search for compatibility in "help and support".

Hope it helps.