Tekkor Posted March 11, 2004 Share Posted March 11, 2004 Im ordering it. I have never played the previous 2 games in this series but I had heard of them but always thought they were too complicated to get involved with. Then the other day i noticed the PC gamer accolade given to this latest version. I decided to do some research and read a few reviews on Gamespot and IGN along with a couple others. "Man... why hadnt I ever tried this game?", I thought to myself. Anyway...I downloaded the demo and gave it a try. Ill admit when I first started playing I was a bit underwhelmed. I wasnt quite clear on the controls and the graphics of course where a bit pedestrian. I played the first scenario for about an hour and then called it a night. I decided today to go try it again and play the first scenario from scratch taking the knowledge i learned from my first hour or so of playing around. I started the scenario around 2:30pm today... next thing I knew I looked up and it was 6:15pm and the scenario was just wrapping up. Wow. I barely won at like 43 turns with a "Tactical Victory". I was down to one tank and a few handfuls of shell shocked soldiers but I had done a pretty good job early on of wasting the enemy tanks out on the horizon and holding them back until right at the end. In fact my failing had been around the mid point of the game i had let a bunch of the enemy infantry weasel up into the middle of my ranks and cause havoc. They took out a couple tanks and caused me all sorts of problems. The line of sight and psychology parts of the game really impressed me. At first the line of sight issues were really aggravating me but I started to figure it out. Flanking enemy tanks with fire and all the usual tactical elements are very well established in the gameplay. Almost too much so in some instances. Towards the end of the game I had only one sherman tank I believe it was and it single handedly took out 2 tanks and almost a third before the game ended beacuse I had manuevered him around behind my main base and the enemy I guess lost sight of him. I was able to hit their side and took out 2 tanks with one shot each. Anyway... before I ramble on too much let me ask a few questions... - One thing I noticed is sometimes it seems your tank crews abandon the tanks a bit too quick by getting scared or something. Is there any way to make your soldiers re-man an abandoned tank once they have "calmed down"? - On that first scenario I think my long range guns out to the left of the map and the one in the main base had all-time high score hits on enemies. Eventually they finally ran out of ammo. Is there anyway to replentish the ammo for them? - Some of the commands some units have I didnt understand. Is there a listing around somewhere that explains what some of the commander commands like "advance" and "cover" actually do when used? I know what they mean but I couldnt quite see what was happening. - Im curious on how the play by email system works. Its not one move at a time sent back and forth on email is it? That seems like it would take forever. Do you do more turns or something? Just curious. I have more to say I'm sure but the post is long enough for my first one. Regardless I really like the game and plan to order it tonight (wish the book was available now for the combo deal). Im going to go play the second scenario some first. Thanks for any responses. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dieseltaylor Posted March 11, 2004 Share Posted March 11, 2004 Welcome Tekkor!!!! - One thing I noticed is sometimes it seems your tank crews abandon the tanks a bit too quick by getting scared or something. Is there any way to make your soldiers re-man an abandoned tank once they have "calmed down"? Not in the current game engine. Getting scared normally equates to damage that makes the tank unfit - other than a coffin "- On that first scenario I think my long range guns out to the left of the map and the one in the main base had all-time high score hits on enemies. Eventually they finally ran out of ammo. Is there anyway to replentish the ammo for them?" The normal battle runs less than an hour and within that time frame replenishing ammo would not normally happen. It does get asked for as a possible future feature - but the current situation is historically prety correct. "- Some of the commands some units have I didnt understand. Is there a listing around somewhere that explains what some of the commander commands like "advance" and "cover" actually do when used? I know what they mean but I couldnt quite see what was happening." Advance means that you are using as much terrain cover as you proceed to a point - normally used when you are under fire. It is quite tiring for the troops. I would go into the rest but you will have your game soon ..... "- Im curious on how the play by email system works. Its not one move at a time sent back and forth on email is it? That seems like it would take forever. Do you do more turns or something? Just curious." Depends on how many turns you turnaround in a day. My record is 22 sent but that was several different games. There is an independently produced little program called PBEMHelper which does allow you to post multiple turns per e-mail which is very good. But say a month per game no stress. For the real addict there is TCP/IP play which can be a real adrenalin rush. LAN play is the most intensive and quite gruelling as you will be at your keyboard for probably two hours with non-stop thinking to do. All the best p.s. And read the sticky at the top of the Tips and Techniques Forum 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hpt. Lisse Posted March 11, 2004 Share Posted March 11, 2004 You're hooked, which is a good thing. Unless you're married. The manual will answer all. Here's the short list. 1) Yes, the game recognizes the difference between a "knocked out" vehicle and an "abandoned" one. Your crew were probably taking casualties inside the tank from partial penetrations, etc., and wisely decided to haul ass. Click on Hotkeys and make sure "detailed armor labels" is on. No, your crew isn't suicidal enough to run out and hop into an immobilized, spotted tank while every enemy in the area fires at them in the hope of getting off another couple rounds. 2) No, ammo trucks didn't service actively engaged AFV's. In the Campaign mode, where there many battles occur over several days, your troops get re-supplied. 3) See Manual 4) Yeah, it's a bit slow. But great for folks who travel or are married with kids. Us single folk prefer the TCP/IP games. Good luck! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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