This game makes no sense without these three features

[zollerc]

1. dynamic campaign engine (like the one in Steel Panthers)

2. random map generator (like the one in Combat Mission)

3. map/campaign editor (also, like the one in Combat Mission

REMEMBER: Replayability means everything in making a serious wargame! :mad:

[Megakill]

Hi, I agree that these features are VERY important. However it is impossible to make a PERFECT game in every sence. Smb will still find some features missing. We have spent 5 years working on the game and we tried to put inside everything we could. Unfortunately most probably ToW will be released without random maps and dynamic campaign, however missions are partially dynamic, as they are scripted in such a way that many things happen depending on the way you play the mission. Reinforcements may vary, secondary objectives might change, etc.

[Moon]

To add to what Nikolay said - while 2 and 3 are definitely out for the initial release, the campaigns (1) in the game already work a little like in SP, in that you will carry over your surviving soldiers and even some captured equipment from mission to mission. While the campaign is not truly dynamic (the missions are scripted and played in a linear fashion; and you can play them individually, too of course) it comes close. Works a bit like the Close Combat campaigns in the early CC games, really (multiplied by 5 because there are 5 independent campaigns).

Additional to this, the engine can be modded pretty easily, and we'll see what kind of modding support we can release with the game. At the least it should be possible to re-use the 50 or so existing maps to make your own setups.

Martin

[Salkin]

Can you play the same mission several times without finding the enemy in the same spot every time?

//Salkin

[MeatEtr]

Originally posted by Moon:

To add to what Nikolay said - while 2 and 3 are definitely out for the initial release, ...

Martin

That's a real bummer, I thought there was gonna be somekind of a map/campaign editor included in the game. Ah well, can't have everything.

[mazex]

Well, for me a map editor is really important too. I guess that this applies to most of us here and 1C naturally realizes this and will do everything possible to get it for a later patch or add-on? One of the things that makes CM keep on living is really the map editor that is really easy to use, even though it has it's limitations...

I read that we will get the demo soon and judging from the euphoria from the BFC guys I guess that we will be content anyway

Good luck! /Mazex

[joesnuffy03]

Good question on the placement of troops.. will they be in the same spot everytime we play or does the engine place them randomly?? with knowledge to make use of foxholes etc..

[Salkin]

Originally posted by Salkin:

Can you play the same mission several times without finding the enemy in the same spot every time?

//Salkin

I'd really like an answer to this question so I'm going to make a small bump.

*bump*

There.

//Salkin

[Megakill]

Originally posted by Salkin:

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

Can you play the same mission several times without finding the enemy in the same spot every time?

//Salkin

I'd really like an answer to this question so I'm going to make a small bump.

*bump*

There.

//Salkin </font>

[Moon]

To add to what Megakill said: from my own playing I can say that there is enough unpredictability that the missions are very well replayable. While some units seem to be more or less tied to the same place (in situations where this makes most sense, e.g. when you're attacking an enemy fortification you'd expect to find the enemy in there, duh), reinforcements seem to often pop up at varying locations for example. And, as Megakill pointed out, once the game starts, each outcome is very different because the tactical AI seems to do things differently each time you play a mission.

What is especially good to see is that the enemy AI will adapt to your own tactics. So if you play a mission and then want to replay it doing things differently because you saw the AI do something, you will be surprised to see that the AI is playing totally different the second time.

Martin

[Salkin]

Megakill and Moon , excellent answers.

This is almost the answer I was hoping for .

//Salkin

[Megakill]

You will see this all in the first Action Report and then yourself in the demo in a couple of weeks.

We hope to release the demo around end of August.

[sebastian]

Can you pick any map, and use it for a quick battle, or a multiplayer game, with any units of any nationality?

[Megakill]

Originally posted by sebastian:

Can you pick any map, and use it for a quick battle, or a multiplayer game, with any units of any nationality?

Not for the intial release - three is no skirmish mode.

[Hortlund]

About multiplayer, is it possible for two players to play against eachother during a campaign, and BOTH retain their suriviving units, gain experience, award medals etc?

Or is it more along the lines of one player playing a campaign, retaining his units etc, and just having a human opponent instead of an AI-opponent?

[ August 03, 2006, 01:55 AM: Message edited by: Hortlund ]

[Megakill]

We are finishing multiplayer as we speak. Let me get back to you in a few weeks. So that I do not promise smth that will be cut or changed.

[ August 03, 2006, 03:15 AM: Message edited by: Megakill ]

[Hortlund]

Ok, thanks.

You know...if at all possible, it would be a really really great feature. It would make multiplayer a really wonderful game.

[Boosh]

Thank you for the answers to these questions.

[Kellysheroes]

Will the AI adjust to map edge movement as was so easily done to exploit the AI in other games I've played CM included? Just as a test this was something I did with the CM series and only CMAK ever adjusted for this in the "setup". Of course these were random maps and using the quick battle generator. Now, I'm even more concerned with "scripted" scenarios since there's no way they can be adjusted in the setup. Or can they? Please enlighten.

[ August 09, 2006, 11:21 PM: Message edited by: Kellysheroes ]

[Megakill]

Originally posted by Kellysheroes:

Will the AI adjust to map edge movement as was so easily done to exploit the AI in other games I've played CM included? Just as a test this was something I did with the CM series and only CMAK ever adjusted for this in the "setup". Of course these were random maps and using the quick battle generator. Now, I'm even more concerned with "scripted" scenarios since there's no way they can be adjusted in the setup. Or can they? Please enlighten.

AI doesn't really care if you are at the edges or not. It will attack or defend accordingly.

[killmore]

Ability to make your own maps or random maps is very important.

[Wilhelm Heidkamp]

Originally posted by killmore:

Ability to make your own maps or random maps is very important.

For me, these two aspects are essentials to get a good game with a good future, just like CM series.

Guys, seriously, we need a map editor (and random map generator if is possible). This is the point that will do playable the game for years... CM stays in my HDD for this reason, although its graphics or minor deficiencies.

Congratulations for ToW, I will buy it, you can be sure of that, but I prayer you for a complete editor, in subsequents patches or in whatever other way.

Regards.

Willy.

[Moon]

Given our own and 1C's (IL-2) track record for modding, you can rest assured that we'll do what we can do provide more or less full featured editors in future releases. A map editor is very difficult to do, but a scenario editor should be much easier so you don't have to dig into XML.

Martin

[Michael Dorosh]

Originally posted by Moon:

A map editor is very difficult to do, Martin

I like to think we'd make it worth your while but have to admit it might not be the case. I remember the old Red Baron game released a "mission builder" as a separate full product purchase.

I for one would support a standalone map and scenario builder as a separate product, and would even pay full price for same. I have to wonder how many other would. I don't think we can even guage by the number of creations by CM scenario designers floating around online, as many of them seem to have been very "casual" and may not feel the same about a standalone product as I do.

I don't think anyone would disagree, though, that the ability to create maps - whether included as a patch, as a future inclusion in the ToW title(s), or as a standalone - would greatly enhance replayability as well as immersion.

[sebastian]

Originally posted by Moon:

A map editor is very difficult to do

But 1C had to make all the maps with something. So they have a map editor, or at least tools to make functional maps from 3D-graphics files. Why not not release the stuff? Not as an official map editor, just as unofficial, unsupported, use on your own risk tools. Look how many maps CC-moders created, with home-made-tools.