Questions

[Avwriter]

Greetings.

I am new to the forum and come to TOW after beign a veteran of Il-2 for many years. I understand that TOW makes use of the Il-2 engine, and I eagerly look forward to seeing TOW in action when it is released. However, in the meantime I do have a few questions:

1. How are air units handled in TOW? I have seen air attacks in the videos, but I was curious about how much control the player has over them? Can you call in airstrikes on individual positions? Will aircraft of opposing sides fight each other in the air above the ground units?

2. I see that TOW has some new features and improvements over the original Russian version of the game. Just out of curiosity, will these improvements be made available to owners of the Russian version, or is this a Battlefront exclusive. Also, will TOW be compatible with the Russian version online?

3. I understand that the game takes place in real time. Does this mean that morning, day, evening, and night will also take place in real time? What about the seasons of the year?

4. Obviously, the game transpires over a wide geographic area (Europe and Russia). Is the geography integrated onto a single map? For example, can soldiers/vehicles travel in real time from Russia all the way to Berlin?

5. Will major cities (Paris, Berlin, Leningrad, Stalingrad) be depicted in detail? IF so, in how much detail? I have yet to see any screenshots from urban areas.

6. Is the game design open-ended in such a way that future expansions might be added by the developer or by users?

[Sneaksie]

1. You select type of available aircraft (CAS, fighters, bombers) and click on the ground to attack. CAS make a couple of strafing runs attacking guns, infantry, not tanks. Fighter arrive and fly above map for a couple of minutes intercepting enemy planes if they exist. Bombers bomb the target area (though it appears that they are removed in last patch due to being unrealistic of using strategic bomers in CAS role, maybe tactical bombers still in use, i dunno). If you have let's say 3 calls of CAS aircraft and during first call 3 planes arrived and one was shot down, then there will be only 2 in each subsequent strike. Same for other aircaft. CAS are easy prey for enemy fighters and usually in missions where you have air support enemy has AA so you better find a way to cripple his AA (difficult) or he will slaughter your airforce.

2.The beta of 2nd patch contains many of these improvements and it is said that normal 2nd patch will be released in the same time as western release of the game. I definitely think it will be compatible and i'm looking forward to playing MP with you people;)

3.I didn't see night missions. Maybe would be possible with editor. As for weather - any weather i think, summer and winter maps. Some maps look like autumn (i.e. Polish campaign).

4.Nooo. Maps are big, but not that big. Playable area around 2x2km, but there is a plenty of other viewable terrain with hundreds of trees, etc. around.

5.Urban areas are almost non-existent because fighting house-to-house is not implemented. Biggest flaw so far.

6.Expansion is planned. Mission editor will make creating campaigns possible.

[Avwriter]

That's a shame about the cities. In Il-2 they did such a good job with the cities, especially Leningrad. I was hoping they might have carried that over into this game. Of course, no doubt that would require a lot more CPU/GPU power, but still...

[Avwriter]

I was just browsing the Russian forum and noticed that they have an FAQ. For those who speak the language, you can find it here:

http://forums.games.1c.ru/?type=thread&msgid=806898

It actually answered my question about the progression of time/daylight/the seasons in some detail: It says that transistions from day to night are in the game, including attractively rendered sunrises and sunsets. It also confirms that all four seasons are represented.