•Updated control system focusing more on squads and not on individual soldiers

[HARI SELDON]

•Updated control system focusing more on squads and not on individual soldiers

This is a feature listed in the upcoming TOW3-Korea.

Adding this to TOW-Kursk would greatly enhance the simulation aspect of the game.

Is there any plan to add this to TOW-Kursk? Would it help if I said PLEASE.

[pcelt]

Re Squad control --you can control squads or any other group now by selecting "Control "and giving each squad or group a control number and then using these numbers to issue orders.

(My apologies if this process is already familiar to all)

[HARI SELDON]

Re Squad control --you can control squads or any other group now by selecting "Control "and giving each squad or group a control number and then using these numbers to issue orders.

(My apologies if this process is already familiar to all)

Thanks for the reply, but why would the Battlefront or 1C specifically mention squad control as a new feature if it was already possible to do it? They must be referring to some enhanced squad control. If that is the case, I was asking if it would be possible to add that control to TOW-Kursk.

[pcelt]

Then the only people who can answer your question directly are IC the game developers.You will need to ask them....and it is in fact true that squad and group control are already possible via the control button.

[HARI SELDON]

Then the only people who can answer your question directly are IC the game developers.You will need to ask them....and it is in fact true that squad and group control are already possible via the control button.

I agree with you completely that squad/group control is already possible. The description of squad control alluded to on the TOW3-Korea product page conjures up to me something akin to Combat Mission squad control. Maybe I'm reading too much into it. I guess I'll head off to the 1C forum and see what I can find out.

[HARI SELDON]

Sneaksie posted on the 1C forum that TOW2-Kursk will not be updated with the TOW3 squad control system.

I feel this is an error on 1C's part.

I purchased all the various TOW products from Battlefront. I've enjoyed playing them all. I feel the game play and simulation value of TOW2-Kursk is the most enjoyable. TOW2-Kursk currently has the most up do date game engine. With the investment I have already put into the TOW franchise I'm starting to feel put upon that I have to purchase a new game every year to play the most up to date version of the game engine.

I am interested in TOW3-Korea, but will probably pass unless some of the game enhancements are back fitted into TOW2-Kursk.

[Piecekeeper]

If 1C is not interested in releasing the best game they could make...ill pass on this one. My feeling is that 1C is a little bit to interested in making money and not supporting their games. They should start to think about getting dedicated fans, rewrite your strategy. As always...cm is a good example of that.

[HARI SELDON]

From their track record, I can extrapolate that when TOW4 comes out in early 2012 they won't back fit any engine updates to TOW3-Korea.

I think they cured me of the entire series - I'll pass on TOW3.

[Knokke]

My feeling is that 1C is a little bit to interested in making money and not supporting their games.

Keep in mind that the theatre of war serie is a niche genre. There are not that many peoples interested in such an advanced simulation, most customers being interested in more easier to play and more "glamorous" WWII games (more akin to BF1942 than to a simulation).

Of course 1C is interested in making as much money as they can, for the sake of keeping the serie going. They've to try to reduce the costs as much as possible, because a Theatre of War game will never have as much customers as a more arcade style of game. That's the reason why they're forced to reuse as much material as possible from previous games, and can't afford to update each version to the latest standard.

But it seems to me a bit too much to say that 1C is not supporting their game. They've always come up with patches to fix problems when they occurs, even adding free new content into the games. They even went so far as to give us the means to entirely mod the game and add new vehicles, building and maps, with the release of the modding tools.

Of course, I too would like to see Africa43 and Kursk43 updated to the latest standard, but doing so would be a time consuming thing that 1C probably cannot allow themselves to do for lack of budget. With the tools that the ToW community has at his disposal, bringing the content of both games up to the latest standard is something that would be possible to do for a modding team, but the sheer amount of work means that several modders would have to work together for quite a lenght of time to achieve this result, and there is not a whole lot of peoples interested in modding on the ToW engine (unfortunately).

[HARI SELDON]

I would be willing to pay for an engine update for TOW2-Kursk if it was bundled with a new mission pack like Caen.

[Knokke]

Yes, me too. And I would pay even more to have ToW1 updated to the latest standard too.

[Vinnart]

True the game currently uses squads to a degree, but they are generic such as "Infantry Detachment" rather than i.e. 1st sqd, 2nd Plt., A Co. which is more realistic. I believe this is a move in the right direction for realism, and further ease of control. I can see it moving more toward like Combat Mission. It must have the flexibility to split squads, and re-assembly squads. There are very few individuals in militaries, but the game needs that flexibility. A flexible system could allow number groups to be used differently. For example Squad 1/1/ A company, and squad 3/2/ A company could both be in a group # designated by the player, however they still keep their designation in the origination table of order of battle..

Here is a possibility:

We have Sgt. Joe Smith who is the current leader of 1st sqd, 2nd Plt., A Co. ATTACHED to him are 12 individuals including a Corporal. The player can select the entire squad by double clicking Joe Smith Icon. During the game, and in real life units can get scattered, and assigned to other officers. By use of a NEW! ATTACH/DETACH administrative command a player can detach soldiers from one leader, and attach them to another leader. A player can also detach a soldier altogether to be an individual if desired. A player could detach 3 troops from Joe Smith, and attach them to the Company Commander for example. Now when the Company Commander is double clicked those Attached to him show in his squad, and no longer in Joe Smith's sqaud.. A soldier can be detached, and still fall under a commander’s influence if within the influence radius. Holding the Ctrl key down while double clicking on Company selects all under him, like wise doing the same could select all entire platoon if platoon commander is selected. The player should have the flexibility as described above, but also a quick command function to divide a squad in half with the Jr. commander taking over one team.

Bazooka, sniper, Heavy machine gunners could be as teams as they were in CMx1. A team could be ATTACHED to a leader and become part of his squad, and detached to transfer to another leader, or detached to be an individual. Individuals as well as squads should show two icons. One to show they are in command radius of an officer (Shown red, or free button in Cmx1), and one to show status as ATTACHED or not. A soldier could be ATTACHED, but not in COMMAND radius for example.

During the battle whomever is assigned say to 1st squads leader becomes part of 1 st squad during that time. In other words the LEADER of 1st squad IS 1st squad. If he dies the next most eliglble soldier in the sqaud takes over, and is given the commander icon.

After the battle, as in real life the troops go back to their original squads they are officially assigned to in the Order of Battle screen. The order of battle screen should remain flexable to move leader, and perhaps individuals from one squad to another.

Such a system allows ease to keep organization, while allowing flexibility. Just some ideas to throw out there for consideration.

[MG TOW]

Yes, me too. And I would pay even more to have ToW1 updated to the latest standard too.

Tow 1 = no building occupation so its dead to me now that Tow2 is on the scene.

@Vinnard, good ideas on squad manipulation. Brings into light the importance of soldier attributes, ie rank.

[Vinnart]

Thanks Gundolf, I agree about TOW1. I did not buy that game. The deal breaker for me too was the infantry not being able to enter buildings. To me this was just so obvious a major feature missing. What I like about this series compared to Sudden Strike (which was another game I was into albeit it was a bit Kidsy, but the best thing at the time) is the develepors, 1C, have taken steps forward with the development. TOW2 Kusk shows this especially with the NEW! tactical map improving it's functionality tremendously. RTS is about COMMAND and CONTROL, and the new tactical map addresses that. The only thing I wish is for more sound effects in Tactical map view. Mind you all i know of Kusk is the demo. I would get it if I could afford PC upgarde at the moment. TOW2 is such a better game than TOW1, much more refined.

[Knokke]

Tow 1 = no building occupation so its dead to me now that Tow2 is on the scene

Sure, and even more important, ToW1 is openGL. What I had in mind, was using the latest ToW engine (DirectX) and incorporating in it the content that was in ToW1, not the other way around.