MP Limits?

[Vinnart]

Hi All, All I know of the MP game is from just playing against, and with the AI in Africa. Even then I lag, so I do not want to frustrate people in trying to join a game for real. I have a few questions about this aspect if anyone can please answer. I do not own Kursk at present.

1. What is the maximum amount of units does MP allow on the map at one time?

2. Are there ever games where you get, or can order reinforcements for flag captures?

3. What is the biggest map size capable?

4. How is current MP support? Is it easy to find MP games?

5. Rate your lag when playing online.

Please answer in terms of a medium within spec machine running the game. Thanks.

[Sneaksie]

1) In Africa, 250 units on the battlefield are allowed simultaneously.

2) Only in Kursk or Kursk+Caen, you can call for reinforcements or air/artillery strikes if you have enough command points (they are awarded for inflicting casualties to the enemy).

3) The same, 2x2km.

4) Most people use Hamachi. You can also find partners for MP on this forum or in Theatre of War Steam group.

5) I dunno, when i played MP (against Russians and French) we didn't have lag problems.

You shoud definitely try joining a MP game because all calculations in multiplayer mode are being done on the server, so client(s) won't frustrate other players by lagging.

[Vinnart]

Thanks for the reply Sneaksie. 250 explains the small amount of units per player in say a 4v4 that I have seen in multiplayer against AI in Africa. The biggest problem with my lag for Africa is because I must play at 1/2 speed to run smoothly due to my PC lowest specs. MP currently has no way for host to adjust the game speed. Perhaps that is something to consider for future builds of the game for slower machines. Personally I prefer a slower speed anyways for MP. I believe many other 40+ players prefer a little slower pace too. I still may try it though just to see what happens. At the moment I am still going through single player campaigns. Once done with SP I will feel trained enough to compete MP. Glad to hear there is perhaps a new MP mode in Kursk that is not in Africa where one can get reinforcements during MP games. This is a step in an improvement direction for better MP play.

Even if my current PC specs don’t allow for MP at the moment I will say that TOW2 has a strong enough single player aspect to make it worth getting for that alone. SP is where one can have the time to have bit more fun with the RPG, FPS aspects of the game. A few more questions if you do not mind.

6. You said 250 for Africa. What is it for Kursk? More? Less? What is the expectation for Korea in regard to this if you know? Any plans for company, or even battalion size forces per player in 4v4 as PC specs progress?

7. Why are people using outside sources to find games, when the game appears to have a MP game locator built in?

[Sneaksie]

6) In Kursk this cap was removed, but in practice in a battle involving significantly more units performance would drop greatly.

7) Because one needs an external IP address to host an MP game that would be visible worldwide and most people don't have such setup since it usually involves additional monthly charge from Internet provider.

[Vinnart]

Sneaksie, Thanks again for your answers. I am very surprised to hear there is no cap anymore due to performance issues when too many units at one time. I would have expected battalion size at most per player 4v4, which is more than enough units to satisfy, and manage IMO. Actually battalion size per player would probably be too crowded on a 2k x 2k map. Larger maps would more than likely be needed for units of those sizes. Like you said it all comes down to performance. It all boils down to current technologies to deal with the specs of the game on a grander magnitude. TOW is probably just a little ahead of its time in seeing its fullest potential of MP on a larger scale. I am not a kid who feels he must have thousands of units, and see thousands of corpses to make it a fun RTS to play, but on the other hand the couple of squads, and few tanks as a total starting force I have experienced so far against the AI Multiplayer Africa isn’t too much too get excited about either. That is why I was curious on the numbers allowed. I would much rather play a more realistic game like TOW over a more childish game with thousands of units. Personally I prefer to command a battalion, or company size force like in the Combat Mission MP games. Not too much, but not too little either.

Understood about the MP finder in the game, and glad I asked otherwise I would have never known about Hamachi, or Theatre of War Steam group, and how to find MP games. Perhaps something sticky may be in order about how to find MP games as I am sure there are others with this inquiry.

Having a network outside of a game can be more successful than in game. This was the case with the Sudden Strike series, which was a certain predecessor to TOW series that I competed in. Sudden Strike 1&2 had great success using Gamespy as it’s main MP network that was outside of the game. When Sudden Strike3 came out they did away with Gamespy, and tried using an in game MP finder that never seemed to work good, and had lousy MP support network. Needless to say the once very successful Sudden Strike series no longer even has a website since it had its longevity entirely on its MP aspect.