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Newbie - and er....?


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Hi,

I have played all the incarnations of CM since they were written and am a big fan - and an fan/avid player of all turn based/RT strat WW2 games out there.

Having seen some screenies, I decided to give the Theatre of War a go - as it looked amazing.

But - first few hours of playing - and I am bewildered....

To my eyes, the scenarios are unbelievably hard and unrealistic! I know this may just be newbie frustration, but in the first mission of the Normandy Campaign, which I had set to medium difficulty - I watch as my men are picked off, whilst they are behind walls or kneeling down, by Germans from 180-230 mtrs - who are standing up in open fields.

My men are supposedly elite paratroopers and are crawling to positions at great distances, trying to enter 'defend' mode and are just falling like flies to these one or two riflemen who are standing in the open. In fact on the 4th attempt at this level - I counted 8 of my paras behind a wall - all dead - to these super-snipers - who weren't actually snipers!

On the counter attack portion of the level - I lined all my men up - again behind a wall and watched as the 30+ German soldiers ran across an open field at them. By the time the enemy reached my defensive position in the church, nearly all my men were dead - and the Germs continued running upright into my reserves - who were themselves all prone and behind bushes. And then I watch as they all get killed too.

I don't think there is any more I could do in terms of tactics/positioning/strategy etc. Or am I wrong? Or is this game flawed?

It just doesn't seem realistic to me. I hope this is not the RT strat version of Medal of Honor - ... .ie choose who you want dead - even if he's 2 miles away, in a window with only his ear showing - and ..... pop - he's dead.

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If this is your first mission your men will be relatively green against seasoned troops & (as in 1944) they will take a lot of casualties. As you build up their experience points they will improve.

To expand on a tip elsewhere on the forum -

On the difficulty of missions: - the editor is your friend.

It is a simple matter to load an ‘impossible' mission xml & alter the opposing forces.

(Obviously the original mission.xml should be backed up first.). When I failed too many times I simply reduced the veterancy level of the enemy so I could move on.

For those that don’t know how:-

Using ToW 1 as an example, go to the missions folder e.g:-

..\theatre of war\Missions

Select nation, then battle & open mission.xml with the editor.

[before altering anything save a copy of the original e.g. as mission.xml.orig.]

Then you can scroll through the opposing forces & reduce the troops/crew capability level.

In the image here I’ve switched a tank crew from Elite to Regular.

Just altering a few of these veterancy values can make all the difference. It isn’t necessary to make every crew green & useless to change the entire battle. You don't need to learn all about the editor to make that single change. You decide what & how much to alter.

Having lowered only a few of the enemy experience values I save the file & restart the battle. Even one less capable enemy crew can make all the difference.

That said you NEED the balance mod as it massively improves the stock balance of the game.

This is a link for the last JSH balance mod 1.3.5 & the great Bulldogs campaign that was created by a member of this board.

You do need to persevere with the learning curve & quirks but once you get the idea there are hours of great moments & replay in this series.

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