Back to Theatre of War

Jarhead0331 · August 25, 2018, 10:44:47 AM

As some of you have read in the FRIDAY! thread, I randomly decided to reload the old Theatre of War games and so far I'm having a really great time with Kursk. Its still very challenging in in some scenarios depending on objective, terrain and OOB, but overall the challenge seems more credible than I remember.

In any event...some screenshots from a quick mission I generated. German assault of UK position. Both forces have a mix of armor and infantry.

German force advancing to contact

Taking the hill

Probing a defensive position

Contact...Brits are already feeling pressure from heavy German tanks

Destroyed British tanks as German artillery begins to fall

Generous bombardment

Lighter German vehicles holding back

German infantry pushing in

Crossing the main road through map

Occupying main defensive position under fire

Advancing through field

Most significant loss occurred right after victory was achieved. Brits had some fight left!

mikeck · August 25, 2018, 10:53:13 AM

Anything that ToW does much better than Graviteam? Or more of a personal preference?

JasonPratt · August 25, 2018, 10:53:43 AM

Wait, is this from ToW3 or 1 or what?

(I'm just ignorant of why British units are found in a Kursk game, apparently?)

RyanE · August 25, 2018, 11:02:56 AM

I played ToW a lot for a year or so and liked it. But it wasn't supported any more and had some limitations. I actually played Graviteam a lot after that. But had a fun time playing ToW.

The big thing on Graviteam is the op layer and, what I think is a more realistic approach to C&C.

Jarhead0331 · August 25, 2018, 11:03:17 AM

Quote from: JasonPratt on August 25, 2018, 10:53:43 AM
Wait, is this from ToW3 or 1 or what?

(I'm just ignorant of why British units are found in a Kursk game, apparently?)

Its the DLC for Kursk...Battle of Caen. Includes the British OOB.

Jarhead0331 · August 25, 2018, 11:04:03 AM

Quote from: mikeck on August 25, 2018, 10:53:13 AM
Anything that ToW does much better than Graviteam? Or more of a personal preference?

I think Graviteam has an overall superior system, but ToW has a more traditional UI, so it may appeal to some who just can't get over that Graviteam hump. I think they compare well though in terms of how and what they model...scale, ballistics, individual units, etc.

JasonPratt · August 25, 2018, 11:25:40 AM

Okay, so it's ToW2 + DLC.

As it happens, I have all the ToW games except ToW3. I should revisit my sunk costs!

RyanE · August 25, 2018, 11:52:29 AM

IIRC, ToW's biggest issue for me was its individual soldier control. You had to give orders to individuals. You could group them, but they had no ability to give good group orders. There was a huge amount of micro. Of course, this was 10 years agoand I could be thinking of something else.

Boggit · August 25, 2018, 01:29:42 PM

I wish Battlefront would adopt Graviteam's strategic layer for Combat Mission. I think it would be an awesome collaboration, but sadly doubt it will happen. Still, I live in hope.... :dreamer:

Silent Disapproval Robot · August 25, 2018, 03:18:48 PM

Quote from: RyanE on August 25, 2018, 11:52:29 AM
IIRC, ToW's biggest issue for me was its individual soldier control. You had to give orders to individuals. You could group them, but they had no ability to give good group orders. There was a huge amount of micro. Of course, this was 10 years agoand I could be thinking of something else.

That sounds more like Men of War.

I found ToW interesting but also frustrating as hell. I think the only campaign I did reasonably well in was as the Brits in Caen. I just did what they did and loaded up on 25 lber arty and sat back and shelled every building or clump of shrubbery I saw before moving up. Kursk and N. Africa kicked my ass. I think it's because the game models counter-attacks in a more believable manner than most. Your troops are scattered, ground up, low on ammo and morale after winning a battle but then the enemy counter-attacks and it's brutal!.

Skoop · August 25, 2018, 05:20:52 PM

I liked the campaign strat layer that tow Korea added. There was a Modder in the bfc forums who was working on adding all the tow content into tow Korea, but it never got completed.

Jarhead0331 · August 25, 2018, 07:33:23 PM

North Africa...

Tiger Platoon. Mission is to serve as a rearguard while lighter forces reposition

Mounting up

Americans advancing

Tigers engaging at long range

Shermans don't stand much of a chance

Crews bailing

RIP

Futility

Bailing

Air support!

Only loss in the battle. 3 crew members killed

Unexpected push on the right flank

Large American force, but very green and inexperienced

Hard lessons

German forces successfully regrouped

Until next time

JasonPratt · August 25, 2018, 08:17:32 PM

That tiger food looked sharp as hell (pardon the mixed metaphors).

Are you playing with any mods?

Jarhead0331 · August 25, 2018, 08:19:34 PM

Quote from: JasonPratt on August 25, 2018, 08:17:32 PM
That tiger food looked sharp as hell (pardon the mixed metaphors).

Are you playing with any mods?

Nope. All vanilla.

Destraex · August 25, 2018, 10:42:24 PM

Still looks great. As I recall I finished the desert one. Loved that version. How does the Russian front one run now? It used to have the most horrible frame rate and memory leaks back in the day.
As I recall you double clicked a leader to grab all infantry in the squad or bounding boxed people.

P.S. Men of War 2 is also a double click of leader to move the whole squad or bounding box. Men of War 1 on the other hand was ridiculously hard to gather or regroup your men in a tight situation.