A Playtest Too Far

[beingofone]

I am not home right now but when I get back. I am gonna play this puppy. thanks techumseh.

[techumseh]

Please read the readme carefully before playing. It deals with turning off the animated sprites, insuring you have the patch installed and other things you must know to fully enjoy the scenario.

[Arthedain]

I thought it only included thing I know..
Hehe, I will read it more carefully, I was merely taking a look at the scen, not playing it.

[Eivind IV]

This looks fantastic! Only a pitty I don't have TOT available atm. Soon, though, I will be able to play this. Keep up the great work!

[curtsibling]

This one has simply the best ToT units ever....

[AGRICOLA]

Beautifully crafted scenario. I'm still working out the intricacies of TOT and the relative abilities of units, and will continue to do so till I'm comfortable with them.

The detailed README made installation a snap. I did scratch my head a bit over which TOT patch the README refers to because all the links also have a gigamap TOT patch.

[techumseh]

Thanks everyone. Has anyone been able to win? I tried to make this very tough, but some are far better players than I am. Is it too easy? Or too frustrating? I'd love to hear how people's games are going.

[techumseh]

So, no one is actually PLAYING it, right?

[Arthedain]

Well, I tried to, but my units on the main road in the centre wouldn't move north at first. Then I managed to solve the problem, but then I realised a major exam is coming up soon, so from next week I will have to study like 24/7. But I've already started to study some hehe.. Anyways, I will try it out when I get more time. Only thing is that I should really just finish my own project but my mainconcern is the unit stats.

[AGRICOLA]

I had the same problem as Arthedain with getting units up the road.

I'm still experimenting with:

1. What the units can do.
2. How to operate the @$%(*] TOT controls.
3. How to get rid of the %$@!&^} black that obviously was the game designer's favourite color. It is driving me up the wall.

I'll get to your scen. Promise.

[curtsibling]

When you want detailed and invaluable feedback, Agricola is your man!

[curtsibling]

And for me, the scenario is just great.

Although I tend to get a bit of a beating up for the Germans, I don't mind.

I play for the fun aspect and to see what my suicidal tactics can achieve...

The clever event structure of the game is still hurling surprises at me, the design is wicked!

So what scen have you got in mind next, Tech?
Warlords is in the bag for sure?

[techumseh]

@Curt: Warlords is 80% done. I need to make a few units, esp early Japanese tanks and armored cars and work on the Kwantung Army tech tree, then it's ready to playtest.

@AGRICOLA: I thought ToT controls were the same as MGE. If you can be specific, I'll try to answer. And what's this black color you're trying to get rid of?

I was worried that I might have made OM-G too hard and people wouldn't admit they were frustrated. Here are a few hints for getting started:

I suggest starting with Plan A, the historical operation. Go ever the readme one more time, esp. the section on tactics and the house rules.

There is a belt of minefield terrain along the British start line. It's impassible to motorized and artillery units. Find the Sherman flail unit - it's on the road just south of the canal. Move it up road to the first mindfield square and select 'change to plains' from the Orders Menu. The minefield is now gone. You will now see most of the German units between you and your first objective - Valkenswaard.

Now go to your two airbases. Use your Typhoons, the Mitchell and the Mosquito to take out the stacks blocking the route to Valkenswaard. Place them so they block other German units from reaching Eindhoven. Use the Mitchell and the Mosquito to do a careful recon of the area before they attack. Use the artillery to clear the remaining units on either side of the road. Protect your flail and artillery with anti-tank guns.

On the second turn, again use the flail to remove the minefield in front of Valkenswaard. Then attack with artillery and occupy the town. Repeat these tactics to capture Eindhoven, which should take another 2 to 4 turns. Spread out with your recon rgt, which consists of Dialmer armored cars and Cromwell tanks. Avoid attacking anything but infantry in the open with the AC's - use them to occupy wooded terrain on your flanks. Use the Cromwells to attack weaker units (not 88's!) on the flanks.

Be very careful with your huge stacks of units - keep them behind the advance guard, preferrably in the fortress or in towns. It may seem as if you have more than enough units - this is an illusion. There is no building of units in this scenario and units (except air) are not replaced. So be cautious, esp. with specialist units and artillery.

I hope this helps get you going. If anyone has questions, I'm happy to answer them here or by PM. Good luck, General!

[fairline]

Originally posted by techumseh
@AGRICOLA: ...... And what's this black color you're trying to get rid of?

My guess is its the city interface screen background 'city.bmp' which is a particularly fetching black/white-noise/puke-green colour scheme for ToT.

Agricola: This can be changed to whatever colour you like. The stock graphics for ToT are appalling. They can be changed. Underneath the dingy graphics is the best version of civ2: MGE on mega steroids. I recommend using Catfish's terrain graphics to brighten things up, and any other graphics can be replaced with 256 colour FW/MGE stuff. And here's the thing: If you have the skill as an artist you can improve these graphics 100-fold as ToT supports 15-bit graphics as compared to MGE's puny 256-colours.

My reaction was the same as yours on first seeing ToT: I basically consigned the CD to my 'games played once and hated' drawer for years until seeing Tech's scenarios.

The monkeys who did the stock artwork for ToT had the potential to make a gem graphically speaking, from which they managed to polish a turd. The up-side is the game still has the capability graphically to look superb, if you are prepared to put the effort into making 15-bit graphics. Fortunately, Catfish and others have done this for us.

[curtsibling]

Check catfish's cave (crikey!) for many ToT enhancements!