Any one playing for the very first time?

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All Forums >> [Current Games From Matrix.] >> [World War II] >> Steel Panthers World At War & Mega Campaigns >> Any one playing for the very first time?

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Any one playing for the very first time? - 9/12/2000 10:32:00 AM

Pack Rat

Posts: 594
Joined: 5/8/2000
From: north central Pennsylvania USA
Status: offline

I'm still in love with this game. How many years has it been? With this release it just keeps getting better. Who could have imagined? If there is one thing wrong it's harder for me to set up against the AI than when SP1 first showed up, but I'll fix that soon with online or e-mail.

What I'm wondering is how new players feel about the interface. Do you think it friendly? The game itself overwelming? Any thoughts as a new player? Sometimes these boards can be a bit scarey with the wealth of expertise. ------------------ Good hunting, Pack Rat

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- 9/12/2000 11:12:00 AM

Bonzo

Posts: 676
Joined: 9/3/2000
From: Peace River, AB, Canada
Status: offline

I didn't play the earlier SP (1, 2 or 3). Picked up SPWaW v2 from Tankhead. Enjoyed it immensely. I did keep screwing up when buying artillery. Try for onboard & buy transport for it, find I'd chosen offboard. try for offboard & don't buy transport, find it onboard. Having the little tag in the encyclopedia telling you it is offboard in V4 really helped me out. Thank you Matrix. Other than that, a careful read of the manual & a few hours of "try it & see" and I can get around in the game quite well. The interface is quite simple (but lots of adjustability) & I found I could start with a simple setup - small map, few units on each side, no air, few artillery, command & control off. play like that and add features as my competence increases. This kept the "I can't win, this is too complex" away & had me ENJOYING the game right away. Realism gets added as my skills allow. All the new controls in V4 makes this path so much easier. Bonzo ------------------ Robert (Bonzo) Lindsay, Coordinator 28th (North-west) Battalion Headquarters http://dreadnaught.home.icq.com [email]nwbattalion@icqmail.com[/email]

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Robert (Bonzo) Lindsay, Webmaster 28th (North-west) Battalion Headquarters Main http://www.nwbattalion.com E-mail

(in reply to Pack Rat)

Post #: 2

- 9/12/2000 11:46:00 AM

Don

Posts: 810
Joined: 7/12/2000
From: Elk Grove, CA (near Sacramento)
Status: offline

SPWaW is my first SP game, and my first serious wargame. I found it in June because of the writeup in PC Gamer and have been playing ever since. Knowing nothing about WW2,I found it easy to learn the interface, but much harder to learn about all the different weapons and stategies!

Even now I find myself learning something everyday, especially today (played Drake online

)! I have played Jane's games and really liked them but never became immersed as I have here, making maps and scenarios. Alot of that has to do with Matrix Games being so great to deal with, and alsobecause this forum is such a great place to learn from other gamers.

Don

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Don "Sapper" Llewellyn

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Post #: 3

- 9/12/2000 2:25:00 PM

Wild Bill

Posts: 6821
Joined: 4/7/2000
From: Smyrna, Ga, 30080
Status: offline

The basics of the game are easy to grasp, as Sapper has said. Learning the nuances of the game and applying real military tactics is something you learn with time. But, this game, for the avid tac level wargame lover is addictive. And with the improvements over the years, it is better than ever. We are having fun! Wild Bill ------------------ In Arduis Fidelis Wild Bill Wilder Coordinator, Scenario Design Matrix Games

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In Arduis Fidelis
Wild Bill Wilder
Independent Game Consultant

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Post #: 4

- 9/18/2000 10:30:00 AM

Yverlok

Posts: 9
Joined: 9/6/2000
From: NM, USA
Status: offline

quote:

Originally posted by Pack Rat: What I'm wondering is how new players feel about the interface. Do you think it friendly? The game itself overwelming? Any thoughts as a new player? Sometimes these boards can be a bit scarey with the wealth of expertise.

I'm new to SP. Tried the demo of the original years ago, but I couldn't keep it from crashing long enough to start figuring it out. Forgot all about it until a couple of weeks ago. But now...in a word, wow!

The interface is easy to use. The graphics, beautiful. The sounds...the only thing I unmute my soundcard for.

The three things I dislike are: 1) In the deployment phase, after you place a unit, the computer automagically selects another random unit without moving the highlight. So when you go to check the visibility of the unit you just placed, it's wrong. Or if you decide to move it somewhere else, a random unmarked unit is moved instead. Then you have to try to figure out where it was and put it back. 2) Picking out a multi-hex building in the editor... Lotsa nice buildings to choose from. *click click click click* Oops, clicked one too many. Some kind of scrollable list-select would be handy. 3) Calling for artillery. Some buttons are highlighted, some are shadowed, some are pressed. Bit confusing at first, but I'm getting the hang of figuring it out. The game's not at all overwhelming due to it's configurability. It might be at first with all the 'hard' options on by default, but one look at the manual sorts out the options. I've been pleasantly surprised with something new almost every time I've played so far. And there's so much I haven't seen yet. Truly a masterpiece. Two questions I didn't find the answer to in the manual: 1) With Command/Control rules off (or even on) is there any significant effect of destroying the enemy A0 HQ? I've done that in almost every scenario I've played but haven't noticed if it affected their morale. 2) Does fire have any effect other than looking good and making smoke? The enemy infantry seem to be quite comfortable sitting in a burning hex. Been totally enjoying the first scenario of "Preparing the Way". "Surprise on the Steppes" before that. I wanted to give that PzJg Ib crewman a medal. He didn't manage to hit anything with the gun, but once the PzJg was destroyed and he bailed out, he single-handedly assaulted an enemy vehicle not once but three times until he destroyed it, took out four enemy crewmen, recaptured the objective twice, and held it against an oncoming enemy infantry squad and halftrack. Could just picture him standing there, all alone, defiantly blocking the road, saying "go back, you shall not pass" and the awestruck Russian troops unable to bring themselves to attack him. More immersive than any other game I've played, I believe. =)

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Post #: 5

- 9/18/2000 11:55:00 AM

Wild Bill

Posts: 6821
Joined: 4/7/2000
From: Smyrna, Ga, 30080
Status: offline

Immersive! Yes, that is the word. It does swallow you up into the battle. You feel the pain of loss, the joy of victory. The destruction of one of your tanks or the loss of part of a squad is personal. You moan, you shout, that is the kind of game I can really get into. Good choice of words, Yverlok! This is the SP game I have wanted since I joined the first SSI beta team for SP1 in late 1994. I'll never forget the tingle, the exhiliration when the music started and the film of tanks rolled across the screen, including the smiling young German infantryman riding atop the tank. And then to see the screen. Tanks that looked like tanks. Six years ago, you did not see that in games. I was smitten and the love affair has only intensified. Wild Bill ------------------ In Arduis Fidelis Wild Bill Wilder Coordinator, Scenario Design Matrix Games

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In Arduis Fidelis
Wild Bill Wilder
Independent Game Consultant

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Post #: 6

- 9/18/2000 1:23:00 PM

Calaban

Posts: 1
Joined: 9/18/2000
Status: offline

ok im officially playing this for the first time..

and i LIKE it, although i AM more than a little bit lost!

i just got the game off the PC Gamer CD, and have played it ever since. the interface is smooth and easilly graspable. (the artillery targeting thing could be explained a little better in the manual though). what overwhelms me is that i dont happen to have a Janes combat vehicles book handy, so i couldnt begin to tell you how a Wolverine tank is different from a Sherman, and this screws me up more than anything else. never mind when you get into less know country vehichles. same goes for weaponry. ok, i know what a .50 cal and .30 cal machine gun is, and i can figgure out cannon sizes by the.. erm.. sizes..

and i know what a bazooka and mortar are. but on everything else i get lost on their 'most practical uses': i have no idea if an infantry BAR is made for killing people, or vehicles (or even what it is for that matter.. heh), and more often than not im allpying insufficient force to get the job done. heh so, i guess my only gripe so far is my own ignorance... so FIX IT, would ya please??

------------------ Stress is merely the inner conflict caused when the mind overrides the body's natural desire to choke the living crap out of someone. [This message has been edited by Calaban (edited September 18, 2000).]

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Stress is merely the inner conflict caused when the mind overrides the body's natural desire to choke the living crap out of someone.

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Post #: 7

- 9/19/2000 2:03:00 AM

BA Evans

Posts: 250
Joined: 5/25/2000
From: USA
Status: offline

quote:

Originally posted by Yverlok: 1) In the deployment phase, after you place a unit, the computer automagically selects another random unit without moving the highlight. So when you go to check the visibility of the unit you just placed, it's wrong. 1) With Command/Control rules off (or even on) is there any significant effect of destroying the enemy A0 HQ? I've done that in almost every scenario I've played but haven't noticed if it affected their morale. 2) Does fire have any effect other than looking good and making smoke? The enemy infantry seem to be quite comfortable sitting in a burning hex =)

1. It doesn't switch to a random unit, it moves onto the next unit in your organization chart. If you just placed unit B0, the next unit to be placed will be B1, then B2, then C0, C1, C2, C3, C4, D0, etc. If you want to check the LOS of the unit you just placed, left click on the unit, then right click in the direction you wish to check. You can then hit the 'N' key to move on to the next unit. 1. The A0 unit really helps a lot when trying to rally units that are within 3 hexes. It also seems easier to 'Break' the enemy force if the A0 unit is dead. Yes, it helps to kill the enemy A0 unit. 2. Anyone sitting in a burning hex gets a lot of suppression. That's because they are more worried about getting burned (smoke gets in your lung and eyes, etc.) than about shooting the enemy. BA Evans Calaban, a BAR is the Browning Automatic Rifle. The BAR is basically a Light Machine Gun (LMG). It can fire in single or automatic rates, and really helped to lay down suppression fire for an infantry squad that was moving. It wasn't a true machine gun, because it used a clip instead of belt fed ammo. (Shoot infantry with the BAR)

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Post #: 8

- 9/19/2000 2:26:00 AM

Apollyon

Posts: 8
Joined: 9/18/2000
From: Chesapeake, VA USA
Status: offline

I used to be a huge wargamer. I started with Tactics I and II when I was a kid. I've played a little bit of Close Combat but nothing much more than that. I read Trotter's Challenge in the new PC Gamer and decided to give SP a try- WOW. This game is everything I love about wargaming. I played the tutorial twice and am now doing the WWII campaign. Forgetting to check the mission during the buying phase, I showed up to the amphib assault party without any naval gun support, needless to say, my men paid dearly for my mistakes. I've since started over and am having much better success. In short, in 3 days time I have become completely addicted, even to the point of playing it during my "freetime" at work, hehe. Thanks Matrix for bringing back the fun. ------------------ It is a sign of our sad times when the first duty of honest men is to point out the obvious.

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And Alexander gazed upon the breadth of his domain. And he wept, for behold, there were no more worlds to conquer.

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Post #: 9

- 9/19/2000 2:56:00 AM

Fuerte

Posts: 314
Joined: 6/14/2000
From: Helsinki Finland
Status: offline

There are so many features, that I learn something every day... I didn't know about artillery target shifting until yesterday!

It is the little box with arrows in the right of artillery setup window. If only I had known that earlier. [This message has been edited by Fuerte (edited September 18, 2000).]

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PBEM Helper

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All Forums >> [Current Games From Matrix.] >> [World War II] >> Steel Panthers World At War & Mega Campaigns >> Any one playing for the very first time?

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