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Road to Moscow still Lives!

 
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Road to Moscow still Lives! - 2/16/2003 12:55:51 PM   
danielr_g

 

Posts: 26
Joined: 11/6/2001
From: Valencia, CA
Status: offline 		The game of mythical legend among computer wargamers is still being worked on. Just this morning I found that Jeff Billings (the programer) had posted a reply to the question of whehter or not RTM was still alive and others stating that they would like to see a web site.

---

Yes.

I am a little distracted at the moment. Major product release at a Fortune500
company. But yes progress is being made.

I am updating the DirectX from 3 to 9. I thought that 6 versions difference
warranted changes. DirectPlay changed significantly and requires some
significant changes in the Client/Server architecture.

I have a bid out for a dedicated co-lo server. It will be installed and set up
by late April. At that point I will move product information to a dedicated
site on that server.

Jeff
> Hey, hows the developing going ? RtM still on ?
>
> aet
>

---
So it still lives. End of April we may see screen shots and features. This is one bit of Vapor that just won't fade away it seems. I sure hope it makes it to the end and is finally released. :D

_____________________________

That Dan Guy
Post #: 1
Re: Road to Moscow still Lives! - 2/16/2003 3:02:35 PM   
Ardle

 

Posts: 93
Joined: 9/15/2000
From: Hiroshima, Japan
Status: offline 		[QUOTE]Originally posted by danielr_g
[B]The game of mythical legend among computer wargamers is still being worked on....[/B][/QUOTE]

Ah yes, the occasional 'sighting' that keeps the myth alive ;)
I'll believe it when I see it...

_____________________________

"You one of those right wing nut outfits?" inquired the diplomatic Metzger.
Fallopian twinkled. "They accuse us of being paranoids."
"They?" inquired Metzger, twinkling also.
"Us?" asked Oedipa.

(in reply to danielr_g)
Post #: 2
- 2/16/2003 10:24:03 PM   
Les_the_Sarge_9_1

 

Posts: 4392
Joined: 12/29/2000
Status: offline 		I could say that computer World in Flames is a myth too I suppose.
I have played the demo, and I am not impressed. I am unsure if care if it ever gets released.

I have been playing Third Reich PC just recently. It plays amazingly well considering its age.
It just goes to show that old doesn't automatically require a crummy looking interface.

I downloaded the most recent PacWar from here at Matrix, as well as War In Russia. Reloaded PacWar only to find that, yes it might have had some tweaks in the latest version update, but the interface is still sadly lacking.
These two games will require that the person is a very dedicated individual willing to reeeeeally put forth time and effort to play it.

Not that new means a better interface.
I won't play Combat Mission, simply because it is to much like work ensuring your angle of view does you any good.
I tried GI Combat and the interface was even worse.
In the end both of these games have very active fans, which means nothing to me.
A computer is supposed to make the game "easier". It doesn't with these two

Strategic Command for what it's worth, has the most incredibly easy interface I think I have ever experienced.
If the old Third Reich PC was not a better wargame (from a technical level perspective), I would forego indulging it in favour of just playing Strategic Command regardless of it's play feel shortcomings.

Just the other day I finally got around to loading the TacOps 4 game (I am assuming we are all talking about the game sold at Battlefront when we say "TacOps"). It has a lot of interesting features, most notably realism in the technical area.
Graphically it is lacking. Even I would like a bit more zoomed in image. The icons are perhaps the smallest I have ever seen for a wargame yet. If there is a zoom feature perhaps I missed it.
The interface needs some work to become "award winning" in my view. But I suppose it is an ok trade off considering the realism.

TacOps was a real time running game, but I don't think it has anything to do with RTS after looking at it. So I will refuse to insult the design with that term. Maybe I will add it to my Live Tactical termed games.

If Road To Moscow is basically the same sort of game, I won't say I won't play it.

I recently tried Airborne Assault Red Devils Over Arnhem (also from Battlefront). Plays like TacOps a bit and looks a bit like Road To Moscow (it uses old style counters not images like Close Combat). It too was apparently in what I can call Live Tactical.

All things considered, RTM, TacOps, and Airborne Assault, all seem to have one thing in common.
They all give you a mission, and then give you complete control over how it is run, and then you watch it execute live.

This is no click fest experience, no resource gathering, make units just to overwhelm with no decision making process sort of RTS crud.
It is also not even close to being the unimaginative waste of effort unrealistic garbage effort that is known as HoI.

The only downsides I see in the three games at the moment.
RTM doesn't currently exist.
TacOps is modern (out of my interest range).
Airborne Assault is basically not different enough from my Close Combat 2 to pry my exceedingly limited funds out of my grasp.

I think though, RTM has the most promise.
With some luck the people involved might be able to extend the design to the western front as well.
I would not by this game at the grand strategy level though.
For that, I don't want that much detail. Third Reich Pc is fine.

_____________________________

I LIKE that my life bothers them,
Why should I be the only one bothered by it eh.

(in reply to danielr_g)
Post #: 3
Re: Re: Road to Moscow still Lives! - 2/16/2003 11:59:18 PM   
danielr_g

 

Posts: 26
Joined: 11/6/2001
From: Valencia, CA
Status: offline 		[QUOTE]Originally posted by Ardle
[B]Ah yes, the occasional 'sighting' that keeps the myth alive ;)
I'll believe it when I see it... [/B][/QUOTE]


I know, I know. I still am interested since it promised to really utilize the PC to its fullest. There really is no need for hexes and game turns anymore when you can have Clocks and map grid cooridinates. ZOC? Who needs that when the PC can track where individual companies/Battalions are.

It is honestly still nothing more than vapor. But despite that, I have talked with the developer, Jeff Billings, directly and am convinced that it [I][B]will[/B][/I] see the light of day eventually. The guy gets up at 4am everyday to work on it before going off to his real job. He has a server going up in April. He has stuff in the pipeline, and has so far met all his personal deadlines in the last year or so. And most importantly, his wife still supports him, despite the fact that they've had to postpone the purchase of a house a little while longer (mine would have killed me).

But, yeah, it is always best to remain skeptical. It could turn out to be crap when it comes. Still, I'm hoping for the best.

_____________________________

That Dan Guy

(in reply to danielr_g)
Post #: 4
- 2/17/2003 12:18:20 AM   
Les_the_Sarge_9_1

 

Posts: 4392
Joined: 12/29/2000
Status: offline 		Being that I am chief defender of the lowly hex, and am living proof that people still enjoy turns, I say, who cares that a computer can run a game with or without a hex or a turn.

I might like to see RTM some day. And I don't think it will be a bad game if done right, even if it doesn't see the light of day for another few years.

By then people will no doubt be slagging the clumsy efforts of today's archaic RTS games and there poor usage of computers.

After all tomorrows games will almost surely be all run off of holographic virtual reality suites. And only a true dinosaur wargamer would actually want to play a game where you had to sit in front of a clumsy monitor.

_____________________________

I LIKE that my life bothers them,
Why should I be the only one bothered by it eh.

(in reply to danielr_g)
Post #: 5
I care! - 2/18/2003 1:30:19 AM   
danielr_g

 

Posts: 26
Joined: 11/6/2001
From: Valencia, CA
Status: offline 		I know I won't make a convert out of you, but I do have to respond by talking a little of why I got into wargaming and how an idea like RtM is so appealing to me.

Why did I start gaming? History. It gives me a new perspective on learning about history by recreating, in abstract form, the deciscions men faced. My first game was PanzerBlitz. Wonderfully simple introduction to gaming. Tons of information in that rulebook (or was it just a poster size peice of paper?) But it terribly flawed in that it rated 4 PzIIIs higher than 10 T-34s in firepower and protection. It was good for showing the men and equipment on the field, but was an inaccurate representation of what the commanders on both sides were facing.

My gaming interest found me playing Squad Leader and then Tank Leader. Suddenly, with these games it was far easier to see how leadership differed on both sides to make the difference. It was about more than just the equipment. Still, it was quite abstract (the card system in Tank Leader was almost silly, but it really drove home the point that the Germans had a much more dynamic command structure)

Along the way there were numerous Computer games. Interesting, but usually not that great. Not until Close Combat. Oh wow! Like most serious Wargamers I had really gotten turned off of RTS by Warcraft, but this thing was so incredible. Never mind the awful graphics and performance on the first version, it was totally new insight. No longer was I pushing cardboard counters around in a perfect and serene enviornment that never existed on a battlefield, but desperately throwing men into the fray. CC2 came out and finally made the game playable and enjoyable as well as fascinating.

So then we start hearing about RtM. The promises it made! Too many to list. Many of which I beleive have been dropped (command interference from Hitler and Stalin was dropped I think). But it was no longer a game of looking at attack factors and defense factors, counting up various bonuses for terrain and air support. No, it was about knowing your units, how depleted or fatigued they were, and seeing things more from the perspective of the actual commanders that were actually there.

Now I enjoy Squad Leader as much as the other guy, and have had some great times with 3rd Reich, and still play TOAW on the computer a lot, but this RtM game, if it ever comes out, promises to put a whole new perspective on the war. Something that doing just another Turn and Hex based game cannot do. Turns and Hexes are great and all, but they've all been done before and I don't see any new things to be learned from getting another one. I have stacks and stacks of them in the closet.

No, its time for a fresh look at History. And so when you ask who cares? I say - [B]I care![/B] As for holograms and all, that will come, but we've got monitors now, and why not take it as far as it can go? No point in getting lazy waiting for new fangled tech so we can do cool things with it. If we did that, no tech would ever get maximized usage.

_____________________________

That Dan Guy

(in reply to danielr_g)
Post #: 6
- 2/18/2003 2:38:19 AM   
Les_the_Sarge_9_1

 

Posts: 4392
Joined: 12/29/2000
Status: offline 		Must be the Scot in me, never throw anything away heheh.

If RTM appears, I might like a copy of it, but it won't make me give up my hexes hehe.

Having both games might be more fun.

_____________________________

I LIKE that my life bothers them,
Why should I be the only one bothered by it eh.

(in reply to danielr_g)
Post #: 7
- 2/18/2003 5:45:18 AM   
Fred98


Posts: 4430
Joined: 1/5/2001
From: Wollondilly, Sydney
Status: offline 		I really like the concepts of the game.

If the game stuck to its concepts and it were ever released, it would be a great game.

(in reply to danielr_g)
Post #: 8
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