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leaderx -> Observations (5/13/2002 12:12:27 PM)
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The dynamics of the battle itself appear to have changed a bit in relation to TAO2, the German armor has superb supplies compared to the Russian units displayed, with 4 bullet armor the German will really be able to wage some good non-static warfare, giving those units a major advantage when breaking through, those 1 bullet Russian units should die in no time when cut off. Thus the German is gaining a significant advantage, at least in the breakthrough phase of an attack with such supplies, even if the numbers don't look very even. The screen shot shows 55 Russian vs. 41 German units so that isn't that significant of an advantage if the German armor is of superior quality. Note that all those German armored units not only have 4 bullets, they also have 4 steps, now those are going to be some tough bastards. There also appear to be some changes in the air support/interdiction/transport pool/replacements system, with two running totals displayed below these in the screen shot. I'd like to think that the before mentioned will now be drawn from a total pool of more then one turn, instead of like in TAO2 where you HAVE to use for example x number of replacements on x turn or you lose them.
As Matthew mentioned changes in terrain types are also evident, the impact of these remains to be seen. Hill terrain is apparently using the forest CRT moved up a shift (a 1.5-1 in forest is equivalent to 2-1 in hill from the screenshot). There appear to be at least 3 or 4 types of bodies of water now, three different sizes of streams/rivers and there are a few lakes/reservoirs that appear as if they occupy an entire hex. From the screenshot which shows the new combat screen, it is evident that one of the new bodies of water, I would suppose that is a stream, has no effect on the tactical shift, but does bring upon a decrease in attack strength as is depicted.
Many features appear to have been made more userfriendly/easier to figure out, % divisional integrity of each unit on attack and defense is now shown clearly when the units are selected (or attacked), clear distinction between single and double dice, more information is displayed on the selected hex (the exact amount of interdiction/damage, whether it's supplied or not) etc. I just hope they haven't added too many things clunking up the screen, I think that people should read the manual if they want to know the difference between a white and red dice result, etc, I mean that is just basic stuff.
One thing I really like though, that appears to have been clarified is the armor vs. infantry modifier, now this is clearly depicted as a new shift in the combat screen.
Another small change I can see from the screenshot is that now when two units are selected they apparently can leave a heavy SP (2 defense value), I wonder if 3 units can leave a 3 strength one, etc.
The selected units screen appears to big enough for 5 units to fit, perhaps stacks can now have more then 3 units in them.
Infantry now has some major legs when using forced march (those 10 OP Russian units show 16 OP's of movement on forced march).
The site says there will be networking support..can't wait for those endless nights of TAO3 online play..I just hope a save feature is integrated to the network play. Just about all wargames of this type fail to include a save game feature for directplay, which is hard to understand, is it really so hard to put a save game feature.
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