Theater of War 2 [Archive] - SUBSIM Radio Room Forums

stabiz

07-22-09, 05:10 PM

Dowly, I will get some screens later, I have only tried the first mission a bit, and hand to hand is a bit optimistic in that one.:)

If you guys plan to get it, the strategy guide you can bundle it with is pretty cool. Lots of nerd info! (Oh, and dont get the download only, you can only download ten times and within a year)

I had 30-40 fps in 1920x1200 maxed out with forced 4x AA. It does bog down a bit from time to time though, but it sure looks good.

Arclight

07-23-09, 07:19 AM

(Oh, and dont get the download only, you can only download ten times and within a year) Meh, just backed-up the installer to 2 HDs and a DVD. There's no limit to number of installs, as far as I noticed.

Have it at medium now, 25-30 FPS. Starting to think something is wrong, pretty sure my card can do better than that. :hmmm:

Raptor1

07-23-09, 07:24 AM

I can run it on max, but it doesn't run as well as it should. I think the game just suffers from ArmA 2 syndrome.

Oh, there is hand-to-hand combat, I've seen it, will try to take a picture later.

stabiz

07-23-09, 08:03 AM

Have you guys patched it, by the way? There are some performance optimizing in the patch.

Edit: Maybe a mod should cut this stuff out and make a topic.

NeonSamurai

07-23-09, 12:13 PM

done :DL

Raptor1

07-23-09, 12:21 PM

Great, though I believe Post #3 doesn't belong here

@stabiz - Yes, I patched it. It's completely playable, but it doesn't run as well as it should.

Task Force

07-23-09, 03:33 PM

yes... I posted that other post here by mistake... Thought I had put it in the screenshot thread.:up:

anyone know where to get this game.

Arclight

07-23-09, 04:05 PM

Battlefront.com (http://www.battlefront.com/)

Task Force

07-23-09, 04:51 PM

And its in Afrika. Wonder if it will allow you to change history... Ex Rommel kicks allies out of afrika.:hmmm:

stabiz

07-24-09, 11:41 AM

Dont think so, its more about fighting historical battles. In that sense yes, history can be altered.:)

A quick video from Faid Pass from the German perspective. No video or sound effects at all, just music and ingame footage:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brp3-yzwHko

(watch in full screen)

Arclight

07-25-09, 03:37 PM

Ugh, getting steamrolled by panzers on "on the way to Tébessa" (US campaign). Any pointers? :-?

Raptor1

07-25-09, 03:38 PM

Ugh, getting steamrolled by panzers on "on the way to Tébessa" (US campaign). Any pointers? :-?

Retreat and tell your CO that you need reinforcements...?

Arclight

07-25-09, 03:55 PM

Kinda difficult. Retreat is to Tébessa, which is where the Germans are headed. :D

I could ask to hitch a ride, but noone lives long enough to ask them. :hmmm:

Raptor1

07-25-09, 03:59 PM

Kinda difficult. Retreat is to Tébessa, which is where the Germans are headed. :D

I could ask to hitch a ride, but noone lives long enough to ask them. :hmmm:

Ask them nicely to go away?

Arclight

07-25-09, 05:17 PM

I send them some smokesignals, using the burning wrecks of my vehicles and some pants that got blown off, but they're not responding... well, not with anything that doesn't explode. :damn:

stabiz

07-25-09, 06:51 PM

What kind of armour do you have?

Arclight

07-25-09, 07:44 PM

I was relying on M10s to punch through those Tigers from a distance. Tried it with Shermans first, but they got ripped to shreds and failed to get through in the first place. Not much room to maneuver with Jerry coming at ya from 3 directions either. :-?

Anyway, victory at last! Though I gave new meaning to "phyrric victory". Abandond the trenches and fell back to the camp, it allowed for concentrating my forces and avoid casualties from the initial artillery barrage. Howitzers set to aim low and immobilize, Wolverines aiming for turrets to kill. My infantry didn't fare to well in the camp though, who knew tents weren't bullet-proof? :roll:

Nearly got overrun by their infantry because of it, but reïnforcements showed up just in time, engaging advancing enemy units from the flanks as they scrambled through what remained of my forces. Who the heck was the genius that decided the M10 didn't need a machinegun?! :nope:

Needs it for kraut-control. :yep: (yah, sorry, couldn't resist)

Task Force

07-25-09, 08:38 PM

MUST GET GAME MUST GET GAME... lol:rotfl:

I think im gonna buy it now... (or extremely soon)

Dowly

07-25-09, 09:18 PM

I was relying on M10s to punch through those Tigers from a distance.

Wait wait wait. You do realise that eventho the M10 is a tank destroyer, it has absolutely no chances going head to head with a Tiger?!

I still think the M10 was one of the worst tanks ever built. It lacked both the protection and firepower of Tiger. :hmmm:

PS. Does ToW 2 got any StuGs?

Dowly

07-25-09, 09:30 PM

Who the heck was the genius that decided the M10 didn't need a machinegun?! :nope:

Aye, dont get it that aswell. Every tank should have an MG to defend against infantry.

There was this one tank the germans build during WWII, cant remember which it was, but it had no MG at first. Served on the eastern front, and there's few eyewitness stories of how the tanks got overwhelmed by russian infantry.

Arclight

07-25-09, 09:59 PM

What are you supposed to do then, swing the turret around as fast as possible and knock 'm over the head? :nope:

I think the M10 is more regarded as a mobile AT-gun. In ToW2, it's listed as a self propelled gun. An open-top turret doesn't make any sense either if it was designed as a conventional tank.

Still, M10 is the only "tank" capable of defeating front armor on a Tiger, and it's speed can serve you well in flanking; Tiger turrets don't swing to fast. Better than sending a M4 forward: even the front-armor can't take a single hit, the gun can't do anything unless flanking, and the speed is to low to effectively outmaneuver it. Unless you can use terrain or smoke to hide your move, offcourse. :yep:

The British Mk.II Valentine doesn't make any sense either; it's gun isn't even powerfull enough to get through it's own armor (stick with me here). If I were to design a tank, I would expect my enemy to counter it with something more heavily armoured. No point in fitting a medium tank with a gun that's barelly capable against other medium tanks imho. But maybe that's just me. :hmmm:

Stug... Sturmgeshutz, right? Turretless tank? Nope, all the German tanks in there are turreted.

*besides, no Stugs were ever deployed to Africa. :)

Raptor1

07-26-09, 01:47 AM

The Wolverine is a tank destroyer. The open-top and the lack of a machine gun are just part of the US doctrine at the time to use masses of tank destroyers in order to destroy enemy armor concentrations and not engage infantry at all, while normal tanks did not normally engage other tanks but supported infantry. It also relied on it's speed rather than armor to avoid enemy fire (Something which was developed farther in the M18). I think later they eventually put a .50-cal machine gun on the turret though.

The Valentine was exactly the opposite, it was an infantry tank, designed to support troops rather than engage enemy armor. For that it had a relatively small gun (Typical of British designs at the time, though it was upgraded later), and a massive amount of armor to give it maximum survivability.

Also, the Valentine is not a medium tank, it's a heavy tank.

Oh, I think Dowly speaks of the Elefant.

stabiz

07-26-09, 05:08 AM

Aye, dont get it that aswell. Every tank should have an MG to defend against infantry.

There was this one tank the germans build during WWII, cant remember which it was, but it had no MG at first. Served on the eastern front, and there's few eyewitness stories of how the tanks got overwhelmed by russian infantry.

I believe that was the Nashorn. Open turret and no machine gun = molotov hell.

Edit: Must read whole thread, yeah the Elefant too.

stabiz

07-26-09, 05:11 AM

The Wolverine is weak yes, I read somewhere they usually fired it from cover like bushes and such, so the mobile AT gun term is fitting.

Raptor1

07-26-09, 05:13 AM

The mobile AT gun term is even more fitting considering it's official designation was '3" Gun Motor Carriage, M10'

Arclight

07-26-09, 02:57 PM

The Valentine was exactly the opposite, it was an infantry tank, designed to support troops rather than engage enemy armor. For that it had a relatively small gun (Typical of British designs at the time, though it was upgraded later), and a massive amount of armor to give it maximum survivability.

Also, the Valentine is not a medium tank, it's a heavy tank.
Figured as much, though I consider it an oversight to not give a tank the ability to deal with enemy armor. Seems like WWI thinking; with static lines, it is likely to have artillery present to deal with armored vehicles, leaving tanks free to support the infantry. Not well suited to the blitz-tactics of the German army at the time.

I figured the Valentine as a medium tank because of the 80+mm on the Sherman, and even 100mm on the Tiger. Maybe it would make more sense to classify the Tiger as "super-heavy", like it is/was with dreadnoughts when it comes to battleships. :hmmm:

Raptor1

07-26-09, 03:06 PM

Figured as much, though I consider it an oversight to not give a tank the ability to deal with enemy armor. Seems like WWI thinking; with static lines, it is likely to have artillery present to deal with armored vehicles, leaving tanks free to support the infantry. Not well suited to the blitz-tactics of the German army at the time.

I figured the Valentine as a medium tank because of the 80+mm on the Sherman, and even 100mm on the Tiger. Maybe it would make more sense to classify the Tiger as "super-heavy", like it is/was with dreadnoughts when it comes to battleships. :hmmm:

It was WWI thinking, the British army even devised massive tank prototypes early in the war just in case the war bogged down into more trench warfare. The Valentine was not designed to operate independent from infantry, such as the German panzer formations.

I always thought the Valentine was relatively heavy, but looking now, it's not very heavy (Not as much as the Matilda or the Churchill), so I think the medium tank designation fits it better. Probably the best way to classify the British tanks is by their own designations though (Cruiser/Infantry tank).

I wouldn't designate the Tiger as 'super-heavy', it was quite small compared to other designs at the time. I also wouldn't compare it to dreadnoughts, that would imply an evolutionary improvement, a better comparison to it would be to compare the WWII medium tank and post-war MBTs.

Arclight

07-26-09, 05:18 PM

It all depends on what you compare it to I guess. What the US or British considered a heavy (or cruiser) tank may barely compare to the Panther, what the Germans considered to be a medium tank.

I considered dreadnoughts to be battleships with thicker armour and bigger guns, but I see now that's quite a misconception. :salute:

This is why I love "realistic" games like this. I always knew the German panzers, the V and VI in particular, were much feared on the battlefield, but now I'm finding out exactly why that was. Men of War kinda did that as well, but I think the possibility for ranged combat in this game gives it the edge when it comes to realism. MoW was more Company of Heroes scale with a bit more realism, this seems to be in a league of it's own.

I'm considering getting the first game as well; would really like to give the Russian armor a spin. :yep:

Dowly

07-26-09, 06:54 PM

*besides, no Stugs were ever deployed to Africa. :)

They got 9 StuGs in Afrika. :O:

Arclight

07-26-09, 07:16 PM

Just proves once more you shouldn't believe anything you read on the internet. :oops: :salute:

On a side note, running the game at high graphics again, nice and smooth this time. Seems it requires quite a bit of CPU power to run smoothly.

Task Force

07-26-09, 07:18 PM

what cpu do you have Arclight?

Arclight

07-26-09, 08:25 PM

Q9550, now at 3.4GHz. First had it at stock 2.8GHz.

Sometimes the game would hang with several units firing and scoring hits at once; calculating all the ballistics, target penetration and determining damage takes a lot. Game would slow down with a lot of active units too, even when not in sight. I have a feeling it's not very optimized for multi-cores, so single core speed seems important.

I had the performance issue in the training, where it improved by lowering graphics. The map was pretty dense with buildings, and may not have been to optimized to begin with (since it's just a training map). Haven't had issues like that in the campaigns, but kicking the CPU in overdrive smoothed gameplay out noticeably. :hmmm:

I'm sure it's a matter of optimizing, so future patches should bring some improvements on performance.

stabiz

07-26-09, 08:41 PM

I rarely go below 20fps maxed out in 1920x1200 with a Core 2 Duo E8500, and go into the 60`s at best. There are a few moments though, and the sluggish performance is my gripe with this game. I replaced my HD4870 512MB with a HD4890 1 GB today, and hardly notice any improvement at all. Somehow many of the indie games run at 20 fps no matter what. Sure, if I remove shadows and stuff it runs like clockwork, but darn it it looks silly with no shadows.

Besides that, I really enjoy this game. In the third mission with ze Germans now, and really liking the high difficulty and the long range shooting. One wrong move and it all goes potty, just like in the first game. The M10 Wolverines have learned me to use terrain and flanking with the Panzer IV`s.:yeah:

Now if someone in high command would give me one of those Tigers ...

Dowly

07-27-09, 05:50 AM

Have to say I'm very pleased with ToW 2. This is how sequels should me made. ToW 1 was pretty good, but in ToW 2 they've made lot of things better. :salute:

Dont believe me saying this, but it does feel alot like the Close Combat series. If it only had the same kind of campaign. :hmmm:

Laffertytig

07-27-09, 07:31 AM

isnt it a little late for a "TOW2 has just been released" thread, wasnt this game released back in april?

Raptor1

07-27-09, 07:40 AM

isnt it a little late for a "TOW2 has just been released" thread, wasnt this game released back in april?

TF didn't say "Has just been", he said it has been. Also, this was split off the Screenshots thread

Dowly

07-27-09, 09:30 AM

Is there a way to get rid of the game pausing whenever you get a KIA? It's fricking ridiculous to have the game pause every 2 seconds, because of some "Adolf" who is standing there under enemy fire like a tit dies.

Letum

07-27-09, 10:44 AM

Yes Dowly.
Check options.exe in the main directory.

Dowly

07-27-09, 11:55 AM

Yes Dowly.
Check options.exe in the main directory.

Ah, thanks. :salute:

Raptor1

07-27-09, 01:08 PM

I quite like the Valentine now, despite it's small gun. The only serious problems is that the Valentine seems to be the only tank the British have in the game, whatever happened to the Crusader, Matilda and the rest?

Anyway, some pics of the first British mission

http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/366/sc000250.th.png (http://img43.imageshack.us/i/sc000250.png/)
http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/6565/sc000252.th.png (http://img17.imageshack.us/i/sc000252.png/)
http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/4748/sc000253.th.png (http://img34.imageshack.us/i/sc000253.png/)
http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/1063/sc000255.th.png (http://img27.imageshack.us/i/sc000255.png/)
http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/368/sc000257.th.png (http://img27.imageshack.us/i/sc000257.png/)
http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/8158/sc000258.th.png (http://img41.imageshack.us/i/sc000258.png/)
http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/9927/sc000259.th.png (http://img41.imageshack.us/i/sc000259.png/)

Task Force

07-27-09, 06:56 PM

whats the best settings for this game. (graphics.)

E8400
8800gts
blada blada blada...

Arclight

07-27-09, 10:28 PM

Probably just run it at high preset, works for me. Not that much difference in hardware.

Maybe crank the bus for the CPU to 400MHz. :D

Dowly

07-28-09, 10:20 AM

Here be the panzer number 74. After few tries on the german first mission, I decided to use it to ambush the counter-attacking tanks and since then, I've only used that one tank to complete my missions. :O: Talk about game being a tad too easy. :haha:

Tho, I'm on the Last Offensive mission atm and as you can see I'm getting beaten up (driver being wounded by a hit right on the driver's hatch) and with only one way to enter the enemy base, I'm toast.

Maybe I use the kazillion infantry guys to run thru the minefields that cover the other entrances and hope they get all the mines so I can just drive thru and flank them. :hmmm:

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee274/Finnish_Ferret/ToW22009-07-2818-09-06-23.jpg

Arclight

07-28-09, 10:40 AM

Put some artillery fire into the field to clear the mines? Don't know if that'll work though. :hmmm:

Use smoke, that's it. Smoke fixes everything. :yep:

Expansion has been anounced. :up:

CENTAURO Expansion Pack (http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=230&Itemid=357)

Raptor1

07-28-09, 10:42 AM

The Centauro division? Ah, brings back painful memories from Conquest of the Aegean...

Hope it will have more British tanks

EDIT: Oh, I see a Crusader, good

Dowly

07-28-09, 10:42 AM

Yeh, need to restart the mission as I spent all my ground attack planes already. I reckon I can take the two smaller bases with ease, but the last one has lots of 6 pounders and most of them are hidden, so I think I save the planes to take them out. :hmmm:

Dowly

07-28-09, 12:30 PM

The infantry AI is stupid. When I said it has the Close Combat feel to it, I didnt realise they made it this close. As in CC at times, the infantry in ToW 2 seem to take their time before shooting the enemy... even if the enemy is 5 meters away. :shifty:

Just lost 3 squads to 4 enemy riflemen and three 6pounders... which were pointing the other way.

Arclight

07-28-09, 12:33 PM

Or tossing a grenade at an enemy right in front of them, then shooting him and get blown up, along with the rest of the squad, when the grenade detonates... Brilliant. :roll: :rotfl:

* Maybe try the second behaviour mode, think it's called "short bounds" or something. Or tell them to stop moving. :hmmm:

Dowly

07-28-09, 12:38 PM

Task Force

07-28-09, 01:20 PM

I myself barely use infantry... panzers for me...:yep:

well, im gonna have to start over... cause I didnt install the patch...:shifty:

that 3 mission I was getting shelled like crazy at my base...:o

(anyone think windows vista sp2 is worth useing...? noticed im still running sp1)

Dowly

07-28-09, 01:54 PM

Yeh, I dont use inf at all. Just tried it in the Kasserine Pass mission so to not risk my precious tank on taking out those 3 AT guns... which I eventually had to do anyway. :shifty:

Woohoo! Finally got an Tiger for my elite crew! :rock: (Tho, it sucks, reload times seem abit longer and the 88 isnt as accurate as the one I had in my IV F2 :hmmm:)

Ow, had a nice encounter with 3 Valentines in the previous mission. I knew something would go wrong as the HQ changed my crew to a new tank, so I took things more careful than usually. There I was, on a hillside blasting away some infantry when all of a sudden, three Valentines come over the small hill 20 meters to my right. :haha:

Lucky for me they came in a column, but the unlucky part was that I had HE shells reloaded. First shot did nothing, then got a shot at the first tank's turret, disabling it. The tank kept on going past me, so I had time to reload and blow the tracks from the next Val. As it was just coming over the hill when I tracked it, the turret was unable to go low enough to hit me. And then came the last Val which stopped after the first shot (prolly got the driver) and wasnt able to lower it's gun enough to hit me. :har:

Task Force

07-28-09, 05:03 PM

how do we get rid of that death or a person=pause thing... I know it was mentioned.:hmmm:

Dowly

07-28-09, 05:14 PM

how do we get rid of that death or a person=pause thing... I know it was mentioned.:hmmm:

In the game's folder there's options.exe, run it and untick the smart pause.

Task Force

07-28-09, 05:24 PM

Thanks.:up:

Task Force

07-29-09, 01:03 AM

WHAT THE ******* IS RONG WITH THE FREINDLY AI!!!!!!:x

I was trying to attack a city... I put my ai in place to attack some anti tank units... They go right infront of the units and get blown up!!!

Then when I was trying to get back a AA unit... I hooked it up, and was gonna get out of there... but the *******ing driver gets in the gunners seat and gets his head blown off...:shifty: and when I send some one else is... he stands there, then lays down like DUUUUUAAAAAHHHHHH...

I was trying to get rid of the last anti tank gun... and had one of my tanks target it... and what do you know... he just points his gun at it and dosent shoot... so the AT gun blows his treads off then he shoots and misses after a while...

and when the ai panic... I find them running towards the enemy not tords us.

Dowly

07-29-09, 07:12 AM

Yup, the AI is pretty darn stupid at times. That's pretty much the reason I only use one tank and control it from the 1st person view, much easier that way. After few successfull missions with the same crew, you should have their abilities at 100 which makes it much easier to take out far out targets, especially AT guns, with one shot.

Dowly

07-29-09, 12:18 PM

Experimenting with the skins. :hmmm:
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee274/Finnish_Ferret/HCTigerSkinPreview.jpg

Task Force

07-29-09, 12:58 PM

Nice skin dowly...

yea... im on the 4th mission... then my panzer gets its turret over the top of the hill BOOM!

Dowly

07-29-09, 07:28 PM

Verdammt!

Almost lost my elite crew just now. As usual, I was using only that tank to go around blowing stuff up. I picked their AT guns and tanks one by one until they had nothing left except for infantry.

So, I was almost finished with the mission and was doing last bits of cleaning around the last objective. There was still 2 trenches filled with enemies, so I moved there and started spraying them with the hull MG.

After awhile (jebus it takes time to clean those trenches :x) I decided to bring in my sniper (comes with the Balance mod, found in the battlefront forums) to get some kills for him too. In all my wishdom, I tried to route the enemy from the trenches by driving over them, well, it did work... right about until one bastard threw a grenade to my treads and blew them away. :damn:

I was pretty certain that the morale of the enemy would be low at that time so I took a risk and bailed my crew out. My Tiger was over the trench, cutting it to left and right section. The crew cleared the right side with pistols and grenades, when all of a sudden two of them panicked and jumped out of the trench. :doh: Of course, the allied troops gunned them down quickly. :cry:

With the weapons scavenged from the dead allies, the remaining 3 guys cleared the rest of the trench and guarded the area for the time it took from the rest of my panzers to reach them.

Ow yeh, and all that time I was trying to save them to be used in the next mission without knowing it was the last mission of the campaign. :damn::damn:

I wish there was statistics per soldier for the whole campaign, would be nice to know how many my crew killed. The last mission totals alone were:

Infantry: 132
Artillery: 6
MG nest: 1
Tanks: 13

:salute:

Task Force

07-29-09, 08:37 PM

too bad TOW2 didnt have the TOW1 campaign with afrika included...

Melonfish

08-07-09, 09:27 AM

Necropost!!

hehe, sorry to rez guys but i wanted to know if anyone knows how to get this game if your in england?!

also going back to stug's there were only 9 in afrika, two initially (was three but i think the third had mechanical issues) which were lost before tunis then they shipped 6 over for tunisian campaign.

Dowly

08-07-09, 10:57 AM

RE: Stugs & ToW 2

There actually is StuG in ToW 2, but for some reason, it isnt in the game.

Here's pic of the extracted 3dobj files
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee274/Finnish_Ferret/Untitled-1-27.jpg

The "Balance Mod" enables the StuG. :yeah:

Task Force

08-07-09, 11:45 AM

Where are these "mods":hmmm:

Task Force

08-07-09, 11:45 AM

Dowly

08-07-09, 11:49 AM

Where are these "mods":hmmm:

Here's the Balance mod
http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=87834

And you can find others from Battlefront.com

Task Force

08-07-09, 11:53 AM

Thanks dowly.

(and the TOW disc came today... I got the disc and download...)

eddie

08-09-09, 03:42 PM

Has anyone tried the new addon pack called "Centauro"? Adds in the Italian Centauro Division, plus 10 new maps! Its advertized on the main Battlefront page.

CaptHawkeye

08-09-09, 04:27 PM

GlobalExplorer

08-10-09, 09:45 AM

ToW as a series will never really be interesting to me until they impliment some kind of grand strategy map. Until then, it's just linear missions and skirmishes. It's not a bad game, but it runs out of gas quickly. Once you figured out the map the game is basically over.

Absolutely my thoughts. This is supposed to be a strategy game, and it needs a campaign with resource management. Like that in Close Combat 2. And it should have been there from the beginning, since TOW 1. I really don't know why they keep squeezing this nice engine into boring scripted missions.

Arclight

08-10-09, 09:56 AM

Ehr, realism? Balance? Conflicts usually have a set amount of units involved, you'ld rather have a tank-spamfest? It's more about "replaying" historical battles.

Though I agree it's very linear, ie once you have a strategy for victory, there's no point looking back. Replay value goes down the drain, but the amount of realism makes up for it, at least for me.

*Eddie:

Theatre of War 2 - CENTAURO is currently in development and will be available for purchase for $25 later this summer.
;)

Arclight

11-22-09, 02:12 PM

And it's up, released 19th November. :)

CENTAURO is available immediately for download and costs just $25. An attractive new bundle of the base game Theatre of War 2 plus the CENTAURO add-on is available as well at the reduced price of just $50!

Hardgoods will be available for shipping within 14 days. Downloads are available immediately.
Plus a nice bonus:

*In addition to the new Centauro Division campaign and the standalone missions, a suprise bonus US campaign is included as well! Follow Stuart tank commander Sergeant Alan Mitchell through a number of missions at the Kasserine Pass!
http://www.battlefront.com/