T-34 versus Tiger Discussion

[Skybird]

Bleser,

I already understood that you are a WWII buff. and that is okay, every pet has it's favourite toy. me, I am in the high realism and high complexity sim department, resulting in Falcon 4 (complex avioncis and systems) and SBP (complex tactics), but I also like good strategy. Currently I await for the arrival of Battle for Britain II. So, even me accepts WWII as a playground.

However, have you considered to add tactics and strategy to your WWII collection? I recommend Conquest of the Aegean; giving you an opposing AI acting so competently that you will swear to deal with a human who came to settle some old business with you (I admit when I play it I expect to get mauled pretty badly), and there is Steel Panthers WWII, which you can legally get for free. The first can be checked out at Matrix' website, the second you see linked in this forum'S resource sticky on Steel Panthers MBT.

Both are no action games, though, but are played from various maps. However, COTA I consider to be a simulation in its way, too, since the units are modelled down to the single man in them, with factors like moral, fatigue, supply state etc, and all this modelled in much detail and with great complexity. Nevertheless it plays fluid. Many consider the AI to be a benchmark. Like SBP, it gets used for military teaching, too, it'S just not that specialised for that kind of audience like SBP is.

Steel Fury, either one likes it or not. I tested it and felt not overly convinced, but it seems to me that it is the much better title when compared to TvT. It has its issues, too, and they could have ironed out some unneeded things if investing just a bit more time into it (sound, AI, pathfinding), but it seems to be more stable, and offers you a greater range of playable missions than TvT, plus mission editor. Somebody even made a quick mission generator, use the search button or check the Steel Fury resource thread, I think I have linked the thread there. Steel Fury found greater acceptance, and the community, though having become very silent, too, has held out for longer than that of TvT. Unfortunytely for our WWII-tank lovers, I constantly had to free the two resource threads for both games of links that had fallen dead meanwhile, with new contributions having stopped to get reported.

[tvt_addict]

Despite the bad press that this game has received, most, and I mean most of the problems can be avoided by setting the pc up so that the game can run on it.

I have played for countless hours, both locally and on Gameranger with a tiny number of problems.

If you want to see most of the solutions in English and French :

http://www.hitenter.co.uk/tvt

It will be a shame if this games bites the dust, it really is good, and in multiplayer mode it is totally addictive.

Rob G

[Chucky]

Thanks for that Rob,I will go and have a look

[gbaggs65]

I just picked this game up and found this site (before having read any of the reviews ). I actually don't find the SP levels all that bad but I agree online MP is best. I noticed all the discussion re:problems in MP servers etc. I saw there was a dedicated T34vT site started but it seems to now be defunct. Any recent solutions to these problems or new places to play MP online? Greg.

[growbag]

Anyone know how to take a screenshot?

It says F8 in the manual but it doesn't work for me .

I've accidentally taken screenshots when I got annoyed and pressed millions of keys at once, but I can't replicate it while sane!

I'm running T34 v Tiger under vista if that makes any difference.

Thanks

[hodi]

screenshots are saved in the root directory as bmp files

sample: SH_000.bmp

[Dowly]

Originally Posted by growbag

I've accidentally taken screenshots when I got annoyed and pressed millions of keys at once, but I can't replicate it while sane!

ROFL!

[Sledgehammer427]

Dowly I saw you were talking earlier on in the thread about how to go about the third German mission.

What I do (and it's worked pretty well, I can't beat it either, usually because of reasons other than myself)
I jump in the driver's position and head into the town,
where I park the tank behind a building, kind of like leaning out from behind a corner in infantry, I can turn the turret most of the ways so I can engage the Russians coming over the hill. The building keeps you form getting hit on the first shot by those SU-85's and T-34's
On my game the others tend to stay put forcing me to go after them. I would flank them from the right like you said and usually I get a jump on the first two. Then I go after the last three, which is usually where I get killed.
Once I had the first two down and the third started moving, I told the driver to stay put but he took on a mind of his own and started moving. By the time he stopped, we were parked on a tree and I couldn't aim the gun low enough to hit the guy. I was killed amidst smashing the "S" key cussing at the top of my lungs. I think the driver's out to get me, because that wasn't the first time the German driver got me killed (another time was when he wouldn't get behind the building fast enough and I was de-tracked and pulverized by the tanks coming over the hill.)
The Russian driver's pretty competent though

[growbag]

A quick hint -

When trying to get through a lot of trees, go backwards! You can put the Tiger in 4th reverse gear, full throttle, point it in roughly the right direction, then go make a cup of tea.

The trees don't stall your tank in reverse as they do going forward . They still change your direction and "railway line" you, but at least you can sit back and relax not having to restart your engine each time you hit one! And you can change direction without stalling too.

The highest forward gear for trees is 3rd and you get max 7kmh but still risk stalling, you get upto 8kmh in 4th reverse without being hassled or slowed down, which makes it faster overall.

I left my Tiger going through a forest and went out for about 30 minutes, when I came back he was nearly back to where I started .

[growbag]

Sorry, another question -

Does anyone know where the game stores individual key settings? I completely uninstalled and deleted the lighthouse folder, but on re-install it kept my mission placings (ie all missions were available), and also some key settings (but not all).

I've searched the entire drive but can't locate anything.

The game loads different settings when I run it with admin privileges or normal user privs!

This is under windows vista home prem 32, sp2.

[Dowly]

@growbag

Havent checked, but try looking from "X:/users/username/my documents/" or another place where some games save data is "X:/users/username/appdata". This is on windows 7, but I think it's the same on Vista. Oh and the appdata folder is hidden, so make sure to turn hidden folders visible.

[growbag]

Yeah, I checked those locations but still don't find anything. It's very odd.

I even searched through the registry and found nothing.

What I find really odd is that I edited the defaultcontrols.script file to get some sane default keys, and the darn game doesn't load it as default, I just don't understand it.

It will only load the keys I set in that file if I run the game as administrator, and then click on "default" in the key settings menu. But I have to do that each time I run the game.

It saves something somewhere, but I can't find it.

[Dowly]

Hmm...

I'll install my copy tonight or tomorrow and start digging around.

[growbag]

...so no luck I guess dowly

[Dowly]

Ow nutsack! Forgot about it.

I'll reinstall it right away.

EDIT: That is weird indeed. I checked everything and searched for anything yet found nothing. But my saved games from the earlier install were still there so it definitely saves something somewhere.