View Full Version : Panzer Campaigns
Has anyone played any of these? Could I get some feedback? The games look enjoyable, and I know that some people love them... Is there alot of replayability, however? Or are you just basically buying it to play through once, maybe mess around with an idea or two, and then this game is 'completed'?
Which are the best of the batch?
Is there a 'compilation' cd? I imagine that there probably will be, sooner or later, as these titles get older?
Thanx for any info you can pass on!
Are these the John Tiller games from HPS? If so, then they are all alike in terms of game system, but play somewhat differently based on the situation --- Normandy is very crowded, the Eastern Front ones are more open and spacious.
I personally can't stand the games because they are micromanagement hell. Too, too, too many units on huge maps. The scale is quite small -- 6-hour turns I think. You can play the smaller scenarios but then they don't really feel like, say, Kursk. They just feel like some generic WWII battle.
There is no compilation pack and probably never will be. They never go down in price. There are no demos.
Basically, Tiller & Co. have created a game system which they tweak every once in a while (and retrofit the other games to, which is admirable). They then create what are essentially scenario packs and sell them for $40-50. Some people think this is a rip off; some people gladly pay for them because they love the system and the games.
The best advice is to find someone who will loan you one or try to get a used one off eBay. If you like like it, then you know there are several more available and you have, literally, thousands of hours more of it to play.
Todd
Siberian HEAT
10 Jul 03, 10:45
Mantis, don't you even think about it! We can't have you off galavanting around spending 1000's of hours on a non-TOAW game!
Turn around slowly...and step AWAY from that game.
Your contract here at HQ clearly states "thou shalt only play TOAW"
(Mantis slinks back into the little broom closet they keep him in at WFHQ headquarters)
:confused:
Originally posted by Mantis
Has anyone played any of these? Could I get some feedback? The games look enjoyable, and I know that some people love them... Is there alot of replayability, however? Or are you just basically buying it to play through once, maybe mess around with an idea or two, and then this game is 'completed'?
Which are the best of the batch?
Is there a 'compilation' cd? I imagine that there probably will be, sooner or later, as these titles get older?
Thanx for any info you can pass on!
By now, the Panzer Campaign games are better than TOAW in every aspect I would say. Only drawbacks are the somewhat poorer graphics and very time consuming game play. Check them out.
Ooooh, you're going to get it for that one...
:D
Thanks for the input!
RhinoBones
11 Jul 03, 19:31
Originally posted by ALF
By now, the Panzer Campaign games are better than TOAW in every aspect I would say. Only drawbacks are the somewhat poorer graphics and very time consuming game play. Check them out.
Could you post a small screen shot please?
Regards, RhinoBones
Sheik Yerbouti
12 Jul 03, 14:43
http://www.gamesdomain.com/gdreview/zones/reviews/pc/feb00/pzcamp41_03.jpg
Hmm.... I'll stick to TOAW :cool:
What's your impression on the game, Sheik?
Sheik Yerbouti
12 Jul 03, 17:57
Originally posted by Mantis
What's your impression on the game, Sheik?
Don't own, have not played. If they are micro-management hells, I'm not very interested either.
I wonder if the AI can deal with certain aspects of the game for you on that level. High Command (although in need of some serious work) had an AI that could assist you in every stage of your turn, and you could pick and choose what parts you'd like it to take on for you on the fly, or even right in the middle of said phase.
Sheik Yerbouti
12 Jul 03, 19:31
I wonder if your new avatar is taken from your passport picture. Or are you a closet space ant?
ER is a ladder scummer. Jam is a point slut.
I'm a deadly predator, and it was damned well time to show my true colors!
I'm also apparently a virgin. (You know what happens to a male mantis during mating?)
WAITAMINUTE!!
A sexy female, eating around the head for hours...
It's EXCRUTIATING!!
Here's a screenshot of the only one of the series I have, Middle east 67 in zoom out, also a screenshot test post
You got the hang of it quite nicely, Triaxe! I suggest you use screentaker, tho... It's text-in-your-pic-'til-you-register-for-$10 is MUCH smaller.
Get it here: Screentaker (http://gboban.hypermart.net/staker/)
Well a little blurry, we'll see if this one sharpens up any in the zoom in mode. Anyway I've not played the game very much yet but like all games there are small and large scenarios where the larger ones can get tedious and I do like the system enough and will probably order the newest title, Rzhev 42.
Thanks for the link and the screenshot posting help Mantis. I think I will download Screentaker as I'm not much impressed with the Hypersnap results.
The shot above is about 63k. If you're trying to show someone comparative units strengths, etc, you might want to take a pic, examine the size, and then increase the quality/% by about 5 points, and see how it increases both sharpness and size.
I used to use Screentaker but now have moved on to the fancy and sophisticated 'alt-Print Screen' method.
Sheik Yerbouti
12 Jul 03, 21:05
http://www.beesign.at/falten/view/mantis.jpg
That doesn't really let you mess around with the quality and such, tho, does it? (Unless you were to edit with photoshop, or something?)
I now use Snagit32, which is quite good. It has a zillion features, most of which I don't care about, but the interface, etc is very nice, and fully customizeable.
Is it just me, or are bespectacled, green PVC clad, carnivorous, mate-devouring females just way hot?
Originally posted by Sheik Yerbouti
Sheik, you'd better start explaining how you got that picture of my wife from 'role-playing' night...
Originally posted by JAMiAM
Is it just me, or are bespectacled, green PVC clad, carnivorous, mate-devouring females just way hot?
TOTALLY
Sheik Yerbouti
15 Jul 03, 11:23
Originally posted by Mantis
Sheik, you'd better start explaining how you got that picture of my wife from 'role-playing' night...
She was your wife?!...Gotta be more careful next time I visit Canada...:whist:
That was you? It took me three days to get the smell out of the bathroom, and half that time before I could get into the room to flush the toilet!!
:eek:
Sheik Yerbouti
17 Jul 03, 15:11
Originally posted by Mantis
That was you? It took me three days to get the smell out of the bathroom, and half that time before I could get into the room to flush the toilet!!
:eek:
Hey, it was her idea to get all smelly!
Don Maddox
07 Sep 04, 09:36
Don't own, have not played. If they are micro-management hells, I'm not very interested either.
They can be at times as some of the scenario designers for this system insist on using it to model really large battles. The same battle would work in TOAW better as the engine operates in a much more abstract fashion, whereas PzC operations like a super charged version of the Campaign Series.
In fairness though, each CD usually includes a number of smaller battles which require a lot less fuss to complete.
Sheik Yerbouti
07 Sep 04, 11:13
They can be at times as some of the scenario designers for this system insist on using it to model really large battles. The same battle would work in TOAW better as the engine operates in a much more abstract fashion, whereas PzC operations like a super charged version of the Campaign Series.
In fairness though, each CD usually includes a number of smaller battles which require a lot less fuss to complete.
I own Rzhev'42 now but don't actually much play it since 2 hour turns don't feel like operative level warfare to me...Really good OOB-info though.
Alkiviadis
08 Sep 04, 22:42
They can be mangement-intensive depending on the scenario size. I can personally only hanle 6 division comfortable, aany more is overwhelming given my limited time. ON the other hand the larger scenarios can be played by teams, these games can be very exciting. However I only play FG '85 & NGP '85 now. I enjoy them very much, excellent operational simulations with some tactical flavoring, I sucessfully implemented standard Soviet AIR-LAND BATTLE tactics using these games.
I own Rzhev'42 now but don't actually much play it since 2 hour turns don't feel like operative level warfare to me...Really good OOB-info though.
Is it taking you 2 hours because of the ai processing or 2 hours to make moves?
For myself, I find that it usually takes me about 25 minutes to do a full campaign turn. Sometimes more if a signficant attack is going on, sometimes less if units are resting.
I only use the fast ai processing when playing the AI and only use on screen results. I hated clicking through all the boxes and love the fast turn processing now.
Sheik Yerbouti
09 Sep 04, 08:46
Is it taking you 2 hours because of the ai processing or 2 hours to make moves?
No, no, I meant the time scale of 2 hours per turn.
No, no, I meant the time scale of 2 hours per turn.
aha! gotcha... after re-reading what you wrote, it was clear, think I just wasn't paying close attention. :o
I play both PzC and TOAW. I enjoy both but find that PzC's AI offers a better challenge when playing against it. The AI has exploited mistakes I had made in scenarios. Other times, it allowed itself to be surrounded but both TOAW and PzC are meant to play better via PBEM. As for too many units to move, TOAW has scenarios which I won't play as there are way too many units, and all over the place. One game I have going is Fire in the East which takes me forever to do my moves and turn. I can't and won't support one game over the other. Both have strength and weaknesses and enjoy them both quite a bit.
Joao Lima
21 Dec 04, 03:02
Just my two cents, but I really dont think that PzC is intended for one to play for example the huge battle of Kursk at that scale, it would take how much time to do an whole turn? 12 hours?
I think those huge scenarios are the basis for the creatio of small scale scenarios , some already in the game. The game scale is perfect to make 1-2 divisions perside battles, and it's in that capability that I use it, so let's say you want to play the major battles fought by the Panzer Lehr in Normandy, then it's the perfect game with it's Battalion-Company scale, more than that it's completely out of good sense, but like that is pretty interesting, it should be called Division Commander, or at best Corps Commander (if you're Rommel or Guderian :D )...
Sheik Yerbouti
21 Dec 04, 06:17
For the record, I actually learned to play Rzhev'42 a while back, and to my suprise got hooked! After all, it is a well working game system. The AI is quite dumb though (no suprise there), so before any PBEMs I have been plaing both sizes on various scenarios.
Glenn Saunders
21 Dec 04, 18:21
Joao:
> I think those huge scenarios are the basis for the creatio of small scale scenarios , some already in the game. The game scale is perfect to make 1-2 divisions perside battles,
You might be surprised.
When I started out I never though anyone would play the huge scn vs the AI let alone by email - but there are a lot of guys with different taste than yours (and mine too for that matter) .. so no, the larger scns are not made to create smaller ones from - they are meant to be played. However, we recognize there is a segment of the market that likes smaller scns too and we strive to keep everything on a level playing field, so if a unit is in play A at time A, then it can't be in two places at the same time.
Glenn
Joao Lima
21 Dec 04, 18:40
When I started out I never though anyone would play the huge scn vs the AI let alone by email - but there are a lot of guys with different taste than yours (and mine too for that matter) .. Glenn
Please dont misunderstand me, I love those huge scenarios, but I really dont think they are suited for 1km/hex play, perhaps if the game had let's say 2 scales (like the 'world at war' series) one in 1km/hex for batallion/company and other at 5km/hex for regiments, then it would be suited for those huge battles as well as smaller ones.
Personally, I like the huge campaign scenarios. I've played the Kursk CG, the Rzhev CG, and I'm on my 2nd run through of the Fulda CG. All of these were against the AI. I play fast though, so I can get through the Fulda CG in about 2 - 3 weeks of evening play.
Guys, is there a way to move all my troops at once like in the Napoleon Campaigns using the ALT key? When I use the ALT key in Fulda Gap, I get a big red arrow. That should make them move in that direction but it doesn't, so what am I doing wrong? Will need that feature for the full campaign in Fulda Gap as there are just so many units to move in Warsaw Pact Army. Thanks
printshop
22 Dec 04, 16:18
Guys, is there a way to move all my troops at once like in the Napoleon Campaigns using the ALT key? When I use the ALT key in Fulda Gap, I get a big red arrow. That should make them move in that direction but it doesn't, so what am I doing wrong? Will need that feature for the full campaign in Fulda Gap as there are just so many units to move in Warsaw Pact Army. Thanks
I don't think there is a way to do that. :OHNO:
I don't think there is a way to do that. :OHNO:
Found it!! You must highlight one unit of the particular division/brigade you want to move. Then hold down the ALT key and right click to where the units should be going. Then in the menu AI then down to AI movement and voilą!! The AI moves the units. Saves a whole lot of time.
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