Back to Norb Series from Other Games
Posted: Sat Oct 12, 2013 7:24 pm
Hello!
I am a big fan of Take Command Second Manassas. I came on the scene very late in that games development cycle, and I have a bad habit of 'getting distracted' by other games. But I'm finally 'back' to the Norb series and have been playing a bit of SoW in SP and MP mode (some buddies from the "Maddog Drivethrough" forums).
I always felt that a good courier system was what would push TC2M "over the top" into extraordinary 19th century operational warfare simulator, and yep! It is a remarkable innovation in the game engine! Getting to understand all its subtleties will take some time (and I see there is a veritable library on the courier system on here). However, I do have a couple of overarching questions at the outset. I should probably frame my experience with the series a bit.
Have been playing wargames for pretty much decades. First ones were paper-chit hex map games in High School in the '80s. Inactive in grad school in the 1990s, but have been getting back into the computer versions since then. Lots of Matrix, Paradox, Slitherine, Nitro titles on my HD.
First played TC2M maybe two years ago? Maybe it was only one. Pretty quickly got hooked and installed a lot of scenarios. Things were pretty darn quiet over at the Mad Minute forums at that point; I guess the 'heyday' of the game was past and most fans/modders/testers must've been focused on working on SoW at that point. Anyway, a few of the old regulars over there helped me get setup with lots of scenarios (which I guess I'll have to reinstall at some point as that was a HD ago and I didn't properly back it up). My favorite scenarios were the "Suppressing Pope" and "First Bull Run" (always as Yanks) the latter being a user made scenario. Using Normal difficulty and liberal use of Pause I managed to achieve some dramatic outcomes with those battles (e.g., I think I once routed Pope's entire corps and drove them off the map for a final score in the 20K ballpark :laugh: ), which was a fun way to learn the game.
With SoW I'm looking forward to fully mastering the courier system and hopefully get involved in an MP group who play hardcore cooper or PVP in HITS. So far I'm finding the courier system to be a bit unpredictable, but I reckon it is just me now knowing how it works. Seems like selecting a subordinates commander and then manually giving commands on the toolbar tends to work most of the time (assuming courier doesn't get intercepted), but using the Courier command window sometimes they seem to just ignore your orders.
Question
(1) I heard there was a "timestamp" bug that might be accounting for that?
I tend to prefer the scenarios like the Suppressing Pope or even better ones like "GB3D - July 1 to 3 - Gettysburg Three Days (C Army). Love that scenario! Playing in normal mode I've managed to drive the Yanks across the town by about late afternoon on Day 2 and with casualty ratios of about 5 killed to 1 lost. Using the sky cam and micromanaging each Brigade and gun and driving the poor hapless AI back is of course fun, but the prospect of mastering the courier system and seeing how good I can do is what I'm really interested in.
My overall question then is:
(2) Just how big of victories can a competent player achieve playing SP in HITS in a big battle where you have plenty of leeway to try different and perhaps unorthodox or even slightly gamey things?
Obviously by micromanaging in Normal difficulty it is possible to outwit the opponent AI and achieve hugely ahistorical and disproportionate outcomes. But is it possible to achieve a high degree of 'finesse' and at least somewhat "Napoleonic" victories using the courier system? I'm finding that to be rather clumsy for me right now.
Lots of other minor questions, but that should get me going!
I am a big fan of Take Command Second Manassas. I came on the scene very late in that games development cycle, and I have a bad habit of 'getting distracted' by other games. But I'm finally 'back' to the Norb series and have been playing a bit of SoW in SP and MP mode (some buddies from the "Maddog Drivethrough" forums).
I always felt that a good courier system was what would push TC2M "over the top" into extraordinary 19th century operational warfare simulator, and yep! It is a remarkable innovation in the game engine! Getting to understand all its subtleties will take some time (and I see there is a veritable library on the courier system on here). However, I do have a couple of overarching questions at the outset. I should probably frame my experience with the series a bit.
Have been playing wargames for pretty much decades. First ones were paper-chit hex map games in High School in the '80s. Inactive in grad school in the 1990s, but have been getting back into the computer versions since then. Lots of Matrix, Paradox, Slitherine, Nitro titles on my HD.
First played TC2M maybe two years ago? Maybe it was only one. Pretty quickly got hooked and installed a lot of scenarios. Things were pretty darn quiet over at the Mad Minute forums at that point; I guess the 'heyday' of the game was past and most fans/modders/testers must've been focused on working on SoW at that point. Anyway, a few of the old regulars over there helped me get setup with lots of scenarios (which I guess I'll have to reinstall at some point as that was a HD ago and I didn't properly back it up). My favorite scenarios were the "Suppressing Pope" and "First Bull Run" (always as Yanks) the latter being a user made scenario. Using Normal difficulty and liberal use of Pause I managed to achieve some dramatic outcomes with those battles (e.g., I think I once routed Pope's entire corps and drove them off the map for a final score in the 20K ballpark :laugh: ), which was a fun way to learn the game.
With SoW I'm looking forward to fully mastering the courier system and hopefully get involved in an MP group who play hardcore cooper or PVP in HITS. So far I'm finding the courier system to be a bit unpredictable, but I reckon it is just me now knowing how it works. Seems like selecting a subordinates commander and then manually giving commands on the toolbar tends to work most of the time (assuming courier doesn't get intercepted), but using the Courier command window sometimes they seem to just ignore your orders.
Question
(1) I heard there was a "timestamp" bug that might be accounting for that?
I tend to prefer the scenarios like the Suppressing Pope or even better ones like "GB3D - July 1 to 3 - Gettysburg Three Days (C Army). Love that scenario! Playing in normal mode I've managed to drive the Yanks across the town by about late afternoon on Day 2 and with casualty ratios of about 5 killed to 1 lost. Using the sky cam and micromanaging each Brigade and gun and driving the poor hapless AI back is of course fun, but the prospect of mastering the courier system and seeing how good I can do is what I'm really interested in.
My overall question then is:
(2) Just how big of victories can a competent player achieve playing SP in HITS in a big battle where you have plenty of leeway to try different and perhaps unorthodox or even slightly gamey things?
Obviously by micromanaging in Normal difficulty it is possible to outwit the opponent AI and achieve hugely ahistorical and disproportionate outcomes. But is it possible to achieve a high degree of 'finesse' and at least somewhat "Napoleonic" victories using the courier system? I'm finding that to be rather clumsy for me right now.
Lots of other minor questions, but that should get me going!