The Operational Art of War III receives a final update… and a sequel!

[Meyer1]

Hey, I thought that we would never see the patch so I'm happy

[secadegas]

Now, someone mentioned haters. Define haters.

I would but i'm not sure...

[secadegas]

The "myth" is clearly confirmed when looking at the list of fixes, alone the fixes to the RFC and AA obviously show how bad the state was before that alone made a bunch of scenarios work not like intended, not to mention all the other things that got fixed.

Thanks. At last a big brain got it all...

What i'll do without your insights?

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: Lobster
I also have the eating habit. Unlike you I am no longer able to work and have very little wiggle room for anything other than meds, shelter and food. This is called life. So, excuse me if I'm a bit disappointed I didn't get what was promised. End of Story. Bye bye.

Hey Lobster: I'm sorry you can't work anymore. You didn't say how old you were but I get the impression you'd like to work but can't.
And you didn't say where you live but I'm hoping it's one of the southern states where it's cheaper to live.

I say we take up a collection for Lobster.

[BigDuke66]

@Lobster
The Steak & Hot Dog comparison fit very well.

@Sekadegas
Embroider my insights on a pillow so that you never forget it.

@Oberst_Klink
I do Oberst I do, would be nice to see you working again on Kharkov '43.

[SMK-at-work]

ORIGINAL: BigDuke66

@Lobster
The Steak & Hot Dog comparison fit very well.

It is silly.

it's mote like being promised steak and mushrooms for free and getting steak egg and chips for free......you're still getting the steak and it's still free![:'(]

[SMK-at-work]

ORIGINAL: fogger

My only "bitch" is that I could not prepay for TOAW4 when the A$1 was buying US1.12. Now one A$1 is purchasing US$0.75 and is dropping. The RBA wants the A$1 to be in the US$0.65 to US$0.70 range.

But it could be worse. I could live in New Zealand where "SMK-At-Work" lives. At present one A$1 is buying NZ$1.10 so I would hate to think what he will have to pay. So you can understand why my next holiday in September will be in New Zealand (North Island) and not in the USA.

which is what it has been doing for most of the last 10 years, so there's not really anything different here!

but even with that US$40 isn't actually expensive!

[fogger]

What is US$40 in New Zealand dollars? That is assuming that Matrix will be selling the game for US$40.

Back in 2011 when I purchased WITE it cost me A$86.51 for a game that I only played twice before I came back to TOAW.

[fogger]

Hi Lobster,
May I call you Jack. My post was not aimed at you either directly or indirectly and I am sorry you feel that way.

Just to give some of my background. I was recently forced into early retirement.


Yes I plan to go to New Zealand for a holiday but then what my wife has had to put up with during the pass 20 years in my previous job I think she has earned it. I had to sign some undertakings when I left so I can not say anymore than that. (Go directly to jail, do not pass go, do not collect $200 as they say in a game of monopoly.)

I also had a heart operation a couple of years ago so I understand about the costs of meds. After the operation the doctor also told me that the repair was good for 10-12 years and to keep my personal affairs up to date. But then we all have an appointment with the grim reaper. I just hope to win a PBEM game of FITE before then.

For me the glass is half full.

Matrix did not have to do the update. They could have said that it was too hard and that they were going directly to TOAW4 instead. Or they could say the TOAW community is too small and not do TOAW 4 at all. After all what have they got out of the update? What has Ralph got? What have we got? Something is better than nothing.

Kind Regards
John

[Crossroads]

Woo-hoo! Thanks guys !!! [&o]

Downloading the patch, and putting some hard earned Euros aside for some serious TOAWIV Xmas shopping.

The latter of course only if I see a commitment from schwere Panzerjäger-Abteilung 653 to bring his Third Reich and Lützen scenarios there [;)]

[berto]

TOAW IV is fantastic news. I'll take it any way, shape or form, at whatever reasonable cost. You can't expect something for nothing.

[secadegas]

ORIGINAL: Crossroads

(...) and putting some hard earned Euros aside for some serious TOAWIV Xmas shopping.

Me too.

That is... if by Xmas we can still pay for it with Euro...

[Crossroads]

ORIGINAL: Sekadegas

ORIGINAL: Crossroads

(...) and putting some hard earned Euros aside for some serious TOAWIV Xmas shopping.

Me too.

That is... if by Xmas we can still pay for it with Euro...

Hmmm... [X(] Is there a pre-order? [:D]

Not sure if I should be laughing though...

[secadegas]

ORIGINAL: Crossroads

ORIGINAL: Sekadegas

ORIGINAL: Crossroads

(...) and putting some hard earned Euros aside for some serious TOAWIV Xmas shopping.

Me too.

That is... if by Xmas we can still pay for it with Euro...

Hmmm... [X(] Is there a pre-order? [:D]

Not sure if I should be laughing though...

[:D]

[76mm]

hmm, I guess this is good news, but I've already bought this game probably three times in its various iterations and I doubt I'll buy it again unless I see some definite improvements.

So what other than the patch are we getting? Personally I've always hated the user interface for TOAW, so hopefully it got some love for version IV. How far are we from seeing some screen shots?

[sPzAbt653]

Personally I've always hated the user interface for TOAW

HATER !! ... just kidding. I've been using it for so long I don't even think about it, so I am curious if you could be more specific, give some examples, maybe some ideas that could make it better ? Thanks.

[Meyer1]

Well, off the top of my head, some easy improvements to the current interface:
-a hotkey to select next formation
-I would use the tool tip if there were a key to activate/deactivate. Currently is very annoying

More complicate:
-a "supply mode" for the map, which would be handy to see how supply flows and to detect destroyed bridges/rail lines
-A possibility to assign keys to highlight "user made formations" with a given colour, to allow the player to modify the OOB, even if that has no effect in the gameplay. As explained here tm.asp?m=2849586
-OOB screen should be vastly improve, allowing to sort units according type/strength/special abilities/etc. I think this is already in the plans, right?

That's all I can think right now.

[Meyer1]

Also:
-A unit panel on the side, showing the selected unit info, but all of it, as one have using the "u" key.
-A "full screen" mode for the map, and/or the chance to "minimize" different panels of the rest of the interface
-A full screen mode for the game, alongside the windowed mode as we have now.

[76mm]

ORIGINAL: sPzAbt653
I've been using it for so long I don't even think about it, so I am curious if you could be more specific, give some examples, maybe some ideas that could make it better ?

Honestly, its been long enough that I've played where I can't remember too many specifics, all I remember is that I was always struggling with it. The worst was the scenario editor--just about everything about selecting and creating unit hierarchies was a huge pain, especially having to cycle through everything rather than having drop-down boxes or standard windows interfaces (which might not be great, but are generally functional).

If you're not asking out of idle curiousity but might actually use input to revise the interface (not sure if you're on the beta or dev team), I'd be willing to fire up the game again to give more specific feedback.

[biddrafter2]

ORIGINAL: Lobster
People who devote hundreds if not thousands of hours on the game, either playing it, editing it, designing scenarios? I would like to know exactly what the accuser thinks a hater is.

Here is why I think people are having trouble feeling sympathetic. Let's say the new game costs something crazy, like $100. $100/2000 hours = 5 cents for each hour of gameplay. Even if it was a bait and switch (it wasn't, not really) it is hard to get worked up over something that delivers such enjoyment for so little hourly cost.

I'm quite pleased at this news!

A question for the testers: I'm in a hotseat American Civil War game right now. Any ideas if the patch will cause any problems with the non standard equipment or anything like that? We are only 150 moves into 400 or so....