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First published in 1998, this legendary series of operational wargames has seen six releases, including the latest Operational Art of War III, released to the wargaming audience in 2006. Now, as we conclude The Operational Art of War III, we are also taking a new step to continue the series into the future. Publisher Matrix Games and the TOAW Development Team have been working behind the scenes for nearly two years to take this landmark brand to new heights.

First, a long-promised update… with development for The Operational Art of War once again in full swing, many months of development both past and present have allowed us to complete the final update for The Operational Art of War III, version 3.4.1.9! This update allows us to bring the TOAW community a parting gift for TOAW III, including a feature enhancement, quite a few bug fixes and new and revised scenarios, while also laying the groundwork for a new release, The Operational Art of War IV.

The Operational Art of War IV started as an update intended to be TOAW III version 3.5, but when we were able to re-start full development on the series, it allowed us to do much more in the way of significant improvements than we had originally considered and it kept growing until it became a full release plan. As a result, we’ve invested the time and resources to continue the series while also continuing support for TOAW III and the TOAW community in the form of this update. As many bug fixes as possible, basically anything that was not too tightly intertwined with new features and code, were removed from the Operational Art of War IV process and are included in this 3.4.1.9 release.

The Operational Art of War IV is scheduled to release late this year and includes a complete graphics and interface overhaul, major new gameplay and design features such as full naval combat modelling, improved supply handling, numerous increases to scenario parameters to better support large scenarios, and integrated PBEM++. It also includes tweaks and improvements to the underlying mechanics based upon player feedback that are sure to bring TOAW’s proven gameplay to a new level. The many improvements in Operational Art of War IV are also aimed at growing the community by making TOAW more accessible for a new generation of wargamers.

The Operational Art of War IV will fully support modern computer hardware and operating systems. This will make it more user-friendly and able to scale to higher resolutions, especially in terms of font and button size. It reorganizes and adds functionality to many very useful screens and dialogs to make them more informative and easier to use. Once released, TOAW IV will continue to be supported for some time, hopefully leading to many more updates and improvements. TOAW IV will be the new base point for the TOAW series and future updates will be based on this new release.

For a complete list of changes for the 3.4.1.9 update, check here

You can download the patch here

Get more information about TOAW III from its official product page.

To discuss TOAW IV please go to its new Coming Soon forum here

Am I the first to start the download?

ORIGINAL: fogger

Am I the first to start the download?

And me 2ns, alter Australier!

Klink, Oberst

Thank you Matrix Games, Ralph and all the people on the development team. I look forward to TOAW 4.

ORIGINAL: fogger
Thank you Matrix Games, Ralph and all the people on the development team. I look forward to TOAW 4.

You're quite welcome. I've been having a blast testing it.

TOAW 4 [&o][&o][&o]

Well I'm happy or let's say relieved that we finally get the long awaited patch, but what I don't get is why after the lessons of the past we don't get an extensive Open Beta to make sure that the patch is flawless, especially if this is a final patch with no more support.
Let's pray to the gods of war that they are with us!!!

Wow. Didn't see that coming.

Thanks for the nice surprise.

So, how many here knew this beforehand?

Thanks for all the job.

Is that change log complete?
I just wonder because FitE2 was said to be testing under the patch in development but afaik it needed some limits in the game shifted like max units etc. and I don't see this in the change log.

ORIGINAL: BigDuke66

Is that change log complete?
I just wonder because FitE2 was said to be testing under the patch in development but afaik it needed some limits in the game shifted like max units etc. and I don't see this in the change log.

Yes, it's complete. FITE2 was testing what at the time was called 3.5. That has morphed into TOAW IV. We intentionally named this patch 3.4.1 to avoid confusion with that.

I just tried to Update TOAW III from the game menu and it failed. The message mentioned a failure of a .zip file and one other error.

I am now trying to download the patch directly and apply it externally.

The external download of the patch installed and now my game is working apparently normally with the new patch.

Thank you.

slobber slobber whine grovel.....

[:D][:D][:D]

program will not run under windows 8.1 after update. Worked fine before update. Any ideas?

ORIGINAL: davidofga
program will not run under windows 8.1 after update. Worked fine before update. Any ideas?

I would suggest posting your symptoms in the "help wanted / needed" section. Bob can solve any problem.

ORIGINAL: Curtis Lemay

ORIGINAL: BigDuke66

Is that change log complete?
I just wonder because FitE2 was said to be testing under the patch in development but afaik it needed some limits in the game shifted like max units etc. and I don't see this in the change log.

Yes, it's complete. FITE2 was testing what at the time was called 3.5. That has morphed into TOAW IV. We intentionally named this patch 3.4.1 to avoid confusion with that.

"We"? Are you part of the development team now? Who else?

ORIGINAL: Daniele

The Operational Art of War IV is scheduled to release late this year

Is this written in stone or in wet concrete?

ORIGINAL: Lobster

ORIGINAL: Daniele

The Operational Art of War IV is scheduled to release late this year

Is this written in stone or in wet concrete?

The key word is "scheduled". And there's a lot left to do. But Ralph is highly motivated to meet it since there's an obvious benefit to a Christmas period launch.