Happy Birthday, TOAW III!

[JAMiAM]

That's right, folks. Today, TOAW III turns 1 year old! I know that the Matrix's rerelease of the Campaign Series will steal a bit of thunder, and it's not entirely coincidental, as Matrixgames likes to plan their wargame releases around D-Day...[;)]

Anyhow, I digress.

Let me thank all who have labored over this project for the last 20 months or so. I'd like to thank Ralph Trickey for stepping into Norm's shoes, and quite honestly, doing a damned good job of filling them. I'd like to thank all the testers for the project, who have been so diligent with bughunting, both before and after release. I'd like to thank all the scenario designers; those who granted the rights to use their creations, as well as those who have taken to the new features in TOAW III, and designed new scenarios for it. I'd like to thank the staff at Matrixgames for their assistance in producing this product, as well as all the community contributors, whose various labors went into the game. I'd like to give a special thanks to David Heath, for having the funds and courage to invest in a title that had sat dormant for so many years, occupying an increasingly less visible spot in Talonsoft/Take-Two's stable of titles. Thanks for keeping the faith, and rescuing this old nag from the glue factory, Dave!

Most of all, I'd like to thank each and every buyer of the game who voted with their hard-earned cash to "invest" in this game. I hope that your time and money has been well-spent and that none of you have found it to be wasted.

Cheers!

James A Mathews

[Telumar]

It's a great game and we know we're more or less addicted [:D]... Happy birthday TOAWIII!!

I'd like to thank all the other addicted for having a great time and James and Ralph (haven't seen you for quite some time here) and the TOAD crew for the dedication and certainly Matrix for bringing back life into this.

[AlvinS]

I purchased this game after only having the first version of TAOW, and what a difference. It is now occupying all of my gaming time now and into the forseeable future.

Great Work and Thank You. [&o]

[Veers]

I don't have any elegant words, but Kudos, boys.

[Silvanski]

Great game!

[ralphtricky]

ORIGINAL: Telumar

It's a great game and we know we're more or less addicted [:D]... Happy birthday TOAWIII!!

I'd like to thank all the other addicted for having a great time and James and Ralph (haven't seen you for quite some time here) and the TOAD crew for the dedication and certainly Matrix for bringing back life into this.

I've been lurking, trying to get some work done.[:'(]

I agree, it's the fans that make the hard work worthwhile, without them and their support, this job would be any fun.

One thing I've been working on is enhancing the flanking rules. The way they are now doesn't always make sense, I think that the new rules make a lot more sense, and are going to add something positive to the game.

[Veers]

Cool.

[Reggy]

Thanks. Its the ongoing support and improvement that makes these games great. I'm torn though between TOAWIII and the revised Campaign series that was just released. Oh well...

[JAMiAM]

ORIGINAL: Reggy

Thanks. Its the ongoing support and improvement that makes these games great. I'm torn though between TOAWIII and the revised Campaign series that was just released. Oh well...

No need to tear yourself up deciding. Buy both! Buy TOAW III now, and the CS release in a few weeks, after the updated and repaired version is available. They both will give you years of gaming pleasure.

[Marc von Martial]

God, another year passed like an eyeglimpse.

Happy B-day[:D]

[Telumar]

ORIGINAL: ralphtrick

I've been lurking, trying to get some work done.[:'(]

Good news indeed.[:)] So, what do you post here? Back to lurking and work with you! [;)]

ORIGINAL: ralphtrick
One thing I've been working on is enhancing the flanking rules. The way they are now doesn't always make sense, I think that the new rules make a lot more sense, and are going to add something positive to the game.

You (or was it James?) pointed this out somewhere somewhen iirc in the gamesquad chat, but i don't remember. Would you bother to point it out again? Provided you can already tell something definite (official or semi-official)..

[Veers]

If memory serves the basic premise was an improvement on the fact that defending in a vertical line is easier than defending in a horizontal line. So, perhaps you'll need 4 sides to do a flanking attack, instead of just three...

[sapper32]

Ive being missing out on this game for nearly a year damn,TOAW III is turning me into a recluse brilliant game love it cheers Ian

[Karri]

ORIGINAL: ralphtrick
One thing I've been working on is enhancing the flanking rules. The way they are now doesn't always make sense, I think that the new rules make a lot more sense, and are going to add something positive to the game.

That is not enough! No more food for you! WORK HARDER!

Seriously though, this is the only strategy/operational/tactical game I play anymore(wait...are there any others combining all these?)...and apart from TOAW the only game I play is occasional FPSs. For such an old game it's a true gem.

Btw. are there any plans to update the event system to truly make the game have strategic options? And how hard would it be to rewrite completely? I am thinking something similar to what you see in Paradox Entertainments games...

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: Karri
....And how hard would it be to rewrite completely?

Yeah, how hard could it be to rewrite this Toaw thing completely. Say translate it to C++ and build it again from the ground up. Couple of weeks? Maybe a month?

[Karri]

With coffee, I'd say a full day. But I was wondering if the vent system is that closely tied to the engine itself that you need to rewrite the whole thing...or just the event thing.

[freeboy]

".. Just the event thing" hehehehe lmao, if you think the event thing ais a "just" seems that a rewwrite would probably be a justifiable new title with you earning some serious royalties!

[ralphtricky]

ORIGINAL: Karri

ORIGINAL: ralphtrick
One thing I've been working on is enhancing the flanking rules. The way they are now doesn't always make sense, I think that the new rules make a lot more sense, and are going to add something positive to the game.

That is not enough! No more food for you! WORK HARDER!

Seriously though, this is the only strategy/operational/tactical game I play anymore(wait...are there any others combining all these?)...and apart from TOAW the only game I play is occasional FPSs. For such an old game it's a true gem.

Btw. are there any plans to update the event system to truly make the game have strategic options? And how hard would it be to rewrite completely? I am thinking something similar to what you see in Paradox Entertainments games...

Actually, what someone would need to do would be to add support for a scripting language like Python, or better might be support for a .Net language like C# or VB. It's not difficult, just a bit tedious to expose all the interfaces, and make sure that the new stuff works, while the old stuff continues to work as well. You'll also have to lock down security so that the scripting language can't break anything on the user's computer.

Not that I've put any thought into it or anything...

Python like Civ IV does would be pretty easy, C#/VB would be harder to set up, but faster and more flexible. I don't know of anyone else that's gone to that extreme.

Ralph

[ralphtricky]

ORIGINAL: Veers

If memory serves the basic premise was an improvement on the fact that defending in a vertical line is easier than defending in a horizontal line. So, perhaps you'll need 4 sides to do a flanking attack, instead of just three...

Something like that. It's actually simpler and more complex[8D] It as nothing to do with now many sides you need, and more about whre the defenders are. To me, it feels more realistic that the current attacking through two non-adjacent hex-side rule, and is pretty intuitive once you think about it.

Ralph

[ralphtricky]

ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson

ORIGINAL: Karri
....And how hard would it be to rewrite completely?

Yeah, how hard could it be to rewrite this Toaw thing completely. Say translate it to C++ and build it again from the ground up. Couple of weeks? Maybe a month?

Well, Technically, it IS C++ now, and has been since right after I got the source code. It only took me a couple of days. Converting it to good C++ with objects, etc. is going to take a bit longer.