I Love This Game

[Maximeba]

I want to thank the developers of this game. My friend Dave and myself bought this game and are enjoying it immensley. Dave and myself are former Europa players (20 years) we have been meeting once a week for at least 30+ years (1974). After the last convention in Columbus, we decided there was nothing left to learn. Nothing against Europa, just Dave and myself are the type to beat a game to death until there is nothing left to the game. Anyway Europa is a big board game system and we both felt we wanted to scale down the size of the game. We have been playing smaller games but nothing that satisfied our competive edge (they were just too simple). We tried some computer games (Panzer Gerneral) but again just too simple. Then I stumbled onto Matrix and saw the game Commander In Europe. We bought it and started to play. The game was good but still too simple for our taste.

Then I noticed a new game called Time of Wrath; this game looked really good. I talked it over with Dave and then we bought it. We are now on turn 50 in a two player game. This game is everything you would want in a computer game if you are a board game player like myself. The game can be a Historical simulation if you want or it can be a "what if" situation as I just learned. I accidently attacked a minor neutral with Russia that was leaning towards the allies. Of course Russia is now at war with the allies. My buddy Dave and myself had a good laugh over that mistake. We now call this file Wes's Blunder. This game also has enough complexity in it to keep our interest. The one problem Dave and I are having is we no longer can fight over the game rules.

The other thing I like is the Forum. Europa had a forum in which ideas and debates where carried on for days and even weeks. I enjoy reading other peoples game ideas on how one should attack or defend a country. It's nice to see that Matrix has an active forum with so many players willing to participate, that alone says something about Matrix and the game. I am also currious, do you guys ever go to a game convention or host a small convention? And if so, do a lot of players go? It would be nice to put faces to names. What would be more fun than having a bunch of grown men getting together with laptops playing against each other?

I've also noticed that the game design seems to be set up so people can tinker with the game mechanics. The problem with this is I'm somewhat computer illiterate, I just want to turn the game on and play. What I mean by this, Dave and myself are having problems with the pbem game. Dave will play the German move, then e-mail it to me. I will play the allies and then e-mail back to Dave to play the Italian move. When he is done with the Italian move, it should then be the German move but of course it will not let him play. It tells him his move is finished or something like that. We figured a way around this by e-mailing our hotseat game back and forth but someday I may want to challenge someone in hyperspace to an e-mail game. If anyone decides to write back on what I'm doing wrong, remember I'm computer stupid, so please make it simple.

I want to again say thank you for a great game and may those Allies always defeat those evil Axis regimes.

Wes
Allies Forever

[cpdeyoung]

I am so glad you love the game, many of us do!

When the PBEM is giving Dave a problem please look at the country in the upper left. If it says "PBEM Event Country" (at least I think that is the correct phrase), then I may be able to help.

If this is the case use function key "F11" and bring up a dialog with a pull down list of all the countries. Scroll down to the bottom of the list. This should get you to "PBEM Event country". If it says it is controlled by "Human" and "Player 1" then change the human to "AI" and see if that helps.

If this is not the case just give us more info, and someone will surely help.

Chuck

[cpdeyoung]

Good morning Wes,

I may have given you some bum advice. In the Tech Forum there is a discussion about the events, which may invalidate the method I described. Take a look at the "PBEM without events" thread if you want to see where this goes.

Chuck

[parusski]

When I first downloaded WW2TOW I "liked" it. I thought it was "ok". But I kept be drawn back to it, and the next thing I new-I LOVED THE GAME. As the unit/map mods started coming out I found they added even more pleasure. I am not a modder, don't have the patience or skill, but it is great that the game is so easily modded. [:D]

[swatter555]

It sounds like you beat games into the afterlife and beyond!

On the boardgaming front, I recently got involved in a game called Eurofront with a decent group of friends. Look it up and see if you and your friend might like it.

Sorry, I cant help you with your pbem problems.

[Tomokatu]

Maximeba explained.

Dave will play the German move, then e-mail it to me. I will play the allies and then e-mail back to Dave to play the Italian move. When he is done with the Italian move, it should then be the German move but of course it will not let him play. It tells him his move is finished or something like that. We figured a way around this by e-mailing our hotseat game back and forth but someday I may want to challenge someone in hyperspace to an e-mail game.

 
German and Italian - you're both playing as Axis players. Or maybe the Italians are trying to stay neutral? Are your human identities different? You're not BOTH Player 1 - shouldn't think so. Want to try taking some screen capture images[1] at various points, like the exit dialogue box and posting those to help in the diagnosis?

• Let's see, from memory, when you finish a pbem gameturn, you press the "End Turn" button and then there's a dialogue box to tell to to press ESC and send the pbem file to the next person on the list.
• After you do that, you select "Options" and exit the game.
• THEN you archive your ..ToW\data\pbem\YOURGAMENAME directory (let's call that MAXIMEBA for the moment). I use WinZip so I'm assuming that you both have copies of that and that both copies are of compatible versions. You need to have selected the WinZip option "Use Directory Names"
• So, you now have, in your ..\ToW\data\pbem directory a file called MAXIMEBA.ZIP which is what you're emailing to your other player.
• In turn, he unzips MAXIMEBA.ZIP, also using "Use Directory Names" and WinZip writes into the existing ..\data\pbem\MAXIMEBA directory in his copy of ToW. 
• When he starts up his ToW he selects "Start Game" and "PBEM Games" NOT "Load Game" and should then see a menu with MAXIMEBA as a choice which he selects and starts play.

Now, is that the same sequence of steps you're both using?
 
Is he watching this forum, too? That might make things a bit easier.

---

[1] If you're using a Windows system, Press ALT-PrtScrn together, then ALT-TAB together to switch to your painting program (I have assumed that you started your paint program before starting ToW and just left it running). When in the painting program, use the Right Mouse Button menu to paste the image into the program. At that point, it can be edited and saved for attachment to your next message.

[Maximeba]

Swatter,

Thanks for the info on Eurofront I will look into it and your correct we do beat a game to death. We played Third Reich so much we had to buy another game because we wore out the counters.

Thanks,
Wes

[Maximeba]

Tomokatu,

It sounds like I am doing something stupid. I think I have done everything you posted but maybe not. I will contact Dave this Sunday and try it again making sure I follow the sequence you posted. If I continue to have problems I will take your advice and put up a screen shot.

Thanks,