Best way to get into the series?

[Freigeist83]

Hey guys,

I am new to the TOAW series and wonder what's the best way to learn it. [8|]

Could you recommend any tutorials, guides or video series?

Are there any scenarios that you would recommend to get started?

I am personally most interested in modern settings (Vietnam, Falklands, Middle East, Angola) and have to admit that I am a bit sceptical to model
300 years of armed conflicts with the same set of rules. Would like to hear your take on the conflicts and time spans that work particularly well with this system or maybe should be avoided.

Thanks for your feedback and advice.

Happy Easter! [:)]

Edit:

Is there a printer-friendly version of the manual?

Does anyone know if there are cheat sheets available for the unit icon displays / nato counters / player aids?

[OldWeirdSteve]

[font="Tahoma"]This topic is interesting to me also. So I will be monitoring this thread.[/font]

[Lobster]

Some of these are for TOAWIII but they still apply to TOAWIV.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... +tutorials

[cathar1244]

Would like to hear your take on the conflicts and time spans that work particularly well with this system

Best fit is probably scenarios with units as battalions, regiments/brigades, and divisions. My sense is that the system works optimally for the time period 1930s through 1960s, but there are a lot of tools for scenario designers to use to account for variables. Time spans -- maybe half day turns through week-long turns.

Others may have differing views.

Cheers

[TheeWarLord]

Greetings, I would recommend shorter games at first, predominately land based games. Familiarize yourself with the land and air play with proficiency levels of 70% and up. Pay attention to your battle rounds using the combat panel and work on squeezing out as many battle rounds as possible. Set your tolerance levels, usually minimize losses is one combat round, limit losses is two, and ignore losses is at least three. Remember density levels, avoid red, and supply/readiness levels of your units are important. Good luck!

[sPzAbt653]

NATO Symbol Chart, had to zip it so hopefully you know how to unzip.

[sPzAbt653]

Player Manual Text Version:

[Freigeist83]

Thanks for the files.

I jumped in and started to play around with the Kasserine forty-three scenario.

Not sure if that is a good starting point, but counter density is low with forty-four Battalions on the German side in twelve turns,
there is a lot of movement in the battle and you need to take care not to stretch your supply lines.

Are there any decent map mods that you can recomment to improve the visuals?

Happy with the counter design, but the map style does not convince me... [8|]

[sPzAbt653]

I use these as a base/starting point:

https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4378126

[Freigeist83]

Are there some screenshots available how this would look like?

[Shadrach]

There's two big map mods I know of, both are really well done, and are more geared toward a classic board game look:

Cabido's "Board game style mod":
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4523087
Includes a matching UI mod. Unfortunately the site used for the download is dead but there's an archive and a still working Gdrive folder:
https://web.archive.org/web/20190514032 ... stapp.com/
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1lbpdh ... Ra-KYdM7vb

Telumar's "Best of both Worlds":
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4757572
Includes a really nice blue UI.

I also recommend the Blue Water Mod as the default light blue rivers are sometimes hard to make out from the background:
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4393088

Other than that, just browse the Mods forum and try some out [:)]
Top tip: When trying different mods, you can use Ctrl+R to reload graphics, and save a lot of time instead of restarting the game.

[Freigeist83]

Are there instructions somewhere how to correctly install Telumar's BobW mod?

I am using the Steam version of TOAW.

[Shadrach]

ORIGINAL: Freigeist83
Are there instructions somewhere how to correctly install Telumar's BobW mod?

You pop the files from the Map folder inside the zip into your "Documents\My Games\The Operational Art of War IV\Graphics Override" folder [:D]

If you want the UI you do the same with the "Blue GUI" files.

Then follow the instructions in the mod post about the hills_overlay files.

[Freigeist83]

Thanks for the instructions. That looks much better... [:)]

Opart 4 Fonts goes into the same override folder?

The only thing that does not seem to work is the menu opacity and the movement arrow which is still display in red instead of gray. [8|]

[Shadrach]

The fonts file go in the top folder under Documents, not Graphics Override. It will replace the default one. But fonts, especially sizes, are a personal preference so I would be careful replacing it. At least make a backup of the old one. The default fonts should work OK with the Blue GUI mod, but for Cabido's lighter UI you need dark fonts.

If you mean the drop down menus, they don't have opacity. UI opacity is controlled in the Player Options (Background opacity setting).

The Blue GUI mod contains the Movement_arrows files, I think these are dark+transparent. But I suspect the mod has left out the "large" size "Movement_arrows.png" file which would lead to the game falling back to the defaults. I recommend using the arrows from Cabido's mod, they look really great.

I've organised some of files from different mods for my own use in a Gdrive folder, you can get them separately here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... UQWwqpeo2g

[Freigeist83]

Thanks, Shadrach.

Just found the background opacity setting in the Player Options.

And you are right about the fonts; I can live with the default settings.

Overall, this looks much better. Can't post a link with screenshots yet as I do not seem to have the required forum permissions yet.

The only last thing that is annoying is the mouse cursor. Is there a way to use a simple, standard Windows mouse cursor instead of that "funny" hand?

Thanks for your help, everyone. [:)]

[Shadrach]

Try this one for cursors [;)]
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.a ... =&#4794115

You can of course use one you like from c:\Windows\Cursors. You name them appropriately and place under "Graphics Override\Cursors"

[Freigeist83]

Perfect. Thanks, Shadrach. [:)]