Is this game for me?

[Dante Rising]

Hello, everyone!

Let me start off by saying that I'm very impressed by this forum. Everyone seems helpful and patient with new players and that's very refreshing compared to most user forums.

I'm hoping that those of you with battle scars can help me make an informed, objective decision on wether or not to purchase the ToS. i really enjoy mech games, and have played everything from MechCommander to Cyberstorm to Heavy Gear. I recently heard about this game and downloaded the shareware version 1.4.

Despite the high frustartion level of watching my rookies fall down and shoot everything BUT the enemy titan, I've enjoyed playing up to this point. I do have two concerns, however:

1) Is the campaign in ToS well designed and written, or was it thrown together as an afterthought? Random battles are fun, but I like some potatoes and gravy with my steak.

2) This is a very important one, and the forum posts I've read were somewhat unclear to me. While playing the shareware version I've only fought one-on-one battles with light/recon mechs in order to learn the ropes. Battles this simple have taken anywhere from 20-30 minutes to complete. How long do larger battles take? My concern is the save system, and my lack of time. Between work and school my play time can be very fragmented and limited. Can I make the save system work around this? What can I do if I'm partially through a battle and get called away? In the shareware I only seem to be able to eject (and die horribly) or if I close it down my pilot is MIA in the rosters next time. Either way I get burned! These almost look like "ironman" rules to me, but perhaps I'm missing the details.

Thanks for any and all advice. Carry on, gentlemen!

[LarkinVB]

1. Can't comment on this as I'm heavily biased.

2. You seem to have missed the F7/F8 keys in the freeware. Of course you can save a battle at any point and resume later on. TOS: WS will 10 save game slots + the standard autosave. The only gripes some players had is that a started battle must be finished with a custom squad. Otherwise the squad is marked MIA (but can still be retrieved in the hq for some money).

[aquietfrog]

in ToS v1.4, you can actually save in the middle of a battle. i think it's F7, and F8 and F9 are the load keys. one is for save game and the other is autosave. speaking of autosave, v1.4 autosaves the battle every 10 game seconds. to leave the game, just hit Q. all the keyboard shortcuts can be seen on F1. i haven't been able to acquire ToS:WS yet, but i'm sure the same features were retained, with some changes perhaps.

[Dante Rising]

Thank you for the responses!

I am finding this game very addicting. It's strange because I'm a hardcore graphics junkie, but in the case of ToS the lack of eyecandy is not bothering me at all. I woke up halfway through my sleep schedule because I wanted to try a new strategy I thought of the previous night.

I'm pleased to learn about the save system. I do not mind being forced to finish a skirmish that I begin, as long as I can save my progress at any point.

Can anyone comment on the campaign? useless? engaging? mediocre? excellent? I'll probably end up in CompUSA regardless to purchase ToS, but I'd still like to hear comments about it.

BTW, I had one cool yet funny skirmish this morning. As some people have suggested, my rookies abilities are concentrated on close combat and cannons. Today I go to try out my shiny new power axes, but the enemy keeps using his jump jets to hop around like a bunny on crack! Every time I move in for close combat he winds up behind me! Next thing I know I'm being shot repeatedly in the back! What the hell?! Is there no honor among Titan jocks? Looks like I need to polish my movement skills. Anyway, he FINALLY falls flat on his back, and I'm all over him, shooting, hacking and kicking. It's too bad you can't bite or chew, because I would have done that too! The enemy jock fails his next two attempts to get to his feet. Shoot me in the back, will you? I hope you don't mind getting kicked a few more times in the head while you're down! When the enemy Titan finally gets up, his head and torso are shredded. Two more hits and he ejects.

great stuff!

Thanks!

[AStott]

I think the campaigns are pretty well done. They really do add a good bit to the game play. I will say that the campaigns are not as involved as you might find in other games that are built around a campaign. These are really more of a string of related scenarios. Don't let this put you off though. This adds quite a bit to the experience of developing your squad.

In addition, there is an editor which allows people to create their own campaigns, so I suspect that at some point we'll start seeing additional campaigns to play (particularly if an upgraded editor is ever released). This adds (and will add) even more to the whole concept.

It sounds to me like you'll enjoy the game if you buy it.

[Sleeping_Dragon]

The campians are very fun....While they are a sting of related senerios that support a story, which is pretty cool inself; IMO the best part is the different campains/missions really can put your skills to the test. Putting you into ALOT of new and interesting combat situations that weren't really viable in ToS1.4. Alot more variation then just playing random battles!! Huge plus!!! LOTS of new stratagies to explore!

I also have the feeling that once we get a little more settled with the game; you'll see more missions/campians appearing.. I have an idea for a mission myself, but am too busy playing the ones that come with the game as well as the ones Rosery posted right now to put any time into the editor.... but soon

MY suggestion is RUN... don't walk.. and go grab up a copy!

[Muz]

Personally, I think the campaigns could've been better done. It lacked the addictiveness that I got from the campaigns in many other games. But then again, what more could you really put in the campaign of a mech game?

I just wish that they had more effect on later missions (besides experience & money) and maybe if they awarded more money for all that damage I take . There's also the little matters like how you can win missions so easily, just by getting a titan in a certain location. But then again, I'm the type of guy who likes to hide in a ditch and shoot people's legs off and grab everything off their corpse .

So, yes and no to the campaign question, they're challenging and well done, but not my style. I give it an 'engaging' rating.

As for the time it takes, I must admit that it's been taking me about half an hour through simple battles. The medium/heavy titan battles don't seem to be that much longer, since the pilots tend to be skilled enough to kill each other quickly. But yes, it does take time, which is why I'm taking time off till school's over.

IMHO, the campaigns aren't really worth the money of going from the freeware to commercial version, unless you can easily get enough money.However, the soundtrack and graphics, as well as the basic side missions and that editor are well worth the money. That and the new weapons (those are new weapons right? haven't played the freeware version in a while).