Strategy Guide - Reviews only please

[Arjuna]

Yes your friendly units can take advantage of enemy trenches. Now before I hear any comments about why should they be able to and what about the facing etc, I'll remind everyone that this is an operational level game and a hole in the ground in a less than optimum location is infinitismally better than no hole to hide in when the enemy arty falls on top of you. [;)]

[Mr.Frag]

better than no hole to hide in when the enemy arty falls on top of you.

Not to debate the point, but if it falls on top of you, does it not just make the hole deeper? [:D]

[Arjuna]

Mr Frag,

It's comforting to know that we pedants are not a dying breed, unless of course you're an old fellow like me. [;)]

[Golf33]

Re: shelling and the landscape, by WWII the standard fuze was Direct Action (which has developed into the modern "Superquick" or "Point Detonating" fuze). This fuze functioned pretty much instantaneously on contact with any reasonably solid object (like the ground, unless extremely boggy) which improves fragmentation and greatly reduces cratering. There were also Graze fuzes which effectively produced a delayed action (i.e. the shell would bury itself in the ground before exploding), these would produce cratering but would only normally be used on troops dug in with overhead protection (i.e. Entrenched in game terms). For troops in slit trenches you would use Time/Graze ammunition which functions above the ground and has a secondary Graze effect in case it doesn't burst before impact. By the end of 1944 the VT ("Variable Time", a radar-controlled proximity fuze originally designed for AA fire) fuze was becoming available and made airburst engagements greatly more effective, as the height of burst didn't need to be adjusted and the shells would burst reliably at the optimum height for fragmentation on the ground (about 7-12m). These shells would cause no cratering at all.

I've been surprised looking at the target area after a modern 155mm HEPD bombardment by just how little cratering there was. The deepest impact hole was probably no more than 30cm deep, admittedly this was on quite hard ground (Mt Bundy Training Area, anyone? What a ****-hole of a place) but it gives you an idea of how the shell functions before it actually enters the ground.

On boggy, soft ground DA fuzes will give more blinds and/or a delayed-action effect, but then if the ground is already that soft at this game scale the effects are still unlikely to be significant. Pretty much ditto for heavy bombardments of urban areas - artillery tends not to reduce them to rubble except in prolonged and very heavy bombardment and in these cases you would see the area become harder to move through. However it doesn't produce the sort of instant devastation you get from strategic bombing a la Caen in 1944. In terms of protection for defenders, heavy rubble tends to be just as good as standing buildings, so little or no effect there.

Regards
33

P.S. this thread was meant to be for reviews only, so perhaps we should shift any further discussion to another thread and leave this one for its original purpose?

[Real and Simulated Wars]

Sorry for interrupting the thread ...
The strategy guide is excellent! A top quality product.
Despite I have not played HTTR since the last 3 months (have been busy with other stuff) I keep my HTTR right in the hard drive, waiting to be mastered. Is like one of those Argentinean wines you stash and wait for the right time to enjoy. Soon, my friend, soon...
Now back to the scheduled programming.

[elmo3]

Downloaded the strat guide recently. I've read the first 50 or so pages. Just wanted to add my congrats to everyone involved. Very well organized, and well written.

Edit - Buy it if you haven't because your opponent probably did! [:D]

[Cage]

I got the strategy guide before the game (it's the most expensive review I have ever read) , it's a great insight to the scope of the game and very well put together. It sold me the game.

All I would say for a real hardened wargamer is you might want to skip the tactic sections and learn at your cost how to command. If you are like me you'll enjoy a few enforced setbacks before you start to steamroller the AI.

Cage.

[Rooster]

I got the guide at the beginning of August, about three weeks after owning the game. I'm like Cage - I haven't read the "how to" stuff because I like the game to be challenging, and want the AI to have the advantage for a while. I really like the guide so far for explaining the command structures and the historic battles. I recommend it!

[BAL]

Is the strategy guide only available in digital download or is it also available on CD?

[JVSFugitive]

Digital download only.

[stonedown]

I've played Harpoon 2 and Korsun Pocket. I find the HTTR strategy guide to be an outstanding introduction to wargaming for someone like me who has big holes in their understanding of military forces and their capabilities. Wonderful job and an excellent value. I started out skimming certain sections, and then I was so interested that I started over at the beginning, and I'm reading page by page. I can't wait to read about the actual history of the Market Garden campaign.

I can only imagine all the work which went into the production of this guide. It's well organized, and the writing is clear. There's a great deal of insight presented regarding both the actual battles as well as the game itself, and how it handles things.

[SlapBone]

I bought the guide yesterday, but mostly for the history part, or as I should say now, the author's "take" on history. The author actually shares some of my personal views but the fact that he actually said what he was thinking was a little surprising.

Some critical analysis of:

1. The British command structure
2. Montgomery himself
3. The entire command philosophy of the Germans versus the Allies.
4. The RAF's lack of involvment.
5. Monty's treatment of the Poles (I actually didn't know anything about this)

I won't ruin it for anyone, but it is a pretty interesting read.