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Hi im interested in buying a copy of Advanced tactics but have some questions to ask before buying.

1.Are there any demos out so i can try before i buy a copy of AT ?

2.Are there any inn game movies of Advanced tactics in action available anywhere so i can see just how long the turns can take in real time ?

3.Is the learning curve quite a high one on AT?

4.How big is the online side of AT ?



thanks

ORIGINAL: rome87

Hi im interested in buying a copy of Advanced tactics but have some questions to ask before buying.

1.Are there any demos out so i can try before i buy a copy of AT ?

2.Are there any inn game movies of Advanced tactics in action available anywhere so i can see just how long the turns can take in real time ?

3.Is the learning curve quite a high one on AT?

4.How big is the online side of AT ?

thanks

1. No demos. But there is People's Tactics which came first. It's free and shows some of the stuff in AT. But there's way more to AT.

2. Game turns take as long as you want. This is a turn based game, not real time. On really large scenario's the AI calculations are quite long so it can take the AI a long time to do it's turn. Depends on your machine as well....

3. The learning curve is not high at all. It's quite easy to dive right in and play. But there's a lot of depth to the game that can take some time to master. I still don't have it all down pat.[;)]

4. There is no real time "online" play only Play-By-E-Mail, PBEM. There are lots of players here that play quite regular. I've got about 5 games on the go now.

Join the fun. You shouldn't regret it.[8D]

Say if i played against max number of ai's what turn time could i expect on a top system, quadcore@ 3.10ghz with 4 gigs ram and latest grapics card ?

Is the game engine multithread able ?

Whats the max number of turns  in a average campaign ?

What are the main resorces in the game ?

ORIGINAL: rome87

Say if i played against max number of ai's what turn time could i expect on a top system, quadcore@ 3.10ghz with 4 gigs ram and latest grapics card ?

Is the game engine multithread able ?

Whats the max number of turns  in a average campaign ?

What are the main resorces in the game ?

1. On a large random map, 100x100 hexes, with 9 AI's and you by the middle of the game you may have to wait about 10 minutes for all the AI's to finish their moves and your turn to come up.

2. Not multi-threadable (is that a word [&:][:D])

3. The large World at War scenario has monthly turns giving about 60 turns. The Great Patriotic War scenario has weekly turns giving about 200 turns. Large random games are probably somewhere in between these two. Some scenarios have no turn limit...

4. Resources in the game?....If you mean like Oil, Metals and such, there are none in the default game, except Supplies. Some people have been toying with the idea of adding these. WaW scenario has manpower as a resource. The editor is powerful enough that just about anything could be added.

Hope that helps.[8D]

ORIGINAL: rome87

Hi im interested in buying a copy of Advanced tactics but have some questions to ask before buying.

1.Are there any demos out so i can try before i buy a copy of AT ?

If you go to this site http://www.peoplestactics.com/, you can download the predecessor to AT. AT is much improved over this though - so I wouldn't judge it negatively based on this ie, if you like PT, then you'll love AT, but if you don't like PT, you still might enjoy AT. If that makes sense.

2.Are there any inn game movies of Advanced tactics in action available anywhere so i can see just how long the turns can take in real time ?

I think best way to judge is by looking at some of the AAR's there are a number of them posted in in AAR section.

3.Is the learning curve quite a high one on AT?

AT is kinda nice in that you can really dive in and get pretty deep into details with the game, or you can play it as a "beer and pretzels" game. SOme scenarios dont require you to manage production at all - and these can be pretty simple and fast to play, in some other scenarios, their are tons of units to manage, with HQ's and logistics to manage and these can take quite a while to sort through your turns.

4.How big is the online side of AT ?

This forum seems to be moderately active, and there are some deddicated long time players here - I'm a little surprised that there hasn't been more attention on some of the other boards. The game editor in AT is execellent, perhaps one of the best I've seen.
You can check out the commuinty site at http://www.advancedtactics.org/, and check out the scenario bank to see lots of scenarios contributed by users.

This is a turn based, operational - strategic game system - I'd encourage you to check out some AARS. I think it's one of best new games of this type to be released in quite a long time.

Rick

Thx rick and barthheart for answering my questions,

Does anyone know if there are any ingame movies of AT anywhere because theres none on AT main site been looking for ages and have not found anything anywhere would be good to see the game in action before buying it ?
 

Not any that I am aware of. But personally I read some of the AAR's, they give you a good sense of the scale of the game. The AAR's were so compelling and immersive that I had to buy this game. Haven't regretted it.

I think the AAR's are reflecting the game better than an in-game movie. It's kind of boring to see the mouse pointer move across the screen if you know what I mean.... Seriously, check the AAR's, it's the best way to get a feeling for what the game is about. Then check out the modding forum, as you get a feeling for what the editor can do and what's in the pipeline for the future.

Widell is right on point when he say that it's kind of boring to look at a mouse pointer choosing some options. Movies are good to show some action in a game. AT is not an action game, but a reflexion one, IMHO. And it's a great game! With so much depth.
 
By the way, if you ever choose to buy it, there's no problem finding some PBEM opponents. And the AI's very challenging.
 
So, have fun!

Are the turn times anybetter in AT than in PT ?

There's no getting around the turn times.
 
But the gameplay is there in spades, and there is a nice variety of user made scenarios, besides all the scenarios that come with the game.
 
Plus all the tools to make a great custom scenario come with the game. You don't need to be an artist or a paint shop pro genius, although some user made scenarios do include custom map graphics.
 
**Please take special note of the screen shots with the photos of the units on the main map screen. One of the absolute coolest features of AT are actually these photos that add a very atmospheric feel to the game.
 
And the beauty is that these photos can be replaced with other photos when making a custom scenario. Some of the existing user-made scenarios have unique, custom photos that the designers have sourced out and put into their custom scenarios.
 
So you don't need to be an artist to make a scenario with custom graphics.
 
Of all the hex based games I own, if I could keep just one, I would keep Advanced Tactics. It's a no brainer.
 
If you are wanting the overall best hex based strategy game, Advanced Tactics is the one. Otherwise, if you're considering other types of strategy games, then you might have a decision to make.

ORIGINAL: Barthheart

2. Not multi-threadable (is that a word [&:][:D])

Multithreaded is the word. There's no way for a user to multithread a program, but the programmer may have done it already. (That's apparently not the case with AT, though.)

4. Resources in the game?....If you mean like Oil, Metals and such, there are none in the default game, except Supplies. Some people have been toying with the idea of adding these. WaW scenario has manpower as a resource. The editor is powerful enough that just about anything could be added.

There's political points (for research and the creation of new units) and production points (to buy new supplies and build new troops) too.

Found this to be an excellent AAR tm.asp?m=1619142&mpage=2&key=&#1622992