Back to the Front

[Menschenfresser]

Happy holidays.

It would seem I am back from a ten year absence from the Campaign series. Bought it yesterday with a little left over crimmus money.

Hopefully one day soon I'll be asking for a PBEM or two. Right now I'm testing my metal against a few remembered scens. After that one or two campaigns and then I'll be ready for real combat.

In the mean time I'm reading the wonderful manual and have come to a few questions. I'm sure they are answered elsewhere, but I'm posting anyway in order to give me a chance to introduce myself. Long time TOAW player, now on hiatus I need something new, or is it something renewed?

1) I can't recall if there's a combat result display. So far I can't find it, if it exists and as is I just have to guess if I've done any damage to the opposing units. Not that this is bad. I kind of like this FOW aspect. Many other games, such as TOAW, you have FOW until you attack, and then you can see every last bullet the enemy has.

2) What's extreme assault? I don't see it in the 'in game' help or in the manual. It's probably in an additional doc somewhere I haven't gotten to, but if someone could enlighten me in the mean time, I would appreciate it. Also, I think there's another advance option in the dialog menu not covered in the manual, but I can't recall what it is right now.

3) Are there any graphics mods for JTCS? I like Tiller's games, but I've never liked the (in my view) cluttered 3d graphics (this or PzC, etc). Is there something out there that cleans it up a bit? I guess if there was one it would be included in the revamped Matrix version, but it never hurts to ask. This game is less cluttered that some of the PzC games, but I played part of a Normandy scen last night and I find it so hard to see elevation changes with all the bocage, walls, etc.

4) I like to keep my save files in separate folders, but it seems I get an error on exiting if I've put it in another folder other than the default one. Is this correct? Also, I had flashbacks on the color scheme. If you don't exit the game properly, it will alter your windows color scheme. I remember that from the original.

5) I know well (although I'm not a regular visitor) of the blitz wargaming site. Are there any other JTCS sites I should know?

6) Lastly, back when I owned the Talonsoft version, I loved the LCGs. Are there others out there not included with the latest 1.04 patch?

Thanks in advance for the answers.

[junk2drive]

4) On XP, I right click the desktop, open display properties, change from (I can't remember which) either themes, like windows classic to xp and back or change colour from blue to silver or olive and back.

[Jason Petho]

ORIGINAL: Menschenfresser
1) I can't recall if there's a combat result display. So far I can't find it, if it exists and as is I just have to guess if I've done any damage to the opposing units. Not that this is bad. I kind of like this FOW aspect. Many other games, such as TOAW, you have FOW until you attack, and then you can see every last bullet the enemy has.

If you press M, you will display the main menu at the top of the map.

I believe it is under "OPTIONS --> DETAILS --> High details" (Can someone confirm, as I am at work?)

If you are playing with Extreme FOW then the amount of details will be limited.... "Unknown" will be prevelant in the display.

ORIGINAL: Menschenfresser
2) What's extreme assault? I don't see it in the 'in game' help or in the manual. It's probably in an additional doc somewhere I haven't gotten to, but if someone could enlighten me in the mean time, I would appreciate it. Also, I think there's another advance option in the dialog menu not covered in the manual, but I can't recall what it is right now.

I would recommend looking the the MANUALS folder and browse the ASSAULT_EXPLANATION.doc

ORIGINAL: Menschenfresser
3) Are there any graphics mods for JTCS?

Using Windows Explorer, you will find a folder called USER MODS. While not the specific graphic mods you are looking for, there may be mods of interest.

ORIGINAL: Menschenfresser
4) I like to keep my save files in separate folders, but it seems I get an error on exiting if I've put it in another folder other than the default one. Is this correct?

Unfortunately, the save files must be in the default location.

Jason Petho

[cw58]

Hi and welcome back.

I'll try and answer a few questions if I can.

1)For the combat result display, in-game click on 'Options' on the top menu. (If menu is not visible, press 'M' key). Find 'Details' and tick 'Medium Details'. For even more details, you can click on the button on the combat results pop-up.

2) Extreme assault is a feature that was added in V 1.3 (I think). It caused such an uproar among some people that it was made optional in V 1.4. I believe it makes it harder to successfully assault a position. It was definitely put in after the physical manual was made. I think it's probably discussed in the electronic manual.

3) I don't know of any graphics mods. If you don't like the 3-D graphics, have you tried the other views? Pressing keys 1-5 gives you the different views, 4 & 5 being 2-D views.

Hope that helps and Merry Christmas.

~Wade

Too slow, Jason always beats me to it. LOL

[Menschenfresser]

Also at work...if barely.
 
Thanks again for the answers guys! I knew there must be a combat display. I have tried the other displays and use the zoomed in 2d, which I like for planning. It's the same in PzC, I wish there was a more zoomed in 2d view. Something where the hexes were 50-100% larger.
 
I'm almost to the end of the manual and will move onto the aforementioned Assault doc.

[Jason Petho]

ORIGINAL: Menschenfresser

Also at work...if barely.

Thanks again for the answers guys! I knew there must be a combat display. I have tried the other displays and use the zoomed in 2d, which I like for planning. It's the same in PzC, I wish there was a more zoomed in 2d view. Something where the hexes were 50-100% larger.

Something one can do is reduce the screen resolution to something smaller. Thereby, the hexes and icons will appear bigger without the need to add a MOD. Of course, your play area is sacrificed due to the smaller screen size, but that may be a minor issue if you can see better.

ORIGINAL: Menschenfresser
I'm almost to the end of the manual and will move onto the aforementioned Assault doc.

I might recommend reading the other MCS documents within that folder as well and play the MCS BOOTCAMP scenarios.

Jason Petho

[Menschenfresser]

I've given everything the once over, played a few scenarios, and am now well into the Fallschirm Jaeger Campaign.

The first several missions in Holland went well. I didn't lose much and managed draws in the first two scenarios. The Crete mission really ate my lunch. I took the port (only to have the central victory hex stolen back from me in the last turn), but I burned up too much of my core force. Honestly, I don't think it was my approach; although when I play this one again I don't think I'll even try for the 50VP hex. I played it very safe and lost little to ground fire. After knocking back the outer defenses, I paused for a turn or two to let disrupted units catch up. That's when the opposing artillery hammered me. Over the second half of the scenario, enemy arty took a lot out of my units.

The scenario after Crete I successfully defended the bridge in Tunisia managing a minor victory and losing only 1 SP. I just finished the second Tunisia scenario and while I got a major victory, my 3. Battalion can't take much credit. They stalled deep in the olive grove but managed to clear out most of the hidden trenches. I kept things quiet until the last few turns when routed American tanks, fleeing south ran into my paras. Ugh.

I'm now in Sicily. Most of my units have 2-3 SPs. I think one or two have 5-6. I'm supposed to take a bridge, but I might go easy and play for a draw if it means limiting casualties. Which makes me think, it would be nice if between scenarios one could consolidate units, or move SPs between platoons.

Before the German para campaign, I tried the Blue and the Gray (I think that is its name). I got about 60% through scenario #1 (landing in Normandy) before forfeiting. I concentrated all my core force on the two walls at the middle of the map. Before quitting, I managed to break holes in both and get several platoons (if you could still call them that) near St Laurent. I didn't check, but my guess would be I lost well over 50% and there were still a lot of turns left. If I would have taken St. Laurent, I'm not sure I would have held it. Already German troops were falling back from the bunkers to reinforce the town. Not sure what I did wrong on this one. I do know I got several bad dice rolls on breaking the eastern wall. It took four attempts before I got it open. The other opened on the first try. In both cases, my engineers were instantly retreated from the holes and were unable to move up to clear the mines. "Sometimes you just have to say, 'WTF'," I told myself and sent everyone through the uncleared mine fields (honestly, it couldn't be worse than staying on the beaches).

Also, I'm not quite sure why the scenario gives you trucks. I didn't even bother landing them. Figured it would just be more points lost and more clutter on the beaches.