Matrix Games Forums

For players who have not played TOAW 3, discussions on this forum can be somewhat confusing. For example, calling the AI the programmed opponent (PO) when it is managing one's own units was really confusing to me before I bought TOAW IV (and I have played TOAW III, though not for some years).

The streams can be useful, but their titles say nothing at all about what is being covered (for example which battles), so one has to watch hours-long streams to see if they contain what one needs to decide whether to buy the game.

There are only a few AARs, but they are geared mostly towards experienced players. Youtube movies are useful, but again are mostly above the heads of newbies who are considering buying the game.

Contrary to TOAW 3, which I found too frustrating for me due to the time management business, this game is quite playable for newbies who are not grognards, so I think a few more AARs dedicated to potential new customers could help to sell the game.

Warspite1 is doing an excellent AAR for newbies. He is a newbie himself.

Another suggestion:

I noticed that a lot of the documentation for the game, be it the manual, additional info in the "What's New" Doc, tutorials and also some of the additional info material here on the forum, though it is nicely done, often tends to present its information "in relation" to TOAW III or other previous versions.

It would really help us new players (or in my case, someone who never managed to "get" TOAW III) if you assume that none of us has ever played a TOAW game before.

We generally don't care about how stuff worked back in previous versions, or that the new turn order, new flanking rules, new supply rules or other stuff like that work different from older rules in previous versions, which we don't know about or never understood back then.

Just start from a clean slate with TOAW IV, trying to present information and rules as it is right now in TOAW IV, not "compared to TOAW III", and new players will find it much easier to jump in and stay with you guys for the next decade. [:)]

That's well said by Zeitgeist, I am in the same boat about TOAW III relevance. It is NOT helpful to refer to graphics, AI, scenarios, strategies and so on for TOAIII. I'm sure it's interesting for some people (perhaps many), but let's face it, people who already played III are not likely to need as much help as pure noobs on IV.