Matrix Games Forums

Hallo together

like i said in another thread, i am just playing TAO2, und I must say: THANKYOU SSG, to give such a great and verry well documented game for free!

KP is just orderd by my german dealer, but here in germay we will get the game in about 2 weeks.

I only have 2 little questions:

1) Sound:
In KP, are there also sounds for the units, if I move them? Like in WF or EF? (I mean Sounds from motors, steps of my infantry ...)

2) Profi-Tips Wanted *g*: How to deal with the complexity?
In some scenarios there are so many units on the screen and so many different fights. The divisional icon-style helps a lot, but yesterday i lost my overview completly. What can I do, to kep the overview?

Greetings
Rolfor

Rolfor wrote:Hallo together

like i said in another thread, i am just playing TAO2, und I must say: THANKYOU SSG, to give such a great and verry well documented game for free!

KP is just orderd by my german dealer, but here in germay we will get the game in about 2 weeks.

I only have 2 little questions:

1) Sound:
In KP, are there also sounds for the units, if I move them? Like in WF or EF? (I mean Sounds from motors, steps of my infantry ...)

2) Profi-Tips Wanted *g*: How to deal with the complexity?
In some scenarios there are so many units on the screen and so many different fights. The divisional icon-style helps a lot, but yesterday i lost my overview completly. What can I do, to kep the overview?

Greetings
Rolfor

1. Yes there is sound of units marching , general comabat etc, althought until patch there is a bug that means some people dont hear background music(certainly no loss to me)

2. Complexity, well easy game to learn , hard to master about describes it.

Not exactly sure what you mean by second part , but in KP overview is always up and because you havea replay facility which can be paused you have no worries about missing any combats.

hope this helps, you should'nt be dissapointed.

Rolfor wrote: , but yesterday i lost my overview completly. What can I do, to kep the overview?

Not sure if you are speaking literally or metaphorically here Rolfor so I can only suggest to try changes the settings on the strategic screen via the option menu or lay off the booze

Brubaker

Hi Pawlock, Hi Brubaker

thx for your answers. Music is not so important for me. The background-sounds (units marching, general comabat ...) i like to hear.

My second question means (sorry *g* my english ist not the best):

- in some scenarios there are so many units on the screen and
- there are so many different places to fight
- The map ist very big and there are many streets, villages und rivers.
- And on all of this places I make strategic and tactiacl decisions
- Plan, what do I here, what will I do there
- On a big map I mean, you have 10 to 20 different fight-areas.
- And for every of this small areas you often have a different tactic.
- And in the next turn you must check ALL this places again.
- But if you have not a verry good memory, - like me - than you sitting there and think to your self "Oh boy, what are my plans for this area, what want I do there ???."
- The mass of icons, informations, fights, areas, places confuses me.
- sometimes - not in a small scenario - I only see icons, icons, icons. Like a ocean of icons
- If I could make notes and sketches on the screen (*hehe*), like with a painting programm, and you can switsch this overlay with one key on and off, then that was no problem.

- So, what i do? I try to make sketches on paper, make notes and so on. But this does not help a lot to reduce my "ocean of icons". I began to think in divisions, that helps a bit. But not verry much.

So my question again:
You are the profis *g*.
How do YOU manage the mass of icons? How do you keep the "great picture" AND the lot of small pictures for the individual fightig areas in your mind?

Thanks for reading and
greetings

Rolfor

Heheh Rolfor, essentially you are asking "how do I become a good player of wargames?". The best way is to play small scenarios first that deal with localized actions. The objectives and number of combats are limited, so there's less to keep track of, mentally and on the map. You also learn what are the best options in that sector. Then play other scenarios of other sectors that focus on the immediate objectives there. Gradually increase your play as you master the smaller scenarios to where you can play the larger scenarios and finally the entire campaign.

If TAO/KP were a board wargame, it would be a "monster game". New players generally aren't prepared for that degree of challenge and effort. What you do in that case is go through your entire army (in whatever fashion works best for you: Unit by unit, north to south, most important area to least important, or a combination of all) and be sure that your moves and combats are complete. Of course, you still make mistakes and perhaps use a unit or two that you wish you had saved for another combat elsewhere, but then that is the essence of being "good" at such a game.

You'll find that as your familiarity with the situation and game system increases, you learn how to manage larger numbers of units and what their immediate objectives should be. At that point, forming a coherent plan in your mind for your overall strategy will become the big challenge.

Some excellent tips Capitaine

Rolfor I understand your difficultly in seeing the big picture. It is true that there are many many units to comprehend in a scenario. What C says is ture - start with the smallest scenario you can and buiold up to the bigger ones. The smallest would be the western scenario and probably played as German. I say that because there are pretty much 3 areas of concern to focus on - the south, the north, and the russian pocket.

Personally when I open a game turn I go immediately to the sector that I have been thinking of in my sleep :rolleyes: I ussually have figured out a dozen ways to approach a problem but of course none fit the ever changing situation

After I have studied my area of interest, I tend to go the 'hot spots' and have a look at them, before deciding on a plan of action overall.

You have said that focussing on a division has helped a bit. This is a good plan even though the game is probably slightly beyond individual division scale, especially as the russian.

I would recommend the following. In any given game, you will no doubt have an idea of what you would like to achieve. Lets call this the overall plan. When you approach a turn, first look at what the opposition has done in his/her last turn. Has he/she caused a crisis? Has anything happenned that may cause a drastic change in your plan? No? Then next I would head toward where your mind and thoughts have been dwelling the last 24 hours (whoops I'm a grognard :p ).

Instead of focussing on a division, focus on the combat advisor and a single combat. Think about where you want to end up at the end of the next turn, what you have to destroy/move/capture to achieve this goal. Using the combat advisor, see what units will be necessary to achieve that task, where that will leave your force at the end, what units you have to follow up.

The advisor is the key. Looking at each possible battle and the units involved to conduct these battles, your mind will soon start to 'paint' the picture of battle for you.

Hope this has helped.

regards

BrubakerII wrote:Some excellent tips Capitaine


Instead of focussing on a division, focus on the combat advisor and a single combat. Think about where you want to end up at the end of the next turn, what you have to destroy/move/capture to achieve this goal. Using the combat advisor, see what units will be necessary to achieve that task, where that will leave your force at the end, what units you have to follow up.

Cant emphasize this point enough, the CA is an awesome tool, BUT beware when moving units to get the required odds it indicates can then leave your units stranded if they have not enough op points to get back outta there, especially if you havent achieved an overrun.

It also, completely recalculates after any moves or actions so make sure that that other juicy target you may have seen is now as juicy?

Capitaine wrote:If TAO/KP were a board wargame, it would be a "monster game". New players generally aren't prepared for that degree of challenge and effort.

Capitaine nice tips although I'd disagree with you on this. At regimental level I'd rate these games as medium denisty. I'm not a monster player but can easily manage the two fronts of Korsun Pocket and in fact find just playing one of the fronts too little to concentrate on.

I just don't want folks to be put off by the term "monster". These games have very manageable force loads imo and at 3km per hex the maps are easy to grasp too.

Rolfor you can create and print a screen dump of the map - such a thing will be easy to manipulate on screen with a paint program too. What you'll greatly benefit from though, may be a general campaign map - most people can visualise the Ardennes - St Vith, Bastogne, Stavelot in relation to each other. The vicinity of Korsun is another matter. So try to find a historical map showing Korsun Airfield, Shpola, Zvenigorodka and Lisyanka for example, to orient yourself. That should help you become comfortable in managing your divisions there. Then have a go at the "Battle History" contained with the game to see where forces were aiming for and why.

I thought from a previous thread you already owned the game btw?

Adam.

Hello

many thanks to for your tipps.
Now I have some nice ideas to trie out.
And I think I know, how to organise my
gameplay to get the "great picture".

I will start with the small scenarios, like you said.
And then expand my gamestile step by step ...

Bad news just arrived from my german gamedealer:
German KP release is shifted to October, the 17th.

Therefore I have to wait try out things like CA.
But it doesn't matter. I will learn with TAO2.

>>>>>Heheh Rolfor, essentially you are asking "how do I become a good player of wargames?" <<<<<<

*g* thats right. But I play games like CM2, TacOps4 or Airborne-Assault. But there I have no "orientation-problems". For example: CM2 shows me everytimes in one picture (!) the whole situation. Just zoom out and switch on "show all path".

Greetings
Rolfor