Free WW2 Tactical game....

[MKSheppard]

http://www.wargamer.com/spcammo/default.asp

50 MB download, plus the 5.5 patch which is 8 MB, = one hell
of a game for free, certainly better than the Matrix Games
400+ MB monstrosity.

Only problem is, this is a DOS game, so you XP users are
screwed.


Some late war German kit is provided for 'what if' games - note the
Maus and helicopter.

(also, Panther F and Panther II are included, as well as Panther Uhu)


Also, the editor used to create it is included.

[Stravo]

Looks like its based on the Steel Panthers engine from a while back. I hear that the engine is EXTREMELY flexible and perfect for wargaming. I really like the what if scenario idea (German Helos)....Hmm...may give it a whirl.

[MKSheppard]

Looks like its based on the Steel Panthers engine from a while back. I hear that the engine is EXTREMELY flexible and perfect for wargaming. I really like the what if scenario idea (German Helos)....Hmm...may give it a whirl.

It IS the Steel Panthers Engine. SSI released the Source Code back
in 1999, so there have been a LOT of improvements in the code
since then.

[Robert Treder]

Sweetness; I'm all over it. Thanks for the heads up.

As far as WWII FPSs go, whatcha think of Day of Defeat? Might not be the ultimate in accuracy, but it wipes the floor with all other WWII FPSs. Don't give me any of this Medal of Honor crap.

[Mr Bean]

Love DoD play it at least once a week but the team has been pretty slow about implenting new things and balancing is STILL a little off towards Axis oh yes and FOR BOB SAKE FIRE THIER MAP DESINGERS!
The new Para map Glider is a good one but most of the old maps have serious problems,Overlord, The Allied Snipers dream, Eight places on the beach you can get stuck and not be able to get out, Caen2, the CLASSIC Example of not thinking when you made a map, Allied to Axis roots are nice and clear, Axis to Allied are filled with broken electical cords that kill you unless you craw under them, Fire that has no clear idea where it is, I've walked by it and died and I've stould in it and jumped up and down and not die(1 Person Server Hosted by me so its not lag.) There are count them EIGHTEEN spots to get stuck on the MAIN path, count the backrouts and the buildings and you swell to over fifty one. dod_Heatu has a nice building where if you get a Machine gun there Allieds can't fail to win because you can pin the axis into the shooting gallery of thier spawn

The main problem with that game countiues to be the plain unpredictable Gerande Physiscs and the terrible map design which while the maps are fun to die to problems with the map(Like a spot you can fall through) are extremely annoying, And serious people is it so hard to design a spawn where everyone does NOT spawn next to each other where one Axis gernade can't kill them all, I have gotten sixteen kills of a single gernade its that bad on some maps.

A good game if they get some better map desginers...

[Robert Treder]

Love DoD play it at least once a week but the team has been pretty slow about implenting new things and balancing is STILL a little off towards Axis oh yes and FOR BOB SAKE FIRE THIER MAP DESINGERS!
The new Para map Glider is a good one but most of the old maps have serious problems,Overlord, The Allied Snipers dream, Eight places on the beach you can get stuck and not be able to get out, Caen2, the CLASSIC Example of not thinking when you made a map, Allied to Axis roots are nice and clear, Axis to Allied are filled with broken electical cords that kill you unless you craw under them, Fire that has no clear idea where it is, I've walked by it and died and I've stould in it and jumped up and down and not die(1 Person Server Hosted by me so its not lag.) There are count them EIGHTEEN spots to get stuck on the MAIN path, count the backrouts and the buildings and you swell to over fifty one. dod_Heatu has a nice building where if you get a Machine gun there Allieds can't fail to win because you can pin the axis into the shooting gallery of thier spawn

The main problem with that game countiues to be the plain unpredictable Gerande Physiscs and the terrible map design which while the maps are fun to die to problems with the map(Like a spot you can fall through) are extremely annoying, And serious people is it so hard to design a spawn where everyone does NOT spawn next to each other where one Axis gernade can't kill them all, I have gotten sixteen kills of a single gernade its that bad on some maps.

A good game if they get some better map desginers...

I guess it is a little bit weighted towards the Axis, but that makes sense...the game is based on squad vs. squad combat, and the Axis weapons were simply better. There's been talk of lowering the amount of backup ammo the Axis carries to reflect dwindling industrial capacity, but I don't think that'll change much. Besides, the BAR is still whoreable, so that gives the Allies a bit of an advantage

Yeah, some of the maps suck. Especially dod_zafod. That is the worst map of any game ever. I swear, it's like playing TFC with DoD weapons. TFC is cool, mind you...but only when played with TFC weapons! Aside from that, it doesn't make any sense. There's a huge area in the Axis spawn that doesn't need to be there because the Allies can't even get there, there's a stupid square concrete lake in the middle, etc. etc.

Best bet is to steer clear of beach maps because no matter how well designed, they're not going to be fun...they'll either be kill-fests or they won't be realistic enough.
And your complaints about Caen are odd...I've never heard anybody complain about getting stuck...I've only ever gotten stuck in Caen like once or twice, in the rubble at the end of the fire alley. But that's not a problem, because there's no reason to climb on it. Since you seem to know all the sticky spots, just don't go to them.
And I know the spot on Heutau you're talking about. It can be tricky, but if you're a good shot with the K98 you can take out the Allied .30 cal. Have some teammates distract him if you need it, and then pop out and pick him off. With teamwork, any position can be overcome.
Besides, at the other end there's a building overlooking the Heutauerstrasse that balances it for the Axis; if you're good with a High Turret or an MG42, you can pin the Allies down for a long damn time, long enough for your teammates to push through and advance on the last capture point.

And for me, dod_avalanche makes up for any shortcomings of any other map. It's beautiful, especially with the new para weapons.

[Doomriser]

Is this RTS or turn-based?

[Grand Admiral Thrawn]

I'm downloading.



Looks RTS

[TrailerParkJawa]

The full version of Steel Panthers World at War is also available at www.matrixgames.com

[MKSheppard]

I'm downloading.



Looks RTS

I'll wash your mouth out with soap for uttering that.

Steel Panthers has been, and always will be, turn based!

[MKSheppard]

The full version of Steel Panthers World at War is also available at www.matrixgames.com

I don't like that, the icons are too tiny, I prefer the "old" look of SP CAMO's
projects, giving you a sort of "table top minatures" feel.

Plus the World At War download is 400+ MB because of the video files
included. SPCAMO doesn't include video, so what you get for 50+ MB
is the same game that WaW is, but much smaller and faster....

PS - World At War is critically flawed, in that you see every goddamn
tank MG fire....over and over......and over again....

With SP CAMO, it uses the old SP2 engine but modded, so you can have
lightning fast turn play-outs, the way I like it.

The SPCAMO engine is a bit odd though. It runs fine on my Win ME comp,
but absolutely hates my older Win98SE comp...

[TrailerParkJawa]

I'll check out the one you list when I get DSL. I bought a condo and cant afford it anymore like I could when I was living at home.

Have you played any of Matrix's games? I got Uncommon Valor and while the interface is a bit clunky, the game is enjoyable.

[Doomriser]

50 MB is a large download commitment for me so I gotta know:

1. Do the vehicles have a decent amount of animation or are we watching cardboard South Park figures move across the screen?

2. Can I blast away at stuff with a few clicks of the mouse or am I going to be crunching numbers all turns

[MKSheppard]

50 MB is a large download commitment for me so I gotta know:

1. Do the vehicles have a decent amount of animation or are we watching cardboard South Park figures move across the screen?

2. Can I blast away at stuff with a few clicks of the mouse or am I going to be crunching numbers all turns

1. I usually turn off animation, to speed up gameplay. I don't want to
waste 5 minutes of my life seeing every goddamn coaxial MG in
my tank force fire (which happens all the time in World At War)

When the animation is turned on, it's adequate for this type of game.
Nothing fancy, or flashy, but gets the job done.

(I usually turn on the animation when I have a large Time on Target
arty barriage coming up....HEHEHEHEHEAHAHAHAH)

2. Oh yes, you can blast away easily.....here's how you do it.

CLIK ON YOUR JAGDTIGER.

Push the T button on keyboard, bringin up a view of the available
targets that are in yer JAGDTIGER's LOS, and their ranges (you can
chose between metres and yards), and the percentage for hits)

Once you've decided on a target, you push the F button, and your
unit fires. And you'll see an animation if you have the animation
turned on.

Nothing like destroying an entire T-34/85 platoon with a single King
Tiger.....


EDIT: The one problem that happens, is that you buy too many
units, and end up with "unit overload" and end up taking 30
minutes just to set up your forces the way you want to even
before the scenario begins.

EDIT II: And make sure you have a DOS 6.22 Computer
around to install this on, the game is finnicky. It runs fine
on my Win ME comp, but doesn't like my older Win98SE comp
and it won't run on XP, because XP has no DOS support, and this
is a DOS program

[MKSheppard]

Have you played any of Matrix's games? I got Uncommon Valor and while the interface is a bit clunky, the game is enjoyable.

I used to own Uncommon Valor, and then my dumbass bro splattered
toothpaste onto the CD, staining it permanently, and destroying it's
ability to install. But it was a good game, and my copy was DOA before
a single patch came out

[phongn]

Any idea how this game will run in XP's DOS virtual machine?

[MKSheppard]

Any idea how this game will run in XP's DOS virtual machine?

No idea, but if you have the broadband connection, a 50 MB download isn't
that much of a hardship if it doesn't work out in the end.

[Doomriser]

I have XP. So far it has been able to run every DOS program I've thrown at it. But when I start up the game(patched/updated) it gives the "DOS4WG" or whatever loading message, and plays the sounds of machine gun fire, and the text changes colours, but then nothing else happens? What do you think the problem is?

[TrailerParkJawa]

Dos4gw if I remember right is some sort of memory extender. Without it many of the more advanced DOS games dont work.

http://www.minnemacs.com/manyhighways/sandbox/xp.html

http://www.cgonline.com/features/020226-f1-f1.html

I found the two above links. They discuss DOS games on XP. However, they dont talk about DOS4GW, sorry.

[phongn]

IIRC, using an extender such as DOS4GW might cause XP's DOSVM to puke.

[Doomriser]

Did you get it to work on your computer, Phong?

Has anyone with XP?

[Darik Sdair]

the 500+ meg "full" version on Matrixgames.com should work fine in any windows environment because its, uh, windows native.

The 50 meg "SPCamo" version is still dos-native.

[phongn]

I haven't downloaded it yet, but I may try it later. Hopefully I won't have to resort to something drastic like trying out VMWare.

[EmperorSolo51]

I have XP and I run World War and I can play it with no problems.

[MKSheppard]

the 500+ meg "full" version on Matrixgames.com should work fine in any windows environment because its, uh, windows native.

The 50 meg "SPCamo" version is still dos-native.

They are not the same GAMES!

They were done by two ENTIRELY DIFFERENT DESIGN TEAMS.

The SPCamo people made a choice not to include the WW2 newsreel
footage FMV with the game to limit it's size, while the Matrix Games team
decided to keep the video.