Subject: TAO2 Impressions and Comments (longish) From: Mike Zeares I have played all but the 64-turn scenario, most from both sides. Here's what I think so far: Extended movement is a winner. I've posted some specifics on the "Wacht am Rhein" discussion board (thread titled "Unit Citations"), but to sum up, it has enabled me to more closely recreate the historical battle from the Allied side(at least in the north), and has enabled me to win the "Race to the Meuse" scenario without giving myself all the bonuses. The bullets are also a nice addition. I no longer have to reach for the Pepto-Bismol when an armor unit gets out of supply. In fact, in some of the shorter scenarios I've gotten Peiper into Liege while out of supply, and have let cut-off armor units run around causing mischief instead of desperately trying to rescue them. I wouldn't do that in a longer game, but it's fun to see just how much mayhem Peiper can cause. I have seen first-hand how supply is now affected by air interdiction. It ain't pretty. :-) I'm looking forward to Roger's next tweak where we'll be able to see the supply radius for the trucks. I've always wanted that. The new map is gorgeous. The open areas look like snow, and the shadows let you see the lay of the land. I kind of preferred the blue rivers, just because they were easier to see, but a kind of muddy gray is certainly more realistic. I like the new city labels too. Pop-up labels for the rivers would be the only thing I would ask for, or I could just invest in a good atlas. The changes to the unit icons are helpful, especially the U.S. armored divs. The AI seems to do a better job of keeping divisional integrity. It still handles the Americans better than the Germans, for some reason, although it actually gets its armored reinforcements up to the front now, instead of letting them wander about aimlessly in the interior. But it still doesn't send them where they might do the most good. It's also prone to not only leaving units "in the bag" until it's too late, but will send more units in to get trapped. Which is downright helpful if you're playing the Allies. The AI does continue to show a remarkable knack for putting the American reinforcements in the perfect spot, and for making multiple attacks on the same unit in one turn, something I've yet to get the hang of. The British continue to be worse than useless in the AI's hands. I never let the AI handle them. I've always used them to screen the gap between the northern and southern American forces, but when I tried this in the new version they ran into major supply problems around Laroche, so I pulled them back. A change in their supply rules to keep them close to the Meuse? Or just a fluke? I have a question for Roger. In Chris' post where he listed the improvements, he mentioned that Allied units would now be able to move and blow bridges and stuff on the first turn. However, that doesn't seem to be the case. The same units are unable to move, and engineers don't seem to be able to blow bridges until Turn 3, which is too late for me in some cases. I could live with them not doing anything on Turn 1, but I really need to blow bridges on Turn 2. Or would that make it too easy to stop the Germans, particularly the 116th Panzer? Verdict: This was already the best computer wargame I've ever played. Now it's better. Thanks, Roger and Ian. -- Mike Zeares Subject: Re: TAO2 Impressions and Comments (longish) From: rogerk@ssg.com.au (Roger Keating) Mike, First of all, thank you for the comprehensive article on TAO. I hope that the current changes will meet with your approval. I playtested the unrestricted Allied option with Steve Ford and found that the Axis player was heavily penalised. We restored the restrictions although Allied units are now activated at 4 hexes from any Axis unit which helps the Allied units get away. We have also now implemented, in Version 2.1.0, the following rule. any non-armor divisional unit can spend its combat capability in creating a strong point. This makes a controlled retreat a great deal safer and allows a defender that is stretched to plug those annoying holes in the line. With extended movement these have become a bit of a problem. To deal with the greater number of Strong Points in the game the rules governing combat have changed slightly. Now the defender sums Strong Points and units seperately and then takes the highest value. Strong Points can now only aid the defense of a weak unit. The British are not handled that well but they don't play a major role in this battle and I am using TAO as a test bed for other possible battles. I would rather spend my time experimenting than getting this battle perfect. The idea is to eventually do a battle editor for all those frustrated war gamers out there (this includes me). I have changed the retreat rules following a suggestion from the newsgroups and will look at any request that doesn't take to much of my time to implement. I would like the TAO system to continue to develop. I am currently testing the next version and the replay feature seems to work about 95% of the time. It should be ready at the end of next month. Roger Keating Mike Zeares wrote: >I have a question for Roger. In Chris' post where he listed the improvements, >he mentioned that Allied units would now be able to move and blow bridges and >stuff on the first turn. However, that doesn't seem to be the case. The same >units are unable to move, and engineers don't seem to be able to blow bridges >until Turn 3, which is too late for me in some cases. I could live with them >not doing anything on Turn 1, but I really need to blow bridges on Turn 2. Or >would that make it too easy to stop the Germans, particularly the 116th Panzer? > >Verdict: This was already the best computer wargame I've ever played. Now it's >better. Thanks, Roger and Ian. > >-- Mike Zeares >