|
|
| # ? May 1, 2024 18:57 |
|
|
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_wI-w4qrpY It is fall of 1941. Hitler's Germany violated its non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union, and the German armies have been pouring over the vast and unprepared border since June.  Desperate to stall the German assault, the Red Army is running out of trained men. Those with education are fast-tracked to become officers, like the former students of the Rostov Technical Academy.   Rostov-on-the-Don, November 11th, 1941 With the Germans closing in, ranks of soldiers and officers are raised from within the city's population to repel the assault. Without much training, they are thrown into their first battle.  Baptism by Fire. November 11th, 1941. Yudino Settlement, Rostov Region.  Yudino, November 11th, 1941 Our unlikely heroes are marching out to battle. On the very day they finished their training, it would seem (if there was any).  poo poo, we've got company!  Ow ow ow ow. Ow. drat it.  Not much left after this air raid.  We've got a tank, but what poor luck! Its track is broken. Instead of getting to work, the crew hangs around bitching about it.  Our protagonists exchange some reassuring words.  Alexei Kuznetsov: Hey! Is there anyone alive here? What the hell is happening?  Viktor Smirnov: Quit yelling, Alex! You will summon the Germans. You are alive, and that is already good. Think of what we should do now instead.  Viktor Petrov: Guys, the Germans! Hide, quickly!  Our peasant conscript buddies start ineffectually shooting at the armoured car that has arrived. Currently, we do not control them, just our Lieutenants. The game helpfully tells you that the armoured car can't see everything. Let's take a look at what it actually can see.  Not that much. In fact, it has not spotted us at all! Under the cover of the tank wreck, we can move in to flank it. Stealth is an integral element of Men of War. Very often, you will be facing overwhelming odds, and will need to make the best of the situation.  Keeping out of the red zone, our protagonists flank the enemy. But the enemy has armour! If they stupidly fire upon it, the enemy will detect them, and it will be game over.  Thankfully, our officers come with two anti-tank grenades each. Aim...  And throw! The anti-tank grenades are heavy, and can only be thrown from close range. If your soldier can throw one without being gunned down, the effect will be devastating. The tank will either be destroyed completely, torched, or severely damaged. Always accompany your tanks with infantry to take care of anyone brave enough to throw one.  The men are happy! Two of them run off into the distance, and two decide to join us, a submachinegunner and a machinegunner. Good stuff, now we have  Once we go far enough, orders are delivered via a slideshow of maps. A disembodied voice instructs us to join up with the soldiers up ahead and see if anything useful can be salvaged from the column we saw strafed in the opening cutscene.  A superior officer! Maybe he can help us. There were a lot of green dots on the map! Viktor Semyenov: You got here, I see. You guys got beaten up bad. We are doing no better, we are holding here on a wing and a prayer. We are running out of ammo, and the Germans are pushing and pushing. Huh, I guess not. Can we have anything at all? As in, more than four guys?  Viktor Semyenov: I have direct orders to hold here, so your platoon will have to go alone. I can give you only a few men to help.  Viktor Semyenov: My guys are in the trenches. Take a few men, it will be hard by yourself. We can approach friendly units during several missions and take control of them directly. Careful! Once you reach a preset limit, you will not be able to take any more, so choose your men wisely. If any of them die, you will be able to go back and recruit more, if there is anywhere to go back to, of course.  Viktor Semyenov: Comrades! You will temporarily be commanded by Junior Lieutenant Kuznetsov! They are here to help us, so assist them however you can. I picked out a few guys with automatic weapons. Automatic weapons are great at close range combat. I did not take any rifles, as we will shortly get something awesome for long range work.  As soon as we group up, some Germans gun down a few soldiers close by. Objective added: destroy the German squad that has taken up position at the road. A machinegun is a deadly thing to run facefirst into! We will not be doing that.  Soldiers have cones of vision, just like vehicles. Let's flank this squad around the house.  Our men automatically get into position next to the house, if I point them at it. Their inventory is pooled in the bottom. You see we have 8 regular grenades and 13 anti-tank ones. Let's make good use of a pineapple. Once the Germans are thinned out, I send up my squad to gun down the remains.  Viktor Semyenov: You dealt with the machineguns well for a newbie, Junior Lieutenant. Very well. See what you can do with that tank, it looks like only the track is busted.  I send Kuznetsov to fix up the tank. Anyone can do it, as long as the tank or the person is carrying a repair kit. Some tank don't have one, so it's good to loot a blown up tank to see what you can find. You can also take out the tank's machinegun and carry it around as a weapon.  This isn't World of Tanks, so fixing it will take a minute or two. Let's take a look around. Our KV proudly says "Strike the fascist scum!" on the side. This is an inscription from a fairly famous photograph.  The game helpfully tells us that this is a KV-1E (Ekrannirovanniy, with extra armour) armed with DT-29 machineguns and an F-32 76 mm gun. These notes are not always correct, but can help you judge a vehicle's firepower at a glance.  Let's look around some more. What is this!? A destroyed T-34! It is, however, a T-34 model 1942, and we are still in 1941! Tut tut, 1C! This wreck model will show up many times before we can actually use tanks like these in combat. In this mission, the KV-1 is the only tank we can drive.  All fixed up, and there is a new mission! The Germans moved in and secured the only place where we can ford the river. They are moving in a supply column through the road behind the front lines.  We must clear them out from the village, move up to that hill, and intercept it. Our tank will be very useful, and any guns we can find along the way will make our job easier.  A tank cannot function without a crew! The original crewmen must have run away (I could not find them or their corpses), so we will have to do. Main characters and two peons go into the tank. The rest can walk.  We have a tank, and they don't! Let's move into the village. THE POWER! UNLIMITED POWER! My infantry is dead, but I AM INVINCIBLE!  MWAHAHAHAHA! NONE CAN STAND IN MY WAY! FEEL THE MIGHT OF KIROV FACTORY, FASCIST SCUM!  Vehicles have damage zones, and destroying a part of them will alert you with a large red message. That armoured car's hull is destroyed, so it's done for. At this point, I am making use of the game's direct control feature. You can manually drive the tank, aim the gun, choose the shell type, and fire. Handy in a few cases, really fun in all cases! Especially when you're in an invincible tank, mowing down an enemy village. Did I mention how I can't be damaged at all? This game is super easy!  poo poo! gently caress! WHAT? HOW? IMPOSSIBLE! Not as easy as it seems! Enemy infantry and AT guns hiding in the village can ruin your day with shells and grenades. You can see that only one of my men died, but it doesn't matter, keeping the tank alive is a primary objective, and I wouldn't be able to finish the mission with just infantry anyway.  Mission failed. The German forces moved closer to Rostov, sweeping aside everything in their path. A handful of recruits that survived the bombing could not withstand seasoned Wiking panzergrenadiers. Viktor Smirnov and Aleksei Kuznetsov died in their first battle. Every day of the war took thousands of lives, and hundreds of these days were to come. Enemy losses: 62 men, 4 vehicles. Allied losses: 8 men, 1 vehicle. Unacceptable! Let's try this again.  This time, I will use my tank as cover for my troops. Nothing can penetrate my thick armour here, so I can show my side and let the infantry hide behind the other.  Much more successful this time! I have directed the soldiers to capture this gun that immobilized me before and turn it at their enemy. Very often using enemy equipment is the only way to make the odds go up to "poor" all the way from "hopeless".  Meanwhile, my KV can be trusted to take out the German anti-tank guns on the other side of the village that are foolishly looking the other way. They do not have enough time to react before I load a high explosive shell and bombard their position.  The forces in the north of the village notice the chaos and come to see what's going on. I send my infantry to cover behind the buildings (the gray outline shows exactly how they are going to stand) and bring back my tank to deal with that armoured car.  It explodes spectacularly.  These two Germans decide that they have had enough and sneak away into the fog. As soon as they do, this village is mine.  New objective: Destroy the enemy at height 65 The cinematic shows off the enemy forces. A few men and a PzII tank. Even though it's a tank and not an armoured car like the ones we have been fighting earlier, it is no threat. Despite being higher in "rank", it is only a light tank, and is armed with the same automatic 20 mm cannon as the four-wheeled armoured car we saw. Its armour is thin enough to be penetrated by any cannon or anti-tank rifle (if we had one).  Ooh, a ZiS-3 76.2 mm divisional gun! I really want this gun, as it is a very powerful weapon, just like the one in our tank. Sadly, I cannot crew it. The only option the game gives me is to destroy it.  Thankfully, there are a few weaker weapons scattered around the village. Since each takes two men to push, I can only bring two. The game tells me that this is a Soviet 20-K 45 mm gun, but...it's really not.  There, this is what such a gun should look like. If you look at the gun my men are pushing, you can see that there is no resemblance. It does, however, still fire 45 mm shells, or something with equivalent power, so I am set.  The KV tank clears the way as my men push the guns. Guns move slowly, and are cumbersome to use. In order to move them, you must manually put them into transport position, move them into location, and then point in the direction you want to fire at. A gun can still fire with one crewman left, but cannot move.  I will set up my guns in the back (a thin armoured shield cannot do much to protect them from enemy tanks or grenades) and send the KV ahead. The bushes actually help keep the guns hidden, but not much. Putting the guns in the bushes closer to the road gets them spotted and destroyed quickly. A note on the guns: they are modelled really well. They eject a shell after they fire, and the shell will hiss as it falls into the water and rapidly cools off.  I get ridiculously cocky and send the KV tank up on the hill. The trucks driving by unload their troops and run off. This is not the German convoy just yet.  There it is, on the minimap. Sadly the grenadiers managed to jam my turret, so I had to retreat. An artillery loader turns into a repairman and fixes it while the Germans gather up the courage to go over that hill.  Right into my guns! Take that, fascist scum! Only weak armoured cars so far, even my light guns can turn them into smoking wrecks.  My turret gets jammed again, but in a much safer position. I send a guy to repair it while the cannons make swift work of German infantry. You can see that most of the German vehicles are already up on the hill, we are in for some stiffer opposition soon.  While the KV is out of action, my guns blow up a halftrack. Handy! It carried a 37 mm gun, probably the most dangerous thing in this wave of enemies.  This game does not skimp on the gruesome details. If you set a vehicle on fire, the crew catches fire with it. Briefly surviving crewmen will climb out and run around before they die.  What is taking them so long? Maybe if I blow up this truck they'll come faster.  Finally, a real tank! A PzIV and a PzIII climb up onto the hill. These are early version of the tanks, and are no match for my "45" mm gun, let alone my mighty KV. They manage to knock off my KV's track, but no matter, I can still fire on them. Once they are taken care of, it's mission accomplished.  Oleg Stepanov: How do you like Russian cuisine? Huh? Go back to Germany!  Mission complete. Our order was simple: take up positions in Yudino and ready the defensive line for a motorized infantry regiment. Orders are orders, but fate had other plane. Due to an air strike, our company did not make it. By the time the survivors made it to the village, it was occupied by Germans. We had no other choice and attacked. It's a good thing that Lieutenant Petrov's crew managed to fix up their tank. Their KV crushed the Fritz until it was out of shells. We did out duty, knocked the Germans out of Yudino and roughed up their convoy. This came at no small cost. Our unit took heavy losses and was sent back to Rostov to refill. We left the village in silence. No one wanted to talk, everyone was deep in their own thoughts. Someone remembered their fallen comrades, someone thought about fighting the fascists in battles to come. Enemy losses: 126 men, 15 vehicles Allied losses: 4 men, 0 vehicles. After a game over (win or lose), the game allows you to play on. Once you are bored, you can click the Victory or Defeat button in the upper right corner and move on to the next level. Ensign Expendable fucked around with this message at 17:48 on May 12, 2014 |
#
?
Apr 22, 2014 20:28
|
|
|
Ooh, I actually own this game on Steam but never played it. Looking forward to this so I can see what I'm missing.
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2014 20:44
|
|
|
I've been listening to the backlog of Three Moves Ahead and was just hearing them talk about this one. They seemed to like it (as they are huge fans of the original Close Combat). Looking forward to seeing more. Are the mistakes in unit description in-game or just historical? What I mean is, if the game says your gun is a particular model, is it going to be the same as all other guns of that model in the game (despite what it looks like), or are these actually errors where the text is just wrong?
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2014 21:04
|
|
|
I think every gun of that type is erroneously referred to as 45 mm. There are proper 45 mm guns in the next mission, so it's not like the developers don't know what it looked like. Probably a small mistake in the game's files somewhere that was overlooked. Also it says "Pak 37T" right above it, so it just looks...confusing.
|
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2014 21:13
|
|
|
Historical Notes: Mission 1 In the first mission, we saw a number of guns and vehicles. Here's a brief description of some. KV-1  The big bad heavy tank my squad got to drive around. Originally, the KV tank was a "budget" alternative to the longer and heavier SMK tank with two turrets. However, when the prototype heavy tank trio (T-100, SMK, KV) were sent to Finland for combat trials, the KV tank performed the best. The SMK was named after Sergei Mironovich Kirov, a politician that Stalin The tank we see in game is a KV-1E, a model with additional armour bolted on, due to rumours of improved anti-tank artillery being developed by potential Western enemies. The firepower of the tank was also improved, although not by much, replacing the L-11 gun with a slightly longer (and, more importantly, cheaper) F-32 gun. The KV-1's gun was upgraded yet again in the fall of 1941 to the even longer ZiS-5 (matching the ballistics of the T-34's gun), but tanks with older guns continued to fight on until at least 1942. A number of tanks fought under the KV designation in the Red Army (KV-1, KV-2, KV-220), but the KV-1 was by far the most numerous. Most documents refer to is as just "KV". It took five men to operate a KV tank (driver/mechanic, radio operator/machinegunner, main gunner, loader, commander), but only four in the game. Read a more extensive history of the tank and its development here. 3.7 cm Pak 37(t)  This is what the game calls "45 mm gun 20-K". Like many weapons produced by Skoda, this 37 mm anti-tank gun entered service with the German army after the annexation of Czechoslovakia (indicated by the (t) suffix, meaning Tschechisch). In real life, a 37 mm gun could barely dent a KV, but in this game it gets a little bit of a boost to make things more interesting. SdKfz 250  The SdKfz (special purpose vehicle) 250 was a very successful halftrack armoured personnel carrier, which served with Germany from 1941 throughout the rest of the war. There were many modifications of this vehicle built, including ones with a 37 mm anti-tank cannon (like we saw towards the end of the mission), a heavy 28 mm anti-tank rifle, radio gear, cable laying gear, and many more. Pzkpfw II  Nazi Germany's second (as the name implies) mass produced tank, armed with a 7.92 mm machinegun and a 20 mm automatic cannon. Just like the PzI, it was meant for training purposes, and was pressed into service when the war began. It was greatly inferior to light tanks used by any other European country at the time WWII began (except perhaps ancient machinegun-only tanks), and was therefore relegated to HQ guard and anti-partisan duties. Its gun and armament present no threat to anything except infantry. SdKfz 222 and 232 Armoured cars armed with a 20 mm autocannon, just like the PzII. Their armour is similarly unimpressive, although they are faster. In real life, they represented entirely different classes of vehicles (222 was a 4-wheel light scout car, whereas the 232 was a heavier 8-wheel design equipped with a long-range and short-range radio), but in game they are both only minor problems, even to infantry with AT grenades. Anti-tank grenades    In this game, an anti-tank grenade could be either an RPG (hand-held anti-tank grenade, not to be confused with rocket propelled grenade) or a bottle with incendiary fluid (commonly known as Molotov cocktail). Various models of RPGs can be seen in the left-most image. Despite their increasing weights and different function (model 1940 and 1941 can penetrate 20-25 mm of armour by exploding, but model 1943 can penetrate 75 mm of armour with a directed jet of molten metal), no difference is shown in-game. The center image is a bottle with "KS" incendiary fluid. This was a particularly nasty substance that auto-ignited when it came in contact with air. The worst part about it was that even if you put it out by covering it in dirt (water doesn't do anything to it), it can ignite again if dug up. The rightmost image shows a less dangerous bottle, that would use a match or special igniter to burst into flames. Read about various types of incendiary fluid bottles and how they were used here. Ensign Expendable fucked around with this message at 18:05 on Apr 25, 2014 |
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2014 19:00
|
|
|
Huh. I'm embarrassed to admit I didn't know Molotov cocktails were actually a purpose-built weapon using specially designed fuel. God help you if you trip and break your bottle, though, it sounds like.
|
|
#
?
Apr 24, 2014 19:12
|
|
|
I have this game and am terrible at it so I never got far. It will be interesting to see where you go with it.
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2014 04:50
|
|
|
Ah, I loved this game when it first came out. Played it to death. Both a fantastic tactical RPG, and a comedy! Pity you're playing it in what looks like the original Russian - it did have an english-language localization, but the voice-acting budget was the skintest thing possible. So terrible it wrapped around to being wonderful again. One piece of trivia from this first mission that people reading the LP may not realize. See the tractor just barely visible in the bottom-right, here? You can actually have your men get in and crew that. Then, they can drive around in a charming russian farm tractor. This is actually useful - you can tow anti-tank guns faster than men can push them, for example... Or you can just putter around in a tractor, on the battlefield. (Also, you can throw chickens at people.)
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2014 06:18
|
|
|
Huh. A WW2 RTS where you play as the Soviets? Interesting.
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2014 06:49
|
|
|
PleasingFungus posted:Ah, I loved this game when it first came out. Played it to death. Both a fantastic tactical RPG, and a comedy! I tried, it was so grating to my ears I could not make it through the opening cutscene. PleasingFungus posted:You can actually have your men get in and crew that. Then, they can drive around in a charming russian farm tractor. This is actually useful - you can tow anti-tank guns faster than men can push them, for example... Huh, I hit it by accident and it said "engine destroyed", suggesting that it was fully modelled, but I never thought to try and have my men drive it around.
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2014 07:16
|
|
|
Oh? A Russian RTS done by someone knowledgeable, with actual historical background updates? Count me in!PleasingFungus posted:(Also, you can throw chickens at people.)
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2014 09:44
|
|
|
All the (Soviet, at least) weapons are named after rather interesting people who had a role in preparing (or failing to prepare) Russia for the upcoming war - might be worth expanding upon. Also, the very first screenshot in the LP should link to this.
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2014 10:09
|
|
|
PleasingFungus posted:Ah, I loved this game when it first came out. Played it to death. Both a fantastic tactical RPG, and a comedy! Indeed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A_TMKCLIq8 As for the gun mislabelling, I'm pretty sure that it wasn't mislabelled like that in the English localisation. Odd! This is a great game though, and the next mission is one of the best RTS missions I've ever played. Looking forward to seeing that in action.
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2014 10:34
|
|
|
quote:
Seems like in this timeline it was the USSR who attacked first by invading East Prussia up to the modern border between Kaliningrad oblast and the Polish republic. And what's with the line next to Berlin? It looks like the Oder-Neisse border imposed post-war, but noone would have drawn that on a map in 1941. And why is Leningrad not labelled on the map? Edit: And it makes it look like Sweden and Switzerland are controlled by/part of the Axis! Kopijeger fucked around with this message at 16:10 on Apr 25, 2014 |
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2014 11:04
|
|
|
Kopijeger posted:Seems like in this timeline it was the USSR who attacked first by invading East Prussia up to the modern border between Kaliningrad oblast and the Polish republic. And what's with the line next to Berlin? It looks like the Oder-Neisse border imposed post-war, but noone would have drawn that on a map in 1941. And why is Leningrad not labelled on the map? 
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2014 17:27
|
|
|
Xander77 posted:All the (Soviet, at least) weapons are named after rather interesting people who had a role in preparing (or failing to prepare) Russia for the upcoming war - might be worth expanding upon. Yeah, I considered doing musical links in each one, might as well. Also yes, I'll edit the post to cover the relevant political figures.
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2014 17:58
|
|
|
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-74cXGP066M Lyrics  Despite the Red Army's resistance, the Germans keep rolling further East.  The workers see where the wind is blowing and get the hell out of Dodge.  Rostov-on-the-Don, November 20th, 1941 Striped undershirt factory man is explaining to this guy that looks like our commander that he needs more time to load up the factory equipment.  He is promptly called away for important business that we never see or care about.  Evacuation. November 21st, 1941. Rostselmash factory, Rostov-on-the-Don  Rostov-on-the-Don, November 20th, 1941  Our commander explains the situation to us in three sentences.  In turn the orders given to our men are "Take up defensive positions!" Incidentally, is this it? Three Lieutenants are all that's here to defend this entire factory? We must not have that much to work with. Or two Captains and a Major, but that's probably a fuckup with the textures on the collar insignia, since the cutscenes specifically tell us that our main characters are Junior Lieutenants.  Comrade Disembodied Voice shows us the maps again. We have to defend the train (outlined in red) from the Germans (shown in blue).  The Germans (shock and awe) are going to be attacking with men and tanks!  We get some guns this time! Actual 45 mm ones!  The Germans are pretty much guaranteed to gently caress you up with endlessly respawning waves of tanks, so all you can do is hold out until the equipment is loaded up. Which will happen, very, very slowly.  Viktor Smirnov: All right, the snipers and machinegunners are in position. Spread out your men, plug weak holes in the defenses. Remember, you have little time, the Germans are coming! Oh man, the uniform fuckups continue! Here we see our protagonist out of his cutscene uniform and in his in-game uniform, which combines a Captain's shoulderboards (introduced in 1943!) and striped pants that are also too rich for his rank. All the soldiers are dressed as submachinegunners (you can see the PPSh drum pouch on their belt) and have the Guards insignia! These conscript peasants are already Guardsmen? That one battle we fought must have been super impressive. We'll have no trouble at all! Ok, no time to stare at uniforms, we should position the men. There aren't that many, and we have some time and HOLY poo poo IS THAT A WHOLE loving BATTALION ON THE MINIMAP. This is way beyond my pay grade! Unlike in the previous mission where we controlled eight men and the rest were AI, here we control EVERYONE save for a handful of machinegunners on the train. Thankfully most of the men are already in more or less reasonable positions, and we should have plenty of time to correct their deployment.  AHAHA NOPE Saveliy Petrenko: They are already here! The Fritz are near the boiler plant! We must really think on our feet in this mission! Thankfully the workers are not starting just now, we are already at 35% load.  This first wave is laughable, an armoured car and some infantry. The pre-deployed troops should be able to take care of them, but I wanted to make sure, especially since the default AT cannon placement is horrible in this mission.  Vitaliy Akimov: Ha! Is this all they are capable of? They were running so fast, we could see their heels flash!  The next attack is a little more dangerous. Viktor Smirnov: The production plant is captured by the Germans! None of your men are placed into the production plant by default, and it's not really that great of a position anyway. Seeing as how the Germans take it almost instantly and there is no bonus for completing the secondary objectives (one for keeping each part of the factory), we might as well give it to them.  Let's take a look at the new toys we get to play with. First, the Artillery BT-7! This is a BT-7 tank armed with the turret from a T-28, packing a DT-29 machinegun and a short barreled 76.2 mm KT-28 howitzer. It can only fire high explosive shells, and its armour is not too great, meaning that they only work against infantry. Seeing as how the infantry is rarely alone in this map, the two BT-7s that we do get must be used carefully.  Aha, now this is a 45 mm anti-tank gun model 1937! The caption is still wrong, since the 20-K was the tank version of this gun, but at least now it's less wrong. We get a handful of these bad boys, and they are our best defense against the waves of tanks we are going to fight.  Viktor Kuznetsov: The Germans are moving to the plants! Here's a sniper. A handful of these guys are spread out around the map. Their ghillie suit lets them hide from the enemy, and their scoped rifles allow them to knock off enemy soldiers at long ranges with pinpoint accuracy.  This is a DS-39 mounted machinegun. It's very powerful, but can't be moved anywhere. Its poor position makes it kind of useless in this mission.  A Maxim machinegun on a Sokolov mount. This water-cooled machinegun is a lot more agile than the one we just saw, and delivers the same firepower. Technically you should have two men on it, but the game only has one. It is treated as a cannon: limited horizontal traverse, must be painstakingly moved into position to fire.  Aleksei Kuznetsov: Use this tank only in an emergency. We only have one of these beauties. If we lose it or waste its ammunition, we will only have light guns left. Saving the best for last, the legendary T-34! While not as invincible as the KV, it's a hell of a lot faster, and will be very handy in this mission. The gun is the L-11, the same as on early model KVs, roughly equivalent in power with the F-32. The game makes no distinction and calls it F-32 anyway. No T-34s were built with F-32s.  And with that, back to the battle! The Germans are sending out tanks, but they are starting light.  "PzKpfw I Ausf B tankette". It's not strictly speaking a tankette, but it does not threaten us. Remember the PzII from the previous mission? This one is even worse.  The Germans begin funnelling tanks into that narrow corridor next to the production plant. This could technically flank our AT defense, if the infantry had no AT grenades left. Since we are only a few minutes into the mission, they have plenty, and the attack stalls.  Another PzII, backing up a platoon of infantry. An AT gun placed to shoot through this avenue will go through a lot of German tanks, so you may even want two. The notification alerts us that the tank's engine is broken, but a broken engine will not cause the crew to abandon it.  The Germans are upping the ante! This is a PzIII medium tank that we briefly saw towards the end of the last mission, armed with a 50 mm cannon. While our T-34 is still impervious, the thin BT-7s are very much not. This particular region will see the most heavy advance of German armour. Once these guys start showing up, as many as half of your AT guns should be here.  They destroyed the turret on the BT-7! Thankfully it has a handy repair kit.  Roman Prokhorov: We are halfway done the loading! We need more time! The halfway point is where things start to get interesting and the German attacks go from luke-warm probes to full out assaults.  Viktor Smirnov: The Fritz have given us a small break. We must use it. Mine the approaches to the train and plug the holes in defenses. Mining the approaches to the train is only useful as a last ditch effort when the Germans are running up to the train, so I won't be doing that. I will, however, reposition my AT guns.  AT guns count as vehicles, so when two men push them, they can crush anything in their path and fling huge piles of rubble and metal chunks to the side like it's nothing. The cutscene at the start told us to use trucks to reposition them, but the map is small enough that you can get away with doing it by hand. Using trucks is an even bigger micromanaging pain in the rear end, so I don't do it unless I really have to.  Oh look, how nice of us to label the explosive tanks in German. These things do actually explode in a huge fireball when shot. Don't do it.  It's getting hot enough that I have to start moving the T-34 about to defend the threatened regions. There are really three places where it is needed: here, the avenue pointing to the production plant, and the area where the Germans attacked first. The tank is fast enough to go between them almost instantly, if the pathfinding doesn't get it stuck somewhere.  Hey, look at this lazy bum! He is just standing there doing nothing. Viktor Smirnov: Hold the factory offices! The Germans are readying another attack! Our protagonist will occasionally warn us where the Germans will be attacking next.  Here they come, full force!  My tanks are more than a match for them, with the BT taking care of infantry and T-34 of the enemy tank.  How fortunate, only the turret is broken! A broken turret is enough to get the enemy to ditch the tank, but perhaps we can recover it.  OH gently caress. I guess not. I'll have my repair crew hide in this building, maybe we can get the tank later.  They are really not holding back on the tanks this time.  Roman Prokhorov: We are two-thirds done loading! Give us a little more time! Here is a good example of the AI being smart enough to use first aid kits on itself.  Sigh. Thank you, pathfinding, I wasn't using any of those walls for cover anyway.  Perfectly good AT cannon, but...the barrel is broken. AT guns do not come with repair kits, so we are forced to abandon it.  A good picture of a PzIV and a PzIII together. Since the untrained eye can only tell the difference by counting the number of road wheels, the game developers helpfully painted the PzIV in a green camouflage.  T-34, get them! drat IT! Fine, it's not like I needed those buildings.  Pop.  Pop.  Viktor Smirnov: The Fritz have given us a small break. We must use it. Mine the approaches to the train and plug the holes in defenses. Enjoy this break, it will be your last.  I make use of it by grabbing this tank that is still out here.  Enemy tanks do not have repair kits, but it can still move! Watch it effortlessly sweep away the husk of its former ally.  I stole the repair kit from the BT and got to work. While it fixes itself, let's see what the rest of my army is up to.  My T-34 lost a track. Let's get that taken care of.  Get used to doing this a lot.  Aha, my tank is done! Let's turn it on its former masters!  drat it, again? Fine. Go fix it, peasant.  Oops, the peasant died. Let's find another one, the tank is much too valuable!  Our PzIII didn't last long. Unlike the T-34, its armour is nothing to brag about when facing other 50 mm guns. Sadly, it took the repair kit with it when it blew up.  AGAIN!?  Here is an example of terrain being fiddly. I have a perfect shot on that PzIV's side, but that pipe in front of me is blocking the way, and the AI is not smart enough to clear it.  KABOOM! Much better.  Viktor Smirnov: The Germans are breaking through to the pump station! We are getting close to the end. The action becomes a lot more hectic now, the Germans are holding nothing back.  Yup, the track's off again!  And the terrain got in my way again. I had to move the AT gun on that little bump, and even then popping the turrets off the three tanks that came to ruin my day had to be done with manual aim. The AI would just aim for center mass and shoot that indestructible wall in front of them. You can also see an AT rifleman here, the one with the massive fishing rod to the right of the AT gun. He is not very useful when shooting at vehicles head on, sadly.  This guy's been showing my T-34 his side for an awfully long time, and he is still alive! What gives?  Oh, bugger. The T-34 has run out of armour piercing ammunition and is uselessly lobbing HE at him. Great. While 76.2 mm HE was more than enough to destroy a PzIII or PzIV in real life, it's not doing so well here.  Aleksei Kuznetsov: Attention! They are coming at the repair workshops!  Roman Prokhorov: We are almost done with the loading! Give us a couple of minutes! I only have three AT guns left, one in the West and two here. Thankfully the Germans stopped their tank push on the factory offices, at least for now. I am doing pretty well this mission, last time I played this I had the last remnants of my men pushed up all the way against the train by now.  This tank is all out of ammunition, plus the machinegun has been lost somehow. And its track is out, but the repair kit was destroyed with the PzIII, so it's of no use to anyone anymore.  The T-34 is destroyed and the Germans are attacking in huge numbers, but we have almost won the battle.  Viktor Smirnov: The Fritz have pushed us out in the boiler plant sector and established a defensive line!  Roman Prokhorov: We have finished loading! Quick, get to the train, time to get out of here!  Just in time, too, there goes my last tank.  The train is pulling out of the station.  Its last defender just got shot.  Tanks are moving in!  Run, interchangeable protagonist #1, run!  Grab interchangeable protagonist #2's hand!  Oh no, he's been Call of Duty'd! There's nothing we can do for him.  Mission Complete: Do not allow the Germans to destroy the train with equipment. Hold your positions until the loading is complete.  Mission Complete. The train with equipment has been successfully evacuated. The Germans got right up to the train, but we managed to hold them on the last line. Workers laboured without rest, and soon the train carried the priceless equipment off from under the Germans' noses. After a few months, past the Urals, under temporary tarps, in plants without walls, the evacuated tools breathed life again. A red banner hung above them: "All for the Front, all for victory!". They were staffed by 15 year old boys under the supervision of an old master. Their labour was heroic, but it would not be possible without that memorable battle won by our soldiers in the smoking ruins of the Rostov factory. Enemy losses: 747 men, 29 vehicles. Allied losses: 87 men, 12 vehicles. Ensign Expendable fucked around with this message at 18:13 on May 12, 2014 |
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2014 19:53
|
|
|
This game escalates pretty quickly, considering that this is just the second mission. I personally find missions where player controls only small part of forces while AIs duke it out more palatable.
|
|
#
?
Apr 25, 2014 22:01
|
|
|
Ensign Expendable posted:
You actually get access to huge boxes filled with anti-personnel and anti-tank mines from the beginning of the mission, and they can be absolutely invaluable - if you can mine the gate (pictured) and the alleys between the buildings, you can shred the germany advance along that direction. One anti-tank mine will disable or outright destroy the poor panzer that hits it... (It can also be useful to mine the area near the factory, but because the germans attack there sooner, it's trickier to manage.) Unfortunately, laying mines takes a lot of micromanagement, and there's already far too much to manage in this mission as is. Unless you're playing the mission in co-op, focusing on landmines may cost you elsewhere... and of course the mission is winnable without it, as you've shown.  Tractor!  (You can see the boxes filled with mines in the top-left of that image, with an orange symbol on top. Shoot them for a fun surprise!)
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2014 00:24
|
|
|
No Russian game is complete without getting names and statistics wrong, while making weird and wonderful decisions about in-game physics.Ensign Expendable posted:
Ugh were those razed walls made of meat?
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2014 02:55
|
|
|
This game is loving magical and hilarious. The online play for MoW and Assault Squad is some of the most fun I've had. Killing enemy officers and stealing their hats, having a tank full of dudes with dynamite sticks charge an expensive heavy tank, or stealing guns with armored car drive-bys are all the sorts of things you can do with direct control and the inventory system. Or give a sniper a flamethrower and have him sneak behind enemy lines to set people on fire. The inventory system combined with direct control can make for some really insane micro in online play. The best example of this that I remember is that as germany you could buy and ammo truck and an armored car, and load the armored car full of the heaviest german ammunition available. The rounds, when shot, explode big enough that they can take out some of the heavier armor that you can get in the game. You'd run the armored car behind the enemy, eject the ammunition from its inventory, and then drive away while shooting your 20mm at the ammo. If you managed to hit it it would explode magnificently and destroy anything that you threw the round on top of. Commoners fucked around with this message at 03:40 on Apr 26, 2014 |
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2014 03:29
|
|
|
Perfidia posted:No Russian game is complete without getting names and statistics wrong, while making weird and wonderful decisions about in-game physics. Twice when playing this mission, my only T-34 decided that it would like to do a backflip and land facefirst into the ground, removing it from subsequent combat.
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2014 06:44
|
|
|
Ensign Expendable posted:Twice when playing this mission, my only T-34 decided that it would like to do a backflip and land facefirst into the ground, removing it from subsequent combat. The fact that we don't at least have a gif of this is a tragedy felt by all of humanity.
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2014 06:47
|
|
|
Coolguye posted:The fact that we don't at least have a gif of this is a tragedy felt by all of humanity. I'll try to do a bonus update of driving tractors/flipping over tanks/exploding barrels.
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2014 06:48
|
|
|
A video of the intro / outro scenes might be handy. Also, thanks for including the audio link. I think I know what the last song in the LP should be.
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2014 08:25
|
|
|
Xander77 posted:Also, thanks for including the audio link. I think I know what the last song in the LP should be. This one is pretty good as well:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqcNuc2gADw
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2014 09:38
|
|
|
Cool lp! Liked your info dump on the KV1.
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2014 11:10
|
|
|
Now I get to enjoy the raw rawness of men of war, without actually having to play men of war! Could you try and do a mission in video format? I'd love to see how a mission feels when played by somebody that knows what they're doing.
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2014 13:20
|
|
|
You actually can move the machine guns around. You just need to order a second man to mount the mg and then you can move it around the same way you would an AT-gun.
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2014 14:23
|
|
|
Samuel posted:Now I get to enjoy the raw rawness of men of war, without actually having to play men of war! Could you try and do a mission in video format? I'd love to see how a mission feels when played by somebody that knows what they're doing. I considered that, but then there's a ton of dead time when I'm zooming around micromanaging things, and it's not very interesting to watch.
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2014 17:24
|
|
|
Ah yes but with the magic of editing you'll be blasting skrillex and getting sweet critical tank hits in no time! I mean if you really want to go to those lengths of making highlight reels.
|
|
#
?
Apr 26, 2014 21:22
|
|
|
drat, if this game would be TB or SPM I'd be all over it  But I'm still intrigued, and will keep an eye on this. Coolguye posted:The fact that we don't at least have a gif of this is a tragedy felt by all of humanity.
|
|
#
?
Apr 27, 2014 00:45
|
|
|
The other fun thing is doing the missions co-op. The small squad stealth missions are hilarious when you get a whole squad of guys each individually controlled.
|
|
#
?
Apr 27, 2014 02:18
|
|
|
Historical Notes: Mission 2 Rostselmash This is the factory we were evacuating, the Rostov Agricultural Machinery factory. Starting in 1929, it began building tractors and combine harvesters. In fall of 1941, the factory was indeed evacuated to Tashkent. There, instead of tractors, it built armoured hulls, shells, and bombs. After Rostov was liberated, the factory was moved back, and exists there to this day. BT-7  The BT series of tanks (Bystrokhodniy Tank: Fast Tank) started by buying a vehicle designed by Walther Christie in 1930. Many countries expressed interest in buying Christie's invention, but few actually did anything with it. The USSR was one of the few, producing first the BT-2 tank (mostly a clone of Christie's tank with a new turret), then the improved BT-5 and BT-7 tanks. The trademark feature of Christie's vehicles was the convertible drive, giving the vehicle the ability to travel both on wheels and on tracks, giving the engine an easier time and saving on track maintenance. The BT chassis was very promising, and as such, had a lot of experiments done with it, including a rocket artillery platform, additional sloped armour, all wheel drive, etc. One of those was equipping the tank with a turret that could carry a 76.2 mm howitzer, developed in 1934-35 and produced in 1937. F-32 and L-11 guns were also tested in this turret in 1939, but neither entered production. T-34 The start of the legendary T-34 was not intended to be revolutionary. The Red Army wanted a slight upgrade on its BT tanks, still with the gasoline engine, convertible drive and a 45 mm gun, initially indexed BT-20, then A-20. Koshkin (the tank's chief engineer) would have none of this, and, in parallel with the light convertible A-20, designed a medium A-20G (Gusenichniy: tracked) tank, later indexed A-32. This tank had more armour, and a more powerful 76.2 mm gun. It ended up being cheaper and more reliable, due to removing the expensive convertible drive and sticking to tracks only. Koshkin personally drove one of these tanks to Moscow and back to prove to Stalin that it was a viable design. Stalin was sufficiently impressed, but sadly, on this march, Koshkin fell ill and later died. Thankfully, the platform Koshkin developed was versatile enough to be improved throughout the war, and continued to be used for many decades after. At the start of Barbarossa, this tank's gun was more than a match for any German armour at any reasonable combat distance. Its armour, while not as impervious as the KV, protected it completely from any German tank gun from the front. These vehicles were sought after by German forces, and a clone was to be developed. Unfortunately for Germany, they could not produce many components of the tank in required numbers.  A very famous photograph of the tank family. Left to right: BT-7M, A-20, T-34 mod. 1940, T-34 mod. 1941 This particular tank is a model 1940, armed with an L-11 76.2 mm gun and the early type boxy external gas tanks. The turret is also of the early welded type, including the gun maintenance hatch in the back (later on, the entire turret of the tank was lifted by a crane to remove the gun). The hull is also correctly done, with the early type driver's observation port. Aside from the F-32 mistake, this is a perfectly done T-34! There would still be a few model 1940s kicking around at this time, but they would get exceedingly rare as the war went on. Currently, not a single T-34 mod. 1940 have been recovered. Even the T-34 museum in Moscow only has a replica. 45 mm anti-tank gun model 1937  A number of 45 mm anti-tank guns were produced in the 1930s and 1940s, all of which were colloquially called "sorokopyatka" (forty-fiver). These guns were more than enough against thinly armoured interbellum tank designs, but needed a little more oomph against more modern German enemies. As more powerful German tanks came out, the barrel of the gun had to be lengthened (model 1942) and APCR ammunition developed. Despite their age, these guns continued serving until the end of the war. As I mentioned, a tank version of this gun also existed. It was mounted on the T-26, BT series, T-35 heavy tank, A-20, T-50, and T-70 tanks. Comrade Sniper  Marksmanship was very popular in the Soviet Union. As a civilian, you were encouraged to at least attempt to obtain a Voroshilov's Marksman badge (two categories, one for civilian and one for military arms). As a result, many conscripts were very good shots. There were so many snipers in the Red Army that a standard infantry platoon (at least on paper) contained three of them. They received special rifles, as well, of much nicer build quality than the regular infantry rifle. After the war, most of them were converted back to regular infantry rifles, but the markings are still visible. Ex-sniper rifles are very much sought after, and frequently restored with either original scopes of modern reproductions. Speaking of the scope, its design was dead simple, and reliable. Someone on TFR has a photo of theirs having a huge dent in the side, which did not impede its functionality at all. Maxim gun  This water cooled machinegun was originally designed by Hiram Maxim in 1884, and became immensely popular worldwide. Imperial Russian engineer Sokolov developed a more portable mount for it, allowing it to be easily transported by even one man, and protecting him with a shield. The weapon was an integral part of the legendary tachanka (seen in the picture), the core of mobile firepower during the Russian Civil War. Many designs attempted to replace it, but the ability to fire continuously for as long as you have ammunition was too valuable to fully replace these guns in the Red Army in WWII. The standard crew was one machinegunner and one ammunition carrier. Since firing a Maxim requires two hands (one to push the safety down, and one to push the trigger), the ammunition carrier also held the ammunition belt in a position that would make it feed more reliably. Maxim guns were also mounted on trucks, four in a row, in an anti-aircraft role. PzKpfw I  Nazi Germany's first mass produced tank. Originally they were meant to be used for training troops and industry, but the Spanish Civil War forced them to be used in combat, where it proved greatly inferior to the Soviet T-26, due to not having a cannon. Field modifications included mounting a 20 mm Breda autocannon in an enlarged turret, but that did not help much. These tanks were still used in WWII, but in reserve roles, such as guarding the rear and hunting partisans. Many of these vehicles served as a chassis for tank destroyers, command vehicles, engineering vehicles, etc. The game calls it a tankette, but that is not strictly correct, as a tankette is turretless. Two versions of this tank were built, the Ausf A and Ausf B, the latter having one additional road wheel and its idler raised. A more complete history of the tank can be read here. PzKpfw III  Only a single "point" up from the PzII, but what a beautiful machine this was. Finally mounting a proper cannon (first 37 mm, upgraded to 50 mm in the French campaign), ditching leaf springs for torsion bars, adding shock absorbers, a commander's cupola, and many other elements that were staples of tank building in the late 1930s and up. This vehicle was as comfortable as it got (for a tank, at least) and was equally valued by both German and Soviet commanders. Various versions of this tank were used until the end of the war. Its chassis was also used for the StuG III, StuH 40, SG-122 and SU-76I vehicles. PzKfpw IV  Despite having a higher number, the PzIV was not as good as the PzIII. It had springs instead of torsion bars, thinner armour, and was all around not as good. Its only saving grace was a wider turret ring, which let it mount a 75 mm cannon. In this mission, we only saw a short barreled one for infantry support, but later it received a longer one to fight newer Soviet armour. This tank was also produced in Germany until the end of the war, even though the Panther was meant to become Germany's only medium tank after 1943. A more complete history of the vehicle, as well as a brief rundown of its many models can be found here. Visually, this tank is very similar looking to the PzIII, and can be easily distinguished by counting the number of road wheels. The PzIII had 6, while the PzIV had 8. Ensign Expendable fucked around with this message at 23:24 on Apr 27, 2014 |
|
#
?
Apr 27, 2014 19:14
|
|
|
Xander77 posted:A video of the intro / outro scenes might be handy. I tried recording one, but there is no audio. Screenshots will have to do. Ensign Expendable fucked around with this message at 20:50 on Apr 27, 2014 |
|
#
?
Apr 27, 2014 20:37
|
|
|
Ah, Men of War, it's one of my all time favorite game. Coop is great fun, MP is great fun. Too bad I can't play it anymore because apparently it doesn't support Windows 8 (or something like that, couldn't play it the last time I tried). It's squeal, MOW: Assault Squad is pretty nice, too. With better infantry combat and infantry balance. I don't like the tank combat as much due to what I feel is a more arbitrary setting (for example, in MOW penetration on tank is 99% guarantee kill, while AS it depends on tank type and caliber size, but the chance is much lower), but it's still pretty good. Also the range scaling was standardized, resulting in much more risky combat (in Mow for example, literally the only gun that can penetrate a lowly Sherman at max range is the 88/L71 gun, while the same gun can penetrate top tier US tank at max range in Assault Squad). Oh, and AS nerfed my favorite vehicle, the M19 into the ground 
pedro0930 fucked around with this message at 21:47 on Apr 27, 2014 |
|
#
?
Apr 27, 2014 21:14
|
|
|
Ensign Expendable posted:
|
|
#
?
Apr 27, 2014 22:11
|
|
|
Ensign Expendable posted:
*cough* Vickers *cough*
|
|
#
?
Apr 27, 2014 22:45
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 1, 2024 18:57 |
|
|
Xander77 posted:Are we going to post literally the Batko's personal tachanka while pretending it was primarily a Red weapon? I suppose I should have worded that better. Everyone used them, they were awesome.
|
|
#
?
Apr 27, 2014 23:23
|
|