WWII-Online getting a graphical upgrade.

[Ghambit]

If they did indeed go F2P they'd have to also go back to their prior attack and supply models.  The reasoning behind the CURRENT model was to funnel the population to smaller AOs (because the population became... small).  Bring in more peeps and they'll have to open up the lines a bit like they used to (maybe even do away with MSP) which would involve undoing a helluva lotta code.  But hmmm, I 'spose they could just give the HC's more attack orders and such.  Might not be too difficult to do actually.

[Malakili]

If they did indeed go F2P they'd have to also go back to their prior attack and supply models.  The reasoning behind the CURRENT model was to funnel the population to smaller AOs (because the population became... small).  Bring in more peeps and they'll have to open up the lines a bit like they used to (maybe even do away with MSP) which would involve undoing a helluva lotta code.  But hmmm, I 'spose they could just give the HC's more attack orders and such.  Might not be too difficult to do actually.

Number of possible attack orders already scales with population I believe, so that shouldn't be a problem from a coding perspective.  My worry is more than huge amounts of inconsistent players wouldn't really make the game all that much better. While it would certainly increase the sheer number of troops on the ground, I'm not especially sure the over all experience would actually be better if there were simply a couple thousand more people on the server.  The scale in any given battle feels pretty decent right now, and while the MSPs do, to a certain extent trivialize some of the organization needed that gave it some of that old epic feel, I'm not sure going back to that model would recapture the magic in itself.   I think the game would do better with a bigger playerbase, no doubt about it, but at the same time, I think what they have right now works really well for how the game has evolved, and trying to re-jigger everything again might end up with a mess.   

There are still big epic ops and battles to be had, I've been on para drops with over 100 people with escorts and all under the new ruleset for sure, and in fact just last week there was an truly epic op in Aachen in which 8 or so squads pooling together around 150 people pulled of a simultaneous capture of all 4 army bases in the city at once.  That op was all ground based too, no para drop even needed.  Paradrops are generally less useful than they used to be of course, no doubt, but I still see 1 or 2 sizeable drops a night (30+ people), and at least once a week you'll those real huge ones.  They aren't strictly speaking necessary all the time now, but when well timed they are effective, and everyone loves to go on those ops because they just feel awesome.  Even if you are one of the unlucky paratroopers than gets shot on the way down by AA, you still leave with a great story to tell.

Anyway, I guess my point is, while it isn't quite the same as it used to be, there are still some real great moments to be had, and I personally think they rival the old moments, though I'll freely admit they are probably not as frequent.


Also, on another note, Campaign 62 is going to end any time now, the allies have captured all the Axis factory towns.  I wonder what CRS has in store for intemission this time around.

[WayAbvPar]

Finally got in on a good attack with lots of EI and a nice close MSP... died a bunch, but got a few kills too. Good times.

[Malakili]

Here is a video from that huge op we pulled at Aachen last week.  You don't really get the scale of it from this small clip because we spent nearly an hour setting everything up before the video you see here kicks in, including about 20 minutes where each of the teams had already infiltrated the city, but had to evade German tanks and infantry to avoid being noticed and blowing the whole plan.

Basically, what you see here is one of four teams which has infiltrated the city of Aachen and waited while we faked the germans into thinking the attack was a diversion from our real attack (by hiding our numbers).  After the 1 Capture point we owned in the city had been held for 10 minutes and thus the Army Bases become available for capture, our teams moved out (one of which you see in the video) 3 within the city, and 1 the airfield to catch the Germans offguard by simultaneously capturing each Army Base and denying them the ability to spawn into the city.

I am zhenya in the video.

EDIT: warning, the music is kind of loud, might want to turn down your volume.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYmmQBGkddQ


EDIT 2:  ALLIEs VICTORIOUS IN CAMPAIGN 62!
First campaign in the post 1.31 era goes to the allies :).  

Intermission underway, so nows the time to screw around .  Campaign 63 to begin thursday (maybe friday).

[WayAbvPar]

Was just in on the capture of Aarschot. Infantry play is coming back to me slowly but surely, so I only die with zero kills 2 out of 3 spawns now  It is starting to be fun again.

[Malakili]

Was just in on the capture of Aarschot. Infantry play is coming back to me slowly but surely, so I only die with zero kills 2 out of 3 spawns now  It is starting to be fun again.

Yeah, the learning curve, or relearning curve as it were, is pretty tough, but staying with it past the first week or two pays off big time.

[Cheddar]

Tempting.  So the action is pretty good, key is in finding it?

[Malakili]

Tempting.  So the action is pretty good, key is in finding it?

Finding it isn't hard if you play during European/American prime time, but if you are on the other side of the world, its a bit more difficult because population is less during your probable prime times.   Learning the map and how to decipher what people are saying in chat to find the action might take a few days or so, but once you're past that learning curve its pretty easy to jump in.

[Malakili]

Tweak to supply mechanics:

For Campaign 63 we have addressed two issues in host configuration in an effort to improve a couple of aspects of game play.

The first one is encouraging more "behind the lines" activity by increasing the ability to overstock brigades by 25%, activity which often centers around the ambushing of manual resupply.

The second aspect is a part of the first. With an increase in the ability to replace supply lost through attrition, we were able to reduce the vehicle equipment levels so that "instant supply" from brigade rotation is reduced in its effects, placing more value on attrition warfare and the manual resupply to help defeat that attrition.

We're pretty sure this will increase the variable nature of battle dynamics and raise gameplay value a bit more than previously.

Login and have fun!

Should please some of you folks who played the game first time around and liked the supply mechanics better then (as we talked about earlier in the thread even)

[Ghambit]

I theorize they're getting more subs these days so the old-school mechanics are somewhat more viable again.  Re-sup and ambushes were HUGE originally... entire brigades were formed just for those tasks.  Nice to see they're at least trying to bring it back a bit.  However, it only works when enough people are playing otherwise there's no way in hell you can even hope to keep up with the attrition let alone spare the resources to run an ambush.

They've kinda addressed this by reducing the brigade supply, forcing some re-sup missions really.  Dunno if I like that 'cause it spreads out the war a bit more than I think the game can handle, unless they do indeed have the player numbers.

To give you newbs an idea of what this is, typically when running ANY op where resistance is expected you pre-strategize your resupply brigades to bring in a constant flow of equipment into towns you're attacking from.  Conversely, defending towns run their own resupply chain to combat their losses.  SOOOO, squads used to be assigned to run the supplies (the Quartermaster squad for instance) to the towns.  Now, you might think this is boring, but it's good work for someone new to the game who's not quite sure how to handle some of this expensive equipment.  Also, it can get quite hair-raising when you're bringing supplies into the heart of a firefight.  Aside from this, squads always were assigned supply-CUT missions at obvious chokepoints.  Basically search and destroy patrols.  Usually done with fast attack tanks and/or via fighter-bombers.  So supply people always had to dodge those, many times creating the need for an air escort to keep a look out and kill any incoming air with hopes of taking you out.  A stealth 88 placed behind the llines in a supply route is a deadly move if not caught in time for instance.

It's a funny game of cat and mouse.  Many times it'll go two towns back so you dont deplete the second line... i.e. if u deplete your resup. town too much u can get rolled and lose 2 towns at once, etc.  Good times.

[WayAbvPar]

Learning the map and how to decipher what people are saying in chat to find the action might take a few days or so, but once you're past that learning curve its pretty easy to jump in.

This is key. Once I figured out how to understand all the chatter and then how to navigate through the spawning system to find what I need, it got a lot easier. I am still dying way more often than I would like, but I am learning. I was always better on defense (when I played originally, the Allies were always getting rolled, so I played A LOT of defense*), and I haven't had too many chances lately- Allies are really bringing it.

*My best WWIIOL infantry deployment/mission came on defense. This was back when you could 'climb' trees by going prone and wiggling against them. Town I was defending was the target of a big offensive, and I was there right when it started. Got up high in a tree on the outskirts of town, right along the road. And proceeded to kill infantry. It was like a 2 hour spawn and I got 54 kills before a tank finally figured out where I was and ended me.

[Ghambit]

I'm working in D.C. these days, so my rig isnt with me.  Gonna build another this week hopefully and start playing again.

[Malakili]

So, during the last campaign there was a big long battle over Nettersheim, and one of the rats (devs), was there filming the whole thing unbeknownst to the playerbase of course.

The result is this quite long video featuring the battle: (Its like an hour long if you watch the whole thing which I don't expect people to do, but its in 10 minute chunks)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XEhclVVPIE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdjE5cUwQBU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzgMPxEUK9E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFPUKm-HlkE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_CLGx9AbNI

[WayAbvPar]

Tried my hand at flying today...did the tutorial last night, and took over for real today. I wish I could get good at it, because it seems like a LOT of fun. The controls feel really muddy though- I can't tell if it is my antiquated Saitek Cyborg 3D Gold, the game, or some combination of the two. I fired a few shots in anger, got shot down by a plane, and AA gun, and also managed to auger myself halfway to the core of the earth. I then figured I would do less damage to the Allies if I stayed on the ground for a bit 

[Malakili]

Tried my hand at flying today...did the tutorial last night, and took over for real today. I wish I could get good at it, because it seems like a LOT of fun. The controls feel really muddy though- I can't tell if it is my antiquated Saitek Cyborg 3D Gold, the game, or some combination of the two. I fired a few shots in anger, got shot down by a plane, and AA gun, and also managed to auger myself halfway to the core of the earth. I then figured I would do less damage to the Allies if I stayed on the ground for a bit 

I've usually been happy just to be able to fly without failing horribly let along actually shooting anything :-D

I'm mostly a ground pounder anyway.

[Ghambit]

Flying is no joke.  Many have said that WW2O is worth the box sale JUST for the flying portion.  The reality is, aside from Falcon4.0, you'll get no better a wartime air sim than WW2O.
I was a pretty good pilot in my time, but I was a sim phreak and real pilot to boot....  and even then, it was tough.  For a newb it's extremely frustrating because you're left with low-lvl gear that can get you killed.  The trick is to identify when you're outgunned and leave.  Also, pick easy missions and targets - shoot some ATGs or tanks or some hapless infantry.  In that respect, it's always better to play a fighter-bomber than to just jump right into a Spitfire.  Popping your cherry with a Blen is the best thing imo.

Get good with bombing and run some strat. missions even, take out some factories, etc.  When you can run one down the pickle barrel, start splitting some destroyers in two.  Get a kill and go home in one piece.  Once you get the ranking then start bringing out the high level fighters... run some CAS for your squad at first, then start gettin into CAP and escort stuff.

[fuser]

Flying is no joke.  Many have said that WW2O is worth the box sale JUST for the flying portion.  The reality is, aside from Falcon4.0, you'll get no better a wartime air sim than WW2O.
I was a pretty good pilot in my time, but I was a sim phreak and real pilot to boot....  and even then, it was tough. 

I started up in WWIIOL at launch for this reason (came from warbirds before that air warrior). Something learned along the way was you really need pedals. Nothing even twisty sticks like the sidewinder could reproduce good rudder control.

[Engels]

Flying is no joke.  Many have said that WW2O is worth the box sale JUST for the flying portion.  The reality is, aside from Falcon4.0, you'll get no better a wartime air sim than WW2O.

How does it compare to IL-2 Sturmovik? I ask because I have to be skeptical of a game that has a "sub-game" that's allegedly better than a stand-alone WW2 flight sim that's been developed and revised for the last 10 years.

[Ghambit]

Flying is no joke.  Many have said that WW2O is worth the box sale JUST for the flying portion.  The reality is, aside from Falcon4.0, you'll get no better a wartime air sim than WW2O.

How does it compare to IL-2 Sturmovik? I ask because I have to be skeptical of a game that has a "sub-game" that's allegedly better than a stand-alone WW2 flight sim that's been developed and revised for the last 10 years.

It's apples to oranges.  You're comparing something with a (sandbox) persistent MP campaign to a single-player experience with some MP skirmishes.  This is why I said the only thing comparable was Falcon4.0 (post-patches), assuming you're in bed with guys from SimHQ or some such who run hardcore 24-7 servers.  And granted, you're largely fighting against AI anyways.

As a standalone vanilla experience though, obviously Il-2 will be better in a graphical and flight model sim-sense.  But, for an overarching simulation including deep strat., HUMAN intelligence, sudden changes in plan, scrambles, and so on that actually are meaningful... you need something like WW2O.

Why these are the only games that offer this type of play is beyond me.  (scratching head)  Perhaps I'm forgetting something.
Anyways, flying for the RAF or Luft can be the "deepest" flightsim experience you'll get from any game, bar none...  if not for the simple fact everything you do has a helluva lot of importance rather than most sims where you just feel like you're messing around in a virtual cockpit for fun.

I will recommend also though that if you play WW2O and fly that you get a TrackIR or some such headtracker.  It seriously opens up the game, just as with most sims.  But more important here simply because there are no "expected" encounters, that is you dont just go from point (a) to point (b) and expect "x" amount of resistance at point (b) as in a vanilla flight sim.  In WW2O, vision is everything because there's no limit to where or when you can get into some shit.  Also, spotting ground targets is extremely important and much easier to do with a headtracker.

In closing, taking part in the Air Quake that occurs on large weekend ops will make you shit your pants.  Comms are most heated and chaotic on RAF/Luft channels.  And if you dont own the air you cant win unless you've got advanced placement of large amounts of AAA (which we've done before, and is quite entertaining).

Note, all of what I say is mostly based on play from 5+ years ago.  It's by no means as hardcore nowadays, but still fun.

[Ghambit]

I've been having a few good nights lately since my new system was built up here in my new work location.  In one weeknight:
1)  Ran FB defense mostly with a single panhard and myself as inf. cover - killed a shitload just working together; planes even
2)  Fired up a Fairmile for the same FB to take care of the air in the area (got a few stu an 09 kills).  Helluva lotta fun there.
3)  After FB secured moved north to do a blitz paradrop with 12 guys on a new AO.  Took the whole town in like 10 mins.
4)  With the same paras, popped smoke in an open area so the transport could pick us up for the next op, which was Oostmalle I believe; we landed right in the hotzone since our chutes were spent; comrades "splatted" after ditching too soon but I waited till the plane was on fire, hopped out and killed 3 tanks with the same ATR-para I had an hour+ earlier.
4.5)  Died and repositioned with AAA/ATG well placed with good trucking teamwork.  Got a bunch of big kills with a simple bofors.  Our flak trap was so deep we had to do ammo runs to keep the guns firing.  EA was like gnats.
5)  Died and shifted AOs (once the axis were busy with Oost) with another dozen guys and speed capped Breda.. layin smoke and mortars with a smart resup. truck.  Axis seemed to lay over once we got the west AB.  Two reasons we got the town the way we did.  a)  The hauler I was with got minimum distance to ALL the ABs and layed the mobile spawn  b)  we layed a para and supply cut east of town and obliterated a few defensive paradrops with aaa/atg.   Combined with the heavy screening action in Oost, we took a major town with ease.

After all this I was fuckin exhausted.  Also was bouncing between multiple TS channels, some airborne, some RAF, etc.  Interesting vibes on each.  Mostly rolled with "buckeyes" from the 13th, but I highly recommend shifting channels as needed since populations definitely arent what they used to be.  Good times.  And this is all just really screwing around - not really gettin serious.

[Ghambit]

Axis pretty much rolled over after my last post it seems.  Allied victory the other day.  Map has just reset if anyone is interested in getting onto a fresh start.  The beginning of a campaign is extremely different than its end.  Furthermore, every mistake you have early-game has much more meaning than near the end when the opposition has low morale.

[Malakili]

I think this is the most recent WW2O thread, not sure. 

Anyway, got this in my mailbox today:

Today marks the 10th anniversary of continuous operation of WWII Online and we are excited and proud to announce the addition of U.S. Forces and a new scenario-based game play option called, "Rapid Action" (R.A.). U.S. Forces will first be featured in the "D-Day" Rapid Action scenario pack and as part of a campaign special event.

 

For the past several months we have been working on re-writing several of the key systems that make the game work behind the scenes. Many of you have read about this work in recent development updates. This work was required not only to improve the update (host/client) and scoring systems for campaign play but also expand our tools for running scenario/special events with unique rules.

In addition, we have been hard at work evolving our terrain system to create new, highly detailed play areas for R.A. scenarios. To kick-off these new systems and features we have produced the first of many unit and weapon sets that feature the U.S. forces from the WWII era.

Source: http://www.battlegroundeurope.com/index.php/component/content/article/17-development-notes/9390-10th-anniversary-announcement-wwii-online-adds-us-forces

I know there are only a few people who give a hoot about this game these days, but a friend of mine up and resubbed today, so I might head back into the battle next month when I get some more free time to play again.  If I do I'll be sure to report back.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgSjjQi4uaw

[Comstar]

The Rats have impeccable timing- making their big announcement the same day as E3 - great idea so no one notices the US finally shows up, even if it is a small shoebox sized map that reminds me of Return to Castle Wolfenstien. We Need An Engineer. They missed a oppotunity to add the Cable Car map though  - I always liked that RTCW map.

The Beach map will be interesting in a wow-Omaha-really-was-a-bloodbath for the American's if they follow their promise of making it historical.

Give it another year and they might be able to add them to the main map.

[Mrbloodworth]

Not sure this is the way to go with this title. Only thing it had going for it was large scale battle.

[Malakili]

Not sure this is the way to go with this title. Only thing it had going for it was large scale battle.

I tend to agree.  The only thing I can see this doing it taking people off the battlefield and making the game feel even less populated.  Maybe the interest it generates will get some subscriptions back up (which may work for me even), but it feels like they could accomplish that other ways as well.

[Mrbloodworth]

Well, i was more thinking, they are now up versus traditional FPS games, and they will loose.

[Malakili]

Well, i was more thinking, they are now up versus traditional FPS games, and they will loose.

I don't know, the big battlefield still exists, this is just a thing you can do as a distraction.  I don't feel like it really is an attempt to compete with battlefield or call of duty.  They've been doing scenarios like this during intermission between campaigns for years in a bit more of a contrived form, this is just making is just sort of building it in.

[Sky]

Well, i was more thinking, they are now up versus traditional FPS games, and they will loose.

Better tighten up.

[Brolan]

Well, i was more thinking, they are now up versus traditional FPS games, and they will loose.

I don't know, the big battlefield still exists, this is just a thing you can do as a distraction.  I don't feel like it really is an attempt to compete with battlefield or call of duty.  They've been doing scenarios like this during intermission between campaigns for years in a bit more of a contrived form, this is just making is just sort of building it in.

It sounds like World of Tanks.  Figures, it only took a decade for CRS to get the US in their game.  Perhaps in another decade they might actually find a way to create different campaign than France 1940 over, and over, and over again.

[Spiff]

Better tighten up.