Hi/Bonjour

[macuser]

Hi Everyone

I am new to HW and have never played any computer wargames before; but of all the ones I looked at HW looked by far the best.

I wargamed many many years ago and only really thought about getting back into it recently. Being a Mac User there appears to be a limited amount of games to play and none had really grabbed me like HW. Luckily my son came back from college with his PC which I have now commandeered to play HW and he will get a laptop for Xmas.

My interest is research of strategy and tactics and play in fictitious battles/campaigns rather than reconstruction of historical battles unless of course it is use of the terrain with my own orders of battle. I have an interest in The Duchy of Warsaw having some Polish ancestry (sadly I don't speak a word of Polish).

I have yet to set up and play any scenarios having just downloaded the game. I would really like to play the game solely by putting myself in the real time shoes of the CIC. Only to see and hear what he sees and hears - via the campaign/battle map (as messages from the front come in) and restricted 3D view of the CIC's immediate area. This makes it much more like a real CIC in battle to me. Hopefully by saving the game and replaying ,which I see you can do, I will then be able to watch areas of the battle which were important and learn from any strategic/tactical mistakes of which there will no doubt be many.

If any others play in this fashion and can give me any set up hints I would be very grateful as a shortcut to getting started. In time I would like to take part in multi player campaigns but right now would like to just learn how to use the game.

I see there are lots of French players - Salut, je suis desole parce que ma Francaise ce n'est pas couramment mais avec beaucoup de patience et un dictionnaire je peux ecrirer avec vous aussi peut etre! (A mon avis les Anglaises ont eu beaucoup de la chance).

I look forward to reading the forum, playing the game and hearing from you,

Regards/A bientot

Macuser

[thilio]

Bienvenue macuser 

[Gunner24]

Hello and welcome to the forum, and the game.

I would really like to play the game solely by putting myself in the real time shoes of the CIC.

This was a very common aim before, and just after the first release, but.....

If any others play in this fashion

There must be some who do, but.....

You may well enjoy this feature but.....

I (and others of course) have tried it several times and it sure is interesting, but very very limiting in what you see, I'm not sure there are many who would wish to play this way all the time, but of course I may be wrong about that.

but right now would like to just learn how to use the

It takes a little while to get used to, but if you are new to pc war games you may find it easier than others who have to adjust from other games.

In time I would like to take part in multi player campaigns

Please take a look over at NBC when your ready, we play many MP and PBEM games.  Our setting for MP games are full view with conditional for enemy and UNconditional for friendy, with orders deplayed, limited.  There are some many different combinations within the options it takes a good while to find what you like best - assuming you don't stay with the CiC restricted view !.

My interest is research of strategy and tactics and play in fictitious battles/campaigns

This is what the NBC/GaW/Campaign is all about, generating all kinds of different battles for MP games.

[macuser]

Hi Gunner24

Thank you for the considered reply. I am sure that my method is limiting and will not utilise the game to its full potential but it is how I remember wargaming! I remember my first ever  wargame. I turned up expecting to see a table full of figures (I was being lent an "army" for the day) and was rather taken aback to see my opponent cutting out shapes from newspaper. I asked why and was told "well from where your CIC is he can see movement but can't tell what it is!" I said "well how do I know whether I can blast it with canon", (not realising it was out of range as well!)"Exactly" was the reply. It really struck a chord with me - shades of  Christopher Plummer as Wellington in Waterloo "is it Prussian Black or French Blue?".  A real eye opener. Of course as his army came in to view he put out his figures but I had already been well out maneuvered by then!

After the game in which I was soundly thrashed we then put all figures on and went through the battle discussing it. I would intend to do the same with HW - play with limited view and then replay the battle from different views and vantage points if possible to see where I go wrong. I used to do the same at chess. My real interest is the strategy and tactics (but I do love a good cavalry charge - especially Polish Lancers). It is going to take me a while to get back into it with work and family commitments. One of the great advantages of PC games over live wargames I can see.

I will certainly look in at NBC - thank you for the link and the invite.

Macuser

[Hook]

Hey macuser!  Welcome.

I recommend not locking the view to the CinC.  You might find the game more enjoyable by being able to jump to one of your corps commander's views.  This is how I like to play.  The 20/60 speed is where the animations and movement match properly, and gives a good balance between a good game and extreme realism.

The F5 key will show the view from the selected unit, whether the CinC, a corps commander, or an individual unit.  One thing you need to know is how to zoom in the F5 view.   This is described in the first tutorial.  If you zoom in as far as you can, the battlefield will look more like what you would see with your naked eye.  We're still waiting for a telescope view.  

You can do an even more extreme fog of war by limiting your use of the 2D map to the dispatches screen.  When you get a new dispatch, click on it for additional information from the corps commander who sent the dispatch.  If you haven't gotten an update from the corps commanders in a while, you can use the right click CinC menu to send one aide de camp to a specific commander or aides de camp to all your corps commanders.  It takes a few minutes to get the reports back.  It is possible to give orders by clicking on a corps commander on the minimap so that you never have to use the normal 2D map showing everything.  I tested this at one time and it worked.  No guarantees that it will work with the latest version of the game.

All I can say is, good  luck!

Since I'm usually testing something in the game when I play, I don't get to use the above methods much.  I spend most of my time in the 2D map with no fog of war.  But tutorial 2 and usually tutorial 3 are played from the viewpoint of one of the commanders, with an occasional use of the F6 view to watch the more interesting action, and an occasional look at the 2D map.

Hook

[macuser]

Hey Hook

Thank you for the reply and the info - those are exactly the kind of tips I need. I do like making things difficult for myself!!

I am working my way -slowly - through the first tutorial.

Thanks Again

Macuser