WW2 Armored Warfare - Demo Testing

Imho the fight for sicily should be in, as well as early part of Italy, then have us switch to Sherman in sequel handling part of Italy and France and finish with a finale handling Ardeneses to the end of War. If you dont mind not having 1 tank per game it might good to have, Part of Sequel still with Stuart and then switching and in Finale allow using Pershing as well.

Thats of course if Allen intends to continue this.

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I managed to get 6 Panzer IV kills with my tank remaining undamaged and crew unharmed throught i got badly wounded as commander standing in Cupola, arrived took every other opportunity to delay then charged forward aimed once and then just kept firing, might be that i save loaded shit out of gambling since you can then get almost all modifications all of them in fact plus radio etc if you already have some modifications. its critical to basically farm exp,not let anyone die etc, for example at airfield take two shots at fieldworks then infantry then zip, fire at aircrafts, dodge the anti air cannon etc. ended up with Gunner being master shooter skilled in cooperation with driver, driver also having some shooting etc my sergeant being proficient in everything etc.

honestly it was like scene from movie 1 Stuart taking out 6 Panzers IV without taking damage crew unwounded and Sergeant standing in Cupola directing fire and getting hit by shrapnels from around him but still standing there. at this rate i might actually be able to take out Tiger with Stuart. seriously if we get Sherman later in instalments i hope we get to fight King Tiger and Panther at same time or Maus because i want to get this high again, best of all aside from gambling save load, i did this without SINGLE DEATH so no extra exp etc to me.

@AllenGies I also figured a way to historically justify gender choice. Idea hit me when playing HOI. you just need slight bit of alternative history Have Amelia Eartheart survive, then volunteer to fight, Roosevelt signs dispensation and it snowballs and USA ends with several thousands of female volunteers, since they are more conservative and not as desperate as russia there is no artilery crew or sniper for women, just Piloting and vehicle crew, if you keep it in low thousands its plausible, since even in WWI Tsarist Russia had women fighting even before Febuary revolution based on dispensation etc, so i figure that between Amelia, Patriotism and Roosevelt being progresive you could end with small pool of women fighter that would still be expectional cases, It would also allow you to integrate women characters into the game instead of just having it be PC.

Hell this is exceptert during the provisional goverment Of Russia times, and i dont think USA would do worse that Tsarist Russia, some 24 years later.

Minister of War and soon-to-be Prime Minister Alexander Kerensky (1881-1970) authorized decorated veteran soldier Maria Bochkareva (1889-1920) to organize the 1st Russian Women’s Battalion of Death in May 1917. Initially, the unit attracted several thousand women. But as a result of Bochkareva’s strict discipline, her rejection of the rights afforded soldiers by Order No. 1, and zero tolerance for any hint of “femininity” (requiring the recruits to shave their heads, give up personal hygiene items – even toothbrushes – and encouraging them to spit and swear), the unit faced mass attrition. The 300 remaining women began intensive, month-long training before they were sent to participate in the June Offensive.

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One Soviet sniper was called “Lady Death” for her proficiency with a sniper rifle back in WW2 with 309 confirmed kills. And her name is Lyudmila Pavlichenko.

There is also Roza Shanina, a soviet front line sniper WW2 1945.

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i know but Soviet Union was in different situation to USA which is why i suggest Earheart surviving and then joining air force via special dispensation and it snowbaling from there, perhaps with Senators being able to give that dispensation, in sort of like its with Westpoint, USA propably would allow artilery or even snipers positions for women but planes and vehicles might be allowable, plus several thousand of volunteers is big enough to have some representation and explain why USA bothers to actually have them in as soldiers instead of propaganda setpieces and allows for representation and not having player be the only woman in entire USA army while also small enough to not disrupt historical plausibility and realism, its basically case of Viking Shield Maiden rather having female soldiers in Rome.

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@AllenGies, I played through Chapter 5 several times; I should note that I tend to play cautiously, which is probably why I found Chapter 5 a challenge.

On the battle between M3 Stuarts and 75mm half-tracks vs Panzer IIIs and IVs:

At most, I was able to kill off two Panzer IIIs; I was a part of the flanking group, and I charged in and aimed for the Panzer IIIs. Alternatively, in my playthroughs where I’m in the attack group (the bait?), I either end up with no kills or one kill.

In all cases, moving forward into the Panzers and attacking took its toll: I almost always ended up with my MC wounded from splinters, and sometimes one of my crew members gets killed in action. (Although, being part of the flanking group and charging sometimes doesn’t wound/kill you and your crew). One of the ways I found to avoid casualties among the crew is being part of the attack group and staying behind, then attacking (although in this case, I once was able to hit a Panzer III repeatedly without killing it).

Those Panzer IIIs are tough; I haven’t actually targeted a Panzer IV yet (as they’re better armored and more difficult to kill, I’d leave those to the 75mm half-tracks). I think this battle serves as proof that we Stuart tanks should focus more on reconnaissance or support, or something which isn’t direct tank vs tank combat.


I do have a suggestion after the battle, where we decide if we loot a Panzer or a Stuart or tend to the fallen or report to Driscoll: if we or one of our crew was wounded and we have medical supplies, could we have an option to tend to the wounds?

And I’m not sure if this is an error, but in Chapter 3, when looting the crashed bomber, if you have either the tank kit or company kit, the option to loot the bomber’s medical supplies don’t show up.

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Six enemy tanks. Yeah, that’s a bit much. On the other hand, your gunner is excellent and it sounds like you were heavily focused in Gunnery… which is generally a good idea. Either way, six tank kills by a Stuart certainly calls for a medal. When it comes time to write that up, probably in the lull of Chapter 6, it and other actions will receive mention. Not sure how that will play out, but it will.

Hmm… making a note about purple hearts. Going to have to keep track of each chapter and whether the player has earned one or not. @Eiwynn - it is fairly ‘easy’ to be awarded one, suffering a wound resulting from activity against the enemy. By now the PC could have five, which would be a crowded cluster of oak leaves on the medal.

This game will definitely involve Kasserine Pass. In fact, Kasserine Pass was in the original title.

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O.K. :slight_smile: I just know that “medal inflation” in modern times is something that is a complaint among older vets and was not sure if requirements were the same in this era as they are now…

btw: You are still awesome @AllenGies and i love this update, even though I have not yet posted my feedback for it :slight_smile:

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There will probably be no changing tanks. That’s a lot of coding for very little payoff. Though the M3 Lee would be fun.

No D-Day scenarios, though if I were to do it it’d be one of the (2) amphibious tanks that come ashore at Utah Beach. Unless we followed the British/Canadian/Commonwealth forces… which would require a lot more research for me.

Glad you liked Tin Star. And thanks for the cheer.

@CaesarCzech - Yeah, Sicily would probably be a different tank. Same with Italy. Not much fun to play recon when there isn’t much recon to do. And giving the player one of the early Pershings would be interesting.

Glad you detailed your playthrough style with the airport, etc. That helps me tell what is good and what isn’t.

The Amelia Earhart connection is an interesting one. Before I’d just had First Lady Elenore Roosevelt interceding to get the military to allow one woman to serve in each service, and her reasons were unexplained; but this would be a good point of divergence .

@NJG - Good data set. Some kills, but not a crazy amount. And yeah, less when you are part of the ‘bait’ force. Will take a look at your other parts, especially the bomber’s medical supplies. Can’t remember if I’d limited the upgrade as bombers didn’t tend to carry a big kit for that.

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Well I suppose only two were Panzer IV’s and my poor Sarge did sustain his worst wounds yet…probably going to leave a neck or facial scar this time around. :sweat_smile:
The tank was moderately damaged too…on the other hand the other three boys all don’t have a scratch on them.

Yeah, broody Latino boy and my Sarge are respectively excellent and very skilled gunners. The other two also have at least modest gunnery plus being quite excellent at their own speciality by now.

I suppose one consequence of being wounded badly enough is having to spend part of the intermezzo chapter in a hospital, instead of doing other stuff that is way more fun. :thinking:
That would certainly balance out the medals and possible career boost gameplay-wise. :thinking:

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I really wish I’d said something sooner, but this has the same major problem as Tin Star of early choices being very randomly associated with attribute and opposed trait changes. Stuff like that only means frustration and a lot of restarts.

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About the trophies you can collect… Any of it will have some major impact in future updates?
Taking the trench coat because it’s badass is impractical if you’re in a desert…
It gave me big chuckle when that option popped out.

i mean i got six tanks too and they were all Panzer IVs so i would appreciate if Panzer IVs and III were distinguished in flavor, because i have to say that im really proud of being able to do it without anyone getting killed without any damage just with my MC getting badly wounded directing fire from his cupola as shells fell aroun him. and the best part is that aside from save load at gambling to afford some upgrades i just played normally no purposefully getting killed to get Crew xp just being smart in xp distribution etc. at this late i kinda hope we get to face tiger in Tunis or Kasserine and can use actually kill it because that would provide one hell of challange.

Like not all PZ IV were exploding two i think were just mission killed with crew bailing out but i legit couldnt stop laughing at it because out of 8 time slot i spent 1 basically speeding to the front 1 taking aim and 6 shooting and i legit didnt get any crew wounded or tank damaged aside from MC getting hit by fragments and ending badly wounded from spending the entire battle open to fire in cupola for better view. Like i legit appreciate game allowing you to be tank version of Simo Haya in terms of being tank commander. That crew dialogue “We are winning the war here” didnt seem so boastful considering what my crew pulled off.

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Sounds like you did even better than I did.
Yeah, I’d like this over the top performance to remain possible in the final version, though it does come at the cost of Sarge getting themselves wounded by staying upright in the cuppola for the entire duration of the fight.
I wonder if aside from the possible medal(s) we’ll gain a personal reputation for that, as that is exactly the sort of crazy stuff the army grunts love to tell tall tales about.

Well…the dying at the ripe old age of 27 is something I could do without for my mc, bleak as times were for gay men of that era.

Which leads me to my other thought on this is that my or indeed any other gay mc would have to tread very carefully racking up that kind of reputation as the additional scrutiny that can bring may be very dangerous as the best case scenario for my mc would still be to remain in the army with a promotion to officer post-war.

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Thats why i mentioned being able to battle tigere in Kasserine or Tunis because Combat Mission with all its accurate parameters shows that Stuart can penetrate and achieve mission kill even if not explosion if it hits several times in proper spots, could be nice challange having to maneuver around tank that can kill you in one shot. I imagine it would be interesting Optional final boss of sorts with increasing difficulty for surviving(time being shorter if you have radio as you can call for air support) damaging it or outright defeating it.

I really like games allowing me to that stuff while making it appropriately hard, this game is amazing in how stats play part but your tactic and approaches modify it so its not just stat checks.

Also i hope game has achivement for beating this guy in tank kills over the series if it continues into trilogy.

because best American Ace has comparatively low 12 Tank kills. meanwhile i more or less 2/3 way to beating him while in stuart and not even Africa campaign being over.

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There are a couple of solutions to this (It certainly can be a problem).

Firstly, I can indicate that a given choice raises/lowers Sarcasm/ Directness/Verbosity or the Adaptation/Delegation/Zeal second triumvirate.

Secondly, I can simply try to make it way more obvious what a given choice entails. The needles go to 11 here.

Thirdly, allow the player to select their own +/- stats at the start of the game and then they have to live with it.

A fourthly, something else?

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I would just go straightforward customization. Once the game actually gets going the choices are a bit more intuitive, so I don’t think you need to put the results/tests in the text (not that I would be bothered by that, but some players are)

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The downside of fame. That might be interesting to consider as a kind of side-mission when either the MC’s career increases past a certain point or they manage a heroic act and get into the papers/dispatches. Killing X tanks in Chewy-gooey Pass might be enough for that, with the attendant pitfalls of the same.

The MC might have to argue against being removed from North Africa and being forced to sell war bonds back home. Optionally, they accept and the game ends there.

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How do others feel about this? More customization at the start? Only customization at the start? More of an easing into things where any changes increase in later chapters?

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Personally I don’t like being locked into any personality choices. MC’s can change from their experiences. Also as someone who enjoys my sarcasm I can sometimes find myself regretting it when those choices inevitably cross my own arbitrary line of what’s appropriate.

In my gaming I like having the option to see stat changes in the choices because I tend to struggle in recognizing from the tone. However I know this can be a major issue for others so if you do it that way it almost needs to be optional.

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i mean if you intend for this to not be one off but also have sequel or two you might want to avoid going overboard because you need to spare some events for next instalments.