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Sorry for Necro' this thread, but will put up a quick review for the benefit of others.
This game is an 9/10 from me. It is clever and very good, the sound and feel for this game is awesome, the attention to detail is very good.
It is essentially a Capture positions (sectors) to get Command points to spend on reinforcements. You also get Command Stars, which unlock further units which are better to do what you need. There are thousands to collect as each mark of vehicle is represented, so at 1st it's rubbish low level vehicles like Leopard 1's etc and early marks of M60 and basic vehicles, later on you get Leopard 2's and Leopard 2A4 etc, each is almost an exponential increase in capability.
The cleverness of the game is in it's shooting mechanics, vehicles can only shoot a certain distance with a certain accuracy, logistics and also veterancy. NATO Guns tend to be more accurate meaning that NATO Tanks can tend to fend off more enemy. However even a glancing non-penetrating hit can reset your firing computer resulting in your individual tanks not being able to fire, equally morale becomes an issue and tanks can panic for example if they have sustained artillery barrage or they are being hit continuously and have high health or if a unit in their platoon gets blown to bits. A good example is AAA fire or 20mm cannons, hitting a Main battle Tank continuously with a stream of 20mm, 30mm cannon shells for 10-15 seconds will not kill the tank but the crew will be become shaken and can panic as when they try to shoot back their aim is off as is their computer. So this gives an element of realism, Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGM) are a pain in this game and you must be careful, if you tank rush you will get spanked. The range of ATGM out ranges your MBT guns so often these things streak in and you have no idea where it came from and if you close to take them on, you are well inside their engagement evelope and you will lose.
Infantry close in with tanks is a lose-lose for tanks, infantry at range will get spanked by tanks. RECCE / RECON is everything in this game, it's all about scouting the lay of the land, and establishing enemy positions and ensuring your flanks are protected, the AI isn't bad and will catch you out if you are not switched on. I actually really enjoy the element of taking apart enemy units with co-ordinated all arms action.
Above all the thing that will make you angry and pull your hair out is logistics. All units have only so much fuel, and so much ammo, the enemy seem to have near limitless resources and stopping the Soviets or NATO on higher difficulties is hard, very hard.
You only have so many resources, you can capture more and refuel, but if you run out of fuel your tanks will get stuck and eventually run out of ammo and will be picked off. Using roads increase your range dramatically, but you will be ambushed, going cross country can result in units getting stuck (bogged down) and then shot to pieces as they cannot avoid ATGM or Artillery. This adds a superb layer of realism as you try to work out if you have the Fuel to get to the Evacuation position and therefore do you have enough fuel to hit an enemy position, and if necessary pullback, regroup re-arm and hit it again? Or is your fuel state so perilous that you must carry the assault in one go, and therefore commit 100% of your resources to the assault.
If you are too defensive you can actually be fought to a standstill, because the constant enemy attacks will remove your Ammo until you have none left and then you have lots of fuel and no ammo (D'oh) and no chance of a decent resupply.
Big Positives - Veterancy keeping your units alive pays off big time....BIG TIME!!! With Logistics being an issue getting 4 Top level veteran Main battle Tanks is a massive bonus, every shot must count and with Veterans there is little or no wasted ammunition, no panicking when the going gets rough. They are expensive but they are amazing, My Chieftain Mk5's carry like 100 Rounds but they make all of them count, as higher veterancy = Better Accuracy even at max range and also morale. So have 4 tanks that hit 80% of the time at max range of like 1900metres with a 120mm rifled gun = instant kill or enemy tank stunned. Placing this 4 Tank Platoon in Cover (Forrest/copse/ high hedge) on dominating ground and they literally own it. Then send a single Logistics truck full of ammo and they will die of Old age defending those positions.
Artillery is AMAZING (it eats logistics and you need to use it judiciously) but counter-battery firing on an enemy Artillery unit is so satisfying when you knock them out for no loses when they are shelling your positions, but you pull back out of the danger zone. You never see the units till they explode, so you literally shell a grid reference which then suddenly appear as they explode.
Three criticism's one is the lack of a proper Day/Night and Weather Cycle. E.g it is always bright and sunny which is a bit of a nice to have but not at all realistic and feels abit plasticky and false.. Also the lack of Smoke rounds, or smoke chargers on vehicles is a major issue, all armoured vehicles in the cold war used smoke (not a problem for NATO with it's IR / Thermal Image sights, the Russians had a few of these but not thousands like NATO).
Second is the lack of proper Air power. You do get Helicopters (attack and transport types) but no fixed wing. It would have been amazing to have A-10's and Froggers etc doing ground attacks,
Third is that Infantry is bit over simplistic, it would be nice to have Dig in options and other elements such as Mine laying/ fortifications .However this Game is all about Mechanised Warfare which it does brilliantly.
All told, I love this game, with the three points above rectified it would be 10/10, but it's a solid 90% especially if you are a Cold War Gamer.
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