Graviteam Games Question

JudgeDredd · July 05, 2013, 02:20:17 PM

So I saw JH talking about fighting Mujihadeen and Iranian forces in Afghan called Shield Profit and checked it out.

I have Steel Armour Blaze of War from these peeps...but when I saw their webpage, they have quite a few games.

I knew about Achtung Panzer Operation Star and I have Achtung Panzer Kharkove I believe...but the others are a mystery. There doesn't seem to be any "logic" to their menu system if any of these games are linked...so are they all stand alone games? Except for the ones prefixed APOS (Achtung Panzer Operation Star DLC's?)

Anyway - just interested in the quality of the games. I hardly played Blaze of War tbh - but I am always interested in getting it going again and in fact due to JH's post I reinstalled it tonight to see why I dropped it early. Perhaps I couldn't get on with it or perhaps I didn't rtfm and so didn't get into it...I'll see.

But any info on what games are available and what are core and not and how they fare would be nice. Which ones are DLC and for what main game? Is Shield Profit CLD for my Blaze of War? Don't know.

Anyway - just askin - I am going to have a look deeper in the site - see if I can work out what are the core engines and what are DLC

Ta

JudgeDredd · July 05, 2013, 02:25:45 PM

ok - so a quick look reveals Shield Profit as DLC for Operation Star...why? Why is it not DLC for Blaze of War. Operation Star is a WWII game and Blaze of War is around the same era as Shield Profit???

ah well - no worries - answered my own question (about DLC anyway)

How they play would be cool to know - and whether they have the same "awkward" interface as I remember Kharkov having?

Jarhead0331 · July 05, 2013, 02:32:29 PM

Shield of the Prophet is not a tank simulation like Blaze of War. It is a pausable RTS title using the same engine as APOS. All of the coldwar era DLC's are for APOS, including Prophet, Operation Hooper and the upcoming Zhalanashkol.

undercovergeek · July 05, 2013, 02:47:33 PM

theres a nice AAR for it in the AAR section from SDR i think

JudgeDredd · July 05, 2013, 03:05:21 PM

Quote from: Jarhead0331 on July 05, 2013, 02:32:29 PM
Shield of the Prophet is not a tank simulation like Blaze of War. It is a pausable RTS title using the same engine as APOS. All of the coldwar era DLC's are for APOS, including Prophet, Operation Hooper and the upcoming Zhalanashkol.

Brilliant - thanks. Cleared up in one sentence! :)

JudgeDredd · July 05, 2013, 03:06:23 PM

Quote from: undercovergeek on July 05, 2013, 02:47:33 PM
theres a nice AAR for it in the AAR section from SDR i think

I'll have a look - maybe it's about time I bought APOS. I liked Kharkov - it was kind of quirky interface wise - but muddling through it came out with some great gameplay and superb graphics.

mikeck · July 05, 2013, 03:53:01 PM

I really enjoyed combat mission...from the very first ge back in 2000. I will say that once I got used to the UI and concepts on the operations map, I actually enjoy APOS more. I play both APOS and shield of the prophet. The graphics are better, it is more immersive, you get just as much "numbers under the hood" and I get an operations map where I decide which units attack where, who gets reinforced, etc.

It's a YMMV kind of thing for sure, but give the system a chance. As for Shield of the Prophet, it's just kind of cool fighting tanks from the 70's

Jarhead0331 · July 05, 2013, 04:00:45 PM

I'll add that APOS nails the immersion factor like no other game in its class...ever. It is some seriously intense and compelling stuff.

Watching crew bail out of burning vehicles...on fire...and then run around doing the funky chicken before they collapse and die just never gets old. Especially when it happens at night.

Speaking of night, combat in the dark is hauntingly beautiful. Tracers dash across the field, back and forth, skip off of the ground or obstacles and bounce into the sky. It is captivating, violent and frightening to behold all at the same time.

Speaking of night and fire...I recently had a battle where my Soviet unit was equipped with a couple of, what I think were TO-55s...basically. T-55s with a flamethrower. They were ambushed by a handful of Muj with small arms. In response, the TO-55s shot a few jets of burning jelly their way and at least 10-15 Muj were instantly ignited. i didn't even see the majority of these guys until they burst into flames. It was like watching some ghastly ritual dance...this platoon of guys running in circles, on fire, until they all fell to the ground at intervals where they continued to burn. The darkness of the nighttime desert was brightened by their burning corpses.

Ever see something like that in any other game?

jomni · July 05, 2013, 05:20:58 PM

I really have to get APOS. Always wanted but never pulled the trigger. Is it on sale?

Silent Disapproval Robot · July 05, 2013, 05:33:49 PM

You just missed it. It was on for 50% off at Gamersgate a week and a half ago. For some reason, the Graviteam stuff never shows up on the sale page at GG. The "Alert me on price drops" flag doesn't seem to work either. Best bet is just to check GG every few days as it's on sale fairly regularly.

Nefaro · July 05, 2013, 07:04:01 PM

Quote from: Jarhead0331 on July 05, 2013, 02:32:29 PM
Shield of the Prophet is not a tank simulation like Blaze of War. It is a pausable RTS title using the same engine as APOS. All of the coldwar era DLC's are for APOS, including Prophet, Operation Hooper and the upcoming Zhalanashkol.

Just to add:

SA:Blaze of War actually plays just like APOS with the ability to jump into any of your side's tanks during a battle, but I believe there may be an extra strategic layer in APOS IIRC. This and the Op Hooper (?) assets & campaigns came from SABOW but they must've added a few extra details on the higher strategic level.

To answer JD's question of why these are expansions for APOS: it was probably quite easy to assemble them since those two games use the same engine and pretty much the same strategy game code so it was quick & relatively easy?

JudgeDredd · July 06, 2013, 03:08:20 AM

Thank you one and all.

I've never took the plunge on APOS - even when I saw it on offer - because WWII is "take or leave" with me just now - but with 70's stuff in there - I will likely take the plunge next time I see it on offer

So if anyone see it on offer - a heads up would be greatly appreciated!

undercovergeek · July 06, 2013, 04:07:48 AM

Whilst I always read it too late (new xcom for 6 quid - who knew!!) If you keep an eye on the sales thread there are bargain grogs who always post in there about sales across the globe

Tuna · July 06, 2013, 08:28:50 AM

Quote from: JudgeDredd on July 06, 2013, 03:08:20 AM
Thank you one and all.

I've never took the plunge on APOS - even when I saw it on offer - because WWII is "take or leave" with me just now - but with 70's stuff in there - I will likely take the plunge next time I see it on offer

So if anyone see it on offer - a heads up would be greatly appreciated!

Their email notifications work great Judge, just click it on the game page and they will send you a mail when the price drops!

mikeck · July 06, 2013, 08:36:35 AM

It can be a "pain" to get the game patched and the DLC going but it's not to bad. After Jarhead yelled at me, I sat down and went through it step by step and it worked