HPS Games

[Toonces]

I would definitely buy more of his games if they did a MatrixGames type sale periodically.  There are quite a few that I don't feel $40-50 passionate about, but would happily drop $20 on.

[Staggerwing]

I would definitely buy more of his games if they did a MatrixGames type sale periodically.  There are quite a few that I don't feel $40-50 passionate about, but would happily drop $20 on.

Then you need spend an extra $9.99 and to go to the NWS Store's HPS section for lots of $29.99 Tiller goodness.

[ArizonaTank]

I generally like them and love their broad subject matter...but getting very tired of the ancient interface, and 20th century graphics.  I certainly don't play them now as much as I used to.

[Grimnirsson]

but getting very tired of the ancient interface, and 20th century graphics.

This is not CoD and Tiller games have the advantage that if you can play one game of a given series (e.g. Panzer Campaigns) you can play all the others as well. I always considered them as board wargames played on the PC and I had no problems with the UI or gfx - just with the AI that always beats me  ;D

[agathosdaimon]

i find the ai on tillers games good enough too for my liking - tough in every one i have and i ahve almost all the napoleons battles plus several ww2 and fulda gap 85.
HPS has been quiet recently i believe due to some matters involving people running it having sadly to deal with deaths in the family - although thats not related to Tiller himself, but rather others involved with HPS.

The Napoleonic Battles games are superb, of course not as realistic as can be but excellent as a wargame in any case and also i really think there is more potential for tiller to do some Modern Air Power games. - I got his free Ipad app for modern air power and it is pretty fun, great as a simple free game with a few scenarios. like an Ultra lite CMANO
I hope to get his WW2 Naval games eventually and the renaissance one too - but yes NWS is a good plae for getting them a little cheaper

[Bison]

The new Nappy titles sold at John Tiller Software have a lot of battles designed specifically for the solo gamer.

[Rayfer]

Interesting that agathosdaimon and grimnirsson find the ai in HPS games a challenge...and I agree completely, that's been my experience as well. Yet often on these forums I read how others find the ai braindead and no challenge at all. I guess wargaming is like sports; there are those who excel and those who struggle.

[Bison]

The HPS AI is decent in smaller battles, but is really lacking in the campaign or larger battles IMO.  One thing I've noticed is that I tend to play to the AI moves, so they seem less boneheaded.  Then you play a PBEM game and you learn that your tactics against the AI are about 99.9% likely to fail against a human opponent.

[MengJiao]

Tiller's games may be old and ugly, but they continue to support them many years later!

  Yep.  I'm irrationally fond of some of them: Tobruk '41, Moscow '42, and one that is quite amazing and pretty recent (well Moscow '42 is pretty recent) France '14.  I usually get some improved imagery for them.  that's all on the old machine far far down in the basement. 

  My impression is that with all the patches and the improved images, the games are still reasonably fun....though note that I haven't played one in over a year.

[Cyrano]

Every time someone makes reference to HPS/JTS games, I repeat my call:

REBOOT AGE OF SAIL!!

Begging you here.

The HPS/JTS games have some of the best MP out there and with the anniversary of Trafalgar approaching, STRIKE NOW, I say...

I think John's (I really should call him Mr. Tiller, I've only met him once) support of his software is nigh-unparalleled.  We're getting patches for games that are long stable and released...he's even fixing things that are the results of our changing PC environments (witness the manual issue).

Well deserving of support...

Best,

Jim
"Cyrano"
:/7)

[Zulu1966]

I'm glad it works for you. I bought games at full price that don't have working manuals. Their answer is they aren't that hard to learn without them. No intention of upgrading them.

It depends on  your POV as to what supporting a game means. To me, if you are selling it a full price it should have a working manual.

Good Hunting.

MR

WTF ARE you talking about ?

The games - the latest updates of which - (of which there have been many and he is still supporting games that are ten years old ) all have manuals in PDF format. Now in case you dont know what PDF format is - it is the most widely used document format in the world. So if you cant read the manuals its your issue not  his.

[GJK]

If the 2D units for the TIller games weren't 10px x 10px in size, I'd enjoy these games much more.  I was actually excited about the tablet demo game, which doesn't suffer from tiny icons that can't be zoomed upon, but found the unit movement and combat procedures kinda wonky on the tablet.  I remember that TOAW got a make-over in which the unit icons were doubled or tripled in size and it didn't mean rewriting all of the code for the game, just some kind of magnification effect.  I'd like to see this applied to the Tiller games.  And no, Windows magnifying glass isn't a solution, it's a wonky a way to play as playing the tablet version of the game.

FWIW, I LOVE his Midway game.  There can be an hour of nothing but search planes flying around but it is intense once you spot the enemy carrier fleet(s).  Fun game and quite detailed without requiring a computer science doctorate to play (though you wouldn't think so the first time you play the thing).

[Nefaro]

Question:

Which of the "Modern Campaigns" titles do you guys recommend?  I've been wanting to check out one of the '85 Fulda Gap, North German Plain, or Danube Front WWIII in Europe selections but dunno which one may be considered the best value regarding content. 

I'll likely pick up Mideast '67 in addition to one of the above, or a later on.

[Al]

Question:

Which of the "Modern Campaigns" titles do you guys recommend?  I've been wanting to check out one of the '85 Fulda Gap, North German Plain, or Danube Front WWIII in Europe selections but dunno which one may be considered the best value regarding content. 

I'll likely pick up Mideast '67 in addition to one of the above, or a later on.

Get Danube Front - it covers West Germany from the Baltic to Austria so it's the best bang for your buck.  You can check over at theblitz.org for scenarios and alternate files.  NWS has it for $30.

Also, I'd recommend France '14.  IMO - and having played Panzer/Modern Campaigns for a long time - it's the best of the series.  It just seems to me that game system suits WWI combat best.  I hope the guy who did France'14 does another WWI game.

[panzerde]

Question:

Which of the "Modern Campaigns" titles do you guys recommend?  I've been wanting to check out one of the '85 Fulda Gap, North German Plain, or Danube Front WWIII in Europe selections but dunno which one may be considered the best value regarding content. 

I'll likely pick up Mideast '67 in addition to one of the above, or a later on.

Get Danube Front - it covers West Germany from the Baltic to Austria so it's the best bang for your buck.  You can check over at theblitz.org for scenarios and alternate files.  NWS has it for $30.

Also, I'd recommend France '14.  IMO - and having played Panzer/Modern Campaigns for a long time - it's the best of the series.  It just seems to me that game system suits WWI combat best.  I hope the guy who did France'14 does another WWI game.

+1 to both of the above.  I played some Danube Front just last night.  There's a scenario that covers the same area as the "A Time to Dance" scenario from Flashpoint Campaigns, at the company/battalion/regiment level. Pretty cool to be able to recognize the terrain around Bad Neustadt on the Tiller map from playing it in FPC.