Hello Everyone

Martin has redirected me here from the NorbSoft forum as i recently purchased Scourge of War Waterloo, and have been hunting down useful mods to improve the gameplay.

I would add that at the moment I'm pretty uncertain about how the game works, and I'm still struggling to finish the tutorial, mainly because I think i keep derailing it by getting carried away and fighting the French instead of doing what the tutorial tells me. So, far every attempt to complete it seems to end up with the tutorial stomping off in a huff and refusing to talk to me anymore

Anyway, I'm retired so plenty of time to play, and I've spent pretty much much whole life studying the battle of Waterloo, as I decided quite early on that there is just too much history to understand everything and that Waterloo and the 1815 campaign was probably the most prolifically documented battle available.  Thanks mainly to William Siborne, who is a bit of a hero in my eyes.

Former tabletop wargamer, used to run the BMWG in my youth, finally had to scale things down when my career as a project manager took off, and when computer came along and made things much simpler.

Long term Totalwar player and member of both the TWCentre and the Org, where I think Martin and I first met.

I've designed my own wargame rules in the past and improved existing sets where necessary, and I'm usually up for a good debate about anything historical, and can usually be relied upon to raise a few eyebrows with my wacky idea's and theories.  But why spoil the surprise

Kind Regards

David aka Didz

Welcome to the KS forum.

The game has a relatively steep learning curve but once climbed you'll find the AI is able to give you a challenging game. It's even more challenging if you don't cheat and you play from saddle height the way the AI does.

We use the KS mod here, which greatly changes the behavior of the game. The stock game is essentially SOWGB in fancy dress. The KS mod endeavors to change that and present a more Napoleonic, combined arms battle. It's not perfect, but is far superior to the original, giving a good feel as to how lethal those battlefields were.

If you are having problems getting started and trying to control your units, you are welcome to ask questions here. The players on this forum are all highly experienced and will happily try to answer them. Of course the quickest way to learn how to play the game is to join one of our MP sessions. Then you can ask questions and get them answered in real time while in battle.

Again, welcome.

Thank you Uncle,

I thought I would try and master the vanilla game first, hence the attempt to work through the tutorial mission, and the limited use of mods.

But once I am confident I understand the basic's I shall downlaod the KS mod and begin the process again.

Regards

Didz

Hi David, I'm pleased to see you wandered over here. The main reason our group plays SoW:WL is because as far as I'm aware its the only PC wargame ever made that includes a real-time courier system to allow orders to be sent to your subordinate commanders and units via an animated despatch rider, and in MP games, written notes between players without the need to talk over Teamspeak. Not only does this allow additional realism but because your orders are not instantaneous it also introduces all kids of tension, especially as couriers can be intercepted if they stray too close to enemy units.

The second unique feature of SoW is the ability to fix your camera view to your general, so that it becomes, in effect, a first-person experience. We use both these features in our online games and it gives you a perspective on black powder era warfare not available with any other PC game.

I have a different username on this forum, for a random reason I can't remember but we spoke on the NSD forum and of course on the TWCenter forums.

I have a strong interest in the history of the Napoleonic wars as do many of the gamers here although I do feel like the battle of Waterloo has been focussed on more than it should by British historians when other encounters are less well studied. Everyone here though is ready and willing to talk about anything from artillery capability to the colour of marshal Ney's socks.

Mr. Digby wrote:The main reason our group plays SoW:WL is because as far as I'm aware its the only PC wargame ever made that includes a real-time courier system to allow orders to be sent to your subordinate commanders and units via an animated despatch rider,

The games produced by Peter Turcan in 1989 had a courier system, though the GFX's was pretty crude.  I owned most of his games at the time including the one that recreated the attack of the Spanish Armada. Which was hilarious as neither side seemed able to do the other any real damage, and so it was a major event if a Spanish ship actually surrendered.

I tend to see these SOW games as a reworking of his idea's, as he was very much into trying to give the player a better impression of the real problems of command.

Turcan Games Concept wrote:Orders are issued using natural language commands reminiscent of adventure games. For example,

"D'Erlon, at 1 15 pm order Donzelot defend the hills 1 mile south of you"
"Lobau, transfer your cavalry to Reille"
"Drouot, at 6 30 pm give support to Reille, D'Erlon and Milhaud"

Orders take time to arrive at their destinations, as do combat reports sent by subordinates to the player. Messengers may also be killed or captured. This means that units remote from the commander may not receive orders in time, while units engaged in combat may not receive them at all.

Just want to say happy birthday to Didz!
Really loved most of his contributions around here...

Thanks!