Last Stand Arnhem - a little less broken now

[Korgan]

I'm playing the Allied campaign with the .21b patch, and hey, they really made a breakthrough for the series with the new operational map. Every choice taken there matters, and the pressure is constantly on. The asymmetrical objectives and forces make sure that your success or failure is never assured. E.g. on the first night my Brit paras in the north split up and started moving into Arnhem when large SS formations popped up all over the place, including the unoccupied LZ. Just like history. I thought my second lift was doomed, but next turn I surrounded and wiped out one attacking regiment, and the enemy in the LZ gave chase into the city, while my weakened battallion that I sent to tie them down recaptured it! Now they can either contend for it with my lads, who'll at the very least sell their lives dearly, and leave most of Arnhem for the taking, or go after my main force while the second wave of gliders arrives safely. Call it dumb AI, I call it cool and thrilling.
There are still some bugs, the pathfinding remains troublesome, some tactical moments are weird (e.g. mortars are instantly deadly against flak guns, even when firing blind across the map, AI doesn't understand that the only defense against the King Tiger is to rush it, snipers are at the weakest since Cross of Iron, etc), but overall I'm loving it now.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

So, basically it's "better" because it has an improved operational minigame?

 

[Korgan]

Yeah, as it ties strongly into the tactical gameplay. Now there's a reason to attempt some very risky things and fight hopeless battles to the end, because time is everything for both sides.

 

[zool]

I haven't bought Last Stand Arnhem yet but I've already enjoyed the two previous remakes (Wacht am Rhein and The Longest Day).

There are still some bugs, the pathfinding remains troublesome, some tactical moments are weird (e.g. mortars are instantly deadly against flak guns, even when firing blind across the map, AI doesn't understand that the only defense against the King Tiger is to rush it, snipers are at the weakest since Cross of Iron, etc), but overall I'm loving it now.

I thought the pathfinding issue was solved by the latest beta patch?

Regarding tactical inaccuracies (especially mortars being super accurate and super deadly against guns, that nearly killed the game for me), there is a mod called Ground Tactics that is supposed to fix them. It's available for TLD and WaR, but they haven't made a version for LSA so far unfortunately. I haven't had a chance to try it yet but I hear it's good.

 

[Trash]

Pathfinding is fixed. Just doesn't mean the AI always takes the best or even most obvious route. And yes, this also applies to your own units.

AI can also act pretty wobbly. Sometimes it should be on the offensive and is massively overpowered but stays put and sometimes it attacks fanatically with a meagre force.

And yes, mortars are death to (at) guns. Part of the rock paper scissor thing going on.

For the best close combat experience I must say that still nothing beats Cross of Iron with the GroBDeutschland mod. You are so underpowered and the maps are so designed that every battle is hard as hell. Love it. Not to mention that leading one force through a campaign and seeing it evolve and grow attached to it beats the rather faceless battles of the later CC games. Still, LSA as a stock game is probably the best remake so far. AI is more than adequate, lots of diverse forces, good campaign, great maps with purrdy graphics and challenging no matter what side you play.

 

[zool]

AI can also act pretty wobbly. Sometimes it should be on the offensive and is massively overpowered but stays put and sometimes it attacks fanatically with a meagre force.

Since I've played H2H on GameRanger, I haven't been able to enjoy any CC in single player. Try it.

And yes, mortars are death to (at) guns. Part of the rock paper scissor thing going on.

Yes but in this particular case, it's much too unbalanced. I'm playing a TLD GC as the Allies on GameRanger and my Axis opponent has to rely exclusively on panzerschrecks to fight against my armor as, after a few battles, he realized that each time he was using Paks in the open, I would destroy them with my mortars in less than a minute.

 

[Trash]

Gameranger is awesome. Played my first few multiplayer games with Cross of Iron and the august patch. Got my ass severely beaten. Never take on a very experienced player who gets to defend from the hills on an otherwise open map. :D

 

[zool]

If you own TLD and want to try the Ground Tactics mod I spoke about, we've got to play a GC over GameRanger.

 

[Tag]

Hey zool, I got TLD 5.50, dunno if the mod is for this version tho, I can't really patch it (one word TPB )
Anyway if you ure cool with TLD 5.50, I'm super keen to play it, CC really "flowers" with a human opponent.

Oh yeah, I have gameranger as well.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

I wonder when they'll finally deliver the CCMT patch that they have promised 2 years ago.

 

[Exmit]

Do you have original copy ?

Or skidrows? and if so , how did you install the patch ? serial is needed.