Announcements: General A&A Updates

[Ryan_Atari]

Hey everyone,

I wanted to take the time to thank everyone for getting involved here on the Axis & Allies boards. My name's Ryan and I'm the Atari brand manager on Axis & Allies (read: I handle all the fun marketing stuff). I'll be jumping in here and there to answer questions, but I want to set up a new thread for that specific purpose (I know you guys will fire away).

A couple of things that might interest you:
1) The game is still on track for an early November release (and I can't wait. It's looking fantastic!)

2) A playable demo will be available in early October. Stay tuned for details.

3) We'll be announcing shortly that there's a pre-sell bonus through a couple of retailers (EB, Gamestop, a few others), offering an extra playable battle scenario (not available in either of the linear campaigns). This isn't your run-of-the-mill extra footage or game trailers. You get a full-blown extra mission for pre-ordering.

Thanks for taking the time to post your questions/feedback. I'm so pumped about this game. Half the office here is playing it non-stop.

Regards,
Ryan

[RustyBlade]

A&A is the only RTS & perhaps TBS game that I really expect to get into this year. No shortage of great games, just limited time. The movies look great and an interesting mechanics are proven in the board game. But as we all know translating and compromising between one medium and another is darn difficult.

A friend of mine was struggling through playing the last PC version, he loved it even though it dropped them atleast once a game.

Glad to see you are taking questions. All direct answers are good ones. Often PR reps avoid the meaty questions from gamers, all the way up until release. By then we have become interested in something else. Even if a game doesn't have the specific features that I want, as long as I get straight answers, I feel I will be getting some kind of product I can count on. So through out your weak verbs and give us the straight dope.

So finally here is a couple questions for you from the not too well read up;

Completely turned base option, partial or scalable TB options?

Have you fleshed out the capabilities for playing by mail?

Can I stomp up and down on the Nazis after I kill them?

Is there a Risk style gameplay required throughout or as an optional gaming mode?

If I don't see this demo by 10/15/2004 do I have permission to come to your house and throw eggs at your car?

Who is going to be handling the support and patching of the game. (Note: Atari has a very bad rep in this regard.)

[Lord_Spike]

I think Rusty here asks at least one or two legitimate questions, especially about the support & patching.

Ryan, don't you wish to jump in and answer?

I'd sure like to know before I spend my hard earned cash on A&A only to discover that I have to wait 6-8 months for a fix that should never have made it past QA.

Besides, I'm hoping that this game will keep me occupied until Atari releases a sequel to ToEE (GDQ1-7, if you get my drift!!!)

[Ryan_Atari]

Hey guys,

Thanks for the posts. I definitely appreciate the feedback and will try to get answers out to everyone in a timely fashion.

Now, on to answering Rusty's questions:

1) Completely turned base option, partial or scalable TB options?

A&A is, first and foremost, a RTS. Actually it's a killer RTS that will knock your socks off. Larry Harris, the creator of the A&A board game really helped TimeGate & Atari create a whole new experience that stays true to A&A.

To answer your question, one of the interesting modes of play is called World War, which is a turn-based game format on top of the RTS battles. Imagine the world map cut up into regions a la the A&A game board. You take turns moving resources, units, buying technologies, etc towards the objective of capturing opponents' capital cities set in WWII. However, instead of rolling dice to determine conflicts as in A&A - you jump onto the battlefield and use the resources that were moved into the territory of conflict to play out a RTS battle. Being an A&A board game nut from my high school days AND a RTS fan, I absolutely consider it the best of both worlds.

...and for all you TB die-hards, we've built in a "Quick Resolve" option so you can eliminate the RTS battles altogether and focus on the global strategy. Each conflict is resolved based on the quantity and strengths of opposing units and some basic random probabilities.

---------------------------------------
2) Have you fleshed out the capabilities for playing by mail?

No sir. Considering that the bulk of what makes this game special is the RTS side of things, play-by-mail didn't really fit.

---------------------------------------
3) Can I stomp up and down on the Nazis after I kill them?

In the comforts of your own home, you can do whatever you please. However, I'm not sure your monitor will take kindly to being stomped upon.

Seriously though, you want to inflict damage? The physics and particle animations in the game are truly amazing. You shoot an infantry soldier? He falls down. You throw a grenade at him? He flies back a few feet. You hit him with a tank?! We're talking bodies and limbs flying through the air.

Now, this isn't limited to when you trounce German units, but who you focus your attention on, is completely up to you.

---------------------------------------
4) Is there a Risk style gameplay required throughout or as an optional gaming mode?

See my first answer, but basically there are 3 modes of play:

1. Quick RTS battle in a randomly generated map.
2. Linear campaigns (12 Allied missions, 12 Axis) taking you through historically faithful battles (including authentic units, environments, and objectives).
3. World War. That's the World map, turn-based mode that I explained above in question 1.

---------------------------------------
5) If I don't see this demo by 10/15/2004 do I have permission to come to your house and throw eggs at your car?

I'm going to say no on the egging, BUT the demo is indeed slated for EARLY OCTOBER. Stay tuned for details on how to get your hands on it.

---------------------------------------
6) Who is going to be handling the support and patching of the game. (Note: Atari has a very bad rep in this regard.)

TimeGate will be aggresively pursuing patches, and they already have a very good support history (from Kohan: Immortal Sovreigns and Kohan: Ahriman's Gift). The game has a built in patcher/updater, so obtaining patches will be as simple as clicking a button.

---------------------------------------

I look forward to more questions and discussion - so keep'em coming!

Best,
Ryan Wener
Royal Canadian Armed Forces...of Marketing

[Pyros]

Originally posted by Lord_Spike
I'd sure like to know before I spend my hard earned cash on A&A only to discover that I have to wait 6-8 months for a fix that should never have made it past QA.

Just ask any tester, the game is already very complete and each patch has around 400-800 bug fixes. It already plays and feels like a complete game, it's certainly not broken or incomplete.

Originally posted by Ryan_Atari
Royal Canadian Armed Forces...of Marketing

I would make a joke about the armed forces here, but I'm Canadian too :P

[RustyBlade]

Very good. All questions answered completely, a bit late, but answered!

Sounds like they have tried very hard to please most all of us. And since I feel the original A&A PC was fun, I doubt that the TBS style alone would not generate the sales neccasary in todays market. This studio has taken the care to ensure the flavor of the original is very much present.

Darn glad to hear the support is not by Atari, and even more glad to see their latest Kohan game is getting great reviews.

Still while we have the ear of a gameing house, I'll share something about the TBS & RTS & Play By Mail, that I believe should and will become standard.

Even though I haven't played many games by e-mail, chess mostly. I think this is a under developed gaming style. There is a lot of fun to be had looking forward to reading your next e-mail to find out what the next challenge is, what the results of my stratigizing are. It is fun thinking about your strategy while at work.

I beleive, that a lot of war gamers, a lot of us are over 30, 40 in my case, would embrace such a mode that the RTS visuals and audio would play out. After both players have made their mannouvers; the AI simply plays out the fleshed out movie taking into account lots of preportional randomizing; this being more enjoyable than the same WWII footage showen over and over as was in the first PC A&A.

Given enough buffer time the AI could do this smoothly. I would expect such a movie (interactive camera mind you, most likely) experience would be quite satisfying. Such a game would be a differant animal, but I hope one day this kind of playstyle will be a givin feature in war gaming, just as multiplayer is a givin now. Bearing in mind that as the clientel is growing and aging, the super fast multi-tasking of a Warcraft III, is a bit much.

As for the current offering, bring on the demo!!

[Lord_Spike]

I've never done PBEM before, and frankly, could never think of a way that I would like to do it...until your post. Sounds like fun, and I for one would give it a try.

[Ryan_Atari]

Alright troops,

Thanks for your continued interest in Axis & Allies, we've got a lot of news to announce for all of you.

1) The Demo! You've been asking, so here's the deal. Starting Monday night, October 4th (possibly Tuesday), the Axis & Allies Demo will be available on FilePlanet. Enjoy!

2) Pre-Order Bonus! Like the demo? Pick up the game. In fact, if you pre-order your copy of A&A, we'll throw in a BONUS MISSION.

• Pre-order at EBGames and you'll get to play out the 1941 German invasion of Russia. http://www.ebgames.com/ebx/product/242990.asp
• Pre-order at Gamestop and you'll get to crush stranded British forces at Dunkirk. http://www.gamestop.com/product.asp?product_id=B645759A
• Pre-order at other participating retailers and you'll get to pit Japanese forces against Russian forces with Manchuria hanging in the balance.

3) Developer's Chat. Want to fire questions at TimeGate? How about Larry Harris, the creator of the Axis & Allies board game? Show up Tuesday, October 5th at 5p PST on GameSpy Arcade to hear it right from them.
http://www.gamespyarcade.com/events/..._1052004.shtml

4) Making-of Axis & Allies Video: Just when you thought I was done, right? Not by a long shot. We've put together a great 5-part series of videos giving you a glimpse into what's in this game and what went into creating it. Check out Part 1: Prelude to Invasion to whet your appetite. http://media.pc.gamespy.com/media/56...18/vids_1.html

5) Not enough? Ok, we've also revamped the A&A web site and populated it with tons of info for you to chew on. http://www.atari.com/axisandallies

As always, post any questions, I'll get to them as fast as I can.

That's enough from me. Company: Dis-MISSED!

Ryan
Brigadier General of Working on the Weekend

[Pyros]

Originally posted by Ryan_Atari
1) The Demo! You've been asking, so here's the deal. Starting Monday night, October 4th (possibly Tuesday), the Axis & Allies Demo will be available on FilePlanet. Enjoy!

Does this mean it'll be Fileplanet exclusive?

[Ryan_Atari]

Originally posted by Pyros
Does this mean it'll be Fileplanet exclusive?

Temporarily. 2 Days after it is available exclusively on FilePlanet, it will be released without restriction.

[RustyBlade]

Ok...good to hear. But of course seeing is believing; and I have plenty of rotton eggs stored up just in case we don't see that demo.

Truth be told I'm good either way, but I really am looking forward to playing the game. I HATE Nazi's!!!!

All the preview vids I have seen rock hard. Warhammer 40,000 is undenieably fun, but I want something a little closer to my species to virtually fight.

[Ryan_Atari]

All,

We really appreciate the raging debate going on here over TBS/RTS. We knew the game would raise this discussion and we believe that World War II mode (TBS + RTS) will mesh together these two experiences under the A&A banner in fun, challenging gameplay. I know I enjoy it!

On to more details. It's week 2 for the behind the scenes look at A&A, so check out Part 2: Change the Course of History (hint: keep a close eye out for a glimpse at WWII mode!).

Also, thanks to everyone who have played the demo. If you haven't yet, it's available in many places, including:

• FilePlanet
• GameSpot
• UGO
• Worth Playing
• PC Gameworld
• Computer Games.RO

Finally, thanks all to everyone who turned out for the Developer's Chat on GameSpy Arcade. If you're interested in the chat log, check it out here, at GameSpy.

As always, fire questions my way right here.

Enjoy the weekend,
Ryan
Marketing Grunt

[UksEvilDomain]

Hey Ryan,
Thanks for answering our questions, and posting all those helpful updates and links.
I would really like to know a few more things about the TBS (the World of War) in the game, as it is only lightly addressed in all the marketing and not in the demo. Maybe some of these questions seem obvious... but i want to be 100% sure. Thanks.


What is the feed back from those that have played the TBS WORLD OF WAR... both the Quick Resolve and TBS/RTS?
How have they found the AI?
How long (time wise) are the games, both TBS and TBS/RTS?
Will World of War be playable online?
Can you give more details as to the units: are they the same as the Board game or as the RTS?
Will there be customizing options? (units, territories, victory, etc etc)

Hope you can answer some of my questions. Any other little tidbits you can share with us would be greatly appreciated. I'm quite excited about the release and i'm looking forward to playing all modes of the game. It looks great so far.

Cheers =)

[Ryan_Atari]

UED (& the many people I'm sure interested in this anwer),

I want to respond to this question (like all others) completely & accurately, so I need to assemble some information that I only have in the office. Given the long weekend, I'll post a response on Tuesday.

Thanks for the patience!

Ryan

[archangel5204]

*taps foot with arms crossed waiting impatiently*

is it tuesday yet?

[JosEPh]

Packers and Titans first , Then it's Tuesday!

[Ryan_Atari]

Attennnn-HUT! Fall in for details on World War II mode, as promised troops.

Let me answer UED's questions by providing a brief overview on World War II Mode. I should be able to cover off on all the questions.

First, let's start with what World War II mode is (and was designed to be). It is a way for you to write your own WWII script. Forget the sequence of events you know from history books and movies (i.e. the camapign modes) - think rather, how would you have fought WWII on the global scale? That's WWII mode. No script. You decide how to win the war.

While it is turn-based, and uses the notion of Army pieces, and even includes a quick resolve option, it is still really a way for you to set up RTS battles without being locked into the historical script. It is not an updated version of the 1998 A&A PC game (which re-created the board game).

The Basics
It is a turn-based, single player game option (i.e. not playable online) combining both the world-level strategic decisions with battlefield-level strategies and tactics. The object of the game is to capture two enemy capital cities and the initial set up of the Armies reflects the state of WWII in 1942. You can play as any of the 5 Great Powers (US, UK, USSR, GER, JAP), as one of four available military leaders each (a total of 20 choices!). The territories include Allied, Hostile, Independent (uncontrolled as of yet), and Neutral (cannot be occupied). So those are the basics.

Armies & Gameplay
As in the board game, players take turns moving Armies ("pieces"), purchasing Armies (placed at your capital), upgrading Armies, and battling. The Armies are driven by the RTS units, with 3 offensive Armies and 1 defensive (immobile) Army. Basically each Army represents the highest level of army available to you in RTS mode. They include (in order of development) Infantry, Mechanized, and Armored. Regarding RTS availability, if you enter into an RTS battle with an Armored Army, you'll be able to build Infantry, Mechanized, and Armored division HQs (and associated regiments). Additionally, you can add air support to any of the army types, and it will provide you with Air capability in the RTS battle.

The armies on the world map represent your capability in the RTS battles, because the number of Armies moved into a territory adds to your beginning money supply as well as directly translates to the number of Corps HQs you start with. One of the cool things about jumping into RTS mode is that your HQs will appear towards the edge of the map based on where you entered the territory on the World Map level. For example, if you enter from the west, your HQs will be placed near the western edge of the RTS battlefield. It's a nice touch.

During each country's turn, only one adjacent occupied enemy territory can be attacked. Any number of adjacent unoccupied enemy territories can be invaded in the same turn. At the end of a contested battle, the winner occupies the territory, and the loser loses one army. If the loser had more than one army in the territory, the remainder retreat to the nearest Allied territory. If none exist, all defeated armies are destroyed.

Unlike the boardgame, the armies of a country which has lost its capital keep fighting, though they cannot recruit new forces. These pockets of resistance lend an interesting (and tough)aspect to the game.

As far as time goes: It takes perhaps 7+ hours to finish a game playing out the key RTS battles. The game was never intended to be played using only Quick Resolve (what a waste of a killer RTS!). For the sake of argument though, it'd take you far less than an hour.

Other Details Requested
1) Feedback to-date. While the beta testers didn't get to play WWII mode (the beta was focused on RTS multiplayer), I have shown it to many people on the road and everyone has the same reaction: "Ahhh, there it is (referring to the World Map). Sweet!" Again however, once they get into the game, they realize it is a great way to write your own WWII history with RTS battles, rather than a new boardgame translation.

Everyone has loved the combination of both world-level strategy with in-the-trenches battlefield hard-hitting games. I particularly like the idea of being able to win despite being outnumbered (if you're good enough on the battlefield!). Conversely, if you throw a ton of armies into a region and don't want to go through the hassle of kicking the AI's butt, go for quick resolve (you can see your odds of winning) and save the time for the real exciting fights. That's really the purpose of Quick Resolve.

2) The AI is one pesky S.O.B. Abstracted from the battlefield AI, this guy does NOT give up and capitalizes quickly on mistakes. Basically, NEVER count the AI out of a game.

3) There are no customization options...aside from deciding how, where and when to fight in order to win WWII, that is.

Bottom Line
I could tell everyone a ton about WWII mode and a bunch more questions will come up, so let me leave it at this for now.

Thanks for reading this long post...and go Red Sox.

Regards,
Ryan
Admiral of North American Marketing Operations

[archangel5204]

Reguarding the quick resolve button, does it do a random roll based off your percentage chance of winning/loosing or does it roll dice and tally everything itself? Will battleships or subs get a free shot allowance durring an amphibious assault or when a destroyer isn't present? Will it be added to the quick resolve calculation?

P.S. Red Sox are cursed and will never win no matter how much hope you have "OH MY GOD...HOW COULD HE MISS AND LOOSE THE WORLD SERIES??!!!!!" -Remember that

Originally posted by RustyBlade
All the preview vids I have seen rock hard. Warhammer 40,000 is undenieably fun, but I want something a little closer to my species to virtually fight.

You could give Kohan II a try.... they do have Humans at least. ;-) Not to mention it's a darn great game!

[Ryan_Atari]

ArchAngel,

First, I'm sorry I even brought up the Sox, but thanks for the reminder. :-)

Quick Resolve is not to be confused with the boardgame's dice rolls. Based on a game algorithm, it rates the forces attacking/defending in a territory and assigns the attacker a percentage chance (0.00 to 100.00) of beating the defender. It then rolls a 10,000 sided die (i.e. a random number generator), and if the number is less than or equal to that percentage chance, the attacker wins, otherwise the attacker loses. The results take place automatically (losing Armies are destroyed or retreat accordingly).

There are no Naval bonuses or advantages, because remember: the Armies are driven off of the RTS units. While battleships do exist in the RTS, they really just provide infantry or air support, and as such they don't appear on the World Map level as a type of Army themselves.

Separate Topic: Making Of Parts 1 & 2
If you haven't seen them yet, Parts 1 & 2 are both being featured on GameSpot today . Check 'em out for a good behind-the-scenes look. Part 3 will be out Friday on GameSpy (followed by wide release on Monday).

Regards,
Ryan
Minister of Morale & Propaganda

[archangel5204]

1.) Thank you for being so prompt Ryan
2.) So if theres no navy in world war then how will we transport troops across the sea?
3.) will we have some indication of what our percentage chance will be (either by a numbered percentage or a color coded system?)
4.) Will most of the board games pieces be available on the world war (minus the navy of course)
5.) Will an SDK release be presented for mod makers?
6.) Will the world war mode be able to handle 2 players on the same computer if they do not enter the RTS portion of the game?
7.) Dont get me wrong, i like the RTS portion of the game but TOO many of us have been waiting SOOOO long for a proper version of the board game on PC

-thank you

[Toonboy]

2 questions today, for Ryan_Atari

First, I just put my cash down for preorder at Electronics Boutique today. When I was in the store I asked if the delivery date on the game was still the 9th of November. The clerk in the store (I live in Canada) said that the release date for Canada was the 3rd. I had always assumed that it was going to be the same as the states. So is it the 3rd or the 9th??

Second, do you know if a strategy guide is going to be published by anyone??? (eg Prima...)

Thanks in advance

[LordGek]

Hey Ryan!

I'm really curious if you could try to give us the quick and dirty themes of each of the super powers in the game? Like we saw from the demo skirmish games with the Germans and Russians it became pretty clear:

Germans: Super Tanks
Russians: Cheap Infantry and Rockets

Any way to easily sum up the primary themes of the remaining three super powers?

[Ryan_Atari]

ArchAngel
1) I do what I can to serve.
2) Armies move freely throughout WWII mode and once you drop into RTS, your corps HQ is set up ashore already.
3) Yep. Numerical percentage for both sides (to 2 decimal places, no less!)
4) Please refer to my response above on WWII mode's avaialble Armies. Again, these reflect the RTS capabilities, rather than the boardgame pieces.
5) No plans as of yet.
6) No sir, single player only.
7) I very much appreciate this comment. Please don't get us wrong either. We're trying to create an entirely new gaming experience in the A&A universe (i.e., global scope, strategic WWII warfare). Will some people be disappointed that we didn't update the original PC game? Of course. Will many others enjoy this game as a new entity, different and fun in it's own right? That's certainly the goal.

As for WWII mode, try to think of it as the only way you can write your own WWII history with an RTS. That's what I love about it.

I hope I've answered your Q's and you continue to enjoy the game!

Toonboy
Thanks for your pre-order!!!

Availabilty Dates: To keep it simple, let me say that the game will be released on November 2nd. However, it takes time for games to work their way through distribution channels to hit shelves. In the demo, we advertised an 11/9 in-store date because that is about how long it will take before most/all retailers have the game. Your particular store should have the game some time between 11/2 & 11/9, but they'd know their own date better than I do.

Strategy Guide: Prima is indeed publishing a strategy guide for A&A. Already advertised on
EB and Gamestop.

LordGek
Good question. Looking at the remaining nations special units and regiments, I'd say the main themes are:

USA: Strong infantry. Flamethrower infantry, Assault inf., or Marines. Take your pick, but each of these are, ahem, bad-ass.
Great Britain: Flame tanks & SAS Commandos.
Japan: Banzai! units (I can't type "Banzai" without an exclamation point).

Each nation has multiple Special Regiments (not to be confused with the generals' Special Operations), so these 'themes' are not exhaustive. So you & I might use the same nation pretty differently in battle. I'd recommend trying out all the different nation/general combinations in order to find the one you like most (and best prepare to face each on the battlefield!).

3 up, 3 down then. As you were, soldiers!

Cheers,
Ryan
Lieutenant Colonel of Launching this Game

[PFCBroccoli]

1)Will there be any way to get ships? (ie. capturing a town on the water, pumps out a battleshipe every X amount of minutes, special powers?)

2)Flamethorwers? Will these kill infantry instanly, or will it take a while? Also, will they be able to 'cook' tanks like in Codename: Panzers?

3) Will the Russians have a higher limit to thier infantry/tanks?

4) King Tigers in the demo were really weak; they seemed to die under mass fire way to easily. Will there be anyway to either a) fix this, or b) change it so thier stronger?

Thats all for now, thanx for listining.

[Ryan_Atari]

PFC(chopping)Broccoli,

1) Just to make sure I'm clear. There absolutely are ships in this game. However, there are no ship "pieces" in World War II mode. In the RTS though, ships definitely play a key role deploying units and bombarding targets on-shore (as you've hopefully seen in the screenshots and movies).

As for "getting" ships, they are built into the campaign scenarios, so you don't obtain or build ships. Instead they are a part of your (or your enemy's) starting infrastructure.

2) Ah yes, toasting the enemy. The Flamethrower infantrymen, although requiring close range, do heavy damage to both health and morale (ahh, so demoralizing) to either opposing infantry (who catch on fire and then die) or other units (including toasty tanks or bunkers).

3) Have to check on that for sure, but I believe the difference is that Russian Conscripts (special infantry) are simply cheaper and consume less resources. Unit limits, however, are related to buildings (e.g., 6 regiments per infantry division HQ, regardless of type of regiment).

4) I can't say that I've found the Tigers too weak. The key thing about this game is that every type unit has a balancing counter (e.g., anti-tank infantry). While the Tigers will go down slower than regular armor (try it out), either will suffer more damage against anti-tank infantry than against regular infantry.

OK, I have to double-time. Thanks for the continued questions!

[PFCBroccoli]

1) Will there be any 'super' anti tank gun that will blow them up with one to two shots?

2) The King Tiger seems to be eaisly defeated by swarmings of light tanks, im sry I didnt make that clear. If your trying to be realisitic, light tanks wouldnt even damage a King Tiger; a shot from its gun would devistate them.

3) Will you be able to use ships in MP (ie. little setting that says 'ships' in where you only start with a ship, or better, a ship only game co-op mode???)

4) Will we be able to substitute troops in and out of regiments (ie. add two more anti-tank to an AT regiment, etc.)

5) In the demo, tanks seem to damage infantry just as much as if I had thrown an infantry regiment at them, just with less damaged recieved. Will this be fixed in the reteail version?

6)Will there be more special ops powers?

[UksEvilDomain]

Thanks Ryan for your in-depth and detailed reply to my questions. Much appreciated. I now have a much clearer understanding of what the WWII mode entails.

[Ryan_Atari]

PFCBroccoli,

1) Nope.

2) Hopefully when you get your hands on the game and see each unit in more action you'll get a better feel for it's strengths and weakness. Beyond that, I appreciate your input and will definitely include it in our Expansion Pack discussions.

3) Firstly: YES. Here's the beauty of multiplayer in A&A. We've included the same map editor that TimeGate used to the develop the game IN THE GAME FOR YOU. When you open the MP menu, you can select a random map or a scenario map or you can create your own map. Furthermore, you can take an existing map and change it using the editor.

SO: You can add in ships to a multiplayer map. A ship-only game is an interesting question. It might be possible, but I think the answer's no. I'll check on that though.

4) No. The regiment is the smallest controllable entity in the game (although troops suffer/regain health individually). You can change a regiment's behavior (aggressive, column, etc.) but you can't swap out troops for customized regiments.

5) Again, I'd disagree with your initial perception. When you see the units more often in different situations, I think you'll get a better view on strengths/weaknesses. To specifically answer your question though, the demo is based on the stats from the retail game. No differences.

6) ABSOLUTELY. There are 33(!) different Special Ops available to you.

Cheers,
Ryan
LTJG of TGIF

[PFCBroccoli]

yay, I think that as soon as I get the game im gonna go make a D-day amp. Thanx Ryan!