Harpoon 3 ANW or Harpoon CE

[ade670]

Guys,

Please forgive me for asking perhaps something that has been asked many times before. - I am going to ask anyway!!

I am a big fan of WITP_AE and am looking at the Harpoon Series to give me a 'real time'' not turn based wargaming experience - oh yeah, Modern too.

I have tried the demo of Harpoon CE and liked it although it does feel dated somewhat.

What is the difference between CE and ANW ? and which one would you reccomend?

I enjoy complexity and realism at the strategic level.

I will copy this into the ANW forum also

Ade

[hermanhum]

If you are a big fan of WitP, then you will know that logistics plays a huge role in warfare.  That is one of the biggest differences between ANW and HCE.  HCE has unlimited logistics for aircraft.   You can literally fire millions of missiles from your planes.  ANW can be played the same unlimited way or you can restrict the number of missiles/bombs available at your bases and carriers.

The interface will also be similar to WitP in the use of clicks.  If WitP was 'the game of a billion clicks", then ANW is "the game of a million clicks".  The hotkeys help a lot and are more prevalent in ANW, but lots of individual clicks are still required.

Also, ANW is the only Multi-player capable version.  If that is important to you, then there is no other choice.

A demo for ANW is also available for you to sample:
ftp://ftp.matrixgames.com/pub/Harpoon3A ... Demo_1.exe
Dialing your system clock back to Jan 1, 2008 should (hopefully) get it to run.

You can also check out the currently known problems for both games:

* Known Harpoon ANW Issues

* Known Harpoon Classic Issues

HCE

[uncleharpoon]

Beer or wine? Scotch or Vodka?

Depends what you like!

HCE has less widgets, dials, and knobs (figuratively speaking) and has a Windows style UI. The simulation is very good, and it has most of the interesting hotspots from around the world.

ANW has more widgets and a UI that is based on the real CIC displays. The underlying simulation is so good there is a military grade version of the product.

Wait for the Harpoon Ultimate Edition (ship date should be announced "soon") and get both!

And as far as "lists" are concerned, most games aren't blessed with players who are so passionate about the game that perfection is the only thing they'll accept.

[hermanhum]

ORIGINAL:  uncleharpoon

And as far as "lists" are concerned, most games aren't blessed with players who are so passionate about the game that perfection is the only thing they'll accept. 

I don't think that anyone is asking for perfection, at all.  Even if all 200 or so identified problems are corrected in ANW, this would only bring it back to the same level of function offered by H3.  However, at that point, ANW would be superior to H3 because of all the new functions added to ANW.  Sadly, at this time, in my personal opinion, and best estimation, ANW is functional approximately 60% of the time when compared to what H3 was capable of doing (and what was promised in the ANW manuals) while H3 was closer to 85%.

Make no mistake, though.  I am pretty certain no one wants to stick with H3 and think that the reason it is mentioned so often is to show how well the ANW functions could work.

[Spearfish]

I suppose if AGSI releases old Harpoon 3.6.3 together with ANW 3.10 patch it means ANW 3.10 will be at least equal to Harpoon 3.6.3. [;)]

However please clarify what Ultimate Edition will include? Now I think in this bundle we will find: twenty or so Harpoon legacy versions, HCE, final Harpoon ANW 3.10 patch. Yet I wonder if this new Harpoon 3 ANW post-3.10 game will be also included in this package or there will be another separate download?

[uncleharpoon]

Harpoon Ultimate Edition (HUE) is a single bundle with the HCE versions you mentioned and v3.10 of ANW and all three editors, plus updated manuals, some original digital platform artwork, the current ANWDB and HUD3DB (which are always a work in progress), and v3.6.3 of H3 (which is the single player, pre-Matrix version).

We are working with the database authors to share some of the editing of their DB's so we can refresh them more quickly.

[Spearfish]

Let's summarize this:

- So current HCE and ANW customers who do not want to buy Ultimate Edition will be provided separately with free 3.10 patch only?

- Question about old Harpoon 3.6.3 version included in this bundle: Will it come with proper (v3.6.3) scenario and database editors and databases? As I understand v3.6.3 does not work with ANW editors and databases but maybe I am wrong?

- Question about future of HUE: Will next patches be released only for HUE 3.10 but they won't work with final ANW 3.10 version? Thus HUE and ANW games are in fact different Harpoon 3 versions?

[TonyE]

ORIGINAL: Spearfish

Let's summarize this:

1 - So current HCE and ANW customers who do not want to buy Ultimate Edition will be provided separately with free 3.10 patch only?

2 - Question about old Harpoon 3.6.3 version included in this bundle: Will it come with proper (v3.6.3) scenario and database editors and databases? As I understand v3.6.3 does not work with ANW editors and databases but maybe I am wrong?

3 - Question about future of HUE: Will next patches be released only for HUE 3.10 but they won't work with final ANW 3.10 version? Thus HUE and ANW games are in fact different Harpoon 3 versions?

1. My understanding is that current HCE users will have access to a patch up to the game capabilities of HUE (i.e. version 2009.050) but won't get the fancy add-on graphics and the legacy versions of the game. Current ANW customers would get an similar update to the 3.10 level. I'm not seeing that current customers will get the patch beyond the HUE release.

2. No idea but I'm sure there will be a mass uprising if the scenario editor is not included; fewer people care about the database editor so I don't know if there would be a revolt on that front.

3. That's my understanding though I view it as a marketing break, not a game structure break. Take that as you will.

[Spearfish]

ORIGINAL: TonyE

1. My understanding is that current HCE users will have access to a patch up to the game capabilities of HUE (i.e. version 2009.050) but won't get the fancy add-on graphics and the legacy versions of the game. Current ANW customers would get an similar update to the 3.10 level. I'm not seeing that current customers will get the patch beyond the HUE release.

What do you mean as fancy add-on graphics?

ORIGINAL: TonyE
2. No idea but I'm sure there will be a mass uprising if the scenario editor is not included; fewer people care about the database editor so I don't know if there would be a revolt on that front.

I also want database editor! [&o] I think without it much fun would gone...

[TonyE]

ORIGINAL: Spearfish
What do you mean as fancy add-on graphics?

Fancy add-on graphics, a subset of the images at http://www.digitalmilitaryart.com/ but in higher resolution.

[Spearfish]

Will those images be shown in the Harpoon Media Viewer? Will UI remain the same aside of this new feature?

[TonyE]

ORIGINAL: Spearfish

Will those images be shown in the Harpoon Media Viewer? Will UI remain the same aside of this new feature?

Please note my initial reply mentioned the graphics for HCE, not ANW. I don't know how or if ANW integrates any of the digital military art meterials.

[uncleharpoon]

Howdy

We will have a subset of the graphics at http://www.digitalmilitaryart.com included in ANW using the media viewer. They will be reduced quality from the master images and heavily watermarked.

We are interested in knowing if people would like to buy full resolution prints from that collection? The price point would probably be around $35-45 for a 11x14 printed on glossy paper and it would be delivered in a tube. For an additional price we could mount them and you could matt and frame them yourself.

Any interest?

[iriyak]

Hi Don,

Yes, I am interested in a full resolution print from that collection [8D]

Best Regards,
Kazunori Iriya

[ataoyama]

I'm having a problem starting Harpoon ANW. Harpoon 3 v3.9.4 starts okay as does the Commander's Edition. Trying to run it on an HP 8460p laptop; 4gb memory; Intel HD graphics; i5 intel processor; windows xp

[Vincenzo_Beretta]

There is insufficient detail provided. It appears as though you are able to run ANW v3.9.4 and the problem lies with HUE v3.10. If this is the case, then you might want to try installation of the Complete PlayersDB Harpoon HUE Library. Often, switching over to the PlayersDB solves most problems.

Also, make sure that your HUE is up-to-date with the latest patch: ftp://ftp.matrixgames.com/pub/Harpoon-U ... v3101a.zip

Lastly, ensure that your game was installed under Administrator-level authority. Or, you can also try: tm.asp?m=2995455