Questions for first time and repeat customers

[PanzerHue]

For first time customers ...

(1) How did you become aware of COTA?

Through Matrixgames webpage.

(2) What led to your decision to purchase COTA?

After some months reading AARs from the forum and reading some of the suggested links to the historical background for the greek campaign, I was sure that it was a game for my liking. The high detail/realism level and the historical acuacy was central in my decision.

(3) Why hadn't you previously purchased RDOA or HTTR?

Unfortunatly I havent been aware of them before now.

(4) Prior to the purchase did you try the old RDOA demo that can still be found on the Net for download?

No, I havent.

(5) How would you characterize your PC gaming interests?

Wargames. High level of complexity mixed with realism and historical acuacy. WW2, ACW, Napoleon, Roman Empire.

(6) Prior to your purchase had you previously purchased other Matrix Games offerings?

Yes, I have purchased EiA and COTA is not the last game I will purchase from Matrix.


Thanks for a great game!!!

Kind regards...

[Chris21wen]

Fire Brigade, DOS game purchased in 1989, that is if you are the same Panther games? The problem is it no longer works on a modern computer (XP) probably no chance under Vista. Also its on floppies and I can no longer get it off.

[Arjuna]

[:)] yes we are the same company. Welcome back! [:)]

[MarkShot]

ORIGINAL: Chris H

Fire Brigade, DOS game purchased in 1989, that is if you are the same Panther games? The problem is it no longer works on a modern computer (XP) probably no chance under Vista. Also its on floppies and I can no longer get it off.

I use DOSBOX to play old games all the time (1830, AOD, RTD, SHCE, ...). You can get external 3.5" USB floppy drive pretty cheap (commonly used for laptops these days). I have one for mine which I use to load Norton Ghost 2003 for image backups.

Good luck!

[SlickWilhelm]

(1) How did you become aware of COTA?

From the Matrix Games website.

(2) What led to your decision to purchase COTA?

Customer feedback on this forum.

(3) Why hadn't you previously purchased RDOA or HTTR?

Didn't fully realize how ground-breaking the "AA" way of playing is.

(4) Prior to the purchase did you try the old RDOA demo that can still be found on the Net for download?

No, I typically do not download and try demos(like to keep a clean system). Instead, I usually base my decisions to purchase on customer reviews on the Maxtrix Games forums.

(5) How would you characterize your PC gaming interests?

Mostly wargames & military simulations. Also a fan of racing sims.

(6) Prior to your purchase had you previously purchased other Matrix Games offerings?

Yes, to date: War Plan Orange, Uncommon Valor, TOAW3, Crown of Glory, Napoleon in Italy, CC Cross of Iron, John Tiller's Battleground Napoleon, Guns of August.

[Lieste]

While I am not actually using COTA (yet), I do still play AA:RDOA.

(1) How did you become aware of COTA?
I have followed AA since its early days, including the releases of HTTR and COTA

(2) What led to your decision to purchase COTA?
I currently have not purchased COTA or HTTR, this in no way reflects on the quality of these products, but reflects a total absence of expenditure on PC hardware and software over the past 3 years.

(3) Why hadn't you previously purchased RDOA or HTTR?
I purchased the CDV AA:RDOA when it was released in the UK. I was comfortable enough with how it played, and hadn't exhausted the possibilities of the Arnhem AOO, to not automatically need HTTR either for the relatively minor enhancements or for the expanded maps. The addition of supply and other features of COTA does significantly enhance the attraction of this title, and I will one day purchase either COTA or BFTB

(4) Prior to the purchase did you try the old RDOA demo that can still be found on the Net for download?
Yes, I can't remember if it was only Tut1, or if it had the bigger Tut2 as well, but I remember spending many hours trying to acheive the terrain objectives while also destroying the small scattered airbourne forces without bleeding my mechanised units white. One of the factors that led to not taking up HTTR when it was released was the lack of a demo to allow comparison to the previous title. I do think that some of the issues with RDOA were subsequently improved upon in HTTR (base units and weak infantry battalions being much tougher than high quality infantry companies etc), but without seeing the improvements in real time it wasn't a high enough priority at the time. Babies etc have since kept it a low priority.

(5) How would you characterize your PC gaming interests?
Simulations. Wargames although I find hex based stuff tedious and unrealistic. Main 'game' currently SBProPE where I am a Betatester.

(6) Prior to your purchase had you previously purchased other Matrix Games offerings?
Various precursor's eg Close Combat, AA:RDOA but none of the Matrix updated releases.



I would say that the reviews of HTTR did you no favours at all... They described the engine as a low excitement RTS game, with poor graphics and sound... Not guaranteed to capture the imagination of either the dedicated wargamer who would enjoy the depth and flexibility of AA, or the instant gratification RTS crowd.
The COTA reviews seem much better balanced, referring to the system as an accurate wargame with pausable real-time operations high quality 'operational' graphics and realistic chain of command assistance and delays. I seem to recall several reviews didn't use the correct language to describe various game features, which although not actually reflecting the product does give a negative impression to the dedicated wargamer/historical simulations guys.

[invernomuto]

1) Matrixgames forum and netwargamingitalia (http://www.netwargamingitalia.net) forum
2) Good feedbacks in Matrixgames forum, excellent reviews from the net AND christmas sale from Matrix
3) I want to try COTA system before buying the upcoming (?) Battle from the Bulge. I was not so interested in a WW2 Aegean scenario.
4) No
5) wargames and strategy games in general.
6) Yes

[hgilmer3]

(1)
I saw it here on the forums and I gauge how good a game is by the amount of threads and posts and COTA had a pretty high amount so I decided to see what the fuss was.

(2)
I actually have not purchased it.  I'm still trying to decide.

(3)
I never knew about either of them.  Right now, if I may be so bold, but obviously it is just one man's opinion - I didn't get a chance to buy HTTR or COTA during the sale and I am hesitant to pay full price for HTTR when it was put out at the end (?) of 2003 and it is now 2009 (please don't take this to mean I am asking you to lower the price.  I'm just stating my personal view/opinion).  It seems like RDOA is no longer available.

(4)
I just tried RDOA demo and have watched the trailer to COTA and the 5 minute AAR.  On a side note, this style of game play reminds me of a game that came out in the early 90s called Patriot (?) I think and was based on Gulf War I.  It got very poor reviews, but it had this free form no-hex type style.  I was intrigued at the time and am still intrigued.

(5)
All over the board.  I have played WoW, EQ, Pacwar, WiR, West Front (Western Front? Had a drawing of Eisenhower on box, put out by SSI), A Korean war game (by SSI), FoF, GGWBTS, puzzle games (Monkey Island), Simulations (AoE, Aotp, Red Baron, Silent Service 2), and many in-between.

(6)
Yes, I own BoB, FoF, GGWBTS, CoG, WITP.


Additonally, I am waiting for the Battle from the Bulge.  If I buy one that will be the one, then if I really like it, I'll go back for the others, most likely.  A demo would be really nice, but if not doable, I understand.

[stone_]

If COTA is the first Panther Games product which you have purchased, then would you please be so kind as to respond to the following questions. (If you have yet to purchase COTA but are waiting for the boxed version or intend to purchase it soon, then feel free to respond.)

(1) How did you become aware of COTA?

The Matrix store.

(2) What led to your decision to purchase COTA?

I was browsing the Matrix Forums looking for a new game during the "holiday sale" and when I stumbled upon COTA. At first I was a little hesitant since I normally don't like "real time strategy games". The subject matter and the game scale, however, persuaded me to take a chance.

(3) Why hadn't you previously purchased RDOA or HTTR?

I don't normally like RTS games.

(4) Prior to the purchase did you try the old RDOA demo that can still be found on the Net for download?

No

(5) How would you characterize your PC gaming interests?

Military strategy, Simulations, occasional FPS / RPG, sports.

(6) Prior to your purchase had you previously purchased other Matrix Games offerings?

Flashpoint Germany, Uncommon Valor, Crown of Glory: Europe in the Age of Napoleon, Maximum-Football 2.0
PureSim Baseball 2007, Norm Koger's The Operational Art of War III, Conquest of the Aegean, Harpoon 3 - Advanced Naval Warfare, Forge of Freedom: The American Civil War 1861-1865, Battlefront, Close Combat - Cross of Iron, John Tiller's Campaign Series, Carriers at War, Commander - Europe at War, Guns Of August 1914 - 1918, Advanced Tactics: World War II, John Tiller's Battleground Napoleonic Wars, John Tiller's Battleground Civil War, Empires in Arms, Battle of Britain II - Wings of Victory, and World War II - Road to Victory.

I want to thank matrix for providing us neglected grognards with such a great selection of games. Before I stumbled upon this web site, my selection of wargames was limiteded to the crap sold at the local retail store which is nothing. Keep up the good work and keep those games coming.

D

[Pete W]

1) Read a piece on Rock, Paper, Shotgun about AI - Tim Stone mentioned that Airborne Assault engine as the best AI he'd played against, so I started having a look. The lecture by Dave O'Connor was very interesting to a layman like myself.

2) Currently looking for a good strategy game of exactly the sort of scale COTA is on. Read quite a few threads and AARs, and it seemed to be just what I was looking for. (I also had a hankering for the sort of strategy games I played on my good old Spectrum 48k as a kid - my first was CCS' Arnhem, and I was fascinated by it, despite being utterly rubbish).

3) Have been content for a long time with more mainstream RTS games, but now want something with more depth. Only became aware of them recently, because this sub-genre of RTS just hadn't been on my radar.

4) Yes. For a newcomer to this style of strategy game, finding out the "feel" of a game is really important. I tried a lot of demos of similar games but the Airborne Assault interface and look won me over. Great depth without being overly intimidating in layout.

5) Crikey, I'll play pretty much anything, but probably focus a little more on RTS, FPS, RPG. Anything with an acronym, apparently

6) Nope, this is my first purchase, but it's a really well-designed website with a lot of interesting looking games, so I'm sure I'll be back.

[ZBrisk]

(1) Googling "Malame airfield" for information when I was making a scenario about it for another game. Found the armchairgeneral.com review.

(2) It's an excellent operational war sim. There's nothing else like it.

(3) Hadn't heard of them.

(4) No.

(5) Various, but I take a liking to similar realistic stuff.

(6) No.

[henri51]

I had bought HTTR, so I bought CoTA.

I buy a lot of wargames and there are very few that I play for more than a week or two. I just reloaded CoTA to get a flavor for the upcoming bulge game.

In principle the HTTR/CoTA idea is my idea of an ideal game, but in practice, ...I dunno.

Perhaps I am special as an exponent of maneuver warfare, for which the objective-oriented game is not ideally suited (this may be due to my long experience as a chess player). In the CoTA and HTTR scenarios, I tended to just give orders to the highest level commanders and watch the result, which I realize is far from optimum, and which eventually becomes boring.

As for attracting new wargamers, I think that it is required to show more than units advancing in what appears like a bunched up attack, and that arrows, lines and other visual and acoustic aids are absolutely necessary.

What might be motivating is an AAR that illustrates DIFFERENT options for winning a given scenario. For example, how would Patton act in a scenario, given his aversion to geographical objectives. So one might forget about "winning" a scenario and concentrate instead on punching through and creating havoc behind enemy lines, disregarding winning or "losing" but having fun.Or maybe "winning" a scenario by fixing the enemy at critical bridges by probes and then building a new bridge to get behind the enemy. An AAR showing paralyzing an enemy by cutting off his supply lines could be useful (assuming that the game supports this kind of adventure).

Henri

[Foolio]

(1) How did you become aware of COTA?
Via the Internet - Armchair general and then the matrix site


(2) What led to your decision to purchase COTA?
I'd been looking to try and find a mature game than the identikit FPS/RTS games which churned out by mass developers. I wanted to re-live my Panzer General days but find something a little more indepth/realistic. After playing the RDOA demo I couldn't wait for BftB game to be released so thought I'd take the plunge.

(3) Why hadn't you previously purchased RDOA or HTTR?
I'd never come across them before

(4) Prior to the purchase did you try the old RDOA demo that can still be found on the Net for download?
Yes

(5) How would you characterize your PC gaming interests?
I've played computer games since day one. I've got slowly tired of the generic FPS and RTS games which are now released and want something a bit more cerebral.

(6) Prior to your purchase had you previously purchased other Matrix Games offerings?
No