Walking the Battlefield

[Salmin]

Hi,
Im new to this thread and have just found out by accident that this game will be on the market soon..I Live in central PA and have visited Gettysburg so often I cant even recall how many times anymore. Since one goes to the Burg in modern times it is sometimes hard to seperate the old with the new and what these troops actually saw during the battle. The Park is doing a great job trying to clear growth that was not there at the time of the battle so you can get the same prospective of the field the commanders had. Since it looks like this game has been well researched even down to the town a nice feature of this game would be able to walk the town and the whold battlefield before the battle happend. It would be a grand tour of Gettysburg as it looked in 1863 and would also familarize someone with the scape before going into battle. I looked at some screenshots and recognized some locations and it looks great. One was the Peach Orchard. The house does not stand there anymore and the where the house was the Park has planted more peach trees but all of that was in your screenshot which tells me some big researh has been done as to what was there at the time of battle. All the more reason for a "Take the Tour" feature..There is not such thing out there as far as I know even if you go to Gettysburg. What a great way to show people what it looked like at the time of the battle..Press on with this and I hope that this game is a big success. I for one will own it..I would debut this game at Gettysburg and I bet you will sell a ton of these just there...
Thanks
Sal

[Amish John]

Hi Sal,

Welcome to the forum. Yeah, I know what you mean about getting a perspective of the field before it was all developed in areas. I think viewing the field in the game from ground level gives you the best perspective, just like in real life. You get more of a feel for the terrain when viewed from ground level. I also have been to GB countless times since the late 70s. I live near Lancaster and did volunteer work at GB for the NPS for about 25 years starting in 81. I agree with your comments about the work being done by the park service clearing the land. I hope the game gives a good representation of the terrain on the north side of town since that area is so developed now. Also the area southwest of town where Colt Park is today and the area of the current hospital will be interesting to see how it looks in the game.

The game, I'm sure, will have a user controlled camera view that will allow you to explore any part of the map at your leisure before committing to battle or maybe while the game is paused. I'm betting it will work alot like Take Command Second Manassas. Obviously, the NSD people can chime in on this to confirm or deny or comment on any viewing features that may differ from TC2M.

John

[Jim]

Yes, you can put the game on pause and fly around on the map. It's fun to do that just to enjoy the outstanding work that the map team has done. There are four maps covering segments of the main battlefield that will be in the first release. We will include East Cavalry Field at some point, depending on how much work it takes to get the the AI to handle cavalry only and cav + arty units with some degree of sense.

-Jim

[Salmin]

Hi John,
Thanks for your time and willingness to help the NPS. There is so much to do there to keep the battlefield looking good. I dont think a lot of people realize how things were really deteriorating in the area. But so much has been done..The refitting of the cannons and the clearing of the trees and brush along with the new visitors center has really helped tremendously. I was a little PO's when they dropped the tower but looking back at it it really needed to go. It was a big eye sore although you could get a great perspective of the field from it. The Longstreet and other towers are great but man climbing them is a workout in itself and fighting the bees off can be hazardous. I love the town and have a brick with my name on it that was placed on the square some years ago. I really like the reenactors who give up all their time just to try to bring some realizm to the place and bring an abundance of knowledge with them. I have not been down since last September but I am itching to go soon. Sometimes I take a small group with me and give them a history tour of the field and how the battle all developed and all. I know the first time I went down I was so confused that I had to come back and read, read, read, read to figure it all out. Tour guides are great but do not hit on some parts of the battle I like to point out. But then again they dont have nearly enough time to give you all the details. Nice talking with ya. My avatar is actually me..Took it in the burg some years ago..

Sal

[Salmin]

Jim,
That will be great. Just to get that view of the field and town will be worth the price of the game. I get exited looking at the screen shots and videos. Cant wait for this to come out. I realize you all want to get it right before you release it and I am all for that...But could ya work a little overtime...
Thanks for all your efforts on this game
Sal