Twilight 2000

[max power 21]

I've been playing the Twilight 2000 DOS game after many years. The last time I played it I was a child and I didn't really understand some things. I got some bad habits from game play elements of NES games and I didn't realize that you can't take out a t80 with hand grenades.

For those who aren't familiar, the setting for Twilight 2000 is post World War 3 Europe. Border disputes between China and Russia grew into a limited global nuclear war. Social and Military structures have broken down. Towns have become city states. Military cohesion has broken down to the platoon level. Many westerners are trapped in eastern Europe and go 'native'.

In the game, you play a rag tag platoon of soldiers gone Mercenary, struggling to dethrone the tyrant warlord Baron Czarny. Czarny is an ex ZOMO officer, and he is tightening a cruel grip on Western Poland, sanctioning murders, robbery, hostage taking, and all kinds of despicable things to motivate the player. You can have to four characters in your party, from a pool of twenty or so.

The game is a tactical RPG blend, developed in 1991 by Paragon Software. It has the character stats and detail of an RPG with TBS gameplay. You travel to different locations around poland (much of it is actually part of the map, and rendered in 3d- more on this in a minute).

There is a 3d driving and tank fighting component. It was very well done for its time. It has different coloured 'lighting' for different times of day. It features all kinds of simple polygonal mayhem and real time combat. I don't find it to be really wise to use tank combat like that, however. It seems to be better to dismount and use ATGMs.

Edited April 14, 2010 by Max Power

[max power 21]

You can equip your soldiers with an impressive array of weapons and equipment. You can have thermal goggles, camouflage netting to hide your vehicles, an weapons from pistols to crew served anti tank weapons, and medical equipment. I am quite unsure what most of the things do. For instance, you can have two weapons, one in each hand- including an m16 and an m203. However, does doing this have an effect on your ability to aim? So far, I don't think so, but what about a G11 and a 'Tank Breaker' (read: Concept Javelin)? Also, apparently character strength has something to do with resisting recoil, but I'm not exactly sure how much and how fully automatic bursts are different from semi automatic shots.

The game is quite challenging but kind of forgiving at the same time. A grenade may whipe out your entire team, or one of your squad members may be shot in the head by an M2HB (!!!) and continue fighting (!!!). Usually after a few wounds, a player or non player character will lose all of his or her turns, becoming effectively incapacitated. I have found the m203 to be particularly good at creating casualties, enabling me to mop of the helpless wounded at my leisure.

The missions you go on are so far fairly standard. The background fluff for them are fairly diverse but it usually means you're going to a town to depopulate it of bad guys and to talk to someone / pick something up (or so I have found in the first five mission or so).

It's a really good game for the early 90s. I couldn't appreciate it at the time. In comparison to today's games, it's immersively shallow owing a large part to the very, very clumsy interface. It took me a little while to figure out the arming inventory screen and to get back into my factory base after driving. The mouse controls for walking are a little bit glitchy, and you can't track around the battlefield to look for stuff. You have to physically walk to the next screen to see it. Therefore, you can find yourself unable to find your jeep that's literally 3 feet away from you without looking at your tactical map.

A review on MobyGames suggests that this game was a spiritual predecessor to OFP. I don't know about that, but it's fairly ambitious in it's breadth. There is a musical track that's very similar to one from OFP, though, so you never know :p

Edited March 12, 2012 by Max Power

[Aeneas2020 10]

wow looks cool!

for a min i thought u had started a "Twilight" movie/book thread i thought i may have to hunt you down...but you redeemed yourself nicely.

[max power 21]

You can pick it up at Abandonia. I would recommend that if you're going to muck around with DOSBox, to use D-Fend Reloaded (Dosbox Front END). It makes setting up a DOSbox environment so much less involved.

[Jok 0]

the only game i play that is like the one displayed here is the one, the only, the legendary "Jagged Aliance 2". came out in late 98 or early 99, cant remember.

with the JA2 V1.13 mod its the ultimate RPG/Strategic/Tactics merc game up to date. players that like sandbox games are bound to check it out.

[Tonci87 163]

Damn I already got ready to hammer the fool who starts a twilight Thread in this Forum, but then I saw its about a game... Doesn´t look bad at all, my NES is still working ^^

[[aps]gnat 28]

I'll show my age and state the origin of the game was an "paperback" RPG

http://www.pamedia.com/rpgames/t2k/index.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twilight_2000

Its basically post WWIII (limited nuclear) where world wide mayhem and the M16's rule.

I used to play this and a similar RPG called Traveller 2300 (original title, later changed to 2300AD)

The Twilight 2000 story and its technical (weapons and vehicles) books would make a great scenerio for ArmAII :)

Like the next step after CWR ;)

[max power 21]

I got my hands on the PnP RPG book to take a look at them and try to make sense of the rules for the PC game and it didn't help. Hahaha.

[Barely-injured 0]

Holly......WOW.......googling led me to this page that is probably about the role playing game rather than the PC game. But if only half of the equipment listed made it to the game then that is very impressive :eek:

[bonko the sane 2]

oh crap, i think i have that boxed paperback set somewhere in a forgotten drawer at my parents place...bought it when i was 13 on my first trip to london, that and a ton of 2000 AD comics :D

Gnat;1608608']I'll show my age and state the origin of the game was an "paperback" RPG

http://www.pamedia.com/rpgames/t2k/index.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twilight_2000

Its basically post WWIII (limited nuclear) where world wide mayhem and the M16's rule.

I used to play this and a similar RPG called Traveller 2300 (original title' date=' later changed to 2300AD)

The Twilight 2000 story and its technical (weapons and vehicles) books would make a great scenerio for ArmAII :)

Like the next step after CWR ;)[/quote']

[max power 21]

Does anyone who used to play the pnp game know if it's possible to kill an M1a2 giraffe with a Tank Breaker (read: Prototype Javelin)? I'm on a mission where I have to hobble Czarny's armoured force by taking down his flag ship tank, and I find the 3d tank combat to be difficult. I've been taking down armoured vehicles by sneaking up on them with ATGMs, but these 'Tank Breakers' just seem to bounce off, even after multiple hits.

edit: I found the manual online and the Tank Breaker- even the TOW2 is nowhere NEAR able to penetrate the front hull of an m1a2. It looks like the only way to take them out is in vehicle combat. I wish they made a turn based variant of that combat.

Edited April 15, 2010 by Max Power

[max power 21]

How not to balance a mission:

I'm on a mission now where I have to go to a town to talk to its leaders to try to prevent some puppet politicians from coming back to power.

When I arrive, there are several troops and 1 m1a2 and 2 m1a1s waiting for me. The m1a2 is the most powerful vehicle in the game. The best I can do is counter with a single m1a2. No troop portable weapon is capable of piercing the armour.

So basically, I die horribly, smelling of urine.

edit: whoops. Sorry for the double post. I thought this would tack further text on to the post I already wrote under a silver divider. I guess I'm still getting used to the forum SW.

[max power 21]

The more I play this game, the more I learn about it. I've learned that TOW II missiles will defeat an m1a2 eventually. Tanks that have their turret blown off will still engage you with their machine guns when you switch from 3d vehicle driving to tbs mode- indeed, your tank will grow a new turret if you only go to the settings screen and then back to the sim.

There are a few different kinds of missions you will be given: Tending to the sick, delivering supplies, salvaging vehicles, providing emergency medical aid to attack survivors, search and destroy, interrogating a village to find out which is the spy, and you have random encounters while you travel. The missions have some variation and the rewards you get are structured throughout the game. Sometimes you get supplies, a vehicle, the town allegiance, etc. But I'm to the point now where I'm doing very similar missions over and over but the difference is that the number of enemies is growing (the difficulty increasing). I'm going to have to drop the game soon, I think, if this trend continues. I'm playing this game so I can do quick 10 - 20 minutes missions between whatever else I'm doing. Fighting 30 guys when there's no real position of tactical superiority and you're just slugging it out is time consuming and not terribly great fun.

This Polish gentleman apparently wanted me dead quite badly:

(me snooping through a corpse's belonings)

Edited April 19, 2011 by Max Power

[BF2_Trooper 0]

Seriously, why is this not an ARMA 2 or even an OFP1 mod??

Anyways, big fan of the original PnP, never played it but do have the PDF versions and the 2nd edition boxed set. I also downloaded the DOS game just now, and attempted the first mission. How do I get my party member who speaks Polish to talk to the guy in that I think i need to give the supplies to?

[max power 21]

You need to hail him, go to an adjacent square, face him and then initiate a conversation. If your party leader speaks the language, the conversation will just start. If not, it'll give some explanation about one of your party members realizing that the person is speaking in some language and will either start to translate or recommend someone else from the base.

IIRC, both hailing and starting a conversation is done simply by hitting the talky-guy looking icon. Hailing works in a certain radius to stop the AI from milling around, and talking works with the adjacent square you're facing. Just face some character and hit talk, no hitting talk and choosing the character required.

[BF2_Trooper 0]

You need to hail him, go to an adjacent square, face him and then initiate a conversation. If your party leader speaks the language, the conversation will just start. If not, it'll give some explanation about one of your party members realizing that the person is speaking in some language and will either start to translate or recommend someone else from the base.

IIRC, both hailing and starting a conversation is done simply by hitting the talky-guy looking icon. Hailing works in a certain radius to stop the AI from milling around, and talking works with the adjacent square you're facing. Just face some character and hit talk, no hitting talk and choosing the character required.

I was able to speak to said NPC and it said i didnt speak the language and recommended another squad member to be sent from HQ. How do i send the other guys from HQ who speaks the language? I assumed your whole party was travelling with you even though you only see the leader on the game screen.

[max power 21]

I was able to speak to said NPC and it said i didnt speak the language and recommended another squad member to be sent from HQ. How do i send the other guys from HQ who speaks the language? I assumed your whole party was travelling with you even though you only see the leader on the game screen.

Your section of 4 guys are the ones that go out into the radioactive wilderness. The rest of the platoon is in reserve in case someone gets wounded, etc. Make sure you have 4 or combat is going to be pretty difficult for you, and make sure you load them up properly and according to their skills. It's also best to choose guys/gals with high initiative scores.

To send out someone from base, you have to go home and change the composition of your squad and come back. It's annoying but in the long run it doesn't actually take very long. I don't know why they couldn't just speak over the radio.

[Deathstruck 375]

So, this is like Jagged Alliance 2 of DOS?

[max power 21]

So, this is like Jagged Alliance 2 of DOS?

Both games are for dos. I'm not sure how this one compares to JA because I didn't ever play it. I hear JA was very popular. This one, I don't recall being as popular so it's possible that JA was a better game. I think they are both tactical RPGs with turn based combat. TW2000 also has realtime 3d vehicle combat that's a PIA unless you let the computer resolve it. Conceivably you could get rather good at it, but I got tired of getting roasted so I just let the computer fight it out now.

Edited August 31, 2010 by Max Power

[max power 21]

I uploaded a video of the intro, with all of its creepy weirdness.

Rgts9uPUeQk

And here's a video someone made of the character generation processes. It follows the GDW method of creating a personal background for a random time interval. Then, it is assumed that the war breaks out and everyone is drafted into the armed forces. Given that this happens at a random time, your characters can be of any age of experience level- but this also means you have little opportunity to tailor build a character.

_53e25MtVIA

Edited September 1, 2010 by Max Power

[BF2_Trooper 0]

Lol, this has to be the world's longest character creation in a CRPG! :D Not that there's anything wrong with that, I wish more CRPG games where this detailed today.

[Deathstruck 375]

Both games are for dos.

Well actually, only the first one was for DOS, I was talking about 2. :p

But you and your thread got mequite interested in this. I'll be sure to pick it up on abandonware.

[max power 21]

Well actually, only the first one was for DOS, I was talking about 2. :p

But you and your thread got mequite interested in this. I'll be sure to pick it up on abandonware.

Haha. I didn't even know they had a sequel for that game. I thought you were asking if this was 'like the jagged alliance 2 of DOS'.

I was looking at JA 2 and I think this game is a little earlier and more primitive.

[Deathstruck 375]

Haha. I didn't even know they had a sequel for that game. I thought you were asking if this was 'like the jagged alliance 2 of DOS'.

I was looking at JA 2 and I think this game is a little earlier and more primitive.

Sorry to bring OT to your topic, but since you are at it, and IF you plan to get JA2, take a look at this: http://ja2v113.pbworks.com/

There goes some big-ass bugfix/content-adding/new-features mod I have ever seen. And new features are added with every new revision. T'would be cool to have something like this for Twilight. :P

[joshrego 10]

Ya! game is good. Quite challenging.Its basically post world war. I also agree to this that it may take you a little time to figure out the arming inventory screen and to get back into the factory base after driving.