Confused

[creyzi4zb12]

I'm kind of confused with the many Sudden Strike titles out there...I've only played SuddenStrike 2 with RWM mod...but I've never played Sudden Strike Resource War or Hidden Stroke before.

My questions are:
1. What is SS Resource War, and Hidden Stroke 2?
2. What's the difference between the RW and Hidden Stroke?
3. Is Resource War the mod, or Hidden Stroke the mod?
4. What are some good mods for RW or HS?

[Denis_48]

1. SS Resource War is a 2005 game of the Sudden Strike series made by Fireglow. It is the next installment in the Sudden Strike series, a sort of 'Sudden Strike 2.5'. Main feature is the added fuel for the vehicles, with associated fuel-supply trucks. The game remained less famous than its glorious ancestors, and may be called an "unofficial" sequel to SS2 (the "official" being SS3), although still created by Fireglow themselves.

Hidden Stroke 2 is also a 2005 game inspired by the Sudden Strike series, released only one month after 'Resource War'.
This time, the game was developed by the APRM team, which already made the famous Sudden Strike Forever APRM 4.xx mod, and the 'Hidden Stroke' expansion for Sudden Strike 2 (released by CDV).
Hidden Stroke 2 has been released as a stand-alone game. It was the result of a tripartite agreement between CDV, Fireglow & APRM. However, later this year a law issue between CDV & Fireglow broke the agreement, and CDV stopped to print Hidden Stroke 2.
Recently, CDV has even denied that they ever published Hidden Stroke 2 in the past. Which is probably a lie, but heh, who cares?

Hidden Stroke 2 is still played on the internet, even more since:

a) A freeware Sudden Strike 2 version has been released on Gametop.
b) Fireglow failed to successfully sell SS3, and died of what probably may be called a bankruptcy.

As a result, 'HS2 games' can be downloaded as stand-alone games. There are 2 main 'versions' available:

a) Resource War (yes, same name as the Fireglow game. Why? Probably because it tries to mix HS2 and RW features - although oddly enough, this stand-alone is not backward compatible, neither with HS2 nor RW) --> Sudden Arena room Hidden Stroke II RW

I personnally won't advise this 'arcade' mod, as it is very far from the RWM gameplay (and considering that you are a RWM player, it probably won't interest you).


b) Fusion (tries to create a 'best-of' game based on all the classic Sudden Strike versions, including SSF - this stand-alone is backward compatible with the original HS2, SS2, and even the editor's 'maps without missions' from SSF // This mod is not translated in English yet, but this is currently planned).

http://www.moddb.com/mods/hidden-stroke-2-fusion

This one also has a closer gameplay to RWM, and is clearly "realistic-focused" - the main difference with RWM being longer fire range for tanks.


2. RW featured fueled vehicles & tanks, and that's about it.
HS2 featured many other things (like new units, landscapes, playable countries), but on a simple SS2 engine basis (no fuel). Overall HS2 did great, and is still believed to be superior to Fireglow's RW.


3. Well, it depends of what you consider:

- 2003's Hidden Stroke is an expansion for Sudden Strike 2 (like Forever is an expansion for SS1)

- 2005's Resource War & Hidden Stroke 2 were both released to be sold as stand-alone games.

- The recent 'Hidden Stroke 2 Resource War' ?
This one should really be titled 'Resource War Hidden Stroke 2', because this time 'Hidden Stroke 2' is the name of the mod, and 'Resource War' is the name of the engine basis. Why is it not the case? You guessed it: advertising. In order to present it like if it was the only legitimate Hidden Stroke 2 sequel. But I'll try not to be a bitch on that: peace
Still, to be clear, in this last case: RW = game, HS2 = mod.


4. Ok so you want the name of some other RW mods, right? Here are a couple which i didn't talk about, they seem to be very good:

- Pacific Warfare Mod (Japan/US mod, really great)
- Real Combat Mod (Hungarian mod, never played, but some told me that it was quite good actually)

[creyzi4zb12]

Ah, ok..thanks a lot