Aiee! I'm back in Silent Storm! A thread about strategy/tactics games on another forum has got me back into S2, and I'm loving it again! I was an hour late to work this morning because I started playing through a level just to "see if my new key bindings were working". Suddenly, BAM. I'm really late.

Anyway, it's great to play again, and I'm having a ball playing through in different ways than the past. How good of an ambush can I set up? What if I just run in, guns blazing? What's an All-Soldier squad play like? What if I use only a Grenadier, a Scout, and my Sniper? What about just my Sniper? I'm using the Difficulty Grade Changes mod and enjoying the beefed up AI and save anywhere ability (gotta have it, as my gaming time is limited these days).

You guys do anything special and/or weird to keep the experience fresh and exciting?

Welcome back, glad to hear you're enjoying yourself! Why are you not using the old user?

It wouldn't send me an email to remember my password, so I just made a new me. I wish I could do that in real life; my knees are messed up and could use a reboot.

I AM totally enjoying the game! I'm at work right now and wish I could head back home and knock down some Nazi bastards...

You still playing any of these wonderful games?

I'm having another crack at S2, only I'm restraining myself strictly about the amount of equipment I carry, keeping it realistic, only a small amount of ammunition, a few grenades and bits of equipment. Nobody is carrying six different machine guns, etc.

Forgot how much devestation you can cause with the machine guns, even on short burst!

Totally! I love the equipment resize mod for those same reasons. You can only carry one large gun in each slot: none in the backpack. So if you want to have a rifle and a grenade in your main slots, you can't have another large gun in your backpack! It's an exercise in specialization and appropriate force management, and really focuses how you play. No more multi-talented squaddies.

*Goes off to get said mod*

Hey I somehow hadn't noticed that MOD. Excellent, that will give me some great replay value when I get round to playing again. I've completed SS on the hardest difficulty as both Allies and Axis, as well as completing Sentinels too so I'm looking for any way to make the game more difficult.

I don't suppose this same MOD also works on Sentinels does it?

Are there any other MODS out there that can make either of the games harder?

Oh heck yeah! Check out the mods section on this very site for some good ones. There's the DieHard mod, Oddballs mod, and the Difficulty Grade Changes one that I prefer. I haven't played with either of the others much, but they were pretty popular back in the day.

Sentinels has some great mods for it, too, including one that adds a bunch of new random encounters. Combine that with the incredible amount of tweaking you can do to the AI in that game and you've got a lot of replayability.

Dig around in the mods section and come back with any questions or suggestions. We may just all excite each other. ...I didn't mean for that to sound dirty...

I've been off games for quite some time now sadly. I've had very little time for it lately, and with all the useless games being released I've lost much interest at any rate. Had great fun with Incubation again some time back however . I wonder what rock gameplay hid under...the 21st century has been a great disappointment so far!

Send me (or better, Zombie ) a PM if you want the password to the old account reset DM.

Yay! Done!

I'm back into S2 fully, but we'll see how long it lasts. I'm looking forward to not abusing the sniping abilities of a maxed-out sniper as it makes the game too easy. I'm also hoping to drop a member or two and replace them with Soldiers. I like the idea of a squad of badass confrontationalists! Rarr!

Cool there are some good looking mods on closer inspection. I only really browsed over them the first time as I wanted to experience the game as it was intended.

For SS the 'Diehard Mod' sounds like it should be the business, although I refuse to use the 'Difficulty Level Changes' mod if it allows you to save at any time. For me the 'Ironman' 'no save' feature is absolutely essential to my style of gaming. I really can't be trusted not to reaload if I get someone killed or seriously wounded, (yes I hate myself for it), having that feature is the only way of making me take it on the chin and accept it.

Another one which looks good is the 'Class Skill Changes' mod which says it reduces everyones ability to hide. I think that can only be a good thing as the remarkable hiding in this game is probably one of the least realisitc aspects.

I think 'Diehard', 'Class Skill Changes' and 'Resized Items' should be enough to give me a fresh challenge. Now I only hope that they are all compatible with each other.

Another question, is the 'Random Storm' mod for Sentinels generally bug free? The fact it mentioned it was largely untested was something which had originally put me off using it.

Amyway, all this talk about Silent Storm but unfortunately I wont be playing it for a while yet. I'm currently in the middle of playing Jagged Alliance 2 and am determined to complete it which may take some time. All my gaming efforts are focused on that at the moment.

I demand the save anywhere functionality DGC mod gives you, mainly because I can only game in short bursts, and can't finish every mission in the same sitting. It remains to be seen if I'll have the willpower not to abuse the saving. I'm relishing the idea of playing well but recklessly, and replacing any soldiers who fall in battle. It will hurt, but it will be very different than the last time, when I was a Cautious Cathy.

All those mods should be compatible. I think they each change different tables. Make sure you're fully patched, of course.

And Random Storm for Sentinels worked fine for me when I used it a couple years ago. I liked the new locations, too; they weren't terribly unique, but it was nice to have new areas to blow up and knock over.

Thanks for the advice DM. I'm looking forward to playing again when I finally get the chance.