Whats the game like now?

[wodin]

Has the game improved with the new patch?

Is it a minor improvement or a dramatic one?

I notice soemthing about the infantry dismounting, I didnt think they did?

"• Mech infantry that is dismounted now shows a “1” movement factor if the counter is drawn with a symbol rather than a silhouette. This makes it more clear when they are embarked and when they are not. Mech infantry will dismount whenever they are not moving or if the come within 500 m of an enemy unit while moving."

[CapnDarwin]

Wodin,

From the standpoint as a tester/designer a number of things have changed in the game engine to warrent the dramitic change result. We were able to fix a number of deeply rooted bugs, make a number of changes/refinements within the combat engine, update some graphics and messages, clean up some of the AI issue, and rebalance the scenarios Victory points to make for a better game. One of the biggest changes from 104 in terms of game dynamic is the LOS system. You will notice now that more of the map is "visible" to units and the the spottability of the units is now a functioning item. Recon unit can now "lay low" and spot advancing enemy units until they are practically overrun. Units in built up areas are harder to spot and hit. Air units can be spottted further out and in bad weather by units with radar. All very minor but when added up really make a dramatic change to gameplay and the overall feel of the game.

As for the dismounted infantry, no there are no counters for leg units, but yes, if you are unding NATO standard counters you can tell that your forces are "dismounted" by the "1" movement value. Some folks really want the separate counters and we will be working that for the next game in the series. As it stands in 1.10, the Mech Infanrty units are tougher in good cover and are no longer a speed bump in the face of enemy armour.

All in all, if you enjoyed the game to this point we feel you will really like what you see in the game now. If you have any other questions or comments please let us know. We will still be supportting FPG (albeit at a lower level) as we work hard on the next game.

I'm sure some of the other testers can chime in too. [:D]

[z1812]

Hi Wodin,

I have been a part of the FPG playtesting team for the past year. Some games on my hard drive are Sqaud Battles, PzC, Combat Mission, Campaign Series, winSPMBT, and a few others. When I became a tester I was not thrilled at all with the way FPG played. I was very critical of it on the forum. With no playtesting experience it was interesting to me to see if playtesters were taken seriously and their suggestions considered. Why bother? I love wargaming and this system has great potential.

And I was very pleasantly surprised. Believe me no one sugar coated criticisim's and no one was shy to make suggestions and request changes. At times I wondered if Matrix would just pull the plug and say " you have 2 more weeks, get it out the door". My other thought was that Robert ( the developer ) and Capn Darwin ( lead playtester and many other things as well ) might burn out from the relentless "demands" made by us and our refusal to be satisfied. In every situation they both answered the challenge. Did we get all we wanted . No!! But we got most of it.

In any case the game plays well and the changes are dramatic. It has gone from almost being removed from my HD to being a favourite. I have made a fairly comprehensive graphic mod and at the moment I am playing with the scenario editor to make scenarios where the A.I. will give players a good run for their money. Two are complete and seem to play quite well.

It is always hard to tell if a person will like a game or not. Of course the only way to know is to try it. This game system has great potential to be applied to different times and places. It will be fun to see where it goes.

Regards John

[hank]

I patched up this weekend and installed z1812's graphic mod. So far everything is working fine. I haven't played all the way through a scenario against the AI yet ... I've been looking through them to see what's changed (if anything). And I plan of starting up a pbem soon.

I noticed in one sce I was getting quite a thrashing by mech infy units ... my guys were dug in and holding on but the AI seemed to quite aggressive with the appropriate unit types (combat units attacking ... not arty or HQ units)

I like the new LOS
I like that my line from attacker to victim is working again (it stopped on my computer even though I had it toggled on - I couldn't get it back on) ... the patch appears to have fixed that

So far, I'm quite pleased. ... later

hank

[sunray11]

I think I've found a small bug. When attempting to use the LOS overly with elevations already toggled on, I got an "exception error" pop-up (didn't write down the number). From this point all toggles became inactive, and the firing lines disappeared as well. The game still played, though.

I've had this happen a couple of times, though I can't necessarily reproduce the error without fail, so I can't be any more specific.

[CapnDarwin]

Sunray11,

In the main Flashpoint folder, please look to see if there is a file called FPG_Report.txt. This is an error file report. If you can post it we can take a look into the problem. Also, are you using the Advanced LOS or regular?

UPDATE: I can't repeat the bug on my system. Can you tell me what scenario you where in and also what turn? The Report file will be the greatest help.

Thanks for the bug reports and I'm sorry you had the bug.

[sunray11]

The file doesn't exist. If and when it happens again, I'll make note of the details and post them here. I just wanted to mention it because of Hank's experience of something vaguely similar, noted above.

If no one else reports a similar bug in the near future, I'll reinstall the game and patch.

[CapnDarwin]

sunray11,

Are you running a Win98 machine?

[sunray11]

No, XP. Played a full game tonight, albeit a different scenario, without any problems whatsoever.

It's an excellent game!

[CapnDarwin]

What scenario was causing the "Crash"? Maybe we have something amiss there instead of the exe. Glad the other scenarios appear to be working.