First Impressions

[Adam Parker]

Very small download comparatively for Matrix these days at just under 150megs. Downloaded with a breeze and the install went without a hitch on my XP machine.

Game fired up fine, no intro movies that I could see and a fairly plain game menu. Lots of screen resolutions to choose from.

Started the Coral Sea scenario as the Allies without reading a word of the rules. Moved some ships, clicked "run", lots of green little mosquitos started swarming the map at rapid speed, clicked "end game" as gotta read the rules now [;)]

The PDF game manual runs at 70 pages full color.

[fabforrest]

still fooling around with settings.  the default resolution in the tutorial show some ugly (jagged) text.  not pleased with that, hope i can find a resolution that the game itself displays better.

i cannot get map zoom to work.  even with reassigned keys, it just moves around, will not zoom in or out.  anyone else see this?

[fabforrest]

where did you find the manual?  when i click on manual in the matrix menu screen, i get a noise, but nothing happens.

[Adam Parker]

Maybe do a reinstall Fabforrest.
 
Mouse wheel zoom works fine for me, no jaggies at 1024x768 or 1280x1024.
 
The PDF takes its time appearing once you click on the game manual hotzone.

[Adam Parker]

Alt tab is working with perfect stability so far too.

[Adam Parker]

Damn - forgot to add. There's a fairly good looking in-game tutorial included too. I'm going to start going through it now.

[e_barkmann]

for those unable to open the manual, have a look in this thread for a possible solution:

tm.asp?m=1474888

cheers Chris

[tedhealy]

Just played the Pearl Harbor Scenario and went ahead with an afternoon follow up strike, almost had a clean sweep on battleship row. Only left 2 BBs floating. I have to play one where they fight back now[:D]

Brings back lots of memories of the first game.

[e_barkmann]

lots of green little mosquitos started swarming the map at rapid speed,

For those people with fast machines, I'd suggest dropping the game speed down from the default '9' before you hit the run button.

I generally run at about 4-5 and slower, especially once I hear the incoming air raid sirens!!

cheers

[Adam Parker]

ORIGINAL: Chris Merchant

For those people with fast machines, I'd suggest dropping the game speed down

Thanks mate!

You got a long weekend too? [:)] Very happy about this release, though I will need to squiz at the screen to read the manual.

I hope a printable version is uploaded soon.

[e_barkmann]

you betcha - long weekend - good timing eh?

The GUI is well thought out so a lot of stuff is obvious, plus there's a heap of tooltips to use on the fly.

cheers Chris

[Gregor_SSG]

ORIGINAL: tedhealy

Just played the Pearl Harbor Scenario and went ahead with an afternoon follow up strike, almost had a clean sweep on battleship row. Only left 2 BBs floating. I have to play one where they fight back now[:D]

Brings back lots of memories of the first game.

Yes, the variant where the US gets about 9 hours warning is a little bit more sporting, but it can still end very badly. Just be careful with your endurance, most US TGs are so unprepared that they have very little fuel.

Gregor

[fabforrest]

i realized zoom is working, just not quite like i thought it would.  the TF icons stayed the same size, but the other stuff changed which made me think it was jumping around.  the zoom also, please correct me if i am wrong, does not have a lot of range and seems to go in steps rather than a smooth zoom.

i did get the manual to open by going to the folder and opening the file directly.

[flintlock]

i did get the manual to open by going to the folder and opening the file directly.

As much as I enjoy the fingernails across a chalkboard screechy sound that affectionately accompanies the Matrix inserted menu, it's one of the first things I remove from my Matrix published titles.

[e_barkmann]

interestingly, Matrix have modified the screech sound on the CAW launch menu window, it's mellowed out a bit now [:)]

[Gregor_SSG]

ORIGINAL: fabforrest

i realized zoom is working, just not quite like i thought it would. the TF icons stayed the same size, but the other stuff changed which made me think it was jumping around. the zoom also, please correct me if i am wrong, does not have a lot of range and seems to go in steps rather than a smooth zoom.

i did get the manual to open by going to the folder and opening the file directly.

Yes, the zoom goes in steps, but if you go to the Options screen you can choose different zoom options. If you turn on Advanced Options you get even more control over the zoom options.

Gregor

[freeboy]

regarding the manual, proabably an adobe reader issue??
I also could not initially open at eh desktop, BUT if you open it in the hard drive folder manuals and select open with, whatever your current reader version, it works fine...

I was just happy to test my send in the hsurface Midway attack theory against the ai.. and yes they did do alot of damage wasting the us planes sinking a few ca and bc, while I was able to pound Midway and the US cv's to dust.. ue dribbles!

One ODD thing, the us sent the Yammato into Davy Jones Locker with a sub, yeh right! remmeber this ship and her sister are just about unsincable short of modern weapons, took wave after wave historically to"wound "them bad enough the crew scuttled. Whatever.. I lost four ships to subs?? odd.All in all it gave me ataste for more, looks like it may be a two player game???

[CTB123]

Yes, it is a stepped zoom.

Tony

[tedhealy]

After taking about 5 hacks at the Coral Sea scenario as the US, I finally earned a marginal victory.  Nothing like losing your carriers 4 times in a row to smack some sense into you.   Caution you fool [:-]

After finally figuring out I needed to oh you know, use some strategy, I skulked around in the storms to the south east and did my best to stay undetected.  We found each other south of Guadalcanal and exchanged air strikes.  I damaged the Shokaku and they hit Yorktown.  I also managed to damage 4 other ships (damn those pilots, THE CARRIERS GUYS!  HIT THE CARRIERS!)  As night hit, we both withdrew.  The Yorktown sunk from fire damage during the night and I thought for sure the Shokaku would too, but I found out it did not at the end of the scenario.  I raced around to cover Moresby, but the AI made no serious push there and I never really confirmed the Japanese carrier location again.  I got fleeting reports of them, but they never held up after a few more contact reports.  I let the Japs resupply Tulagi while I made a few strikes on the surface fleet and a few aux ships that strayed too close to Moresby. 

It ended with me losing the Yorktown and another 4 or 5 ships damaged.  The Japanese lost a CA and an aux ship, but also had 8 ships damaged badly including Shokaku.  We each lost about 80 planes. 

What I really loved is that even after playing 5 in a row, each time the AI did something a little different. 

[e_barkmann]

THE CARRIERS GUYS!  HIT THE CARRIERS!

the language between players in a multiplayer game during a strike can get quite colourful [:)]

cheers