Gameplay and Replayability?

[Adam Parker]

I've been looking everywhere for more feedback as to how the game plays and its seems the most useful posts to be found are not here or at the Slitherine site but at the Wargamer where Franchot writes in the "BBC Battlefield Academy" thread:

Been playing through the first campaign and although the game is fun and easy enough to play, I'm nagged by the fact that the campaigns are scripted. To me, I don't feel like I'm playing a war game against a challenging A.I. where anything can happen; instead I'm figuring out the absolute correct moves that will get me the victory conditions. To me, the game is more like solving a puzzle and is more akin to games such as Advance Wars which I play on my Nintendo DS.

And Jomni replies:

You're right. The biggest problem of the game I think is content.
Once you're done with the singleplayer campaigns, you're done.

Which is my biggest fear and pre-purchase perception here. To what extent are the scenarios re-playable? To what extent is this game just another "solve the puzzle with abstract units " affair? How linear are the campaigns?

I had my credit card out today but then put it back fearing a game of 30 sudoku's with tanks.

Thanks,
Adam.

[IainMcNeil]

There will be a steady flow of content from us, but this will be a tiny portion of the amount of content created by fans. We've got 2 MP maps and a single player scenario in beta testing. What the fans create will likely be far more extensive than anything we can keep up with. The maps are scripted to make them interesting. Making randomly generated forces is actually pretty easy but they tend to get dull quite fast as you can't have cool events like reinforcements arriving, or interesting objectives.

[jomni]

The single player campaign is long so it's till worth it.

Multiplayer is fun. More multiplayer maps and more multiplayer game modes and a custom army builder... then I'm a happy camper.
Field of Glory has more variety when it comes to multiplayer.

[Les_the_Sarge_9_1]

I'm willing to say it has respectable replay value.

Yeah the next run through you will tell yourself ok they were there last time. So what, you learn a few tricks.

I have played some of the early 'easy' initial fights, and gotten owned and I KNEW what was supposed to happen. You play it 5 times through and you can't just laugh at the game and expect that just because you owned it the last 2 run throughs the next time is in the bag.

And that's vs the AI.

Vs a human you can just forget assuming anything.

[Rosseau]

I don't get the feeling "I'm solving a puzzle" when playing BA. More so from OpBarb, and even then, not so bad.

I am also finding that anything can happen in terms of the combat results, but they happen pretty realistically. Then all you have to do is throw another tank or two into the mix (about 20 sec work in the editor), and everything changes again.

So I envision myself playing the map scenarios with different forces or deployments--or modding the units a bit--just to see how the battle will roll out.

Creating a good scenario from scratch will take work and understanding the scripting. I am not there yet, but in no ways see an end to the enjoyment of this game for a while. And then they will introduce the East Front expansion pack!

[gijas17]

Did you say Eastern Front expansion? Now that has my attension. Im on the fence also with buying this. But it sounds like this game is just getting started so I may just hang back awhile and watch how this develops before making a final decision.

[Rosseau]

Sorry Gijas. The Eastern Front expansion was more of a hint to the developers.

Nothing wrong with waiting, but I'm glad I made the purchase. The more people who buy it now, the better the chances of future releases. I am hoping it goes the way of FoG--and it should. Lots of new stuff, and in short order.

Keeps us busy until WitE comes out.

[Les_the_Sarge_9_1]

The word 'puzzle' never enters my thinking with the game.

More like chess and don't lose your key pieces or you get owned.

As for expansions, they might get around to something, who knows.

But it is pretty self evident, that the only thing separating us from East front or Pacific, or 1967 is someone doodling with the mod controls.

We have heard no small amount of lamenting over the years about lack of mod support, and being milked by expansions.

Your voice WAS heard. You got the mod capacity, and expansions is someone else's game.

I hear paradox just sold a 20 dollar patch for HoI 3 eh Called Semper Fi.

[Erik Rutins]

The gameplay here is not puzzle oriented if I follow how that's intended - it's scenario and turn-based tactical but its very easy to learn. The interface is IMHO a pleasure to work with and it doesn't take long for anyone to get up to speed. There are enough scenarios and campaigns to make this well worth the price in terms of the time it will take to play through the single player content. The MP server and system are an added bonus that is great fun, as it is in FOG>

Regards,

- Erik

[junk2drive]

The included campaigns are puzzle like in that you have to take objectives within a set number of turns. Sometimes that becomes harder than it first looks and takes several attempts before you finish with a victory and advance to the next battle.

[lparkh]

Well Panzer General was the same way (to my mind). That didn't prevent more campaigns being created by people then I could ever possibly play (and good quality too). So I'm not too worried about play time ... if not replayabiilty.

[NefariousKoel]

How difficult is creating a single-player scenario?

Field of Glory was so easy, I created two and it didn't take terribly long. Does this one have some kind of editor and if so, is it more difficult than FoG's?

[PipFromSlitherine]

It depends on how much work you want to put into the map visuals. Not being an artist I find setting up the basic structure and forces takes very little time at all. But if you want pretty streets with varied housing, nicely detailed forests, flowers and water then you might spend a little more time. But to be honest still not that long.

Or of course you can just grab and use one (or part of) an existing map, but refactor it with different forces and a different script (if wanted) to create an entirely new mission. I did a custom one with some scripted mission behaviour today on a part of an existing map and it took maybe 2 hours, but that includes playtesting it to make sure it played well, worked correctly, etc. So pretty quick!

Hope that helps

Cheers

Pip