Honest assessment: learning curve for complete newb? (no Harpoon Exp)

[CushVA]

Really interested in the game as I do have an interest in the subject. I played Jane's Fleet Command back in the day, but not any of the Harpoon games. Does the fact that the AI can handle many tasks (thus lowering the micromanagement) make it more accessible? Or is there still a steep learning curve that requires a fair amount patience? Price is somewhat of a concern, but given the depth and endless possibilities with the editor I am willing to overlook it


thanks [:)]

[Duck Doc]

Try this:

tm.asp?m=3249805

I had some experience with Harpoon. The micromanagment got in the way but this game is a lot different. Have at it. If you want it go for it. There will be plenty of easy and small scenarios to teach as you go. Besides there will be a huge community base who would be happy to help I am sure.

[mikmykWS]

Hi Cush

We built out a few tutorial videos to help

announcement.asp?id=26

Game play kind of cuts to the chase.

[Primarchx]

While experience helps, having an affinity for war games and a basic understanding of naval & air warfare principals is a good start.

As Mike said, there are tutorials. There are also lots of small to medium scenarios to cut your teeth on - Battle of Latakia, First Contact(s), Battle of Chumonchin Chan, South China Sea Clash, etc. I expect you'll learn what's needed pretty quickly and there's lots of help here to bounce questions off of.

[gexmex]

How easy is it for us newbs to tackle the scenario editor? Is it fairly intuitive, or just something that takes a little practice to get the hang of?

[mikmykWS]

Its easy although I'd suggest looking over the manual and then looking at a scenario in the editor to see how things are constructed in the mission and event editors. There are also some tips at the back of the manual.

Mike

[JiminyJickers]

ORIGINAL: gexmex

How easy is it for us newbs to tackle the scenario editor? Is it fairly intuitive, or just something that takes a little practice to get the hang of?

I have only dabbled a little bit but it seems easier than a lot of other ones that I have used.

I have only created some sides, placed some units, buildings, mines etc. It all seems pretty intuitive so far.

[Primarchx]

It's pretty simple, really.

In my first few games I didn't even use the Event Editor. Just plunked down a few units, set up a couple of missions for the Red Force (2-side game) and jumped in. Time from start to finish was maybe 10 minutes. Didn't even put in a scoring mechanism, figured I decide what an acceptable performance was.

Really, there's a lot of functionality in the Editor that's only going to be further expanded as time goes on. My last scenario had something like 30 events, IIRC, and tons of triggers/actions using ~6 sides (one playable). The one I'm currently working on may have over a dozen sides (at least 1 playable and maybe 3) and a number of events that's going to require that I do some significant documentation so I can put them in and to assist in debug.

ORIGINAL: gexmex

How easy is it for us newbs to tackle the scenario editor? Is it fairly intuitive, or just something that takes a little practice to get the hang of?

[Ranger33]

I'm a total newbie to this particular flavor of wargame and I'm picking it up pretty easily so far. By using missions (which the tutorials do a great job of showcasing) you can get into the basics of the game very easily. I have yet to go beyond the tutorial missions to more complex scenarios, but you can be up and running with the basics in under an hour.

[gexmex]

Thanks guys. Really interested in purchasing this somewhere down the line. Seems like a really awesome game with some powerful capabilities.

At the risk of sounding incredibly lame, I was inquiring about the editor with the idea that I'd one day re-create a sort of new age Battle of Lake Erie, haha. Those Canadians can't be trusted! They're diabolical underneath that maple syrupy sweet exterior of politeness! It seems even more lame now that I've typed it out, but naval shenanigans on the Great Lakes have always intrigued me. Are USCG vessels included in by chance?

[Casinn]

ORIGINAL: gexmex

Thanks guys. Really interested in purchasing this somewhere down the line. Seems like a really awesome game with some powerful capabilities.

At the risk of sounding incredibly lame, I was inquiring about the editor with the idea that I'd one day re-create a sort of new age Battle of Lake Erie, haha. Those Canadians can't be trusted! They're diabolical underneath that maple syrupy sweet exterior of politeness! It seems even more lame now that I've typed it out, but naval shenanigans on the Great Lakes have always intrigued me. Are USCG vessels included in by chance?

WHECs, WMECs, WPBs from 1972 on are at least, not sure if more USCG are in.

[donald54]

Atthe risk of sounding stupid where is the documentation on how to use the scenario editor?

[navwarcol]

You want to look at chapter 7 in the attached manual. For some "in depth" things beyond that you can easily find help in these forums as I myself have, but that chapter in the manual will be sufficient to completely build a scenario.

[JCR]

This graphic is for Eve Online but the learning curve is similar

[mrfeizhu]

Buy the game you will not buy any other one for a long time, if you like the topic this is the game for you.

[Maromak]

ORIGINAL: mrfeizhu

Buy the game you will not buy any other one for a long time, if you like the topic this is the game for you.

Yes! I haven't touched Planetside 2 or anything else since starting beta testing with Command.

[Bazza042]

Cush,

I make no claim to be an expert either on the accuracy of the equipment modeled
or on the game itself, I've only had it for a couple of weeks or so.

But you need have no fear, the AI is very good and can be left to its own devices
most of the time so there is no need to micromanage. However if you want to you can
'fly' each plane, ship or sub individually and have pretty much full control over
each unit.

Whilst it is early days the support has been uniformly excellent (I've brought some
klunkers in my day!)and there literally seems almost nothing that can't be done.

Although it is expensive, value for money is excellent. I would thoroughly recommend it.

Needless to say, I hope, I have no connection with the the developers, designers, Matrix
or anyone associated with Command. And as my main interest is World War 2 (NW Europe)
I have no deep interest in this era either......

Hope this helps.

[smudge56]

Mate I could never get my head round Harpoon but this game has been miles easier and with the help from people in the forum its been much better. Also theres a guy in the forum who has been making helpful video's since it came out he is Baloogan website and youtube details :-

http://www.youtube.com/user/baloogan?feature=watch

http://baloogancampaign.com/

Have a look at these this may help.

Again much easier to get into Harpoon I'm a great example complete incompetent with Harpoon, much much better at Command.

[El Savior]

I'm old Harpoon guy too. Harpoon was more complicated to learn IMHO. I find COMMAND quite easy to learn. The problem is not interface but tactics and how to use right stuff/ammo etc. Descriptions to armament will help a lot - nice to see descriptions already about systems (Soviet SAMs example). Newest build 469 also helps too with arming aircrafts, now you see all data in same window.

[severe7]

Personally I don't find the game to be very hard to play, certainly below Dota2 and most flight sims, but above Starcraft and Age of Empires. I had no experience with Harpoon whatsoever when I bought CMANO, I'm to young to have experienced "the golden age of harpoon". The only reason I even bought it is because of another game about naval warfare (the bugfest NW: Arctic circle) that I played by chance. That game made me interested in modern naval warfare. Playing CMANO is easy, and the editor is logical. The hard part is as others stated knowing the different ammo types and platforms. Luckily there is a database with all the information needed. Without it (and some googling) I would not know the difference between the hundreds of different Russian missiles, bomb and torpedoes.