Napalm

[Mord]

How will Napalm be handled in the game? Will it be delivered by a plane, or artillery strike?

Mord.

[Jason Petho]

It is delivered by airstrike.

[Mord]

Cool. Any chance of seeing some shots of it in action?


Mord.

[Jason Petho]

Not yet, we're still in Alpha Graphics.

[Mord]

Fair enough.

BTW. What does "Alpha Graphics" really mean? What do you guys consider Alpha? The terrain and buildings or everything, even including the units?


Mord.

[Jason Petho]

Alpha means that it isn't ready for hardcore BETA testing yet.

The graphics and scripting are in Alpha.. the rest is in Beta

[alwaysdime]

I don't want to speak for Jason but Alpha means the function should be intact but it could be using place holders for unit graphics,terrain etc. Maybe some screens need more text and polish. They are likely still balancing some of the units and weapons say like Napalm.

[Crossroads]

"Graphics and scripting are Alpha" basically means that for 3D view graphics especially there's still placeholder tiles in place, also the 3D artist has not yet balanced saturation nor brightness levels of new tiles with the old ones. So they are Alpha in that sense.

As a sidenotes to graphics, the 2D graphics of which I am responsible of are for mostly at a solid BETA stage, I don't expect many changes to final release to what you are seeing at the moment.

For CSEE (Campaign Series Event Engine) scripting, the alpha level means that scenarios are typically provided events (ie. scripted in lua language) in "passes". First the player briefings etc are added, then event points etc, then basic maneuvering and reactions to battle field events, finally adjusted per playtesting results. There are scenarios at the moment at all those stages, or passes.

Hope this helps.

[Mord]

Thanks for the detailed answers. My apologies for not replying sooner, I got sidetracked with other stuff. So far I am liking most of the terrain except for the rice paddies and the jungle. They both seem a bit garish and lack texture compared to other terrain. My favorite is a tile that looks like it may be elephant grass?

I REALLY hope we'll be playing this game before spring. Winter would be a nice time to kick back and relive the history!


Mord.

[lantran]

If you want to kill enemy infantry while leaving the forest intact though, a Light Artillery Barrage or two will do the job.