Demo first Impressions

[Mad Russian]

ORIGINAL: Fredrocker

I like the new demo, the graphic quality has improved and the AI seems to be more responsive... Good Work... I do have a question, I haven't been able to turn off the 'Flashing' blue squares around a selected unit (it is annoying as heck), some help please???... Also there doenst seem to be any type ground damage from Mortar or Artillery, granted the demo has 81mm shells coming in but the terrain is not affected... Is there craters created by larger 'Arty' and if so is it usable as some form of added defense...

Keep up the good work [:)] The game has come along way since Winterstorm and Kharkov...

Glad you like the PCO Demo Freddie...especially since you were so vocal about how PCK SUCKS!!!!!! ROFL!!! [:D]

I'm glad you took the time to at least try PCO. It's different but then we always set out to make it different.

There is no dynamic terrain damage in PCO. This all started off as a simple update. That is one feature that was always to be included in the next game of the series. Destructible terrain is coming just not in this update.

Don't you owe me a game? I'll take it with PCO when you get the full version. You can pick the scenario!

Good Hunting.

MR

[Mad Russian]

ORIGINAL: Fredrocker

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

Which flashing blue are you talking about exactly? Could you post a screenshot?

Hi Erik

Here is a link to the Blue Marks I am talking about, I should have said they moved constantly and look like crop marks... my bad... but is there a way to turn them off...

Thanks in advance...

That blue flashing marker is showing you where on the overall situation map the unit you have selected is located. Deselect any units and there won't be any flashing blue squares.

Good Hunting.

MR

[Fredrocker]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

Dynamic shell craters including terrain deformation are not in this release, though they are on the visual improvements list and may be in the next release.

ORIGINAL: diablo1

This is practically a must for immersion of this type of game. Gotta have dynamic deformation of terrain and buildings, windows blown out, bullet holes in things, dents all kinds of damage animations and graphics. I mean you put all that time and work into grass....why not this other important stuff?

Well not just the immersion factor, but basically I have to watch every area where my units are on a replay just to see where the Arty is coming down... so on a large map with many units, opposing Arty will be a pain to locate and determine even at a high overview... I guess it will be the same for Arty I have planned on the enemy too... IMHO...

I do think the flowers, grass and that stuff is very well done, though I bet we see a lot of snow in many of the battles...

I am impressed with the AI the more I play the one battle over and over... [:D]

[Mobius]

ORIGINAL: Fredrocker

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

Which flashing blue are you talking about exactly? Could you post a screenshot?

Hi Erik

Here is a link to the Blue Marks I am talking about, I should have said they moved constantly and look like crop marks... my bad... but is there a way to turn them off...

Thanks in advance...

Yeah, those are just the unit selection box(s). Just move the cursor arrow outside the box and click.

[Mad Russian]

ORIGINAL: Fredrocker

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

Dynamic shell craters including terrain deformation are not in this release, though they are on the visual improvements list and may be in the next release.

ORIGINAL: diablo1

This is practically a must for immersion of this type of game. Gotta have dynamic deformation of terrain and buildings, windows blown out, bullet holes in things, dents all kinds of damage animations and graphics. I mean you put all that time and work into grass....why not this other important stuff?

Well not just the immersion factor, but basically I have to watch every area where my units are on a replay just to see where the Arty is coming down... so on a large map with many units, opposing Arty will be a pain to locate and determine even at a high overview... I guess it will be the same for Arty I have planned on the enemy too... IMHO...

I do think the flowers, grass and that stuff is very well done, though I bet we see a lot of snow in many of the battles...

I am impressed with the AI the more I play the one battle over and over... [:D]

While you may have a scenario with a large OOB it's easy to find and follow the action. When anything appears in the message box you can simply click on it and it will take you to that event.

If you need to see where artillery is landing, or any other event in the message box, but want to stop the action while you go look you can hit pause, click on the action in the message box which will take you there, you can click on the replay bar a bit before the artillery starts to land and watch the entire event.

Good Hunting.

MR

[diablo1]

ORIGINAL: Mad Russian

ORIGINAL: diablo1

Dynamic shell craters including terrain deformation are not in this release,

This is practically a must for immersion of this type of game. Gotta have dynamic deformation of terrain and buildings, windows blown out, bullet holes in things, dents all kinds of damage animations and graphics. I mean you put all that time and work into grass....why not this other important stuff?

I'm sorry, I remember you being extremely upset at times that the update wasn't released to you yet. You wanted to wait another 6 months for the update?

Grass took us about 2 months. What you are talking about is at least a 6-8 months addition to the update.

Sorry, the update needed to come out. We can make the additional changes to the next games in the series.

Good Hunting.

MR

It was the fact that you put GRASS ahead of everything else that is MORE IMPORTANT to this game. I bet if you had a poll of what to do first GRASS, DAMAGE DEFORMATION (building desruction, etc. etc.), INFANTRY MODELING IMPROVEMENTS like reduced suppression levels) that GRASS would have come in LAST PLACE.

That's why I was so adamant about wasting time on grass as it's just not that important. It's almost like oh should a Tiger tank have a 7 or an 8 for front hull armor stat, nobody really gives a damn except some hard nosed grog that wants historical accuracy to a tee which none of these games ever have anyways. I'd wager most players just want ACTION and FUN and yeah at least SOME plausibility but whether a blade of grass height inches makes a difference or not I think not.

But oh well continue to blame your mistakes on me if that's what floats your boat and makes you feel better about what was left out. I'm just trying to tell you what improves the game as so many others before me.

[Mad Russian]

ORIGINAL: diablo1

It was the fact that you put GRASS ahead of everything else that is MORE IMPORTANT to this game. I bet if you had a poll of what to do first GRASS, DAMAGE DEFORMATION (building desruction, etc. etc.), INFANTRY MODELING IMPROVEMENTS like reduced suppression levels) that GRASS would have come in LAST PLACE.

No we didn't, grass was done last.

That's why I was so adamant about wasting time on grass as it's just not that important. It's almost like oh should a Tiger tank have a 7 or an 8 for front hull armor stat, nobody really gives a damn except some hard nosed grog that wants historical accuracy to a tee which none of these games ever have anyways. I'd wager most players just want ACTION and FUN and yeah at least SOME plausibility but whether a blade of grass height inches makes a difference or not I think not.

The issue is more like should a Tiger have a 4 or an 8. Grass is just that important to keeping infantry alive. Both in the game and in real life.

But oh well continue to blame your mistakes on me if that's what floats your boat and makes you feel better about what was left out. I'm just trying to tell you what improves the game as so many others before me.

I'm not blaming anyone. I'm explaining to you that there is only so much time and only so many resources. We all have list of our own priorities. I can see that on your list grass was low. You've made that clear. We didn't see it that way and I've tried to explain to you why we made that decision.

Bottom line is that grass included and the infantry combat system gets more work done to it as the next phase of the game series.

Good Hunting.

MR

[Fredrocker]

ORIGINAL: Mad Russian


That blue flashing marker is showing you where on the overall situation map the unit you have selected is located. Deselect any units and there won't be any flashing blue squares.

Hi Steve

I understand deselecting, I am referencing the constant in-out motion of the crop marks when the unit is selected and I am trying to plot some orders, such as LOS/LOF, is there a way to make the motion stop... I figured if I could turn off the pulsating Icons (I think they beat at the same rate as my pulse) I could turn of the blue crops.... Once I deselct I no longer can do anything with the unit... Its not a biggy but it is annoying to me, maybe I shouldn't be down at ground level behind the unit doing LOS/LOF plotting...

[Fredrocker]

ORIGINAL: Mad Russian


While you may have a scenario with a large OOB it's easy to find and follow the action. When anything appears in the message box you can simply click on it and it will take you to that event.

If you need to see where artillery is landing, or any other event in the message box, but want to stop the action while you go look you can hit pause, click on the action in the message box which will take you there, you can click on the replay bar a bit before the artillery starts to land and watch the entire event.

[8D] Cool, I forgot about that nice feature, ... Thanks Steveooooo[:D]

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: diablo1
It was the fact that you put GRASS ahead of everything else that is MORE IMPORTANT to this game. I bet if you had a poll of what to do first GRASS, DAMAGE DEFORMATION (building desruction, etc. etc.), INFANTRY MODELING IMPROVEMENTS like reduced suppression levels) that GRASS would have come in LAST PLACE.

That's why I was so adamant about wasting time on grass as it's just not that important. It's almost like oh should a Tiger tank have a 7 or an 8 for front hull armor stat, nobody really gives a damn except some hard nosed grog that wants historical accuracy to a tee which none of these games ever have anyways. I'd wager most players just want ACTION and FUN and yeah at least SOME plausibility but whether a blade of grass height inches makes a difference or not I think not.

But oh well continue to blame your mistakes on me if that's what floats your boat and makes you feel better about what was left out. I'm just trying to tell you what improves the game as so many others before me.

As MR noted, grass was done last, infantry improvements were done long before grass. You don't have a leg to stand on here. I realize you have some pet peeves and personal wish list items, but continuing to criticize without being informed ends up as bashing, which is not what these forums are about.

The features you want to see are also on our list. A LONG list of features was added to and implemented for PCO, which (correct me if I'm wrong) you are getting for free. There will always be more that we could do but if we chose that route, we would never release a game.

Regards,

- Erik

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: Fredrocker

ORIGINAL: Mad Russian


While you may have a scenario with a large OOB it's easy to find and follow the action. When anything appears in the message box you can simply click on it and it will take you to that event.

If you need to see where artillery is landing, or any other event in the message box, but want to stop the action while you go look you can hit pause, click on the action in the message box which will take you there, you can click on the replay bar a bit before the artillery starts to land and watch the entire event.

[8D] Cool, I forgot about that nice feature, ... Thanks Steveooooo[:D]

Yep, just shift-click on the event and it will move to it and rewind the replay automatically to just before it happened.

Regards,

- Erik

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: Fredrocker
I understand deselecting, I am referencing the constant in-out motion of the crop marks when the unit is selected and I am trying to plot some orders, such as LOS/LOF, is there a way to make the motion stop... I figured if I could turn off the pulsating Icons (I think they beat at the same rate as my pulse) I could turn of the blue crops.... Once I deselct I no longer can do anything with the unit... Its not a biggy but it is annoying to me, maybe I shouldn't be down at ground level behind the unit doing LOS/LOF plotting...

Aha, now I understand. No way to stop it at present, but we could add that as an option in the future.

Regards,

- Erik

[rickier65]

ORIGINAL: Fredrocker

ORIGINAL: Mad Russian


That blue flashing marker is showing you where on the overall situation map the unit you have selected is located. Deselect any units and there won't be any flashing blue squares.

Hi Steve

I understand deselecting, I am referencing the constant in-out motion of the crop marks when the unit is selected and I am trying to plot some orders, such as LOS/LOF, is there a way to make the motion stop... I figured if I could turn off the pulsating Icons (I think they beat at the same rate as my pulse) I could turn of the blue crops.... Once I deselct I no longer can do anything with the unit... Its not a biggy but it is annoying to me, maybe I shouldn't be down at ground level behind the unit doing LOS/LOF plotting...

I don't know of any way to make the pulsing selction box stop. I'm pretty sure there is none.

Thanks
rick

[JMass]

ORIGINAL: diablo1
It was the fact that you put GRASS ahead of everything else that is MORE IMPORTANT to this game.

This is simply not true, but perhaps you could be more happy with a game set in North Africa... think, no GRASS! [;)]

[diablo1]

but perhaps you could be more happy with a game set in North Africa... think, no GRASS!

I was thinking more like the Pacific and JUNGLES! [:)]

[Fredrocker]

ORIGINAL: Mad Russian

Glad you like the PCO Demo Freddie...especially since you were so vocal about how PCK SUCKS!!!!!! ROFL!!! [:D]

I'm glad you took the time to at least try PCO. It's different but then we always set out to make it different.

There is no dynamic terrain damage in PCO. This all started off as a simple update. That is one feature that was always to be included in the next game of the series. Destructible terrain is coming just not in this update.

Don't you owe me a game? I'll take it with PCO when you get the full version. You can pick the scenario!

Good Hunting.

MR

Opinions can be brutal sometimes [:)] and I am still not fond of a lot of the play features 'Orders, Reaction' turns... Guess 11 years set in my ways, its tough to retrain and old dog...[;)] I will get a copy of the game and play it, I just got to find all my PC:K info... [X(] ... And yea, would like to play a battle against you... of course we won't be able to play the best battles cause you probably made them all, and then that would be unfair[:D]... Thanks for all your feedback on stuff Steve.... back to somemore demo play... gotta polish up so I can hold my own with the Mad Russkie!!!!


[/quote]

[Mad Russian]

Don't say North Africa too loud or Ben will start to make desert textures!!  [&o]

Next thing you know I'll see Mobius Waltzing with Matilda! [X(]

Good Hunting.

MR

[diablo1]

which (correct me if I'm wrong) you are getting for free.

PATCHES have always been free so don't act like you're tossing me a free game here. You know as well as I do this was a patch from the start 3 years ago.

[Mad Russian]

Yup, but it's a free game to you now.

And yes, you're welcome.

Good Hunting.

MR

[diablo1]

infantry improvements were done long before grass. You don't have a leg to stand on here.

Sure I do, you didn't spend enough time and resources on infantry then. Many of the forum members even at the Wargamer are complaining about the supression levels of infantry. So don't act like I'm the only one bringing this subject up. It's not my fault you thought grass was more important than finishing what should have been done with infantry in the first place.