Matrix Games Forums

It seems that this game has had a curse hanging over it's head from the moment that Frank Hunter announced that he was developing a strategic Napoleonic game. First the Talonsoft problem that scrapped the initial game and now since the game has evolved into EIA, it has had a torturous development cycle. I am certain that it will eventually be released, but like you, watching this process over the years does not inspire much confidence in the overall project and it's future. I am still hopefull.

Well, quoting from the March update, the remaining tasks appear to be:

1. Add in missing elements such as TMR.
2. Finish PBEM testing.
3. Tune the AI
4. Release Version 1.00

... which leads me to a lot more confidence in where they are at with this game than, say World in Flames. Here it appears that they have a working AI that needs tuning, if you read in betwen the lines in the WIF forums then you'll see notes like "well, we are starting to think about the AI design".

Which, to me, says that EiA is probably due inside a year to two years, whereas WiF is more like 3 - 5 years time frame. Speaking as an ex-AI developer, the process of developing an AI is a very complex thing, and lots can go wrong during the development.

Anyway, I'm looking forwards to the release, it seems that the game is almost playable from the last set of screen shots we saw, just wish they could get a few more developers onto the tasks remaining to get the process out the door.

You might want to note that the "March Update" from which you quote is more than two years old.

I fully agree with those who have suggested that purchasing this game should wait until it becomes clear how well it actually turned out and how much effort will be spent on supporting it. If the excuse for delay in publication is, "It is only a part-time project, and only so much time can be devoted to it by its primary designer," that is my primary reason for not rushing out to buy the game.

A long time ago in a galaxy far away, I was a trusting supporter of whatever Matrix produced.

No longer.

Anyone familiar with the play "Waiting for Godot"?

A couple of friends of mine and I decided to play cards while we wait, but we couldn't find a fourth, so we let rigor mortis set in.

It looks like it will come out this year, so, lets all hope.
 
As much as I wish this would have come out earlier, I am still really hyped up to play the game.

I expect this game is going to end up like Black Powder:Battles of Napoleon....vaporware. A game that takes this long to release just ain't gonna make it. There is no reason a wargame that doesn't have modern day graphics even should take 5 years or more to produce. Vaporware. Look what they did to Combat Leader.. another vaporware product from Matrixgames.

And yet, despite your hatred for Matrix, you have hung around their forum for three and a half years... You sad loser...

Well, if it does turn to Vaporware... at least I'll know that Duke Nukem will be somewhere, playing Empire in Arms.

Better yet, maybe Duke Nukem will be a GENERAL in Empire in Arms... Modding anyone?

SoM

It seems like the AI is the big hold-up, big surprise there, and something about email. Who in their right mind would play this game against the AI. If the AI is causing Matrix fits, I say just forget about it and release the game as soon as possible. AI will never be able to play this game well.

ORIGINAL: Arinvald

If the AI is causing Matrix fits, I say just forget about it and release the game as soon as possible.

Do that and you sell about 200 copies.

ORIGINAL: Arinvald

It seems like the AI is the big hold-up, big surprise there, and something about email. Who in their right mind would play this game against the AI. If the AI is causing Matrix fits, I say just forget
about it and release the game as soon as possible. AI will never be able to play this game well.

Ask Paradox how that worked out for them with Diplomacy.

The game you've described already exists. It's called Empires In Arms. Either the boardgame or through Vassal, and releasing a game which isn't quite EIA and doesn't have an AI would be worse than not releasing it all IMHO.

I like AI, and would not buy the game with no AI or a faulty one.

Better off vaporware than bad, as Dinsdale said. You can use Vassal to make a mock up of the boardgame.

SoM

I just want to know who in their infinite ignorance gave the phrase to computer opponents as "artificial INTELLIGENCE?" I would tend to say it is more "Artificial Ignorant". Even so, I wouldn't buy the game either unless it had one. If anything it gives me something else to complain about in the game(s). lol

I refer to it as "artificial stupidity."

Some game designers have made significant progress in AI. I have touted them at length on these forums. Nobody listens. All we get is hand-wringing and, "Gee, it can't be done, and, even if we could, we can't afford to spend the time on it." Pasternakski, of course, is a flaming jerk for saying anything on the subject...

A jerk's question, then: Can you afford the time it takes to go broke?

The promise of computer wargames, dating well back into the 1980s to an advertising statement by SSI, was, "When you don't have a human opponent, the computer can give you a good game."

Before computer wargames, a survey by SPI magazine showed that more than 77 percent of board wargames (and this before popular solitaire designs emerged) were played solitaire. When computer wargames showed themselves to be deficient in AI opponent design, most players either just quit or ran to the rapidly developing game console designs and clicked away like happy crickets on a hot summer night in Arkansas. Look at the huge successes games primarily designed for solitaire play have enjoyed ... the Civilization series ... Galactic Civilizations and its offspring ... these, of course, are not "wargames," but it sure would be nice if Matrix got its act together and came up with a "megahit" - and their lame rework of "Axis and Allies" wasn't it.

Matrix came along and promised a revitalization of computer wargaming in a style that would accommodate the "traditional" computer wargamer and bring 'em back to the hobby.

Okay ... I'm waiting. Other publishers have done better (AGEOD, Brad Wardell at Stardock, and HPS, to name a few). How about you, Matrix/2by3?

I really liked Galactic Civ etc. because they explained just how much AI each level actually had. Get 9 ops at 200% economy who have been analyzing your play and you have to be brilliant to survive, let alone win. Of course it also allows you to hold a significant advantage for a game just to feel better about yourself as you conquer the galaxy before the other races have even learned basic tech [:D]

ORIGINAL: Murat
Of course it also allows you to hold a significant advantage for a game just to feel better about yourself as you conquer the galaxy before the other races have even learned basic tech [:D]

But I play computer games just so I can feel better about myself.

pasternakski,

ORIGINAL: pasternakski
for solitaire play have enjoyed ... the Civilization series ... Galactic Civilizations and its offspring ... these, of course, are not "wargames," but it sure would be nice if Matrix got its act together and came up with a "megahit" - and their lame rework of "Axis and Allies" wasn't it.

I understand your point, but I think you're way off base in your conclusions. I'd put the AWD AI up against Civilization's or BOA's or any of HPS's any day of the week. I'd do the same with many of our games. GalCiv does have quite a good AI, but I think Conquest of the Aegean's is at least as good.

Matrix came along and promised a revitalization of computer wargaming in a style that would accommodate the "traditional" computer wargamer and bring 'em back to the hobby.Okay ... I'm waiting. Other publishers have done better (AGEOD, Brad Wardell at Stardock, and HPS, to name a few). How about you, Matrix/2by3?

So you're saying the others have done better strictly based on their AI performance? I don't buy it, I've played their games and ours and by and large I see the same or better AI in our games across the board.

Regards,

- Erik

I concurr

ORIGINAL: Arinvald

It seems like the AI is the big hold-up, big surprise there, and something about email. Who in their right mind would play this game against the AI. If the AI is causing Matrix fits, I say just forget about it and release the game as soon as possible. AI will never be able to play this game well.

I have been in and out of this forum for nearly 3 years and still want to believe that this will be a game worth waiting for. However, I must express my concerns that we have not herd from Marshall for quite some time. Even the slightest nugget to keep us holding on would be sufficient. Please don't keep us in the dark to speculate and allow pessimism to grow.[:(] After all, all we want is a quality game.