My Review

[IainMcNeil]

The grenades simulate the variety of close assault weapons the infantry have such as explosives, panzerfausts etc. so its not just grenades but we didnt want to use up a lot of resources making the visuals match exactly what the model is representing.

[wodin]

Couldn't you just have one soldier in the squad with a bazooka who fires when attacking tanks?

[junk2drive]

Yes you can. I don't know why they chose two.

[IainMcNeil]

I think he means why not 1 of the 5 men have a bazooka in infantry. The reason is that for technical reasons all the guys in a squad are currently the same. We cant have a mixture of models without a fair amount of extra work.

[junk2drive]

I had just watched the video by DeLaVega and the vision of two was stuck in the way of my reading his post correctly. Abstract works for me.

[junk2drive]

I posted this in another forum and thought I would add it to my comments here. After a few months of play, I am still enjoying this game.

ORIGINAL: junk2drive

That's part of what I like about Battlefield Academy. It plays like a game, not a complicated simulation. The 3D units are low detail so that you don't need a super computer to run it. The units and map items are large enough so that my old eyes can see them and I can zoom in and out with the scroll wheel. It is IGOUGO so that I can keep up with it. It has details behind the scenes and dice rolls to keep it risky.

It's about as close to SP as you are going to get from Matrix/Slitherine. But you never know. Who would have thought that the guy behind PGF would get to make a commercial game of it.

[sabre1]

junk2drive:

I still love BA, but (always a but) I wish there was more campaigns that lasted a whole lot longer. Maybe it's just because I played through what was there so fast. I want more, and I want larger operations.

It is a wonderful game, simple, elegant, and you can pick it up even after you haven't played it for awhile.

[junk2drive]

It's sad that more people don't post what they would like to see in solo battles and that more people don't take the plunge and try designing something themselves.

I did get a request for more multiplayer battles but my skills are limited. I don't want to burn out either.

I am busy with a couple of beta tests and looking for a job too.

[diablo1]

ORIGINAL: sabre1

junk2drive:

I still love BA, but (always a but) I wish there was more campaigns that lasted a whole lot longer. Maybe it's just because I played through what was there so fast. I want more, and I want larger operations.

It is a wonderful game, simple, elegant, and you can pick it up even after you haven't played it for awhile.

This is what I was afraid of....no replayability. Sounds like it needs a random battle, random campaign generator like Panzer Command which I continue to play and play and play because of this.

[junk2drive]

There is a random AI tool. I made a battle and posted it at Slitherine. I'll post a link here. I took one of the bocage maps and clipped out a portion with the tool for that. I put a selection of units for both US and Germany on the map. Using the other tools (which I have written step by step with pictures, How To pdf's) I set it up so the the US player buys his force and the AI randomly buys its force, then the US player gets to deploy his forces within the starting LOS area. It works great and I had to play it several times before I beat it.

[diablo1]

The common gamer doesn't want to do all that to make a random battle Junkie ole boy. They want to click n go in 5 seconds, you know it and I know it as well. It should be as simple as Combat Mission or Steel Panthers setting up a random battle. It needs a random long term or short term campaign feature as well to be great like those two games still are. It's just almost a necessity for a game to come with random battle/campaign generators anymore....at least for me. I'm spoilt on them now and will rarely buy anything less.

[IainMcNeil]

You can - it is integrated in to the user content system. Plus there are 2 built in random missions too. Just download user content by clicking one button in game.

[sabre1]

I understand and agree with Diablo1.

This game is very close to being a great classic, but it needs more content or ease of use. I have played the user made missions. They are not nearly as elegant as SP games. Doesn't take away BA. This is not a complaint per se. It's that everyone loves this game and they can see potential for how much better it could be. Since I'm not a programmer, maybe we are asking for something that is not possible.

I would really like to see larger battles as a choice and more campaigns. I love the game. I don't have time to make my own content, nor do I want to if I did. I want to sit down after a day at work and play. Making my own content is work. You guys develop games. That's your job. [;)]

Steel Panthers, you could point and click and BANG you had a campaign that lasted for a LONG time. You got to upgrade your units etc... You know the formula. WAAAAAA, we want it now. [8D]

Anyway, BA is fun, and I look forward to the next 100 installments. Could you please hurry it up, before this economy kills our discretionary income.

[IainMcNeil]

The point is that user content is a lot better than generated content and as you say user content while great cannot compete with the hand crafted missions and assets produced by professional artists and designers who have far more time to create it. Any fully random generator would end up with repeatable and indistinct missions and all the flavour you love would be lost. We'll do our best to create as much content as possible for you guys. We have a lot on the go but there are a lot of technical issues with getting a system to distribute it in a user friendly way which we're ironing out. Once that is sorted we hope to be able to deliver things more rapidly!

[sabre1]

Thanks Iain, I look forward to it.

[junk2drive]

I think the people that asked for campaigns from the Axis side are gonna love Blitzkrieg France.

[budd]

But when our we going to love it[:D] how soon?
budd

[Icekill]

If i'm still on the fence about buying it is because i'm afraid that there won't be a long enough campaigns and/or scenarios.

While the tactical scale is my favorite one in wargames, i like the battles to be chained in some way, to buy/upgrade troops etc like in Steel Panthers, that is why i also would love a random campaign generator. I can create scenarios myself, but... it spoils them for me as i know where are the enemy units, etc so there is no surprise factor.

Of course with enough user or developers generated scenarios/campaigns i would be happy enough

[IainMcNeil]

There are a lot of scenarios in the base game so many hours of gameplay and more user content coming all the time. We released 2 more campaigns last week. The Blitzkrieg France expansion is also coming soon so no shortage of mission and the MP give s it a very long life even for people who don't normally play MP.

[Erik Rutins]

Icekill,

IMHO there is plenty of content for the money, you will get a lot of hours of entertainment per dollar here and the expansions will keep adding new content as we move forward.

Regards,

- Erik