playable yet? Part II

Empires in Arms is the computer version of Australian Design Group classic board game. Empires in Arms is a seven player game of grand strategy set during the Napoleonic period of 1805-1815. The unit scale is corps level with full diplomatic options

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La Provence
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RE: playable yet? Part II

Post by La Provence »

Playable finally ????
[8|]
 
No, unfortunately !
 
Solo : IA ...... sorry, no avalaible IA !
Pbem : Too long, discouraging and tedious !
Salut et fraternité

La Provence
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Mardonius
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RE: playable yet? Part II

Post by Mardonius »

ORIGINAL: Thresh

I think those people who were expecting to play a game against 6 AI opponents and encounter the same game play idiosyncrasies and subtleties when playing 6 other humans were setting the bar a bit high...

Todd


Very true. And don't try to get an answer to how high the bar should be set or you will get a very intense discourse on the history of AI and the like...
"Crisis is the rallying cry of the tyrant" -- James Madison
"Yes, you will win most battles, but if you loose to me you will loose oh so badly that it causes me pain (chortle) just to think of it" - P. Khan
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borner
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RE: playable yet? Part II

Post by borner »

Playable finally ????
[8|] 
 
 
I would call it marginally playable at best as of now, which is an admitted improvement. Slow, painfully slow at times, but at least there are less bugs around. AI is good to practice, and that is about it, but the same can be said for many games. That being said, Bugs still need taken care of, and hopefully turning it back into EiA will start to happen after a few more upgrades. 
Tater
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RE: playable yet? Part II

Post by Tater »

ORIGINAL: Thresh

I think those people who were expecting to play a game against 6 AI opponents and encounter the same game play idiosyncrasies and subtleties when playing 6 other humans were setting the bar a bit high...

I never expected such...nor has anyone asked for such so I am confused as to who "those people" might be.

The AI doesn't even perform at the bare minimum. I have played against other AI's in a strategy game (EX: MOO-II) and the AI in this game doesn't even come close. In MOO-II the AI had to manage the activities of multiple other races each with multiple planets, each planet with multiple economic/military aspects. One could defeat the MOO-II AI eventually but at least it presented a challenge.
Later-

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Thresh
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RE: playable yet? Part II

Post by Thresh »

IIRC, the AI on MOO used to have to cheat to stay ahead of the curve...

Todd
Grognot
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RE: playable yet? Part II

Post by Grognot »

ORIGINAL: Thresh

IIRC, the AI on MOO used to have to cheat to stay ahead of the curve...

Todd

Indeed.

Practically every non-scenario-based strategy game of any complexity greater than, say, Go or poker has given substantial advantages to the AI in order to be competitive. Scenario-based games *can* be an exception because the scenarios can simply be made brutally one-sided under the assumption that the one giving you the assignment was an Custer-level incompetent who disbelieved in reconaissance or preparation of any kind, which is why you're given just a couple of colonizers to take over a heavily defended planetary base without so much as a single map or any imagery that your drop ship could easily have taken prior to abandoning you, and why you have to reinvent almost every technology from scratch. Write the AI scripts so that they leave one approach open which really didn't need to be, and you can market it as a challenging puzzle game.

Free units, free technologies, free resources, punish-the-leader "random" events, omniscience, the ability to flagrantly ignore whole swaths of the rules, completely hardwired pro-AI anti-human collaboration (typically affecting research trading and alliances / DoWs), or so forth. A cheating AI is the norm; it's only a matter of how much and in what ways, and how open the game designer is about it, and what level of control the player has over it. Some don't bother to tell you about it, hide it, or let you disable it -- e.g. in Europa Universalis, the AI navies completely ignore attrition so they can explore or blockade forever, there's no way to disable it, it's not mentioned in the manual, and it'd be rather difficult to miss it if you're paying any attention to their fleets. Even GalCiv, which used AI a selling point, gave the AIs knowledge of the best-colonizable stars as well as asymmetrical diplomacy (hardcoded more favorable towards other AIs regarding tech sharing), IIRC, and may also have used a hammer-the-leader random event model.
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borner
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RE: playable yet? Part II

Post by borner »

I can always count on EiA to stay consistant....  jan 1806. game goes form GB naval, to Turk land phase.
NeverMan
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RE: playable yet? Part II

Post by NeverMan »

ORIGINAL: borner

I can always count on EiA to stay consistant....  jan 1806. game goes form GB naval, to Turk land phase.

Are you talking about Nappys Options game? You must be because this just happened in that game.

EiANW: Sorry Russia, no soup for you!!!

ps. Stop calling this thing EiA please, it's just not right.
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borner
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RE: playable yet? Part II

Post by borner »

sorry Neverman, you are right, it's EiH. And yes, Options.
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borner
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RE: playable yet? Part II

Post by borner »

Russia went from first to next to last... maybe this is a new feature random movement phases?
NeverMan
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RE: playable yet? Part II

Post by NeverMan »

ORIGINAL: borner

Russia went from first to next to last... maybe this is a new feature random movement phases?

It's probably an EiH rule.! [8|]
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borner
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RE: playable yet? Part II

Post by borner »

good point, I had not thought of that..... 
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borner
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RE: playable yet? Part II

Post by borner »

Breathing some life into an old thread here...... Seeing as I started two of these to mainly complain about the game, I must stand up and give Marshal credit. In multiple games, the biggest bug we have run into for a month is the above issue with the Russian movement order getting changed around. Could it be, a light at the end of this (beta version) tunnel???  [X(]
Phatguy
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RE: playable yet? Part II

Post by Phatguy »

Okay,maybe its in the wrong thread, but I dont have the game yet but am very seriously contemplating a purchase later today to get in before the sale ends.. Would you recommend it warts and all?
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Marshall Ellis
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RE: playable yet? Part II

Post by Marshall Ellis »

ORIGINAL: borner

Breathing some life into an old thread here...... Seeing as I started two of these to mainly complain about the game, I must stand up and give Marshal credit. In multiple games, the biggest bug we have run into for a month is the above issue with the Russian movement order getting changed around. Could it be, a light at the end of this (beta version) tunnel???  [X(]


I looked at this and honestly have no idea why Russia is not first??? This is not the case for EiA OR EiH. I may add this to our 1.06 list unless anybody knows why they are 2nd to last??? Encouraging news, Borner!
Thank you

Marshall Ellis
Outflank Strategy War Games


iamspamus
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RE: playable yet? Part II

Post by iamspamus »

Yeah, they should be first for land movement (except for France choosing that option.) Russia is cool.

Keep up the good work, ME.
Jason
ORIGINAL: Marshall Ellis

ORIGINAL: borner

Breathing some life into an old thread here...... Seeing as I started two of these to mainly complain about the game, I must stand up and give Marshal credit. In multiple games, the biggest bug we have run into for a month is the above issue with the Russian movement order getting changed around. Could it be, a light at the end of this (beta version) tunnel???  [X(]


I looked at this and honestly have no idea why Russia is not first??? This is not the case for EiA OR EiH. I may add this to our 1.06 list unless anybody knows why they are 2nd to last??? Encouraging news, Borner!
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Marshall Ellis
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RE: playable yet? Part II

Post by Marshall Ellis »

I will add and change.
Appreciate the encouragement, Jason!

Thank you

Marshall Ellis
Outflank Strategy War Games


NeverMan
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RE: playable yet? Part II

Post by NeverMan »

This game is NOT playable, at least not in any enjoyable manner. It's slow slow slow and still buggy buggy buggy.

I have stopped joining or starting games and am eagerly waiting for the last game I am in to die (probably from some bug).

I'm sure I will get all kinds of crap for this but whatever. BUYER BEWARE!!!
Spartan07
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RE: playable yet? Part II

Post by Spartan07 »

Why are you even still around neverman if its so bad? Why dont you just leave the rest of us who ARE enjoying it and appreciate what Matrix are doing to make it better, in peace.

Seems like this thread is just a pick me up for whiners....
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pzgndr
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RE: playable yet? Part II

Post by pzgndr »

Seems like this thread is just a pick me up for whiners....

Roger that. Some psychologist could probably explain the pitiful behavior, not that it changes anything. The crybabies will continue to cry, demanding attention. The rest of us adults shall soldier on and ignore them as best we can. I continue to look forward and remain optimistic that this will be a great game. [:)]
Bill Macon
Empires in Arms Developer
Strategic Command Developer
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