Impressions of a complete newb

[TinyPirate]

Haven't seen this sort of thread in a bit. Thought I'd make one since my mood is thus struck. Impressions posted as they come to me.

- No demo. Hmm, I like demos, but oh well. The AARs proved I'd be interested. Keep up the AARs.

- Documentation. Wow! Lots of it! Somewhat intimidating but sensibly broken into chunks and pretty well put together throughout.

- Training scenario 1: Cool! The tutorial scenario is good. Following how to play it on paper is somewhat unusual to a more traditional PC gamer, but I can deal with that. You'd want to have fully hand-held intro tute for any demo though. I'd suggest one tutorial mission and one normal mission that could be played multiplayer. That would be amusing.

- First and Second practice missions (the day/night ones). HORRIBLE! What is up with them? I'm left thinking I've done something wrong I did so badly! I took all the right steps but my attacks just didn't work. I noticed the "47% slope" on most of the terrain around the objective, and I noticed my almost entirely armoured/wheeled force. Hmm. [&:] What do you want me to do exactly? These two scenarios were a real let down to be honest. Consider never including such things in your next game!

- Units seem to continue trying to go up the 50% slope, regardless if they can or not (Well, they clustered around the bottom). It would be good if the AI could admit defeat on that attack, and/or turn the move lines red or something, to indicate I have ordered the un-possible.

That's all for now. I'll try some more missions soon!

[TinyPirate]

Big lessons learned last night

- Don't set a FUP within LOS and 800m in front of dug-in kiwis on a hill. OUCH.

- The movement and patching tools are driving me a little nuts with units seemingly able to draw a path somewhere but then not really going there, possibly because the slope is impossible. I've not worked out how to see the user feedback on that.

[simovitch]

ORIGINAL: TinyPirate

First and Second practice missions (the day/night ones). HORRIBLE! What is up with them? I'm left thinking I've done something wrong I did so badly!

Welcome TinyPirate!
Give these brigade execise scenarios a chance - they are fun... and an easy win for the allies once you get a hang of the game mechanics. I just tried the day one out and scored a Decisive Victory. Hint: Use your artillery with sustained bombardments every chance you get, and don't 'rest after bombard'.

[TinyPirate]

Oh I can win in them, but watching my guys fail to get close to the objective is really frustrating. And weird.

I'm suffering the same problem in Tanks at Platamon. I've been bombarding the Kiwis on the church for a day and htey just won't budge. I also can't get any unit up in there to take it to 'em, cold steel style. The only foot unit seems to be some engineers, who poke around the edge of the mtn, shoot them up a bit, but that's all. The kiwis are freaking out, and run back and forth along the top ridge (only 200m or so back and forth) but seem unable to rout anywhere.

Getting my initial unit out of the Pletemoon town and onwards was about impossible. Actually, It hink the big mechanised reinforcement that arrived the morning of day 2 beat them to the other side of the ridge. And that took at least 12 hours.

I don't quite get what I'm missing.

[JeF]

Welcome TinyPirate.

ORIGINAL: TinyPirate
- Don't set a FUP within LOS and 800m in front of dug-in kiwis on a hill. OUCH.

[:)]

In fact that should be rephrased : don't set a FUP within LOS and 800m in front of any enemy unit.

Re: Tanks at Platamon : yes, the first day is a bit frustrating for the German player. How I see it is you need to soften those Kiwis and prevent them to destroy the tunnels by harassing them. Maybe you can get some objective points or deny them some in the process.

Take care,

JeF.

[JeF]

[double post]

[TinyPirate]

Another question. Doing Kiwis at Malme and I've taken (as the krauts again. Poor Kiwis, again! I am one too!) ..anyway, I've taken the fort/church beyond the airfield with a light Btn. One of my companies had to pull back out of its dug in position. Once it returned, it didn't become dug in again. Why not? The enemy didn't get that close, the foxholes and gunpits would have still been there?

[JeF]

ORIGINAL: TinyPirate
One of my companies had to pull back out of its dug in position. Once it returned, it didn't become dug in again. Why not?

Unfortunately, there is no such thing as prepared positions you can get back to in COTA.
So once you get out of your foxholes, you lose them. You have to dig them again.

Cheers,

JeF.

[TinyPirate]

Seems odd. My guys ran from the enemy, though the enemy were getting pounded and weren't overrunning the positions yet. 

[simovitch]

ORIGINAL: TinyPirate

Seems odd. My guys ran from the enemy, though the enemy were getting pounded and weren't overrunning the positions yet. 

You make a valid point and while it would be nice to have that sort of dynamic terrain, the system is meant to represent more of an operational, rather than tactical level. From an operational standpoint, being dug in means more than having foxholes - it means weapons & ammo placed/bore sighted with established fields of fire, phone lines laid, etc.

So, once you have regained your positions, it will take about 2 hours to re-establish that dug-in level, which is fair, IMHO.

[MarkShot]

ORIGINAL: JeF

ORIGINAL: TinyPirate
One of my companies had to pull back out of its dug in position. Once it returned, it didn't become dug in again. Why not?

Unfortunately, there is no such thing as prepared positions you can get back to in COTA.
So once you get out of your foxholes, you lose them. You have to dig them again.

Cheers,

JeF.

JeF, excuse me for this slight correction. The game engine does actually record internally the defensive improvement of terrain by units on the map. Units which set up on such terrain will dig-in faster. You can see this in cases where defending units are forced back from their positions and then reoccupy them. The dig-in cycle proceeds noticeably faster. However, there are no visible indications on the map where these improved positions are (unfortunately). I know I have suggested this as a UI enhancement in the past. Also, the mechanisms for this are somewhat sketchy, since this is not really a documented feature.

Edit: In fact, I think, I demonstrated this graphically in either the HTTR or COTO Mini-Guide. (too lazy to such for the example at the moment)

[JeF]

ORIGINAL: MarkShot
JeF, excuse me for this slight correction.

No need for excuse. I'm happy to be corrected. If I ever knew it, I forgot.

Take care,

JeF.

[TinyPirate]

Actually, you're right, they did dig in much quicker. And yes, a visual representation of a vaguely dug in area would be handy one day. That and perhaps different color trails along your units march lines showing the sort of penalty given for going a certain route. I hate having units plot a route happily and then never ever complete it in any meaningful timeframe!

Other than that, having fun. Kicked some ass as Krauts in Kiwis at Malme, now going to try it from the other side.

[TinyPirate]

Got a decisive victory on the second tutorial, which is extremely good, by the way.

Not sure I could lose that one, the AI didn't quite press hard enough early on (I really unleashed the arty and broke up a few attacks and the AI didn't push again until I had ammo again, great!) and you end up with such a massive force victory is nearly assurd. Which is fine, it's a good learning exercise! Enjoyed the well-place 2lb'er suggested in the setup, personally watched a few light armored units break from its fire

I hope you guys release a demo for the next game. Makes it much easier to explain to my mates. One thing is though, I hope the demo walks you though the key points in-game. Paper demo guide is ok I guess, but unintuitive to most gamers.

[Grell]

ORIGINAL: JeF

ORIGINAL: TinyPirate
One of my companies had to pull back out of its dug in position. Once it returned, it didn't become dug in again. Why not?

Unfortunately, there is no such thing as prepared positions you can get back to in COTA.
So once you get out of your foxholes, you lose them. You have to dig them again.

Cheers,

JeF.

Yeah, that is a pain.

Regards,

Greg

[RayWolfe]

No it's not! [:)] See post 11.
Cheers
Ray

[TinyPirate]

I'm doing an AAR over on http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showthread.php?p=1331880#post1331880

[06 Maestro]

TinyPirate

Your AAR looks good. I never saw that site before. I assume you noticed the AAR page on this CotA site-you can out it here too.

[TinyPirate]

Yeah, Might copy it over when I'm done.

Quarter to Three is a board with a lot of games industry personnel on it, journos, developers, commentators etc. The "Turn based wargaming" thread a few pages back is where I first got thinking about COTA again.

[JeF]

Good idea TinyPirate.

Nice shots. I didn't read it thoroughly yet.
It seems well received, judging by the 2 comments, so : Keep it up.

If you need a definitive host for it, just ask.
Same for everyone who's thinking about an article on COTA.

Take care,

JeF.