Matrix Games Forums

I am almost ready to buy the game (now that I know the designers are working on a new patch). I've just one question left regarding tactical combat. How difficult / important is this feature of the game? I would like to know if this is really like in the TW series, or other rts games, where it is usually a clickfest, in which the player the player with the best clicking abilities wins. To put it differently, is tactical combat just for fun and optional, i.e. auto resolve will give you the same result. Or is it rather an essential part of the game in which you have special skills (other than ordinary civ/4x type of skills) to win? Do you have to babysit your ships and target specific components of enemy ships to win or to improve your odds?

Auto resolve definitely doesn't seem to give similar results.
There's no morale or terrain (like the TW games) to account for. On the upside, the tactical combats play very quickly.
I found them, overall, quite bland, but since this is an easy area to improve, I'm hopeful they won't have to stay that way.

ORIGINAL: sage

On the upside, the tactical combats play very quickly.

See, I find that one of the greatest detriments of the game's combat model: It's over *too* quickly; I just don't care for the pacing right now. I'm not looking for those hour-long battles I fought in Shogun and Medieval Total War, but a mere 3:30 for battles just isn't enough time for me.

I would really really really like to see an option added where we can choose longer combat times. That, or at least allow us to edit/mod it ourselves.

ORIGINAL: sage

I found them, overall, quite bland, but since this is an easy area to improve, I'm hopeful they won't have to stay that way.

I agree the battles are nothing special at the moment. They're not horrible, they're just not anything that really stands out. Fortunately, I find the rest of the game enjoyable enough that it doesn't bother me overly much, but I certainly wouldn't mind if combat is improved down the road.

but a mere 3:30 for battles just isn't enough time for me.

Well the opposite holds for me. I like the game to be decided by strategy not by tactics. It's not only about fighting, but also about economy, politics, diplomacy, etc. I hope the devs direct their time to other parts of the game at the moment (unless there's something wrong with the current tactical battles of course)

As an FYI, I put up a simple mod in the modding section, which slows down the movement and acceleration speed of most ships significantly. It's not 'there' yet, but it seems to play a little better on a whole.

ORIGINAL: Gertjan

I like the game to be decided by strategy not by tactics.

As do I. But if they're going to include real-time battles, then I'd just as soon they be done as well as possible. Hence my desire for a longer time limit (or the ability to mod it, at least).

It suprised me that the designer of TotalWar would make the tactical battle system in this game a total fail.

ORIGINAL: Gertjan

but a mere 3:30 for battles just isn't enough time for me.

Well the opposite holds for me. I like the game to be decided by strategy not by tactics. It's not only about fighting, but also about economy, politics, diplomacy, etc. I hope the devs direct their time to other parts of the game at the moment (unless there's something wrong with the current tactical battles of course)

I found many of my battles to be one sided. In other words either I am seriously outnumbered and can't win or I have them outnumbered and know I will win. In these battles, I just use auto resolve. For example, the AI has like 20 ships and I have 2 and realize I will lose the battle no matter what I do. The close ones, those are the ones I take direct command. For example, I may want to only move my carriers in strike range and launch the fighters and hold the rest of my ships out of the battle. Another thing you may have a landing fleet and want to keep your marine ships or transports (in case you are trying to take back your own colony and want to land some population there immediately) back and not get no where near the planet defenses. Then send your escorts forward to meet the enemy, if it looks like they will lose you can decide to retreat your marine ships before you lose all the escorts. For these reasons, it would be time to take command but not matter the battles last 3 1/2 min. You can also hit fast forward or end battle and watch the rest of the fireworks once you get an edge.