jpinard in-depth impression(s) are ready - Game is AMAZING

[jpinard]

I've now played 4 unfinished campaigns (2 Axis and 2 Allied) for at least 25+ hours. I feel I finally have the proper background to give my own unbiased take on the game. Therefore I can honestly say this game is amazing and could be the defining large body WWII game available upon release. I'm going to repeat a few things I've written in other threads. Notes will be positive, negative, and suggestions that I think are critical to make happen before the game is released to generate the best review scores and player experience.

1. The game is gorgeous. I was not ready for just how beautiful the game is. There is simply no comparison to the game now vs. previous iterations of SC. It is a joy to look at, and has just the right amount of information available on the main screen. The game runs and scrolls a bit slow, but it's something I can stomach for the view we have.

2. The interface is beautiful. Love the design, art, colors, and shading. This leads me to my next point:

3. There has got to be another level of zoom in the game. As I mentioned in another post, too many people, especially hardcore PC gamers have gone to very high resolution monitors or 4k monitors/tv's. You cannot appreciate nor see the detail at maz zoom (in) right now. Even if it were to mean a quick and dirty resize batch job to convert all the 3d units to a larger version losing a tiny bit of detail for that extra zoom it would be worth it. In this case just add an option in an ini file "extra zoom layer". So we could change it from 0 to 1 and have it. I suggest this if there's not the budget for the extra zoom, but I really, REALLY recommend Matrix/Slitherine get the money to make it happen. It WILL be worth it in sales.

4. One graph we desperately need that is not currently in the game is "diplomatic status over time". This way we can see who is trending towards Axis or Allies and make better decisions in who we invest diplomacy chits to. It's also one of those graphs us data geeks love.

5. The AI has been a fantastic opponent so far through 1940 on max cpu time. I don't know how good it is with quick logic selected. In my current game as the Allies I'm pretty sure I'm going to lose unless Russia and the U.S. get in ASAP. I don't think Russia is coming in anytime soon based on my policy decisions so unless Germany goes nuts on them I'm doomed. This is just on beginner with no advantages given to AI.

6. The scripted decisions we have to make are AWESOME. I LOVE them and would like more later in the game.

7. Snow obscures units way too much. It's a pain to try and view through them and need to be toned down.

8. Arrow highlights need to be changed. A grayed out arrow should mean it is not clickable. Right now the behavior is very messed up as many gray arrows are the only clickable ones and white arrows are not. This has to be changed as it is the polar opposite of what we've been conditioned to do as computer users for the past 30 years. This frustrates me in the game still and will frustrate most other users as well.

9. Need to be able to remap cursor keys for panning the map to WASD.

10. Manuals are looking excellent so far. What I'm still not too clear to me however are the following:
A. What do the "extra" little numbers indicate on the base of 3d unit?
B. Supply is a bit confusing yet but maybe I missed a section.
C. Why do some cities and docks have numbers and others don't?
D. Why can infantry shoot ships out at sea?
E. Outside of getting lucky with research, what is best way to increase money?
F. Does reinforcing a unit decrease their entrenchment or otherwise hurt a unit's supply, readiness, or morale?
G. If one army unit has 10 supply, 100% readiness, and 100% morale, how does it effect its strength when it is dropped to 50% readiness, 50% morale, and 5 supply?
H. When the U.S. did lend-lease with Britain it allowed U.S. weaponry to be used by Britain. Is this modeled somehow in the game? I saw a scripted event mentioning it but I still can't land units in Britain from the U.S. until formal declaration of war.
I. Is there a way to transport fighters? I'd like to transport U.S. land based fighters to Britain.

11. If there is no proper lend-lease in the game right now as asked about in 10.G., it would be cool if U.S. units could be sent to British ports and a right-click menu option to allow them to switch countries. Could do the same thing for Russia since the U.S. and even Britain sent tons of stuff to them.

This next point, while it may sound like a feature request, is actually incredible important so gamers will see the value in this game:

12. I'd like to see a "randomize tech" and "randomize diplomacy" checkbox option when we start a new game to add some extra replay-ability to the title. Let me explain why these two little functions would add a ton of life to every single campaign we have. Take a game where you select just "randomize tech" and if say the French player got advanced subs at +5 and Britain got advanced infantry at +3. Lucky roll for them! But think of how drastically it would change the dynamics of that game. The player may choose to use Britain as an infantry exporter while France focus's on their amazing subs. Britain then doesn't repair damaged Battleships or Cruisers because the French subs do all the work. The British focus on infantry means French morale stays up since Britain keeps 5+ in France all the time.

Likewise lets say the player used randomize diplomacy and the Axis ended up with Romania at +50% Allies, but Turkey at +60% Axis. This changes the entire dynamic of the early games as now the Axis sees a major benefit to pushing Turkey to join them while the Allies do the same with Romania. The battle lines shift and create a very different WWII.

In my games thus far I've not been able to complete much research nor invest in much diplomacy since nearly every dollar needs to go to troops (except for U.S. research). So these two functions can radically change the game and add a ton of fun for the player without needing to resort to custom, scripted scenarios. Every game can be a new and different experience from the very start. I can write some formulas if you'd like to help determine the variability for the game. Then all you'd need to do is make room in the startup screen and plug it into the game's code. I know it'd be a chunk of extra work, but it is one of those things that will pay off in spades for sales. People who love the variability of an Hearts of Iron game will now have some of that in an SC game.

I'll have more for you Matrix/Fury as I get into the latter years, but on the whole I hope you can see how impressed I am with the game. It fills the gap between the Order of Battle games and a Hearts of Iron in all the right ways.

[jpinard]

Almost forgot:

13. The display in the lower left hand corner of the game that shows what the AI is doing. On large screens or high resolutions its hard to see that and watch the map at the same time. I'd suggest when the AI is moving the bottom menu items are removed and replaced with that AI infographic.

14. Replace the windows mouse cursor busy icon with your own. Many players will think the game has stopped responding since that's exactly what it looks like in every other game. These two points kind of go hand in hand.

15. Would really like to be able to see convoy routes when you zoom the map out to max distance.

16. Game is rock solid stable. Very impressive!

[sPzAbt653]

Nice review ! Lots of stuff to comment on, but I'll pick on this one item because it's come up several times:

There has got to be another level of zoom in the game.

I shouldn't say anything because I don't know what I'm talking about, but ... I think all of the graphics files are of high enough quality that they could handle being zoomed several times. I'm looking at tiles, resources and both unit styles at 400% and they look just fine. That led me to think about a feature in the upcoming TOAW IV, that being the 'Y' Hotkey zooms in, and Shift Y zooms out. No graphics work required, its just a zoom. I have no idea how it is done, but it works great.

If it's not at all possible, then I am sorry I mentioned it, but if it is possible then maybe it is worth a try.

[sPzAbt653]

Here is an example from TOAW IV. The top half is at 1280 x 1024, the bottom half is the same resolution but after 4 taps on the Y key. This is in the realm of private stuff, so keep it here in the private forums, thank you.

[BillRunacre]

Thanks very much for the feedback! [:)]

The Manual is still a work in progress, especially chapter 2. I have made a note of your comments/questions relating to that and will see about ensuring any relevant ones are in there.

A few quick answers though:

A. What do the "extra" little numbers indicate on the base of 3d unit?

From the left we have the Activation icon, then strength, and on the right are their Upgrade levels.

As a unit gains experience white dots representing that will appear above its strength.

C. Why do some cities and docks have numbers and others don't?

Neutral Minors won't display any numbers. Apart from that all should, at least at the default zoom level (some things don't appear at that zoom level, like many resource names).

D. Why can infantry shoot ships out at sea?

They should only be able to attack ships in port, representing the artillery that is integral to their units firing at the ships in dock.

Anything else would be a bug.


E. Outside of getting lucky with research, what is best way to increase money?

H. When the U.S. did lend-lease with Britain it allowed U.S. weaponry to be used by Britain. Is this modeled somehow in the game? I saw a scripted event mentioning it but I still can't land units in Britain from the U.S. until formal declaration of war.

Conquests, or swinging countries round to your side via diplomacy.

The actual amount Majors send by Convoy can be amended, up to a maximum limit, via the Convoy screen, so make sure the US is sending the UK all it can.

This is the game's main manifestation of Lend-Lease. The US supplies the MPPs enabling the UK and USSR to raise units manned by their own soldiers, but effectively equipped/paid for with US weapons.

There are a couple of Decisions which allow the US to send aircraft to the UK and Canada, and tanks to Egypt in an emergency, but everything else is measured in MPPs. Lots of them once the USA ramps up to full capacity.


F. Does reinforcing a unit decrease their entrenchment or otherwise hurt a unit's supply, readiness, or morale?

No, it leaves supply as it is, will ultimately increase their morale and readiness. The only detrimental effect is on experience.

G. If one army unit has 10 supply, 100% readiness, and 100% morale, how does it effect its strength when it is dropped to 50% readiness, 50% morale, and 5 supply?

Strength won't be affected, but its efficiency in combat will be, so get it into good supply and HQ support ASAP.

I. Is there a way to transport fighters? I'd like to transport U.S. land based fighters to Britain.

Right click -> Operate. But they can only move to the UK once the US has joined the Allies.

[jpinard]

I see efficiency mentioned many times in the manuals but it is never actually explained. Exactly what is it, and what does it do, and how does that hurt a unit? If a Tank unit is at 50% efficiency vs. 100% what's the difference?

Thanks for all the other information you provided. That helps immensely!

-Jeff

[BillRunacre]

Good point. Efficiency is my catch all for all the factors that make a unit good or bad in combat, i.e. to save having to say strength, morale, readiness etc every time.

I'll see about getting this in there too! [:)]