First Impressions

[TexHorns]

This is my first post on Matrix forums in probably 2 years. I do however read the forums faithfully to keep up with development of games I'm interested in and to read how people feel about games after release. I'm not breaking any new ground here, just stating my 2 cents worth.

I just finished playing about 10 turns of the 1796 scenario as Russia as my first foray into CoG. I did not read the manual page for page. I read sections that I needed clarification on. I also did not play through the tutorial. I downloaded the 1.10 patch right away and never played 1.0.

Btw I copied manual files to a flash drive and had them black and white printed at Kinkos. Well worth the $8.50 spent. Clear precise copies, two sided. Manual has ansered most of my questions.

First let me say that this game seems quite deep. I am so impressed with the different options for diplomacy and economy. I look forward to delving deeper into those parts of the gameplay as I go. Those in the community who only complain about this game will probably never be happy with anything or should play Risk. That being said, this game is not for the light hearted. If you are looking for soemthing easy to play to pass the time this is not it.

I really like the detailed battles. Not overly complicated but fun. My Russian army of 50k defeated twice an attacking Turk army of over 150k. But when I tried to follow up the two Turkish defeats with a counter-offensive I lost my whole army. Never had so much fun having my head handed to me.

PBEM will be fun too once I'm up to speed. I understand that constructive criticsim helps improve things and I am grateful to those who have been a part of that. It's the acrimoniuos criticism that I find unwarranted.

And for those still complaining about the Manual file as opposed to the hard copy, get over it. YOu are missing a great game and experience. The manual once printed (90+ pages) is very good. Some people can't help but look a gift horse in the mouth.

Hookem Horns, Beat OU

[anarchyintheuk]

Ditto the above, especially the hook'em horns part. [:'(]

[Joram]

It's a great game but I think once you get the hang of the detailed combat, you will find it lacking. It's very hard to lose a detailed combat unless you are vastly outnumbered or your troops are extremely poor in skill (which is never true for the French!). On a strategic level though, I think the game is much stronger and gives you lots of possibilities. The main improvement I think needed there is naval AI. There's usually way too many ships just sitting at home doing nothing.

I don't think anyone has ever complained that the manual was poor so I'm not sure what you are trying to say there. It certainly is missing some things but in general is quite good.

As far as the community, this is by far one of the most mature communities I've seen. Maybe it's due to the nature of the game? As well as the time the developer takes in responding to questions and criticisms!

Now, I'm patiently waiting for 1.2.

PS Go Lumberjacks!

[ericbabe]

ORIGINAL: Joram
On a strategic level though, I think the game is much stronger and gives you lots of possibilities. The main improvement I think needed there is naval AI. There's usually

Yeah, I don't know what's up with the naval AI. The code in the routine looks OK, but doesn't seem to be doing the job. It's near top of the list for 3rd patch. I know it was working at one point during beta testing, but something seems to have gone-goofy before release.

Detailed combat will be made better via AI-tweaks with every patch... that's the plan, at least.


Eric