Demo first Impressions

[rickier65]

ORIGINAL: Gerry

Hello:

I must say I am enjoying the Novvy Rizadeh scenario. I know, Matrix will not want its game compared to anything. However, as an ex-ASL player trying to find a computer game he can play, I am quite happy. One could almost imagine the maps being ASL maps.

Great job.

Only problem I have is I am still not the best at working with the camera. One thing I have found is that Commander view does not work if the AFV is buttoned up.

Take care,

Gerry

Hi Gerry,

I'm glad you're enjoying the Novy scenario. Squad Leader was one of my all time favorites many years ago. I think you will see a few SL inspired scenarios being made for this game.

As far as the commander view not being available when unit was in buttoned status, that was by design.

Thanks
rick

[benpark]

I was remembering yesterday how great the scenario cards were in SL/ASL. Great graphic design for it's time (and for now as far as I'm concerned). I might have to dig them out again and have a look through for maps and scenarios to make.

One thing I wasn't crazy about in PC conversions (usually CM) was the adherence to the geomorphic map edges. They were a great innovation as far as the board game went, but created odd looking PC game maps. I'd prefer to do the map in the spirit of the original map, and use the scenario setting and forces for the starting point.

[HintJ]

ORIGINAL: Rick
As far as the commander view not being available when unit was in buttoned status, that was by design.

Un-design this, please. It should be pretty easy because PCK didn't have this limitation.

[Mad Russian]

You mean to put your view through the viewing periscopes the commander would be using when buttoned up?

That might be an option to consider.

Good Hunting.

MR

[HintJ]

ORIGINAL: Mad Russian

You mean to put your view through the viewing periscopes the commander would be using when buttoned up?

That might be an option to consider.

Good Hunting.

MR

Yes.

[lancer]

G'day,

I'd second the periscope viewpoint idea.

Assuming that it would be a very small and restricted view and that it would be relatively easy to implement.

I can see it adding tremendously to immersion as you would get - in a very dramatic fashion - a direct comparision of a tank commanders situational awareness between the two views.

Nervously peering around myopically at the landscape from within your tank via the telescope and trying to ascertain the whereabouts of potential threats would be a real "I'm inside the game" moment.

Oh, and good job on the demo. Well done.

Cheers,
Lancer

[diablo1]

ORIGINAL: Mad Russian

You mean to put your view through the viewing periscopes the commander would be using when buttoned up?

That might be an option to consider.

Good Hunting.

MR

Yeah that would be great it would be like riding inside the tank and seeing what is going on.

[tide1530]

I just got to play the tutorial today. I got my tanks to the road before I lost the first one. I was so busy supressing Russian fire that when it blew it made me jump in my chair [:D] Good Stuff. I didn't start reading this thread until I played the tutorial, it looks like most things I've seen in the game has been covered already so all I have to say is WOW!! THANKS GUYS

[rickier65]

ORIGINAL: tide1530

I just got to play the tutorial today. I got my tanks to the road before I lost the first one. I was so busy supressing Russian fire that when it blew it made me jump in my chair [:D] Good Stuff. I didn't start reading this thread until I played the tutorial, it looks like most things I've seen in the game has been covered already so all I have to say is WOW!! THANKS GUYS

your welcome tide - glad you enjoyed it. When you finish the Tutorial - plan on having some fun with Novy.

Thanks
rick

[Hexagon]

Oooo a little point, full game has a encyclopedia??? a game like this need some similar to prevent open all scens searching vehicles stats [:D]

[JMass]

ORIGINAL: Hexagon
Oooo a little point, full game has a encyclopedia??? a game like this need some similar to prevent open all scens searching vehicles stats [:D]

You can look at units stats through the scenario editor.

[thewood1]

I think hitting the "s" key will bring up the unit stats.

[JMass]

ORIGINAL: thewood1
I think hitting the "s" key will bring up the unit stats.

But to see the stats of all the Ostfront's units, not only of the selected unit in a scenario, I find very useful the scenario editor.

[Zakhal]

Looks like each difficulty level has a different scenario in the demo. German easy was very fun. The only question that rises is infantry in buildings. AI wasnt able to make a scratch on my infantry that were all hiding in buildings.

However I do remember seeing game videos where the player overruns buildings that have infantry so I guess its possible just not easy.

But anyways the tanks and animations look great. It nice to see my flamethrower unit flame up T34's.

I removed the reaction thing from the options and the game seems more fun without it. Nice for having it as an option.

[rickier65]

ORIGINAL: Zakhal

Looks like each difficulty level has a different scenario in the demo. German easy was very fun. The only question that rises is infantry in buildings. AI wasnt able to make a scratch on my infantry that were all hiding in buildings.

However I do remember seeing game videos where the player overruns buildings that have infantry so I guess its possible just not easy.

But anyways the tanks and animations look great. It nice to see my flamethrower unit flame up T34's.

I removed the reaction thing from the options and the game seems more fun without it. Nice for having it as an option.

Zakhal,

I'm glad you enjoyed it, and you are right, it's not easy getting Infantry out of buildings, but it can be done.

The flamethrowers aren't so nice when you are on the recieving end though!

thanks
rick

[AstroCat]

Performance issues are my biggest concern for this game. I am getting way too low fps with a relatively powerful system which gets expected good performance with all other games. Seems like there is definitely something up here.

[HintJ]

Okay, I'm a slow player, in turn 8 right now, but I think I've played enough to make some serious observations:

The message box and progress bar:

This message box is awesome! I usually keep it off until I've watched the replay from most views. Then I turn it on and expand it all the way. If I click on a particular message, every other message that involves that unit is highlighted. Great idea! I can even scroll back (using the mouse wheel if I want) to the very beginning of the game. This is excellent; I look at all the boldfaced messages and I have a historical log for that particular unit all the way from the very beginning. Wow! Shift-clicking is also a very useful feature--extremely useful.

I think perhaps a smaller font (maybe because I play at 1024x768) and a timestamp could make this feature even better. Perhaps a timestamp is superfluous, but still, the more detail the better.

The blue bar is just as great, especially since we now have the time displayed and the option of rewinding to a specific part of the action. The only suggestion I have is if I press the rewind button, please have the game first pause at the beginning before playing. No big deal, I can just quickly press the Spacebar right after I hit the rewind button.

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: AstroCat
Performance issues are my biggest concern for this game. I am getting way too low fps with a relatively powerful system which gets expected good performance with all other games. Seems like there is definitely something up here.

The best solution for now is to adjust the game settings to find a combination that gives you a good performance level. We will work on more performance optimizations post-release, especially to see what we can do to make grass perform even better, but with the existing options you should be able to increase your FPS considerably.

Regards,

- Erik

[BigJ62]

Yep keep trying different settings it runs and looks great on my machine.

[AstroCat]

ORIGINAL: BigJ62

Yep keep trying different settings it runs and looks great on my machine.

How are you running it?