Some Observations and Suggestions.

[z1812]

Hi All,

I have been playing a fair bit and the following are some observations and suggestions.
I am interested to know what others think. The following are more or less in order of what I feel to be important.

Game ending: I played a random scenario and by turn 30 had all 4 flags and 85% on the victory meter but the game would not end. At turn 48 I just ended the game and declared myself the winner. I must say it is really annoying to have to chase units around the map to end the game when you have clearly already won.

I like the Victory meter but feel it should be handled more like COTA where you can judge your performance by the victory gage but ending depends on a set amount of time ( or it could be turns ).

Game Turns: In the scenario editor there is an option for turn length. In the manaual it explains that it is "currently not used". Will this be avaialable with the first patch?

Coin Markers: It would be very helpful if clicking on a units coin marker selected it. It just seems the intuitive thing to happen.

Toggle Options: The following would be helpful. Smoke toggle on/off. Trees toggle on/off. Toggle Flags on/off This was probably mentioned before.

Follow Unit: When using tab to follow the unit you lose the unit if you click to get rid of the box and rubber band. You should be able to follow the unit without any selection items showing.

Screen Flicker: Every now and again my screen flickers during the game. I have tried all manner of settings and disabling mods ect. but it makes no difference. It flickers extremely briefly. Perhaps during an hour 4 times. It does not happen with any other games or applications.

Mini Map: Does not take you exactly on the screen from where you click on the mini- map.

The rest are less "important" items.

1. In some German halftrack sounds the loop is audible.

2. The small arms sounds seem very artificial.

3. The background chatter is annoying.

4. Vehicles should burn and smoke longer.

Bear in mind these observations are made in the context of a game I am quite enjoying.
It is of course easier for me to list the few things I would like to see changed rather than all the other elements that I really like. [:)]

Regards John

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: z1812
Game ending: I played a random scenario and by turn 30 had all 4 flags and 85% on the victory meter but the game would not end. At turn 48 I just ended the game and declared myself the winner. I must say it is really annoying to have to chase units around the map to end the game when you have clearly already won.

Can't say I've run into that situation - it sounds to me like the objective victory points were for some reason set too low in that scenario. In the post-game review, how many enemy forces were still left alive?

I like the Victory meter but feel it should be handled more like COTA where you can judge your performance by the victory gage but ending depends on a set amount of time ( or it could be turns ).

If you add a defender bonus to VPs in the RBG parameters, you will have a quicker resolution one way or the other.

Game Turns: In the scenario editor there is an option for turn length. In the manaual it explains that it is "currently not used". Will this be avaialable with the first patch?

No, we decided to move away from turn limits, which were in the original Winterstorm and instead base the scenario end on victory points. Honestly, it has worked very well in my experience, it sounds like you ran into an unusual situation.

If you could send me the random.xml file for that scenario along with your last save I can take a look and we can tweak the RBG if necessary.

Coin Markers: It would be very helpful if clicking on a units coin marker selected it. It just seems the intuitive thing to happen.

I agree it would be nice, but we didn't have the time required to implement this give other priorities and trade-offs.

Toggle Options: The following would be helpful. Smoke toggle on/off. Trees toggle on/off. Toggle Flags on/off This was probably mentioned before.

Yes, I'd like to see all of those too.

Follow Unit: When using tab to follow the unit you lose the unit if you click to get rid of the box and rubber band. You should be able to follow the unit without any selection items showing.

Hm, I'll think on this.

Screen Flicker: Every now and again my screen flickers during the game. I have tried all manner of settings and disabling mods ect. but it makes no difference. It flickers extremely briefly. Perhaps during an hour 4 times. It does not happen with any other games or applications.

Haven't seen this at all on any of our test systems. Is anyone else seeing this? Do you have an application running in the background that could be causing this (i.e. e-mail or IM pop-ups)

Mini Map: Does not take you exactly on the screen from where you click on the mini- map.

Hadn't noticed this and I use it a fair amount - it should adjust so the front of your "view port" is in that location.

1. In some German halftrack sounds the loop is audible.
2. The small arms sounds seem very artificial.
3. The background chatter is annoying.

Noted for improvement.

4. Vehicles should burn and smoke longer.

We limited this to help performance on lower end systems. I could see us allowing them to burn and smoke longer, but we'd probably want to limit that to some of the higher end settings, like High or Very High.

Bear in mind these observations are made in the context of a game I am quite enjoying.
It is of course easier for me to list the few things I would like to see changed rather than all the other elements that I really like. [:)]

Understood and your feedback is much appreciated. Glad you are enjoying it. [8D]

[PDiFolco]

A small addition - don't think it has been suggested yet ; I'd like more detailed/varied coins and icons. Currently there are just 4 : tanks, "transport", infantry, gun.
- For tanks we'd need something like light/medium/heavy
- Transport should separate trucks and HT
- Infantry would need :  "standard" rifle inf, "Hvy" inf (PzGren, Assault squads..), SMG, MG teams, Mortar teams, AT Teams
- Guns : AT, Mortars, Field Guns
 
Don't think it's very complicated, and it'll help MUCH grasping the situation when looking at the screen and the unit icons list (now you see 12 identical tanks icon, then 15 identical infantry icons, not very informative!).
 

[rickier65]

ORIGINAL: z1812

I like the Victory meter but feel it should be handled more like COTA where you can judge your performance by the victory gage but ending depends on a set amount of time ( or it could be turns ).

z, I actually think I'm getting to like this not quite knowing when the sceanrio ends - although I do like some indication in briefing if its going to be time sensitive. I think Bootcamp did this on one of Battles, hinted that I needed to take control by turn12 or something - though I think it stretched out to 15 and still had Legnedary victory, but I like the uncertainty. (although I dont think I'd enjoy chasing units at end, I seem to recall another game where I had to do that on a regualr basis.

Coin Markers: It would be very helpful if clicking on a units coin marker selected it. It just seems the intuitive thing to happen.

Agree - but not a major issue for me.

Toggle Options: The following would be helpful. Smoke toggle on/off. Trees toggle on/off. Toggle Flags on/off This was probably mentioned before.

Agree - although it gets pretty realistic when you have trouble finding your own guys in the smoke.

Screen Flicker: Every now and again my screen flickers during the game. I have tried all manner of settings and disabling mods ect. but it makes no difference. It flickers extremely briefly. Perhaps during an hour 4 times. It does not happen with any other games or applications.

Never experienced that - my biggest problem is my mouse movements start getting pretty bad as more units are added to map, mouse kinda floats around but this is a performance issue on my pretty low end machine - so my bad. I think Matrix has done as much as can be expected (actually more than can be expected) to cater to late adopters like me. Maybe video driver issues?

Mini Map: Does not take you exactly on the screen from where you click on the mini- map.

actually I'm starting to get accustomed to it. I've learned to drag it the mini-map to where I want it, and that helps a whole lot to keep oriented.

4. Vehicles should burn and smoke longer.

Yes, I think this would be good. Also maybe show a little more damage to half-tracks when destroyed. I lost two half-tracks in my last battle, but found myself to still checking them during orders because they still looked fine - I guess I need to get used to checking the icon on the HUD.

But yes, if a vehicle starts burning, I'd think it would keep burning for quite a bit longer than what it does in game time.

And one addition from me - targetting/los font is just hard for me to read maybe an opaque background like the msg box is needed, but that might be visually distracting to some foks.

Bear in mind these observations are made in the context of a game I am quite enjoying.
It is of course easier for me to list the few things I would like to see changed rather than all the other elements that I really like. [:)]

Regards John

My sentiments as well - I'm really enjoying the game.

Rick

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: Rick
Never experienced that - my biggest problem is my mouse movements start getting pretty bad as more units are added to map, mouse kinda floats around but this is a performance issue on my pretty low end machine - so my bad. I think Matrix has done as much as can be expected (actually more than can be expected) to cater to late adopters like me. Maybe video driver issues?

I'd suggest updating video drivers but most importantly turn off VSync in your video driver settings. That should help with slow mouse movement.

Regards,

- Erik

[rickier65]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

ORIGINAL: Rick
Never experienced that - my biggest problem is my mouse movements start getting pretty bad as more units are added to map, mouse kinda floats around but this is a performance issue on my pretty low end machine - so my bad. I think Matrix has done as much as can be expected (actually more than can be expected) to cater to late adopters like me. Maybe video driver issues?

I'd suggest updating video drivers but most importantly turn off VSync in your video driver settings. That should help with slow mouse movement.

Regards,

- Erik

Eric, thanks for suggestion, I looked for a VSync settting in my ATI catylst settings based on some of your earlier suggestions, but couldn't find anywhere to turn it off.

But thanks.

Rick

[z1812]

Hi Erik,

Re Game Turn: I do not have the save game as I use a generic title for each type and so have already overwritten it. However the random RBG xml file is attached. Actually I tried to attach the xml file but it won't let me. How do I do that?

Flickering Screen: As far as I know there is nothing running in the background that might be causing the flickering. Fortunately it does not happen with anything other games or applications.

Regards John

[Hanal]

Is there a way to orient the mini map to be facing the same direction as your position on the map?   For example, if I'm behind my units facing bottom to top, the mini map is showing a facing of side to side...It would be nice if the mini map would rotate with you, and perhaps it does but I have missed it in the manual....

[Mraah]

ORIGINAL: Rick

Eric, thanks for suggestion, I looked for a VSync settting in my ATI catylst settings based on some of your earlier suggestions, but couldn't find anywhere to turn it off.

Rick,

You should have an ATI icon in your lower right menu bar of windows ... red with white ATI letters. See my screen shot. Right click, select your video card, 3D settings, wait for vertical refresh, always OFF.

Rob

[rickier65]

Mraah,

Thanks - I don't have the icon on my toolbar. But I opened up the CCC app. and found the vertical refresh setting. It was already set, I think.

Thanks!
Rick