Kelly's Heros
-
Posts
88 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by Kelly's Heros
-
-
I have played Road to Berlin now twice in a row, in two back-to-back games, spotter had rounds falling on the target and mortars shifted to off the map fire. This also occurred between fire missions in the same game. I think this is definitely a bug OR we need to understand how the mortar team can be that far off from target.
I can see rounds missing by 100 yds, but this was half the map away. Since others are noticing it too, I would say it is not just my games either.
In the first game, I lost because I ran out of ammo and could not destroy the gun, in the second game, I was more sensitive to it and started watching my mortar targeting. From the HQ perspective, the mortar was targeted properly, however, from the mortar teams perspective, the target aim was way off the map.
Yes I heard that coordinating mortars in WW2 was challenging, but this is a little too far off. To mitigate this situation, until it is looked at by Battlefront, I recommend you check your mortars aim during spotting and fire mode and if they are off track, cancel the mission, move the mortar, and try again. I also moved my spotter and this seemed to help. The other thing I did notice is that it doesn't happen if you choose area fire. It only appeared to be a problem with Point fire.
Sounds suspicious to me :-)
I did finally win the Road to Berlin on Warrior with a total victory once I figure out how to use the mortar teams.
Good Hunting everyone.
-
Mortar firing all over the map, not even close to where HQ target is, repeatedly happens across multiple fire missions. I don't believe mortar team can be that far off.
This needs to be fixed or mortars are useless.
-
Runs great on my Win7 64 machine with a Nvidia 460 card, quad 6600 and 8GB ram. Runs very fast and smooth.
Pros:
Great looking scenery and models. Best I've seen in any comparable games.
Performs well
A lot of sounds and commentary from the troops
I like RT, so this is nice also.
Sound effects are imerrsive and enjoyable
Troop movement in general is very realistic, combat so far appears to be modeled well
The Strat AI appears to be intelligent
It's fun to play and I'll buy it
Cons:
Some of the animations need tweaking, not sure if this is the demo (mortar teams seem to do some weird things).
Vehicle movement needs micromanagement. I'm kind of surprised by this. Instead of reversing to a location and then turning and moving, tanks will slowly rotate and get stuck on narrow roads when they are directed to move in the opposite direction.
hotkeys don't work depending on which submenu you are on, this is strange and makes RT difficult
Overall, hotkey labeling is un-intuitive - I hope this can be reassigned.
It's still CMSF with a WW2 slant. Artillery sounds like modern radio communication and some of the issues from CFSF have not been corrected.
I would absolutely play this over the CMx1 games, so it is a big step forward from that generation. I look forward to the engine improvements as Steve and his team improve on CMx2 in the coming months and years.
-
I have a Win64 8GB machine with a NVIDIA 460 and it works great. Game loads fast and graphics are smooth and fast. Probably video drivers causing your problem, make sure you have latest audio and video drivers.
-
WAIT! NO NO! The game is great the way it is. This is a wonderful great game and doesn't need a fix.
The planes work great the way they are. This is the greatest game ever made and the planes are fine. Nothing needs to be done.
Besides almost all the other wargames on the market have planes that run out of gas and crash. So nothing needs to be done with this. The planes work just fine the way they are.
EmptyT is getting obnoxious complaining about planes when they work just fine. EmptyT needs to quit complaining about planes since all the other wargames have planes that run out of fuel and crash so this is just fine.
Besides this only happens once in a while. Brit lost money on the game so he can't spend time fixing little minor stuff that happens only once in a while.
Besides there weren't very many copies of the game sold and Brit lost money so he can't spend all this time fixing something so minor that all the other games have wrong anyway.
So quit complaining. This isn't an appropriate flaw to fix. All the other games have the same thing and Brit has no time to fix this stuff. Leave Brit alone with your obnoxious complaints all the time.
Come'on Rich. This rant is quite childish and it reminds me of my son when he was two and throwing a tantrum. Rich, the AI poke was in good fun and you should have just laughed it off. We all know that there is a big difference in fixing a bug where planes run out of fuel vs the all-seeing AI issue you are so determined to keep on the table.
Next time one of us pokes fun at you, just respond by saying. "eh - good one" or come back with something comical like - "maybe we should have had nasa write the AI" or just let it pass. I responded because of your negative response and the fact that you keep the fire burning. Let it go out and either play along or let the quips go by un-responded to. You take this board far too seriously.
-
LOL - too funny
-
I have spent many a day playing EOS and when I compare the money spent and the time I've received value for, it was easily worth the money compared to other interests I have
I go to the early show to watch movies and at $6 per movie, my $45 in movies gets me about 8 movies or about 16 hrs of entertainment time. I've easily gotten better than 60 hrs out of EOS in the past year which is about 4 times as much as I get for my voracious moving watching habit.
I also spent $30 on the Avatar bluray and while I enjoy watching that movie, I doubt I will ever watch it enough to justify the cost of the bluray in comparison to what I spent on EOS and the value received.
Brit, I still think you should have done an EOS2 and developed some missions and campaigns.
Best of luck and as long as you keep improving the game, I'll keep downloading the updates and playing.
-
Well, one things for sure. Brit is one of the most committed game developers I know.
-
This is an absolutely ridiculous thing to say.
Have you not been paying attention?
Sorry to be snippy but I've covered this ad infinitum. I'm getting sick and tired of you folks answering my posts obviously without reading them.
I've said over and over that Empire Enhanced has a good AI and it doesn't cheat. I'm satisfied with it. It is a similar game to EoS. Just what is the problem with you people?
Again, sorry. But please read what I say before posting wrong conclusions about me.
Point noted. Sorry to keep this thread going and I rest my case. The AI is a very difficult thing to improve or Brit would have already enhanced it. I believe the game will remain as it is unless Brit releases the code and others find the time to improve it.
-
Brit brought up Galactic Civilizations so I did a search on their forum. FOW was asked when GC2 was in development. Here's the answer.
"The AI still has to deal with the fog of war. That was the case in GalCiv 1 and it will be more so the case in GalCiv 2. Whether the AI will know the locations of yellow stars or not is of some discussion still."
So Brit was wrong. He also said a lot of games cheat. We're not talking about that. We're discussing FOW specifically.
NOBODY has brought up 10 wargames where it can be proven they don't have FOW. Everybody just says most games cheat in one way or another. I don't know of a single other wargame that doesn't have FOW. Maybe there are a few somewhere but they are in a very small minority.
Ok, well, I guess I need to keep posting here until this diatribe fizzles.
Rich, the fact is that even if Brit rewrote the AI using FOW, you would not be happy with it. Given our current technology, it is almost impossible to develop an AI that can compete with a human because the developers can not allocate enough resources to solve the problem. In order to make the game playable, shortcuts need to be taken to keep the timeframe small enough to keep you interested. So, asking for the impossible is a little unrealistic.
How do I know this, I have studied AI for many years as a Computer Scientist and I can tell you this is not an easy problem to solve. Humans have a tremendous number of senses and parallel brain functions that current computers are not able to compete with. Just because Big Blue can beat a human at chess, doesn't mean that Brit can create an AI for a complex wargame. Chess is much easier to program an AI for than EOS, I guarantee that.
Brit should not spend any more of his valuable time on this game other than to fix those bugs he has time for. The AI is not a bug, it is an architecture and design issue and it works as designed.
As for open sourcing the AI, well, I'm a developer and I would consider looking at and enhancing the code if Brit decides to publish it. However, I won't make any promises to make it any better. I have my time constraints as well, but I would be willing to look at it and maybe get together with others to see if we can improve it.
Rich, no one disagrees with your issues about the AI, we just disagree with you beating up Brit about it and your argumentative nature on the boards.
Let's see what Brit has to say about open sourcing the AI and maybe we can help improve it. By the way, the AI in any computer game is one of the most complex pieces of the game.
Cheers to Brit for giving us this game and for supporting it so well.
-
The real problem with this thread is Brit is AWOL. Why should he post when he has his groupie fanboys to do it for him?
WHERE'S BRIT?????
He should be here explaining, honestly, how many hours it would take to fix the AI and why he is refusing to do it in his spare time.
Rich,
You need to let this go. Brit has supported EOS way longer than he should have given the amount of money he has been making. He has a new job and probably a new life away from EOS now. Sorry that you aren't happy with the game, but get over it. The AI is as good as it is going to be. If you don't like the game, quit playing it.
Brit may continue to support the game, but not like he has been in the past. Find another place to complain. We're all tired of it.
-
I doubt Brit is going to reply to this nonsense. Rich, you raised a good question, now let's see what Brit has to say about this. The rest of this diatribe is noise. Hope you guys are enjoying yourself.
-
Brit,
You've learned a lot from your first endeavor into gaming and while EOS may not have met your expectations for wealth and fame, it is a fun game and many of us have gotten our moneys worth.
It is unfortunate that as you were ready to release your game we had entered into one of the worst economic times in our generation. As you have indicated in other threads, you have to make money to survive and I believe that there are several paths you might pursue to leverage your investment in EOS.
1. Partner with another developer(s) and work on EOS2. Doing this on your own is very difficult and may allow you to work on it part-time while you recover from your debt.
2. Go to work with a game developer and leverage your skills and bring us more new games.
3. Develop EOS scenarios and/or a Campaign. I still believe this is one area where EOS missed a golden opportunity. You might be able to manage this part time.
4. Improve the AI. This is not a trivial issue, but in today's market place, it is the difference between a game people will replay or shelve. Unfortunately, EOS is too easy to beat and replay value is limited. Even if you cheat and use scripting or other helpers to portray a more intelligent AI, the improved perception issue is huge. You may need help here. Solicit it and reap the rewards. Don't fix it as EOS1, incorporate it into EOS2. Look at all the games out there that reinvent themselves in the second release.
5. Leverage your knowledge to teach others, write a book, help other developers. You have accomplished something that very few game developers achieve. A finished product that you made money on. You may not be rich, but you are successful.
6. Revel in your success, go back to work as a developer and pay off your bills. Come back stronger and nail the next one when the economy is better. You have to know that part of your lackluster sales are due to a very sick economy for software. If you look at the number of discounted games out there right now, it is truly a tragedy. Don't let this time period dissuade you from the future. There will be better opportunities for EOS2 in the coming years. I hope you will consider this.
Don't forget that marketing a game is way more important than the game technology. If you are not a marketeer, find someone who can help you. Apple was a technology company, now they are a marketing company. Look at their stock now. How you present your game will dictate how it sells. Yes, it still has to be a good game, but the more pizazz you have around it the more interest you will have.
Best of luck and thanks for all of your support and updates. I still play EOS and it continues to surprise me at times and is still a great way to burn a cold Sunday afternoon.
-
Nice improvements to the ruleset. I've been trying to get Brit to look at this since the release. I'll give it a try
-
Unit experience should be displayed graphically, badges of honor or whatever the appropriate indicator. What good is experience if you don't know someone has it. :-)
Nice additions to the game.
Bret
-
how about canyons? That would be a cool effect. Weather would be very useful, especially fog and heavy rain. Early units will not be able to move effectively in difficult weather. Airplanes are grounded etc. Even advanced units will probably be less effective.
This would be a novel capability for this type game. Probably not easy to implement, but would add spice to the game.
Another interesting terrain type would be dirt roads / trails. Reduced movement. Maybe add the ability for engineers to create these types of roads through jungles / marshes.
Bret
-
I like the new map editor video. Excellent !!! I didn't know you could use this feature to build a map.
Follow up with the next one and then do some overall Videos showing some game action and strategies.
I believe this will really help sell the game.
Good job. Now I'm off to try and build a map. :-)
-
The new game BFTB on Matrix has some great video tutorials. Take a look at them, they might give you some ideas for doing a video for the game.
I agree, marketing is everything and getting your name out there will sell more games. Having good marketing collateral makes a big difference and on the web it' s all about the website and the videos.
Bret
-
Yeah, put an escape key on it so we can by-pass it, but having one is a good thing and even if rich pushes escape everytime, if he hasn't played in a while, he'll see the logo and it will remind him who made the game and he might look for other titles by the same studio.
-
I agree with cwestbrook. If you ever watch a movie or the major game titles load, the first thing you usually see is the studio image (or video now). I think you should come up with a cool atomicboy intro, it doesn't have to last more than 5 secs or so, but it gives you identity and that is important from a branding perspective.
Loading the images and artwork on a flash screen is fine or do it while you are showing off the atomicboy logo. If you've ever seen the dreamworks studio intro you know what I'm talking about.
Marketing a game and the studio behind it is a big deal. Far more important than most people believe.
-
Yes, I do have an exclusivity deal with them.
Don't know how much digitial distribution services like Steam take. I heard a while ago that they took 40%. Don't know if that's accurate.
(Thanks for the rest of your comment, too.)
I am doing some research for a friend of mine who is selling a PC game and it looks like Steam takes between 15 and 30%. For this, you get full support of digital distribution and online gaming. It is quite robust. Impulse has a similar deal, but they don't take as much of a percentage. Just information to consider in the future as your current arrangement precludes further discussion ;-)
Bret
-
Hey Brit, I've been watching from the sidelines and I can tell you that the biggest issue you have is exclusivity with BattleFront (if that's the case). You need a bigger market to sell into as this economy is making it very hard for people to spend money on games.
I have several other friends who are struggling with PC based games right now because the market is shrinking with all the competition of smart phones. I agree with the comment that getting yourself on Steam and Impulse would broaden your market. So would matrix games. Battlefront is a great site and publisher, but they are very small when it comes to the overall game market.
Have you had gamespot do a review? What about armchair general, PC gamer, the wargamer, etc.
I haven't played the game in a while, but the biggest reason I stopped was the instability , the AI, the combat results, and more importantly the lack of scenarios. From what I can tell, you have significantly improved things and I will give it another try, but playing the same old maps get's old.
Most people like to play campaigns and have a purpose when they are playing a game. They like to defeat the evil villain. If you came up with a creative story line and set of linked scenarios, you might find the interest in your game pick up.
I know that playing against the AI is fun, but I really like a story and a purpose when I'm playing a game. Somehow, you have to differentiate yourself from the rest of the competition. You have created a great game, but it is too similar to other games and you need to find a way to position it as something fresher and better than the others.
You also have to be patient. The Great Recession is a big drain on everyone right now and while we are starting to recover, dollars are tight and people are not spending the way they used to. Games are discretionary and I know that I have cut way back in the past 2 years on the number of games I have purchased.
Keep moving the game forward. In time with continued improvements, you will find your mark.
Bret
-
In the Scenario where you play as the Germans, I sent a Hummel into the enemy lines and it drove around in circles. I repeated this game several times and it did the same thing. The tank AI is drunk, and yes, I have both TOW1 and TOW2 Africa and this game behaves very similarly. It's too bad because it has a lot of potential. Very frustrated they can't get it right.
-
AI pathfinding is still atrocious in this game and the friendly ai has no idea how to drive tanks as they go every which way but where you want them to. Graphics are great and the battles are fun, but I am so frustrated with the pathfinding that I can't see myself buying this game. It has so much potential, but the developers don't seem to understand that if you tell a unit to do something, that it should at least try to do it and not run around in circles.
Fundamental flaw in onboard mortar targeting
in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy
Posted
Well, I believe this is a bug and should be looked into by the CMBN team. I seriously doubt mortar teams would be so far off, even if there was some visibility issues. The FO would definitely know that the rounds weren't hitting in the area and call back to the mortar team to adjust.
It is a bug and needs to be addressed. I will play some more to see if I can figure out what is causing it.