Drusus

Some suggestions. Quick command mode for the bots (or why not for other players). Press ctrl-1 to ctrl-8 to select one of the bots. Now you are in command mode, select a command with the hotkeys (v for advance and so on). Now you are in command placement mode, click somewhere on the map or "target" something, same as dropping things. Command given. Should make life a lot easier for the commander who likes to fight at the same time. One mode of playing could be with 9 vehicles, 6 controlled by AI, and then 3 team leaders, each controlling 2 bots. And waypoints in the same way too. Click quick button and there is a waypoint in the aiming point of your gun, with manual range you could easily set up waypoints where you want. Distance circles in the minimap. So that you could easily see how far things are. As it is now, you are always "dotted" when in LOS except if there is EWV close to you. In which case you are never dotted. Could it be possible to make this a bit less boolean (don't know a good english word for this). Maybe there could be 90 degree arc for the sensors, and your vehicle has to be for a small amount of time in the arc to be dotted, longer when further away? Firing makes you always dotted if in LOS. And a close range 360 degree sensor. Maybe some sort of a tagging mode could be fun also. You fire a dart to the enemy EWV, and after this it will be visible. Actually, maybe you could fire this dart to any vehicle, and after that they will be visible to all players? Only 3 darts per vehicle or something like that. For limited time or something. As it is I find it fun to sneak with the EWV, but it would be fun to have more things able to do this, even if in limited way. Don't know, maybe this wouldn't work. I happen to find it fun to scan manually the ground to find PseudoSimmons or Bernhardt in their EWVs... It seems that a whole lot of things are moddable in this game. I tried to update the 76mm gun and actually it got more lethal than the 120mm gun. So the question is, will you document the xml files for the release? Am I right that the servers xml files are used (or the server uses them...), and if I have different values in my installation, everything will continue to work. This also means that getting the lethality of things right isn't that important (after all, there will be always players feeling that things aren't right as is) because we will be able to make mods that are the way we like. Meeting engagement game mode. There is a base in the middle with non-destroyable and non-conquerable AA tower. Each team gets to deploy on their side of the map. The goal is to control the center base for as long as possible. Both teams are given points in the same way as in objective game type. In other words both teams are attackers in the beginning. Just ideas, I am not saying that things are broken as is (except the 76mm). Feel free to comment. I haven't given these much tought so there might be "hidden" gameplay implications.

I happen to think that the flag game is more fun. But only if you have a nice team to work with. The only thing I would like to be fixed is that there should be some points for getting the flag out of the enemy base, maybe based on distance taken from the base. Linear 20 points to the other base. And 80 points for the grab. The problem is that as it is now, it is _really_ hard to get a grab, as the enemy can see where you are going -> drop equipment in your way. Or maybe I just suck... Yes, the points system might need a little tweaking. But I think they are already working on that...

While doing some testing playing single player against AI, trying to grab their flag, I noticed that AA turrets covering the corners of the map are really, really effective. This severly limits your opponents attack avenues. Also, I noticed that teamplay with the AI rocks. Give him Thor and make him advance, you take the Paladin with 20mm and blow up all those nasty Thors defending the enemy flag. Or if the enemy decides to go after you, then your bot friend will take out the enemy... Also noticed something funny going on with the AI when it tried to follow my move commands. The fortification structure seemed to make it do stupid things. Also when I had the flag with me and I was using the EWV vehicle, the AI dropped atleast 5, propably closer to 10 ships right on top of me. Not wise. BTW is it ok to run private servers? Or should all servers be public during the beta?

Stupid question, but was there somebody playing with the trasport. My Apollo once went to moon that way...

Some additional ones. Turrets fighthing each other. This looks ridiculous. They are firind to the base of the turret, and never killing each other. When changing teams, also the turrets owned by the team changer go with him. This is the number 1) tactic when attacking on the ice fields map. Don't know jet what the number 2 is, I truly hope I will find it one day... Regarding the EAV. It seems that it is able to shoot missiles down quite well, but the problem is that it can't protect itself nor targets that are in line with / forward to it. This means that the EAV should go in first, witch might be a little suicidical.

Mortars are suprisingly accurate. If the wind is almost constant, and it usually is enough constant over the flying path, then it _will_ hit without too much scatter.

1) If you start a vote (end scenario) and quit the server while the vote is going on, when you join another server you will have a personal vote going on. Unfortunately you can't actually vote and the timer goes on for ever. 2) If you get a lock against an enemy player with the ATGM system and go just out of LOS you can still keep the lock going on by targeting with the red arrow. Found out about this on the Ice Map base. Maybe it only works when in the base, haven't tested. 3) I am supposed to be able to defend my team against the ATGMs with the EAV vehicle. Seems like I can't defend even myself against ATGMs with it. 4) Something weird going on with the fort structure on the Ice map. If you drive your tank so that the other track is on one of the outgoing blocks and goes along the joining, then you can't turn your tank anymore. Ill try to do some Ascii graphics... |*********************| |****TTTTTTT**********| |---------------------| |*********************| |****TTTTTTT**********| '-' is the joining line and 'T' shows where my tracks are... 5) If you lock your missile on a dropship, your missile is very much likely to hit ground. Maybe there should be a minimum altitude for the missile? 6) If you see a dropship drop something just out of your sight (IE the dropship is visible and propably the ordnance too just when it is released) the red arrow seems to sink into the ground. Happens on the icemap. 7) alt-tab sometimes breaks your minimap, sometimes something else. The minimap goes transparent white, with only the red and green dots still working. Somebody called Rune promised to report this, but I wanted to be sure... 8) Is the server refresh working properly or are you taking down the servers? 9) Don't know if this can be called bug, but atleast it is annoying... Dropping mines on your flag. Need I say more. Ofcourse there is the Cutter and hovercrafts, but still. And then some suggestions how to make the game a bit more fun. These are ofcourse just IMHO, and some of the things that I tought were way unbalanced only seem a bit unbalanced now, so maybe I will learn that everything is correct as is after a while... There seems to be 3 a bit overpowered vehicles, those are the ATGM vehicles and Hurricane. The Hurricane might be fine as is, but maybe it should be a bit less armored, so that it is easier to kill it. It is hard to hit even at the moment. Or maybe the floating system should be more vulnerable? And I think there should be a defence against ATGMs _if_ you see them coming in. Maybe a smoke screen that breaks the lock, maybe something to launch against them. It would be important that the thing you use against them is based on skill and not on luck. But as it is now, if you see a missile launched towards you, you know you are propably killed or that you have to extract & redeploy. Atleast make the EAV vehicle a lot better at shooting the missiles down. And then there is this 76mm gun, which seems to be useless at the moment...

Might it be that somebody gave the AI an order to drop inside the red area? If the AI continues to drop in the danger zone after being killed multiple times, it might be considered a bug...

The missiles do weird things if you have manual range on. I don't know why the manual range should even apply to missiles? Also, when using the ctrl-m indirect firing method, could it be made so that the manual range isn't taken into account? Atleast an option?

If I switch sides when playing on a server with no bots, I will get to keep my vehicle. What I mean I can start in the base with Thor and then switch sides. Now I am in the enemy base with that Thor. Maybe the idea is to enable traitors? Also, the 76mm gun isn't powerful enough when firing from behind...

You can try to promote yourself in the menus found using Esc key. This will start a voting.

Yes, and there should be minimum range. Nothing pisses me off more than AI having ATGMs inside the base in Ice Fields map. Once you go into sight of them you are instantly killed. Much easier to take out Thors from the base...

This must be because of the view distace. I have played with two systems, one using a 865G intel graphics chipset (way below specs) and the other with NVidia 5900. The system using 865 has the minimum settings for everything, and it shows vehicles floating over hills and other weird stuff. I haven't seen any problems with the 5900 based system. The other reason might be that you are not in the gunnery mode. If you aren't, you can actually see behind some obstacles while you have no direct LOS. I think that somebody else is seeing the unit. See the manual why this is so.

I also have a problem with turning when moving forward with the tracked vehicles. I tought it was my keyboard. I have learned how to use the system, but it should be more easy to use. There really isn't any good reason why it should be as it is now with advanced computers and all. I have no problems with this. Have you ever tried to control one in real life? It is _not_ easy. Actually, it is _really_ hard. I have no problem with this. What I have a problem with is the ice fields. Who has ever seen no friction ice? Ice _is_ slippery but you _can_ drive on it. Yes, a command for the team leader to assign AI units to other players would be great. I understand why this isn't there. Ofcourse it is hard to explain why the AA gun is able to shoot missiles of the air while the gun can't do lead computation, must be electronical warfare or something like that... But still I think the system for direct fire weapons is quite good. Maybe the aiming rectangle should have something to show how much you need to take into account for the given range. There is aiming helpers for the most basic AT weapons even today. Still, hitting moving targets is actually quite easy. I have gotten 6000+m hits. I could not agree more. AT missiles and artillery are really too powerful. They do kill with the frist hit. Especially the Hurricane. Maybe the idea is that the Hurricane is the rare but really powerful vehicle. But as it is, there is no reason to go with Thor or Apollo. Both require multiple hits to kill _anything_ from any angle. Ever seen the ridiculous battles between Paladins and Thors, where both fire for 30 seconds before the other is killed. I think it should be nearly 100% kill with 120mm HEAT (center of mass hit) against anything except the most heavily armored vehicles front. And the Hurricane is able to kill anything with first shot. And it has good speed and good armor. The basic mission on the servers goes fine as long as the AI has Thors to use, but after that the ATGMs ruins everything. I think that there should be smoke to block the view of the launcher and no "locked in" mode. As it is now, if you see a missile fired to your direction, you can try to fire back, but you are propably going to die anyways. And fix the 90 degree instant turns. No future technology is able to do that. And attacking is too hard. To me it seems that the scenarios aren't really balanced as it is now, there isn't any advantage for the attacker but the defender has buildings. Maybe this is just beacuse of the multiplayer test? I think that the 120mm gun and 76mm (76mm seems to be weaker than the 20mm due to slower speed of fire, even when hitting with every shot) gun are way too weak, while the 20mm gun seems to be quite right. The ATGM systems are too powerful as is the Hurricane. The target can't really do anything against missiles, even if he sees the missile launched. He can fire maybe 2 shots, but even if they hit, the propablity to kill is way too small to save the target. And did I mention the Hurricane? It is _really_ too powerful as it is now.

If you try to take an objective without an AA vehicle, while you might be able to take it, you can't hold the objective. Your enemy will drop new equipment right in the middle of the fighting faster than you can destroy them. And you are forced to drop your vehicles a long distance away. Result: you lose the objective. There should definitely be a short strategy guide to explain how to get the most out of your units (not what they do, but how to use them) and also one about the tactical display. BTW it seems that the game is starting to gain popularity. I said that this game has potential. I was wrong. This game has HUGE potential. It would be really important to get people to play this game as more than FPS game. There is little coordination when playing on the servers now. Not that it isn't fun just to drive around and shoot things, but this game could be so much more. Usually there isn't anybody giving any commands, no talking, nothing.

I was experimenting with the AA vehicle, it seems to be a key to many problems, especially when attacking...

It seems that I have been firing a bit high. That might be the reason for not scoring kills. But I still think that when you fire to the rear of any vehicle with anything, the results should be more fatal. And more issues... The AI seems to be really good with ATGM. I am having no problem fighting against multiple Thors, but a single ATGM equipped vehicle ruins my day immediately. Example: I am inside the base with Apollo, this is on the ice fields map. The AI controlled Shrike does a pop shot from outside of the base. Ok, I saw him coming and fired a AP shell which did penetrate to no effect. He kills me of 3 seconds after coming in to my view. If he had a direct fire vehicle, I am 99% sure that he wouldn't have killed me, propably not even hit with the first shot. The other problem against ATGM equipped vehicles is that I can't seem to get first shot kills no more than 10% of time (this is with 120mm gun agains a soft skinned vehicle). So if my defence is to destroy him before I get killed, well, it is quite hard to do if he wont die. Also, the game is very much playable on my work computer (yeah, I am working really hard here...) Except when there are many people on the server then the game becomes unplayable. So it is not about my graphics hardware, but something else (memory?). For this particular computer the texture caching must be on. Everything else ofcourse off. The connection is something like 2mbps line, so the problem is not there. Specs: Celeron 2.53GHz, 512mb, Intel 865G graphics hardware, Windows XP. Intel PRO/100 VE network card.

Yes, I checked them out. They are good, except that it is hard to see the z-axis placement of some of the components. It would be cool if they were 3D (or from two different viewpoints) so that you could see exactly where the components are.

Sorry, I don't have this information. I think it was this morning around 9:30 am finnish time (gmt+2) and the map was the "green one". It wasn't capture the flag and there were many players on the server. I think I haven't played with the computer after that, so there might be a log still on my computer about the game. I also got ~4500m dropship kill with HEAT if that helps you to find the server Is there a log on my computer about the hits, it would be fun to be able to check out if I did actually hit with that 7000m+ HEAT round even if I can do that only when outside of the game. I will keep a log where I am playing here on so that I can tell you when I found bugs (that is, when I get killed...) I don't know if the 76mm cannon is supposed to penetrate the back of the Thor, because once I fired ten 76mm AP rounds to the rear of a Thor, but to no effect. Some to the center of hull mass, and some to different portions because I was trying to found a weak spot. Also, is the "kills himself" thing working properly? If I damage my opponent to the point he decides to kill himself do I get a kill? I am quite sure it doesn't work. Atleast the text doesn't show that you got a kill. I think it might be a good idea to put the vehicle in "leave ship" mode when you kill yourself. The vehicle is still there for 30s or something like that, but the player killing himself loses control of the vehicle. That is, he can drop another one immediately. This is more realistic also. It doesn't sound realistic that when your gun doesn't work the commander decides to blow the vehicle up, himself with it.

In a recent game I played using Apollo with 120mm gun. I was on a hill and there was an enemy using Hurricane. So I sneaked up to him and fired two shots of HEAT ammo directly to his side, aiming center of mass. He then fired back and got a first shot kill. Well, I dropped another Apollo there and fired two AP shots directly to his rear, again two perfect hits. He fired back and killed me off with first shot. I dropped another one and still fired one to his flank, this time killing him off. The problem? Well, I am supposed to be using the most powerful directfire weapon there is, I am firing at distance of ~200m and gaining perfect hits, four of them, but I am unable to kill him off. This happens against other vehicles too. The effects of a penetrating hits seem to be a bit on the low side. Just IMHO, ofcourse. Am I doing something wrong or is that 120mm gun supposed to be that bad? Ofcourse on the other hand I did gain a 6000m kill with HEAT... It is really driving me mad when I get a perfect flanking move, but I am just unable to kill my opponent from side or even rear. To me it seems that firing HEAT to the rear armor should be quite deadly agains any vehicle. Or should I be firing to some weakpoint or something? Also, my kill ratio seems to be one kill for every 10 hits with 120mm gun. These are usually flank shots. Is that the way it is supposed to be? The only weapons I know that are really lethal are the heavy mortars. It seems that hitting with them is a nearly 100% sure kill against anything. No problem with that, but the Hurricane seems to be quite ideal in close combat at the moment, as it has the deadliest weapon, great speed and good armour rating, too. Other things: If it would be possible to add a 3D internal schematics view mode to the final release, it would help really much when learning where the weak spots are. On the positive side this is really promising game. Or I don't know if I can use the word promising here, as this is already really fun to play. And on the servers it seems that the tactical aspect of the game isn't used to its fullest potential. And that is propably the thing that is going to be _really_ cool once people start forming their own teams. One minor issue more: It seems that you are using Gnu wget for the updater. I am not sure, but should you have a LGPL license text or something somewhere available? BTW I am able to play this game with a computer that has Intel 865G graphics chipset (only 32M shared memory, I think). It is really below specs, but the game is playable when there isn't much happening. When there is a lot happening, I seem to die even when playing with a better computer, so no problem there

Am I right if I say that you have nothing against an invidual retail store buying multiple copies of the game when it is released and selling them locally? I mean if they pay the full price? Ofcourse this is not a good deal for retail stores except if they want to provide a service to buy the game without online payment. In other words, you have to make great games to sell them online. One could think that if the game is sold only online it must mean that it is of low quality. The retail stores don't want it... I think the opposite is true. You must have a great game to sell it online, else nobody will buy it. In retail it is possible to sell crap games because people are less likely to have the same level of knowledge of what they are buying. BTW I think that you are going to get a huge success with drop team. It should be a game that has potential to sell outside of the hardcore wargamers section of the market. And then ofcourse there is CMx2, which I believe will also be a huge success. SC2 and Les Grognards are propably going to be too much "war games" to sell as well. With dropteam, the only thing you need is that people find out about the game. The demo (I heard it should be out in days now) should do the trick. The concept of the game seems to be great. Fast paced multi-multiplayer "FPS" action with real tactics. Anyways I believe BFC is going to have great times ahead. You are going to have a number lock on the CD case, aren't you? The way I see it, DRM should make the using of the illegal copy of the game hard enough to make the user buy the game. Ofcourse the optimal solution is to prevent all copying in the first place, but this seems to be hard (except for MMORPGs and such). No updates, no multiplayer for you and all that. The problem with starforce is that it makes the use of the _legal_ copy of the game hard enough to make the user use a crack. This happens a lot. And even with starforce, the game can still be copied. I think there has never been really effective copyprotection in the form of cd-checks...

How do you define a week on a different planet? Is the year divided into 52 weeks or is a week 7 local days? I think the BFC definition of weeks is: #define WEEKS "when it is done" The great thing about this is that this is portable, it works the same way on every planet...

The manual system sounds great, you can digitally download the game, but you have to wait for the manual to arrive to get past the copyprotection. I don't know if the update system will work with BF games, as there needs to be a constant flow of content to make it painful enough for the pirate to find warez versions of the updates. Ofcourse I have nothing against such a system and for example adding some units now and then to CMx2 could be the way to do it. Dropteam is going to have content added afterwards, so it would work for them, too. Adding a simple copyprotection is fine, and will make it obivious that the warez version is illegal as well as adding to the pain of copying. I really think that simple copy protection is enough because it is going to be cracked anyways. And if you have a DRM system that takes over your computer, then it will hurt sales. No matter how good games BF sells I will not buy a game if there is rootkit type DRM or risk of disabling cd burning or anything like that. BTW _if_ you are going to make online serial number checking the DRM system, then it is propably worth to make the system to check also through your online opponents copy. I would imagine that this way it is not enough to crack your copy of the game, because your opponents copy will still complain about the warez version.

I hope you are not going to include some evil DRM system. DRM is fine and I understand why you have to have one. But I don't understand if it is going to be starforce or sony style system, which might break your computer or do other evil things. If you have seen what starforce did with Galactic civilization II then you must admit that they are not a corporation against piracy but a corporation to make as much profit as possible. It seems that they would really like every game be pirated if it doesn't have starforce technology included. If you haven't seen what they did, the short story is that one of their employees (at least an official starforce poster in their forums) posted a link to illegal torrent of Galactic Civilization II cds. They demonstrated that if you don't use copyprotection this is what will happen. And thus GC will not sell well because of piratism. Funnily enough 1) GCII is selling really, really well and 2) starforce accidentally did a huge marketing favor to GCII. This is the way I found out about the game and now I am waiting for my copy... Online checking of serial keys is propably the only really effective way. How to do this in a single player game is the problem. (Or in a two player game.) GCII uses continuous updates only available via serial key. It is propably possible to get the updates without the serial, but it is going to be so much trouble that I think their system will work. Something like this for BFC games would be great.

Surely not. Which is why I don't think there will be a war over Taiwan. China is not ready to take the risk of US retaliation. On the other hand if the Chinese calculated that the USA won't act if they occupy Taiwan, then there could be a war which nobody wanted. It is also possible that the situation will slowly escalate to a war, in which one reason is Taiwan. I don't think that will happen either.