The Campaigns

[Skolman]

I am a little dissapoionted by the campaigns.

because:

1. They are just for 2 players.

No single player mode, no more than 2 players (?).

2. Allways accessing the dif web page? Why they are not included in the dif-programme ?

After all the game is very good !

(even with the lack of hotseat and lan)

Skolman

[Moon]

Skolman:

1. you can play all the campaigns in single player. Simply click on AI when you set it up. But you're right, currently no more than 2 players can play. Maybe we can devise a way for 4 player campaigns.

2. DIF is all about competitive play. That's why the online aspect is in the foreground, it's the core of the game to meet with other players.

Martin

[1FSTCAT]

I would like to see if you could find a way to allow more than two elements to confront more than 2 other elements. Since a stack of bombers are almost double the strength of the fighters included in the demo campaign, it's currently pretty likely that the defenders 2 flights will lose.

Maybe the defender could decide what two elements to include in the first combat (or that could be random), and then any additional elements could fight additional rounds in the same sector? That way, 6 planes (on a single side) could be stacked into one sector, making the defense a more even match.

[Moon]

This really depends on the campaign you're playing. Dunkirk is a bit tougher on the Brits by design, which is why they get double victory points. It can be totally different in other campaigns.

But anyway, this is a neat idea to allow multiple fights over one area before a winner is determined. Something for the list perhaps.

Martin

[Pawlock]

Originally posted by Moon:

Skolman:

1. you can play all the campaigns in single player. Simply click on AI when you set it up. But you're right, currently no more than 2 players can play. Maybe we can devise a way for 4 player campaigns.

Martin

Hi, Im new here, but stumbled upon this game due to previous Battlefront games.

Anyway, I cant seem to be able to select any campaign apart from the 3 turn Dunkirk one.

I can play this one till the end, but no other options come up in single player. I must be missing something but for the life of me cannot figure it out.

[rune]

For the demo Dunkirk IS the only campaign you can play. You didn't miss anything.

Rune

[Pawlock]

Thanks for that, beginning to think Im a complete idiot here;)

[Cull]

Yes, as I'm sure you saw, you can play around with setting up campaigns other than Dunkirk to see how they're laid out. I'm definitely looking forward to the larger ones.

On a related note: I played the Dunkirk campaign once and had an oddity. Maybe (likely) it was user error.

I set up my strategy for turn 1 and hit "execute", went back to the mission screen and flew the mission. So far so good. For turn 2, I went back to the campaign screen, saw the results posted, set up turn 2, and hit execute again. For some reason it appeared to actually execute the missions, as there were results posted for the turn 2 missions and the campaign screen read that I was now on turn 3. Hmm, thinks me. I then played turn 3 with the same steps and it worked fine, got the campaign results screen and all that.

At any rate, I found the jumping between the (online) campaign screen and the mission screen a bit clunky---several times I wasn't sure what to do next during the process. Maybe just tacking a "fly missions" button on the campaign screen that you could hit once you've set up your strategic decisions---or just some text feedback---would help? As a side note, I think it'd be cool to see some stats for all the pilots on the "campaign results" screen if possible.

Anyone else with similar issues/feelings, or am I doing it wrong?

[bartbert]

Originally posted by Cull:

On a related note: I played the Dunkirk campaign once and had an oddity. Maybe (likely) it was user error.

I set up my strategy for turn 1 and hit "execute", went back to the mission screen and flew the mission. So far so good. For turn 2, I went back to the campaign screen, saw the results posted, set up turn 2, and hit execute again. For some reason it appeared to actually execute the missions, as there were results posted for the turn 2 missions and the campaign screen read that I was now on turn 3. Hmm, thinks me. I then played turn 3 with the same steps and it worked fine, got the campaign results screen and all that.

I think what probably happened here is that you allocated your pilots, hit Execute, and in this case, the AI decided to have all his pilots "Stand Down". Therefore, there were no missions to that needed to be played out, and the game moved on to the next turn. Presumably, you were awarded the points for all areas where you allocated pilots and the AI did not.

[bartbert]

Campaigns were a relatively late addition to the game, and we wanted to find a way of including them without introducing a lot risk and instability into the game program. Having the web as the place to setup and manage the campaign, while playing out the missions in the game allowed us to add a very nice feature at relatively low risk. Essentially, the web becomes a "mission generator" for the game.

As you have pointed out, the down-side to this decision is that the mechanics of going back and forth between the web and the game are a bit clunky. We knew this would be a problem for users, but we felt that it was just too cool of a feature to leave out, or to delay things for a more elegant solution.

However, one very nice positive of the current web system is that we have a lot of freedom to create new campaigns, and add new features to campaigns that would difficult to do if the system were more tightly integrated. We can add new target types, maps, pilots, aircraft, etc., without you having to download a new version of the game.

[Cull]

Originally posted by bartbert:

Campaigns were a relatively late addition to the game, and we wanted to find a way of including them without introducing a lot risk and instability into the game program. Having the web as the place to setup and manage the campaign, while playing out the missions in the game allowed us to add a very nice feature at relatively low risk. Essentially, the web becomes a "mission generator" for the game.

As you have pointed out, the down-side to this decision is that the mechanics of going back and forth between the web and the game are a bit clunky. We knew this would be a problem for users, but we felt that it was just too cool of a feature to leave out, or to delay things for a more elegant solution.

However, one very nice positive of the current web system is that we have a lot of freedom to create new campaigns, and add new features to campaigns that would difficult to do if the system were more tightly integrated. We can add new target types, maps, pilots, aircraft, etc., without you having to download a new version of the game.

I'll run the campaign some more and see if I can duplicate it. I don't think it's what you said, as I believe there was damage to my pilots and planes shown in the results panel, but I didn't think of the possibility of that. But if nobody else has seen it then it was clearly something goofy I did.

I like the rest of your reply. The thing works just fine the way it is, just takes a little getting used to having the two parts physically seperated. Big deal.

Plus, the "add-on" factor is huge, and the way you put it makes it actually sound like the better way to go.

[Skolman]

Something that happened to me and some other guy:

After Campaign-turn two the game finished showing an allied campaign victory.

Both me and my opponent had enough pilots to fly more missions.

What happened there ?