My Pessimism is Rapidly Declining

[hoolaman]

Michael, thanks for your response to this and my previous question. My apologies for not replying to my previous thread, which probably was best left to die. This is not really the same question though.

Where I am coming from is that I am not going to be able to play the demo, as I will require an expensive new computer to do so, meaning this game will cost me hundreds of dollars. I know others are probably in a similar situation, so I just want to know what makes the game a revolution rather than an evolution.

To be honest what I have seen graphically doesn't excite me. Since the release date was announced I have been thinking "oh is that it?". I think diverse terrain (even within the scope of Syria) is far more important than the pretty tanks, and I fear we are looking at a game that tactically plays out like CMAK without the Europe bits.

However, I am genuinely interested in the setting, and genuinely interested in what makes this game better. For example, what are the benefits of real-time play? Does it make the game faster, easier, more fun?

How does the command system work? I read that voice, radio and visual comms are included. How does these factors reduce your ability to control your troops? What levels of command are in the game?

How does the morale system work? Do your dudes panic differently? Do some straggle and get left behind, or is the 1:1 squad just a visual representation of the block from CM1?

How does relative spotting actually restrict what you can do? How is a target's location passed up and down the chain of command? Is this even featured? What of the Borg? What of the omniscient player?

I know I could wait and get the demo when I buy a new computer some time in 2008, or wait until the great unwashed have the game and start bitching about issues big and small, but I figured I would ask what the beta testers thought about it. I promise I will not make any more negative posts until August.

[JaguarUSF]

A lot of your questions were answered in my preview:

http://jaguarusf.blogspot.com/2007/05/combat-mission-shock-force-preview.html

But, to summarize:

1. CMSF is far, far different from CMAK and if you use the same tactics you will die. Quickly. Often. The lethality of armored units and RPGs is far greater than anything in WW2.

2. Real-time play does result in a faster game; turn-based is really intended for PBEM and not single player (for reasons I talk about in the preview).

3. The command system and spotting work hand in hand: if you lose communication, you will not be able to issue orders to troops and their morale will suffer. Spotted units are usually passed up the command chain (the forward observer is the best for arty spotting) and sometimes to parallel units (in the same platoon) but not down again to another platoon. You can't issue attack orders on a unit a particular unit doesn't see or know about, at least at higher difficulty levels.

4. Morale is very similar to other CM games, although communication takes a bigger role here.

[Buck Turgidson]

Thanks for the great preview, JaguarUSF! I'll be testing the demo before purchase...to make certain my system can run the game ok.

[sam0t]

Iam in the same boat as the OP, my pessism is reducing rapidly.

First I thought not to buy the game, since its not WWII, but since its been so long since the last CM fix, I decided to pre-order the game.

ps. Reading thejaguarusf excelent preview of the game had its part to play in my buying decision. Excelent stuff jaguar!

[Michael Dorosh]

Originally posted by JaguarUSF:

2. Real-time play does result in a faster game; turn-based is really intended for PBEM and not single player (for reasons I talk about in the preview).

This is up to the individual player and the great thing about CM:SF is that we have the choice of which to use. There are some who will simply prefer turn-based play no matter what situation - i.e. hotseat or PBEM, solo or with another person. Don't confuse your own opinion with the intention of the game's designers.

3. The command system and spotting work hand in hand: if you lose communication, you will not be able to issue orders to troops and their morale will suffer. Spotted units are usually passed up the command chain (the forward observer is the best for arty spotting) and sometimes to parallel units (in the same platoon) but not down again to another platoon. You can't issue attack orders on a unit a particular unit doesn't see or know about, at least at higher difficulty levels.

The beauty is that if you click on a friendly unit to give him orders, what he sees in the 3D world suddenly becomes different - only enemy units in his LOS stay visible on the map. You can deselect a friendly unit and have an overall view as well, but you can't order friendly troops to fire on unspotted units simply because they disappear as soon as you select the unit. Very simple yet elegant. Also another reason why play in real time may take slightly longer, since you will find it useful to reassess the threat to each friendly unit, by unit, clicking on them and seeing what they see. But I think this is offset by the ability to give orders as many times as you want within any particular 1:00 period, and the inability to "rewind" and watch over, which means real time may actual take less time in the end.

[JaguarUSF]

Originally posted by Michael Dorosh:

Don't confuse your own opinion with the intention of the game's designers.

Ah yes. I was talking from a game reviewer opinion perspective, as I tend to do since that's what I do