Close combat and other stuff

[Don Maddox]

I just finished playing scenario #2 against the AI (al Qaeda). I now have more questions than I started with.

For starters, I never could get any of my units to fire on the enemy units I could see. I know this must have something to do with fog-of-war effects, but I can't seem to figure it out. I finally tried moving a unit right into the enemy hex. This seemed to work, at least partially. There were two enemy units that I could see and one was destroyed in close combat. The other one just sat there. I couldn't get my units to shoot at it, but no close combat took place either. This happened several times. I guess al Qaeda really is as good as they say... :confused:

Next, I'm confused as to the elevation information in this scenario. If I click on "Elevation" in the Current Location box, I get pink dots on the entire screen, which shows everything to be "Low" elevation. Yet the elevation shading shows several different elevations including a big hill that is reported over 100 meters higher than the surrounding terrain. So what does the terrain elevation overlay really mean? This is non-intuitive to say the least.

The minefields in the game also confused me. The game showed "Minefield: 6 mines of 2 types" right in front of the approach to a bridge. But these mines didn't seem to do much because my infantry passed right through them without suffering any losses. I'm not sure if that's normal because I spotted them or what.

At the end of the game I suffered a decisive defeat. The endgame report showed that I had failed to take any of the victory locations. What victory locations? The OP order didn't say anything about seizing any locations, it just said "engage and defeat local terrorists." The AI was awarded points for locations. I must be blind, because I didn't see any "victory location" markers or anything like that.

[MikeSinn]

I noticed similar targeting difficulties playing the Kirkland airbase defense scenerio (#5 I believe). In that game, I had stationed a couple of HMMV section in the middle of the airfiled's tarmac to act as a reaction force to attacks from any suprise directions.

Shortly into the game, I had a Car Bomb unit spend two turn driving directly towards the unit. It finally stopped on turn 3 in the same hex as the HMMV. Throughout the two turns it took for the car bomb to make it there, the HMMV unit could never get a direct LOS to the unit or engage it. Makes no sense. The units are driving across an open runway for 2+ minutes, yet I can never see it well enough to fire. Something just doesn't feel right about that.

Even after the unit ended its movement in the same hex, I could never engage it with DF and I couldn't figure out how to "Assault" the vehicle with close combat.

I gave up shortly thereafter and quit the game. Between this, the C++ errors (yes, I'm running on XP) and the helicopter bug I mentioned in another thread, I am beginning to think the best course of action may be to shelf the game until the first patch or two are out.

I believe there is quite a bit of beauty and elegance in the game, I am just having trouble working past all of the warts. :confused:

[Don Maddox]

It finally stopped on turn 3 in the same hex as the HMMV. Throughout the two turns it took for the car bomb to make it there, the HMMV unit could never get a direct LOS to the unit or engage it. Makes no sense. The units are driving across an open runway for 2+ minutes, yet I can never see it well enough to fire. Something just doesn't feel right about that.
I keep getting the feeling that there is more to learn and that I'm missing some critical gameplay aspects. While that's probably true, the interface is somewhat non-intuitive. This game has loads of information to display for the player, but at times it does seem like a chore to find the info you want and then give orders based on that info. On the other hand, I don't want to see Scott "dumb down" the interface to make it accessable for the C&C crowd! I think the basic setup of the interface is sound, it just needs to be refined a bit more.


Even after the unit ended its movement in the same hex, I could never engage it with DF and I couldn't figure out how to "Assault" the vehicle with close combat.

I never gave orders to engage in close combat during the battle I was in. I simply moved my unit into the enemy hex and the AI attacked one of the two defending enemy units the next turn. It wouldn't touch the other one though. I can't figure that part out.



I gave up shortly thereafter and quit the game. Between this, the C++ errors (yes, I'm running on XP) and the helicopter bug I mentioned in another thread, I am beginning to think the best course of action may be to shelf the game until the first patch or two are out.

I believe there is quite a bit of beauty and elegance in the game, I am just having trouble working past all of the warts. :confused:

I agree the game has both potential and some flaws. For some reason I've only had one C++ error the whole time I've been playing. At any rate, I think Scott's plan is to have the patch out the door very shortly. I'm hopeful there will be a series of follow on patches with additional enhancements that follow shortly thereafter.

I've been providing Scott with feedback on various aspects of the game and my own views on how things can be improved. I'm trying to be as constructive as I can because that's the only way our feedback is going to be helpful. I'm doing my best to give him concrete examples and suggestions instead of just saying, "this sucks - fix it!" If we continue to submit bug reports and provide him with sound feedback that should greatly speed up progress.

Just my 2 cents worth.

[meade95]

Don,

Totally agree with you on the manner of contacting HPS (Scott) and letting him know what the problems are...and suggestions for improvements.

I also think we will see 2 or 3 patches come out (with the first one very quickly) in the not so distant future.

Better / complete AAR by HPS (Hamilton's) would do a lot fo this game. Show us a number of walk-thru's.

[MikeSinn]

Don,

Totally agree with you on the manner of contacting HPS (Scott) and letting him know what the problems are...and suggestions for improvements.

I also think we will see 2 or 3 patches come out (with the first one very quickly) in the not so distant future.

Better / complete AAR by HPS (Hamilton's) would do a lot fo this game. Show us a number of walk-thru's.

Ditto. Constructive suggestions and clear descriptions of questions and problems would provide the most assistance to HPS. I certainly do not wish to be grouped in Don's "This Sucks... Fix it" group. :)

In my case, what is most needed is more detailed walkthroughs of common activities (i.e. calling in I.F. or air strikes, creating IP and mines fields, the various engineering tasks...). I still find myself trying to differentiate between what may be a bug (i.e. helicopter movement) and what actually works as designed and I'm just using it wrong (probably everything else in the game).

I believe it is important to state that for a game to pull me out of the shadows, where I have lurked for many years, to actually post questions, comments and concerns must have one hell of a lot of potential. :D

Keep up the good work Scott and HPS.