Happy Easter from Matrix!

Started by Geezer, April 18, 2019, 08:51:44 AM

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Rayfer

Quote from: Rekim on April 19, 2019, 01:01:31 PM
I picked up Armored Brigade. Just finished the first scenario. No regrets...except maybe waiting so long to grab it.

Agreed...I liked it right out of the gate, especially the ability to easily create small scenarios.

Gusington

I hesitate to say this but...tell me more about why you didn't like aggressors, Pratt.


слава Україна!

We can't live under the threat of a c*nt because he's threatening nuclear Armageddon.

-JudgeDredd

mbar

I'm picking up Armored Brigade and W40K Gladius for sure.

Geezer

#18
WH40K Gladius should be a no brainer for me since I love WH40K, but I can't get past the look of it.  The map looks drab and dark, and the small number of sprites in the units kills my immersion.  I expect to see massive armies fighting for a planet, not small groups like are depicted on the hexes.  Probably my loss if it's a great game but so be it.

Edit - I was a tester for Sanctus Reach and didn't but it even with the tester discount due to the small maps and lack of large battles.  It felt more like some squad leader game than the epicness of WH40K.
We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.  George Bernard Shaw

JasonPratt

Quote from: Gusington on April 19, 2019, 02:44:16 PM
I hesitate to say this but...tell me more about why you didn't like aggressors, Pratt.

lol'd at the hestiation...  >:D

In this case, though, there isn't much to tell. The user interface was somewhat unpolished, and it didn't really do anything more or better (aside from supply, sort of) that other Civ-like games have done. Its scale was often wonky, too, which wouldn't have mattered so much except that it's clearly trying hard to seem realistic as a selling point. So a vast army of 5000 scouts are wandering the countryside, unable to live off the countryside very far from their home city because after all despite being scouts they're a vast army of FIVE THOUSAND SCOUTS (the minimum size possible), and hey there's a mine, we should go secure it for the city, oh it has like 2500 people there to be fought...

Did I mention that the starting unit of thousands of scouts can live off the countryside until they found your first settlement, and then you have to tech up rather far for scouts to have the ability to supply themselves off the land?  #:-) :pullhair:

I did like quite a bit of it -- come to think of it, another interesting feature are some choices on how to naturally manipulate terrain on squares. (I seem to recall it uses squares not hexes.) But eventually (5.4 hours later) I realized most of what I liked was just that I like these kinds of games and I could be playing one I liked more rather than this one.

I'll probably go back to it eventually, but I'm ambivalent about it. The dev(s) clearly had a vision, even if the vision was a little unclear (so to speak), and put real work into it.
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

JasonPratt

Quote from: Geezer on April 19, 2019, 03:14:53 PM
Edit - I was a tester for Sanctus Reach and didn't but it even with the tester discount due to the small maps and lack of large battles.  It felt more like some squad leader game than the epicness of WH40K.

I've had some trouble getting into the feel of Sanctus Reach and Gladius, too, for similar reasons.

But, to be fair, they do somewhat feel like tabletop figures fighting (each of them moreso than the other in different ways!), and that was explicitly intended in their design.

On the balance I like Gladius more, simply because of the extra things to do. But Sanctus Reach looks crisper.
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

Geezer

Quote from: JasonPratt on April 19, 2019, 03:21:26 PM
...But, to be fair, they do somewhat feel like tabletop figures fighting (each of them moreso than the other in different ways!), and that was explicitly intended in their design....

Good point.  That's probably why I never got into the tabletop either, although I've seen massive tabletop armies.  I shudder to think what they cost.   :o
We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.  George Bernard Shaw

airboy

#22
Quote from: JasonPratt on April 19, 2019, 03:18:40 PM

Did I mention that the starting unit of thousands of scouts can live off the countryside until they found your first settlement, and then you have to tech up rather far for scouts to have the ability to supply themselves off the land?  #:-) :pullhair:

I like Aggressors quite a bit and am working on a review.  But this is a glaring bug.  You NEVER build a city with your first scout unit - ever.  It can range far and wide claiming territory.  Nothing else in the early game can - and it is the magic bullet unit for gobbling up unclaimed territory. 

I've put 57 hours into it and played 9 "start from scratch" games.  I have a pretty good handle on that part of the offering.  The second part of Aggressors is where you start in the Med with existing large kingdoms (Carthage, Rome, Egypt, etc.....) and go from there.  You can start with a very, very weak country or start with a country with a huge land area, lots of resources, and a corner position (Carthage). 

Aggressors is two games in one - a "start at the beginning" game similar to a lot of 4x games and a "Hearts of Iron that works" 4x game that you can pick radically different strength of starting position.  I've got a very good handle on "Start from scratch" and have not started the "pick a country strength in a developed world"

Gusington

Thanks Airboy and Pratt. Are the Seleucids playable in Aggressors? Are the developers still working on it?


слава Україна!

We can't live under the threat of a c*nt because he's threatening nuclear Armageddon.

-JudgeDredd

Steelgrave

Picked up Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock and three of the DLC's. It had been on my wishlist for awhile and I felt that sudden itch that gamers get that made me pull the trigger.   O0

bobarossa

Quote from: Gusington on April 19, 2019, 07:45:51 PM
Thanks Airboy and Pratt. Are the Seleucids playable in Aggressors? Are the developers still working on it?
Yes, Seleucids are playable in both Ancient Med and random games.  I haven't played the game yet but I needed to do at least one useful thing today and checking this was it!

JasonPratt

I reaaaaallly wouldn't compare Aggressors to the central Paradox games -- the game engine is too different. Maybe more like one of the Total War games with lots more control over city building and terrain modification, with auto-resolve permanently turned on.
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

Rayfer

Quote from: airboy on April 19, 2019, 05:57:46 PM
Quote from: JasonPratt on April 19, 2019, 03:18:40 PM

Did I mention that the starting unit of thousands of scouts can live off the countryside until they found your first settlement, and then you have to tech up rather far for scouts to have the ability to supply themselves off the land?  #:-) :pullhair:

I like Aggressors quite a bit and am working on a review.  But this is a glaring bug.  You NEVER build a city with your first scout unit - ever.  It can range far and wide claiming territory.  Nothing else in the early game can - and it is the magic bullet unit for gobbling up unclaimed territory. 

I've put 57 hours into it and played 9 "start from scratch" games.  I have a pretty good handle on that part of the offering.  The second part of Aggressors is where you start in the Med with existing large kingdoms (Carthage, Rome, Egypt, etc.....) and go from there.  You can start with a very, very weak country or start with a country with a huge land area, lots of resources, and a corner position (Carthage). 

Aggressors is two games in one - a "start at the beginning" game similar to a lot of 4x games and a "Hearts of Iron that works" 4x game that you can pick radically different strength of starting position.  I've got a very good handle on "Start from scratch" and have not started the "pick a country strength in a developed world"

Well written airboy....that's been pretty much my experience as well.  I've enjoyed the 'start at the beginning' game but have yet to put much time in the 'pick a country strength in a developed world' game.