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Darren Knorr

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So Mr. Fair.

Is there any possibility, that you could give us some sort of report from the 'testing front' please?

Like how is the feeling when playing. The immersion. Is it comparable to any other strategy game and so on...

 

Greets.

 

I imagine that they'd be under agreement not to talk about it. But you never know... ;)

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Folks,

The testing community is under NDA. With that in mind let me share some thoughts that, most likely, do not cross the NDA line. Darth, if I cross the line hopefully forgiveness on one post out of 223 is easier to get than permission? I respect that you are busy trying to get UGG delivered.

Please be aware that the UGG team is working very hard to complete a great Gettysburg game for an enthusiastic community.

Crowgasm, it would be great to have your first-hand Gettysburg experience to help influence the UGG development team. ;-)

Vonlowe (Ron), as a disabled vet; personally I’d love to have your insights in the UGG testing community. I’m not a decision maker or gate keeper – just a tester. Thank you for your service & sacrifice!

The Great Dane Ditto, as requested, here are some thoughts on UGG from a tester’s perspective:

1) As Darth has stated UGG is a Bayesian decision theory game. Your results in each Phase will determine your options for the next Phase.

2) UGG is demanding. You need to plan and execute plans flawlessly. If you don’t, you don’t get very rewarding results.

3) Patience is as important as action. Timing assaults, coordinating artillery, committing reinforcements, and flanking with reserves are fundamental to positive results. Holding a few superior quality troops in reserve can turn the tide of battle.

4) No one in the testing community has gotten 100% of what they've suggested.

5) Is UGG historically “accurate enough” to be interesting? It depends on your perspective.

6) Is UGG enjoyable to play? As a tester the game has seen progression in a positive direction.

7) Heuristics – don’t rely on the gambler’s fallacy with UGG.

8) Nick put up a new topic titled, The First Gameplay Video tonight. I haven’t viewed this yet. Hopefully Nick will answer most or your questions. I don't know when the testing community will be allowed to share AAR's.

9) Do I agree with where the UGG team has drawn the line for the game parameters? Sometimes.

10) Does my perspective matter? Sometimes.

11) Are there areas where I think the game could be improved? Of course.

12) Is the level of historically accuracy in UGG able to satisfy a historian’s knowledge level? In some cases. For example, the physics of artillery projectiles and effectiveness have been a bone of contention, discussion, and debate for game balance for quite some time.

- Are most players going to care? Probably not.

- Will some players understand the implications on a battlefield simulation of Gettysburg? Absolutely.

- Will this impact purchase decisions? Time will tell.

13) Is any of this tester's perspective Q&A post helpful without access to UGG? Probably not; but, I’m under NDA. Thanks for your understanding and patience.

14) It’s a game!

If you have specific questions I’m happy to respond as long as I’m conforming to my obligations to the UGG team. Hint - if you ask historical questions I'm delighted to offer my perspectives; or, find others with the knowledge to respond more accurately. Finally, hopefully this response navigates the tight wire act and offers the forum members some level of curiosity satisfaction from a tester's perspective.

Kind Regards

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Folks,

The testing community is under NDA. With that in mind let me share some thoughts that, most likely, do not cross the NDA line. Darth, if I cross the line hopefully forgiveness on one post out of 223 is easier to get than permission? I respect that you are busy trying to get UGG delivered.

Please be aware that the UGG team is working very hard to complete a great Gettysburg game for an enthusiastic community.

Crowgasm, it would be great to have your first-hand Gettysburg experience to help influence the UGG development team. ;-)

Vonlowe (Ron), as a disabled vet; personally I’d love to have your insights in the UGG testing community. I’m not a decision maker or gate keeper – just a tester. Thank you for your service & sacrifice!

The Great Dane Ditto, as requested, here are some thoughts on UGG from a tester’s perspective:

1) As Darth has stated UGG is a Bayesian decision theory game. Your results in each Phase will determine your options for the next Phase.

2) UGG is demanding. You need to plan and execute plans flawlessly. If you don’t, you don’t get very rewarding results.

3) Patience is as important as action. Timing assaults, coordinating artillery, committing reinforcements, and flanking with reserves are fundamental to positive results. Holding a few superior quality troops in reserve can turn the tide of battle.

4) No one in the testing community has gotten 100% of what they've suggested.

5) Is UGG historically “accurate enough” to be interesting? It depends on your perspective.

6) Is UGG enjoyable to play? As a tester the game has seen progression in a positive direction.

7) Heuristics – don’t rely on the gambler’s fallacy with UGG.

8) Nick put up a new topic titled, The First Gameplay Video tonight. I haven’t viewed this yet. Hopefully Nick will answer most or your questions. I don't know when the testing community will be allowed to share AAR's.

9) Do I agree with where the UGG team has drawn the line for the game parameters? Sometimes.

10) Does my perspective matter? Sometimes.

11) Are there areas where I think the game could be improved? Of course.

12) Is the level of historically accuracy in UGG able to satisfy a historian’s knowledge level? In some cases. For example, the physics of artillery projectiles and effectiveness have been a bone of contention, discussion, and debate for game balance for quite some time.

- Are most players going to care? Probably not.

- Will some players understand the implications on a battlefield simulation of Gettysburg? Absolutely.

- Will this impact purchase decisions? Time will tell.

13) Is any of this tester's perspective Q&A post helpful without access to UGG? Probably not; but, I’m under NDA. Thanks for your understanding and patience.

14) It’s a game!

If you have specific questions I’m happy to respond as long as I’m conforming to my obligations to the UGG team. Hint - if you ask historical questions I'm delighted to offer my perspectives; or, find others with the knowledge to respond more accurately. Finally, hopefully this response navigates the tight wire act and offers the forum members some level of curiosity satisfaction from a tester's perspective.

Kind Regards

 

I'm afraid I'm so old that my first-hand experience of Gettysburg circa 1863 has grown very fuzzy and quite unreliable. I now retract that comment given it's clearly not going to open any early access early access doors.

 

In true Grognard Contrarian Tradition, there will be chariots and crossbow mods built in, right?

 

On the First Gameplay Video, I caught it by chance about 5 minutes after it was posted. Very interesting indeed. My only concern (maybe) was the pace of gameplay - things looked to be moving fast. Perhaps that was artificial, for the sake of the video. I look forward to seeing this in my shopping basket, nonetheless.

 

Your list of Tester's Perspective Thoughts is also interesting. I think most of those just aren't commentable until we get our hands on it and post feedback on questions like the artillery physics and effectiveness, so I won't go there for now.

 

Finally, your hoity-toity 'NDA' will seem quite worthless if we find you and corner you with crossbows. I suspect The Great Dane will be able to find some lutefisk to torture you with, too!*

 

*[Yes, I know Denmark isn't Norway, Sweden or Finland]

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Hopefully this will help answer some of your questions from the test community perspective.

The game is in development and evolving. Watch the video Darth posted – it represents the game experience and speaks for itself. Let me know if you have questions.

I have no idea what Darth’s plans are for modders.

“Shoot is you must, this old gray head,

But spare Darth’s hoity-toity NDA,” he said…

(It’s not my hoity-toity NDA – it’s Darth’s.)

UGG is fast-paced.

When I test I play in two modes:

The first mode is issuing coordinated orders. In this mode I pause the game and move around the map to see where everything is and get my head around a plan. In my opinion this is important at the start of every Phase as units can be shuffled by the game engine during Phase changes. Pause is also useful IMO when new troops are arriving and you have a bunch of orders to issue that can take the player's attention away from the action on the firing line.

The second mode is RTS without pausing. When my plans are in place I tend to let things run and respond to events as they happen.

Note - there are times when picking a unit (usually artillery) out of the RTS mode can require more mouse precision than I possess. When this happens I hit pause to select and move the unit. The footprint of artillery vs. infantry is not the same so this takes a bit of player adaptation and precision.

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Blimey, iambic pentameter attempted in gaming forum. Whatever next.

 

Understood, I think, on the pacing vs pause for orders. That follows a successful blueprint from many other strategy games so it's less worrying.

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Well if you would like the services of an Australian living in Germany that has basic knowledge of the  American civil war to get a non American view of how the game plays then put me on your beta list.

I have downloaded and used Dark's mods before.

I'm from the Commodore 64 generation and have beta tested alot of games throughout the growth of the industry.So if you want a middle aged man view point then pick me.

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Well if you would like the services of an Australian living in Germany that has basic knowledge of the  American civil war to get a non American view of how the game plays then put me on your beta list.

I have downloaded and used Dark's mods before.

I'm from the Commodore 64 generation and have beta tested alot of games throughout the growth of the industry.So if you want a middle aged man view point then pick me.

 

*Darth's ;)

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Giver of Will,

What sources of information do you consider not "propaganda crap" and "utter rubbish"? Do you actually have anything positive to contribute?

There are many bad Civil War resources (movies are uniquely and particularly egregious (e.g., Martin Sheen as Robert E. Lee - Oh the pain!!)). But, I'd hardly classify Ken Burns, "Civil War" and many many other sources "propaganda crap" or "utter rubbish" just because it was on TV.

Is your beef with Civil War history teachers in particular or education generally? Some teachers are better than others; and, I've met a couple of teachers with Civil War agendas that undermine their credibility. But, I'd hardly damn history teachers as a class as propaganda ministers or "spewing utter rubbish".

Bit harsh don't you think?

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Crowgasm,

If iambic pentameter is not the brain stem's presentation to the "fight or flee" response resulting from the threat of information exfiltration under the duress of lutefisk and crossbows; WHAT IS?

How do you think Shakespeare and his cousin Wigglesword wrote so prolifically? Yep - the threat of lutefisk and crossbows!

Cheers!

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Thank you for your reply Fair.

 

To be honest the pausing seems to be somewhat of a emergency solution to a problem, which many of us veteran gamers have pointed out for years:

The need to have time to react in a satisfying way - especially as this game seems to have an outstanding AI.

 

As I mentioned in another post recent experiences with the battle-side of (not the campaign part) Rome II Total War has shown just how wrong things can go, if the developer get's this wrong.
So this little detail can have a large impact on great parts of the overall experience.

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Great Dane Deuce,

Personally I've always been an advocate of "Telescoping Time". When issuing orders game time moves in real-time (clock speed) to allow players to issue orders under real-time constraints, while troops are moving to action time moves quickly, until they get into action. As the action increases game time slows to ensure the player has time to react to the events. "Telescoping Time" requires a great deal of programming innovation; but, I'm confident that in the next five years games will move in this direction. It also encompasses latency introduced to deliver messages in the pre-radio eras. There was a reason that multiple copies of the same orders were sent by messengers during the Napoleonic Wars.

I agree the pause button is a stop-gap measure and less than optimal. There are many annoying aspects of game environments; but, the trend is in a positive direction.

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actually i would, i dont trust the propaganda crap that the history teachers and tv channels spew at us about the civil war, its utter rubbish

 

What would be the motivation for history teachers and TV channels to promote "propaganda crap"? 

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An what do these history channels and history professors get in return for doing, "what they are told to do?" :mellow:  

 

How do they know when they are on the "politically correct side of the event"? :(  

 

Who exactly is the "who" that is telling "them" what to do and say? B)  

 

What benefit does this "who" gain from directing this Civil War misinformation propaganda campaign that is spewing forth rubbish upon mankind? :blink:

 

 

P.S. There's a vacancy at the "Comfort Inn" in Roswell N.M. if you're looking for a vacation alternative. :ph34r:

Comfort Inn® Roswell - Official Site. Best Web Rates‎

 

Seriously, I hope your posts are intended to be entertaining!  

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simple, its what they are told to do

 

No, it's really not. Fact is, history will always be biased in a certain direction, depending on the source. Teachers and historians are supposed to be neutral, but they won't always be. Case in point; elder teachers will tend to be worse than younger teachers, due to the difference in upbringing. I'm Australian, so I can't say I truly understand what it's like in America, but I'd imagine considering America's patriotism there's going to be a lot of preference in terms of sides, and which they make sound 'good'. ;)

 

Ultimately it's up to you to sift through the information you're given, and to use common sense and logic in order to create a more realistic picture. 

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Frankly, the idea that modern history teachers present the civil war as a noble crusade against southern depravity (i.e. as the socio-political-economic causes) is silly. I can't say it wasn't thus in the past but it certainly is not now. Moreover, the similarly moribund idea that the south is falsely demonized in similar arenas may have much more to say about the holder of that idea than the reality of pedagogical practice in higher education. Indeed, such is more common among those prone to romanticizing the old south and its social contruct, not disimilar to those who would rather eroneously draw lines of division on slavery as a southern only 'problem' but not a nothern issue. If there's a signifcant failing in modern pedagogical approach to how the civil war is presented then it might reasonably be levied at the lack of depth of coverage of socio-economic issues beyond the historical record, in terms of leadership, ideology and conduct of the war. If you think there's a 'politically correct' slant or angle in how the war is taught, in terms of North versus South, then I'd argue you've not really entered into a serious academic weighing of the war. Nobility as a Northern exclusive very quickly goes out the window under clear scrutiny. Nobility and honor being a major driving factor in both southern society of the 1850's (and beyond) or the proposed but doomed Confederacy also doesn't stand scrutiny of any serious academic standard.

 

Is there bias in some quarters in terms of the presentation of a now largely historical conflict? Yes, almost certainly. However, that exists in much smaller ways and is more representative of the shortcomings and biasses of human nature, rather than on the specifics of this historical era/event.

 

Anyway, back to beta grumbling. I demand a buggy pre-launch exclusive at once!

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I suppose this is the place to request a beta invite in the next testing iteration. I am a former game designer who is a die hard grand and real time strategy player. You can name any PC strategy game and odds are I have played it. I was QA lead in a medium sized company that had one shipped product of about 8 million MAU as well (as well as half a dozen other shipped products that had far less market share). 

 

Let me know by PM if your interested in having me as a tester. 

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Crowgasm,

 

FYI, I’ve just taken a look at the American History text used by our local school.  The Civil War is not presented as a “noble crusade against southern depravity”.  IMO your general characterization that, “modern history teachers” teach that the Civil War was a “noble crusade against southern depravity” is both unsubstantiated and incorrect.

 

The motivation for the Civil War in the text is portrayed as a complex cornucopia of factors (political, legislative, demographic, social, literary, economic, racial…) that led the nation to cataclysmic division.  Brevity is the most glaring fault in the text.  Most of these topics get less than a page (e.g., Economics of King Cotton).  Many of the issues are relegated to bullet points (e.g., fugitive slave legislation); leaving little room for thought, analysis, or "crusader propaganda".  The goal of the text appears to be preparing kids memorized enough bullet points to pass standardized tests. 

 

Educational systems are under extreme stress.  It is not really a surprise that the American Civil War has been relegated to a single 25 page chapter of American History given the grind and pressure on students and teachers.  Sad; but, given the pressures understandable.  

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