General feedback

[elicas]

First thing, Nick, games fething awesome. The drag command is really innovative, being able to 'draw' a flank maneuver in a couple of seconds without having to hold down shift and click way points is really, really, really good. One major thing though, we're not allowed to use Steam image extensions on these community boards, it's going to make posting AAR's much more of a pain in the bum!

 

General Feedback

 

• Terrain is quite hard to identify. While woods/buildings are easy to understand, hills/slopes are not. Trying to position my cannons on a hill requires more investment than is really worth it. I'm finding myself pausing, zooming in, then positioning my cannons, zooming out, and unpausing again. I think the terrain could do with being made somewhat easier to 'read', making it more obvious what is what.
• The AI is great in smaller battles, day 1 as the Confederacy saw the Union hassling my from two directions simultaneously. Cavalry and skirmishers to the North threatening my cannon, while their infantry tried to hold the objectives in the east. Finally they split my infantry and made a push through the middle to take my cannons. Fortunately one Brigade doesn't have much of a chance charging face first into canister. However......

 

In larger battles, the AI is really suffering. Playing against the 'Balanced' AI, it was rather aggressive on day one, after that it started to back away from every confrontation, I'm presuming this was to save it's men for a later phase, however, I noticed the following;

 

• Troops could not retreat 'off' of the map, but would instead cluster at the edges.
• Troops at the edges of the map would go half on half off of the map, become 'stuck', and stand still being shot to pieces.
• Troops not completely off the map would retreat from my troops, resulting in a 'feedback loop' where they ping-ponged between my troops without fighting back.
• Because they couldn't get off the map, I was able to capture thousands of enemy troops against the side of the map with several hundred of my own, outnumbered at least 4-5 to 1.

I've grabbed some screenshots to show you what I've found.

 

In this shot, you can see the pocket starting to form on the bottom edge of the map.

 

http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/561010670000199322/C3A810D69B6E7BC1D5A6765880D7CBE67EC62840/

 

In this shot you can see what this led to, hundreds of blue bodies part on/part off the map, hardly any casualties for the Confederacy. The grey 'blob shadows' on the border show men who are off the map but still in the battle.

 

http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/561010670000183536/EAC0D084FD4A942A8BA57BD122DF66EE96B17DEE/

 

Because of this retreating behavior, I have found the best tactic to work so far for me is to form my men up as Napoleonic French style columns, move towards the enemy as fast as possible. They will retreat in disorder, allowing me to surround and overwhelm them while they don't fight back. In the following shot you can see how my men are advancing in column across the river, leading to the above screenshot where they are pinned in the corner of the map. As you can see, while my men are advancing the AI is falling back into the corner.

 

http://cloud-3.steampowered.com/ugc/561010670000187059/78586529BF9D3BE5507385478A24E7DFD566AE00/

 

The next shot shows the most extreme example during this battle. There are around 15,000 Union troops in the corner of this shot, being chased by around 7000 Confederates. The Union troops died with barely a shot fired.

 

http://cloud-3.steampowered.com/ugc/561010670000190232/1C7AAF2AACD740364D23452ABB38C27267A5920D/

 

 

This has in turn led to multiple victories like the following, where the AI retreats from every objective and loses between 5-7 men for every man they kill.

 

http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/561010670000197087/A9F09C6F44507C8C644B290C81CADD62BCC19944/

 

I'm presuming that was is happening is the AI is prioritizing saving it's troops over holding the objectives, but because retreating off the map isn't implemented yet it gets stuck in a 'feedback loop' where it is constantly evaluating what to do, giving the order to retreat, unable to retreat, attempts to retreat, etc. etc. etc. in an infinite loop without giving any orders to fight back. If this isn't the case, I hope I've brought up a pretty big bug for you to fix!

 

On the whole though, I've had more fun with this for an hour than I've had with all my time trying to get Rome 2 to work properly. Nick, this is an excellent game!

[Cerebus]

Totally agree with the terrain statement. Hills etc are difficult to identify unless they come with a handy name like "Ridge" etc. As elicas says this makes setting up cannons v. difficult. 

 

Also the LOS. In the game guide it says that holding down left click on a unit will show in red the areas that unit can see. I dont get red areas at all - just light and dark, which again isn't all that clear, especially when not paused.

 

Again the drag command is excellent and should be made mandatory for all wargames. One question about it though, will units follow this arrow religiously or will they use best means available, for instance a road if travelling long distance, and cover if near enemy units. Hmm. So many different variables are possible here, it could get complicated. (Command Ops: Battles from the Bulge does this well with different conditions for movement)

 

All in all though...very very good game. Some issues to work out but given time I'm sure they'll get sorted. Well done guys.

[elicas]

Yes, the terrain is one of the most pressing issues, along with canon control.