KevinC
1748
That’s interesting. And overall, I feel like auto combat is pretty fair. It’s just these edge cases where one army is overwhelmingly superior in quality and quantity that results in casualties that irk me. I wouldn’t even mind if that’s a once in a blue moon type of thing, but I feel like it’s around 30-40% of the “safe” battles.
I think alot of people are getting hung up on the term “safe.”
To me it means I won’t lose the battle.
To some people it is supposed to mean they won’t lose even a single unit.
Thing is, with even a bit of experience, you rapidly can tell which battles are likely to result in a loss, and determine if it is an acceptable loss or not.
Also maybe worth noting, and I never think of this but I know it’s possible, you could always make a quick-save, auto-battle, and reload if you need to.
The problem (and the reason I never do it) is this isn’t possible in a multiplayer game, as the game state just exists on the server and is a bit like an MMO/roguelike in that way.
Thraeg
1751
I think it took me a half dozen sessions to get through the tutorial for this. I love the series and was excited for this, but it was late at night and I wasn’t in the right headspace for absorbing new information, so I’d fire it up, read two or three text boxes, and start falling asleep.
Thankfully, I did eventually get through, and once I started the first real game, all was well, and I cruised through the first campaign mission quickly. I’m liking this approach to campaigns as a random map with some pre-seeded factions, quests, and locations.
This is me as well - I don’t expect to never lose units, and when they die I consider it part of the challenge. The AI can’t reload when they lose units to Safe battles, after all, and I like the AI gives me a run for my money so I let it ride.
Then again, I’ve lost battles manually that the auto-battle beat for me with 0 casualties, so if you’re better at the combat than I, and it sounds like @KevinC is, I can understand the frustration.
KevinC
1753
I’m actually not hung up on Safe at all. Call it whatever you want, there’s just a whole bunch of 12 vs 4 battles with massive superiority that result in a loss of a unit. Again, just last night that happened. I went back to autosave, replayed the battle, and they never even got to my lines. Jumping bugs into a field of 'roided up max-level units on overwatch? Dead before they hit the ground. :)
That’s my issue. It’s bearable (if annoying) in SP because if it really bothers me I just fire up the auto save. But last weekend I was playing with 2 friends on a high difficulty team game, and it meant SO MANY battle were being played manually that didn’t need to be. It really bogged the game down.
Use Battle Cards and make folks pick their battles, keeps the game moving, and if everyone is losing the odd unit to auto-battles, it should end up fair (in theory)?
Speaking of MP, how come you haven’t organized a Qt3 MP session, as you did with AoW3? Sure, I could do it, but my effort would pale in comparison to yours. (Too much brownnosing?)
KevinC
1756
An option, just not an appealing one for us. We’d rather just play the boring battle out as quickly as possible than deal with unrealistic auto combat results.
Sorry, I didn’t mean you.
It’s must that this has been raised very vocally on other forums, most of them less civil than here, so I was referring to the situation in general, regarding the use of the word “safe.”
Ah, I don’t get the problem then, unless players want to set the maximums lower than they can go.
KevinC
1759
Oh no worries at all, I understood the context and didn’t think you were addressing me. I’m just speaking for myself only, it’s not the word that bothers me it’s the result. I want a level of overwhelming odds where I know I can just skip the no-challenge battle without worrying about it.
I play on the edge in these games, meaning I push the difficulty as hard as I manage. The margins matter, which means I can’t afford to lose a unit in each of the early game battles or have my attack army whittled down by 2-3 units by the time I reach the enemy city. EDIT: In fights where I have an overwhelming advantage and can manually play it with 0 risk, I mean. Obviously smaller armies can still inflict casualties on larger ones. :)
Oh man we’re getting into some deep, structural issues with AoW, specifically live multiplayer, now.
MP with events occurring in a sequence, and one of those events being tactical battles (that aren’t over in a flash) means something is always going to be not quite right.
Might work out fair, but is hardly enjoyable, so I can fully sympathise with the frustration.
I tend to be much more conservative in live MP games.
Live or pbem?
As I understand it, it is twofold.
Losing units to auto combat when you could easily win it in tactical combat leads to playing more tactical fights which leads to the game dragging on longer than ideal.
Related to that, other players have nothing to do while you fight.
KevinC
1761
When I played MP we had it set up so you could view tactical battles, so I’m not sure how it all works. It would be nice if while another player was fighting, I could be looking through my tech tree, looking at build queues in my cities, or examining the world map. Is this possible if you turn off viewing of tactical battles, or do you just get a “Waiting…” screen?
I understand not being able to take any actions until the battle is resolved, but I’d love to at least look around and think about my next moves.
Currently, you either watch the fight, or you look at the strategic map, with a “combat in progress” notification top right of screen.
KevinC
1763
Interesting. Do you know if you can access the in-game documentation or view research trees and the like, or is the UI locked out?
I watch Netflix or Hulu on my other screen while someone is fighting, or play on my Switch. :)
Also, one suggestion I’d love to see implemented I just remembered, is when someone else is fighting and I am trying to read the info card for a unit on the map, it would be great if the unit card would stop closing itself whenever my buddy was doing stuff.
KevinC
1765
Yes, that would be nice. I think it’s just a… maybe not a bug exactly, but an unintended side effect of their eventing.
You’ll see it sometimes too when you’re participating in the a battle with a friend and he/she is taking their turn. Sometimes the UI will grab one of your units like it wants you to give it orders, despite it not being your turn. This happens a ton with Vanguard missile turrets in particular, for some reason.
Just a minor polish issue, but it is a little annoying. Reading unit cards is what I like to do to pass the time watching a friend’s battle. :) I won’t complain much, though, the MP experience here is top-notch for this sort of game, especially compared to AOW3. The fact that these minor issues are what I’m left complaining about says a lot about all the things they got right!!
Either, I suppose, although live play sessions may be difficult for some to attend. I’m on UTC-4 time.
Thraeg
1767
I’d be happy to jump into a PBEM game if one gets set up. Or if anyone else has their free gaming time around 10-12 at night PST, live could work too. I don’t know what I’m doing, but am happy to fumble along.
