Sigh, I’m still sad about that game. Abandoned almost right out of the gate.
Bingo.
Double bingo.
I’m not really a big fan of it either. For VR I think it can work, but that’s situational. I haven’t tried this game yet, but I probably won’t be a fan. Still, I think it’s fair to say they were going for immersion with their UI implementation. Whether or not it adds to the experience or is just a pain is another thing entirely.
My thoughts on it being okay for mp were from watching Burke Black’s stream last night, and everyone needing to be at the stations. If not you have people standing around in a gaggle instead of looking like they were trying and failing to operate the ship. That part of it reminds of games like Star Trek Bridge whatever, and the other space games that riff on that idea of multiple people crewing a ship.
It’s actually only to to turn on and off the station in this game: once you’re sitted, everything is pretty common gaming interface and controls.
I like big interactive menus, but I’m a nostalgic macintosh users from the 90s.
Oh, and I very much eye those Logitech Pro panels for my X-Plane needs nowadays ;D Have to resist!
OK I think I’m ready to say I love this game.
Picking up where I left off earlier I approached my second island target. There was some kind of patrol boat called a Swordfish stationed off the coast, but I don’t think it was aware of me because it wasn’t moving. So I fired off a couple of torpedoes and down it went (with a rather nice explosion too).
Then followed a pitched battle versus the island defenses, some of which were more advanced than I’d seen before. Some incoming missiles hit me before I figured out how to use the AA guns, which then seemed to take care of those. There were also a couple of Albatrosses but my AA missiles took care of those. I hadn’t launched a single vessel by this point.
Time for that to change. I equipped one Seal with virus bots, two with guns and a fourth with missiles, and sent them to make a beach head on the island. While they were enroute I equipped an Albatross with IR missiles, guns and a gimballed camera and sent it to fly over the island to tag some bad guys.
Duly tagged, a handful of the bad guys were promptly destroyed by the missiles. I was about to recall the Albatross to rearm, when purely by chance, I discovered a great joy - the gimballed camera can be used to direct the carrier support weapons! The next five minutes were spent gleefully spotting enemies and directing the carrier’s main gun. I had so much fun I ran out of ammunition!
By this time the Seals had made their way to the command centre and were fighting off the few remaining enemy Seals on the island. Thanks to their relatively heavy armaments, and the fact that my Albatross and carrier had massively softened up the defenses, they won the battle easily. Another island was mine. And, joy of joys, it was an air chassis island! I can make Razorbills now!
During this time I was keeping an eye on repairs. I’d lost three AA guns in the battle but these were by now repaired, leaving only the hull. The guns were repaired very quickly but the hull looks like it’s going to take a lot longer.
Anyway, that was more or less where I left things. While trying to figure out how the logistics system works I’d accidentally automated a supply route back to the first island I captured, so I plotted a course back to it to collect the supplies my barge was haplessly ferrying. I also noticed that the logistics map tells you which islands produce which things, which is obviously very handy.
The battle was absolutely thrilling. I found myself using any (scarce) downtime to watch my vessels landing and launching, and soaking up the atmosphere. I found that even things that seem to be there just to add IMMERSION such as the crane and lift displays actually add to the gameplay as they obviously show you at a glance the status of your launches. It makes for some tense moments as you will the crane to move faster as you desperately try to get some support vehicles in the air.
So I haven’t gotten into this more than a few minutes. I want to love this. It’s very much up my alley, and I still might.
Buuut.
The sound design is not good. The music is overpowering, and the soundscape is near empty. No ambient, no rumble, no spectacle. Event after event is just missing sound effects. The opening of the campaign was so silent I thought my speakers were busted.
I’m okay with a wonky game, or bad ai or jank, but FIX THE SOUNDSCAPE. Or give me a mod to do so.
I messed with the audio balance a bit and got the engine noise to work in a custom game.
It’s like a tiny buzzing prop plane. And when I walk around the bridge, I am wearing tap shoes.
Some of my issues are related to an argument you know the developers had. When I look at a monitor and the highlight changes so i can click into it, I expect audio feedback. But, that’s not diegetic audio, it’s artificial and conflicts with the idea of everything being in-world.
So it feels wrong to me.
On the plus side, the audio files are loose ogg files so it shouldn’ be too hard to change.
It’s the same as far as I’m aware. I’m shuffling between stations to get things done. So imagine the Star Trek bridge but you had to be physically present at each station every time you wanted to launch a torpedo, raise shields, navigate, use the comms. It’s going to be somewhat polarising an approach as you can see!
Wait, are dogs’ bollocks supposed to be good or
Second session and figuring a bit my way around, I’m having an amazing time.
My strat is mainly to lure the enemies out with my Seals and little ornithopter things, then pick them out with my Carrier Juggernaut of incredible mayhem.
The pathfinding issues have been overstated so far in my experience: the Seals get slowed to a crawl by trees, but they find their way around them no matter what so far. I haven’t seen any suicidal planes, but they are absolutely inept at taking anything out — I’ve been trying various weapon loads, but it doesn’t seem to help their case much. The helos are impossible to steer without a controller, which I guess is realistic.
The attention to details everywhere is amazing. I love how the sea is so moody, some of those waves are huge, sometimes they even take over your deck. The carrier feels like a boat, and that’s an amazing feat on its own already.
Boy I love this game.
I absolutely love the sound design, with that lonely, otherwordly soundtrack perfectly fitting the atmosphere. I love how you can’t hear anything from a few kilometers away, but jump into the camera view of your little bots, and boy is it punchy. I sure hope they keep it that way.
Your loss for never trying.
Yep, pathfinding is such a non-issue that it hasn’t even occurred to me to mention it yet. I was afraid before release that bad pathfinding would be the death knell for the game, just as it was for Gaea Command. Thankfully it isn’t an issue at all.
No one’s ever offered! Least of all any dogs.
They must be, dogs spend a lot of time licking them. At least, according to british slang.
Too right!
The only one of my dogs who, um, still has bollocks does indeed lick them from time to time. Though not nearly as much as legend would have it.
He is far more interested in bananas, cantaloupe, watermelon, and stray tissues.
The devs have indicated this is something they are looking into post launch.
According to the devs ten function keys will do it. I, like you, love the immersion - so I like the possibility of having both methods.
Jesus, you really need to catch those Swordfish unawares wherever possible. They can shoot down your aircraft easily with long range missiles, they can shoot down your missiles with their flak cannons, and they can fire absolutely devastating missiles at your carrier. And once they start moving you don’t have a hope of shooting them with the main cannon.
There is a sneak element, but it’s not detailed anywhere. I’m running without lights because of it, but I’d love to know what affects it, if anything: weather, time of day, noise…