Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 4:34 pm Post subject:
Feedback
Just wanted to give some feedback and I'm inviting others to do the same, as it's crucial for the development of the mod.
- The mod has beautiful music, very appropiate for the setting, personally I love it.
- Very nice menus, totally different from vanilla, that's something I appreciate. The only issue I've seen is that the explanations on the bottom are very difficult to read.
- The first time I played a skirmish game I noticed the nice sidebar. There's a different sidebar for each faction, that's really really nice.
- Most infantry has no shadows, but this is just a beta, so I guess it'll be fixed in the future.
- Some planes stay on the air without moving, like the Polikarpov for example. They just move when you order them to do so. The Kirov logic doesn't fit with planes, in my opinion.
- Will there be missions or tutorials? Making tutorial missions would be a good idea because of the big number of units and their different uses.
Overall I'm impressed by the good quality of this mod. My little brother even said that it's not a beta version to him, it seems more like a full release.
Also Known As: evanb90 Joined: 20 Feb 2005 Location: o kawaii koto
Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2012 6:29 pm Post subject:
My brief feedback based on my limited experience, having played a number of Early and Pre War matches against the AI and a few of the 1935-1955 mode.
Graphics- 9/10
-Great GUI all around. I love the menu design and the unique sidebars for each nation.
-Terrain is well-detailed. I look forward to seeing new theatres and more maps that make full use of it
-Units are amazing in how consistent and awesome they look. Stellar voxel work.
-Buildings are well-detailed aesthetically but get an D for gameplay details. Buildings do not distinguish themselves very well. That is to say, as someone new to the mod, it was not immediately obvious what function many buildings served until I moused-over the buildings to see the names.
-I guess this is a beta thing, but garrisonable buildings lack any indication they are occupied.
Sound- 5/10 (5/5 music)
-I'll let it pass because it's beta and getting nice sound effects can be a rather difficult affair.
-I give it a 5 for the music, which is excellent.
Gameplay (mechanics, concept)- 6/10
This is where the mod runs into problems. Fortunately, it's just beta.
First, infantry are not very useful. While the classic CNC "takes 55 tank shells to kill a soldier" rule applies in D-Day, they just dont have the capacity to impact a game. Rifle Infantry aren't worth building in any circumstance; Engineers are well, engineers; AT infantry are so easy to crush/kill that you're better off getting a tank, if you can.
A major problem is that Burst= units never stop firing until they actually fire an amount of shots equal to Burst=; if they kill the unit before then, the count resets. This starts happening in D-Day with only 2 MG units. I know vehicles are the headliners in D-Day, but why bother including infantry if all they are good for is screwing up auto-target and fixing bridges?
Tank on tank combat feels off. In the earlier war periods, it's tolerable, but by late war, it's mind-numbing. Maus and E-100 for instance, take several shots with their guns to dispatch the weakly armored British tanks like the Churchill and Firefly. This is the damage that an IS-3 does to another IS-3 in one shot. According to rulesmd, it would take over 2 minutes (!) of continuous shooting for an IS-3 to knock out another IS-3.
Aircraft are okay. Fighters look awkward, but it's an acceptable compromise given the lack of custom reload times/air patrols in Ares. They feel good in combat and encourage interception as opposed to camping them outside your base.Bombers are strange- reasonably effective against vehicle masses, but sub-par against infantry? AA is rightfully worthless against them until the bigger AA guns become available. Ground-attackers aren't very useful. Mauling a single tank is nice, but the tank on tank dynamic I noted above gives the impression that D-Day is ultimately about massing as many tanks as possible, and against the AI, a single tank gone meant nothing.
Base attacking- Buildings feel too durable, with the exception of defenses (rightfully so)- especially in the Pre/Early war period. In those two modes, it took so aggravatingly long to destroy bases that I just began quitting battles after I pinned the AI rather than finish the deal. Artillery in these modes are weak and tanks barely cause scratches to them. Later war seems to improve the situation as more 155, 203mm artillery become available and bombers become nastier.
AI- It's not that it rushes early, but that it rushes early with lots of mid and late-game units. As my first few M15/40s are rolling out, the medium France AI is sending blobs of B1 Ters at me, and following it up with blobs of FCM F1s.
I won't comment on balance beyond saying that Italy seems to be comic relief for every other nation.
My main suggestion would be to re-evaluate the calculation of unit HP or damage. You give HP based on Armor thickness (mm) * 10 and stick to accurate ROFs, but damage per shot is very low. Perhaps calculate damage using kinetic energy or some function caliber and armor penetration? It could go a long way to improving the flow of gameplay in my opinion.
Overall, I think that it is solid for a beta release and was worth atleast some of the wait, especially on the graphics end. Gameplay needs improvement, but it's not bad by any stretch. _________________ YR modder/artist, DOOM mapper, aka evanb90
Project Lead Developer, New-Star Strike (2014-)
Former Project Lead DeveloperStar Strike (2005-2012), Z-Mod (2006-2007), RA1.5 (2008-2013), The Cold War (2006-2007) QUICK_EDIT
I think you've given yourself a hell of a lot to work with Mig. Whilst graphically the whole thing is truly beautiful, the gameplay does slightly lack a little something. In terms of, like EVA said, the combat.
I think the infantry do their job fine but could play a more key role in the beginning of the game by, again as EVA said, tweaking the AI so they start with large, rushy, but low tech attacks.
The tanks do need a bit of balancing, it seems like it's all or nothing with most. I can understand that during technological advancements that happened during the war, many of the weapons became obsolete such as a light tank's attack against a heavy tank, however I feel they should still do a little something just to not make them seem to useless as the game progresses.
Nothing like a storm of the old favourites rolling in and spanking a small squadron of the new beefy heavy tanks!
But as I mentioned at the start, you've given yourself a hell of a lot to work with. Playing late war with 1 country feels like your playing unholy alliance and have all the units in the game.
It's almost like this project for you turned into an addiction. Now I don't mean this is a nasty way. I mean it in the way that, it just goes to show how much of a work-o-holic you are. Carefully crafting near every military vehicle and aircraft of the era.
To sum up. It's beautiful. But slightly lacks in some departments. But with the whole community behind it, I can see this shaping up to be a groundbreaking mod that, dare I say it, EA will be trying to bribe you so sell the rights so they can sell it as a late RA2 DLC expansion pack _________________ Folio.
ATM there are only two types of infantry, future versions will include machine guns, mortars, medics, snipers, spies, etc, etc. Once more have been added early game tactics will change & rifle infantry will be more necessary.
All unit stats & weapons are coded based on the real thing, I've gone to great lengths to research every unit in the mod to make them as accurate as the engine will allow.
That said I've also tried to implement a rock, paper, scissors system into the combat, meaning that no one unit can be spammed to win the game quickly. So if you're complaining that unit A takes to long to kill unit B then your using the wrong unit type. _________________
Joined: 28 Apr 2009 Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2012 11:56 pm Post subject:
Just on the fighter planes, they seem a bit to slow? They might only get one or two bursts off against bombers before it just becomes the fighter chasing the bomber, Benny Hill Style, all the way back to the enemy base. _________________ Beta Tester for Mental Omega 3.0
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