pretty quiet in the forum lately

spillblood · #1 January 25th, 2011, 10:01 AM

Any news yet of new patches? I've mailed Malfador some suggestions in reply to a mail I've gotten as an answer for another mail where I told them that the regional settings fix in 1.06 works. I've tried to include some stuff that's been suggested here in the forums to improve the AI. Maybe all of you who have ideas on how to improve the AI and the gameplay mechanics should simply mail Malfador so that they get more feedback. I really hope we see the game improving in the next patches. It gets old quickly after a few games because it's simply not challenging against the AI and too unbalanced.

Uncle_Joe · #2 February 10th, 2011, 11:22 PM

Yeah, I played it as far as I think I can at this point. The AI is just horrible and the unit balance in stock is not so good. I can mod the latter, but the AI is unrecoverable without a patch.

I posted my suggestions for the game and how to help the AI and until/unless something happens to make it substantially better, I'm pretty much done with the game.

spillblood · #3 February 11th, 2011, 06:29 AM

Yeah, I hope they make more patches, because the game really was too expensive for its current performance. I impulse buyed it without testing the demo which was wrong, I guess. And it's not possible to get a refund at Shrapnel for downloaded games (have tried it with BCT Commander, which may be a good simulation, but has some errors with non-US language settings etc. and is simply more of a tool than a game - I won't buy any more ProSim titles, I think). Shrapnel explained their high price policies in blog posts, but I think in this case it was really simply too expensive for the package you get.

spillblood · #4 February 11th, 2011, 01:08 PM

But maybe they manage to fix the worst problems with the next patches. I think they really released the game too early. They should have done this with some kind of public beta phase or so (but I don't know if that'd be possible at Shrapnel, no other Shrapnel Game did that). The current version feels like an unfinished beta gameplay-wise. There are few technical errors, but the gameplay just doesn't feel finished yet.

Skirmisher · #5 February 11th, 2011, 05:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spillblood

But maybe they manage to fix the worst problems with the next patches. I think they really released the game too early. They should have done this with some kind of public beta phase or so (but I don't know if that'd be possible at Shrapnel, no other Shrapnel Game did that). The current version feels like an unfinished beta gameplay-wise. There are few technical errors, but the gameplay just doesn't feel finished yet.

I'd like to know what the testing indiviual(S) were doing while they were supposed to be testing.
None of the "testers" has even bothered to post here and
tell us if the TCP/ip multiplayer was actually working ever.

spillblood · #6 February 16th, 2011, 05:55 AM

Man, they should at least tell us about possible progress on the game. The current situation is simply unbearable. Please Malfador or Shrapnel, tell us if this game has been dropped, if a new patch is developed or anything else! You see, you're losing support of the community rapidly with this behavior. Communicate with us! Just look at the forum posts. No new ones for for almost a month or so! Do you need any more confirmation that all the guys who bought this game simply don't play it anymore? No one wants to talk about this game anymore. This is simply a bad sign. Please, do something. I don't want Malfador themselves to spend time they might need for fixing the game in the forums, but please let someone give us some updates! This game simply can't be fixed by the community alone 'cause the broken contents aren't moddable!
You see, I simply don't want this game to be a total disaster. Malfador have developed some well known 4X-classics, I'm sure they can fix this game given enough time. But it's simply bad when no one cares about it anymore when they've done the updates.

usmcrave99 · #7 February 19th, 2011, 01:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skirmisher

I'd like to know what the testing indiviual(S) were doing while they were supposed to be testing.
None of the "testers" has even bothered to post here and
tell us if the TCP/ip multiplayer was actually working ever.

No, TCP/IP Multiplayer was never tested. Or at least, it was never reported in the Beta Forum, to my knowledge. There was an attempt early on to set one up, but the MP Maps were not ready yet. After that, I don't remember anyone mentioning a TCP/IP MP game. Personally, I only tested single player against the AI.

The AI has come a long way from v.01, where you never lost money and could build 10000 tanks a turn after 5-10 turns, because there was no per-territory-city-limit. (see the attachment)

Skirmisher · #8 February 19th, 2011, 04:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by usmcrave99

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skirmisher

I'd like to know what the testing indiviual(S) were doing while they were supposed to be testing.
None of the "testers" has even bothered to post here and
tell us if the TCP/ip multiplayer was actually working ever.

No, TCP/IP Multiplayer was never tested. Or at least, it was never reported in the Beta Forum, to my knowledge. There was an attempt early on to set one up, but the MP Maps were not ready yet. After that, I don't remember anyone mentioning a TCP/IP MP game. Personally, I only tested single player against the AI.

The AI has come a long way from v.01, where you never lost money and could build 10000 tanks a turn after 5-10 turns, because there was no per-territory-city-limit. (see the attachment)

I've been playing an old game I've had awhile called warzone 2100.

The computer beats me up again and again while playing the AI.

WS is a game where I win again and again. The AI is a cream puff.

Now It's interesting that Shrapnel can come out and say that "multiplayer quirks have been addressed" and yet nobody
is actually testing multiplayer.

spillblood · #9 February 22nd, 2011, 06:29 AM

Hehe, Skirmisher, I think we are the only two people left in the WS forum at the moment. Yeah, they should improve the AI and fix these multiplayer problems, and tweak the balance (especially nukes!) Pretty long radiosilence on Malfador's side. They've not released a single fix yet this year. I hope something's coming. With good AI this game could really be great. I had fun playing it until I realized how bad the AI is.

JCrowe · #10 February 22nd, 2011, 12:28 PM

Oh, I think a few more of us are waiting in the wings for something to take flight. It just might be a good while more before they have the next installment to run. The low fruit's been picked. Everything on the table now requires (more-or-less) a complete overhaul of the game.

Coding a decent AI in an environment with lots of moving pieces is probably very difficult. And why many companies either default to pre-programmed "idiot" routines or spend mad resources to build a 'smart' AI that can be easily ported from one game to another. For example, most one-person shooters are fundamentally alike, and it probably doesn't take much tweaking to convert an AI for "Halo" to use in "Medal of Honor". Or for the company that makes the Medal of Honor series to use that same core of AI programming for each new edition, making tweaks along the way. So all you're really left with to program are graphics, backgrounds, and new scenarios. "Old wine in a new bottle", so to speak.

But strategy games ... dude, tweak one statistic and you can fundamentally alter the entire thing and totally blow the AI. Tiger to pussycat in two seconds. And think of the options in a multi-faceted platform like WS. There are so many thousands of possibilities to pursue. In a shooter, well, attack head-on, sneak attack from behind, or draw player's attention from the front while other dude sneaks to hit player from the side. Advanced degree in quantitative thermonuclear fractal economics not required.

Naturally, then, this just makes you wonder what Malf was thinking. WS was way far from baked when they dropped it on the table. This thing was raw; not just "jeez-its-so-red-it's-still-bleeding" raw, but "still-nursing-mom-and-mooing" raw. They should not have released it in such an incomplete state. Worse, they seem to communicate with the public about as openly as Kim Jong Il does about his private life. Responsive enough to tech requests, but Public Relations? They act like such a thing doesn't exist.

Maybe they're afraid it shows them in a bad light to be working so extensively on a released product. Scares potential customers away & etc. But this is not the 8th Century, and assuming the Oath of Silence is seriously counterproductive. They could use the situation as an opportunity to connect with customers and highlight the positives. That's what good PR is all about. Lemons to lemonade.

Anyway, I'll keep scanning and hoping, and maybe - just maybe - somewhere over that electric rainbow, our dreams really will come true!