P&C BETA first impressions

[Flouncy 10]

Mouse scroll wheel.

Ahh, thank you.

Also fixed the mouse lag following advice given earlier - dropped post processing to zero, RESTARTED, and now all good.

Further thoughts/questions on time warp - what happens in the real world when I'm warping? Does production, enemy activity etc speed up to stay in sync with accelerated warp time?

If there was an option to eliminate warp and cruise around at real time, will enemy activity and the speed it does stuff be such that it's feasible to do this without being overrun while you travel?

[VariousArtist 19]

So, Ive destroyed my first 2 enemy carriers and got a good overview of the current state of the game.

I like the CC game concept, but Im now 100% sure that this game will stay and fall with the AI and pathfinding improvements. Regarding BIS' history with vehicle AI and pathfinding I have the impression that they have a tough nut to crack to make this game working.

The islands are overloaded with obstacles that the pathfinding cant hande AT ALL. Sure, its a beta, say its a beta.. I say BIS hasnt delivered a proper vehicle AI for any of their games yet and even if that might not be the same development team....

Well, lets say I hope that I get proved wrong! =)

[dingbat91 0]

how does that sling work anyway?

To use the sling equip it to a manta (obviously) then manually fly it over a Walrus get it quite close and a hook icon should appear, press use key (default: F) and you'll hook onto the Walrus. to let it go simply press the use key again.

I suggest at a low height.

word of warning: do NOT use afterburner with a hooked walrus in tow. you'll lose your Manta (not the walrus...that gets lucky ¬.¬)

Edited April 7, 2012 by dingbat91
silly spelling and clarification

[sic-disaster 311]

Only thing I dislike so far is the blurryness of the graphics. Makes me feel like I'm not wearing my glasses. I prefer my games to look crisp.

Other than that I dont know what the hell I'm doing and it seems like I used up all my resources producing stuff I didnt really have to use because I didnt figure it out in time, but that's just me and I'll learn ;)

Music in the menu is freaking awesome by the way, and the general atmosphere and handling of the vehicles etc. so far seems really good too.

I loved the moment where I disembarked my WALRUSes in a misty dark night, seeing the splash as the vehicles hit the water. Really, really atmospheric and cool.

[Flouncy 10]

Needs a group select - like ctl + 1, etc.

I know you can hold ctl and then click each unit to get group control, but it's impossibly fiddly and time consuming in the heat of battel, and when you have mantas on top of walrii. Need to be able to group all air units, and all ground units as a single ctl + #.

[zopzodeman 2]

After playing for a few hours here are my impressions so far :

Graphics look nice , although i dont like the viewdistance in bad weather conditions,even in fine weather its short . Radar Range on the Carrier seems to short and is not switchable.

Automated turrets dont fire if i am in manoeuvre mode on the carrier ? Same for gunnery-view for the other guns that i currently dont control ? I have to switch to a vehicle to use the auto-turrets on the carrier ?

Vehicle behaviour is ok,but controlling a manta can be hard sometimes (feels like turning a jumbojet) . I absolutely dont like the afterburner/turbo feature as it is implemented, using it should burn way more fuel and be available at all times,feels like silly NFS NOS at the moment.

Walrus cant turn on the spot,although its a six-wheeler,but i can live with that . HUD should also be visible in third-person-view.

Commanding the vehicles from mapview is just point and click , pathfinding sometimes totally bad.We need a list for the map-symbols somwhere.What i would like to have is the ability to move waypoints that are not the last one in chain, once i set more than one . Units often react to slow to enemys .

I want to be able to plan ahead like in the old CC waypoint system with numerated points for each vehicle and also speed/height setting . Is it possible to give a manta the guard order or the lift order for a walrus? I didnt find it? All in all waypoint/map-command are way too simplified at the moment!

Equipping is easy.I didnt find if multiple weapons were possible on mantas? 4 slots at them .One weapon,one ? ,one Ammo/utility and one for armor/hook ? Same for Walrus.

Enough different weapons to play around with,although some seem hard to use like the plasma (slow projectile and slow refire) and grenade-launcher (no way of telling an estimate impactpoint) and the Cannon has an awkward firing arc,machineguns do autotarget somewhat,gatling does not?

Resource system looks nice, but i absolutely dont like production/resource-gathering times.Seems to take forever to get enough resources to get MantaArmor II or other high-resource intense Equipment (why is the MA II almost 10 times costlier than a manta itself?) , (even after capturing all but 2 islands) and then loose it with the rest of the equipment and the manta in a few seconds , be it through pilot error or enemies. Resource barge is never visible it just magically gets to you on mapview and instantly delivers its goods , even the old CC did a better job with the resource drone docking at the back . Also i dont like that only one equipment can be produced at once , was different in original CC ,where all things where produced in row and to the amount set (1manta,1walrus,1 missile,repeat) . Carrier should be able to store 4 replacement mantas and walrus´.

And i dont understand why Mantas are numbered from 2 to 5 and walrus 6 to 9 , it should be Manta 1 to 4 and also Walrus 1 to 4.

I like the ideas for the shield and shield-generators and the firewalls for the command center .

Resume: Nice looks,some good ideas , but more improvements to the control/feel of the manta , waypoint system , pathfindingAI and balancing the resource-system to the fast paced action on some engagements needed.

[sowens 71]

View Distance is to short in good or bad weather. I can understand really bad weather being short, but man...

The rest is nice!

[dingbat91 0]

After playing for a few hours here are my impressions so far :

1.Equipping is easy.I didnt find if multiple weapons were possible on mantas? 4 slots at them .One weapon,one ? ,one Ammo/utility and one for armor/hook ? Same for Walrus.

1. in slot order Gun/Launcher-(Rockets/Missiles)/Utility-(scanner/ammo/hook)/Armour

just so you know :D

[CaptainHaplo 1]

For those of you unhappy / concerned about the mouse behavior, yet you don't want to loose the post-processing effects, look under controls and adjust the "mouse resolution" sliders. This will result in the mouse behaving much more "crisply" without having to lose the extra graphical effects or requiring a restart.

Now for gameplay thoughts. The game DOES truly capture the feel of the old Carrier Command game. Yet it does SO much more. Not only better graphics, which any modern remake would have, but the attention to strategic management is very nice. I recall how I had to go blow up my own command centers in the old CC game to convert an island from one type to another. The ability to convert on the fly will give large maps a true purpose and allow for much greater enjoyment. Well done!

I have read the complaint about the time it takes for thing to be produced, and I understand the concern. However, PLEASE do not change this. Not only would reinforcement come to easily, it would turn into a "lets see who can attrition the other better" - and a competent human will always win that if things are equal. In larger maps production will increase due to # of islands. Making it TOO fast on a very small island chain will ruin the balance for the larger games.

I have had no lockup or crashes. The game accepts an Alt-tab without issue. I do agree the game should be allowed to run if its not in the active window. Also - a speed control would be useful - .5x, 1x, 2x, 4x would suffice.

Finally - I must address the musical score. I got the standard P&C - and the music is outstanding. I almost always turn it off in a game - but I just can't in this one. How do I "upgrade"?!?

Overall - I could not be happier with the beta and am looking forward to the finished product.

[GGTharos 10]

Some suggestions:

The turrets on the carrier need to depress at least 5 degrees. Right now they're limited to the horizon, which makes them less of a menace when it comes to coastal bombardment. I think it takes away from the character of the carrier and the weapon.

The resource generation time is too long for so few islands. Please activate the 'resource multiplier' slider :)

The enemy AI does not make good choices as to how to set up his islands - the priorities are not selected well. Please make the AI player a little more intelligent.

The ground and air AI fumble around too much when given retreat orders (not that you can tell them that you intend a retreat), and do a whole lot of banging into each other if there multiple vehicles (in the case of walruses). They need to be a bit more decisive with their driving.

[4 IN 1 0]

It really need some sort of tutorial as well, I find myself trying to figure out what is what in the first 30 min not knowing how to progress.

[Dwarden 1125]

@captainhaplo, supporter's edition ~ next week

[call_911 10]

Just installed an played for a few minutes also. Liked what I saw was'nt expecting pilot vehicles. lil bit of a learning curve for me as I never played the original. So agree with 4 IN 1 tutorial would be nice. Had'nt really followed this much is mp planned? Will play some more tomorrow. Seems to be running fine on my...

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Processor (4 CPUs), ~3.2GHz

Memory: 4096MB RAM OS Memory: 4096MB RAM

DirectX Version: DirectX 11

NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450

SB Audigy

Edited April 7, 2012 by Call_911

[Gazzareth 1]

It really need some sort of tutorial as well, I find myself trying to figure out what is what in the first 30 min not knowing how to progress.

That is apparently the first few missions of the campaign, of course as you are in the beta you will probably know it all by then!

G

[selphe 0]

just played 30 minutes on it and I really like it soo far

I was a bit confused at first (now I see there is a manual I will have a quick look at that!), but I managed to take a neutral island and bumped into the enemy carrier at one of my islands.

I probably lucked out but I sank it with the carriers weapons, it has a lot of hit points!!

[turin turambar 0]

Some suggestions:

The turrets on the carrier need to depress at least 5 degrees. Right now they're limited to the horizon, which makes them less of a menace when it comes to coastal bombardment. I think it takes away from the character of the carrier and the weapon.

The resource generation time is too long for so few islands. Please activate the 'resource multiplier' slider :)

The enemy AI does not make good choices as to how to set up his islands - the priorities are not selected well. Please make the AI player a little more intelligent.

The ground and air AI fumble around too much when given retreat orders (not that you can tell them that you intend a retreat), and do a whole lot of banging into each other if there multiple vehicles (in the case of walruses). They need to be a bit more decisive with their driving.

I agree with all of this.

[FoxTwo 10]

Hot keys or buttons to jump to a SPECIFIC gun on the carrier - not just 'next'.

I couldn't agree more. Perhaps the use of the Number Pad with the gun placements in their relative position to the bow of the carrier. Specifically, the bow mounted gun assigned NUM_8, the port forward gun NUM_4, port aft gun NUM_1, starboard forward gun NUM_6, and starboard aft gun NUM_3.

While I'm at it... Perhaps NUM_5 could be utilized for interfacing with Hammerhead Missiles and NUM_2 for launching drones.

[Flouncy 10]

I couldn't agree more. Perhaps the use of the Number Pad with the gun placements in their relative position to the bow of the carrier. Specifically, the bow mounted gun assigned NUM_8, the port forward gun NUM_4, port aft gun NUM_1, starboard forward gun NUM_6, and starboard aft gun NUM_3.

While I'm at it... Perhaps NUM_5 could be utilized for interfacing with Hammerhead Missiles and NUM_2 for launching drones.

Good idea! A little display too, showing which guns are damaged and not working would be nice as well.

Mildly off topic, I've noticed that when the guns engage in auto mode they will fire at a target even if it's obscured by land (small hills etc). And they just keep hammering away. That'll chew ammo needlessly, but I'm sure that's one thing they're looking at.

e: just played again and noticed there IS a diagram of the guns, top left - never noticed in the heat of battle, but now I know it's there I like the size and position of it.

Edited April 7, 2012 by Flouncy

[Angle 10]

And i think something is up with the canons on the carrier, I started shooting around and everything was fine but then i drove the carrier around for a bit and the canon fired in the same place no matter where you aimed them. (I am uploading a video on this. where i reproduce it)

(You can skip the first minute)

I see your problem .....

Learn to man up and play mouse/keyboard :)

ololololololollololol

so original I'm bursting.

I figured the game comes out on console so i might as well test the controls now and see if they are good.

[Guest]

Thanks for the tips given earlier how to actually make a chance in this game.

So, now I increased my chances and destroyed the enemy carrier 2x but 2x the game crashes leaving me with a battle I cant win. If I dont attack they take my islands and when I do attack the game crashes forcing me to go back to an earlier saved game ..... life is not fair :p

I know others reported the same issue but I have not seen a fix for it, if there even is?

[Derbysieger 11]

I also have problems with the mouse in the main menu. It's really annoying even though the worst things are fixed after reducing videosettings. Else, I quite like it! And of course:

Dat soundtrack! I'm listening to it since I got up this morning:

[Wh1sper 0]

I am not able to drop the Command center.

I drove to the Green Triangle nearby. pressing F does not make any action.

How do I use the Drop Command Center?

Found it by myself: It's not the Triangle but the Arrow-Down Symbol, looks like a dropship Sym bol.

If one is in the reach of it, the Target Cursor is changing to another symbol, which one? forgotten... Where the heck is the

screenshot button?

[Osric 1]

My first mistake was mixing up boost and climb. Hello side of carrier!

Very good so far although the [island] AI can be very cavalier with its units at times and they seem to be replaced for free while the battle is ongoing. I understand the need to make the fights tactical and difficult but it does makes things feel a bit gamey-er than they probably should. Admittedly these free units seem to be unarmoured and carrying only MGs but it does make things rather tricky if you happen to loose a unit to the otherwise lethal turret-fire (though there is nothing cooler than directing a manta strike on the AG turrets and rolling in personally with the Walruses).

Only bug I've found so far (apart from a user induced crash because I ramped the graphics to full and only have a GT240) is this nasty CTD when engaging the enemy carrier that seems (from the error message) to be related to the auto-fire systems for the deck guns. And something to do with Mantas. Point is I've found the error log now where do I send it?

Oh yes and the defence drones seem to enjoy sitting smack bang in-front of the plasma cannon so they get KO'ed the minute you start firing.

[VariousArtist 19]

I wonder who listened to the main theme and silently muttered "fus-ro-dah".... =)

[jedra 11]

I wonder who listened to the main theme and silently muttered "fus-ro-dah".... =)

Lol - yeah I had a strange urge to re-record the soundtrack in many different ways and post the results on you-tube!

I am finding this game very, very hard! The flying thingies (Mantas?) seem completely useless - two hits and they are dead and they are impossible to fly. I thought Take On Helicopters had a hard flight model! The walruss thingies seem to do a bit better, but I still can't manage to take an occupied island no matter how many of them I throw at the enemy.

I like the style of this game, but I think that the player weaponry is seriously under-powered.