1.07 beta

[harbinger 1]

1.07 seems like quite a nice update :)

I like the carrier lasers, but they do seem short ranged. I'm having great fun skeet shooting carrier drones :)

Glad to see work is still ongoing.

[Savant1974 1]

I went a little crazy when I saw we can now modify unit and weapon stats

Big thanks to the devs for keeping the updates coming (in what I'm sure is your spare time). I've spent all afternoon modding and I'll be updating my sound mod with unit tweaks :D

One thing; I can't seem to locate how to adjust the damage a given weapon does, just things like rate of fire and such. Not a big deal.

[rob04 10]

I'm also glad to see that BIS is still supporting this great game with patches. The carrier laser and walrus shield are great additions! The manta torpedo has been successfully fixed.

Unfortunately, I noticed a few problems.

1. The changelog for the 1.07 patch says that the "Launch Drones" button was fixed. It does not seem to be fixed. It has the same problem as before. If you produce defense drones and transfer them to your carrier, then all of these drones get destroyed and none are left on your carrier, the "Launch Drones" button will still be highlighted when it should not be. Also, it still says "Drones Docked" on the right side of the screen instead of "N/A" or "No Drones".

2. If the gun in the forward turret gets destroyed, it repairs itself very quickly and without delay like it is regenerating itself. There is no "destroyed" graphic. The graphic shows the forward gun intact with no flames or smoke even though it already exploded and a verbal message already said it was destroyed. Also, it can still be fired when it is supposed to be destroyed.

3. The side turrets seem unusually difficult to destroy. It took 8 rockets and 10 plasma cannon shots, all at close range, to destroy my forward right turret. If it's this difficult for me to destroy my turrets, it's also probably just as difficult for the enemy to do so. This might not be a problem if the enemy carrier's side turrets are equally difficult for the player to destroy. I haven't tested that yet.

[SoulAssassino 1]

Just popped in to say thanks to the developers for still supporting the game.

I might just pop back and add some more hours to my 200+.

May I ask, how are the map building tools coming?

[scrapser 11]

I thank the developers for their efforts and hope to see further refinements. But I wish to point out there has not been much attention paid to the enemy carrier's behavior in strategy games. Specifically, there doesn't seem to be much of a strategy at all. Both the player and the AI begin by capturing neutral islands. If we happen to meet up at some point then we have a little fight. But if a significant distance is maintained (meaning there is little chance of an accidental meeting) then the AI carrier continues taking over neutral islands until they're all gone.

In the meantime, I capture islands that have high resources or production ability and surround them with mutually supporting defense islands. This results in all my islands being "Deadly". I don't need a lot of islands to survive and remain comfy. From there I build up my weapons cache and then head out against enemy islands.

Here's the rub. Once the AI carrier attacks one of my islands, it stays there hammering away for ages. Sometimes it gives up and tries another but it's the same result. I take my time capturing all the enemy islands making all of them defense and thus "Deadly". There is no AI strategy being pursued or implemented. And my strategy is fool-proof. So the strategy games have become boring and I find myself playing the campaign for enjoyment.

Will there be some reworking of the carrier AI for the strategy games? I really hope so. I think most of the effort with the development of this game has been at the island level which is understandable given the detail and combat that's possible. But the big picture...the overall strategy at the carrier/archipelago level is almost nil. Right now this is not, "Carrier Command"...it's really "Walrus and Manta Command". Can we receive some feedback on this please? I think a lot of folks would appreciate hearing what's up even if it will be nothing.

Thanks and I still strongly support and appreciate this remake of a true classic.

[atroublestarter 3]

The instant dock bug is back. Just pressed 'G' whilst controlling a walrus on an island, only for the screen to jump to the carrier dock, I look on the map and the walrus is just being flung into the dock....!

[Nifty 1]

The instant dock bug is back. Just pressed 'G' whilst controlling a walrus on an island, only for the screen to jump to the carrier dock, I look on the map and the walrus is just being flung into the dock....!

Hello,

i belive it is not that simple. Can you specify on which island you were ?

[species1571 64]

Can anyone shed some light on what the LST files in the lasers mod are for? They contain line numbers that I don't know how they are generated. Also, I deleted the files and it seems to work fine without them, so what is their purpose?

[species1571 64]

Just noticed quicksave and quickload (F5 and F9) have finally been added, but the screenshot capture (F7) has been removed. These weren't in the patch notes.

A confirmation box on the quickload would be better, I can see it being easy to lose progress by accidentally pressing F9.

[scrapser 11]

I just went from 1.04 to 1.07. After reading the change logs I noticed the carrier AI has been improved for the strategy game. Somehow I missed this so I decided to try it out! There are some noticeable differences right from the start. Once I get settled I'll post my observations.

Added later:

Well I have my footing in a strategy game with about a third of the islands under my control. The carrier AI is definitely improved. It tried twice to break my island chain at a critical links. I didn't have the firepower to challenge it so I attacked another enemy island that would provide an alternate supply link for my islands. As soon as I started attacking it, the enemy carrier ceased its attack and came to challenge me.

Getting tech is a challenge. You never know what each island will provide and building up resources and gear keeps you on your toes.

Walrus path finding is improved but they can still get confused once in a while. I don't mind as I tend to micro manage units anyway.

It would be nice to see the AA shield defense and force field objectives (throwing two switches from walruses within a short time) in the strategy game.

Edited October 15, 2013 by scrapser

[atroublestarter 3]

Hello,

i belive it is not that simple. Can you specify on which island you were ?

I didn't realise the bug was island specific, I'll take note of that next time it happens.

[scrapser 11]

One thing I'm noticing with 1.07 during strategy play:

I get alerts that one of my islands is under attack but there is no visual indication on the map that any island is being attacked. Is this intentional? Seems wrong and likely a bug.

[harbinger 1]

I've seen that also. After a while the enemy carrier attacks another island, which will flash. That island may also stop flashing after a while. Then it may repeat someplace else.

We definitely need an "Attack repulsed" message. We had it in 1988.

[Nifty 1]

One thing I'm noticing with 1.07 during strategy play:

I get alerts that one of my islands is under attack but there is no visual indication on the map that any island is being attacked. Is this intentional? Seems wrong and likely a bug.

Hello,

this may happen, when enemy try to attack your island, but immediately find out the island is stronger than he thought - so he leave it.

Edited October 17, 2013 by Nifty

[scrapser 11]

Hello,

this may happen, when enemy try to attack your island, but immediately find out the island is stronger than he thought - so he leave it.

Thanks for that...it makes sense. I'm on my second strategy game with the latest update and I must say things have greatly improved. The enemy carrier is still manageable but is making smarter decisions. Taking the islands is now a whole new challenge with all the weapons they employ. Lots of surprises. For example, I came upon an enemy Manta parked on the ground inside one of the enclosures and it took off as I approached with a Manta and engaged me.

I've been playing with one starting island, minor starting resources, normal output, normal enemy strength and the tech slider at level 2.

[scrapser 11]

I've played several strategy games with the latest beta and I must say it has greatly improved the experience. The enemy carrier behaves more like it's pursuing a strategy and in some cases has dogged me from island to island until I had enough resources to move to a far area of the island chain to lose it. The defenses are now making use of all available weapons which makes island attacks all the more challenging.

The one thing I really wish was built into the strategy mode is random generating islands with unique bases and topography. I realize it will likely never happen but it is possible. All the information for building an island could be available as a sort of database of details and when the strategy games starts up it simply reads the data in a random manner and builds islands. I know there's much more to it than that but there's nothing wrong with dreaming.

Randomly generated games seem to be nearly extinct these days. Funny, with all the power current computers have attained you would think it to be the opposite. Instead, the Internet got in the way and now "multiplayer" provides the spontaneity factor in gaming while the map, environment, weapons etc. are all just background material.

[Tontow 1]

Can anyone shed some light on what the LST files in the lasers mod are for? They contain line numbers that I don't know how they are generated. Also, I deleted the files and it seems to work fine without them, so what is their purpose?

Ya....... About that........

They're often not that forthcoming about documentation. *Cry* Which is a shame because if they just took a few min to give us all the details, then we could pump out so much more content than what is currently being done.

The few of us that have managed to mod the game have done so though a long process of trial and error on top of several weeks of study of the script files to figure out what is what and what does what; this has earned the mod makers major kudos.

I would also like to know what the LST files are for, but in the end you are just going to have to do random stuff to the file and try to see what the changes do. :j:

The cake is not a lie. They gave us the cake...... But it is made of metal and protected by a ton of very big turrets. So good luck eating it. (I'm still waiting for someone to do a portal gun mod, lol.)

[atroublestarter 3]

The one thing I really wish was built into the strategy mode is random generating islands with unique bases and topography. I realize it will likely never happen but it is possible. All the information for building an island could be available as a sort of database of details and when the strategy games starts up it simply reads the data in a random manner and builds islands. I know there's much more to it than that but there's nothing wrong with dreaming.

You mean like when they made the old carrier command over 10 years ago, on a 2.44mb disk? :j:

[scrapser 11]

You mean like when they made the old carrier command over 10 years ago, on a 2.44mb disk? :j:

Actually it was more like 26 years ago on a 1.44 MB disk. But who's counting? LOL

[scareya 1]

Let me seize the opportunity and thank the devs for the continous support of CCGM. Since the beta I am spending quite some time playing the strategy part of CCGM and I still enjoy the game. It's still one of my favourites.

Thank you.

[Savant1974 1]

Yes I'm rather hooked on it too, nearly at 300 hours now according to steam. It must be doing something right ;)

[Japalax 1]

I've just done a 2nd play through of the campaign, the game is great now :D, but for strategy mode could do with more islands, is it possible you could increase the number of islands? I find strategy mode a bit short :).

[Dajunka 10]

I am looking forward to when it's final, all the bugs dealt with and the modder's can get stuck in make this game epic. It's already getting quite a cult following.

[scrapser 11]

I'm writing to report some further observations with the strategy game using the latest beta patch. I've played at least a half dozen strategy games at this point and doing so has revealed some unusual behavior that appears at random.

- The game crashes more frequently than it used to (once every session of playing at minimum compared to once every three to six sessions in the past). There doesn't seem to be a consistent event, time period elapsed or operation being performed when the crash occurs.

- The supply barque frequently stops 5 to 7 minutes from delivery forcing me to sail the carrier out to meet the barque.

- The path finding has been improved but continues to exhibit problems (more on this below).

- Graphics seem to become corrupt after extensive time playing a single continuing session.

- The barque path arrow (blue arrow on the map) remains on-screen after barque has returned to stockpile island. Sometimes if you zoom in, the arrow doesn't scale with the zoom so at closest zoom the arrow looks huge.

- Sometimes the barque will instantly return to the stockpile island after a delivery.

- In the last two strategy games I've started, I quit early because the enemy carrier only captured three neutral islands for its own and then stopped taking any more islands...leaving me free to take all the rest simply by building command centers. It should be noted I always start a strategy game with each side having only one island.

- Not sure if this is a bug but I've noticed sometimes the enemy can make islands deadly, very strong or strong when the island is isolated (surrounded by my islands). Not a big deal but since it doesn't follow the same pattern as my islands I thought I would mention it.

- For some reason the vehicles always launch in third-person view until a weapon is mounted; and even then they sometimes don't stay in first-person view. This never happened with version 1.04 (the previous version I used).

I'm not sure what can be done about the path finding. It seems to be making "decisions" on two levels...one is at the destination level...the other at the immediate proximity to the vehicle level. At the destination level, the path designated seems to ignore the terrain that will need to be traversed. Most of the time, subsequent and "good" path making adjustments update on-screen and the vehicle follows them but frequently it sends the vehicle into areas that are overwhelmingly complicated to navigate through. At the immediate level, the vehicle gets bogged down trying to get around objects (trees, rocks, buildings...sometimes bridges). Here are some examples of the behavior I have witnessed....

- Vehicle is on island's beach with carrier just offshore with absolutely nothing in-between. When I give the dock command, the vehicle heads off in other directions (with a waypoint) before finally heading towards the carrier. This could be an attempt to climb a hill, drive into a forest or even into a walled base which overwhelms the path finding routine.

- Vehicles will always try to follow the land/beach border until its as close to the carrier as possible before heading out to the ship.

- At the close proximity level, it is clear the speed of the vehicle impacts the path finding process. If the vehicle is traveling at high speed, it tends to overshoot the immediate waypoint and while beginning to turn around a new waypoint is set but that new waypoint is being calculated based on where the vehicle is positioned. This can lead to the vehicle driving around in circles, going back and forth as it tries to catch up with the waypoint while at the same time the waypoint keeps changing. It becomes a vicious cycle of sorts.

- Sometimes the vehicle will slow down and move forward in short spurts even though the next waypoint is some distance away and the terrain path is clear.

- Sometimes (particularly at Vattland) the walrus will have full fuel before launching and then 66% fuel immediately after launching.

- I've had two instances where the walrus launches and then tries repeatedly to drive through the carrier hull, damaging both until I take manual control and get it around the bow of the carrier.

I can only speculate the path making design was intended to "self-adjust" as the vehicle moves along but this approach seems to have some sort of threshold of complexity it can handle. I can see how this is necessary for handling dynamic situations (such as combat) but when simply going from point A to B it seems a better choice would be a set of waypoints based on a map "grid" that does not change. Perhaps a better solution would be to have both approaches active and have the vehicle switch between them depending on whether it has a dynamic situation to deal with or not.

These are the only things I can report at this time. The rest of the game has continued to improve overall. Any improvement in the enemy's offensive strategy would only increase the game's challenge.

Edited November 25, 2013 by scrapser

[RichardCranium 1]

I'm writing to report some further observations with the strategy game using the latest beta patch. I've played at least a half dozen strategy games at this point and doing so has revealed some unusual behavior that appears at random.

- The game crashes more frequently than it used to (once every session of playing at minimum compared to once every three to six sessions in the past). There doesn't seem to be a consistent event, time period elapsed or operation being performed when the crash occurs.

- The supply barque frequently stops 5 to 7 minutes from delivery forcing me to sail the carrier out to meet the barque.

- The path finding has been improved but continues to exhibit problems (more on this below).

- Graphics seem to become corrupt after extensive time playing a single continuing session.

- The barque path arrow (blue arrow on the map) remains on-screen after barque has returned to stockpile island. Sometimes if you zoom in, the arrow doesn't scale with the zoom so at closest zoom the arrow looks huge.

- Sometimes the barque will instantly return to the stockpile island after a delivery.

- In the last two strategy games I've started, I quit early because the enemy carrier only captured three neutral islands for its own and then stopped taking any more islands...leaving me free to take all the rest simply by building command centers. It should be noted I always start a strategy game with each side having only one island.

- Not sure if this is a bug but I've noticed sometimes the enemy can make islands deadly, very strong or strong when the island is isolated (surrounded by my islands). Not a big deal but since it doesn't follow the same pattern as my islands I thought I would mention it.

- For some reason the vehicles always launch in third-person view until a weapon is mounted; and even then they sometimes don't stay in first-person view. This never happened with version 1.04 (the previous version I used).

I'm not sure what can be done about the path finding. It seems to be making "decisions" on two levels...one is at the destination level...the other at the immediate proximity to the vehicle level. At the destination level, the path designated seems to ignore the terrain that will need to be traversed. Most of the time, subsequent and "good" path making adjustments update on-screen and the vehicle follows them but frequently it sends the vehicle into areas that are overwhelmingly complicated to navigate through. At the immediate level, the vehicle gets bogged down trying to get around objects (trees, rocks, buildings...sometimes bridges). Here are some examples of the behavior I have witnessed....

- Vehicle is on island's beach with carrier just offshore with absolutely nothing in-between. When I give the dock command, the vehicle heads off in other directions (with a waypoint) before finally heading towards the carrier. This could be an attempt to climb a hill, drive into a forest or even into a walled base which overwhelms the path finding routine.

- Vehicles will always try to follow the land/beach border until its as close to the carrier as possible before heading out to the ship.

- At the close proximity level, it is clear the speed of the vehicle impacts the path finding process. If the vehicle is traveling at high speed, it tends to overshoot the immediate waypoint and while beginning to turn around a new waypoint is set but that new waypoint is being calculated based on where the vehicle is positioned. This can lead to the vehicle driving around in circles, going back and forth as it tries to catch up with the waypoint while at the same time the waypoint keeps changing. It becomes a vicious cycle of sorts.

- Sometimes the vehicle will slow down and move forward in short spurts even though the next waypoint is some distance away and the terrain path is clear.

- Sometimes (particularly at Vattland) the walrus will have full fuel before launching and then 66% fuel immediately after launching.

- I've had two instances where the walrus launches and then tries repeatedly to drive through the carrier hull, damaging both until I take manual control and get it around the bow of the carrier.

I can only speculate the path making design was intended to "self-adjust" as the vehicle moves along but this approach seems to have some sort of threshold of complexity it can handle. I can see how this is necessary for handling dynamic situations (such as combat) but when simply going from point A to B it seems a better choice would be a set of waypoints based on a map "grid" that does not change. Perhaps a better solution would be to have both approaches active and have the vehicle switch between them depending on whether it has a dynamic situation to deal with or not.

These are the only things I can report at this time. The rest of the game has continued to improve overall. Any improvement in the enemy's offensive strategy would only increase the game's challenge.

What I've noticed about walrus fuel levels is that if...

1. you launch a walrus at an island
   
2. dock it back onto the carrier
   
3. move the carrier
   
4. launch the walrus
   

...then the walrus's fuel level will drop as soon as it hits the water. The amount of the drop appears to have some relationship on how far you move the carrier.

Other things that I've seen are...

I've noticed that the walruses in aggressive mode will still lock onto things but not shoot at them, even when other enemy units are shooting and hitting them. I've seen this with missile and flak armed walruses against ground targets. They will happily blow things out of the sky.

The carrier has no idea how to use the bow gun when it fires shells. None. It attempts to use the plasma cannon solutions when targeting, especially when shooting at aircraft. I've lost several walruses that way when the carrier shells its own forces. Please change the carrier to stop firing the bow cannon at aircraft when it doesn't have a plasma cannon mounted there.

The Vulcan map appears to be offset. Units on the map in a certain location appear to be some distance to the east when you use the map view there.

Things that I'd like to see:

1. If the scout drone is launched, I'd like all the weapons views have a picture-in-picture of what the drone sees in the upper right corner. There's no way to tell where the carrier/walrus howitzer shells are landing without it.
   
2. Walrus formations. Nothing super fancy. Column, line, or wedge will do for me. You can hard code which walrus is in what position for each formation as far as I'm concerned.