Headquarters: World War II - One day after release: first impressions and plans

[saraviga]

Hello everyone!

Dev team speaking.

First of all, congratulations to everyone on the release of the game! Our entire team is very hopeful that you will enjoy playing Headquarters: World War II.

Secondly, we are very inspired by all the positive and constructive feedback we got in the first 24 hours, with the review score being 88% Positive at the time of writing. It is in no way a sign for us to rest - quite to the contrary we feel very inspired and motivated to fix all reported issues ASAP, and to add all the great suggestions we read on the Steam Community hub, Slitherine forums, and the Discord channel https://discord.gg/9mZBvRhz9q.

We are hoping to make the game even more enjoyable for you as we address all the problems you encounter and add more features and quality-of-life improvements.

Our first step on that path would be an Update 1.00.02, which we are already working on, and plan to deliver next week to address all the most pressing issues.

Thirdly, we are aware of the number of localization-related issues. We should have allowed more time for the LQA process (localization quality assurance). However, we are already taking steps to address all shortcomings, and we expect to fully correct all shortcomings over the course of the several updates, with the most pressing matters resolved soon.

We hope you can still enjoy the game and will have a little bit of patience while we work really hard to deliver you an even better version of the game.

For over 3 years it was the Dev team and Close Beta players (huge thanks to all the Beta players - you made the release much better!) working to bring the best game possible to you. Now, we have all of your awesome feedback and suggestions - and we can act on it.

Let us make Headquarters: World War II the best game we can together!

P. S. Please, share with us more of your feedback and thoughts on the Steam Community hub, and Slitherine forums, and chat with us on Discord https://discord.gg/9mZBvRhz9q.

P. P. S. If the game crashes - do not forget to press the “Send and close” button to get the info on the issue directly to the Dev team and help us fix it as fast as possible.

[mbpopolano24]

Got the game, the first impression is very good - having a lot of fun

[OldBlighty]

Yes, am enjoying the game a lot. Played the pre-release demo and now on my first mission.

It runs quite well on my pc, (after I switched from windowed mode to full screen).

Not quite sure how best to use my units (casualties are quite heavy ), so I tried to find the manual for some guidance, and it is missing ??

I press F7 - nothing happens.
I looked in the folder "manuals" - empty.

Where is it please?

[zakblood]

steam or site version?

as it's there for me

[OldBlighty]

zakblood - it is the site version.

Thanks for confirming that there is a manual, so I checked and downloaded it separately from my games page.

Hopefully now my casualties will be much reduced

[zakblood]

if you want any tips, just ask and np

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I'm know expert, but seem to have the game setup how i like it, looks good, plays well and is very enjoyable on my 2nd play through.

once to learn, 2nd to master, then i'll try it on a bit harder difficulty level and really see it shine

[qsmiron]

I played the demo and now the post-launch version. Maybe what you should improve first:
- ability to set the camera angle
- infantry animation. This is UE4, so why do infantry enter the building and pass through the walls like ghosts? Already in the first 2D Close Combat, infantry ran in through doors.
- LoS - line of sight is a big mistake of this game and spoils the gameplay a lot.
Shooting through walls where there are no windows is a tragedy. This really ruins the fun of this game. It was better in the old Close Combat.
What I like
- destruction of the environment
- a reference to the legendary Company of Heroes
- moral mechanics
- possibility of 4x4 MP gameplay
- a very nice and practical map generator.
This game has great potential, just please fix LoS.

[qsmiron]

And thanks for Polish localization

[terminator]

I just bought this game, why?
First because I know the previous strategy games of this company and I enjoyed the good ideas even if the realization was not always at the rendezvous but I could note an improvement with time and especially a continuous support.
Then because I guess the working conditions were not obvious for reasons that everyone knows.
Well because I have money to spend now.
I don’t have much time to play right now because of the weight of the bureaucracy but I hope to give my first impressions soon if time is right to stay home and play

[Celeborn]

I would pick up a copy of the Advanced Squad Leader rulebook

Yes, am enjoying the game a lot. Played the pre-release demo and now on my first mission.

It runs quite well on my pc, (after I switched from windowed mode to full screen).

Not quite sure how best to use my units (casualties are quite heavy ), so I tried to find the manual for some guidance, and it is missing ??

I press F7 - nothing happens.
I looked in the folder "manuals" - empty.

Where is it please?

[Celeborn]

Just finished training scenario and very impressed. A few thoughts:

--concur that Line of Sight shouldn't automatically be shown. This could be a setting and in tournaments should absolutely be turned off

Other wish list:

--"Assault Move" infantry a la what Advanced Squad Leader (ASL) allows. Would allow a unit to move only 1 or perhaps two spaces but would reduce the effect of Overwatch fire due to "low crawl" type movement.

--"Dash" movement that allows infantry to use full movement point allowance to move from a building across an adjacent street locations to an adjacent building. Overwatch fire would be substantially reduced on the the unit while in the street (unless of course the overwatch unit is in the location they are trying to move to...)

--"Minimum Move" where an infantry unit uses their full movement allowance to move into any non-water location

--Give infantry additional firepower when attacking adjacent infantry which typically allowed for use of grenades, and perhaps satchel charges and flamethrowers. (suggest doubling firepower)

--A similar "streetfighting" bonus for infantry attacking adjacent vehicles from an adjacent building if the vehicle is in an adjacent street location (European streets were generally pretty narrow) Would also give Combat Engineers a bonus in all close combat attacks against vehicles as they generally had more tools at their disposal

--allow infantry to move into an adjacent infantry's space to conduct "hand-to-hand" combat where at least one of the units will be wiped out and perhaps both


Given that this baby was just born I will refrain from writing a novel about adding fortifications including foxholes, trenches, fortified buildings, bunkers, wire, mines, booby traps, anti-tank ditches etc, and special terrain features such as tunnels and sewers.

Oh and snipers.

this is what happens when you market to ASL players...

[Celeborn]

Please disregard sniper comment...they are in Omaha Beach scenario

[Celeborn]

Hello Dev Team

To clarify my previous comment re fortifications etc I know that many can already be included on the map.

I would love for scenario designers to have the option of including as part of initial deployment and/or allow for purchase as part of the initial force deployment.

There should probably be an option for the scenario designer to limit the quantity of any fortification and/or adjust the price so as to avoid someone trying to break a scenario by buying a lot of one type of fortification.

The one fortification that could be allowed in-game would be foxholes which could be created by an infantry unit as a special action that can only be taken if no other movement has occurred and which would use up all movement points.

A possible approach for how long it would take to complete the foxholes would be to assign a number of "Fortification Points" that must be generated before the foxholes appear. (say 20). An infantry unit could say generate one point per man per turn, so a full-strength Rifle squad (five men) could complete them in four turns assuming no casualties and no use of movement points for anything else. I would give nationalities known for entrenching skill a bonus (Russia and Japan come to mind) and of course all engineers would get some sort of bonus.

Steve

[qsmiron]

I noticed one more problem.
Infantry cannot climb sharp slopes.
I think this is a mistake. Because this causes bottlenecks in the maps.
I think it should be available to infantry, at least for a large amount of movement points. (of course, the hill is difficult to overcome).
Or my second suggestion is to enable this possibility, for example, commandos.
Thanks to this, there would be many more variants to consider in the game. For example, bypass and surprise the entrenched defense of a key narrowing.

At the moment, if there are hills on the map, the winner is the one who is first on the hill at bottlenecks. Storming such positions uphill is often a suicide mission...

[Topdecker_slith]

I noticed one more problem.
Infantry cannot climb sharp slopes.

I agree, this was extremely disappointing to encounter in the tutorial mission. Any dismounted group should be able to handle steep (i.e. not sheer cliffs) terrain, even if it requires the entirety of their movement to enter the terrain. It is part of the point of having foot infantry in the first place, much less those carrying the title 'Commando.' (I guess those commandos were of the underwear variety. )