RC Feedback

[thepuffin]

The Good
The presentation in the RC has definitely been raised a couple of notches. The voiceover and improved font really help the briefings, and the new dialogs for in-game messages look the part. The new firing and damage animations are great, too.

The Bugs
Actually didn't really spot too many bugs. There's a typo in one of the briefings where he says Farse instead of Farce. The upgrade bug is still there, too. It's really unclear when you're allowed to upgrade and when you aren't, particularly when your slots are all full. Also seems to be an issue with the Gorgon transport in that the unit will only have the option to embark if it drives along a road.

The Bad
The game is still incredibly easy. I've been playing on "Challenging" and it's basically brainless. Spam Leman Russ and scout tanks, move and shoot, move and shoot, move and shoot. I did the tutorials and most of Act 1 in about 2 hours then got bored and gave up. Defence missions are the worst because you have to sit through all of the turns even though the AI has no hope of ever winning (e.g. river defence mission in Act 1).

The mechanics are still obtuse and feel odd to a seasoned 40k player. Why is my aircraft (armed with lascannon and hellstrike missiles) unable to penetrate that tank while the scout tank (with autocannon and heavy bolter) can?

Morale is a non factor due to the absence of prompts in the game. It could really do with some indicator to show how much your attacks are being reduced due to low morale. Otherwise, the decision whether to rest or not is simply guesswork.

Support fire is still random. Why is there no way to see which units will support a given attack?

The AI still attacks mines even though there are better targets. For example, in the tutorial defence mission I advanced past my minefield to attack and yet the enemy used his artillery to bombard the minefield rather than my troops.

Assault isn't the factor I'd expect it to be. In fact, I have no idea whether my troops are assaulting or being assaulted. Even a simple cursor change might work as it at least highlights to the player that assault is in the game.

I still don't like retaliation against indirect fire

Overall Impression
It's been interesting watching the game be polished off over the last few weeks. It's clear that you now have a finished product that is of a high enough quality to sell, and you should be proud of the results. However, from a player's perspective - particularly one who is familiar with the tabletop game - I feel that there is still work to do on several of the mechanics and the way these are surfaced to the player in the game. All in all, this is one I will keep my eye on and perhaps pick up after a few patches have improved things.

[IainMcNeil]

Thanks for the feedback but others are not reporting it as easy. If you are good then raise the difficulty level and see how it feels. The units should all behave in the same role as the tabletop so if you spot instances like you mention below let us know. If you think Lehman russ are overpowered let us know.

Only if you tell us these things can they be improved. Give us a full list of unit specific issues and we can see if any can be fixed before release or if we disagree

[thepuffin]

Hi Iain, if you check my posting history you will see that I've been quite vocal pointing out the ways the game differs from the tabletop (particularly when it comes to dedicated anti tank weapons not being very good in the game).

However, at this late stage it seems to me that you want us to focus on making sure the game you have created matches your vision and is of a good enough quality to release; you can probably do without me raising questions about the level of abstraction in your models!