I started yesterday going through the 1939 Campaign on sgt setting to get a feel for the scenarios. Glad I did. Will do the same today in the 1940 Campaign. After I finish today I will begin 1939 on Colonel. Really just wanted to get on the board so the devs know I am participating. Thanks for including me.
Some generalities so far.
Positives: no time limit cap; specific mission oriented scenarios; force/play balance German and Opponent; Surprise(Enemy units with 0 ammo reflecting lack of readiness)
Neutral: Scenario descriptions
Negatives: Players need a hotkey displaying current scenario descriptions.
I will post specific info by scenario as I begin my Colonel play through. I can say that the most impressive and attractive trait thus far is that the concept/content is superior to the initial release.
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Having a screen issue that I did not have in the official game. If I mouse over the game display border the cursor will grab the edge and drag the display making it smaller. I cannot restore the original size. I close the program with Windows Task Manager and restart loading the Axis begin save so not a big deal. I am starting the last Maginot scenario and will be posting later tonite or tomorrow.
EDIT: Turned out I had bigger comp problems so I had to System Restore and will have to d/l the beta again.
EDIT: Turned out I had bigger comp problems so I had to System Restore and will have to d/l the beta again.
Campaign 39 and 40 on Sgt and Colonel
Ok I finally got my computer problems resolved and finished both campaigns on Sgt and Colonel difficulty. Now to get serious I will try on General difficulty.
Thus far I have yet to detect any bugs that hinder game play. I was pleasantly surprised at the content of the beta. With much discussion about Africa I thought that would be the subject. I found all the scenarios enjoyable with the exception of German versus Russia at the end of the 39 Campaign. The new scenarios with mission goals are a superb and welcome addition resulting in a more interesting game and extends game playability. The improved aggressiveness of the AI, though at times not very smart, adds depth. IMHO increasing the difficulty results in an increase in AI aggressive behavior and "seems" it moves more intelligently. I have read the retail game map scale is 20km per hex. The beta scenarios "feel" as if the scale is less ie fighting is happening on a smaller portion of the Front. This adds a tactical side to the game more so than the original release.
Some of the briefing text could be improved as others have noted. Mission variety enhances the experience as the successful player must learn the attributes and traits of friendly and enemy units.
If possible the AI needs to "learn" to support attacks. Most attacks go in with no artillery/air support though those units are available. The typical AI attack is to locate an isolated unit then make seperate attacks wearing down the friendly unit until is is killed. Also I have seen the AI with an opportunity to kill a weakened unit attack with air the wrong unit which might be just next to the weaker unit. Air, AA and AD units sometimes fail to attack or provide protective fire on adjacent units. Several scenarios require the player to use the "endscn" command after objectives are met to end the scenario.
Experience gains seem to be well balanced from unit type to unit type with one caveat. At colonel difficulty without the experience cap a player might easily have 14 or 15 strength units by the end of the combined 39 and 40 campaigns. We players are always striving for over strength units but I believe this makes the player's forces invincible. Some prefer uber units but frankly this eventually leads to a boring predictable endeavor. The scarcity of airfields adds excitement forcing the player to pay attention at the risk of losing air units. Original PG had far too many airfields. I have poor eyesight making unit ID difficult at times. Fallschimjager are easily distinguished but I find other infantry types difficult to distinguish. For instance regular infantry is hard for me to determine from Gerbirgs units. Of course that is not directly related to te beta but I thought to mention. Same applies to hero attributes which are difficult to track.
Enough talking for now. On to General level.! Will post additional info.
Thus far I have yet to detect any bugs that hinder game play. I was pleasantly surprised at the content of the beta. With much discussion about Africa I thought that would be the subject. I found all the scenarios enjoyable with the exception of German versus Russia at the end of the 39 Campaign. The new scenarios with mission goals are a superb and welcome addition resulting in a more interesting game and extends game playability. The improved aggressiveness of the AI, though at times not very smart, adds depth. IMHO increasing the difficulty results in an increase in AI aggressive behavior and "seems" it moves more intelligently. I have read the retail game map scale is 20km per hex. The beta scenarios "feel" as if the scale is less ie fighting is happening on a smaller portion of the Front. This adds a tactical side to the game more so than the original release.
Some of the briefing text could be improved as others have noted. Mission variety enhances the experience as the successful player must learn the attributes and traits of friendly and enemy units.
If possible the AI needs to "learn" to support attacks. Most attacks go in with no artillery/air support though those units are available. The typical AI attack is to locate an isolated unit then make seperate attacks wearing down the friendly unit until is is killed. Also I have seen the AI with an opportunity to kill a weakened unit attack with air the wrong unit which might be just next to the weaker unit. Air, AA and AD units sometimes fail to attack or provide protective fire on adjacent units. Several scenarios require the player to use the "endscn" command after objectives are met to end the scenario.
Experience gains seem to be well balanced from unit type to unit type with one caveat. At colonel difficulty without the experience cap a player might easily have 14 or 15 strength units by the end of the combined 39 and 40 campaigns. We players are always striving for over strength units but I believe this makes the player's forces invincible. Some prefer uber units but frankly this eventually leads to a boring predictable endeavor. The scarcity of airfields adds excitement forcing the player to pay attention at the risk of losing air units. Original PG had far too many airfields. I have poor eyesight making unit ID difficult at times. Fallschimjager are easily distinguished but I find other infantry types difficult to distinguish. For instance regular infantry is hard for me to determine from Gerbirgs units. Of course that is not directly related to te beta but I thought to mention. Same applies to hero attributes which are difficult to track.
Enough talking for now. On to General level.! Will post additional info.