Slitherine

So there are many different opinions. We'd like to know your. So we know what to put into the game next. how to explore the coming months in the way you want it. We care about your opinion so we want to hear it.

A background nature noise (birds, wind, water...etc) or battlefield sounds (like distant sporadic gunfire or artillery) would infuse life into the game and also giving the soldiers some voices (even it´s a simple "I´m hit! Medic!" or something like that) would be great.

Music could get very repetitive soon and i prefer to mute it.

It´s strange that Axis squads doesn´t have an option to include a bipod MG-34/MG-42. Their role is being taken somewhat by the FG-42.

The main weapon of a german squad was the light machine gun, the rest was rifles and a MP40 for the squad leader. The MG42 is present in the game but in the sustained fire tripod version, which was not a squad weapon (and have several assistant gunners, a single man couldn´t carry the MG and the tripod alone).

I would like to see bipod MG34/42 so we could create more historically accurate squads (1 MG per squad or 2 in Panzergrenadier ones).

What´s the point is including Panzerschreks and Bazookas in the game? While used ocassionally agains enemies in heavy coer, their main role were as AT weapons. They are not rocket launchers like in Quake games!

They could be instead replaced by light mortars or even rifle grenades, which were much more common than rocket launchers.

Ryben wrote:A background nature noise (birds, wind, water...etc) or battlefield sounds (like distant sporadic gunfire or artillery) would infuse life into the game and also giving the soldiers some voices (even it´s a simple "I´m hit! Medic!" or something like that) would be great.

Music could get very repetitive soon and i prefer to mute it.

110% agree. needs that "chatter" of combat - no questions there to help even more in the immersion in to the game.

Voice of the men would be awesome as well "move! move! move!" "Hit the deck!" etc, etc. and obvoiusly tie that in to what the men are doing as well.


And tend to lower or mute music in all games myself - fortunately you can do that in TA.

As far as the weapons - I do think more will be added at some point. Hopfully more outfits and other items as well.

With the bazookas – well yeah maybe historically you are correct. . . . . . but it is just fun to blow enemy troops out your way.

A "leadership" trait would be useful. Instead of making an attack a soldier (more likely a sergeant or leutenant) could boost morale of another friendly unit nearby.

This would help to rally retrating squads. Not a huge morale boost but a small one that could help to recover to a minimum and be able to get back into action!

Ryben wrote:A "leadership" trait would be useful. Instead of making an attack a soldier (more likely a sergeant or leutenant) could boost morale of another friendly unit nearby.

This would help to rally retrating squads. Not a huge morale boost but a small one that could help to recover to a minimum and be able to get back into action!

The higher the rank of your squad leader - the better the morale will be for the squad. It is built in to the rank itself instead of a seperate trait. But there are Disciplines that also help the squad in this area as well as far as being able to handle combat better.

Xerkis wrote:

Ryben wrote:A "leadership" trait would be useful. Instead of making an attack a soldier (more likely a sergeant or leutenant) could boost morale of another friendly unit nearby.

This would help to rally retrating squads. Not a huge morale boost but a small one that could help to recover to a minimum and be able to get back into action!

The higher the rank of your squad leader - the better the morale will be for the squad. It is built in to the rank itself instead of a seperate trait. But there are Disciplines that also help the squad in this area as well.

The term "squad" means the unit the leader is attached to or the whole "army"?

Ryben wrote:

Xerkis wrote:

Ryben wrote:A "leadership" trait would be useful. Instead of making an attack a soldier (more likely a sergeant or leutenant) could boost morale of another friendly unit nearby.

This would help to rally retrating squads. Not a huge morale boost but a small one that could help to recover to a minimum and be able to get back into action!

The higher the rank of your squad leader - the better the morale will be for the squad. It is built in to the rank itself instead of a seperate trait. But there are Disciplines that also help the squad in this area as well.

The term "squad" means the unit the leader is attached to or the whole "army"?

The unit the leader is attached to
The whole army tens to be called a "Force" in this game

After a bit of playing, chatting and thinking about the game, I've come up with a few bits of feedback:

Add animated tiles for maps, like a small flowing creek, bush/tree with leaves moving with the wind, occasional birds flying over/circling.

Add the possibility (or document how in the manual if it exists) to add own music to the game.

As posted above, sound bits for soldiers. Hiring voice actors may be costly, you could include the option of adding sound files for the community, so they can record / copy their own British, US and German voices. This could be an addition to the Force Builder.

Turn the "H" option on by default, with a switch in the Options (which sets the default for every started game), but leave the possibility of manually toggling it with the H key. I see many people struggling with cover/resupply because they don't see enough GUI information.

Add (Xerkis'?) weapon stats and soldier (Force Builder) options to the website in a nice grid. I like to see what I will be using in a game I'm interested in buying, and for those already owning the game it is a handy tool to have open besides the FB.

Make it possible for players to upload their Forces into the website, so they can show & discuss their creations. Alternatively, make a web form with the same options as the Force Builder, and the possibility to extract the results to your FB. This should distribute and level player skills more easily, as we're able to copy each other's tactics, counter them and improve on them. Also a good incentive for interested buyers, seeing how interactive and fun sharing and modifying troops is.

Link the customized AI tables to the Force Builder. If someone is very good in creating custom forces with matching AI (again, Xerkis ), he'd be able to share those with the community and improve everyone's skirmishes. Not everyone is willing to or adept at fiddling with game files.

Include the cover story for each map, or create one for non-historic maps. This should increase immersion.

Add a "remaining ammunition for current weapon" indicator to each solder. Perhaps mention in the battle log "Pvt. Johnson is using his last magazine". I like to know when I have to start moving my squad towards an Ammo Dump.

Add a MP "chat lobby" where we can discuss pre- and post-fight details. I'd like to know in advance what kind of game someone is hosting, or find someone of my experience level. Afterwards I'd like to discuss how the battle went, exchange tips and counter tactics, and plan a rematch.
Now, it's a bit like taking a woman home, having some intensive action going on, then just kick her out without exchanging a word. I don't know about you guys, but I just don't do that - not that I'm judging anyone's habits
Or, as I suggested elsewhere, link TA with something like Gamespy. This allows me to watch a movie while keeping an eye on an application that tells me when an opponent comes online. Or have it play a sound when that happens.

Add the option to name/describe a MP game. I'd like to be able to name my session "newbie testing out newly created squads", so someone looking for a thorough challenge won't crash my party.

Loving the feedback.

Just a few interjection (if you don’t mind)


The “H” hotkey was thought that is should be default to be off because the first time in there is a ton of “stuff” on the screen. And it might have been overwhelming to new players especially. Perhaps the lesser of two evils was not chosen correctly, because now everyone is unaware of its existence.


Your forces can be uploaded and shared. Simply copy the “.tat” file found in the folder . . . . . My Games\Team Assault\Teams\ of the force you want. Or place someone else there. Once there, you can use it in the game right away or in the Force Builder to take a look at it.

There are indicators on ammo getting low – but a Red Message in the Combat Log would be a nice touch and help.

What about a "fast animations" button? In some scenarios with large amount of units gameplay could be quite slow, the soldier walking/running animation take a couple of seconds and firing too. I won´t mind to see it at "fast speed" if this helps to play quickly.

This would be specially useful when trying to displace unit to the frontline from the deployment zone. In certain scenarios you may need several turns to get there and could be a bit tiring.

On victory or defeat it would be nice to have a screen when we could see the total number of soldiers that have been dead/wounded and a list of soldiers with the kills they have achieved. This would add more depth to the game and victory would be more satisfactory.

Xerkis wrote:Loving the feedback.

Just a few interjection (if you don’t mind)


The “H” hotkey was thought that is should be default to be off because the first time in there is a ton of “stuff” on the screen. And it might have been overwhelming to new players especially. Perhaps the lesser of two evils was not chosen correctly, because now everyone is unaware of its existence.


Your forces can be uploaded and shared. Simply copy the “.tat” file found in the folder . . . . . My Games\Team Assault\Teams\ of the force you want. Or place someone else there. Once there, you can use it in the game right away or in the Force Builder to take a look at it.

There are indicators on ammo getting low – but a Red Message in the Combat Log would be a nice touch and help.

Not at all, I like some back story! I can see turning H off makes the game look more visually pleasing, but I'm zoomed out that far most of the time that I can't see what weapon a soldier is holding or how large a clustered group is easily. Ie, the H GUI gives me critical information. Perhaps we can start a poll about this topic, to see how many people have it always turned on?
For video recording or showcasing it can always be turned off anyway.

I assumed we can share files, this is helpful in the mean time. But, to be able to discuss a troop composition, one must:
- save it
- find the file
- upload it somewhere
- - perhaps create an upload account
- post the link in the forum
- wait until someone downloads it
- wait until he places it in the right spot and starts up FB
With a tool, besides it being uber cool and a showcase for the game, it could be:
- open the tool page
- click "upload"
- navigate to the file & press OK

Where's this low ammo indicator? That grey bar below stamina and morale they talk about in the manual? But that's shared, I don't care if the 3 ammo carriers of my Bazooka guy are loaded with .45 rounds, I want to know how many rockets they have!

Ryben wrote:What about a "fast animations" button? In some scenarios with large amount of units gameplay could be quite slow, the soldier walking/running animation take a couple of seconds and firing too. I won´t mind to see it at "fast speed" if this helps to play quickly.

This would be specially useful when trying to displace unit to the frontline from the deployment zone. In certain scenarios you may need several turns to get there and could be a bit tiring.

Good idea for skirmishes or single player, I wouldn't like it in MP. Sometimes I can catch a glimpse of a cloaked squad; I don't want them to flash by.

Ryben wrote:On victory or defeat it would be nice to have a screen when we could see the total number of soldiers that have been dead/wounded and a list of soldiers with the kills they have achieved. This would add more depth to the game and victory would be more satisfactory.

Now that's a nice idea! A comparison between both players, in how combat effective they were. With MP chat function enabled at that point, so I can read my opponent laughing at my poor scores

boerkameel wrote:Where's this low ammo indicator? That grey bar below stamina and morale they talk about in the manual? But that's shared, I don't care if the 3 ammo carriers of my Bazooka guy are loaded with .45 rounds, I want to know how many rockets they have!

Click your squads icon to get the next detail screen

Oh right, I've seen that screen so many times, why didn't I notice this? Stupid me!
Thanks Xerkis!

boerkameel wrote:Oh right, I've seen that screen so many times, why didn't I notice this? Stupid me!
Thanks Xerkis!

It's why I'm here

A car close to the Red drop zone in Altavilla Silentia offers no cover, while the opponent has lv2 sand bags. This is not so balanced for sniper action. May be deliberate.

I'd like a checkbox when hosting a game "play sound when someone joins". When I minimize the game waiting for opponents, I sometimes miss the joining and leaving of an impatient player.

The flamethrower sometimes acts weird. I've once placed my squad in a V formation, with the flamethrower solder being the tip of the V. So he had 2 squad mates behind him, and the opposing force in front of him. Still, he managed to barbecue both the troops in front of him, and his squadmates behind him. Or he swung around the hose wildly, or something's off with the area of effect here? He was undamaged himself.
Maybe make the area of effect a "cone shape", originating from the soldier? I don't know how it works.

Add a "screenshot button", that auto-saves the current screen into the my games\team assault\screenshots folder

Lots of good ideas here. I'll try and give my feedback on your feedback as good as I can

More sounds of nature would be nice. Definitely! Also more lively terrain would be nice - but it all comes down to priorities.

And yes, we should have included the MG34 instead of the FG42... I guess we got a bit carried away there. Fallschirmjagers are among our favourites here at the studio

Bazookas and Schrecks were mainly used for AT support yes, but as you mentioned they were also sometimes used against enemies in buildings and built defenses. When we made the weapon, we still planned to include indoors and house-to-house combat. They can still be pretty effective against enemies that bunk up behind cover since the cover tracing is measured from the point of impact, making it ignore the cover if it explode behind them. Also we wanted to keep an open door if we wanted to implement tanks into the game.

If you want to have your own music in the game, why don't you just have a music player running in the background?

The "H" information was turned on by default when we started our beta testing, but was then turned off because it was somewhat intimidating to new players - too much information going on on the screen. And you are also correct that it is also considered more appealing to those that like watching the graphics (though I prefer seeing information). This subject has been very discussed though and it is possible that we change it back, so it is good that you came with you input on it.

Sharing of Forces is something that we definitely want! There are team files saved for each force that you create and these can be shared. We would very much want to create a home page where these can be shared, discussed and designed etc with other players, all stats visible and stuff like that - unfortunately this is also something that would require a lot of time and resources.

Yes. Better information and previews of the maps is something that we should work on.

The same is true for the ammo feedback. Though it CAN be found, there is no direct feedback when it start to run low for a individual sort of ammo. Something we'll have to think about.

Haha! Fun metaphor with a woman Yes. There should have been a global multiplayer chat available so that one can discuss about starting up a game, or finding someone to play with, or just for some post combat discussions. Don't remember why we had to cut it, but it was for some reason. It is something that we'll think of from now on! And yes, being able to name multiplayer lobbies is a good idea.

Fast forward button would have been really nice. Was intended to include it at first, but unfortunately we had some problems with it in our engine I think. I can see the situations where one would want to have that feature.

End game statistics (overall kills etc) would have been very interesting, yes. Something that we really want to add (It is so much stuff that we want to add to the game, I know).

About the cover errors, that probably just something that our level designers have missed. We'll look into it.

A sound when someone joins you multiplayer game is a very good idea, especially now when there aren't too many players online at all times. Thanks.

The flamethrower has a AOE radius from it's impact just as the rocket launcher, and it can also scatter if it misses it's target, making it a pretty unreliable weapon.

Yes, a screenshots button could be useful!

Ok. I think that's all. Thank you yo all of you for your feedback!