Devs: Please consider improving these game components

[tanelorn]

Armageddon is a fantastic turn based strategy game. The reviews don't lie, and I think everyone here at the forums also thinks it's great. However, there are also a good share of issues that hamper gameplay, especially regarding the UI and information presented to the player. In this post I've made a list of items that, in my opinion, would greatly enhance the gameplay experience. I assume that the devs intend to continue development of their game engine, and hopefully intend to make future releases in the WH40k universe. There is so much potential for future greatness here...

So, with respect, here is my list of items that, in my opinion, would have made for a better game. The list begins with simple UI changes, and progresses into more comprehensive changes. Feel free to add your own!

Show Armageddon map between campaign scenarios.
As the campaign progresses, it would be very helpful and increase immersion to show our path over the landscape of Armageddon. At the beginning of each new scenario in the dialogue screens, or perhaps at the end of the dialogue and before the gameplay begins, show us our transition from one location on Armageddon to another. A map of Armageddon already exists, it is present in the scenario selection menu, so I imagine it wouldn't be hard to do this. It could even be worthwhile to show the map at the points where the player makes a choice of where to fight.

Show icons for both movement and firing status in Strategic map
My biggest frustration in this game, and I imagine most other players as well, is not having an easy overview of which units have not fired yet. In the main map, you do see a tiny bullet icon by the unit's strength plate, but this requires hunting every one of your units to check them. You do have some features showing which units still can move, such as the "next unit" button and showing them highlighted in the strategic map. So we just need to go one extra step. It truly is the most lacking simple feature, considering how central it is to the gameplay. With the later levels being full of units, half my time is truly spent searching to make sure I did not forget to make all units shoot. Because many units will fire while stationary, the movement display is not as useful for this. Also, adding a button to cycle through units that have not fired yet would be very useful. It could be as simple as holding shift or control as you tap the next unit button.

Improve usefulness of the units list
That units list on the right side of the screen is not terribly useful. Each unit icon should also show their status: whether they have moved, whether they have fired, and their state of morale. Also, the killed units list is completely useless other than as an archive. I recommend that the list only show units that have died in the current scenario. Perhaps, for fun, at the end of the battle let us see a summery of the battle with all the units involved and which ones dies, which caused the most casualties, etc.

Enable interaction with the units list scroll bar
We should be able to interact with the scrollbar on the unit list. Should also be able to sort the unit list. Some criteria would be: units but haven't moved yet, units that haven't fired yet, sort by damage (As a percentage of total health), and sort by morale. Other filters could be nice such as sort by weapon range.

Enable "castling"
Adjacent units should be able to switch places with each other. Especially in close quarters urban areas, there is often no opportunity to rotate your units because they are all packed tightly. Swapping unit locations always results in a unit losing their turn if they can't be positioned usefully elsewhere.

Need more info on resource point mechanics
The game in the manual does not clarify whether resource points carryover from mission to mission. Resource point management is a huge part of the game, and we need to know everything about it. I personally prefer that each mission can carry over resources from the previous mission, unless it doesn't make sense for the portion of the story. I would recommend a resource overhaul that increases the depth of resources by giving bonuses for achieving objectives, capturing factories, etc. in the previous level. Also, as I note later, allow for some resource gain during the missions.

Fix mines
Mines, are broken unit. They truly require special code to work. Just making them a normal unit with zero range weapon is insufficient. Enemy units are simply shooting them! You truly need to add some unique coding to make enemy units not see the mines until a unit runs over them. Even then, direct fire not explosive weapons should not be able to harm them. In a variety of turn based games, mines are actually a landscape feature and can not be destroyed. I like this approach, with the exception that engineer units can clear them (the game lacks engineer units currently).

Disallow in-field instant reinforcements; allow for more comprehensive recovery system at facilities
The current mechanic of spending resource units to instantly reinforce your units in the field is quite unrealistic. It also adds a hefty layer of frustration that once your resources are consumed, you spend the rest of the level with no ability to heal/repair units. I suggest that owning strategic assets on the map gives you an amount of resource points per turn. It doesn't need to be much, but it would be enough to pull your wounded units from the front line and recover them over time. This should be combined with other recovery options.

Reinforcement can be possible on friendly factories, or other strategic assets. I noticed in the Vulcans wrath that enemy units seem to be spending resource points to recover strength. It would help to know the mechanic they are using. It seems that they can only do it on special locations. And it is not clear if they are consuming a limited resource or simply heal every turn. I can agree with a certain level of passive healing for both friendly and enemy units that are on special locations. This would add a great new level of depth to the game if you can pull units from the front line, and let them recover in the rear.

In-field recovery should also be possible in a limited scope. This mechanism heals hit points, but not strength. This way, you are not creating new individuals in your unit, but you are healing / repairing wounded/damaged individuals in the unit. I noticed that sometimes, rest and recovery does grant a single hit point, but you can't do this consecutively. Typically, recovering a single hit point is meaningless. So, let the player recover a number of hit points but not strength during a rest and recovery action, with the hit points recovered being a percentile of the total hit points in a full health unit. There would need to be some thought into the values, because a single titan healing 1/3 of its hit points is a big deal, while a single trooper shouldn't take 3 turns to get back to full health.

In the campaign, let the AI control friendly auxiliary units, and other special units
The campaign would greatly benefit if auxiliary units, and other groups of you friendly units that appear through the campaign were controlled by an AI instead of by you. The feeling of having to save auxiliaries, or of another separate battle taking place across the map, or of being saved by surprise reinforcements... that feeling is considerably lost when you are given full control of these other units that realistically shouldn't be under your command. Perhaps the AI isn't up to the task, as the player will be able to maximize their efficiency. But still... when I am trying to rescue isolated conscripts desparately fighting for their lives, it feels far less like I am coming to help them when I can control them.

Reassess the earthshaker cannon
I found that the basilisk with an earth shaker is quite ineffective, especially against dug in infantry which should be its primary target. It needs either greater ability to damage infantry, or a special morale breaking property. I go for the latter for dug in troops. The hive defense guns are also absolutely horrible at damaging anything. In general I found the hive defenses to be laughable, when they should be incredible. In Black Library stories of hive defenses, such as Vervunhive, the defenses were staggering (but still crumbled to massive assaults).

Reassess Orc walker speeds
I disagree with the very high mobility of Orc walker units. They are supposed to be lumbering and awkward but very tough in close quarters. A variety of Orc walkers in the game are far too mobile.

Greater distinction between small arms and armored units
Some combat scenarios are a bit ridiculous due to the current combat mechanic of giving units a chance to damage other units, even when their armor is superior. For example, orcs small arms are still able to harm Lehman Russ tanks. And they don't just harm him a little they can do massive damage! There should be a mechanic that makes damaging armored units impossible for certain weapon types. If you want to give some infantry units a chance against armor, then give them a small number of short range antitank weapons like a panzerfaust or limpet mine. The current game mechanic doesn't seem to be able to simulate a small amount of special weapons in a unit, as it assigns the weapon list to every strength point in the unit. So to do this would require some extra coding. Still... it doesn't seem right that tanks can be harmed by small arms, and the game's current damage mechanics are to blame.

Lasguns seem underpowered
In first playing, I was amazed that lasguns were so useless against light armor. Even hive gang auto guns were superior! In reading quite a few black library books of Imperial guard combat, it is clear that lasguns can penetrate light armor. They also have the capability of hot shot, which consumes the entire battery. I think that Steel Legion infantry should be a bit more versatile than they currently are.

Reaction fire
I know that this game design typically does not include reaction fire, but in turn based games such a mechanic is often implemented to compensate for the ability of units to close distance unopposed. More tactical turn-based games are excellent examples of this such as the XCOM series. In Armageddon, many units have enough movement to move unopposed from outside of visual range to right in the face of the enemy. This results in a rather unrealistic play of battle. I imagine reaction fire would be implemented as a limited number of response fires per unit. With reaction fire, any unit moving into the firing space of another unit will be attacked and consume one of that units response fires. Some units will have more than one response fire, depending on the unit type. This allows for attacking a unit from multiple directions, swarming, etc. to consume it's response fires and make it susceptible. Response fires should be less accurate. Currently, support units can defend adjacent units infinitely per turn, I'm not ignoring that. But that is a lesser (but useful!) form of reaction fire.

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Thank you for reading! Again, I wouldn't have spent the effort to share my thoughts if I didn't already think Armageddon is a great game. I hope that we will see significant future development of this engine and more WH40k games from the developers!

[MadLuddite]

Castling would be fine, if it were only permissible to do so before a unit moved or attacked. Otherwise, you would have weak ranged units attacking others, then "kiting" away from them when they are swapped.

Resource points are definitely carried over mission to mission.

I agree on the Earthshaker cannon, but remember that the Basilisk's specialty is its long range.

Ork walkers are definitely too fast.

I (and others) have already brought up the weakness of tanks to small arms.

Lasgun's weakness is fairly accurate;they are called flashlights for a reason. I agree that autoguns should be weaker, but should also get more shots.

[cj95]

Disallow in-field instant reinforcements; allow for more comprehensive recovery system at facilities
The current mechanic of spending resource units to instantly reinforce your units in the field is quite unrealistic.!

I agree with the above most of all. Currently Im thinking this represents slightly damaged tanks and such getting repaired, or sergeants kicking their men in the butt to get them moving again, but its a little jarring for a wargame to have instant reinforcements.



Other than that I still want to repeat that the game is awesome, and we only want to see some finer points addressed to make it perfect.

Thanks