Some salvos before the surrender

[Wasserman]

For reasons I have posted on the Matrix forum, I am surrendering. I won't be buying the full version of the game until it actually becomes stable. I will honor the forum rules and try and put technical comments in the appropriate portion of the forum. I understand this section is for suggestions and comments on gameplay. Here are my suggestions:

1. Finding HQ/Units: The game is huge! Finding where your units are is difficult, unless you know by rote from the previous turn. The minimap in the corner is tiny and the blips that denote "stuff" (armies, fleets) are too small to be very useful. I noticed there is a hot key to bounce from army to army. This is better, but is still very clumsy for playing. Once I added allies (Italy once, Turkey mostly), I had to stumble around to find the units, colonies, fleets. Not fun.

2. The Phasing is confusing. It is hard to tell when you can access and change non-combat game systems. For example, I can build reinforcements in the Diplomatic phase. I can try and quiet a strike, but that is processed at some other point in the game. After playing (starting) about twelve games, I was unable to remember where I was in the game turn. Sometimes I accidentally clicked on the next phase button before all orders were issued. One suggestion is to have a turn bar icon, that shows what phase you are in, which ones you have completed, and which ones are ahead before the month turns.

3. Manipulating allied countries is awkward. Maybe I missed something, but is there some other way to access the economic/political/tech menus for allied major countries without having to actually find and click on a territory of that country? I am embarrassed to say I played several games without realizing that my menus did not control all of my allies. Another suggestion, a small box or window (perhaps added in the upper right) showing all major allies currently in the war. A click on a flag, for example, takes you to the appropriate menu bars and armies.

4. Merging units is so clumsy. Or at least it was. This might have been fixed in the latest patch (1.06) but I got frustrated when the game crashed (again) before I could finish a turn, so I didn't get to try it out. Maybe an icon on the unit counter window can automatically open the merge unit options for units in the same area?

5. Fog of war is um, foggy. I believe this is an option that can be turned off? The game is more enjoyable when you can see what has happened to both sides after combat (my opinion). In any event, one of the more nonsensical things in the game is watching the enemy AI move units (almost always jerky, with many portions repeating) only to see them disappear. You might as well dispense with this altogether if you are not going to tip the viewer as to what went where. Also, in a battle it is guesswork trying to remember what units are "flashed" by the AI before they disappear under reversed tiles.

6. Why does it cost the same to repair/replace a damaged unit as it does for a whole new unit of the same type?

7. Naval missions are still a work in progress. I have tried a few missions. Here is what happened. My first transport missions failed because I didn't realize I had to first load a unit by clicking on the naval transport button. When I figured that out, my unit disappeared on the ship, I sent my ship to another port (I think), but it never arrived. Sigh. I selected control for a fleet I had along the coast, but I don't think it did anything to stop the british from moving their fleets all along the area. I wasn't prompted for battle. I selected "raid" and was informed, repeatedly, that the raid failed. I wasn't even sure what I raided or what the consequences were. Ugh.

8. Air units should have some use, shouldn't they? I have seen people in the forums identify this as a game crash issue, unless they are used for recon. How, exactly, is that done? Hopefully this will be fixed some day so there will be combined attacks. In my case it did not matter since I was never able to build any more before my game crashed for other reasons.

I could go on, but I won't. First of all I do not want to leave the impression that I didn't think highly of the attempt. Overall, I would buy the product despite the gameplay difficulties if it worked reliably. It hasn't for me. Second, I am not a game tester. I am just a potential (frustrated) customer. I don't have the time, expertise, or patience to engage in this type of dialogue. Please accept my attempt at doing so as a tribute to the hard work that has so far gone into a promising product.

[Nial]

1. Finding HQ/Units: The game is huge! Finding where your units are is difficult, unless you know by rote from the previous turn. The minimap in the corner is tiny and the blips that denote "stuff" (armies, fleets) are too small to be very useful. I noticed there is a hot key to bounce from army to army. This is better, but is still very clumsy for playing. Once I added allies (Italy once, Turkey mostly), I had to stumble around to find the units, colonies, fleets. Not fun.

The front lines are pretty static and mostly in the same area every game. Individual units and reinforcement armies can be hard at first. But the set up reinforcement armies always come in at the same place. Just takes a few times before you know where those places are.

2. The Phasing is confusing. It is hard to tell when you can access and change non-combat game systems. For example, I can build reinforcements in the Diplomatic phase. I can try and quiet a strike, but that is processed at some other point in the game. After playing (starting) about twelve games, I was unable to remember where I was in the game turn. Sometimes I accidentally clicked on the next phase button before all orders were issued. One suggestion is to have a turn bar icon, that shows what phase you are in, which ones you have completed, and which ones are ahead before the month turns.

Not sure what the problem here is. I know the phases are explaned and detailed in the manual. I have had very little problem with this and I haven't read the manual since it was at a very early stage.

3. Manipulating allied countries is awkward. Maybe I missed something, but is there some other way to access the economic/political/tech menus for allied major countries without having to actually find and click on a territory of that country? I am embarrassed to say I played several games without realizing that my menus did not control all of my allies. Another suggestion, a small box or window (perhaps added in the upper right) showing all major allies currently in the war. A click on a flag, for example, takes you to the appropriate menu bars and armies.

Clicking on the appropriate country on the minimap is not THAT hard is it?

4. Merging units is so clumsy. Or at least it was. This might have been fixed in the latest patch (1.06) but I got frustrated when the game crashed (again) before I could finish a turn, so I didn't get to try it out. Maybe an icon on the unit counter window can automatically open the merge unit options for units in the same area?

I totaly agree merging is a problem and needs to be addressed.

5. Fog of war is um, foggy. I believe this is an option that can be turned off? The game is more enjoyable when you can see what has happened to both sides after combat (my opinion). In any event, one of the more nonsensical things in the game is watching the enemy AI move units (almost always jerky, with many portions repeating) only to see them disappear. You might as well dispense with this altogether if you are not going to tip the viewer as to what went where. Also, in a battle it is guesswork trying to remember what units are "flashed" by the AI before they disappear under reversed tiles.

The only problem I have here is the length of time a military turn phase takes with viewing all the units.

6. Why does it cost the same to repair/replace a damaged unit as it does for a whole new unit of the same type?

I totaly missed this. But am never short of RPs after 1914. So hasn't been a prob for me.

7. Naval missions are still a work in progress. I have tried a few missions. Here is what happened. My first transport missions failed because I didn't realize I had to first load a unit by clicking on the naval transport button. When I figured that out, my unit disappeared on the ship, I sent my ship to another port (I think), but it never arrived. Sigh. I selected control for a fleet I had along the coast, but I don't think it did anything to stop the british from moving their fleets all along the area. I wasn't prompted for battle. I selected "raid" and was informed, repeatedly, that the raid failed. I wasn't even sure what I raided or what the consequences were. Ugh.

I agree naval combat still has issues. But I have done successful raids and patrols. Havent had a successful control mission yet. But I have only tried a few.Determination of the winner of a naval battle needs to be checked.

8. Air units should have some use, shouldn't they? I have seen people in the forums identify this as a game crash issue, unless they are used for recon. How, exactly, is that done? Hopefully this will be fixed some day so there will be combined attacks. In my case it did not matter since I was never able to build any more before my game crashed for other reasons.

I have done all air missions without prob. The only issue I have with air missions is the lack of air unit production on both sides. And why it takes so long to produce air units.

I could go on, but I won't. First of all I do not want to leave the impression that I didn't think highly of the attempt. Overall, I would buy the product despite the gameplay difficulties if it worked reliably. It hasn't for me. Second, I am not a game tester. I am just a potential (frustrated) customer. I don't have the time, expertise, or patience to engage in this type of dialogue. Please accept my attempt at doing so as a tribute to the hard work that has so far gone into a promising product.

[/QUOTE]

This game has issues. But at this late date I have found that most have been solved almost to my satisfaction. Granted, this has only been possible with the help of a group of dedicated gamers that have really wanted this game/effort to succeed. At this point I can only thank those other people for the countless hours they have put in to find and report the issues that needed fixing/ enhancing.

Nial

[Anthropoid]

1. Finding HQ/Units: The game is huge! Finding where your units are is difficult, unless you know by rote from the previous turn. The minimap in the corner is tiny and the blips that denote "stuff" (armies, fleets) are too small to be very useful. I noticed there is a hot key to bounce from army to army. This is better, but is still very clumsy for playing. Once I added allies (Italy once, Turkey mostly), I had to stumble around to find the units, colonies, fleets. Not fun.

I agree with this point very much. I would like to see functionality added that would allow you to hot-key or scroll through units much like in TOAW III or othe games.

2. The Phasing is confusing. It is hard to tell when you can access and change non-combat game systems. For example, I can build reinforcements in the Diplomatic phase. I can try and quiet a strike, but that is processed at some other point in the game. After playing (starting) about twelve games, I was unable to remember where I was in the game turn. Sometimes I accidentally clicked on the next phase button before all orders were issued. One suggestion is to have a turn bar icon, that shows what phase you are in, which ones you have completed, and which ones are ahead before the month turns.

I agree with this 100%. More clear signs of exactly where one is in the phasing, and what CAN be done at the present time, what CANNOT be done at the present time, and what MUST be done at the present time would be very helpful. If the player has hints or popup help activated, maybe even some banners or popups that tell what maybe SHOULD be done at the present time as well.

3. Manipulating allied countries is awkward. Maybe I missed something, but is there some other way to access the economic/political/tech menus for allied major countries without having to actually find and click on a territory of that country? I am embarrassed to say I played several games without realizing that my menus did not control all of my allies. Another suggestion, a small box or window (perhaps added in the upper right) showing all major allies currently in the war. A click on a flag, for example, takes you to the appropriate menu bars and armies.

Having played 10 or 15 hours over the long Valentine's weekend, I'm embarrassed to say that I didn't even figure otu how to adjust my economy, politics, or techs AT ALL! I played the Grand Campaign up to part way through a Sept 1914 turn, and never got any kind of popup or notice or invitation to adjust my economy, politics, or techs. Of course I did get the notice about Warplans, Events, Diplomats, and Reinforcements.

So did I just miss something? Or do you not get a chance to adjust your economy, politics and tech research until AFTER Sept 1914? If you DO get a chance to adjust these aspects of your society prior to Oct 1914, then why is there not some kinda message to alert the player: NOW is the time to click HERE if you want to reset your politics, economy or Techs?? If the game prompts me to handle my Warplans, Events, Diplomats, and Reinforcements, it should prompt me to handle the other back-page functions too.

4. Merging units is so clumsy. Or at least it was. This might have been fixed in the latest patch (1.06) but I got frustrated when the game crashed (again) before I could finish a turn, so I didn't get to try it out. Maybe an icon on the unit counter window can automatically open the merge unit options for units in the same area?

Agreed, clumsy it is. It seems to be a bit better in 2d mode, but that frankly it should work well in 3d mode, shouldn't it?

The other thing related to this is getting naval units to relocate from the mini-maps to the main Euro map, or to get fleets in the Med to relocate to the other side of the straits of Gibraltor.

5. Fog of war is um, foggy. I believe this is an option that can be turned off? The game is more enjoyable when you can see what has happened to both sides after combat (my opinion). In any event, one of the more nonsensical things in the game is watching the enemy AI move units (almost always jerky, with many portions repeating) only to see them disappear. You might as well dispense with this altogether if you are not going to tip the viewer as to what went where. Also, in a battle it is guesswork trying to remember what units are "flashed" by the AI before they disappear under reversed tiles.

Agreed. The battles screen is in principle pretty cool, but as you say, predicting what the AI is doing, even with fog of war turned off seems to be pretty much impossible because of how the graphics jer around. I don't really see how more knowledge piercing through the fog-of-war is supposed to help the human to play the tactical battles smarter and win through tactics. Maybe it is supposed to be that way? The key to the game is not in clever battle field tactics (even though there is a nifty tactical battle screen that makes one suspect that clever tactics must be salutary?) but simply in showing up in the right province at the right time with numerical or strength superiority? The overall engine seems quite promising as far as theatre level strategy for planning inter-army actions, coordination, and maneuvering, but what alternate options the tactical battle screens are really supposed to offer I still don't understand.

6. Why does it cost the same to repair/replace a damaged unit as it does for a whole new unit of the same type?

Couldn't tell ya. Hadn't got that far yet.

7. Naval missions are still a work in progress. I have tried a few missions. Here is what happened. My first transport missions failed because I didn't realize I had to first load a unit by clicking on the naval transport button. When I figured that out, my unit disappeared on the ship, I sent my ship to another port (I think), but it never arrived. Sigh. I selected control for a fleet I had along the coast, but I don't think it did anything to stop the british from moving their fleets all along the area. I wasn't prompted for battle. I selected "raid" and was informed, repeatedly, that the raid failed. I wasn't even sure what I raided or what the consequences were. Ugh.

I actually had a naval battle or two, and seemed to successfully send a couple raids. Or at least the fleet moved over there to the port to 'raid' it. Now that you mention it, I never did see any kind of message about whether or not it was a success or failure or what consequences it had. Had not tried a naval transport yet. I suspect the idea is that one fleet serves as the transport, and another screening force acts as the protection fleet in "Control" mode. This might be something that is clarified in the manual, I have not looked yet.

8. Air units should have some use, shouldn't they? I have seen people in the forums identify this as a game crash issue, unless they are used for recon. How, exactly, is that done? Hopefully this will be fixed some day so there will be combined attacks. In my case it did not matter since I was never able to build any more before my game crashed for other reasons.

I think the idea is that in 1914 you are dealing with very rudimentary aviation, and thus can only do recon. I presume that if you play the game through a year or so, you get the option to use those attached air units as tactical support.

Here is a kinda weird related point. I somehow accidently managed to separte the dirigible L1 (or whatever it is) unit from the little Germany fleet near Denmark that has two subs and the dirigible in it. Accidently rebased the airship to a land tile. Tried to get it to remerge with a fleet and it kept telling me I was trying to put a landunit in a naval unit and that that was not allowed.

I could go on, but I won't. First of all I do not want to leave the impression that I didn't think highly of the attempt. Overall, I would buy the product despite the gameplay difficulties if it worked reliably. It hasn't for me. Second, I am not a game tester. I am just a potential (frustrated) customer. I don't have the time, expertise, or patience to engage in this type of dialogue. Please accept my attempt at doing so as a tribute to the hard work that has so far gone into a promising product.

For me, I'm taking the time to respond because, well, I can see that this is a beautiful foundation for a truly exceptional game. I agree with you that, if it worked reliably it would be a great game.

Unfortunately for me, I already paid for dang thing, so maybe that adds to my motivation to encourage the design team to keep working on new patches to get this thing to live up to its potential.

[Flop]

2. The Phasing is confusing. It is hard to tell when you can access and change non-combat game systems. For example, I can build reinforcements in the Diplomatic phase. I can try and quiet a strike, but that is processed at some other point in the game.

I agree with this. I think I read somewhere (I may be mistaken, though), that in the board game you can only plan your budget and research and so on, in specific phases. It's actually more confusing - not to mention completely unnecessary - that you can do it anytime you please in the pc game, since the effects only take place after specific phases anyway.

[patrat]

i find army by army mode much less confusing as far as phases go. its more restrictive on what it lets you do and when.


alot of this other stuff is in the manual. you guys are lucky. most of us had to figure this stuff out without the benifet of a comprehensive manual.

[calvinus]

I have read carefully your posts, and a lot of considerations and suggestions come out from them. First of all, new Alert popup windows for the Interphase (or Politics phase too?), where I should provide some tips on Recruitments, Munitions building, Political actions, and so on...

[calvinus]

I agree with this. I think I read somewhere (I may be mistaken, though), that in the board game you can only plan your budget and research and so on, in specific phases. It's actually more confusing - not to mention completely unnecessary - that you can do it anytime you please in the pc game, since the effects only take place after specific phases anyway.

Ops...
I did all these operations allowed in all phases exactly in order to avoid confusion, worried about a possible rid of compliants ("why I can't build this?")...
On the other side, I always print the build deadlines infos on the screen (i.e: in Munitions window you always see the period when the produced MUN flow will be delivered, in Recruitments window you always see when the unit will arrive, etc. etc.).

I'm sorry this has generated confusion. It's the opposite of my intentions...

[calvinus]

1. Finding HQ/Units: The game is huge! Finding where your units are is difficult, unless you know by rote from the previous turn. The minimap in the corner is tiny and the blips that denote "stuff" (armies, fleets) are too small to be very useful. I noticed there is a hot key to bounce from army to army. This is better, but is still very clumsy for playing. Once I added allies (Italy once, Turkey mostly), I had to stumble around to find the units, colonies, fleets. Not fun.

Look here:

Enter: browse the armies/fleets belonging to the selected nation
Ins: browse the land/naval detachments belonging to the selected army/fleet

That means, for example, that if you click on one army of France and you hit the Enter key, you browse all armies of France. You do the same with French fleets if you click on a French fleet. When you have located the army/fleet you are interested to, hit the Ins key and you will browse all stacks of that army/fleet!

[calvinus]

5. Fog of war is um, foggy. I believe this is an option that can be turned off? The game is more enjoyable when you can see what has happened to both sides after combat (my opinion). In any event, one of the more nonsensical things in the game is watching the enemy AI move units (almost always jerky, with many portions repeating) only to see them disappear. You might as well dispense with this altogether if you are not going to tip the viewer as to what went where. Also, in a battle it is guesswork trying to remember what units are "flashed" by the AI before they disappear under reversed tiles.

The Options window contains several options to customize the Fog of War like you wish. I think you have simply to deselect the top one (also for the AI to be fair! ). So you will see all enemy stacks, but not their content...

6. Why does it cost the same to repair/replace a damaged unit as it does for a whole new unit of the same type?

It's a design decision. Surely criticable, but it comes directly from the boardgame.

7. Naval missions are still a work in progress. I have tried a few missions. Here is what happened. My first transport missions failed because I didn't realize I had to first load a unit by clicking on the naval transport button. When I figured that out, my unit disappeared on the ship, I sent my ship to another port (I think), but it never arrived. Sigh. I selected control for a fleet I had along the coast, but I don't think it did anything to stop the british from moving their fleets all along the area. I wasn't prompted for battle. I selected "raid" and was informed, repeatedly, that the raid failed. I wasn't even sure what I raided or what the consequences were. Ugh.

The path finding procedure for naval moves is indeed to be improved. I will do no intermediate ports are crossed. This is the cause of your mess.

8. Air units should have some use, shouldn't they? I have seen people in the forums identify this as a game crash issue, unless they are used for recon. How, exactly, is that done? Hopefully this will be fixed some day so there will be combined attacks. In my case it did not matter since I was never able to build any more before my game crashed for other reasons.

In 1914 the air warfare is very very limited. As soon you will progress with Air Techs, you will see air duels and air aces! In addition, when the "Aerial Tactical Support" combat doctrine will be available (try Palestine scenario to have a preview), you will be able to combine infantry onslaughts with the support of aerial support!

[Kaiser1918]

Ops...
I did all these operations allowed in all phases exactly in order to avoid confusion, worried about a possible rid of compliants ("why I can't build this?")...
On the other side, I always print the build deadlines infos on the screen (i.e: in Munitions window you always see the period when the produced MUN flow will be delivered, in Recruitments window you always see when the unit will arrive, etc. etc.).

I'm sorry this has generated confusion. It's the opposite of my intentions...

The problem is a bit, that you tried to make a boardgame into a sort of RTS-round based strategy game to appeal the unwashed masses . Therefore, you mixed up a bit (only a bit) both styles of computer gaming.

I would have preferred a stricter boardgame approach with rounds and phases prominently announced (following the boardgame sequence of play)...you could do only the things that are allowed in that phase.

I suggest you take a look at SSG's Korsun Pocket from Matrix Games. I think they hit the sweet spot with their games, they truly play like boardgame conversions.

But I must admit that you succeeded 90% already in your task of creating a fantastic WWI game. Some percent to go, but not far...

[patrat]

imo more people would get mad if they missed their one chance in a season to do some critical operation. you already get so many messages it'd be easy to miss a reminder.

the game as it is, tells you what you've already planned as far as builds, research, munitions, political actions, etc etc, in case you happen to forget what you already planned. it just waits till the proper time to implement them. i usually do a little bit of everything as the season progresses and then double check my choices right before the interphase. that way if i screw up at least i got some things accomplished. this helps because after a couple of turns i might forget i wanted to build x and instead build y, when i really really need x. im old and somtimes forget things apy:

in a nutshell i think calvinus had the right approach.

[Nial]

imo more people would get mad if they missed their one chance in a season to do some critical operation. you already get so many messages it'd be easy to miss a reminder.

the game as it is, tells you what you've already planned as far as builds, research, munitions, political actions, etc etc, in case you happen to forget what you already planned. it just waits till the proper time to implement them. i usually do a little bit of everything as the season progresses and then double check my choices right before the interphase. that way if i screw up at least i got some things accomplished. this helps because after a couple of turns i might forget i wanted to build x and instead build y, when i really really need x. im old and somtimes forget things apy:

in a nutshell i think calvinus had the right approach.

I do exactly the same. Usually I select political actions that I know I want to do. Like conscription or appoint new leader early. Then as the interphase gets closer I might adjust depending on what happens. I might have to drop something if I get a strike or a rebellion.

You can build anytime. But the sooner you start building. The sooner it gets completed. I always start building arty as soon as I can spare some points.

Nial