http://forums.navalwarfare.net/showthread.php?2328-INFORMATION-AND-DOWNLOADS-THREAD (http://forums.navalwarfare.net/showthread.php?2328-INFORMATION-AND-DOWNLOADS-THREAD)
Wahooo! ;D
Nice. I haven't chatted with Christopher in a while. Might be a good time to catch up.
I downloaded the screenshots and this game looks very interesting. Hope to hear some impressions from you all soon.
I too downloaded those screenshots. I know the game isn't about the graphics, but am I the only one who thought they were, well, almost hard on the eyes?
Quote from: LongBlade on February 04, 2012, 10:29:31 AM
I too downloaded those screenshots. I know the game isn't about the graphics, but am I the only one who thought they were, well, almost hard on the eyes?
Agreed...although graphics would be secondary to me, they were a little difficult to see and seemed to be kind of a blob. Never played a game in this series so will be interested in feedback before even considering.
Quote from: LongBlade on February 04, 2012, 10:29:31 AM
I too downloaded those screenshots. I know the game isn't about the graphics, but am I the only one who thought they were, well, almost hard on the eyes?
I agree with you two... the yellow and blue were really rough to make out. I always had this problem with Harpoon, unless they put it on the black.
In fact, I am having trouble making out how the game is controlled and such as well (i.e. the UI doesn't have much detail in those screens).
I wonder if the game scales to widescreen?
It looks a bit like HPS' Jutland w/out the hand-drawn ship tiles info boxes. The ships look better at zoom though.
What I want to know is...are there Zeppelins!?
Released
http://forums.navalwarfare.net/showthread.php?2328-INFORMATION-AND-DOWNLOADS-THREAD (http://forums.navalwarfare.net/showthread.php?2328-INFORMATION-AND-DOWNLOADS-THREAD)
I like the concept, but when you want to play single player, the game needs a campaign. Single scenarios are fine for PBEM, and what if this ship or that ship met.
Of course from NWS side of things they had SAS, and it didn't do well, so go figure.
A demo is supposed to be in the works.
I bought it this morning, and took it for a very quick spin.
It does scale to your full native resolution, so I was playing it in 1920x1200.
You can change the colors of the water, land & ships. So that helps at least a little. It won't win any beauty contests, of course.
Busy day for me today, so I probably won't get much quality time with it. I'll post again later when I have something to share.
Cool. Thanks for the quick look.
Will look forward to impression!
a) You can change the mapping interface colors in SAI - even the ship deck colors can be changed.
b) So far first impressions have been very good for SAI, which BTW launched last night...
http://forums.navalwarfare.net/showthread.php?2405-Player-comments-thread-Updated-2-5-2013
c) SAS is making a good comeback .. TG has made outstanding strides with the engine based on constant player feedback. Updates over the last year have brought about a lot of improvements and new features.
Thanks.
First impressions: plays a lot like HPS Jutland, but seems much more fluid and smoother; almost no learning curve if you are at all familiar with this type of game; battle generator instantly and realistically creates fog of war in the North Sea; the scenario editor is easy to use.
Exactly what I was hoping for. You can play the Dogger Bank action (or let the computer create a similar size variant of the same and play that out) in an hour or less. Perfect for the WW1 or Jutland freak.
Drawings of the ships in side boxes ala HPS (or, even better, photos) would be nice but the game plays very nicely as is.
Just discovered this forum today. Thanks for the invite Gus.
We are looking at adding side views that were designed for our NW board wargame series of artwork.
SAI v1.0 is just the start.. we have big plans for this naval simulation engine. One of its greatest features is the global mapping system. RJW and 1920s are already at the top of the consideration list for expansions and anything from the age of sail to WW3 are on the potential hit list.
Thanks.
So in theory it could handle the likes of 1982 The Falklands War?
Quote from: spelk on February 06, 2012, 03:11:46 AM
So in theory it could handle the likes of 1982 The Falklands War?
If, and when, (much depends on player support) we add a modern naval database to the engine.. sure. You can already fight WW1 battles in that region as it is now.
BTW, we have a board wargame expansion for our Modern Naval Conflicts due out shortly covering the Falklands and GIUK for the 1980s.
That's very encouraging Chris. I'd love to see the naval conflict around the Falklands during the 80's.
Another personal favourite of mine (because my Great Granda died on HMS Hogue in 1914), the Livebait Squadron has a scenario in SAI, with Cressy, Aboukir and Hogue going after a couple of DD's.
I've found SAI to be very easy to play through. I've not understood any of the nuances and subtleties of the game. And as far as I can tell, it's more a game of manoeuvre into firing position. Smooth map zoom and ship animation. Certainly quite mesmerising watching the AI ships zig zag and zip about. I love the fact that you can set the game to run until fire is given or taken, and then it pauses. You can then assess the firing locations and make adjustments if necessary. Need to delve deeper into the manual, but I like what I initially see. We need a smooth, easy to use naval simulator, one that has a more modern day UI than Harpoon can deliver.
If you select the captain command level option you can also turn off the AI for gunnery targeting and do it yourself, among other tactical options. ;)
Has anyone found any keyboard shortcuts for zoom/unzoom?
There are no hot keys for the zoom functions yet, but that is one of the top items on our list for the first update - which will be posted shortly.
Quote from: Warship NWS on February 06, 2012, 09:36:08 AM
There are no hot keys for the zoom functions yet, but that is one of the top items on our list for the first update - which will be posted shortly.
That's great news, Christopher! Thanks for having that as a priority. :)
Thanks for the support friend. :)
After a little more thought, I remember now that the mouse scroll wheel controls game speed. Do you think you guys might change that to control zoom instead?
That is not part of the game interface, it is part of the Windows mouse interface. It is not intentional - only happens if the "speed" tab is highlighted.
Quote from: Warship NWS on February 06, 2012, 11:40:54 AM
That is not part of the game interface, it is part of the Windows mouse interface. It is not intentional - only happens if the "speed" tab is highlighted.
Ok, understood.
You guys could always add that as part of the game interface, right? I think that would be ideal. From what little I've played, I get the feeling that zooming is going to be one of the most used functions.
That is why we are prioritizing hot keys. The coding engine cannot place calls for the wheel on a mouse - at least not yet.
After some more play in the Goeben scenario, it's apparent that the game speed needs to have more variety. On my Core i7 3.0 ghz, the action is way too fast, even when "Slow" speed is selected. The action is incredibly too fast-paced. The ships seem to be traveling at warp speed at the lowest setting.
Is there a way to slow down the default speed? Perhaps via a .ini file somewhere?
FW is already working on more game speed options for the first update. I recommend using the "step" phases for now if the game is moving too fast. Game speed also seems to vary widely per system as several of our test rigs run the "slow" speed at a reasonable pace.