Wargame: AirLand Battle

Started by Jarhead0331, April 24, 2013, 08:24:27 PM

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jomni


It was fun for a while (NATO campaign) until the AI unit spam in the Russian campaign.
How ironic, Soviets do the unit spamming, not NATO.
I always lose in MP so I stopped playing.

RooksBailey

Eugen has published a short guide to the AirLand beta to help new players get oriented:

http://www.focus-files.com/WargameAB/WARGAME-AB_BETA_INT.pdf

I haven't jumped in yet (I'm trying to wait for the skirmish AI to be enabled so I can practice without embarrassing myself  ;D), but this should prove helpful when I do. 

Speaking of the skirmish AI, one of the devs said this:

Quote"Is coop skirmish vs AI going to be available at release? "

Yes it will be available. In the lobby, Open/Close slots will turn into Open/Close/Add AI, so that any slot can be turned into an AI, which is available in 4 difficulties. To be perfectly clear, you could play a game like this:

Team 1:
- player 1
- IA medium
- IA easy

Team 2 :
- player 3
- IA hard

Also, the AI has evolved a lot since W:EE.

Sounds good.
"As I understand from your communication, Mr. Engle, you're on the brink of self-destruction. May I shake your hand? A brilliant idea! I speak as one who has destroyed himself a score of times.  I am, Mr. Engle, a veteran corpse. We are all corpses here! This rendezvous is one of the musical graveyards of the town. Caters to zombies hopping around with dead hearts and price tags for souls." - Angels Over Broadway

sandman2575

Quote from: panzerde on April 25, 2013, 08:06:52 PM
Quote from: MikeGER on April 25, 2013, 10:44:35 AM
... will there be a slider/option for the overall game speed in SP ? ;)

I remember EE like: build a bunch of units, rush it somewhere, units get destroyed, spam another bunch,  again and again ... to much information to compute (for me ... i start to feel old) at the same time rushing down on me, the units move to fast and die to fast on the virtual battlefield for to get real(life) strategy / tactics to the work... i would have liked to play it at 66% game speed, or so   


+1.  This, and the way the game unlocks units rather than giving you access to the historical OOB is why I didn't play more of EE.  Sure does look nice though!

+2 -- my experience exactly.  There's a lot I like about Wargame EE in principle -- I think Eugen put together a quality game here.  But it just plays way too fast for me.  On the "Challenging-Fun ---- Challenging-Stressful" spectrum, it tilts too much toward the stressful end. 

I guess the ol' reflexes aren't what they used to be...

RedArgo

If you are interested, I see on Steam they've lowered the price of Wargame EE to 19.99.  I think it was $35 yesterday.

Tinkershuffle

I agree with the need for a slower game speed and a proper pause function. I'd also really liked to see a bit more realistic infantry combat model implemented in the sequel.

Grim.Reaper

Looks like AI skirmish mode patched in today....finally can play:)

MikeGER

Quote from: Grim.Reaper on May 07, 2013, 05:35:17 PM
Looks like AI skirmish mode patched in today....finally can play:)

+1
THX for the head-up :)

Toonces

"If you had a chance, right now, to go back in time and stop Hitler, wouldn't you do it?  I mean, I personally wouldn't stop him because I think he's awesome." - Eric Cartman

"Does a watch list mean you are being watched or is it a come on to Toonces?" - Biggs

LongBlade

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

Jarhead0331

Quote from: Toonces on May 08, 2013, 10:47:17 PM
Impressions?

USMC Battlegroup in the OOB...what else could be better?  That's a rhetorical question, do not answer.

I'm still figuring out how to use the fixed wing aircraft.  I managed to get some Tomcats to engage a few Soviet helos.  The skies were lit up by AAA as the F14s began to loiter, and that was pretty flipping cool. Then some Migs showed up and the game was on.  I've also noticed the commies using heavy artillery a lot, including laying down smoke.  it all looks very impressive on the field, and makes the battles very hectic and confusing.  A lot of guys won't like this feeling of panic, but I think it adds to the authenticity.
Grogheads Uber Alles
Semper Grog
"No beast is more alpha than JH." Gusington, 10/23/18


Grim.Reaper

The problem I have with it is figuring out how to control all my troops at once......the game is so good to look at and intense, I find myself staring at a section of the battle watching it like a movie, but totally neglecting all of my other troops elsewhere:(

Nefaro

So.. does the AI stand up well?  Or does it just zerg you with extra production bonuses?

While I didn't purchase Wargame: EE and I'm not all that big on RTS, this new one is definitely pulling me.  The cold war period and the plethora of hardware represented in the game is a big draw. 

I may pick it up soon if it's single-player is in a better situation than the previous one.  My concern is that the game will be released in under two weeks, and they're now only adding in the AI for skirmishes on the beta.  ???  Does that mean there won't be much single-player at release?  Could that entail a later expansion or yet another release next year that has it?

RooksBailey

#27
Quote from: Nefaro on May 10, 2013, 10:13:46 PM
So.. does the AI stand up well?  Or does it just zerg you with extra production bonuses?

While I didn't purchase Wargame: EE and I'm not all that big on RTS, this new one is definitely pulling me.  The cold war period and the plethora of hardware represented in the game is a big draw. 

I may pick it up soon if it's single-player is in a better situation than the previous one.  My concern is that the game will be released in under two weeks, and they're now only adding in the AI for skirmishes on the beta.  ???  Does that mean there won't be much single-player at release?  Could that entail a later expansion or yet another release next year that has it?


I've only had time to try four or so AI skirmish matches, so these thoughts are preliminary at best.  But having said that, here is what I noticed:   

1) The AI doesn't spam aircraft. I was a bit worried about this but I noticed that it only used aircraft to help an attack succeed rather than just keeping aircraft aloft for no apparent reason. However, one person has mentioned that on "very hard" AI did spam aircraft.

2) The AI uses combined armed tactics. I have encountered recon, infantry, armor, light armor and helicopters. It also recons as it only seems to launch a full attack after doing some recee.  What is more, the AI picks its own deck, so what units you encounter will vary greatly, which is nice.  It keeps you on your toes as you don't know whether to prepare for an armored thrust or an airmobile assault.  If we get the ability to design decks for the AI use, so much the better (but there is no word on this)!

3) It didn't spam artillery. Like with aircraft, it only seemed to use arty when it identified one of my defensive positions and needed to press an attack home.

4) It uses smoke! This was a pleasant surprise since a lot of AI won't use non-lethal means in a game. This AI actually seemed aware of the benefits of concealing an advance.  However, at times it seemed to drop smoke on odd locations.  Regardless, it used it!

5) The AI made use of supply trucks to keep its vehicles fueled, albeit, it seems to leave them exposed.

Now, these comments concern the "easy" and "normal (or is it "moderate"?) AI.  I can't speak to "hard" or "very hard" as I haven't tried them yet.

My games have also been restricted to 1 v 1 (me vs the AI), and me and an Easy AI versus one Moderate AI.  I always lose against the Easy AI, but when I am teamed with an AI and compete against a Moderate AI, I have won 1 out of 3 games.  Not much better.   :D  But I find it helps to have a wingman take one flank so you can concentrate on the other.  It is nice to be able to configure a game like this.  BTW: your AI teammate does communicate with you when on the same team.  It places flares to "attack here" or "defend here".  However, I've noticed that it can occasionally go flare crazy and place them all over the map, even on your own starting sector!    ;D  Needs a little work. 


As for the SP campaign, it is supposed to ship with a seemingly deep Total War like strategy game with real time battles.  Unfortunately, they haven't released any more info on it since ALB was announced...something that makes me worried.  I don't know if they are just saving the best for the last week of pre-release hype, or if they intend to add it post release (which I would prefer to a half finished SP campaign).  I suppose it is also possible that they game might be delayed by a few weeks to finish it - but if so, they are going to have to announce this real soon.  I guess we'll see, but seeing how attentive Eugen has been in listening to the community, plus the nice AI they have delivered for the SP skirmishes, I suspect that when the campaign arrives it is probably going to be pretty good.  Here's hoping.

Today, they released another vid, this time on deck creation:

 



The only area of the game that I am a bit disappointed in is the infantry - it is heavily abstracted.  I was hoping for infantry along the lines of what you find in Achtung Panzer or Theater of War, but instead it is little different than the infantry you found in World in Conflict.  We've been talking about this on the forum and the consensus seems to be that the infantry is being handled like just another vehicle; they don't feel different from, say, a tank.  They fight fast and and die quickly.   Hopefully this is just a limitation of the beta. 


"As I understand from your communication, Mr. Engle, you're on the brink of self-destruction. May I shake your hand? A brilliant idea! I speak as one who has destroyed himself a score of times.  I am, Mr. Engle, a veteran corpse. We are all corpses here! This rendezvous is one of the musical graveyards of the town. Caters to zombies hopping around with dead hearts and price tags for souls." - Angels Over Broadway

Toonces

Man, Rooks, you really got me fired up to give this a try now!
"If you had a chance, right now, to go back in time and stop Hitler, wouldn't you do it?  I mean, I personally wouldn't stop him because I think he's awesome." - Eric Cartman

"Does a watch list mean you are being watched or is it a come on to Toonces?" - Biggs

RooksBailey

Quote from: Toonces on May 11, 2013, 12:05:12 AM
Man, Rooks, you really got me fired up to give this a try now!

My experiences with the beta are generally positive, but, again, it bears mentioning that my experience is limited to 5 MP games, and 4 or 5 AI skirmish games.  That's not a lot to go on.  I like what I see, but will I still like it after I played it a bunch more?  I kinda think so since the game's foundation seems solid, but it is really too early to tell.  The SP campaign will be crucial as I imagine just playing MP or skirmishes is going to get stale quickly. 

So, stay tuned.  If you haven't pre-ordered yet, I would wait for the full release as it is only another 10 days.  There seems to be a lot to like about ALB, but this wouldn't be the first game killed at the last minute by a rushed release or an inscrutable last minute decision on the part of a dev.   ::)
"As I understand from your communication, Mr. Engle, you're on the brink of self-destruction. May I shake your hand? A brilliant idea! I speak as one who has destroyed himself a score of times.  I am, Mr. Engle, a veteran corpse. We are all corpses here! This rendezvous is one of the musical graveyards of the town. Caters to zombies hopping around with dead hearts and price tags for souls." - Angels Over Broadway