Introducing TASK FORCE ADMIRAL Vol.1: American Carrier Battles

[Geezer]

No idea.  I never played the old.

[CaptainKoloth]

I still am really, really struggling with the interface (no change in the new demo vs. my comments from a couple pages back in this thread). I understand it's in the name of "realism", but I think it's sacrificing playability without a good gameplay reason.

[CptHowdy]

i watched some of the historicalgamer on twitch. he was having trouble planning his first strike ie early spotting, timing, trying to cancel and re-plan etc... it's like he never played the game before and didnt do any tutorials or read the manual. i had to turn it off as it was horrible to watch.

[undercovergeek]

i watched some of the historicalgamer on twitch. he was having trouble planning his first strike ie early spotting, timing, trying to cancel and re-plan etc... it's like he never played the game before and didnt do any tutorials or read the manual. i had to turn it off as it was horrible to watch.

If the demo hasn't changed I'd recommend Wolfpack from the first go around

[CaptainKoloth]

i watched some of the historicalgamer on twitch. he was having trouble planning his first strike ie early spotting, timing, trying to cancel and re-plan etc... it's like he never played the game before and didnt do any tutorials or read the manual. i had to turn it off as it was horrible to watch.

I don't know if you've had a chance to play the demo, but this is exactly the point I was just making. I don't think it's that the historical gamer is super unprepared and too lazy to RTFM, it's that the interface is kind of (in my opinion) an unintuituve, poorly documented mess.

[Pete Dero]

Release date announced : January 27.

[Redwolf]

Release date announced : January 27.

Early excess or a real release?

[Jarhead0331]

Release date announced : January 27.

Early excess or a real release?

Early.

[The_Admiral]

i watched some of the historicalgamer on twitch. he was having trouble planning his first strike ie early spotting, timing, trying to cancel and re-plan etc... it's like he never played the game before and didnt do any tutorials or read the manual. i had to turn it off as it was horrible to watch.

I don't know if you've had a chance to play the demo, but this is exactly the point I was just making. I don't think it's that the historical gamer is super unprepared and too lazy to RTFM, it's that the interface is kind of (in my opinion) an unintuituve, poorly documented mess.

We're ready to acknowledge that we made some radical - by 2020s standards - choices when it comes to the interface, but the level of redundancy of each function has been specifically made so as to open alternatives to many GUI habits, whether these are keyboard or mouse-based, wargame or sim-centric, etc..., a much needed approach due to the hybrid nature of this project. But let's meet in the middle - the same way it's obvious we have made choices that are more or less well-inspired (and a certain number of players do acknowledge that there's an underlying logic to them), I sort of suspect that those who complain the most loudly did not exhibit a remarkable effort in regard of reading extensively the manual or watching one of the few tutorial videos available on YT, a number of contents creators having put a few hours in them with extremely well-thought remarks.

Obviously the situation will be better once in-game tutorials roll out. We are exploring options to also provide each station with an help screen, beyond help tips. At the end of the day though, the "meat" of the GUI is here to stay, so if it clicks with people - that's great. If it doesn't, and people feel strongly about it, it's just not unfortunately the game for them. And it's very fine, it's not an universal product by any mean.

Somebody on Reddit said yesterday that Gary Grigsby might be preparing a carrier return, all hope is not lost for the genre ;)

Cheers

[Destraex]

i watched some of the historicalgamer on twitch. he was having trouble planning his first strike ie early spotting, timing, trying to cancel and re-plan etc... it's like he never played the game before and didnt do any tutorials or read the manual. i had to turn it off as it was horrible to watch.

I don't know if you've had a chance to play the demo, but this is exactly the point I was just making. I don't think it's that the historical gamer is super unprepared and too lazy to RTFM, it's that the interface is kind of (in my opinion) an unintuituve, poorly documented mess.

We're ready to acknowledge that we made some radical - by 2020s standards - choices when it comes to the interface, but the level of redundancy of each function has been specifically made so as to open alternatives to many GUI habits, whether these are keyboard or mouse-based, wargame or sim-centric, etc..., a much needed approach due to the hybrid nature of this project. But let's meet in the middle - the same way it's obvious we have made choices that are more or less well-inspired (and a certain number of players do acknowledge that there's an underlying logic to them), I sort of suspect that those who complain the most loudly did not exhibit a remarkable effort in regard of reading extensively the manual or watching one of the few tutorial videos available on YT, a number of contents creators having put a few hours in them with extremely well-thought remarks.

Obviously the situation will be better once in-game tutorials roll out. We are exploring options to also provide each station with an help screen, beyond help tips. At the end of the day though, the "meat" of the GUI is here to stay, so if it clicks with people - that's great. If it doesn't, and people feel strongly about it, it's just not unfortunately the game for them. And it's very fine, it's not an universal product by any mean.

Somebody on Reddit said yesterday that Gary Grigsby might be preparing a carrier return, all hope is not lost for the genre ;)

Cheers

Admiral. A very honest reply. I found it jarring going between rooms and getting to the external view points. Also found it hard to get into the action because I had to fast forward so much night time so slowly.
How would I fix this? With the current interface, adding a zoom feature that could zoom you both between rooms and outside of the ship would be cool. Maybe even a transparent carrier that showed rooms that you could click on to enter and then scroll back out of to choose another room. Their would have to be room labels of course.

If I press 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 I want not only to be taken to an aircraft or ship but to see a big label over it's head saying what it is doing, where it is and what task force. This is probably already in game though right? I have not played the new demo yet because nobody could tell me what had changed except their being a first person flying mode which I have no interest in coming from a simulator like DCS background. I always considered FPS mode in a strategic game to be kinda cheating.

Iirc I tried zooming to aircraft to snap to them and follow them as they took off, but it did not d o anything if it's like the old demo. Is this interface console ready btw?

I do like the idea of the game. But without being able to play the Japanese and without being able to manage your tanker fleet and grander strategy of how your carriers got into these scenarios and placement of the rest of the fleet including landing ship fleets etc, I still think the game is a game of who spots who first.               
I am one of those guys who hates canned historical scenarios whether it be ancients or carriers.

If this game is not too expensive I will probably grab it anyway, even though it is single player :P

Some people are gonna love this Admiral. Don't worry.

[The_Admiral]

Admiral. A very honest reply. I found it jarring going between rooms and getting to the external view points. Also found it hard to get into the action because I had to fast forward so much night time so slowly.

That is unfortunately very RAM-dependent indeed (the time-accel that is). Won't be easier in a Midway kind of situation with 500 aircraft around I am afraid.

Sor swapping between ships & aircraft (1-0 keys wouldn't suffice for sure) opening the left OOB panel (backspace) and using page up/page down will get you there. Camera wise, you get to orbit with enter (numpad or large enter), you release the lock (or recover it) using insert (0 numpad). When you're locked on an object, it is also highlighted in the OOB panel on the left. You can jump between these on the OOB panel too, if you don't do it in sequence using page up/down. Really, it's both keyboard & mouse friendly and there is always at least 2 converging ways to get to the same spot to do something. And no, consoles weren't a thought (and they probably won't be for this game - the next one possibly).


Really I encourage players to use modern tools in regard of these things. Uploading the manual to Notebook LM will allow you to ask questions about these things very efficiently without the added hassle to have to look for the specific info you want/need. Of course, it is only as good as the original material, and I am thinking about feeding a LM notebook a few good videos that really do the job.

As for the rest, what can I say - it really is people-specific. Literally 25% of all players who downloaded the demo (out of 40 000) played it for more than 2 hours. 14% played it for more than 5 hours. I have people who played it for 30 hours. These are deemed good numbers, above average when it comes to Steam data, and that's with perhaps 3% of the contents of the final game, and without any of the more advanced mechanics (replenishment, cloud cover, aircrew management, submarines...) yet to come. Some people just like it like that, aka a game of who spots who first. My father was an avid, experienced Silent Service 2 player, yet he only enjoyed Silent Hunter in the training session when he could use the AA guns to shoot at aircraft.

So I don't worry, but that game provides an emotionally complex experience, and we wargame & sim players are complex characters indeed. We can only have the ambition to be lucky enough to touch the interest of a minority. Will be quite nice already in itself if we get there! And that's what for the demo is here for: defuse as much as possible any risk of bitterness, so that you might know perfectly, before you get into the thick of it, what you're heading for :)

[Skoop]

I got to admit, when I tried the demo it seemed cluncky.  It won't deter me from getting the game.  The ui clunckyness will probably take some getting used to.  I actually like having the option for fps control of planes, will this be available for ships too ?  Watching the historical gamer vid, the fps plane control looked more awkward to use than it being any kind of advantage.  If you made the plane controls like war thunder, u'd probably not get any complaints.

[The_Admiral]

If you made the plane controls like war thunder, u'd probably not get any complaints.

Possibly - but we could probably get sued in stead, which is a more tricky thing to deal with than player complaints (War Thunder mouse controls are patented) 

As for the rest, that fair Aussie chap Rimmy did an 8.5-hour stream of TFA:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2662214799](https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2662214799

As he mentions himself, it took him a couple of hours in the evening to try things out and explore the functions without looking at the instructions, just to find his way around the controls and the logic (and this is not just a claim — it shows when he plays). What the video also shows is that he is using about 30% of the game's shortcuts and views as of now, and has not even realized yet that there is a direct-control option — and he is still having a lot of fun. He is an average player, like THG, from a different gaming culture, though of the same generation. Wolfpack is too, of course, but he has an extremely professional, clinical approach to controls. This goes to show how players with very different levels of familiarity with the topic and with gaming systems can experience the current build in very different ways. It may infuriate those who consider themselves aficionados, if not experts of the era and the subject, yet fail to establish an emotional connection with the game as it is now, while others do not even need to — remaining unfazed by the UI despite its unfriendly learning curve.

The game is more like a buffet: being rich and full of content does not mean you will find exactly what you are looking for, or even that you will like the way the things you usually enjoy are cooked. We tried a lot of things; not all of them were successful, but as it stands, it is a coherent piece of craftsmanship that will be improved over the coming months. It won't be to everyone's taste, but it should be good enough to, hopefully, leave a small mark on some of our players. I'm fine with that :)

Cheers

[Destraex]

A movie using your game would be great, with a few pauses to order recon or flights of bombers. I enjoy watching Tora Tora Tora and the latest midway film from time to time. Not a fan of the old Midway film with Charlton Heston though, not enough carrier action in that, I think it was just rehashed war footage which is not great at telling the story.
I cannot remember if this game has a grander campaign? A strategic layer?

Eugen's WARNO is a great example of a 500ish unit per side seamless zoom engine. I have played many a 10 v 10 where each person commands 50 or so units.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

I gave the new Midway scenario a whirl.  70+ SBD attacks on Japanese carriers for 2 hits.

Tragic...