Victory at Sea anyone heard of this one ?

[Boggit]

I think he was making that quote up. FFS I really do not understand all the negative waves here.

I agree with Flickjax. :)

I've suggested to the developer that he signs up as a forum member to give you guys some feedback directly. He seems a nice guy, so please give him a chance to say his piece before you tear into him... :o

[SgtRock]

I think he was making that quote up. FFS I really do not understand all the negative waves here.

Guess you never heard of James Dunnigan, then.

[Boggit]

I think he was making that quote up. FFS I really do not understand all the negative waves here.

Guess you never heard of James Dunnigan, then.

I know of him, own and have played games designed by him, and own and have read one of his books. What is the connection?

[undercovergeek]

grognards  :P

[Nefaro]

grognards  :P

This is the cause for all gaming consternation in these parts.

I don't think this sounds too bad.  Probably because I'm a whore for Sandbox strategy and naval warfare themes.

[SgtRock]

grognards  :P

What did you expect, Cheese Heads? :D

What is the connection?

James Dunnigan's Victory at sea this ain't, that's the connection!

[Boggit]

grognards  :P

What did you expect, Cheese Heads? :D

What is the connection?

James Dunnigan's Victory at sea this ain't, that's the connection!

Oh, I see! No, this is nothing to do with "that" Victory at Sea (if you'll excuse the pun ;))

This is what James at Evil Twin Artworks emailed me:

A bit about the background behind making the game and us as a team.

We always wanted to try something a little different, and a little more epic, but being an indie, Scale was an issue. We are all round gamers (board and video) and as Swindon Developers we became friendly with local Tabletop Battle game publishers Mongoose.
Through this relationship we got the rights to make Victory At Sea based on their tabletop battle game of the same name. This gave us access to ship stats and facts that we just wouldn't have been able to pull together. But Of course we wanted to do something different with it! We were inspired by books and movies like Das Boot, where the Submarine Commander knew he couldn't win the war on his own, his only concern was keeping his men alive. His decisions affected the story of that U-Boat. With our game we have created a living breathing world to explore. The Germans will be attacking convoys in the Atlantic, the Americans will be trying to take back the Pacific one Island at a time and Malta will be desperately trying to survive with the British trying to get supplies through the Axis lines. In this world the player starts as a Destroyer Captain, and the decisions they make create their own story as WWII happens around them. Also It helps as we don't need to make loads of missions, the game works it out as it goes along!

With regards your questions- there are 3 campaigns.  The Campaign environments are populated with shipping, ports and planes which are constantly being sent out to attack, supply etc. Each has it's own set of objectives in order to progress. The Atlantic for example, the convoys heading across the Atlantic will need to be protected in order to trigger the overall campaign goals, just attacking France would get a bit messy!
In the Pacific the main goal is to take the islands back in order to launch the final missions against Japan (Sending the bomb)
In the Med you have to keep the supply routes open across the main British held ports and begin the counter attack.

The release date is currently August 8th on Desktop platforms with the mobile release in the Autumn.

Valve have just approved it for release so the Steam Store page for victory At Sea is here
http://store.steampowered.com/app/298480


To be perfectly honest, I think this game probably has much more than meets the eye and merits further investigation as it gets closer to release. I think it will probably turn out to be much better than first indications suggest. 8)

[Tuna]

grognards  :P

What did you expect, Cheese Heads? :D

What is the connection?

James Dunnigan's Victory at sea this ain't, that's the connection!

That's what the title reminded me off.. I remember the album in our house when I was a kid in the 60's.. My Old Man served in the Pacific.

[GDS_Starfury]

grognards  :P

damn straight!  if a ship is going to have a health bar then link to the ship DC parties and make that a separate skill that gets better over time.

[GDS_Starfury]

in the same line of thinking a ships crew could have improvable skills covering the following:
gunnery
anti aircraft
damage control
engineering
piloting
fire fighting

[jameseviltwin]

Hi all,
         I am the developer. (Well one of 5 of us!) It's great to see the debate that's going on. Thanks for those of you supporting us, I know it's not going to be for everyone, especially as we haven't done a straight RTS or straight full on sim, it is always going to divide the room! This game is a labour of love at the moment, we've all bitten off more than we can chew and we are really going for it so can't wait to show you the full game! It has gone form a small skirmish game to a pretty huge strategy with 3 large campaigns, an historical mode and a point battle mode.
To answer some of your questions all the combat rules are straight from Mongoose Publishing's Victory At Sea. Mongoose's game for those who have played it is designed to allow players to control several ships at once without losing track of all the stats. It's more of a fast paced (from a rules point of view rather than ship speed!) tabletop strategy game.
The ships take damage but depending on location individual weapons and engines can be damaged or destroyed.
Individual captains have a separate skill ratings which increase with general experience.
If you can enter a friendly port you can get ships repaired, otherwise it's trying to keep out of the enemy LOS long enough to get to one.
All ships in the fleet you eventually build will have different commands and weapon capabilities. You can customise your fleet as much as you want. The commands cover Attack, Defend, Patrol, hold fast and withdraw allowing each ship to have it's own set of orders in combat.
The game has an RTS element to it but it also has a time slider to slow combat right down to a crawl to allow players to command individual ships quickly.
We didn't want the campaign to be like Axis And Allies or something like that (My brother and I are avid A&A players) where you control all the fleets in the entire Campaign. We wanted your character to build up with World War 2 going on around you. So we have developed what we called the "Tide Of War" where ports are supplied by convoys, ships are sent out to patrol and harass enemy shipping etc. All this is happening while you develop your strategies. In the Atlantic you could for example to just command a fleet of Destroyers and hunt the subs attacking the convoys going to Britain. It would take a foolhardy Captain to just go straight for Europe with a small Fleet! Each campaign has it's own goals and strategies to achieve ultimate victory.As in real life, the Atlantic Campaign is very different to the Pacific. Please post here if you have any more questions or clarifications! You can also see our new Steam Page here! http://store.steampowered.com/app/298480

[FlickJax]

Thanks for coming on to the forum, James.

[jameseviltwin]

No problems! Happy to chat about anything!

[jomni]

Nice setting. Hope it turns out as immersive as it sounds.

[jameseviltwin]

Nice setting. Hope it turns out as immersive as it sounds.

Thanks we are battling through now to get a viewable version. Yes I have been playing the Pacific Campaign for hours right now. As in the real campaign there is no quick fix (Believe me as part of playtesting I did try just sailing to Japan, didn't get near it before my fleet was blown out of the water) For the Pacific you have to start to starve the supplies and island hop.