BattlecryofFreedom (ACW,FPS,companies of bots to control) - Anybody tried demo?

[Destraex]

Just curious about what people thought of battlecry of freedom. I just had a quick go of the demo as it is $1 or so on steam special atm. Apparently it's all about you as the commander of a company of bots. It reminds me of mount and blade warband napoleonics mod more than anything.
The dev is european like war of rights dev is.

For me though the appeal is that their seems to be napoleonic wars baked into the game.

Apparently the free demo is the full game minus access to some units. So no reason not to have a go I guess. My friends and I will be playing with this game methinks.

Holdfast by the way is what I was looking for an alternative for. I really want war of rights napoleonic wars. Perhaps battlecry of freedom is a stop gap?

P.S. Apparently the server population is dead at the moment. Some people still play and their are a tonne of bots that fill out the server. But I think perhaps the studio was affected by the recent war?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1358710/Battle_Cry_of_Freedom/

[JasonPratt]

Also interested in impressions. I can play 'bots' of course in Scourge of War (as well as multiplayer with bot command, although mp is goofy to get up and going). Really hoping the SoW devs will modernize and expand that system, but meanwhile...

[Destraex]

I agree with you Jason. I'd be playing Scourge of War waterloo and civil war much more regularly if the devs got a new engine that did terrain in a passable fashion. Terrain is so important to games like these but in scourge of war they can't even draw trees without maxing the engine out.

[Vox]

? I played  the entire civil war SOW series, all default terrains, plus dozens of specific scenario terrains plus over a 100 random generated terrains and never had serious issue that I can remember. Mostly SP.
PC build: Win7 64bit Home, i3-6320 3.9 GHz, ASRock Z270 MB, DDR4 16GB, Samsung 2x SSDs, GeForce GTX 1660 6GB

I haven't  played  SOW Waterloo series much,  but I do remember some problems around buildings.

[ArizonaTank]

Just curious about what people thought of battlecry of freedom.

I really like the commander mode, where your character commands a company of bots (about 30-40 I think, but I have never counted).

It's a completely different experience (from other FPSMMOs) to be worried about how to navigate your formation. When to go to column, when to charge, do you use volley fire, etc.

The game offers almost exactly the same experience that the old Mount and Blade Napoleonic commander mode offered. Except that Battlecry has much better graphics, great period music, and very nice maps. The devs also tried hard to model historically correct weapons and uniforms.

In the commander mode, there aren't many human players. Usually less than a dozen on each side. But it turns out that that is a good number.

My only wishes for the game would be to:
1)  Model morale. Right now, your unit can stand in line, in a cornfield and happily be gunned down to the man.
2)  A way to better coordinate actions with your human team mates. Right now, you just have to march to the sound of to guns, then try to figure out on your own how best to help your team mates.

Still I really like the game.

Value for money: The game is on sale for $2 right now, and I think that is a ridiculously great price.

Regarding the SOW series, I like it as well. But the AIs constant shifting of lines, sometimes at strange angles, really throws off my suspension of disbelief. So while I own all of the games, I rarely play them.

[Grim.Reaper]

I hear about the use of bots but the game isn't listed as single player.  Are folks suggesting this can be played in single player mode?  If so, I may give it a try.

[Destraex]

Yeah was just playing and the baked in napoleonic mod that is an official server is nowhere near finished. No square formation and no cavalry etc. As for the bots, yeah they could do with moral, what's that heart symbol for? Moral? For sure they never run away and seem to be able to see through smoke and walls.

[ArizonaTank]

I hear about the use of bots but the game isn't listed as single player.  Are folks suggesting this can be played in single player mode?  If so, I may give it a try.

Sadly, no off-line modes against bots. However, there are online modes against bots where it does not matter if you have any other humans on or not. Anyway, if you are curious...I would say buy it. The worse thing would be that you lose $2 if you don't like it.

[Gusington]

^Similar to Tannenberg, Verdun, etc?

[Grim.Reaper]

I hear about the use of bots but the game isn't listed as single player.  Are folks suggesting this can be played in single player mode?  If so, I may give it a try.

Sadly, no off-line modes against bots. However, there are online modes against bots where it does not matter if you have any other humans on or not. Anyway, if you are curious...I would say buy it. The worse thing would be that you lose $2 if you don't like it.

Thanks, looks like already returned to regular price. Maybe next time.

[Destraex]

Grim, the demo is the full game minus some minor things as I understand it. Unless the demo has been taken down after the game got set to normal price.

[JasonPratt]

Wait wait wait, back up: SoW has random gen terrain?! Is that a mod? I don't recall that being in either Nappy or ACW... (Much less Take Command.)