Carrier Command (ported to the 21st century by Bohemia IA)

[ArizonaTank]

Pathfinding aside, I am having fun with this game.  I just wish there was a more solid infantry component, even if they were just droids. It would be fun to load them up into walruses and mantis's and land them around islands.  You could come up with some pretty exciting amphibious invasions with vertical envelopment if you could do this.

The thing I don't understand is that you can run around outside of your vehicle in the early campaign, but then the game doesn't let you do that in the strategy game.

But as everyone has said, the campaign is garbage.

I am also having fun with the strategy game....  Just took an island where the command center was on a plateau next to a high oceanside cliff.  I used a bunch of mantas with hooks to fly up the cliff and drop in wallys near the command center  Flying them in from the carrier to a hot LZ was pretty good air assault action.  Once I got them all down, I started flying air cover for the wallys, I slogged my way in to hack it.  Pretty hairy, intense fun.... 

I haven't seen any major pathing problems yet.  Did have one wally get stuck behind a road block, but was able to hook it out with an manta.

I can see the game might seem a little one dimensional at first....but use all those lovely tools they give you, and it becomes pretty fun.

[Jarhead0331]

The thing I don't understand is that you can run around outside of your vehicle in the early campaign, but then the game doesn't let you do that in the strategy game.

Its almost as if they had planned on including more infantry/FPS combat in the game, but ran out of time to implement it the way they wanted...

[MikeGER]

i wish i could do a commando-op (maybe with 1 to 4 droids in escort, like in Arma) infiltrate and raid a research facility to steal a blueprint, instead of taking the whole island first ... or knockin out a nasty AAA/AT-nest which is a critical element blocking my planned assault route on an island.

i had lots of nasty pathfinding situations (depending poorly on the island map in use) ... don't expect that a Walrus make it in orchestrated timeframe to help out one battered up at the frontline.  Mantas have no situational awareness of self preservation (i programmed a attack on a building from the sea and its slowly drifts closer and closer on a half-circle around the target while blasting away until in reach of a AAA finally, which was clealy on the map from the beginning, Damnit) ... also an emergency dock-command take some time until it has sunk in into the AI's mind turning the plane in no hurry  ...and surly not going NOS on the way out.   

I have fun with CC GM but i have  immersivly tell myself: "the automated vehicles are driven by stolen hacked experimental software from the enemy  ...and that has to be taken into account when planing all ops"

the good thing is that you can jump in, help out, the old route/order chain  will be still in its RAM,  hit 'Execute',  ...and the rest will be back on auto. 

well, in real life   NEVER  buy any car that had driving/parking-assistants or a sat-nav gadget with a Bohemia Interactive software stamp on it  ;) 

....now we know how Bohemia's guys ended up near a Greek Military installation on Lesbos when they had actually just planed to take some tourist pictures of the fishermen's harbor, or the blonds on the beach ;)                     

[ArizonaTank]

I have fun with CC GM but i have  immersivly tell myself: "the automated vehicles are driven by stolen hacked experimental software from the enemy  ...and that has to be taken into account when planing all ops"

the good thing is that you can jump in, help out, the old route/order chain  will be still in its RAM,  hit 'Execute',  ...and the rest will be back on auto. 
               

I actually have not been playing in a way that depends too much on automation.  I agree the friendly and enemy AI should be much better. 

[undercovergeek]

reminds me of Hostile Waters - i liked that game

[Huw the Poo]

reminds me of Hostile Waters - i liked that game

Hostile Waters was a stunning game.  Really well made.  Hmm...I wonder if my retail copy works on Win7-64...

[Huw the Poo]

I've played a bit of the demo and have actually really liked what I've seen.  Except for the on-foot bits, obviously.  However, even in the short demo the woeful AI is there to see.  Manta AI seems fine so far, but Walrus AI is awful.  They usually get to where they've been ordered to go, but sometimes they get stuck on a piece of scenery for quite a while.  This can make all the difference in battle.

[Huw the Poo]

Hmm.  Another issue is that whenever I issue a dock order to one unit, they all proceed to dock.  How irritating!

[Jarhead0331]

Hmm.  Another issue is that whenever I issue a dock order to one unit, they all proceed to dock.  How irritating!

Hmmm...that must be a problem limited to the demo.  I have not experienced that in the full release build.

[Huw the Poo]

Well that's something, at least.  Now there's just the pathfinding to sort out.  Besides that I've been quite pleased with it; it's pretty much what I wanted from a modern remake of a game I loved so much as a kid.  It tests my PC to its limits though.  In fact I'm amazed my embarrassingly under-specced rig can run it at all.

[Huw the Poo]

Look at this review on Strategy Informer.  It's fucking awful.  It feels like it was written in five minutes.  There's no mention of:

- What the vehicles are like to control
- What you do in strategic view
- What you do in first person view
- Production (requirements? limitations? timescales? viability?)
- Multiplayer or lack thereof
- Controlling the carrier
- What is the enemy carrier like?  Is it a fair fight?
- What the opposition is like in general (enemy air/ground units, are they the same, differences etc)
- How the campaign is structured
- What a typical session is like, how it plays
- Is it hard?  Easy?  Are there customisable difficulty settings?
- What are the controls like?
- Graphics, sound
- Aim of the game, in either campaign or skirmish mode

...the list goes on and on.  I'm left none the wiser.  This "review" tells me absolutely - NOTHING - that I need to know.  This is one of the worst reviews I've ever read in my life.  If you can't be arsed, stop writing.

Is this normal for Strategy Informer?

[MengJiao]

Pathfinding aside, I am having fun with this game.  I just wish there was a more solid infantry component, even if they were just droids. It would be fun to load them up into walruses and mantis's and land them around islands.  You could come up with some pretty exciting amphibious invasions with vertical envelopment if you could do this.

I've been enjoying this game -- mostly thanks to advice here to skip the campaign.  The Strategic game (so far at least -- I've only taken one island) has been a lot of fun.  I haven't had any control issues and when (as happened once or twice) pathfinding goes bad, I just take over the lost Walrus and get it to a spot the AI can handle.  This is one remake that is a huge improvement.  The original carrier command was pretty clunky.  I love the weather and terrain and waves and other effects in Bohemia's version.

[Huw the Poo]

Well I picked this up in the Steam sale at last.

The good news:

Especially for a fan of the original, this game is a stunning recreation.  Everything's there, and everything's better.  It's exhilarating to launch a group of units and take control of one, hurtling toward your target island and avoiding incoming fire while the other units join the attack.  This is an extremely faithful remake (I don't play the campaign obviously) and in my opinion really captures the feel of the original.  It's far better than I'd dared hope.

Significantly, I haven't encountered a single pathfinding issue yet.  It appears to be fixed at last.

The bad news:

This is the first game in a very, very long time that just seems to randomly crash.  Anyone on my Steam friends list will have witnessed, tonight, "Huw is playing Carrier Command: Gaea Mission" pop up on their screens countless times.  That's because it was crashing every five goddamn minutes.  I really need to see what I can do to fix this.

[Huw the Poo]

With a heavy heart, I have requested a refund from Steam.  Apparently my CPU isn't up to the task, although Bohemia also suggested upgrading my video card driver.  I did just that and no longer get the random lockups, however I'm now subject to the same "access violation" errors that seem to be plaguing other players, and I've had enough.

It's a damn shame because I was otherwise really enjoying CCGM.  It's a loving remake and I was having an absolute blast. :( :( :(

[JudgeDredd]

Can you request a refund from Steam? I thought not...