Leviathan Warships Pre-order

[JasonPratt]

There is indeed at least one campaign set which can be played offline. (Although I haven't taken Steam offline to play it completely offline, just "offline" ingame. I'm downloading other stuff.)

I like it. Moving the ship in a way to confuse enemy gunners while maximizing firepower per 10 seconds without running into things... very nice. The ships rotate centrally when at rest, but appear to have some rudder effects under speed -- considering that they have lasers, I'll grant that they may be able to rotate at rest. I suppose theoretically the rotate-at-rest command could be deactivated or forbidden for multiplayer matches...?

Sort of reminds me of what a multiplayer version of MechCommander might have been (or could still be) if the turns resolved simultaneously like Combat Mission.

(The MechComs might have had multiplayer components, but I wasn't in a position to ever play them that way so if they did I've forgotten.)

[TheCommandTent]

Downloading it now.  Hopefully get to try it out tomorrow.

[Gusington]

I poked around for a bit and was befuddled as what I should do...I suppose I should try the tutorials...

[JasonPratt]

The controls are fairly straightforward once explained, but I can see how not playing the tutorial might lead to confusion.

[spelk]

I've only played a very brief session on it, but I like it. It's straightforward, drag the nav to plot your course, click on each weapon system and see the range, and drag to target if you want specific fire, or leave it on auto-fire. Manoeuvre into position, use defensive shields whilst bringing your available guns to bear on the enemy. The four tech I've seen in the tutorial are shields, mines, cloaks and radar (spotting enemy outside of visual range).

Imagine if the Steam and Iron engine had a more historical lick of paint from this UI - we'd be in WWI naval action heaven!

[Barthheart]

I managed to get the first mission in the solo campaign done last night. You only get one ship to take out 6 or 7 enemy. Took me 4 tries. Mostly because I was not patient enough.
No run and run this.

You need to draw out each enemy and then maneuver so his shots miss and you keep your broadside to his bow or stern.

So far it's fun. Should be a blast when they get MP working with the iPad version.

[Gusington]

Spelk what you describe above is exactly the droid I'm looking for. Maybe with mods this can be transformed into something more historical.

[JasonPratt]

I managed to get the first mission in the solo campaign done last night. You only get one ship to take out 6 or 7 enemy. Took me 4 tries. Mostly because I was not patient enough.
No run and run this.

You need to draw out each enemy and then maneuver so his shots miss and you keep your broadside to his bow or stern.

I found the first mission was more effective when I maneuvered to roll the various turrets in sequence toward the targets I wanted. That way while my broadside was reloading, my tailguns were shooting and my other broadsides were finishing out the round getting off a shot. Made it harder for them to hit me that way, too, especially if I was moving while turning. (Occasionally I'd stop moving when all my guns were in decent range and just jet-rotate or however the game fluff would explain that. ;) )

I should explain that the ship on the first mission starts with eight guns, each with limited firing arcs, two on each side front back left and right. Not like a line of main turrets with >180 degrees: a broadside alignment accomplishes nothing (except possibly keeping the two strongest mounts out of action), and the raiders and speedboats of this mission all have more and/or stronger guns facing forward. So capping their T presents them with the most targets for their greatest concentration of firepower at possibly less advantage to your firepower. (I'd have to check the calcs as to which ones among the two initial kinds have the best accurate damage rates.)

There is an oblique broadside angle that opens up three mounts, narrowly, for the opening cruiser, but it's hard to get and even harder to maintain, and I found that rotating my ship various ways pumped four to five or even six mounts per round at my target. Take advantage of the opportunity of turn-based pausing to assign enemy turrets as targets, and the ratio of my damage to their damage increases significantly very quickly. Who cares if they aren't sunk yet, so long as my attack ratio compared to theirs keeps going up? -- the AI (so far) doesn't try to unmask other batteries when the first ones are damaged.

(Or maybe I sink the enemies too fast for them to bring their undamaged guns to bear. I can't quite tell, but I don't think I saw the light raiding cruisers try to do more than basic maneuvers, not tactical assault maneuvers. The speedboats move around the map quickly enough to unmask other turrets anyway; so that could be accidental.)

[Barthheart]

All good points Jason. Thanks. 8)

I'm basically a land lubber so my sailing tactics are a bit off.  :P

[LongBlade]

All good points Jason. Thanks. 8)

I'm basically a land lubber so my sailing tactics are a bit off.  :P

These naval skirmish games require thinking a couple of moves ahead. It can be an adjustment from ground tactics to naval tactics. Same idea, only different.

[TheCommandTent]

All good points Jason. Thanks. 8)

I'm basically a land lubber so my sailing tactics are a bit off.  :P

These naval skirmish games require thinking a couple of moves ahead. It can be an adjustment from ground tactics to naval tactics. Same idea, only different.

I can't remember the last time I played a naval game so this will take some getting use to.  So far I suck at it but it is fun on the PC and I can see it being fun on a tablet as well.

[LongBlade]

What's really cool is it's compatible cross-platform. So we can play on tablets, phones, and PCs. This is an excellent design decision.

[steve58]

^Maybe once they get their server issues cleared up.  Seems oddly reminiscent of the recent SimCity fiasco, but not quite as bad.

p.s.  I'm in no rush to see her go, but shouldn't "Redshirt" Mona have "passed" by now?  :P

[LongBlade]

p.s.  I'm in no rush to see her go, but shouldn't "Redshirt" Mona have "passed" by now?  :P

Heh. Maybe she just shows up in Kirk's quarters now and again instead of going on away teams...   8)

[Tuna]

What's really cool is it's compatible cross-platform. So we can play on tablets, phones, and PCs. This is an excellent design decision.

Android too! Woo Whoo!