Fh2.2 Release Tomorrow

[MrGuybrush]

Might be an idea for someone (or more) in the team do a review of FH2.2 and identify the weakness' and strengths. Evaluating competitors games and learning from their mistakes/achievements will only help TW's design direction.

I've not played FH or PR, I probably should give them a try one of these days, but finding time can be very difficult

 

[General Naga]

Cheers for the tip Guybrush. We're already doing this is a less formal manner internally but I expect we'll writeup all up before long.

 

[Fuchs]

Weakness? It has no weaknesses. Maybe historical inaccuracies sometimes and BF2 restrictions.

Oh and I shot 2 Panthers at the front with a Sherman and a Cromwell. Try to beat that, you wont

 

[Sir Apple]

Well,

All mods have weaknesses. Looking past the professionalism and quality of a mod like said Fh2, they are evidently noticeable. Some weaknesses are known... or purposely put in, but still, no mod is completely solid through out - and as a Dev I notice this not only in mods, but in every single game I've played. Not that you need to be a dev of some mod to notice .

But to be honest I only play games to look around at the art work and such... which sounds dorky, but whatever. I mean, I enjoy games but I hardly play, and when I do, I find I have trouble focusing on the mission at hand .

And now I'm going off topic *shuts up*.

 

[Fuchs]

Most things that ruin FH2 slightly is the Refractor 2 engine which just limits so much. With Source engine or whatever they could have done so much more, but then you sacrifice graphics..

 

[MrGuybrush]

Most things that ruin FH2 slightly is the Refractor 2 engine which just limits so much. With Source engine or whatever they could have done so much more, but then you sacrifice graphics..

Not to mention playercount!

I'm downloading it with the huge patch sizes for BF2 (growls). So i'll be able to join you guys and give you a game

Obviousally you'll be focussing on smaller skirmishes than the battlefield approach of FH2. But studying their map design and looking at the flaws (perhaps too much content? Steep learning curves? Lack of teamplay?) and then try and figure out methods to combat it in TW.

I'm still stunned by the amount of vehicles/weapons they have. It's staggering...

 

[Bob_Bobber0]

I'm reinstalling bf2 now, I'd be down for a game or so. would be nice to get in a chat channel or have a TW squad

 

[Sir Apple]

Not to mention playercount!

I'm downloading it with the huge patch sizes for BF2 (growls). So i'll be able to join you guys and give you a game

Obviousally you'll be focussing on smaller skirmishes than the battlefield approach of FH2. But studying their map design and looking at the flaws (perhaps too much content? Steep learning curves? Lack of teamplay?) and then try and figure out methods to combat it in TW.

I'm still stunned by the amount of vehicles/weapons they have. It's staggering...

Actually our maps are quite big, and follow much of the same battles that Fh2 team does. Not to mention our maps are far superior in detail to the normal Crysis maps. The maps we currently have in development will (theoretically) be able to hold 64 players.

We work on multiple versions of the same map - 16 player, 32 player and then, possibly, for the future, 64 player (Maniche or the mappers could explain this better, since I'm not a mapper ). The larger maps are for vehicles more or less, while the smallers would be infantry with a few vehicles in some cases.

Also you'll be seeing a ton of hand weapons in TW, as each release adds more of them to each faction of course .

 

[MrGuybrush]

Actually our maps are quite big, and follow much of the same battles that Fh2 team does. Not to mention our maps are far superior in detail to the normal Crysis maps. The maps we currently have in development will (theoretically) be able to hold 64 players.

We work on multiple versions of the same map - 16 player, 32 player and then, possibly, for the future, 64 player (Maniche or the mappers could explain this better, since I'm not a mapper ). The larger maps are for vehicles more or less, while the smallers would be infantry with a few vehicles in some cases.

Also you'll be seeing a ton of hand weapons in TW, as each release adds more of them to each faction of course .

Well unless you guys can acquire a CE2 license then you'll be stuck with 32 players m'afraid. An annoying hardcoded 'feature'.

I'd deffiantly concentrate on your 16 player maps. Bare in mind that when you do finally release, you may not have the big fanbase that you expect. Concentrating the maps on fewer players will tend to produce more engaging fights and better atmosphere. But thats just my take on it

It ultimatly boils down to your fanbase and whether or not they want to play by the rules or decide to cause chaos and just rambo. If you stick to smaller maps then it helps promote managable clan matches (8v8's) as an example. Clans really help preserve the games longevity as they provide a professional player base.

Anyhoo, I've finally got FH2 installed (after BF2 gave me all kinds of issues!!)

 

[Bob_Bobber0]

still waiting for that 2 gog patch 1.5 to download...lol 25%

 

[Sir Apple]

The maps won't be 16 (well the smaller version will be) player size .

Well, the reason we are going with large, 32 sized maps, and small infantry 16 sized player maps (which would be a smaller version of the 32 obviously) is so that the maps can rotate per player count on said server.

As said in the mods description, you should note that we are not designing this mod around the basis that all other mods for Crysis Wars use. This mod is not going to be the typical close quarters, run n' gun rambo shooter. We are creating a realism mod/historical accuracy. The realism term covers things like, limited weapon kits, no weapon upgrades, preset kits, no Nanosuit, no bunny hopping and the list just goes on.

The maps are created from WW2 maps of the area, improvised in areas when needed, but in the end, we are keeping them at a bigger size so that the player has his own choices of attack. I hate that Call of Duty type **** where the players start out 50 yards or less from each other. Thats not how war works... combat just simply does not work like that. If for instance, the Germans are holding an occupied town, then the British need to attack the CPs. The British main uncap base may be several hundred yards away - especially if there are vehicles.

Traction Wars is going to be a large adjustment for Crysis community gamers. The players are defiantly going to need to adjust to Normandy in this sense, because it is not going to at all be what they are used to. We don't expect to have a huge fan base when we first release. But we aren't going to hinder ourselves because of this, mainly because we have great confidence that we will have a nice sized fan base after first release.

Bare in mind we are already keeping it Infantry only for first release.

 

[MrGuybrush]

After 2 hours of playing last night. When you've got a full 64 player server its brilliant, very difficult as you tend to get sniped from knowhere as soon as you pop your head up. I like the weapons, some of them require alot of skill to use but they still have good weapons to start you off playing.

My main grumble is the pace of the mod is far too fast. Mainly due to the large maps that require time to cross to get to the next CP point. I would be very tempted to try and get rid of CP points altogether and come up with a different system. As players all tend to race over to the CP's too fast and become exposed ruining your sneaky cover.

It's great fun though, will be playing it more often I think

Offtopicish:

One idea we had at Firststrike (which unfortunatly we couldn't incoporate due to engine limitations) was to produce a grid of CPs that would be invisible. As you moved through an area you'd capture the CPs and own the area (you can only capture area adjacent to your own). Some of these invisible CP's would be key objectives (like a vehicle factory, or a village square) where you'd be rewarded with vehicles. Others will offer you spawn points. But all the CP's will give you a point return, some will be minimal whilst others will provide you with big point returns.

Naturally to combat the rambos running around the map capturing all the CP's you'd do a team capture feature, where you'd need 3 or more people to capture a CP. This way you'd create a natural frontline in the map. Where the entire map would become the battlefield not just a few select areas.

This should also help promote people sticking together as they can only win the map by moving forward together and capturing territory. We made a demo run of this at Firststrike but we were limited to 16 CP and we had issues with displaying the progress on the map, as the icons wouldn't scale as you zoomed in/out. Worth thinking about though because it was brilliant fun and really helped to condense the action in larger maps.

 

[Fuchs]

Not to mention playercount!

I'm downloading it with the huge patch sizes for BF2 (growls). So i'll be able to join you guys and give you a game

Obviousally you'll be focussing on smaller skirmishes than the battlefield approach of FH2. But studying their map design and looking at the flaws (perhaps too much content? Steep learning curves? Lack of teamplay?) and then try and figure out methods to combat it in TW.

I'm still stunned by the amount of vehicles/weapons they have. It's staggering...

Lack of teamplay is your own fault, search a good squad, theres usually a squad with the name 'Teamwork' or fight side a side with a clan, like people with the [130.Pz] tags.

You can never have too much content in my opinion.. And to steep learning curves: read the manual

 

[VonMudra]

I personally love games with steep learning curves

 

[Fuchs]

It's more of a challenge yes. Yesterday I played Resistance and Liberation for the first time and I really like it. I still suck at it and don't understand alot of things but the realism is intense and I managed to shoot a German!

 

[Sir Apple]

I like a longer learning curve as well. Typically it draws out the more dedicated players, and removes the smartass's.

 

[Bob_Bobber0]

Finally played my first couple games last night. It ws pretty fun, although I found myself walking around following ppl alot. The fighting we did see got intense, especially when the whole team converged on a german outpost.

The only thing I cant stand is those damn bf2 notifications

"Enemy Spotted""Enemy Spotted""Enemy Spotted""Enemy Spotted""Enemy Spotted""Enemy Spotted""Enemy Spotted""Enemy Spotted""Enemy Spotted""Enemy Spotted""Enemy Spotted""Enemy Spotted""Enemy Spotted""Enemy Spotted""Enemy Spotted"

People spam the crap out of them..is there a way to turn that audio off? I would love to get a game up with some people soon though.

 

[MrGuybrush]

Well i've played FH2 a fair few times now. In general its very good, some of the maps are pretty boring mind. Cagny, Pointe Du Hock and Lebisey are the best Normandy maps, really interesting gameplay each time I play and just about the right map size for 64 players.

I'm really awful in tanks, much prefer to play as infantry and tend to play with the binocular kit (top one). When people play in squads its fantastic and as long as you don't charge around the map like a moron its actually very easy to play.

It'll be interesting to test out how TW plays out with more vegetation and personally, i'd open up every building. But give the mapper the option to add locked/barricaded doors. That way you have to watch EVERY window rather than just the odd few that you know are open.

 

[Fuchs]

I suggested that about the buildings Guybrush but it was denied.

Anyway, Totalize is by far the best with Goodwood as second, I'm an infantryman born and raised but I love Totalize. Ambushing tanks, grabbing a plane once in a while, take a silly tank.

 

[MrGuybrush]

I suggested that about the buildings Guybrush but it was denied.

Oh well TW can fix that issue

Anyway, Totalize is by far the best with Goodwood as second, I'm an infantryman born and raised but I love Totalize. Ambushing tanks, grabbing a plane once in a while, take a silly tank.

Not really fond of Totalize, i've played it a number of times and I think its a little too big really for my legs. That may change however if I start to play more in tanks/planes but currently its near the bottom of my map list.

I do find it annoying that normal infantry can't spot people/tanks/planes etc. I do understand the reasoning, but I tend to find the binoculars useful for scouting out an area before trying to cross an open field.

The only other pet peev (which not alot can be done about) is being killed as soon as you spawn. It's bloody annoying! But thats the flaw with spawn points m'afraid so not alot can be done about that.