Review August-04-2012 of my experience with Carrier Command

[Antares]

Well, first I played Carrier Command on the Amiga and I liked it.

So far so good. This game is awesome, with regard to the gfx and the sound. The gameplay itself is ok. The pros in short:

- A bit more depth to conquer the islands. You can´t drop a virus bomb, or the produce plant box anywhere and you have won the island.
- The carrier has sufficient firepower itself and is less vulnerable
- The Mantas are nice. I liked the lift sequence when they get launched.
- The Walrus are nice. And very good on terrain and in the water. I liked the sequence when they are dropped by the carrier.
- The free roam feature is more than welcome. Reminds me Hostile Waters....


The cons in short:
- The Mantas can not fly after the carrier and maybe overtake it to land while the carrier is still moving at slower speed in automatic.
- The Walrus can not swim after the carrier to dock while the carrier is still moving.
- The carrier cannot be programmed, to run at slower speed, instead of maximum speed.
- The Mantas can not be programmed which altitude or speed they shall fly.
- The Walrus can not be programmed which speed they shall swim or drive.
- When hovering the mantas are difficult to handle. Hard to aim because the nose tips up and down. (with the mouse/trackball/Keyboard)
- The queue and the production times are awful long. I played hours without mantas and walrusses. Or better I stared on the queue, waiting to finish producing a plasma or fuel etc....

The problems:
- Saving is a problem, User-savings cause the beta to crash sometimes.
- The destroyed enemy carrier, is after I destroyed it, and wanted to continue the strategy game, again back. In the original game, after destroing the enemy carrier, you had only to face the islands.

Summary: I like this new edition of Carrier Command very much. And I hope I get a stable finished game. Please without steam support.
I played the 50% resources, 50% enemy islands in the game from start. At this time, I conquered almost all islands, but the enemy carrier conquered my stockpile island and has another island on his side.

That would all from me now. Keep up the good work. The graphic is very very good. Especially the water effects. Great. I have a ATI Radeon 4650 on a DELL Notebook 1745. 2.5 ghz, Win XP Home, Runs ok. Almost like Hostile Waters.

Bye.

[Antares]

I never used the command wheel. I used always the keys and my trusty Trackball. I have a gamepad but I do not use it. I like the keyboard, and I use it with Hostile Waters, too. And of course other games on my PC. The only games I use with a gamepad, are Dreamfall: The longest Journey and Flight Simulator 9: A century in Flight.

But of course on the Amiga, I played Carrier Command with the mouse. It does not count, though, because you had there, an entire other Interface between Carrier, Mantas, Walrusses etc... and the Player. For example you could use a arrow on the screen to aim the lasers of Mantas, Carrier etc.

If I may make a suggestion, you should realy look at the command interface of Hostile Waters from Rage in 2001. Though it is eleven years old, it still captures me. Of course it was not perfect, for instance you had to disconnect the gamepad or you could not play the game with the mouse/trackball. And the plot was different.

I like the plot of Gaea Mission very much. The idea on a fight on a other planet is much more better. I look forward to see the campaign. Must be very exciting.

[Dram]

Hi Antares,

Many of the issues you wrote above have been addressed and fixed. Unfortunately some remain, but we are hoping to further fix as much as possible. Just to clarify regarding production times, please bear in mind that you only have a handful of islands in the beta. In the full version, where there are 33, you have more then enough islands to contend with. As production rate is influenced both by the amount of islands and the mining/production rate slider at the start of a new game (disabled in the beta), then you will easily be able to speed up these times.

[Antares]

Thanks Dram for your kind reply.

And now... Here I am again, I played the beta now half a dozen times at least, and I like it every time a little better. I can report that soldiers with riffles are already in the beta. Only a few but their out there.... Of course against a walrus, they do not have a chance. :-P . But their are very bold and attacking.

I love the end credits movie with "carrier command" sculpted in the ground. Great work.