Nails077

I would like to know what the plans are for Carrier Command post release. Will there be new content coming for it such as new equipment or even new kinds of Mantas and Walruses with different specs, or even a new carrier type with different capabilities? Any plans for adding new game modes?

Actually I did account for that. While I do agree that the wheel animation is too quick when turning to the point of looking silly, the walrus still slides too much. Following the AI as it drives along it does look a bit better since the AI seems to have analog control over the steering as opposed to the players full or nothing steering. Sometimes if a surface is even slightly uneven the walrus might turn the opposite way of the way you are turning. I have observed an AI controlled walrus trying to do a full left turn and it very much struggled to stop itself from turning right. Also try turning while using the turbo and you are pretty much guaranteed to end up going backwards.

Just ran into a bug that seems highly uncommon, but might be tied into why AI controlled units sometimes do not fire when they should. It was during a battle with the enemy carrier and I had already destroyed all its mantas, walruses, and most of its defensive guns. I sent in all my own units to attack it at once, including the carrier. The carrier however never fired its weapons even though it was well in range. I took direct control of the carrier weapons and switched to a defensive gun facing in the direction of the enemy carrier. I noticed that sometimes the gun would fire on its own without me pulling the trigger. It always happened when I was aiming for a certain point, where the AI would normally fire on it. So the AI was firing the gun when I was manually aiming for the point it wanted to fire on, but it was not automatically aiming or firing when I switched to control of a different unit. It seems as if some AI components do not toggle state properly between AI and player control.

I agree that it is not a bad deal compared to a kickstarter campaign, but in that comparison you are also not expecting to get more than words from that. I think some people in the P&C deal feel decieved because they got the impression that more intimate communication with the developers was a part of the deal too. It is easy to forget what it is you really do get when you think there is something missing. Then you tend to focus on that. In the end I do think we are getting a pretty good deal too.

I have been wondering for some time now what goes into the second slot on the walrus equip screen. There is nothing in the version we get to test that goes there, but it looks like it is meant for the large weapons equipped on the back section but those are equipped in slot 1 also. I understand why you can't have a weapon mounted on top of the cabin in front while you have a tank gun on the back, since that would get in the way of the tank gun barrel. However it does look like the AA weapons and missiles would not be hindered by having an additional weapon. Is the design intended to allow for two weapons on walruses in certain cases? Is slot 2 going to be used for the larger weapons then with certain weapons (H.E.A.T. plasma, shell) requiring slot 1 to be empty? If walruses are never intended to be allowed to carry 2 different weapons of any sort ever, wouldn't slot 2 make for a natural place to have the internal upgrades such as scanners? That way it would allow for a walrus to equip a gadget while carrying a capsule. I understand I will probably see how it works in the final game release, but I am curious about what you intend to do with the walrus equipment setup.

I hope that a lot of suggestions will have been implemented and/or fixed by the time of the full release. If most suggestions have been ignored then that is terrible. If the suggestions have been looked at and discussed by the development team, then some acknowlegement would be in order. I believe a lot of people find the lack of communication upsetting. We want some feedback on our feedback if you will. As many problems as there are with the beta version I have been playing, I have still had a lot of fun with it, and am really looking forward to the finished product. While some design decisions are quite disappointing (instanced islands. lack of control of how to approach an island...), it all still seems it might come together as a very nice game. The one thing that breaks the game the most at the moment is the pathfinding problems and the suicidal AI that takes over the moment you drop direct control of a nunit. If those can be fixed I think this will be a very enjoyable game even if the islands are instanced instead of having one big seamless ocean. I really really do want one big seamless ocean, but not having that is not going to stop me from enjoying the game. I do hope that this game will do really really well. Well enough to spawn sequels or additional re-envisionings perhaps.

OMG at 2:11 a Star Destroyer in the sky!

So this means there is no point in reporting issues on the feedback tracker anymore then?

Just kind of a funny story that serves as a good example at how silly the pathfinding problems can get. This scenario starts with a full on beach assault. I send in everything I have. All the walruses go in first. Two of them have anti tank guns, and one of them is AA, and one has a repair gun. Immediately I take control of Manta 4 and have the other mantas assist me, and use them to cover the walruses from the air. All resistance on and near the beach is wiped out completely, and I send some mantas to rearm, while ordering the two anti tank walruses to head towards the next outpost, the AA being sent in soon after, and finally the repair walrus bringing up the rear. I switch focus to the mantas again, and take them towards the outpost to give cover from the air again. This is when I notice that the only walrus that made it close to the outpost is the one with the repair gun and it is getting shot to pieces. I get there in time just to see it destroyed but not soon enough to do anything about it. Meanwhile further back I see the other 3 walruses being stuck on eachother. It appears the first one got confused which way to go on a straight road, and the other anti tank and anti air couldn't figure out how to go around it. Somehow though the repair walrus managed to get around that whole cluster and proceed to charge the outpost alone. As I try to sort out the mess with the entangled walruses I leave control of the lead manta up to the AI for a few seconds, and almost immediately it starts to take damage. I switch back to it and it seems to have decided to engage a an enemy surrounded by heavy AA emplacements. I lose the manta before I can get it out of there, and order the rest of the mantas to return to the carrier, but they spend too much time circling a waypoint above the AA before heading towards the carrier and they all get shot down too. With no air cover left I order the remaining walruses to return to the carrier as well to prepare another assault. One of them seems to have perticular problems following a road so I decide to pilot it back manually. As I get to open water I hear one walrus is under attack, and give the controls back to the AI and check the map. One walrus apparently decided that the best way back to the carrier was not to go straight back to the nearest beach, but through the entire island. It has waypoints set through every base on the island, off the beach on the opposite side, into the ocean there and then going around the entire island back to the carrier. I take manual control of it but it is too late, that walrus is also lost. It was pretty infuriating trying to make any progress, but at the same time I had to laugh at how bad everything went.

Not posting this as an issue yet as I want to check with other users to see what they think of it first. My own observations lead me to believe that the walrus understeers far too much, especially considering it has 4 wheel steering. This does seem to get worse as you put heavier armor on it but that makes sense. The issue is not that heavier armor affects handling, but rather the base level of grip being too low, and perhaps the amount the armor affects the handling. I think it could stand to be toned down a little. Also I think the poor grip may be a contributing factor to why the pathfinding works so poorly. Having ordered a walrus to drive somewhere and then follow it with another walrus, I watched how it turned the wheels and where it actually went. It was sliding all over the place and often struggled to turn the way it meant to go. I want to hear how the rest of you guys are experiencing the walrus handling.

There is one thing about the order in which the units are numbered that strikes me as awkward. I keep thinking that keys 1-4 will select my mantas, and I can't really seem to get used to it being 2-5. From having the fingers on the WASD keys it is quite easy and convenient to reach 1-4, but 5 is a little bit off. I often hit the 1 key when I wish to quickly select my first manta to send it in for close air support, but end up with the not very useful (for the situation) carrier. My brain still thinks of them as manta 1-4. Maybe the original game is just too solidly imprinted in my brain. I could easily live with the carrier being selected with 9 or 0. It has never been that urgent to select the carrier that I don't have time to look down at the keyboard to find the key. The tilde key would of course work fine too. Also I think it is kind of odd that the name of your first manta is manta 2. Then there are the walruses with the names 6-9. That doesn't bother me as much for some reason, but I still wouldn't mind hearing them called walrus 1-4, and maybe be selected with the F1-F4 keys. This is not exactly a game breaker or even a huge issue, but after having spent several days with the game, it remains awkward. Am I the only one thinking this?

The units not being easily replaced is part of the appeal for me. What I don't like however is how suicidal they get as soon as you leave them. In my opinion there need to be some changes in the way the AI takes control of your units when you don't control them yourself. They need to be much less suicidal, much better at sticking together and much better at protecting eachother, and much better at understanding what roles you have intended for them to fill. I think if those concerns can be adressed then the game will not punish you so severely when you decide to use more than one unit at a time. If you felt like it was your own fault that you lost those units then I don't think there is no problem with the game. When the AI seems to actively try to kill itself every opportunity it gets, the game is broken.

Speaking of persistent worlds and MMOs and multiplayer and carrier command. I was just sitting here thinking about what you would get if you were to cross breed carrier command and planetside.

Having an absolute blast with the beta. The original Carrier Command was one of those games I grew up with that left a huge imprint on my childhood. I do have some concerns though. Like many have pointed out already, the "set sail" mechanic ruins it a bit. I think it makes the game feel more like a board game than a simulation. I want to be able to zoom in to any spot in the ocean and tell the carrier to go there. I want to stop the carrier some distance off the coast and observe the island before moving in. Now though I can't even see the island until I am two seconds away from running aground, and that is in clear weather. Also there are some more issues with pathfinding and suicidally stupid AI that take over your mantas and walruses as soon as you leave them, but despite all that it is still one of the most fun and engaging games I have played for some time.