My thoughts on recent developments(HR, PA, and Uber)

(Dat oxford comma tho)


(1) HR looks like it could turn out to be a fun game. But watching the kickstarter, im not confident enough to throw money at it-yet.

(2) PA is a fun game. It doesn't have all the features I'd like it to have, but on a single planet system, its fun. On a multi-planet system? Not so much. (g8 m8, i r8 8/8)

(3) I wish Uber would communicate with us more. But they all have jobs and obligations that they need to fulfill. Thats reasonable and understandable, and right now, there's a lot of doubts in the community. People are skeptical of Uber's credibility right now. Uber, you have been silent for too long(Except Sorian), and suddenly there's the announcement of HR. Even a short, one paragraph post would be enough to stave off the masses, even if temporarily. Post a picture of a cat. That'd work too. Cats are cool.

1. I hate the concept of slaughtering humans, part of me want to see the kickstarter fail, but I know others don't have the same problem as I have, and that's not fair that just because I don't like something, that others aren't allowed to.
2. While PA is really fun, still wouldn't consider it finished, since it missing offline mode, the feature to host our own dedicated servers, and more extensive modding support.
3. I don't trust uber before they have finished PA, and I won't back/buy anything from them until they do. I'm very disappointed on how they have handled things.

simply disgusting ... there´s nothing else to say

Offline mode i a must for more advanced mods, unless we can modify server code, we cannot do much more than some tweaks and skins for units. No big overhaul mods like Starwars etc, no real new units that do something that is not already in game.

I also do not trust Uber atm. they still owe me one FINISHED game, so no money for kickstarter, or any money ever until they deliver with PA.

Hmmm?

This is not at all disgusting, I too share his sentiment. Their historical track record is appalling. @tiblolan has done a fantastic job compiling examples of, in his words: "history of mismanagement, outright lying, abandoning their own games, not addressing bugs and balance problems, not having important features at release and/or prematurely releasing games that are wholly unfinished, amongst other things."

Unless you do not believe in free markets, let your dollar do the talking. This would be an incredibly powerful market signal that the community no longer will support their historical mismanaged business practices. It would be a clear message that the customer is no longer saying: well, this time it will be different. Maybe than, they will change their appalling practices.

Ultimately, Corporations are merely a reflection of their customers; all of its decisions and actions are based on this; if not, they will go bankrupt. As long as people are willing to pay their salaries, they will continue to mismanage their games and customers.

You say PA is fun but I'm really not sure it is, seriously.

I played a few games over the weekend in an attempt to have fun. I very much get the feeling that an awful lot of the game is based on luck due to the random maps. This had always been a factor but probably now people know how to play a bit better it is just plain unfair.

I finished a few games, made a few mistakes, and started new games tying to fix those mistakes I made. I managed to weed out the bad play and found myself a reasonable starting build and progression plan. The problem is however though, once I'd had fun with weeding out my own bad play, I found that the game was ultimately boring. If I lost, it was due to a player just swarming me. If I won, it wasn't due to my skill, it was mostly due to me just sending out mass commands like 'build on all the metal' or 'roam the whole planet.

Infact.. I've got so bored of it, now I just build up a big army, select them all and set them all to patrol the whole planet. Is this the most efficient way to win a match? no. But it looks fun, and seems fun, but in the end, it leaves you with an empty feeling.

Essentially, this game has nothing that got me hooked on TA in the first place, and nothing that got me hooked on SupCom2 after that. It doesn't have any of those memorable moments. It certainly is lacking that special something.

A week back I got invited to a supcom2 game, 4v4 on a big map, I decided to com rush. despite not even remembering what my initial build order was, I killed a few guys in a game that was clearly one sided against us from the start and my heard was racing. You don't get that with PA. It is more of a slow slog.

Boring boring boring, what more can I say? I probably won't play for another couple of months.

found this, though I may not agree with it 100% I thought it was a laugh and held some truths.

It sounds to me like you are saying PA is not as good because you don't know how to play as well in PA as the games which you put more experience into?

There are much higher levels of play, and simplifying it to "more units" does not do it justice.

May I recommend joining a clan? You can find lots of good players there and a nice community or PA buddies to play with. Voip really adds to the experience.

perfectdark: I totally agree. Something special is missing from pa. Maybe the lack of action from beg to end. Almost every match of sup com was adrenaline rushing heart beating but with pa I get none of that. The maps are lacking big time and orbital ruins the pace of the game to where I could fall asleep.

This is hysterically funny, great find.

@cptusmc you're welcome.

It's been around awhile now, but back then it just upset me, now I have a broader view and can laugh at it too.

I really enjoy PA when i play, I think the biggest issue PA faces, Ignoring HR and missing features for a minute, is people were sold on PA being everything to everybody, take examples of the games it gets compared 2 or were mentioned during kickstarter and alpha, TA and SUpcom, both very different games with very different play styles, both targeting very different audiences. PA is never going to live up to both sets of audiences at the same time and this i think is a big problem, over hyped expectations.

Now perhaps i enjoy PA because it was by and large exactly what i expected it to be, If i had expected it to be supcom or TA i to would be pretty disappointed, WHERES MY SHIELDED EXPERIMENTAL UNIT! DAMMIT

Im extremely interested in seeing the compilation, can I get a link?

I agree that this is the primary issue with the game. Everyone wanted it to be a direct successor, which isn't what it was meant to be. The only reason I enjoy it, because the game is bland, is that I started playing this game without having play SupCom/Supcom2/TA. I had nothing to compare it to. But going back and playing this games afterwards, each of the four games has their merits. PA has tons of potential that has yet to be tapped, but its still fun on its own. But perfectdark does have a good point. PA doesn't have anything to make it feels truly special. The only memorable moment I've had is hundreds of nukes coming into orbit and blasting everything to oblivion. That, and the first times planet smashing and the deathlazor were added.

Funny story, I had several games this weekend that had my heart racing with a manic grin plastered on my face. Like the dynamic alliance game I had where I ended up in a 3 person alliance against the guy on the metal planet, then got backstabbed by my allies, and ended up winning with a simultaneous triple pronged nuke/SXX/t2 bot swarm, across 3 separate planets.

Your global patrol tactic leaves you with an empty feeling because all you've done select a factory and do a global patrol. Its not PA's fault you're choosing to not interact with the game.

Also, I think I speak for most when I say: Please stop telling me how I feel and what I get out of a game, based on your own personal perceptions and experiences.

Edit: before the obvious internet argument tactic pops up "Well you clearly never played..."
I played TA the year it came out when I was 14. I played it well into my college years. SupCom disappointed me because its system requirements were so astronomically high I never knew if I enjoyed it. SupCom 2 wasn't bad, but it didn't really grab me either. As far as I'm concerned, PA is the closest to the original TA I've found, and it adds world hopping and apocalyptic weapons. I'm set.

Sure, you can find it here.

Dom, I understand that there are probably higher levels of play and I would love to have a clan where I play against the same people repeatedly instead of random players. I have only played with random players and I find that most of them do not have a clue what they are doing. I think the mechanics of the game are great, the fact that you can patrol in that way is a great bonus, but the maps that you do it on are absolutely shocking. I think the patrol function is overpowered simply because the maps are so random that doing things in a random way is not a hindrance to your play.

There is no simple solution to making things more balanced though. I like the idea of playing a different map each game, and with SupCom2, you very much got a sense that there were only a few ways you could play each position. In the end the whole community decided that only a few maps were balanced and they played the life out of them, so you were limited to a small number of maps and a small number of playing styles which you could be successful.

In PA you have a situation where no map is balanced, and if you want to have a 10 player FFA then you better understand that certain people are going to get shafted and certain people are going to be born as kings. If I were playing with people I knew and we were effectively playing over several games then it would balance out, but as it is playing against strangers... it's just a bit lame.

My main gripe though is the slowdown. It has been my main gripe with all of their games to date and although I do see signs that it is improving it is still foolish to program a game which doesn't run at a decent speed. The rate at which your decisions affect the outcome of the game is stacked towards the start. During the first 5 minutes, every decision you make counts and everything is running quickly and smoothly. As the game progresses it turns into more of a slog than a match, your pleasure senses are not rewarded for long periods as you plot your not so cunning plans. As you reach the hour mark, you'll realise that for the past 25 minutes you've fended off or made a couple of attacks and built up your economy and production power but you haven't actually so much as raised a smile doing it. It's just boring. You just end up doing what you have to do to win, which is amass a big enough economy, build a lot of factories, and sit back and wait. You wait and you wait and you wait. Then you attack, and you win. Game over. Well done. Aren't you tired of it all though?

I think the game mechanics could be well put to use in smaller quicker games without the opportunity and obligation to just spam units. But I want those quick games to be 10 and 20 player FFA dammit, not 2v2.

By this point, I'm rambling. Essentially, I want them to improve the game. From the development I've seen so far I think they have a chance at doing it. They have a decent base to start off from, but that's all it is, a base! Just like supcom2 was, a good start but what about a bit more eh?

Getting real tied of the SAME 5 people posting the same negative crap, ALL THE TIME, since...long before this latest news. Seriously, get a life. I backed it, mainly because it looks kinda awesome, its different, and because I wasn't disappointed by PA. Frankly i don't understand the hyperbole , a multi-player game that people insist on being off-line and and including saves, WTF - you want a 12hr game or something its not Civ5? Besides which the game is fun and as an added bonus is moddable and has a number of mods ready to go and which are also (moreso?) fun; = variety. Meanwhile some trolls aren't happy with the 'promises' (assumptions) that weren't kept and want the company to fail on everything they do, doesn't matter which way you spin that, it IS disgusting.

I dont think he wanted to tell anybody how he or she is supposed to feel. Well, but its boring. When I play on multiple planets, for the most part its nothing into nuke into comm snipe.
When you are a beginner like me, it happens way too easy that you sit for 30 minutes on your planet and nothing happens. At some point i send some fabber to other planets, but it took 10(?) minutes for them to arrive. And i have seen enogh youtubevideos to know that ~20 minutes of downtime because nothing happens into comm snipe is somewhat normal.
Saying this is not boring is equal to saying like chess is not boring. It might be not boring for those who play and love it, but for everyone else is like the epitome of boringness. (Dont pick on it, i love chess myself)

And when i want to play a RTS where u need so many hours to play fast and good, then i rather keep on playing SC2. At least there you have a mms that puts u against equally bad player.

edit:

Yes, THATS what i call a constructive and well thought statement. Well done, gentleman.

Perfectdark, I would like to invite you to my clan so we can play together! I understand about the slowdown, that can be a bummer. In my experience though, games are rarely over 1 hour. Even 10 player FFAs. Hmmm, but this is probably affected by the fact that I play with my clan mates more often than not.

I just want people to have as much with this game as I do. So if you are up for some games! Let me know

Okay, so I played a few games last night to brush up on how things are.

The game ran great for around 25 in game minutes, and then it was like a switch was flicked and the game slowed down incredibly. It just wasn't fun to play. I played a few 1v1s and that was fun, but my opponents didn't know how to play and so I battered them easily.

When I first envisaged how good the game could be, I imagined FFA could be played a bit like it played out in SupCom2. You had to kill your nearest enermy first and take over their base, then you had to kill whoever was left out of your next two closest enemies, and then if you did that quick enough you were odds on to win. A bit like a mini tournament all in one game. I did have some games like that in the early days with 10 player FFAs on one planet with one moon. Problem now though, I can't reliably load a big planet without enough mass and a moon without risking everyone being short of mass and quitting on me. I can load 10 player FFAs on one planet as that is more reliable but that takes some of the fun out of it.

I think, to be honest, I'd be much happier if they just dedicated a few months to improving the maps and making them more interesting and more balanced. Even if we had a mode where everyone spawned with 10 mass spots all clumped together with no other mass spots on the map, that would be pretty cool.

Basically I can see how the game can be fun, and often I think it is fun, but also often it is a complete bore. I just want them to keep working on it until it is approaching something you could call finished. Maybe this new game is the answer as they can build on what we have here. Maybe by the time they make PA2 they will have the time to spend on the finishing touches it so desperately needs.