First Impressions

[tcart]

Just started the Beta yesterday, playing on an iPad 2.

On the technical side, I feel like there's either a memory leak or the game uses a lot of RAM. After one or two uses it tends to crash. Rebooting my iPad solves the problem, but it will then recur if I load the game a few times over a period of several hours.

Initial impressions:

- I like the look and feel of it. It's easy to get into and right away I got the core gameplay
- as with many other people here, I find the text very small and hard to read.
- I like the use of fog and terrain, especially rivers, to create interesting maps that present tactical challenges
- the icons work for me. The game feels more like a beer and pretzels war-game than a full simulation, which is just fine, especially if it's marketed that way. I would buy this type of game and be quite happy with the experience and purchase provided I knew in advance that it was more beer/pretzel-y

Gameplay:

- I find the map easy to navigate, though I do sometimes hit the wrong hex. This is a function of wanting the map fully zoomed out so I can see the whole battlefield. But at that zoom level hexes are smaller than my fingers
- I'd love an 'undo' button, especially if nothing has been reveal and no combat has occurred. This is especially true because I'm learning as I go and it's a drag when you can't take back an experimental move. Because units can't leapfrog one another it would be great to be able to experiment with various move combinations.
- I like the range of tactical possibilities. As with Panzer General and it's successors I find that there's an element of puzzle solving here. The player is rewarded for proper combinations of units and there are many possible ways to 'unlock' a given defensive position.
- unit ranges feel a little off. Artillery has a range only double that of infantry? Often infantry, at least early on, has the same range as armour. Obviously you have to make allowances to make the gameplay work but it feels a bit odd.

AI:

- so far the AI seems decent, at least in defending static positions.
- I played the Brody scenario but didn't really experience the counterattack that I think has been set up. Not sure what that's supposed to look like but I failed to get the 'ambush' condition.
- The AI does sometimes fail to defend a victory hex/objective. I will go on the offensive and leave a city undefended. This happened in Brody as well.

History:

- the missions/scenarios don't feel especially historical to me. I am only a short way into the game but already the Germans have advanced recon units and anti-tank infantry. Maybe this is just because your icons are not updated or fully created yet, but I don't believe the Germans had anti-tank infantry in 1941.

- in general the first missions don't feel much like the historical battles they're meant to represent. This is ok provided the game is presented as a beer and pretzels experience. However it contrasts with Panzer Korps/Panzer General, where there is at least the general feeling of historical maps and situations.

In short, I'm enjoying it so far. I'm not aware of a similar game on the market and I enjoy the accessibility and options it presents.

Regards,

Tcart

[WeeBeasties]

I too began to play yesterday on an ipad 2. I have also experienced some crashes that resolve with a restart of the device. The text does not bother me and I find the overall game play experience to be quite nice. I have found that the AI often leaves cities undefended - allowing the player to walk right past defenders to grab more reinforcement points. Overall, I like the balance of the initial scenarios and will post more thoughts once I have time to dig a bit deeper.

[IonutG]

[quote="tcart"]Just started the Beta yesterday, playing on an iPad 2.



Hi Tcart, great feedback

We are still optimizing the game for iPad2, hopefully there will be no more crashes.
"beer/pretzel" )...yes we tried our best to create a different game who has enough tactical challenges for any type of players. There are a lot of tactical ways to play the game, the more a player understands the game, the more his tactic will change.
We might add an "Undo" button later on.
The AI will be tweaked more
Great point about the recon vehicles and AT infantry: we will add the correct icons for them: Puma will not appear until 1943, same for the Panzerschreck Infantry. There will still be AT infantry but it will be equipped with PzB 39 (AT rifle)
Yes, we did not try to create an experience close to the Panzer General/Panzer Coprs as we think there are a lot of great strategy games out there, in stead we went for a tactical/combat experience.Missions are inspired by real battles but not to the letter.

Thank you again for your time!

Ionut