Re Dom2 graphics; tactical combat command

[Tian Zi]

Hi, I just downloaded the Dom2 demo and am new to these Boards.

I'm quite impressed with the game and intend to purchase it -- primitive graphics and lack of tactical combat control notwithstanding.

Regarding the two quibbles I mentioned above ...

1. Graphics

The 3-D landscape graphics displayed when setting the options are certainly decent. I have a top notch PC and GPU so the highest settings don't tax my system at all.

But what is the point of these graphics options, and testing frame rate, etc., when the battle graphics use 2D low-res images to display units?!

In fact, even the landscape graphics during battles look nothing like the eagle's eye sweep over 3D terrain displayed at the graphics options screen.

What gives?

2. Tactical Battle Command

Impossible, correct? I wish at least one battle per turn could be controlled by the player.

I suspect this was intended until late in the game's development. Otherwise, what point the light glow under the mouse pointer as I move it across the battlefield?

Am I right?

Any plans for a patch / expansion that permits some tactical control during battles?

This issue ties into the first: the battle graphics don't really matter since there is no option for tactical control in battles.

To further elaborate on my suspicions re a late change to the originally intended design, it appears to me perhaps that the developers had until late in the day planned to implement high quality full 3D graphics to display battles, and allow tactical control during battles.

Supporting this conjecture are some old information I found regarding the game pre-release describing it as featuring "full 3D graphics".

So, were changes made late in development to cut the 3D graphics due to, e.g., a lack of funding / time? And was tactical combat control originally intended, and was this cut (perhaps since there wouldn't be any eye candy)?


I realize developer resources at Shrapnel must be quite limited as compared to, say, Sony, and I think the game is fantastic despite the issues mentioned above. Great graphics and sound are nice and enhance gameplay, but for a PC strategy game are secondary in importance to a deep, sophisticated game system and top notch AI.