DOWW2 - Alpha release

[henk brouwer]

Just downloaded the module this post may contain some spoilers for people who haven't played yet...

I chose a light tank for the first game (and average difficulty), It's was certainly a nice experience to be driving a well-armored tank into Nurtred for a change (Let lord Sertis try and steal the crown of the magis this time... )

I quickly found out I wasn't as invincible as I thougt I was, a level 3 SU-152 came around a corner and killed me with two well aimed shots .

So I started my second game a bit more carefully.. (same setup) and I lived a lot longer this time. I slaugthered a huge batallion of BT7 tanks early on, and had an epic fight with a j8-2 with refitted armor. (My bullets seemed almost useless against it's armor)

I finally found a 85 mm gun and ammo just before my own ammo ran out, wow... the 85 mm is definitely a -lot- more effective than the little gun I started out with . The thing was quite heavy for a light tank, so I had to invest quite some points from levelling into strength, but it was worth the investment. I left a trail of carnage and destruction through the town of Nurtred, until finally my 85mm ammo ran out and I had to resort to other means of destruction. But I did manage to clear the level .

Anyhow, an overall first impression:
I like it a lot , It feels a bit odd to be battling tanks in Nurtred, but I can see that the finished game with more suitable maps, and a good soundtrack would be really nice to play.

What I really like about this module is that the gameplay is very different from original DO. I found myself trying to keep distance from targets, carefully aiming my shots, in an effort to waste as little ammo as possible.

I really like the extensive descriptions for all the units, it adds a lot to the atmosphere of the game.

I also liked how there are clearly different units, like the heavily armored j8-2, which doesn't use much firepower, and on the other hand units that fire lots of shots, but have little armor.

It seems that the heavier weapons, and tanks have a huge advantage over the light tanks and weapons in the alpha Version. Maybe it would be nice to give the heavy weapons some disadvantages in a next Version, which would make the lighter weapons more usefull. (like enemy infantry with a very high "lightning" resistance, that are easily harmed by light weapons (low "magic" resistance).

Other than that gameplay balance seems reasonable, I was low on ammo a couple of times though, but I never completely ran out, but I can see how this could become a really big problem.

keep up the good work

[ace joh]

Thanks for the comments!

I'm already working hard (well, quite hard ) on the next Version, with any luck it'll have pretty much every tank&weapon I wanted to be added... In data, not the graphics unfortunately.

light vs heavy tanks : that was the most obvious balance issue, I do have a couple of things in mind :
-First off, infantry has been fixed to resist lightning 100%, and added magic damage to guns, which is alot smaller than a machinegun's magic damage. I first decided against this, as you would have to switch weapons when facing infantry, and DO doesn't really support this (you can't alter equipment when paused, so you'd have to run away)
-experience requirements for heavier tanks will be vastly increased, but currently, as you may have noticed, experience doesn't seem to make much sense anyway (killing a rifle squad gives just as much, or even more (depending on level?) experience as a KV heavy tank, or something like that), so there's not much point in adding this now
-You can't see it, but lighter tanks have much higher attack&defence Ratings than heavier tanks
-unfortunately I can't alter food consumption speed, but the maximum hunger for heavy tanks is intended to be very low, so you'd have to watch it frequently (unlike regular DO games )
-Heavy weapons ammo will be rather rare compared to light guns ammo. Perhaps I'll also increase weight of shells from a big calibre, MG ammo weighs nothing
-obviously, speed of light tanks is better than heavy tanks

Infantry is still not much of a threat, they can't really come near your tank (that's when they become dangerous), but it gives the command car a chance ti kill something himself )

Just noticed I forgot to tell, range of weapons is a stat DO fails to mention, if for some reason you can't seem to shoot, there's 3 possibilities :
1. You're out of ammo
2. You're trying to shoot beyond weapon range, aim closer to your tank (note that bullets will still travel unlimited distance, or so it seems? Range only affects how far away from your tank you'll be able to start clicking, making targetting a bit harder)
3. You found a bug, congrats, don't forget to report it

edit : also, a walther P38 has a range of 1, this means you'll have to stand right next to an enemy, else it won't do anything at all.