Beta ToO No1 Chapter No1: Plei Me

[Pyros]

Hi Ulf,
the choice of support elements concerns only the first scenario of each ToO or Chapter.

This way you may put at the start of a ToO or Chapter the choice of support elements (its up to you but the best is to put one at the start of the ToO.

Soon the Beta will be available and you will see all these things.
From the Alpha stage, I can say that the game is very nice and with these new elements it has a unique blend.

The strong points are the following :

1. Interactive support assets
2. Many low probability enemy reinforcements that make the game unpredictable and gives a very high replayability
3. Interactive point allocation depending the victory level of the player

I think that in 3-4 days I will post th beta of ToO No1 chapter No1. For the moment, all I can say is that the campaign is unique.

cheers,
Pyros

[wulfir]

Pyros said:
Hi Ulf,
the choice of support elements concerns only the first scenario of each ToO or Chapter.

I understand how the branching of the campaign will be used to provide the player with a choice of support units. It'll make the size of the campaign large(r) but I doubt that is much of a problem for most players - for us though, will we need to think ahead when it comes to the campaign end result? If the player always chooses the support option that use minor victory to advance him forward he will end up with a number of minor victories at the end, right...? In addition to the actual battle results that is...

[Pyros]

In the one-turn special scenario the result is balancing between marginal victory and Decisive victory, so the loss of points is not a problem.
In addition, in every ToO there should be 2 or 3 chapters giving a total of 5-8 battles, so a marginal victory instead of decisive, won't make the difference.
Also take into consideration that the same mechanism should be applied in the secondary battle.
The technique works as following:
The decisive victory leads to a certain path and every other level of victory leads to the other path.
To achieve a decisive victory the player should complete the main objective rather than killing the enemy forces.

But Ulf, you will see those technicalities after 3-4 days when I will post the beta.
Then we will discuss on a solid base.
The only thing I can tell you for the moment is that the feeling is unique!

cheers,
Pyros

p.s Also the size is very big...but the workload is minimal because you only need to calibrate/balance the modified (by support) alternative missions.

[wulfir]

Pyros said:
In addition, in every ToO there should be 2 or 3 chapters giving a total of 5-8 battles, so a marginal victory instead of decisive, won't make the difference.

Ok.

Except in the campaign summary after every played scenario it'll say minor victory instead of decisive victory - I don't know if players really care about this, I certainly don't give it much thought when playing a campaign...?

Pyros said:p.s Also the size is very big...but the workload is minimal because you only need to calibrate/balance the modified (by support) alternative missions.

Yeah, I understand that. As long as you can keep your eyes on the ball it won't be a problem. Dial up people might groan some though...

[Pyros]

Ulf,
in 2-3 days you will see the very first form of a chapter.
After that we may examine and discusss the details of the scenario.

Again i wish to express my first impressions for that kind of campaign: Unique

***for the records: there are more than 40 units that enter the battlefield from multiple directions with a probability between 10-40% at an interval of turn1 to turn30.
You understand that this create a game which has very big replay-ability.
Also the choice of support dictate different tactical approaches.

cheers,
Pyros

[wulfir]

Pyros said:
Ulf,
in 2-3 days you will see the very first form of a chapter.
After that we may examine and discusss the details of the scenario.

Cool

...though the details of the actual scenario(s) isn't what I'm trying to point out.

It is this;

the player who opts to use the support units that come with a decisive victory branching will gain more campaign victory points (the points that decide the players end result of the campaign) than the player who uses the minor victory path. Choose a support package that comes with a decisive victory result and you'll get the points for a decisive victory so to speak for free.

Would it be an option to use decisive defeat, minor defeat or draw instead* - these results will not provide the player with any campaign points IIRC...?

*For the branching of the campaign according to the wishes of the player when it comes to support elements...

[Pyros]

Everything comes with a cost!!!

The support assets that gives you a decisive have an penalty (delay of 5 turns) in their reinforcement turn and a small advantage (heavier).
But we will have the chance to discuss further these issues after the first testing.

you will see that victory levels are not the case in that campaign, because the player will have to fight to preserv his core force; the best results the toughest the game becomes...

cheers,
Pyros

p.s the player who wins the primary with a decisive then instead of the start of the next chapter he plays a penalty scenario (without replacement points) where he is ambushed by the enemy. The opposite is happening for the player who suffers a decisive loss (bonus scenario)