Post by Astronautz in Version 1.4: Generated buildings, Doors and New AI comments

Version 1.4: Generated buildings, Doors and New AI » Comments

Viewing post in Version 1.4: Generated buildings, Doors and New AI comments

Hi Tchey,

Glad you like the new version ;)

- I’d like a free camera as it seems it’s 3D anyway. Also, rotate with MMB maybe ?

I will consider it

- I’d like to (double) click to move, instead of drag the path, that’s the most annoying thing right now, for me. I often select a merc, find a spot to go, click, and... I can’t, i have to find my merc again, click and drag a path to the spot.

That feature had been planned, however I did not have enough time to implement it in 1.4, because of time constraints

- I’d like to sneak/walk/run to do less or more noise and use less or more AP per move. Run could be 1/3 more distance per AP but can’t fire this turn.

I'm not a big fan of sneaking. They have that feature in Jagged Alliance, but you never know if you've been heard of not and it just means more grinding

- I’d like to see a cone or something to be sure what is in my field of view.

you could use the overwatch killzone for that. When you hold CTRL the merc rotates in direction of mouse and a zone of circles are displayed in the squares where you have line of sight.

- I’d like to peak in corner, so i could fine from behind a wall, maybe more AP needed. per shot.

That would negate the AI's strategy of trying to interrupt enemy as they come out of cover.

- I’d like to see an icon when i target an enemy showing my chance to hit as a raw number instead of a picture.

the hit chance is shown as a colour at the moment. I will consider adding a number.

- I’d like to open/close doors at will from any 3 tiles next to the door. Unless i’ve missed something, it’s only from the one tile in front of the door, and i didn’t see the option to open/close many times while i just sit next to the door ?

You can open and close from two squares at the moment. You are right it should be possible from three squares. I have that planned for next version.

- I find everything too expensive. Healing cost a lot (400) before you can really afford it. Recruiting the third merc is 3500 while i have 2000. The second one with the gun was fine, as it’s "just" a good loot to give. Shops buy very low and sell very high.

If the player had unlimited money, there would be no challenge. As it is the player has to figure out a how spend more efficiently. To buy the third merc you need to find the missing pharmaceuticals and sell them to the fence, then you will have enough money.

So as a begineer to the game, first couple of hours feel really slow and quite laborious. IMO, the start should be faster, to ease the introduction.

Can you elaborate? What should be faster?

Tchey2 years ago

Faster, i mean having 3-4 mercs and a few items to use and spare. Currently, as a noob, i find it a bit slow paced to reach that point.

The Ctrl + mouse to check the overwatch only gives a very narrow vision, like 2 tiles large, that’s all the merc sees ?

About sneaking, then what about silenced tools and guns ? I’ve seen them ingame, so why i should use them if i cannot approach unnoticed ?

Challenge level is relative to player’s taste. I like more room to try and fail, vs have too little options if i fail one i mostly need to restart. I usually prefer one long deep playthrought more than retry more. It’s your game sure, but options > no options.

***

Also, how random is the campaign ? The map is always the same i think ? What about events ? Is the first merc always there to recruit for a gun ? The secord merc always there for 3500 credits ? The shops always in the same village ? The cellphone etc ?

Nice "little" game you have here, curious to see how it will grow. also, thanks for Linux support.

Astronautz2 years ago

> Faster, i mean having 3-4 mercs and a few items to use and spare. Currently, as a noob, i find it a bit slow paced to reach that point.

I could start off with 2 mercs instead of one, but then I would have to add new characters and re-balance everything. I plan to add a new character, but I have to prioritise things.

> The Ctrl + mouse to check the overwatch only gives a very narrow vision, like 2 tiles large, that’s all the merc sees ?

No, but by moving it back and forth you would be able to see which squares the merc has a line of sight

> About sneaking, then what about silenced tools and guns ? I’ve seen them ingame, so why i should use them if i cannot approach unnoticed ?

Silenced guns allows you to take out one enemy without alerting everyone else. The enemy can't hear you coming, they can only see you (You will see "zzz" in the enemy HUD if it hasn't been alerted)

> Challenge level is relative to player’s taste. I like more room to try and fail, vs have too little options if i fail one i mostly need to restart. I usually prefer one long deep playthrought more than retry more. It’s your game sure, but options > no options.

You mean you do not want to retry fighting a battle?

>Also, how random is the campaign ? The map is always the same i think ? What about events ? Is the first merc always there to recruit for a gun ? The secord merc always there for 3500 credits ? The shops always in the same village ? The cellphone etc ?

Most things are random, but somethings are fixed. The map changes completely each time you create a new campaign. The first and second merc are always in the villages at the begining, but sometimes Warski ask for pistol and sometime armour. The location of stuff (shops etc.) always changes.

> Nice "little" game you have here, curious to see how it will grow. also, thanks for Linux support.

Thanks very much ;)

Tchey2 years ago

About retrying a mission, yes i like to be able to do so. However i don’t like "roguelite" stuff we see everywhere these days : play, die, unlock one new item, play the almost exact same but with some slight variation, die, unlock, play the almost exact same....

In Mercs Tactics it’s different, but i feel i could easily waste a game not being "really good". Healing cost a lot, mercs and items are expensive and quite rare, and money is scarce. So a few bad steps could lead to certain failure without possibility of return. I simply want to be able to be just an average/bad player, and still have fun.

i never played a full game yet so maybe it changes later.

Good about the random map, i felt the games i played before (months ago) were within the same map, but it seems it’s only "similar".

I have more time these days i will see how far i go, if i go !

Astronautz2 years ago

> Healing cost a lot, mercs and items are expensive and quite rare, and money is scarce.

What level are you playing at? On Easy and Normal the scrap merchant pays more money for guns.

Tchey2 years ago

On Normal. The scraps sell for 14 i think.

I forgot, anyway we can control the NPC when battle involve allies too ? They often do... useless stuff, like running back and forth in/out a house, shooting at very long range almost always missing, standing in the middle of a street on my line of sight, etc. They are barelly good to keep some of the enemy’s attention...

About AI, enemy tend to throw grenade easily now, even if firing the gun could be more effective or safe.

Also, the game crashed once, i was doing nothing special, in battle, waiting for IA to end its turn, and clean crash to desktop without any visible message.

Something else, tooltips to show AP cost for Kneeling or changing direction ? A way to re-read the tooltips from tutorial messages ? A way to remove the roof from buildings even if we are not directly inside ? A way to tell how well covers cover ? A way to reserve AP to kneel or shot, etc ?

Is XP shared between the mercs, or is it really only the one doing damage ? Some sharing would be nice, maybe 50% to the merc acting, and 50% shared in a common pool for the team ?

On the campaign map, see further so we have more time to hit Pause and turn back if the level appears to be too high ?

Do mercs heal a little outside of hospital with time ? I think i saw they didn’t but not sure.

Anyway we can jump over some obstacle ? Sometime it’s just a small broken wall, it feels really weird to have to run all around while it looks like a could step on it very easily.

Astronautz2 years ago

> On Normal. The scraps sell for 14 i think.

The price depends on the weight of the weapon. Maybe I need to give a more generous rate for normal

> I forgot, anyway we can control the NPC when battle involve allies too ?

No, you can't control allies.

> They often do... useless stuff, like running back and forth in/out a house, shooting at very long range almost always missing, standing in the middle of a street on my line of sight, etc. They are barelly good to keep some of the enemy’s attention...

Are you talking about current version, or new version? In new version the allies are using the same "optimum cover" algorithm, so they should take much better cover than before.

> About AI, enemy tend to throw grenade easily now, even if firing the gun could be more effective or safe.

I prioritize grenade throwing, because it makes the battle more interesting. Grenades won't get thrown that often, because of the range and because a soldier can only carry a max of two.

> Also, the game crashed once, i was doing nothing special, in battle, waiting for IA to end its turn, and clean crash to desktop without any visible message.

I'll look into it. What type of graphics card are you using? (If you are using Linux it'll say in the console the GPU model)

> Something else, tooltips to show AP cost for Kneeling or changing direction ?

I don't use tool tips, but will consider it.

> A way to re-read the tooltips from tutorial messages ?

I'm not sure what you mean

> A way to remove the roof from buildings even if we are not directly inside ?

I don't remove the roof, because it makes part of the scene unknown to the player until they explore it.

> A way to tell how well covers cover ?

I will consider adding that feature. However, the cover is determined by the geometry of the object giving cover, not a die throw, so it should be pretty intuitive

> A way to reserve AP to kneel or shot, etc ?

The move path squares change color to light green when you don't have enough moves for a shot.

> Is XP shared between the mercs, or is it really only the one doing damage ? Some sharing would be nice, maybe 50% to the merc acting, and 50% shared in a common pool for the team ?

I'm afraid I don't like that feature at all. Each merc should earn his own points.

> On the campaign map, see further so we have more time to hit Pause and turn back if the level appears to be too high ?

The game stops automatically if you see a very strong militia. It even gives a warning message.

> Do mercs heal a little outside of hospital with time ? I think i saw they didn’t but not sure.

No. They only heal in hospital.

> Anyway we can jump over some obstacle ? Sometime it’s just a small broken wall, it feels really weird to have to run all around while it looks like a could step on it very easily.

Not at the moment. I think it's a good idea that soldiers could jump over small obstacles.

Tchey2 years ago

Last version from itchio "MercTacticsDemo", and main screen ingame says 1.4

The "optimum cover" algorithm seems to make the allies too afraid maybe ?

I don’t know, i’ve seen them run out of a building, around a corner, and next turn, more or less the same path but in to the house again, and next turn again... During this times my mercs were going to the next house to spot and kill an enemy without line of sight on the outside.

Tooltips to show AP, i mean, not tooltips, but like you do with AP per shot/burst/auto... It’s written on the GUI, so maybe just add to kneel and stand, the AP cost in a similar way ?

About tutorial messages, i mean the hints, like friendly fire first alert, or how to pan the view etc. They are removed as soon as i click or move the camera even with the arrow keys from keyboard.

My PC is :

Linux Manjaro (Arch) 64bits Xfce
Intel Core i5 4590 (4 x 3,3 GHz)
GeForce GTX 1060 @ 6 Go
Nvidia Drivers
16 Go DIMM DDR3 PC12800
SSD Crucial 480Go
BENQ GL2460 16/9 24" 1920x1080

Astronautz2 years ago

>The "optimum cover" algorithm seems to make the allies too afraid maybe ? I don’t know, i’ve seen them run out of a building, around a corner, and next turn, more or less the same path but in to the house again, and next turn again... During this times my mercs were going to the next house to spot and kill an enemy without line of sight on the outside.

Be aware that there is a "fog of war". The ally soldiers can't see what you see. They may not know where the enemy is at the start of the turn. Then when they do run into the enemy, they might not have enough APs to take a shot, so then they move back into cover. Also, the algorithm often favours trying to get an interrupt if the soldier can't see the enemy.

> Tooltips to show AP, i mean, not tooltips, but like you do with AP per shot/burst/auto... It’s written on the GUI, so maybe just add to kneel and stand, the AP cost in a similar way ?

I don't think there is room for that. The HUD has to be kept small.

> About tutorial messages, i mean the hints, like friendly fire first alert, or how to pan the view etc. They are removed as soon as i click or move the camera even with the arrow keys from keyboard.

I guess I can change change to require a click on the button.

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