All right, now that I've played a good deal of 5.1 and have drafted my comment satisfactorily, I have returned to post my feedback. Overall, this has been a very nice update, the new weapons and the return of the skill (now class) menu are very nice and thoroughly enjoyed. The new game mode is fun as well, and makes replayability very easy. This is another doozy of a comment, so I would suggest getting comfortable before reading it.
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Bugs (ordered most severe to least severe):
- After closing the game and loading a save, no one would attack. Period. Distance and direct orders did nothing. I did neglect to attempt attacking the ground, however. After throwing my only grenade, the enemies all scattered but no combat followed.
- After closing the game and loading a save, I attempted to give my units new pieces of equipment, but the stats would no longer change to match the new equipment. Also occurred after using the "retry" option after losing a fight.
- I don't really want to mention this one because it's fun, but alas it is a bug. When attacking ground, you can aim past the maximum range. This can be done with any weapon, and their accuracy does not seem to go beneath their furthest accuracy. This results in being able to snipe with rifles past their intended range.
- The wooden wall segment/scaffolding that you can drive the tank through didn't break when I drove through it, I had moved the camera away when it happened the first time but upon trying again it continued being in place. The tank was able to pass, but no damage to the structure occurred. The infantry units were unable to go through.
- The "Blistered Foot" and "Cuts" wounds heal, but I have not seen "Broken Arm", "Bullet Wound", or "Incapacitated" drop below 100%.
- Upon reaching the final map, I was unable to actually do the final fight. I let the convoy arrive, and the enemies following me had pretty much caught up.
- After quitting the game and loading my save, it said that I was not alone at the location and then sent me to the final map.
- The incapacitated status doesn't seem to prevent the unit from fighting, despite the description text.
- Firing at the ground with a helmet equipped can result in the unit hurting themselves.
- Encountered most commonly with Amal, especially common with shotguns.
- Manual target orders are sometimes followed briefly only for the soldier to change targets shortly after, sometimes to less-likely-to-hit and/or further away targets. Sometimes even targets out of range.
- The Nagant revolver currently reloads all rounds at once, instead of one-at-a-time.
- I decided to set up an ambush for an enemy when prompted, and proceeded to do so. We were attacked shortly before the actual targets arrived and were still dealing with them when the actual targets arrived. At this point, the objective appeared and said to "Eliminate all enemies (4/-1). Upon defeating them all (10/-1), we were not declared victorious.
- Right-clicking on items in units' inventories while in combat will sometimes still register a right-click command (move, attack) to the area behind the menu.
- Similar issue with left-clicking on the side-menu items, including the pause/play/fast-forward buttons while camping.
- When engaging the enemies at the supply cache in the first area of the map, you will receive the loot before the mission and items again after the mission.
- Presumably the cache contents and the standard combat spoils respectively, but it would still make more sense to have both be received upon winning the fight.
- The hotkeys for the units don't work when you're hovering your mouse over their portraits.
- On the squad screen, the "Skill" button turns into a "Class" button upon pressing it.
- The description for the Scout class says that their benefits are at the cost of an inventory slot, yet they gain one when selecting the class.
- The number of soldiers stated in the dialog prompts preceding combat sometimes does not correlate to the number of soldiers encountered. (For instance, it might say three soldiers, only to have two enemies present)
- Dug trenches don't seem to apply cover in consistent directions.
- The "Level Up" message on the end-of-combat screen does not always appear.
- If you save the mechanic's workshop, it will say that he repaired your vehicles even if you have no vehicles.
- If you save the mechanic's workshop, enter the squad menu, and then return to the map, the message about repairing your vehicles will reappear.
Not sure if the following three are bugs or not, so I am including them just in case.
- The "trader owes" value carries over between different traders.
- Truth be told it's very useful since you can keep your inventory free of loot while also getting "credit" for it all.
- Trader and black market encounters can happen in towns where traders are already available.
- Characters can be level 0 when recruited.
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Art/Models:
The new pieces of character art are very nice, though I have noticed a few inconsistencies.
- Helena's in-combat model and chibi art both have breast pockets, while her character sheet art does not.
- Zuhra and Amal's character models and character sheet art are both very close in skin tone, while Amal's chibi art has a much darker skin tone than Zuhra's.
- Amal and Helena's chibi art seems to have thicker black lines and overall appear to be larger in size while also having smaller bodies when compared to the others.
- It could just be that the lines seem larger because the chibis seem larger - although these are just observations made from the brief instances of seeing them and without having the others visible for side-by-side comparison.
It is worth noting that I very much enjoy all of the character art. Although I'm not fond of when feet (socks on or otherwise) are shown in their chibi forms, as the cylindrical shape of them kinda weirds me out.
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Suggestions:
- Weapon Info Panels
- Change "Clip Size" to "Ammunition Capacity" in the weapon info panels to correctly encapsulate all firearms. It would also line up better with the two stats above it, for an aesthetic boost.
- Add stats for weapon accuracy
- Add a measurement unit for range
- Increasing the squad inventory size upon acquiring a vehicle would be wonderful, the amount depending on the particular vehicle.
- Increasing the rifle range by 10-20 units so they can more effectively outrange pistols, giving each weapon a more exclusive niche. Lessening the maximum-range accuracy so as to maintain the current accuracy slope would also be good.
- Indicators on the character portraits for their current statuses (hunger, tiredness, wounds) on the world map that share the severity color and hover-over details as the character sheet indicators. A "LVL" indicator would also be nice, to remind the player of unspent level ups.
- Traders refreshing their stock every few days, freeing up their inventory and changing some of their items for others (while still being the items that are found at traders in that area).
- Maybe allow for "asking the trader to hold onto an item (or items)" (locking an item for you to return to purchase later). If the trader has rotated stock since then, maybe increase the price slightly for the "service fee."
- Being able to sell more items to traders would be nice. Not as important if they refresh their stock.
- Being able to specify an amount to split a stack by would also be nice.
- Food can be kind of hard to keep up sometimes (and other times it's incredibly easy). Food relying completely on RNG is a bit of a bother, maybe allow for alternative food acquisition methods. Below are two possibilities:
- Hunting - uses ammunition, risks injury (if it is an aggressive animal or due to friendly fire), potentially draws unwanted attention to the squad (risking enemies showing up to see what the gunfire's about). Might result in a lot of food, opening trade opportunities while also serving as a means of getting food if you need it.
- Foraging - searching the area for fruits, berries, and other edibles. Unlikely to yield much (depending on location and skill) and potentially time-consuming, but doesn't draw unwanted attention.
- The food acquired through these methods could be perishable, limiting their usefulness to a few days (depending on the type of food) given the unrefrigerated circumstances the group is carrying them. This would allow MREs to still be desirable.
- Making the health display of the left-hand portraits circular, as they are on the over-head indicators. This would allow for better clarity at a glance, since the background filling up can be obstructed by headgear (especially helmets), making it harder to notice units' health dropping.
- A button and/or hotkey specifically to have the selected unit back up, mostly meant for vehicles but might have other uses - especially if crewed weapons are added.
- Weapon proficiencies - as a unit uses a certain type of weapon, their ability with that type increases, resulting in them performing better with that weapon type.
- This would allow for units' favorite weapons to also be their best weapons while also not keeping them from being just as good with any other weapon as any other soldier.
- Only the "human" stats would be affected: accuracy, reload speed, aiming speed, and cycle speed (in the case of manually-cycled weapons).
- The stats of the gun would remain the same - such as cyclic rate, ammunition capacity, and damage (and for shotguns, average grouping size and pellet count).
- A character sheet for vehicle(s), so you can check their damage levels, weapon stats, etc.
- The sniper encounter is dreadfully demoralizing. Hadn't gotten a tank despite visiting most sectors once when I had it happen. Opted to use 40 ammo and risk three members, ended up losing two members (savior and sniping victim) purely due to RNG. I would prefer if this were an actual encounter, starting with one unit down (in the recoverable state), escape possible through the edges of the map, and the enemy sniper visible and engageable (though outranging the player's non-snipers. Maybe 2x-4x normal rifle ranges).
- An explanation of where the armor piercing rounds can be used in their description. Presumably only rifle-caliber and larger, but confirmation and explanation in the info box would be nice.
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Questions:
- Will the shady guy that you can steal from eventually be a combat encounter, or will it always be a dialog fight?
- Same question but for the wolf encounter.
- Can the infantry armor and helmet be penetrated by a rifle (or larger) round?
- What about by armor piercing ammunition?
- Does the enemy ever carry armor piercing ammunition for use against the player?
- If not, then will they ever?
- Is the armor piercing ammunition for all classes or is it categorized as an "anti-tank weapon," limiting its use to the Support class?
- Does the location of the hit determine the damage? Or does each unit have a single hitbox?
- Are there any plans for back-up combat methods in the event the player runs out of ammunition?
- Does a unit's sight stat affect their accuracy?
- What is the timeframe of weapon and vehicle technology that will be present in the game? All of the weapons thus far have been WWI and earlier (barring the Fiat L5/30) - do you have a particular year in mind as to the "cut-off"?
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A short story:
The first time I reached the last map in 5.0, I had forgotten my armor piercing ammunition and had not located a tank on the journey. Despite this I didn't worry, as it was surely just a light tank like the Fiat L5/30 we can get. Once it rounded the corner, however, I realized just how grave a mistake I had made. I had two grenades, and neither were direct hits. Needless to say, I lost, but the threat was not what I was expecting and the surprise was wonderful.
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Conclusion:
As said in my previous post, I have thoroughly enjoyed your game thus far and eagerly look forward to its future. I hope my feedback is helpful.
Keep up the good work, as always!