Observations from a new player! some ideas and questions!

posted on February 18th, 2010, 10:07 am

Gretings!

Please be patient with me, I found the forums extremely overwhelming, so I'm not sure if some of these questions or ideas have been answered. With that said:

I have been playing RTS and Strat games since high school (1994), and I must say Armada is by far my favorite!
To find this mod is Awe Inspiring, you have really outdone the originals! I honestly find it hard to go back and play regular Armada 2. fantastic Job all of you. Having been playing for about a week now i have Some questions;

1:WARPING: The ships seem slugish and slow, the seem to lack the "warp" feature,to quickly navigate the map. Is this being worked on or is it omitted for some reason?

2:Enemy AI: I know this is adjustable, but i am having a hell of a time with borg and Dominion just wiping the floor with me. Before i can get resources and ships built they have several attack and cap ships at my doorstep?

3:OPTIONS: I find a lack of map customization( instant action) a bit frustrating. this looks like it will be addressed in the next release correct? I see lots of space for improvements  left on the panel.

4: The option to warp In an Excelsior class? this confuses me. Now an excelsior refit (1701-B)sure, but excelsior (NX-2000) class was TMP era. No complaints on the Ambassidor class, it is honestly my favorite Starship!(grin) and as the Miranda class was still in TNG im sure in this new Enterprise E-era

5: no tractor beam on build ships? perhaps some basic defensive weapons on build/mining ships(on par with the scout class)

6: No Iwo Jima class! one of the most satisfying parts of armada(for me) is Ship jacking the enemy then using the ships as either cannon fodder, or as spy vessels(cloaked etc..) granted we can still do that, but I would make iwo class on missions just to jack some ships/bases to save on resources! they are much more effective than just beaming over from another ship

Other than those things its  this game is sound as a pound! KUDOS once again!


Suggestions!

1: Having the ability to task a build ship would be AWESOME! basically tell the build ship where you want a series of turrets and ctrl click where to place them them and it will go and do it un assisted!(think workers building a wall on age of empires)

2: HEROES! How bout a special option to warp in "NCC-1701 ENTERPRISE (any era)" which would be veteran status to whup some ass perhaps Worf in a tricked out defiant? Janeway and a modified Intrepid class?!....Perhaps for Borg have a special Borg queen ship, Klingons can call on the power of K'les to uber power a ship soemthing along those lines....essentially you get the idea, like in "Star Wars:Galactic Battlefront, you can call upon a Jedi Knight like Luke Skywalker to join your battle!

can't really think of anything else at this point but PLEASE give feedback on this! id really like to hear your thoughts

posted on February 18th, 2010, 10:20 am

Warp was removed because it removed a lot of strategy from the game, especially because it could be used to dodge torpedoes, if I remember correctly.  I doubt it will ever be added back to the game.

The Borg in particular can be difficult when played by the AI because the AI gains extra resources, especially on the "Merciless" difficulty level.  They can build battleships at the same rate as other races, when the Borg battleships are normally extremely expensive to offset their power.  As for the Dominion, I haven't played against it as much, but I'm sure the reduced costs and build times (when they already have cheap ships) make them harder.

In my opinion, the map selection is pretty good, but you can also download some awesome user made maps in the map editing section.

If I remember correctly for the Excelsior, it's still the workhorse of the Federation fleet (though being phased out).  Just because it's old doesn't mean it doesn't have newer weapons, shields, and such.

I can't remember exactly why tractor beams were removed, but they'll be added back in soon.

If you want to capture enemy ships, play the Borg.  Canonically, the other races didn't really capture ships too much, which is probably why for the most part they don't have ships such as the Iwo Jima.

posted on February 18th, 2010, 10:39 am

thanks for the speedy response!

To clarify, the map SELECTION is quite vast, I am referring to the options omitted in this mod under the advanced tab on the load out screen.

As for Excelsior, very true transwarp FTW  but why not the Refit, like the "Lakota" and "Enterprise B" sweet ass ship! Do not get me wrong, next to Constitutuon refit  and the Ambassador class, Excelsior class is my 3rd favirote, and it was a great suprise to see it warp in the first time!

posted on February 18th, 2010, 11:08 am

We saw a lot of Excelsiors in both TNG and DS9, so having them as a warp-in fits, I think.

As for the assault ship, the Dominion has it's War Frigate which fulfills that role, and the Klingons have a ship that can be refitted as one, but I never found the idea of the Federation having this sort of ship as being in line with their general portrayal on the shows - I think that's why the devs decided to make it a race-specific thing for the Dominion and Klingons.

As for warp...I think this has been discussed before, with a lot of people both for and against. Personally, I hated it and always went through all the stock A2 files to get it out of mine

I do agree that being able to queue up construction ship tasks would be quite nice though 

posted on February 18th, 2010, 7:53 pm

Welcome to the forums! I think that 90% of your questions can be answered just by looking in the "to do tasks (on the front page)" and in the guide and  - especially in the FAQs. Just follow the link on my sig, or enter thru the Fleet Ops main page

posted on February 18th, 2010, 9:34 pm

Hmmm, don't take this the wrong way, but it sounds like you really like stock A2!  FO is vastly different from stock A2.  *edit* I was just going to post more but I realized Dom said it all!   Welcome to th forums again!! You will be assimilated! 

posted on February 18th, 2010, 10:04 pm

Welcome to the forums!!!

Now I'll see about your questions.
Simply put

(1) most likely, no.  no warp

(2) I'm sure its going to be more balanced in the new patch, but that is why its called "merciless" 

(3) yeah, there are plans to add more I think.

(4) yes.  no miranda I think, but a veteran refit is planed, or something like that.

(5) I'm pretty sure they are going to out it back in.

(6) I personally would like space marines aswell, but I don't know the devs opinion on it.  you should start a thread(though i think its been asked before)



1: don't know, I alyays liked this idea, as well as being able to assign more than one ship to build, so it can build faster.

2: I don't think they will be in the game any time soon, but they might be planned for the future.  Veteran ships are pretty good heroes for now though

posted on February 18th, 2010, 10:10 pm

Starfleet needs its Hazard Team... and the Iwo Jima Class.

posted on February 18th, 2010, 10:16 pm

The federation did have marines so I think a troopship is in need.

posted on February 19th, 2010, 5:35 am

If you want to turn down the AI go into the Advanced dialog when you set up the game and change the AI Build Time and Build Cost modifiers to 1.10-1.20, that should make it playable again.

posted on February 19th, 2010, 2:16 pm

Starfleet needs its Hazard Team... and the Iwo Jima Class.

Which one... the Callasic (stock)or this one?
Iwo Jima (Excelsior Variant)

[Tyler]

posted on February 19th, 2010, 3:17 pm

Last edited by Tyler on February 19th, 2010, 3:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Which one... the Callasic (stock)or this one?
Iwo Jima (Excelsior Variant)

This one, the ugly Excelsior kitbash is terrible (especially considering who made it!). The stock one makes a good alternative, with ENT-era textures like in the Armada2 Texture replacement.

Iwo Jima Class (Interstellar Machine)
IM Iwo Jima Class HP Fix (Done by me...)

What in the name of Kahless is this 'Callasic' rubbish?

posted on February 19th, 2010, 11:22 pm

I take he meant to write "Classic", and either confused himself in the process or typed too fast and didn't check before posting.