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Off-Topic Discussion => Gaming Discussion => Topic started by: Colonol Dekker on December 01, 2008, 12:43:25 pm

Title: Carrier command: Gaea Mission
Post by: Colonol Dekker on December 01, 2008, 12:43:25 pm
www.carriercommand.com
 
Like some gaming deity was hearing Karajormas unconsous pleads, :nervous: carrier commands getting a remake. ;)
Title: Re: Carrier command: Gaea Mission
Post by: Vidmaster on December 01, 2008, 03:29:08 pm
i dont believe it  :eek2:
Title: Re: Carrier command: Gaea Mission
Post by: karajorma on December 01, 2008, 05:01:57 pm
Yeah. I posted a link to that one a while back when everyone was talking about Hostile Waters. :)

I'm still waiting to see how this one turns out. :)
Title: Re: Carrier command: Gaea Mission
Post by: Colonol Dekker on December 01, 2008, 07:51:57 pm
I noticed a snippet about it in uk PC Gamer. :yes:

This pic leads me tyo believe it will contain extra Awesome and i sincerely hope it has a set of modding tools when released..  xD

(http://www.carriercommand.com/files/image2b.jpg)


Just downloading the teaser (53mb video) available from link in first post.
Title: Re: Carrier command: Gaea Mission
Post by: BloodEagle on December 01, 2008, 08:15:35 pm
I'm curious as to how they expect that body armor to work.  :rolleyes:
Title: Re: Carrier command: Gaea Mission
Post by: Colonol Dekker on December 01, 2008, 08:30:47 pm
Clips probably, buttons would just pop off and Zips are too annoying... :yes:


edit-- ohh. her Armour? Well distraction would definitely factor into me missing the target. :lol:
Title: Re: Carrier command: Gaea Mission
Post by: karajorma on December 02, 2008, 05:40:23 pm
I'm just wondering what the multiplayer will be like. Hostile Waters is great but it really did miss multiplayer.
Title: Re: Carrier command: Gaea Mission
Post by: Vidmaster on December 03, 2008, 02:57:01 am
as long as this has a decent SinglePlayer and won't be an MMO  :rolleyes: I buy it.
Title: Re: Carrier command: Gaea Mission
Post by: lostllama on December 03, 2008, 07:46:27 am
Yowsah... :eek2:

I hope the AI will be smart enough to handle things, the original always had me controlling several stations at once when in combat (although trying to simultaneously do strafing runs in the Manta, steering the Walrus around trying to launch a virus bomb at that enemy carrier, launching cruise missiles and decoys etc etc made for one of the most tense and exciting gaming experiences I've had).

*nostalgia*
Title: Re: Carrier command: Gaea Mission
Post by: General Battuta on April 27, 2012, 03:10:57 pm
Preorders get beta access http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/04/27/hands-on-carrier-command-beta/#more-106014
Title: Re: Carrier command: Gaea Mission
Post by: karajorma on April 27, 2012, 11:54:24 pm
Hmmmm. £16 to play the game now.

Karajorma is very tempted not to wait.
Title: Re: Carrier command: Gaea Mission
Post by: Dragon on April 28, 2012, 05:43:14 am
I was tracking it for quite some time (it's a BI game, from the same guys as ArmA), and I'm looking forward to it. Not interested enough to pre-order the beta, but I'll buy it when it appears on Steam and has a semi-decent price cut on it.
Title: Re: Carrier command: Gaea Mission
Post by: crizza on October 07, 2012, 03:47:02 pm
Necrothread....
So, I bought this today and its fun to play...
Although the planes take some time to get used to them...
Title: Re: Carrier command: Gaea Mission
Post by: z64555 on October 07, 2012, 11:36:12 pm
Do want. :D
Title: Re: Carrier command: Gaea Mission
Post by: Colonol Dekker on October 08, 2012, 03:05:33 am
It's out then? Oooohhh... Let us know good stuff like replayability and if the campaign's long enough. All I remember is that the body armour from the trailer didn't look like it covered enough.
Title: Re: Carrier command: Gaea Mission
Post by: crizza on October 08, 2012, 06:36:37 am
Uh...ok...
the campaign starts out as a first person shooter, but this is rather...borin, since the KI is honestly dumb.
So you capture a badly damaged enemy carrier and head of to another island and thats when the funny part begins.
Your carrier needs fuel for traveling as well as for repairs, so expect a damaged carrier for the prolog missions.
So, your carrier starts out with no defensiv and offensiv power, all you got is a Walrus ATV armed with a machine gun, but this is no problem, since you only face dumd droids and occasionaly an enemy Walrus. So you capture the first islands, while yopur carrier repairs itselfs slowly, get a second Walrus and then a Manta, a VTOL armed with a machine gun, which is nice for scouting and, if you get the hang of it, taking out targets at extreme range.
So...after that your carrier is fully online, but needs supplies for itself and your forces.
Island capping is pretty much the same: One Walrus gets a hacking capsule, you go in and capture the enemy command center, which is protected by firewalls, shields or scramblers, the later are mean, cause they interrupt your contol over your units, be it direct control or remote, so your carrier needs to be as close to the island as possible, risking to hit the shoreline, while your view gets all dizzy and hazy.

As of now I realy like the game but:
The AI is realy stupid, since you can engage enemy units at long range with you ground units, while they sit around and let themselves being killed.
They supplies take time and as I said, everything you can produce while be placed on your stockpile island and then delievered by a submarine, be it fuel, a laser, armor for your units and so on.
Title: Re: Carrier command: Gaea Mission
Post by: Nemesis6 on October 08, 2012, 07:54:52 am
Don't buy this game yet, the AI is terribly broken. The developers have acknowledged this, and are working on it for the next patch. The current patch is 1.02. It, too, addressed the issue, but didn't result in any noticeable remedy. The problem is that air and especially ground-units are very, very bad at pathfinding.

But crizza summed it up pretty well. By the way, KI = AI.
Title: Re: Carrier command: Gaea Mission
Post by: crizza on October 08, 2012, 08:06:39 am
Isn't KI german for "Künstliche Intelligenz" and AI "artificial intelligence"?

But the broken pathfinding skills are usefull, since the enemy has this problem too.
To funny if the enemy ground units charge your carrier...the plasma gun is deadly^^

Edit: Ah, reread my post, sry, I'm from germany and mixed KI and AI.
Title: Re: Carrier command: Gaea Mission
Post by: Dragon on October 08, 2012, 02:48:19 pm
BI has a long tradition of making clueless AI. Especially patchfinding is one of the things people always complain about on forums, especially about ArmA. It also has a long tradition of buggy releases. I guess that at the time of economic crisis, they had to cut costs, so they merged the traditions and released with a buggy AI patchfinding. :)
Title: Re: Carrier command: Gaea Mission
Post by: crizza on October 08, 2012, 04:30:14 pm
Isn't ARMA the game where a player breaks a leg when jumping from a 2metre high thing?
This would explain why a ****ing future ATV gets damaged by driving over a little...rock.
Title: Re: Carrier command: Gaea Mission
Post by: Alex Heartnet on October 08, 2012, 06:12:39 pm
Isn't ARMA the game where a player breaks a leg when jumping from a 2metre high thing?
This would explain why a ****ing future ATV gets damaged by driving over a little...rock.

While said ATV takes very little damage when the fighter airlifting it drops it into the water from a considerable height.
Title: Re: Carrier command: Gaea Mission
Post by: Dragon on October 08, 2012, 06:16:27 pm
Yes, basically. Let's face it, if you jumped from two meters in full gear, you'd break a leg too.
ATVs taking damage from driving over pebbles are a bug which also plagues ArmA in some circumstances. I don't know if Carrier Command also uses RV engine, but I think they might fix it in a patch. Hopefully it'll be fixed when the game's on a big sale on Steam.
Title: Re: Carrier command: Gaea Mission
Post by: crizza on October 10, 2012, 01:53:22 pm
Hm, while the game is certainly entertaining, after achieving the first long time goal, it becomes quite bugged.
One of your crewmates tells you that one of your islands is under attack...not a big deal, we are prepared and even drive of the enemy carrier, taking a heavy armored and armed Manta and flying across the island...nothing there, so I set sail for an island which I didn't capture before assaulting the enemy stronghold.
So while taking said island, the one we succsefully defended blinks merily red, indicating it is still under assault, which can't be true.
We take the island which treatened our rear, move on to go on the offensive once again...and BAM
The island we defended a mere hour ago falls, triggering an attack on the next which immedeatly afterwards falls, while we race to prevent it, but we arrive too late.
Well, we know the drill, my crew says something about a scrambler, no big deal, but then I realize one thing:
I cannot reach the scrambler(which wasn't there when I take the island the first time), because it is in the center of the island.
And all the while another island is under attack...
That said, I almost crush my phone, load another savegame...and quit -.-
Title: Re: Carrier command: Gaea Mission
Post by: karajorma on October 11, 2012, 06:26:02 am
I have discovered another problem with this game. While waiting for it to load I keep finding myself humming the Hostile Waters theme tune.


Which is truly bizarre cause I used to own the original Carrier Command for both Spectrum and Amiga. So I had the tape with the audio soundtrack on it.
Title: Re: Carrier command: Gaea Mission
Post by: crizza on October 11, 2012, 07:29:42 am
Since I'm a huge fan of instrumental music (I hear TSFH several hour per day) I love the soundtrack.
And I solved the defense probleme.
If you're informed about an island under attack, set sail, if no enemy carrier is around, he will be traveling to another island along the supply lane.
That said, the enemy carrier is faster than yours and you will drop out of time warp once you encounter it and your only chance to damage this thing is a head on approach, firing your plasma cannon and don't ram him...you'll just be bounced away and while he continues...
Title: Re: Carrier command: Gaea Mission
Post by: Alex Heartnet on October 11, 2012, 08:43:53 pm
I have discovered another problem with this game. While waiting for it to load I keep finding myself humming the Hostile Waters theme tune.


Which is truly bizarre cause I used to own the original Carrier Command for both Spectrum and Amiga. So I had the tape with the audio soundtrack on it.

You're not alone.  I keep calling the carrier 'Antaeus'.  Clearly what should of been done is a remake/update/HD version/something of Hostile Waters and not Carrier Command.
Title: Re: Carrier command: Gaea Mission
Post by: karajorma on October 12, 2012, 08:18:21 am
While I do like the game, the characters so far have none of the personality of those in Hostile Waters. "Walrus 6 heavily damaged" just doesn't sound as good as Patton shouting "I need Support!"

Carrier Command does fix some of the flaws of Hostile Waters. The carrier can move around, making it an offensive and defensive tool in its own right. Also I hated the scavenging mechanic. It just slowed down the gameplay while you desperately tried to scrape together the resources to build something. And it encouraged setting up a beachhead and just sitting there for ages, killing waves of enemies, in order to allow the resources to build up. But for the perfect game, someone needs to combine the two together. :)

That said, I'm not far into the game (haven't even attacked Fulcrum) so maybe I'll like it more once I get further into it. But so far, I really can't see it beating Hostile Waters.
Title: Re: Carrier command: Gaea Mission
Post by: crizza on October 12, 2012, 01:00:56 pm
Dunno about the earlier carrier command games, but this "Unit heavily damaged" sounds right, given the fact they're drones.
Here are several things you should not do:
Play the game drunk...when I returned from my local pub I decided to take an enemy island with "Very Strong" defenses including some nasty missile launchers, which, combined with heavy flak decimated my Manta complement faster than it took me to figur it out...so, when I started the game today I was all about "Where the heck are my Mantas, why do I have another island and why am I charging at the enemy carrier?!"

Plus...never charge a mass of Walrus with a bomb strapped to your Manta, activate the booster an...well, the bomb fell at exact the same speed than the Manta dived...imagine what happened next -.-
Title: Re: Carrier command: Gaea Mission
Post by: Alex Heartnet on October 12, 2012, 03:06:08 pm
Carrier Command does fix some of the flaws of Hostile Waters. The carrier can move around, making it an offensive and defensive tool in its own right.

Sadly however, at the same time Hostile Waters implements certain gameplay mechanics better then Carrier Command.  This is most notable with artillery type weapons - in Carrier Command, if you choose to fire a howitzer-equipped Walrus (or indeed, the 'shell' weapon for the carrier), you get almost no feedback on if you are hitting anything behind that hill.  The equivalent unit in Hostile Waters has a mini-camera tracking your manually aimed shots, giving you a much better idea on what you are (not) hitting.

Also I hated the scavenging mechanic. It just slowed down the gameplay while you desperately tried to scrape together the resources to build something. And it encouraged setting up a beachhead and just sitting there for ages, killing waves of enemies, in order to allow the resources to build up. But for the perfect game, someone needs to combine the two together. :)

Unfortunately, you can find yourself in the exact same situation in Carrier Command, where you have lost most of your units and it will be some time before your islands can manufacture replacements.

This is particularly notable early on in the campaign.  The difference between a machine gun and a laser is rather huge, and the laser is one of the weaker weapons in the game.  No armor vs. MKI armor is a similarly large difference.  Both unarmored unit durability and machine gun strength could stand to be buffed just so that there isn't that huge discrepancy between 'basic' and 'first upgrade tier'.

Dunno about the earlier carrier command games, but this "Unit heavily damaged" sounds right, given the fact they're drones.

There is this little game called Portal which established this standard of AI's having at least a little bit of personality.  These robots don't have any at all.

Here are several things you should not do:
Play the game drunk...when I returned from my local pub I decided to take an enemy island with "Very Strong" defenses including some nasty missile launchers, which, combined with heavy flak decimated my Manta complement faster than it took me to figur it out...so, when I started the game today I was all about "Where the heck are my Mantas, why do I have another island and why am I charging at the enemy carrier?!"

Agreed, missile turrets are overpowered!  It's a general purpose turret that can tear apart both ground and air units on its own, meaning you can't even counter it with the appropriate unit type.
Title: Re: Carrier command: Gaea Mission
Post by: crizza on October 12, 2012, 03:33:43 pm
Howitzers are sick, agreed, although, since you have nearly unlimited ammo I spend minutes blasting whole bases to dust.
Normaly, I use these cruise missile things to blast the enemies unit producing facilities and kiling heavy turrets at extrem range or moving my carrier around the island, shooting the shell cannon.
But against the enemy carrier the gun is usefull, I once managed to drive it of shooting him, although I don't saw him anymore.

And these missile turrets...good lord...plasma weaons, guided missiles or the cruise missile work against them at extrem range, combined with flares, but since the cruise missile is realy expensive and only a one-shot weapon...it is a waste to use against turrets.
Title: Re: Carrier command: Gaea Mission
Post by: NGTM-1R on October 12, 2012, 09:18:34 pm
There is this little game called Portal which established this standard of AI's having at least a little bit of personality.  These robots don't have any at all.

Excuse me while I get out my cell phone and call bull**** about comparing combat robots designed by sane people and anything from Portal.
Title: Re: Carrier command: Gaea Mission
Post by: Alex Heartnet on October 12, 2012, 09:53:52 pm
Excuse me while I get out my cell phone and call bull**** about comparing combat robots designed by sane people and anything from Portal.

Have you actually heard the generic, dull messages your units send you in this game? Almost all radio transmissions follow the bland formula of (Unit Type) (Unit #) (Verb) or some variation thereof, and I would imagine that dialogue this bad could get on the nerves of a real-life drone operator as well.  Indeed, it could be beneficial for said real life drone operator to get a little bit attached to the drone he is monitoring.

All that's needed is a LITTLE bit of non-genericness.  Not as in 'cute sentry turret', but just a little something to get you emotionally invested in what is indeed in gameplay terms an expensive, difficult-to-replace robot.

Or would you rather I had compared the robot tanks here to robots from works earlier then Portal?  I can't come up with any off the top of my head, but given a bit of time and research I could definitely show you multiple examples of fictional robots that benefit from having just a tiny amount of personality.
Title: Re: Carrier command: Gaea Mission
Post by: NGTM-1R on October 12, 2012, 10:38:15 pm
I can name plenty for you. (Urban Assault for starters, which is closely on-point as you command an army of drone units; but there the units' minimal personality had more to do with distinguishing them without looking at them so you could recognize your tank types by their voice.)

The problem is, as a choice, this actually makes sense and fits with real-world thought on the use of drones and how they should be treated by the people who handle them.  It is important the operator not become attached to them so that if orders are given that will result in the drone's destruction he doesn't hesitate to carry them out. Combat drones are expendable and manufactured in the expectation they will be expended. Depersonalizing them isn't just something trained to, it's actually a design goal.
Title: Re: Carrier command: Gaea Mission
Post by: Unknown Target on October 12, 2012, 11:01:45 pm
Oh God I LOVED Urban Assault.

Now please return to your regularly scheduled thread. I thought about picking this up but it didn't really grab me...seems like it would get boring and repetitive after the first hour.
Title: Re: Carrier command: Gaea Mission
Post by: karajorma on October 13, 2012, 01:24:47 am
Unfortunately, you can find yourself in the exact same situation in Carrier Command, where you have lost most of your units and it will be some time before your islands can manufacture replacements.


It's always going to be an issue in any game with resource management. But in CC you can at least wander off and make a cup of tea or something, keeping a cursory watch on the game. In Hostile Waters, you actually had to sit there and babysit your units or Ransom would decide to take on the entire enemy force single-handed. Making Patton stationary and telling everyone to stick by him works about 90% of the time but if you wander off, you just know you'd come back to find half your forces wiped out.

Quote
This is particularly notable early on in the campaign.  The difference between a machine gun and a laser is rather huge, and the laser is one of the weaker weapons in the game.  No armor vs. MKI armor is a similarly large difference.  Both unarmored unit durability and machine gun strength could stand to be buffed just so that there isn't that huge discrepancy between 'basic' and 'first upgrade tier'.


This was true in Hostile Waters though. You'd often have to build a bunch of crappy units, scavenge and then bring everything back to the carrier so you could build better ones. At least in CC if you left the last island well armed, you'll still be well armed when you get to the next one.

Bear in mind, I'm still near the start of the game though.


One big flaw in CC is that as far as I can tell, there is no way to order your mantas to follow your ground units. Which means they end up doing even less than the hornets did later on in Hostile Waters when it seemed like everything could kill them in a couple of shots.
Title: Re: Carrier command: Gaea Mission
Post by: crizza on October 13, 2012, 06:35:26 am
After capturing Fulcrum(you can actually cap all islands but fulcrum and another, so take your time) you will use Mantas most of the time for scouting and mopping the floor with enemy turrets and buildings.
Since you're stuck with your 8 units total, it is realy frustrating to use ur Walrus, kill round about 6 enemy Walrus only to see them being replaced in the blink of an eye, so destroying the infrastructure is hichly recommended.

Any idea how to rebuild the destroyed installations on Fulcrum?
The repair gun is obviously only for repairing units...
Title: Re: Carrier command: Gaea Mission
Post by: Alex Heartnet on October 13, 2012, 12:11:50 pm
Any idea how to rebuild the destroyed installations on Fulcrum?
The repair gun is obviously only for repairing units...

The island will automatically repair/rebuild itself over time.  You can actually see this if you idle at an island you captured (waiting for mantas to return, for supplies, exc)  Just set sail and move on to the next island.
Title: Re: Carrier command: Gaea Mission
Post by: crizza on October 13, 2012, 02:50:57 pm
Any idea how to rebuild the destroyed installations on Fulcrum?
The repair gun is obviously only for repairing units...

The island will automatically repair/rebuild itself over time.  You can actually see this if you idle at an island you captured (waiting for mantas to return, for supplies, exc)  Just set sail and move on to the next island.
The command center etc repairs, but not the central complex which got hit by the hammerhead not...
Title: Re: Carrier command: Gaea Mission
Post by: Alex Heartnet on October 13, 2012, 05:12:18 pm
The command center etc repairs, but not the central complex which got hit by the hammerhead not...
Oh, THAT crater.  Yeah, it doesn't rebuild itself for whatever reason.  Given how poorly the enemy carrier is simulated though, it's not really an issue.
Title: Re: Carrier command: Gaea Mission
Post by: crizza on October 14, 2012, 02:28:52 pm
Finished the campaign...well...
No I'm trying the strategic game option.
Title: Re: Carrier command: Gaea Mission
Post by: Vidmaster on October 20, 2012, 06:15:44 am
I heard the AI was braindead, especially when not in the air.
Title: Re: Carrier command: Gaea Mission
Post by: karajorma on October 20, 2012, 09:11:58 pm
It really is. Maybe the other's have noticed this but I usually find that one Walrus is more idiotic than the others. I'm constantly having to take direct control of Walrus 9 for some reason. The other Walruses will reach their destination and 9 will still be on the other side of the map trying to drive through a tree!

What makes that especially dumb is that I left him on the same road the others managed to follow!

/me gets the bizarre idea of recording Walrus 9's shenanigans and posting them on YouTube set to the tune of The Lumberjack Song.
Title: Re: Carrier command: Gaea Mission
Post by: Colonol Dekker on December 19, 2012, 10:17:37 am
/me gets the bizarre idea of recording Walrus 9's shenanigans and posting them on YouTube set to the tune of The Lumberjack Song.

:bump:

I say do it.