Armageddon

Narly Bird

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I rather meant that it seems very late to open a steam shop only 6 days before release date. I would have thought it would generate a lot more interest if they had opened it say, 1 month before. Regardless of whether pre-ordering is allowed or not.

I have been following the beta thread on the official site and it seems that the game is now pretty much bug-free and technically sound, but that there are issues with balancing and the seemingly poor AI. Lets hope they iron out those issues soon, although i think this game has the most potential in multiplayer and mod's, rather than the standard single player part of the game.
 

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Narly Bird

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For anyone interested, the developers are going to stream a game at 20ECT today (26th)
Twitch

Equivalent to 4am my time tomorrow...
 

crimsonsun

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I was going to ask when it was I got a msg about it then promptly forgot...
 

Narly Bird

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Its on sale now - 25% discount if purchased before 3 December. I'm in Japan and the discounted price is 3,000 yen (about 30 USD).

Am downloading now and will post up my thoughts after a couple of hours gameplay.
 

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Its 2:30am here and i have to work tomorrow, so i've just copied and pasted a post i made on the steam forums after finishing the tutorial:

Ok, so i've just done the tutorial missions (around 4 or 5 in all?). Here are my initial impressions:
1. I like that there are voice actors. It helps with immersion and is a nice extra, although i guess i will be skipping it after the 2nd playthrough. Still a nice touch though and adds to immersion.
2. small point, but i dont like the font much. Very bland. Something a little more gothic would fit in better
3. Artwork between missions is really great. I suspect they've borrowed it from GW.
4. Unit graphics are a bit dated. Perhaps retro is a kinder description. It looks alright static, but i dont like it when the units move. No movement action at all - just the graphic slides across the tile. I think panzer corps had the tanks treadmills move? Would have been nice if they could have implemented some animations there.
5. Awesome sound effects for the guns. I really like them
6. All gun types are shown on the unit and show different firing effects! Some vehicles have 3 guns and you can see each, plus each one has a different visual firing affect.
7. Gameplay itself is alright. Rock/scissor/paper thing. But i'm still learning the mechanic. From just playing the tutorials, it seems that range is the most important factor. But it seems that some units can support other units. I really need to play more to better understand the mechanics of it. Its easy enough to just run through it, but i'm pretty sure there is a deeper layer to it that i'm not getting yet. Need to play more.
8. Huge variety of units. Its actually a bit lost on me as its hard to tell whats the best (and i dont think there is really any 1 best). Eg. in the last map of tutorial i think there were about 8 different types of leman russ tanks i could choose from! Crazy!
9. This game seems squarely focused on 40k fans, but is easy enough to pick up and play even if you don't have any knowledge of 40k. Not sure it would be as enjoyable in that case though...


I'm now into the 3rd mission of act 1 and don't have a lot more to add, except that the amount of units to choose from is absolutely crazy. I only dabbled in 40k, so a lot of its over my head. But if you are a 40k buff, then you are going to love the sheer amount of choice.
 

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Whilst i said its rock/scissors/paper, its a lot more intricate than that, due to the sheer number of units and weapon loadout options. I only did up to the 3rd campaign mission last night and am struggling a bit to know what i should be using against what. I think there are a lot of subtleties that you can ignore and still enjoy the game, but if you take the time to learn them, it becomes a lot enjoyable. I'm still at the very beginning of that learning process though! :eek:

To summarise the basics of gameplay though each unit can move and shoot once each turn (in any order). All guns have a range based on the number of hexes. If you shoot at a unit, it will shoot back at you if it has guns that are in range. There is an initiative stat and i think who shoots first may be based on that, although i am unsure on this point? A lot of units have multiple weapons with different ranges. So you have to decide whether to get up close so that all your guns can fire but subject yourself to retaliatory fire, or else staying back where you are safe whilst causing less damage. There is also close combat, but i am unsure how that mechanic works yet.

Units have morale. The more a unit gets shot at, the more morale will drop. As it drops, the unit takes more damage and deals out less damage. You can rest the unit to regain morale. Units come in various sizes and have various hit points, which can make it a bit confusing. Eg. an imperial guard squad has 15 men with 1 HP each. A Leman Russ tank squad has 5 Leman Russ', each with 3 HP each. Units also have an armour rating. Weapons run the gammit from low number of shots with high armour penetration (good vs high armoured targets), to high number of shots with low armour penetration (good verse large volume, low armour targets).

There is also terrain, with combat modifiers based on line of site and also some defensive bonuses for certain terrain types. Some of the artillery has the advantage of ignoring terrain modifiers, but most units are affected by it.
 
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crimsonsun

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It sounds like it uses a variation on the Epic Armageddon rules system which would make sense obviously, though I would need to look into it more to be sure.

I am not sure of your knowledge of the 40k universe but I think there are about 6 standard Lemon Russ variations in 40k plus another dozen via the Imperial Armour books so lots of options here does not surprise me hugely though I do wonder about the full implications that will have in terms of the mechanics. Also Imperial Weapons in the Universe are repeated over multiple armies so you quickly gain a solid knowledge of what they all can do, which I imagine this games mechanics will not alter hugely.

While I am very interested in this game, it looks to me like a direct copy of Final liberation (with upgraded graphics obviously) which is not necessarily a bad thing as that was a great game but it is some what uninspired. The only reason I have not picked this up already however is because it only has Orks and Imperial forces currently and I really do not like the modern 40k Orks thematically (narrative and visual theme), while I love the Imperial Guard I hate (Hate is know where near a strong enough word here) Space Marines of all kinds and in all senses (background, theme, novels, mechanics, models) so until they start to include the more interesting Races this game will likely do my head in. :D
 

Narly Bird

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Some cool looking mods are in the works with new races being added. Here is the link to a screenshot of some of the Dark Eldar units:
View topic - Screenshot of a Dark Eldar Roster

And Tau:
http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=326&t=54472

And another guy seems to be making a Craftworld Eldar one too. Personally i am hoping for Tyranids and Squats.

They should also be releasing a patch for the official game today which balances a lot of things and finally adds animation for close combat!
 
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Narly Bird

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Patch 1.03 has been released. Its now looking like much more of a finished game compared to the original version, which wasn't very user friendly. Now if you right click on a unit it comes up with all the stats of the unit in a separate enlarged box. Its a welcome additional as it was difficult to tell the stats of the enemy units. Various other bits and pieces have been fixed too.
View topic - Warhammer 40,0000 Armageddon update 1.03 coming soon!
 

Narly Bird

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Yes, the developers seem to really engage with the community and take on any suggestions and critiques. I can see this game being supported for a long time.

Meanwhile, Steam winter sale has started. Anything worth getting?
 
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