Grognard Games Megathread - Registered Hex Offenders.

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uPen: Jan 25, 2010; Zu Rodina!

Shrapnel is a nightmare for the consumer as well and I'm extremely glad that illwinter escaped them and was able to release dominions on steam instead.

# ? May 6, 2019 17:42

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# ? Jun 2, 2024 11:05

OddObserver: Apr 3, 2009

Hav posted:

Aurora 4x questions;

Basic ethos for design is that bigger engines are more efficient, but numerous engines are hard to knock out?

That isn't quite the case because large engines have very high HTK, so they are actually very hard to knock out, even if you're more screwed if they do get knocked out --- this got nerfed pretty hard in the upcoming C# version:

quote:

Engine HTK

Due to their size, Engines in VB6 Aurora create a damage shield because their HTK is very high compared to the amount of damage they are likely to receive. This would only become worse in C# Aurora with much larger engines now possible.

Therefore, the Engine HTK will change from 50% of Size to SQRT(Size).

http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=8495.msg102711#msg102711

(Small engines are also operationally easier, though, as you can use the same model for different size hulls easily and have speeds matched, and you don't have to get it all planned out in advance).

# ? May 6, 2019 17:48

Yooper: Apr 30, 2012

Dude needs to do like Commands Ops and just release #2.

Approaching Infinity & Beyond, #2, The Sequel, Episode IV, Part 2, Redux, Not The First One, gently caress Shrapnel.

Game looks neat but I'm not dealing with a publisher who's shafting a cool dev. Dude needs to go elsewhere.

# ? May 6, 2019 18:09

Hav: Dec 11, 2009; Fun Shoe

Ceebees posted:

Yes, with caveats. Harder to knock out completely, you still lose speed as you lose engines - that is, assuming your ship survives the engine blowout when one goes. Another tradeoff is the research points to finalize the design, a size-50 monster engine will take up your P/P specialist for quite a while.

Jump engines are very large, so making a combat-capable jump ship loses a lot of tonnage that you really want to have weapons and armor and realspace engines in. You can, but it's expensive and difficult, so most people's strategy is to have tenders that can move system boats around. You do also know about jump gate builders, yes? A JP stabilized into a gate doesn't need a tender to open it, so your system boats can use them.

If your things are running out of fuel all the time, try single large engines (as mentioned), moving your power/efficiency on the engine down (a 5% increase in power is more than a 5% increase in fuel use), or just researching the next generation of of engine fuel efficiency.
Speaking just for myself, yeah, i have 100-200bkm survey ships that do fine. I don't send harvesters out (have you heard the good Word of the harvester station?) but I do station tankers on the edge of my stabilized jump network as portable refueling stations.

I literally started digging into it last week, so I'm still trying to get my head around the various concepts, but it's very like 'Stars!'. So I know very little. I didn't know that jump gates worked like that, for example, as I've only just surveyed my first jump points.

I was quite proud of my rapid response tanker fleets after the survey ships started running out of fuel, but I guess that's :shobon:

.

Also, I didn't roll a P&P, but I'll be sorted for Defensive scientists. How do I get new scientists?

OddObserver posted:

That isn't quite the case because large engines have very high HTK, so they are actually very hard to knock out, even if you're more screwed if they do get knocked out --- this got nerfed pretty hard in the upcoming C# version:

I'm seriously just coming into this, but it been interesting seeing the changes. Most tutorials are completely out of date now. But it's a deep game.

# ? May 6, 2019 18:18

uPen: Jan 25, 2010; Zu Rodina!

Military academies produce all your leaders including scientists I believe.

# ? May 6, 2019 18:23

fuf: Sep 12, 2004; haha

Can't wait for the mythical C# version so I can finally try this dumb game.

# ? May 6, 2019 18:26

uPen: Jan 25, 2010; Zu Rodina!

I get an itch to play it again every once and awhile but the game just runs SO BADLY it's not worth the effort.

# ? May 6, 2019 18:27

Dramicus: Mar 26, 2010; Grimey Drawer

Zaodai posted:

I actually feel bad for that guy. It seems like he made a well meaning but poorly informed decision and has realized the error of his ways but they've got him by the balls and now he'll never escape.

Why doesn't the dev do a rebranding/asset flip of his own game? Just release a "new" game on steam with a different name that happens to play exactly the same as this other game he made? Sure he might lose some of that brand recognition, but let's be honest, it's a grog game there isn't much to begin with.

# ? May 6, 2019 19:01

Ceebees: Nov 2, 2011; I'm intentionally being as verbose as possible in negotiations for my own amusement.

Hav posted:

Also, I didn't roll a P&P, but I'll be sorted for Defensive scientists. How do I get new scientists?

uPen posted:

Military academies produce all your leaders including scientists I believe.

This is correct. Each military academy will train 5 leaders per year, randomly split across the four types (Army, Navy, Civilian, and Scientist) with some weighting. No way to angle for the one you want, just spam academies until they flood your roster.

Also, your Leaders gain new skills faster if they have an assigned task, so try to make sure that everyone has a job to do. To help in this, for the purposes of skill gain the game doesn't (yet) know the difference between a battlecruiser and a garbage scow, nor between someone assigned to CERN versus a middle-school geology lab. Experience is experience!

# ? May 6, 2019 19:12

Hav: Dec 11, 2009; Fun Shoe

Ceebees posted:

This is correct. Each military academy will train 5 leaders per year, randomly split across the four types (Army, Navy, Civilian, and Scientist) with some weighting. No way to angle for the one you want, just spam academies until they flood your roster.

Also, your Leaders gain new skills faster if they have an assigned task, so try to make sure that everyone has a job to do. To help in this, for the purposes of skill gain the game doesn't (yet) know the difference between a battlecruiser and a garbage scow, nor between someone assigned to CERN versus a middle-school geology lab. Experience is experience!

Yeah, I just hit the cull date. My early game is getting modified quite a bit with sudden surprises.

I can manufacture things like deep space networks and use freighters to straight up drop them where I need them?

I figured that Automated Factories are the sweetness for just extracting minerals.

# ? May 6, 2019 19:38

Saros: Dec 29, 2009; Its almost like we're a Bureaucracy, in space!

I set sail for the Planet of Lab Requisitions!!

Automated Mines? Beware that they use a LOT of TNE's to produce and it takes a long time to get return on investment with them, especially as you will usually run hard into a corrundium crunch at some point as your demand for it outstrips your mining capacity or you tap out your easily accessible deposits.

# ? May 6, 2019 20:14

Pharnakes: Aug 14, 2009

Speaking of taping out I really hope the new Aurora lets you resurvey. One survey and done is like saying the first time humans dug up some copper means that for ever on the only mining that could be done was surface mining of copper.

Planets really need to have hidden deposit values, and surveying can reveal up to but never over said value, with better technology and skill giving higher returns. Otherwise you end up with this deeply stupid trade off or putting of surveying potentially good things until you've skilled up on a bunch of poo poo things first. This just makes no sense in any real world context and is a plague on 4Xs in general I think. Launch Stellaris for example was particularly egregious with this, you really wanted those nice anomalies but you really didn't want to waste them, so you would send your scientists off to level on a bunch of boring lovely ones first before coming back to explore the good ones.

For hilarity you could have the possibility of false returns over the real value that then collapse once you've mined for a while.

# ? May 6, 2019 21:27

V for Vegas: Sep 1, 2004; THUNDERDOME LOSER

Never thought I'd see this

https://store.steampowered.com/app/811880/Close_Combat_The_Bloody_First/

# ? May 6, 2019 21:28

Hav: Dec 11, 2009; Fun Shoe

Saros posted:

Automated Mines? Beware that they use a LOT of TNE's to produce and it takes a long time to get return on investment with them, especially as you will usually run hard into a corrundium crunch at some point as your demand for it outstrips your mining capacity or you tap out your easily accessible deposits.

I had about ninety of them sitting on Earth not doing much, so I shipped them out to Psyche. This is my huge mistake run-through, where I completely gently caress things up by not knowing anything.

Case in point, I accidentally turn Mars into a penal colony that offed around a hundred thousand people a year before I figured out infrastructure. The Corrundium tip is useful, though. I started a whole thing to gather Neutronium from asteroids before realising I was sitting on 30K* of the stuff.

* Not literally, that's how you get hemorrhoids.

Hav fucked around with this message at 21:54 on May 6, 2019

# ? May 6, 2019 21:50

Zaodai: May 23, 2009; Death before dishonor?
Your terms are accepted.

Dramicus posted:

Why doesn't the dev do a rebranding/asset flip of his own game? Just release a "new" game on steam with a different name that happens to play exactly the same as this other game he made? Sure he might lose some of that brand recognition, but let's be honest, it's a grog game there isn't much to begin with.

It would depend on the contract and how brutal Shrapnel is going to be about trying to prove in court that you're infringing on the game you already sold them to try and get out of it, I'd guess. If he's that scared of them already, lord only knows.

# ? May 6, 2019 21:59

Galaga Galaxian: Apr 23, 2009; What a childish tactic!
Don't you think you should put more thought into your battleplan?!

I really love grogs who are super insistent about putting proper Nazi flags into games for "Historical accuracy" reasons. :allears:

# ? May 6, 2019 22:06

Zaodai: May 23, 2009; Death before dishonor?
Your terms are accepted.

Did that law actually get changed in Germany? Seems like that would have been a rough sell to push through most political bodies.

# ? May 6, 2019 22:07

Galaga Galaxian: Apr 23, 2009; What a childish tactic!
Don't you think you should put more thought into your battleplan?!

jwsmith26, NWS Team posted:

WS Beta Team Logbook #10

--------------------------------------------- The Kido Butai -------------------------------------------------

Here is the Kido Butai during a battle in the Indian Ocean in 1953.

The Soryu, Hiryu and Karyuu are all sister ships of the Soryu class, 32,000 tons, 91 to 94 aircraft. These ships were commissioned between 1932 and 1935. They were the second generation of fleet carriers built by the Japanese. The design used an unarmored flight deck and concentrated on the largest possible air capacity. They can make 30 knots. The original AA armament for these ships consisted of sixteen 4" DP backed up by 35 light AA guns. AA directors had not yet been developed at the time and medium AA guns and 5" DP were not available. After their second refit they now carry sixteen 5" DP, with 49 MAA and 10 LAA, but most importantly they have been equipped with 4 AA directors. Two of these ships have had flight deck catapults installed.

The Shokaku and Zuikaku are sister ships. Commissioned in 1937 and 1938, they each have a displacement of 37,100 tons and carry 83 planes. That extra weight was not used for air capacity but rather was used to install a 3" armored flight deck, which so far has not been tested. At trials neither ship could make the planned speed of 30 kts and at best can now manage 29 kts. Their AAA suite is currently similar to the Soryus. Flight deck catapults were not available when the two Shokakus were last refit. The Shokaku was the Carrier Force flagship in this battle.

The newest ship of the group is the Koryu, 39,000 tons, 90 aircraft. She is essentially an upscaled Shokaku class with a very similar armored deck configuration, but a larger hangar allows her to carry 90 planes.

The oldest ship in the force is the CVL Zuiho commissioned 28 years earlier in 1925. At 16,000 tons she can make 29 kts and for many years was the fastest carrier in the Japanese fleet. While most of the early Japanese light carriers were scrapped, the Zuiho's speed has allowed her to remain a useful fleet member. She was modernized with much improved AAA and has had flight deck catapults installed to improve her flight operations. She's old but durable and with a capacity of 33 planes, she can still throw a useful punch.

You'll notice that the Carrier Force has 2 BCs attached as a screen. There is a woeful lack of destroyers but that is my doing. I have many more destroyers than other nations but the tip of the spear seems to shed them rather quickly.

Kido Butai currently carries 476 planes. The planes are distributed as shown below.
pre:
        F    TB   DB   Total    Experience 
Hiryu   32   31   31   94       All Good
Karyuu  33   61        94       All Veterans
Shokaku	33   34   15   82       Fighters are Veterans, bombers are Good
Zuikaku	30   35   18   83       Mostly Good with one Veteran squadron
Koryu   36   36   18   90       All veterans
Zuiho   15   18        33       All Veterans

Total  179  215   82  476
A typical strike from one of these fleet carriers consists of 2 bomber squadrons and 1/2 of a fighter squadron as escort. Most squadrons on these planes are around 18 planes. Most of these carriers can send out two such strikes. The Japanese developed dive bombers quite late so we had a large contingent of experienced torpedo bomber squadrons. I have been reluctantly shoehorning the new DB squadrons into positions on the carriers, reluctant because they usually have less experience than the TB squadrons they replace.

My current fighters are Nakajima Nasu B with a maximum speed to 416 kts and an escort range of 432 nm. They are actually fighter bombers capable of carrying two 1,000 lb bombs. A newer fighter is in the works and should arrive soon. This is the Mitsubishi Tsurugi, which will be capable of 466 kts.

My current torpedo bomber is a Kawanishi Shoren first introduced in 1949. Though a bit long in the tooth now, it can manage 305 kts and reach out 498 nm armed with a torpedo. The new Kawanishi Shinden B dive bomber can carry a 1,400 lb. bomb 405 nm.

Kido Butai won this battle by sinking an enemy battleship and heavy cruiser but could not locate the enemy carriers. The Japanese battleline was completely unengaged.

# ? May 6, 2019 22:30

V for Vegas: Sep 1, 2004; THUNDERDOME LOSER

Can you edit in one off scenarios in RTW2? A Midway or Coral Sea scenario would be great.

# ? May 6, 2019 23:36

Bold Robot: Jan 6, 2009; Be brave.

V for Vegas posted:

Never thought I'd see this

https://store.steampowered.com/app/811880/Close_Combat_The_Bloody_First/

I can't find any info on a release date, when is this out?

# ? May 7, 2019 00:33

Pirate Radar: Apr 18, 2008; You're not my Ruthie!
You're not my Debbie!
You're not my Sherry!

V for Vegas posted:

Can you edit in one off scenarios in RTW2? A Midway or Coral Sea scenario would be great.

Not really. People have been wondering if Fredrik will use the mechanics from RtW2 in a more focused historical wargame, and the team has said �maybe in the future� but not committed to it

# ? May 7, 2019 00:48

AARP LARPer: Feb 19, 2005; THE DARK SIDE OF SCIENCE BREEDS A WEAPON OF WAR; Buglord

Bold Robot posted:

I can't find any info on a release date, when is this out?

2nd half of 2019 is about as specific as they�ve been so far.

# ? May 7, 2019 01:50

Panzeh: Nov 27, 2006; "..The high ground"

Speaking of naval games, i'm going through a video of someone who actually did the whole campaign of PTO I as the allies as a 7 hour speedrun, and as the Japanese as a 17 hour one.

# ? May 7, 2019 03:17

AceRimmer: Mar 18, 2009

V for Vegas posted:

Never thought I'd see this

https://store.steampowered.com/app/811880/Close_Combat_The_Bloody_First/

Ditto on this
https://store.steampowered.com/app/951670/Precipice/

A remake of Chris Crawford's Balance of Power, but significantly "streamlined" and with animals for all the world leaders.
:psyduck:

Pretty good for $10, unfortunately multiplayer is currently a bit of a mess, but I'm hopeful they will patch it up.
The AI was terrible on release and they've done a decent job of patching it into not being completely terrible.

# ? May 7, 2019 03:57

AceRimmer: Mar 18, 2009

Hippocrass posted:

There shouldn't be a box, just the casualty numbers printed directly over the target hex.
Could you try to get a screenshot? Maybe just double check "On Map Results' has a check mark next to it.

Also, just to be clear, which game specifically are you talking about. I think they should be the same for this, but each different series has their little differences.

Yeah, I meant the "casualty numbers", which is just "Fatigue" a significant portion of the time and so almost as completely worthless as "1 Man Lost". Reminds me of endless machinegun and rifle fire against tanks in Steel Panthers.

This was in Modern Camapigns: Danube Front and I've tried all sorts of voodoo I've seen here or on various forums, including removing all the sounds and even messing with hardware acceleration. Whatever I do there's still a delay of at least 5 seconds between a unit firing, seeing the report then being able to fire with another unit. Only thing that mitigates the issue is firing all of a units weapons with ctrl-click.

I do admit I am dumb for not seeing the drag and drop movement despite reading the manual. :doh:

# ? May 7, 2019 04:33

Zaodai: May 23, 2009; Death before dishonor?
Your terms are accepted.

Panzeh posted:

Speaking of naval games, i'm going through a video of someone who actually did the whole campaign of PTO I as the allies as a 7 hour speedrun, and as the Japanese as a 17 hour one.

Is it good? Do you have a link?

# ? May 7, 2019 06:21

Hippocrass: Aug 18, 2015; That third panel of the first comic just makes it. It's still funny if you remove it, but that panel included just makes it top tier.

AceRimmer posted:

Yeah, I meant the "casualty numbers", which is just "Fatigue" a significant portion of the time and so almost as completely worthless as "1 Man Lost". Reminds me of endless machinegun and rifle fire against tanks in Steel Panthers.

This was in Modern Camapigns: Danube Front and I've tried all sorts of voodoo I've seen here or on various forums, including removing all the sounds and even messing with hardware acceleration. Whatever I do there's still a delay of at least 5 seconds between a unit firing, seeing the report then being able to fire with another unit. Only thing that mitigates the issue is firing all of a units weapons with ctrl-click.

I do admit I am dumb for not seeing the drag and drop movement despite reading the manual.

Hm. Don't have that series.
Have you tried the 'Continuous Action' option in settings. It still seems to take a couple seconds to do the whole animation - report thing, but when triggering a lot of op-fire, there isn't a huge delay between each AI fire action.

Honestly, I just never noticed this delay as something wrong, but I guess some others could find it annoying.

# ? May 7, 2019 08:38

Panzeh: Nov 27, 2006; "..The high ground"

Zaodai posted:

Is it good? Do you have a link?

There's some interesting stuff to learn about the game in it, but it's a 7 hour video: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/268080275 Japan's also in the same channel but it's split into four parts.

It's all delegated battles though because using 1st fleet takes a lot of time.

# ? May 7, 2019 11:08

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

MazelTovCocktail posted:

In general how well was Operational Art of War IV received?

It kinda landed with a dull thud: a lot of the changes were to the UI and to the backstage combat mechanics, which you wouldn't really know or see unless you had already grasped the game itself, and a lot of the scenarios are either just direct ports from the older games, or are new scenarios but don't have programmed AI.

To the developer's credit, TOAW4 is a significant upgrade from TOAW3, and taking the average of combat lengths + showing the direct combat odds + compressing unit stats into a generic "health" stat moves the "ease of use" needle significantly towards a game where you can push the counters around without having to get into the nitty-gritty of it all.

It's a good game, and I like it, but I think it just flew under a lot of people's radar, both because it wasn't marketed very heavily, and also because it still looks like it's a complicated game.

# ? May 7, 2019 17:07

Marshal Prolapse: Jun 23, 2012; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

Thanks! I already have 3, but I was interested in giving 4 a try if it was improved.

Marshal Prolapse fucked around with this message at 17:18 on May 7, 2019

# ? May 7, 2019 17:15

Phi230: Feb 2, 2016; by Fluffdaddy

10 days till rule the waves and the hype seems to have died in here lol

# ? May 7, 2019 17:23

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

MazelTovCocktail posted:

Thanks! I already have 3, but I was interested in giving 4 a try if it was improved.

This is where I came from, and I'd definitely recommend giving 4 a shot.

Here's a link to a tutorial I wrote for it

# ? May 7, 2019 17:26

Pharnakes: Aug 14, 2009

Phi230 posted:

10 days till rule the waves and the hype seems to have died in here lol

It mostly moved to the discord.

# ? May 7, 2019 17:41

Panzeh: Nov 27, 2006; "..The high ground"

Pharnakes posted:

It mostly moved to the discord.

Speaking of, the link in the OP is invalid.

# ? May 7, 2019 17:43

Jobbo_Fett: Mar 7, 2014; Slava Ukrayini; Clapping Larry

Everyone was posting about there being posts in a thread... about a video game. Now we're posting about nobody posting in a thread about a video game.

# ? May 7, 2019 18:05

dtkozl: Dec 17, 2001; ultima ratio regum

Jobbo_Fett posted:

Everyone was posting about there being posts in a thread... about a video game. Now we're posting about nobody posting in a thread about a video game.

What tangled webs we weave.

# ? May 7, 2019 18:08

Stairmaster: Jun 8, 2012

Phi230 posted:

10 days till rule the waves and the hype seems to have died in here lol

It was murdered by the devs

# ? May 7, 2019 18:16

Marshal Prolapse: Jun 23, 2012; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

gradenko_2000 posted:

This is where I came from, and I'd definitely recommend giving 4 a shot.

Here's a link to a tutorial I wrote for it

Awesome! Thank you so much. This makes it a hell of a lot more likely that I'll get it. Also the link in the op goes to a 404 page.

# ? May 7, 2019 19:39

Squiggle: Sep 29, 2002; I don't think she likes the special sauce, Rick.

I had the game for just about a year before gradenko wrote that, and even then it helped so much. You have a knack for tutorializing, my dude. You're basically the reason I can enjoy TOAW4 and the Panzer Campaigns games.

# ? May 7, 2019 19:59

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# ? Jun 2, 2024 11:05

Marshal Prolapse: Jun 23, 2012; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

I think I might have some weirdo settings enabled as the Soviets on turn 2 just murdered me. Scenario must have been updated at some point. :iiam:

# ? May 7, 2019 21:00

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