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Roguelike Armoured Commander II - sequel to WW2 tank roguelike

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1: So my first battle with the S35, all three of my squadmates die to a single Pak 37. My commander takes a light wound to machinegun fire... His shooting accuracy seems to be the same, but his spotting range is reduced to a single hex. This wouldn't be a problem in the H35 or R35, but my brand new tank betrays me, because it is the ONLY French tank where you can't use the Driver as a backup spotter. I am forced to play blind. I do call in reinforcement squad mates with a resupply, but I soon encounter another new german weapon: the 8.8 Only myself and one of my new squadmates survives. I need to go through one battle to get back in range to call reinforcements. Unfortunately they call an air attack on the first round and I am bombed by Stukas. So I only used the S35 Day 9-11.

I played H35(Late) for Day 12-17. The Name of the Save file changed to "fall of the Maginot Line" for the last 5 missions. I would say the whole campaign took something like 3-4 hours, but I could have ran away more frequently or took less fights.

2: The Grit Stat seems to be the sole recovery option for wounds. My commander had 5 in it and he did not recover from Light wounds until the 16th mission. Probbably better to just redshirt if anyone else gets a wound.

3: Playing as 1940 France seems more like a Bonus mode or Easy mode - Because the tanks are so slow, you move 1 hex on a turn instead of the 3-5 that you do in other campaigns. The armor of the French tanks also lets you beat the first 4 maps for free as an unkillable monster. The battle grid extends 3 hexes in every direction and seems weighted to have all active combatants in this area (rather than having to "find" anyone) The concealment mechanics do not apply to this campaign, because your tanks are so loud that you just get ambushed in every battle. The Close combat mechanic against infantry that is disadvantageous in other campaigns (eg they rush your tank) actually works in your favor as an auto-resolve mechanic.

Despite this criticism of it as Shallow, it's actually kind of historically approiate - The French did plan for WW2 very differently than other countries, and their over-armored tanks with terrible engines and guns did have occasions of crazy personal glory during the six weeks. Fun history aside ... in gameplay terms the French forces campaign - A: Is a power fantasy for the first half, because of feeling invincible B: Turns into a kill screen if you play without running away once the German's upgrade their tech to include AT guns and air bombing during week 2. C: Teaches you REALLY bad habits for the rest of the game which mostly encourages a kind of glass cannon stealth approach.

4: I've sampled the other countries and US / Canada / UK / Germany seem like the most tactical - this is mostly because of having separate Gunners and Loaders as crew, which make getting multiple attacks per round less "once in a blue moon" and more something you can plan on. However the game's readability is a little unclear. Not sure if the way the enemy reacts to Fast tanks is because they refuse to act against players with less than a 35-40% to hit, or if the concealment mechanic lasts multiple turns. - I'm planning to do a full playthrough with a fragile Fast tank to counterbalance. Shooting 4 times in a single turn, and not getting my tank stuck in mud for years is a huge relief from the 30 minutes of the other countries that I've seen.

5: The length of the campaigns are unclear, sometimes the game progresses 1 day at a time and sometimes it skips ahead. The French campaign said May 10 1940 - June 16 1940 but my notes say that it took 17 battles. It's tempting to interpret that as a 1 battle = 2 days, but that would make most of the other campaigns freakishly long. The French campaign at least has no credit screen for getting to the end.

 
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Playing a new game in a Fast tank - I choose the Polish Defense against the German Blitkrieg- The tank I choose was the British Vicker Vae (which Poland had imported a few) … I'm sad that the Renault FT that the Poland's use (the trashiest of all surplus WW1 tanks) is enemy only in the German version of the campaign. Still, this tank should die from one explosive hit from ANYTHING, and historically, Heavy Machine Guns at close(medium really) could also tear it apart about half the time. This should fix my "too survivable" problem from playing France pretty quickly.

1: I actually started a save file to see if I could repeat 3 bugs that happened in my French game and email them to the developer - To setup for this, I am trying to intentionally get my crew killed.

2: The Vicker Vae has a separate commander and Gunner, unlike the French tanks. This means that I get access to the direct fire command, which boosts accuracy as well as level up skills that upgrades the driect fire command. The French R35-H35-S35 tanks are regarded as kind of inhumane and as having design flaws with overworking the Commander due to the restrictions of needing him to spot enemies, fire the gun, and command the tank all at once.

3: Any tank can have an additional accuracy boost if you continue to spot the enemy on the same turn that you fire the gun … normally leaving the hatch open for multiple turns instead of just the single "long range" initial identify the enemy turn is dangerous... but I AM trying to get someone killed.... He's open to machinegun fire, infantry rifles, and snipers. I find out that snipers have multiple degrees of lethality, as he gets stunned instead of killed from the first one.

4: This isn't meant to be a serious save file.... BUT apparently the risk-reward of pumping accuracy AT ALL Times is really loaded - My Vicker Vae goes on an insane 3 day kill streak- I almost exclusively use the machine gun instead of the main gun and don't use the close combat mechanic even once (the opposite of my French campaign). The "identify" mechanic seems to apply to the enemy tanks (and possibly your squad mates) as well, and they always spend a turn apparently turning in place. Squad mates also seem to deploy smoke (which annoys me because the accuracy penalty is two ways for shooting into or out of it).

5: The Vicker Vae is fragile and my allies get gunned down a couple times.... (and Pak 37 and the 8.8 show up day 4 instead of the second week like in the France campaign) However... if anything, I feel MORE confident in killing them than before -- I can get close to them much more easily and they have savage hit penalties against me during movement, and MOST importantly - between my accuracy and actual proc rate on multiple attacks per round (the French tanks are not allowed to take those skills on level up either) they die once I get in range on a far earlier turn than they did for the French tank.

6: After 4 days I finally get a bugged save file for the developer, but not exactly the bugs I was looking for - In the French campaign I had 4 Bugs: 1: Crash due to using close combat on non infantry 2: At some point the Attempt Unbog command stopped appearing (I was only able to finish because the game still lets you use the retreat command after 10 turns despite the tank technicaly being unable to move, and I could still get the "free" Unbog for returning to the map screen. 3: Spotting penalty for my commander being injured not going way when my commander recovered. 4: Spotting penalty for my Driver being injured being transered after my 1st Driver died and I replaced him completely with an unwounded Second driver.

7: Bug 1 has already been patched(GG Dev) so my idea was to see the 3 and 4.... All that running around with my Driver's Hatch permeantly open DID get him wounded and then killed... but he still had full spotting range while injured! I even got a second Driver killed to be sure! I was about to forget about the glitch hunt completely and just focus on reviewing the gameplay of a fast tank vs my old slow one when suddenly I noticed that I had a problem.

I stopped using suicide tactics, and was going to spot just on the first turn with the commander … and I noticed he couldn't! Apparently The commander had gone blind from the Driver being injured despite never opening his hatch or doing anything himself up to this point. Weird.

Anyway, the game is a lot more fun and I have to consider that I probably had a 1/4 chance of dying all of the times a squad mate died and just got lucky that the enemy picked them instead of me. The lack of armor really seems to change the playstyle - I also feel like the "crew progression" is much more meaningful because I have skills to work toward on multiple charathers, while the French were really bare-bones. I do think that the best the game has to offer will probably be in the actual Post-Normandy missions.... because while this tank does seem to be a "stealth glass cannon" the enemy quality is a little TOO vulnerable to the machinegun in in these missions - I am hoping that the good crew progression in the US missions will also introduce armored enemies earlier, because I feel like I am still dominating a little too much (this time by skillfully playing the range game instead of through raw armor muscle to be fair)
 

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After Emailing two Save files to the developer, He's fixed the "going blind' glitch and the swamp in a single patch.

The Poland struggle is real however, My first tank is torn apart my Infantry, 5 more have their drivers killed by snipers and need to be abandoned, and tank seven get penetrated by the coaxial machinegun of an motorcar. I think the Gymnast level up skill might be overpowered in keeping your commander alive, although it's hard to tell with hidden math.

Strangely none of my light tanks is ever killed by an actual panzer. I can't fight back against them except from behind, but over time they become my preferred enemy.

Most dangerous of all are the Pak 37 anti tank gun, and the 8.8 Flak, which have 72% base accuracy, and unlike with the French campaign, will not need to make a second "penetration" roll after making their "accuracy" roll - they will automatically penetrate the poor Vicker E.

Infantry also become shockingly tanky - many of them will attempt to fortify or become dug in (actions they never used in the French campaign) which makes it hard to kill them even with my much more accuracte tank. And trying to fight them over multible turns ala France is a really bad idea because it gives them the time they want to get lucky.



Eventually I get whacked by the 8.8 and this time my commander does not manage to bail from the tank.
This was a very bloody playthrough and I died VERY close to the end - It goes September 1 1939 - October 6 1939 and I died on September 28. Unfortunately, the campaign log of this campaign is garbled, probably because It takes place over 3 different patches.

In the end - I think this game gets a much stronger recommend from me than it did before - The Poland campaign ramped up pretty nicely despite my initial doubts - I think next I will take a Sherman out for a spin - from what I can tell they have 2 more crew members - so they'll be even to add even more mechanics - loader=better proc chance of multiple attacks backup-driver=have an extra person to man the machine gun on the same turn that the main gunner is shooting the main gun. Fighting 4 years more advanced enemies will also shake things up after going 2 rounds with early conflicts.
 

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Popping in to say I tried the Sherman in the USA Patton's Best Campaign and it is definitely the glass cannon experience I was looking for all along - You can also shoot 3 machineguns 5 times each in a single round which is fun and having a non-vital charather like the assistant driver for spotting is a huge relief. It's the only campaign so far that is dangerous even from the first day and I got my fastest game over.
 

Taka-Haradin puolipeikko

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Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy Bubbles In Memoria

https://store.steampowered.com/newshub/app/1292020/view/2205019689479424180
Roadmap to 5.0.0
With the first public Steam release coming in a few days, I thought it would be a good moment to say something about my immediate plans for the further development of the game. Earlier versions were released for free on the game's website, which is why the first Steam release is numbered 4.0.0. My first priority from the release date on May 14th is making sure that this version is working well and is mostly bug- and crash-free, and to continue to make minor improvements to it without breaking saved game compatibility. These include any minor quality-of-life changes that can be made to in-game displays, and adding additional detail to existing campaigns.

For the first major update, 5.0.0, I have planned the following additions and changes, although this list may grow or change as I begin to work on these elements in earnest:

  • Campaigns and Units for the North African Theatre 1940-1942, including British, Italian, and German forces
  • Severe weather effects for winter and desert conditions, which will be used for the Winter War campaign as well
  • First batch of 13 Steam Achievements
  • Weather system: adding light levels, fog, wind, temperature
  • Additional crew skills, especially for minor positions such as the Assistant Driver!
  • Crewman may be discharged and sent home if injuries are very severe
  • Radio/signals system for communication with headquarters, support attacks, squadmates
  • Periscopes
  • More detailed bail-out procedure, with more choices to be made when saving your crew
  • Mortars for enemy infantry, handling attacks from ballistic weapons and aircraft
  • Steam Workshop integration for custom campaigns
  • Minor additions to existing campaigns, such as adding in missing Early War units


Once I've started on some of these I'll open up an alpha branch for intreped players who are interested in testing out the newest additions. Also, even after 5.0.0 is released, I will keep the 4.x branch open for players who are finishing up campaigns that were started in the older version.
 

Taka-Haradin puolipeikko

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Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy Bubbles In Memoria
https://store.steampowered.com/newshub/app/1292020/view/2752215379220147251
Update on 6.0 Progress
Hi everyone,

Just wanted to give you an update on what's been going on the past few weeks: even though there haven't been any updates to the main Steam branch for a while, I have been working behind the scenes on the next major update, 6.0. So far everything is going well, with a number of fixes, improvements, new crew skills, and other additions already in place. One major change is the addition of a bail-out mini-game, where you must direct your crew out of your tank and into safety, all while nearby enemy units continue to threaten you.

The last major feature for 6.0 that I need to work on is revising the AI, which I'll work on this week. If all goes well I hope to have a preview of 6.0 available for players by the end of this weekend, although it might take a little longer if the AI work turns out to be especially tricky. I'll keep posting screenshots of my work in progress in the meantime.

As with all major updates, campaigns started under 5.x can't be continued in the 6.0 version of the game, but like before I will keep a 5.x legacy branch active on Steam, so that players can complete their campaigns before upgrading.

Rev. Sudasana

 

Taka-Haradin puolipeikko

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Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy Bubbles In Memoria
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1292020/view/5437506489016436168
ArmCom2 - One Year On
It’s been one year since I released the first stable version of Armoured Commander II on my blog, which was version 1.0.4. Today the version on Steam is 8.0.7, having gone through seven major updates and dozens of smaller ones since then. The game has been more popular than I had ever imagined possible, and I am grateful to all the brave players who took a chance on the Early Access version, and sent me suggestions for improvement, as well as bug and crash reports.

My original plan when ArmCom2 was released on Steam in May 2020 was for the full release version to be completed by summer 2021, and right now I am still on track to meet that goal. There are quite a few gameplay improvements, changes, and enhancements that I want to add before that happens, as well as a handful of key campaigns, mostly from the late-war period 1944-1945. The game has come a long way in just a year, and I’m looking forward to these final months of work to deliver a complete game.

Even after its full release, however, I plan on continuing to add to the game. Limited mod support is already in place, with full Steam Workshop support planned for the near future, and some intrepid players have already started creating their own mods. Some of these are posted on the Discord server, which can be accessed through the link on the Steam discussion boards. I also post preview images there of my work in progress.

Many players have helped out with development over the past year, but I have to thank one in particular, flori2412, who has created dozens of new units, several new campaigns, and generally provided invaluable feedback and suggestions for the game. Without him and the other enthusastic players, ArmCom2 would not be half of what it is today, so many thanks to all of them.

e00d36f11fc22bd896c0a7083ec7a000c419fc6c.png


 

Taka-Haradin puolipeikko

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Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy Bubbles In Memoria
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One Year on Steam
Today marks one year since Armoured Commander II launched on Steam Early Access. The game has developed so much since then, mainly thanks to the help of the enthusiastic and dedicated players. We now have 580 unit types in the game, and 44 campaigns to choose from, covering all periods and most of the major theatres of the war. There are also some exciting player mods in development. If you want to hear and see more about these, join our Discord server, the link for which is pinned in the Steam discussion board.

At present I am working on a medium-sized update, which will bring new fixes and content. I am still on track to complete the core game by the end of summer 2021, at which time the game will leave Early Access. Even after that, however, I intend on continuing to expand its content and scope. All future additions to the game will be free to everyone who owns the game. My thanks again to everyone who helped the game get this far!
 

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