Expeditions: Conquistador Discussion Thread

[MicoSelva]

I also found controlling the camera a pain, but I think you can rotate it with the right mouse button. Better camera would be a nice patch to this game.

I would also prefer an easier way to know if something will provide full or partial cover.

While we're making a wishlist, I wouldn't mind a visual feedback on movement path to indicate you're getting AoO'ed (like in Divinity: Original Sin), or an option switch for pathfinding to auomatically avoid AoOs.

 

[Jaedar]

I also found controlling the camera a pain, but I think you can rotate it with the right mouse button. Better camera would be a nice patch to this game.

I would also prefer an easier way to know if something will provide full or partial cover.

While we're making a wishlist, I wouldn't mind a visual feedback on movement path to indicate you're getting AoO'ed (like in Divinity: Original Sin), or an option switch for pathfinding to auomatically avoid AoOs.

I actually advocated automatic AoO avoidance with pathfinding during first beta, but iirc the devs thought it would make it too easy, and it would also clash with the way the game indicates how far you can move and still use your attack.

That move and attack thing still trips me up all the time. Too used to playing blood bowl.

 

[Cursed Platypus]

Can someone expand on the fort mechanism? How does that work? Can you be besieged?

I always like when I get a little place where I am the one calling the shots.

 

[AbounI]

Well, you can either provide details or wait until I play E: C to form an opinion Otherwise it's hard to discuss and anyway, I am rooting very much for Logic Artists! I think that was a pretty smooth and professionally handled release, congratulations to them!

With all the due respect, I disagree.
When we ask them about a french translation (I guess you shall see who I am talking about, the same person who is working on your "discord time" one, and your LoE project of course), they just answer a simple "feel free" as if it would only be considered as a fan translation, while spanish and english versions are fully included in the first released version (and we all know how their respective work was considered and rewarded), with no involvement at all from their part to help this person, with a simple "démerdes toi mec".This is a poor manner and behaviour from a newcomer indie studio to receive someone with good intentions, specially in regard of a community that is too often retrograded at a second rank.From our point of view, they lost many potential customers. Definitly not as professional as you AE.
That is what I have to say, their Public Relation is so shitty, while their game is so great.

 

[Aterdux Entertainment]

With all the due respect, I disagree.
When we ask them about a french translation (I guess you shall see who I am talking about, the same person who is working on your "discord time" one, and your LoE project of course), they just answer a simple "feel free" as if it would only be considered as a fan translation, while spanish and english versions are fully included in the first released version (and we all know how their respective work was considered and rewarded), with no involvement at all from their part to help this person, with a simple "démerdes toi mec".This is a poor manner and behaviour from a newcomer indie studio to receive someone with good intentions, specially in regard of a community that is too often retrograded at a second rank.From our point of view, they lost many potential customers. Definitly not as professional as you AE.
That is what I have to say, their Public Relation is so shitty, while their game is so great.

Well, I was mostly speaking of the things of the release - how they did Kickstarter updates, sent out the keys, and released the game. Pity to hear about the French translation though. And PR is a tough thing to learn. What I am interested now is how much PR bitComposer would be able to pull off. They are the publisher and supposedly have more grip on it. So far I have not seen many reviews but hopefully there will be some more soon.

 

[Mortmal]

The kind of french players interested into the game are likely to have some basics of english, its really not mainstream in my opinion . When you wanted to play oldschool rpgs , you had no other choices, either you learn or you dont play anything, it just requires a little effort everyone can do it . Making asumptions again but they probably dont have the budget to translate it for every major european country, if french then why not itlalian, polish ,german etc.... Give them some slack, i have yet to see a great rpg published from france recently , if we are retrograded to a second rank (in most domains i most say), there's a reason.

 

[J1M]

Given the size of the German PC market, they would definitely be ahead of french for a translation.

 

[Tigranes]

With all the due respect, I disagree.
When we ask them about a french translation (I guess you shall see who I am talking about, the same person who is working on your "discord time" one, and your LoE project of course), they just answer a simple "feel free" as if it would only be considered as a fan translation, while spanish and english versions are fully included in the first released version (and we all know how their respective work was considered and rewarded), with no involvement at all from their part to help this person, with a simple "démerdes toi mec".This is a poor manner and behaviour from a newcomer indie studio to receive someone with good intentions, specially in regard of a community that is too often retrograded at a second rank.From our point of view, they lost many potential customers. Definitly not as professional as you AE.
That is what I have to say, their Public Relation is so shitty, while their game is so great.

Well, I was mostly speaking of the things of the release - how they did Kickstarter updates, sent out the keys, and released the game. Pity to hear about the French translation though. And PR is a tough thing to learn. What I am interested now is how much PR bitComposer would be able to pull off. They are the publisher and supposedly have more grip on it. So far I have not seen many reviews but hopefully there will be some more soon.

It's a bit too late for bitComposer to start 'helping', isn't it? What marketing they were meant to do or have really done, surely has happened in the lead up to and at the release?

I suppose with something like this the traditional first-month sales is not quite as important, but hopefully they've been doing their part.

 

[AbounI]

The kind of french players interested into the game are likely to have some basics of english, its really not mainstream in my opinion . When you wanted to play oldschool rpgs , you had no other choices, either you learn or you dont play anything, it just requires a little effort everyone can do it . Making asumptions again but they probably dont have the budget to translate it for every major european country, if french then why not itlalian, polish ,german etc.... Give them some slack, i have yet to see a great rpg published from france recently , if we are retrograded to a second rank (in most domains i most say), there's a reason.

Focus Home Interactive?
Their next announced partnership for a french edition : Contrast. Of course, not a RPG, but still, they always work with indies, and often release boxed version like the "Divinity 2 Dragon Knight Saga" from Larian Studio. Their latest publication is Mars War log (boxed version is now available) from Spiders Game.They will also publish "Bound By Flame"

It's a bit too late for bitComposer to start 'helping', isn't it?

Bitcomposer wasn't yet in the race when first contact was estabished, last december:

 

[1451]

Would be nice if the game allowed you to heal your crew while in town, don't like how you can return from a mission with wounded soldiers and then when you leave for another they are still wounded.
I would also like to see the soldiers able to fight when the wounds are light. I mean, their lives are in danger and they are not available for battle because of lacerations? They could still participate with some negative buffs of course.

 

[goo golem]

Tip in regards to the lack of zoom: When you have the map open you can hold down right click and move your cone in any direction and clear some of the fog on the map. Pretty useful for spotting points of interest that you can't see due to the camera.

 

[wergle]

This game is pretty damn fun so far. Props to any devs who post on these forums.

I like the music a lot. Feels like the Gothic 1/2 soundtrack meets Apocalypto.

Combat feels snappy and responsive when the gamespeed is set to 1.5X or more. Are you watching, Chaos Chronicles? This is how it's done.

Writing is quite good.

Battlegrounds look great.

In general, the game is very atmospheric for a turn-based tactics game. The writing, music, ambient sounds, art, animations, etc. all fit together nicely. Nice job, dudes!

 

[Tigranes]

Bitcomposer wasn't yet in the race when first contact was estabished, last december:

I'm well aware. But the game is now released. One assumes the help they provided should/would have come with Steam distribution and whatever hype/reviews has already come forth.


Does anyone have any idea whether game files can be edited in any way? Game folder has no .ini.

 

[Kem0sabe]

Found a thread on the official forums dealing with the camera problems and i have to say that the developer response is disheartening to say the least...

Fog of War is a fine feature, I have no problem with it, but we decided to go with a different solution which achieves the same results in a different way. We feel that this best supports the exploration dynamics that we're aiming for. For planning your overall route, we've given you a nice map that does in fact feature fog of war just as you're requesting. If you still prefer a more traditional fog of war implementation, that's a shame, but please don't accuse us of poor game design due to your personal preferences.

[EDIT] I'm sorry to hear some people find the camera claustrophobic. We might expand the movement radius of the camera a bit in the first patch. Allowing the player to angle the camera is probably not feasible because our environment art assets were specifically designed with the current high camera angle in mind. I don't mean to be dismissive of your problems at all, just saying it like it is

Traditional fog of war in the 3D game world is impractical with the engine we're using. We've experimented with several different techniques, but they all have significant and unacceptable technological drawbacks.

It's not about realism, it's about creating a sense of exploration. If you can see every event, every passage, and every treasure on the map, there is no exploration left.

I addressed this previously. Our environment art assets are not designed to look right at lower camera angles, for example you'd be able to see up beneath the canopies, which have not been modelled for performance reasons.

So any kind of panning feature is out because they didn't build the art assets at ground level beneath the tree canopies. Also the reasoning behind not having opted for a more traditional fog of war system instead of restricting the player controlled camera make little sense. Not sure i can adjust to the camera for any kind of prolonged play.

 

[Zeriel]

Well, you can either provide details or wait until I play E: C to form an opinion Otherwise it's hard to discuss and anyway, I am rooting very much for Logic Artists! I think that was a pretty smooth and professionally handled release, congratulations to them!

With all the due respect, I disagree.
When we ask them about a french translation (I guess you shall see who I am talking about, the same person who is working on your "discord time" one, and your LoE project of course), they just answer a simple "feel free" as if it would only be considered as a fan translation, while spanish and english versions are fully included in the first released version (and we all know how their respective work was considered and rewarded), with no involvement at all from their part to help this person, with a simple "démerdes toi mec".This is a poor manner and behaviour from a newcomer indie studio to receive someone with good intentions, specially in regard of a community that is too often retrograded at a second rank.From our point of view, they lost many potential customers. Definitly not as professional as you AE.
That is what I have to say, their Public Relation is so shitty, while their game is so great.

I'm something of an accomplished translator myself. Having glanced at the forum discussion you're talking about, let me translate what actually happened:

GREETINGS AND FORSOOTH, LOWLY DEVELOPERS. I, FRENCHIE VON LITERATI, NOBLY OFFER TO TRANSLATE ONE OR TWO LINES IN YOUR SHITTY GAME IN RETURN FOR A PET OR INGAME REWARD. WHAT'S THAT? YOU SAY IT HAS TO BE ALL OR NOTHING? WELL, FUCK YOU TOO!

As a sidenote, I honestly don't understand how people can portray LogicArtists as a bunch of dicks. All their communications come across to me as straight-forward and polite without being overly fake. Methinks people are too used to being babied by PR to remember how real human beings talk to each other.

 

[Tigranes]

I agree that you don't want too expansive a view because you don't want to be able to plan your route too well, but their solution ultimately was the worst one. A over-the-shoulder camera could have worked to really induce the narrow view and jungle pathfinding. Or, a high isometric + fog of war. This is just so obviously the right answer because it doesn't frustrate you and achieves the same goals. If it was a technological problem that they couldn't overcome, fine, but the end result is that it detracts from the game.

But yeah, I don't see Logic guys being particularly dickish, just... not-PR, for better or for worse.

 

[curry]

I've really tried getting into this game but I just don't find it appealing.

 

[Pelvis Knot]

Curse you all for your praise, E:C now takes the top spot for highest price I ever paid for a game. Couldn't you be more critical - this is the Codex after all!

 

[J1M]

Does anyone have any idea whether game files can be edited in any way? Game folder has no .ini.

/My Documements/My Games/Expeditions Conquistador/Override

 

[piydek]

Found a thread on the official forums dealing with the camera problems and i have to say that the developer response is disheartening to say the least...

So any kind of panning feature is out because they didn't build the art assets at ground level beneath the tree canopies. Also the reasoning behind not having opted for a more traditional fog of war system instead of restricting the player controlled camera make little sense. Not sure i can adjust to the camera for any kind of prolonged play.

Their explanation makes perfect sense. I agree with what the dude you quoted said and believe their solution is the right one, design-wise.

 

[Mortmal]

The kind of french players interested into the game are likely to have some basics of english, its really not mainstream in my opinion . When you wanted to play oldschool rpgs , you had no other choices, either you learn or you dont play anything, it just requires a little effort everyone can do it . Making asumptions again but they probably dont have the budget to translate it for every major european country, if french then why not itlalian, polish ,german etc.... Give them some slack, i have yet to see a great rpg published from france recently , if we are retrograded to a second rank (in most domains i most say), there's a reason.

Focus Home Interactive?
Their next announced partnership for a french edition : Contrast. Of course, not a RPG, but still, they always work with indies, and often release boxed version like the "Divinity 2 Dragon Knight Saga" from Larian Studio. Their latest publication is Mars War log (boxed version is now available) from Spiders Game.They will also publish "Bound By Flame"

It's a bit too late for bitComposer to start 'helping', isn't it?

Bitcomposer wasn't yet in the race when first contact was estabished, last december:

Wargame is nice but when it comes to rpgs ... ahem.. mars wars seems to be a sub mass effect i've not played it but this does not bode well :http://www.jeuxvideo.com/articles/0001/00018632-mars-war-logs-test.htm. Bound by flame ? Good looking screenshots but from what i am reading theres an emphasis on how your character will look aka fable, not on how much stats matters , its likely to be another dull action rpg shovelware. I may be wrong but theres not much risk of anything to reach greatness ,nothing that provides the same amount of excitement those lastest kickstarters did.

 

[Infinitron]

Yo, Avonaeon, any chance of posting the game's soundtrack on Youtube?

 

[anus_pounder]

Yo, Avonaeon, any chance of posting the game's soundtrack on Youtube?

http://leobadinella.bandcamp.com/album/expeditions-conquistador-soundtrack

So far I've been able to listen to the tracks. Its a half assed solution, I guess, but if you want to listen to some of the soundtrack this instant.

EDIT: Beyond not being able to download them, I'm not sure if there are any drawbacks to the link above. Incomplete tracks? dunno.

 

[Infinitron]

Yo, Avonaeon, any chance of posting the game's soundtrack on Youtube?

http://leobadinella.bandcamp.com/album/expeditions-conquistador-soundtrack

So far I've been able to listen to the tracks. Its a half assed solution, I guess, but if you want to listen to some of the soundtrack this instant.

EDIT: Beyond not being able to download them, I'm not sure if there are any drawbacks to the link above. Incomplete tracks? dunno.

Well, somebody will eventually rip them out of the game and upload to Youtube, so the devs might as well do it first.

 

[anus_pounder]

I hate to say it but yeah.