If you're reading this, you've probably scoped out the screenshots in the posted articles. Well, looking at them closely has opened more questions than answered them! Most of those shots were from a Single Player Campaign (as evidenced by the armor and weapon bonuses) unless they've answered one of our hopes and let MPers buy weapon and armor upgrades! So what do all you think?
Battlefield Ninja - This could be a good or bad thing. In the screenshot, the armies are using 120-man units, but the ninjas only have 40 in their units. Also, it has them concealed in the woods, while their main army is not near the woods. In another thread, FearOrBeSori hoped that they would get bonuses in forests, and other "ninja-like" abilities. One big question is morale - can they act independantly of the army, and not get scared? I would think so, but how would that affect their other morale checks? More importantly, their icon has an AMMUNITION bar! Are they archer types? Or do they throw shuriken around at closer range?
Korean Irregulars - Their icon, at least, gives them long swords or naginata-like weapons, so we assume that they are more assault-oriented than the yari ashigaru, but not as heavy as the Specials (WM, ND, NG) Also, would they be available for only the Mongol player, or can the Nipponese rent them out, too?
Kensai Swordmasters - there's only one guy in his unit, so we expect him to kick major butt. Again, he'd better have a morale bonus, or else he'd turn tail and run. How expensive to make and maintain? Is one great guy really better than a whole unit of pretty-good guys? That one soldier does take up a whole slot of the sixteen units. Does that mean, if we want six swordmasters, we only get ten other units? On the other hand, those of us who remember the Days of the Demo, someone made a Seven Samurai scenario, with seven indivdual soldiers, half an ashigaru unit, versus two full cavalry units. Those indivduals had a major high honor bonus which allowed them to win, if you were careful. Do the swordmasters, therefore, get combat and morale bonuses from scratch?
Coastlines - a wonderful beach shot. BUT.... we've seen how badly the AI handles edges - anyone fighting near a cliff, or next to one of the tiny temples has seen how the individual units often get hung up, and destroy any nice ranks you've set their unit up in. Will units follow the coastline better than they follow cliffsides? I certainly hope so! Since they've added "rocky outcrops" and new terrain textures, we'll see what they did about edge-detection and unit pathing, too. Are rising dust clouds to be part of it? Cool!
Before I close off, I just want to say "Lookin' great!" to CA and DT, and thanks for all the hard work - we're loving it! I hope that will be "Playin' great" when the time comes! Well, that's enough outta me. More later. Any opinions?
-- B)
[This message has been edited by BanzaiZAP (edited 12-21-2000).]
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks