I've been poking this thing a little bit, and my opinion is a little mixed.
On the one hand, there is some excellent AI programming that causes enemy soldiers to spread out, find cover, and begin inching their way around the flanks of my armor so that they can throw a 'nade. Furthermore, they don't give away their position by uselessly shooting at the tank.
On the other hand, there is some utterly moronic AI programming causing my own units to dash out of cover and into the middle of the road in order to crouch down and apply some bandages. They died within seconds.
Then there's the drastic difference between combat situations. First, we get a basic training setup... Sneak around and throw an amazingly powerful AT bomb at the light assault vehicle that's bugging your troops. Easiest thing in the world once you figure out the controls.
Then we get another flanking assignment, which is just as easy. Move some dude with a machinegun around the side of the Germans and open up. They'll all die in moments.
After that, there's a mildly difficult area where you're supposed to scare off the German troops occupying the town. That first AT gun can cause some trouble, but otherwise it's just a matter of taking things slow and sniping the other AT crews with controlled shots from your tank. Mow down everyone else with the machinegun. If you're careful, you can get through without losing anybody.
And then comes something where you have to clear out the folks guarding a hilltop. This involves taking out two AT gun placements (both of which have a stash of HE shells for roughing up infantry) as well as a buttload of infantry and a light assault vehicle. Now you're screwed.
I still don't know how to elegantly take out that emplacement. Getting around the AT guns is made difficult by the patrolling infantry, and sniping with the tank got me in serious trouble last time I tried.
For those of you who like screwing around a bit, however, you can place your tank (or tow one of the AT guns with an Opel, if you prefer) over to the riverside road. AI convoy trucks will routinely spawn and make their way down the road. If you set up an ambush point across the river from them, you can have some serious fun.
Shooting an AP round into the front of a troop carrier has a good chance of shredding most of the guys sitting in the back. The other trucks are apparently carrying fuel, and only carry a driver and one passenger.
The most fun is getting them spooked so that they stop and get out of the trucks. All the trucks will bunch up when they stop, and it generally takes the guys a little while to get out and start running for cover to start advancing on you.
One HE round is all it takes. Planting one in the side of one of those fuel trucks sets off a chain reaction that will cause a massive explosion as all three trucks are blown sky-high in a raging cloud of flames. It looks almost like a miniature nuke.
And, of course, the spawns never stop. I had a whole graveyard of charred truck remains, and the others just kept driving around. The detour was enough to give me a good couple seconds where they were looking straight down the barrel of my tank's cannon. I just kept adding to the graveyard until I eventually admitted defeat (one of the tracks had been blown off, all the infantry had been killed, and the repair kit had been used up trying to fix an artillery piece).
Frankly, although the current infantry system is indeed rather nice, it needs a LOT of tweaking before I will consider it "good". Auto ammo pickups are indeed a must, as well as sharing bandages and a few other things. Helmets would be another nice auto-pickup (if they do actually do something, and aren't just there to take up space in your inventory. Speaking of which, what would you use that space for otherwise? Who puts grenades on their head? Seems like the inventory needs a little rethinking...)
Actually, I was thinking about how the engine (or some variant of it) could make a very interesting game about a "company" of scavengers in some alternate universe battlefield. They pick up the scrap left behind by the other warring factions, and keep sticking bits and pieces of equipment onto themselves and their scavenged vehicles. The packrat style is something I'd like to see more in games...
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Topic: Men of War (Read 42702 times)