Topic: 2 badarse naval strategy and tactical games

[Electric Eye]

I bought a new high end video card today, now I can play ST Legacy but have not even bothered as I got two kickbutt naval games where you can do strategics and tactical, it's nice making decisions then jumping right into the action. Yes, if you have a decent video card $200 - $300 then you can play and the graphics really are that good!

http://media.pc.ign.com/media/664/664548/vid_1888113.html

http://www.battlestations.net/home/

You really do get to fly all the aircraft, and let me tell you the sky can be full of them, like at Pearl Harbor. I also love the fact that while I'm busy doing one thing my crew automatically does the correct thing they need to do, at least those darn Hungarian designers know that a player cannot steer and fire torps from a PT boat and man the AA guns too! 

Thumbs up on Battlestations Midway, after I finish the whole thing I'm gonna try online experience.

Only bad thing? Every game has one. This one's is that it follows a storyline revolving around 2 guys, one Navy, the other Marine. I'd much rather they have done up WW2: Battles of the South Pacific (1993) where what you do can change later battles and even the outcome of the war.

Next is Pacific Storm, and whoo doggy have games come a long way.

http://pacificstorm.net/en/description.php

http://www.pacificstorm.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=1&pos=100

http://www.pacificstorm.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=1&pos=73

It's a great game too, You even get to do historicals like attack Task force Z and try to torpedo the Prince of Wales and Repulse. I never saw so many aircraft and anti-aircraft fire in a game before until I bought this baby.

Biggest bonus of all? You decide the fate of the war and you can be U.S. or Japanese! You decide research, material allocation, deployments, newbuildings for ships, planes, bases, and everything! It too is a strategy then jump into tactical mode game. The graphics are stunning and even though it ran ok with an old ATI Radeon card, I'm glad I upgraded today as now I can run all graphics and effects on maximum with no sluggishness or other problems whatsoever, and if you play a game and have to disable some visual stuff so you do not have problems then what fun is that? I also might add that you have to train your crews because war does not follow historical timeline. I like the fact that units gain experience (Sort of like SFC 1). 

What do I not like? Resource and personnel allocation. Diehard and other hardcore Dyna people would probably love it for SFC, and I would too, but I think they went way overboard. I do not want to be checking and double checking a stupid strategic menu for a long time because the developers got me bogged down in B.S. when it could have been made a lot simpler, like with the release of new ships and repair meno of Great Naval Battles of the North Atlantic (1992). Research could have been simple by having so many resource points per areas of control that you have and their respective economy values (Much like the planets in SFC have). I want to have fun fighting, I do not have time to sit down and send an x number of engineers and paper pushers and pilots and God knows what all over the Pacific and to try to keep track of them!

BTW, Pacific Storm was only 20 bucks at Wal-Fart!

Battlestations Midway was 30 plus at Best Buy.

If you do not have at least a 256MB RAM video card with Pixel & Vertex shader 3.0 support, Intel P4 2.5 Ghz or AMD Athlon XP 2400+, and also broadband for downloads or one, I say again, only ONE small patch, then I would stay away from these babies, they are very graphics intense.

Oh yeah, P.S. is coming out with a new addition this month, Allies in the South Pacific where Russians can fly co-op with Americans or Brits, and the Germans can aid the Japs! All kinds of mixes and new toys to play with.

http://pacificstorm.net/en/video.php

Why am I impressed with these people? They marketed their games worldwide and in all different languages, the Russians even get copies in their language! If only Star Trek had that back in the day, I imagine the servers would have been full to the max to say the least. Imagine a dyna setting of WW2 in the Pacific where the teams could decide the strategics, then we get into our warmachines and go at it and let the results speak for themselves for the next strategic planning phase! It may not be far off in the future. 

[Dash Jones]

I had heard bad things about those games...are they actually pretty good?

Sell me on them, maybe I'll get them.

[Electric Eye]

Since you are curious Dash, I'll mail you Battlestations Midway after I finish the campaign. Right now it's June 1942 and I got command of a prototype Fletcher class DD.  I'll post a pic soon. Oh yeah, PM me your addy so I can have in my message box to mail it whenever I finish the campaign.

I've been so busy playing B.M. (No, not short for bowel movements, hehehehehe) that Pacific Storm is in the batter's box waiting to be played more.

No need to thank me, I love seeing things get reused and to those that need a financial break instead of getting thrown into the trash. 

[Dash Jones]

You don't have to mail it to me, it's easily available, I'm just curious on how it is.  I have just heard bad things about the games, but it seems you're having a blast.

What is the gameplay like compared to SFC?  Is it worth playing?

Summer is coming up and I'll have so much time to kill it won't be funny since I'll be spending time with my parents (who are anti-internet it seems in general, which means I'll have tons of time to play computer games).

Plus, it will be easier for me to buy it now at the prices here than to mail it to me in the Summer, international rates could cost more than the game, or take forever to get there.  Just interested in what might inspire an SFC hand to play it.

[Electric Eye]

The management is simple, it has a few tutorials like SFC did on ship control, plane control, and CV ops. You also do airfield ops every now and then too. You can assign planes to attack the same target, or different ones, or to perform CAP. After assignments and the birds are launching then you can jump right into a plane in the group and have at it, and if you get shot to Hades no problem, it will put you in another one if there are remaining birds in the flight group.

One thing is does not have is collision damage, it's kind of nice though as at Pearl you are in a PT boat heading towards a cruiser you are assigned to, and if you are manning the AA guns you really do not have time to steer, hence the crew doing their JOB.  Right now, as I ststed earlier, I'm attacking some parked cargo ships at a Japanese base. There are destroyers and PT boats guarding it, and later on a CL comes along to try to whack me, and they have no problem using not only their gunfire but Long Lance torps as well, and you do not see the wakes until they are almost upon you, much like the real ones when you are down low to the horizon like in a destroyer. The frigging shore guns on the base do not play around either. The graphics are pretty darn good, close to an animated movie pic quality I must say.

Dracho taught me 2 years ago how to save screenshots from SH3 but I forgot. Does anyone remember how to take a screenshot and get it later on to post after you exit a game? If someone could explain the steps again then I could take some pics.

I wish I could say more about P.S., but as I stated right now I'm in the thick of B.M. and I really am trying to tackle this mission.

[Dash Jones]

If youhit print screen that normally does it or f12 I believe.

Does it have a free roam/free play sort of like the continuous campaign play/open play like the SFC series or is it linear campaign?

[Electric Eye]

It's linear (Thanks for reminding me of the correct term I was looking for). You do have freedom to roam in your vessels though but only in the battlefield area.

Now P.S. is a doozy, no game is the same, WW2 for the Americans could begin in 1940, or 1942, or whenever, and ship movements, plane movements, builds, logistics and research is entirely at your discretion. What impressed me about P.S. is the outcome of the battles that you initiate or the A.I. enemy initiates (It is two-player for those that wish to duke it out online) has a direct influence on later battles. So, if you lose the Yamato, there is no other Yamato appearing later on. Sink all the CVs on the American side and it sucks to be them later on. You even have to allocate resources for plane improvements like better engines or airframes!

I am glad to see that they are making strategy games where you can also go tactical though, it has been long overdue. I know S.W. did it, but I do not have hours and hours to dedicate to learning that game or having it take up all my free time, hence I gave S.W. galaxies away. IMHO, a game should have strategy, but also be quick and fun to play.

Dash, how do I pull up the screenshot after I take it and get out of the game?

[Dash Jones]

For Print Screen, all that really is is a copy/paste function of most OS's.  so in that you paste it afterwards...OR look for the folder called screens or screenshots.

for f12 not certain, depends on the game.

You've sparked my interest, I'll look more into the games...more PT probably than Midway from the sound so fo it though.

[Electric Eye]

If I cannot get Pacific Storm down, I'll give you that one. I really need to sit down with it and study. B.S. could have had a lot more leeway in gameplay, but the graphics are cool and it is fun and quick, and let me tell you it's not easy. I play regular (3 levels, easy, regular, veteran) and those PT boats and destroyers are kicking my prototype Fletcher's butt. I made it through most of it once and was torpedoing the transports that were docked at port, but then this Jap CL shows up and that was all she wrote! 

At least I got a feel for what it was like for WW2 Navy vets, long lance torpedoes are not fun to face at all, especially since Jap destroyers had launchers out the yazoo on them.

[Electric Eye]

Repulse getting "repulsed" by waves of Betty bombers armed with APs and torps.  Task force Z was really FUBAR as the brits just sent an HBC along with a King George V class BB into an area with no air support. 

WARNING: Graphics intensive, if you are using an intermediate or low end graphics card it will take a while to load.

[Electric Eye]

That's another thing Dash, notice they got the Prince of Wales model right, yet the Repulse model sure as heck looks like an American BB of the Arizona type, doesn't it?

[Electric Eye]

BTW, those pics are from P.S., I'm still trying to figure out how to get screenshots of B.S. as print screen and F-12 do not work for it.

Thanks Dash for reminding me how to get at the screenshots.  I forget sometimes even though Dracho gave me a simple explanation back in the days of SH3.

[Electric Eye]

http://www.battlestations.net/news/?id=14

 

It's sweet! The P-38 is a joy to fly, and when the Iowa speaks, the enemy listens. I wish they would let a person command all ships in the game, I'd love to get my hands on the Bunker Hill that is present on the raid on Truk. At least I got to command the Exeter one time when her and the Houston had to go at it against a Japanese BB.

The attack on Task Force Z is sweet too, though the CV Hermes is present, and the Repulse was done with the same outstanding mod as the Prince of Wales.  Those two ships looked nothing alike in reality.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Hermes_(95)

Hermes was never with Task Force Z, and it sure as Hades did not have Hurricanes flying as CAP.