FREE Titans of Steel: Warring Suns!

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Iceman
02/14/08 07:38 AM
83.144.138.24

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Go grab it!

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=1713043
Fang
02/19/08 11:02 AM
12.47.205.126

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you kidding? I tried that game once and found it infuriatingly frustrating.
One by one, the rabbits are stealing my sanity.....
Iceman
02/21/08 06:47 AM
83.144.138.24

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Nope, not kidding, very serious. Heh.
Believe it or not, the post was not for you. Besides, in my book, being frustrating (for some) and being bad are two very different things. Maybe some other people have more patiente than you and actually enjoy a very deep and addictive game.
I'm just posting the link, since it is now free. Free is a powerful word. ;-)
Fang
02/21/08 12:34 PM
12.47.205.126

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Yes. Yes it is. And true. It may have been that in my impatience I may have over looked a good game.
One by one, the rabbits are stealing my sanity.....
Kovax
11/24/08 10:53 AM
75.146.193.46

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At the risk of thread necrophilia, I thought I'd post my thoughts on this "BT-ish" game.

First, it's probably closer to "Cyberstorm" than "Battletech". The Titans are vaguely similar to either Hercs or Mechs, but the rules and skill systems are more like the former game than the latter. Many of the weapons have "special" rules, where they either attack internal systems directly regardless of armor, cause heat buildup, injure the pilot, or cause the Titan to fall (in one game, a Titan with one such weapon hit my Titans a total of 5 times, and the BEST odds I had to remain standing were about 24%, all of which I failed).

The interface is awkward, with 3 independent modules linked by a common loader screen:
HQ - where you recruit and manage your pilots
Factory - where you repair and modify Titans
Battlefield - where you set up missions

Each time you go from one module to another, you need to reload your team, which is confusing at first and gets to be even more bothersome after about the 283rd time. Every time you choose an action from almost any of the module menus, you need to manually click the "exit" button to return to the previous menu level; it NEVER does this automatically, and there is little consistency in where the button is located, making it one more tedious little thing to fuss over constantly. While it at least works reliably, this is a very poor interface design from a user's perspective.

I immediately found out that the AI is not constrained by a lot of the same rules as the player. Your "rookie" team is not allowed to purchase anything above the minimum size "recon" Titans, but the AI's "rookies" will field the next larger "Light" chassis in almost every early engagement. You can pick the "balance" of the scenario, giving either side a tonnage advantage, but the AI will occasionally field a force somewhat in excess of this. I pitted 3 recon Titans (40 tons each for 118.8 tons total) against an "EVEN" tonnage AI opponent, who then fielded 2 "Light" chasses (70 tons each for 140 total). Not a good way to start out: my group leader's lighter Titan was "headshot" by a large weapon that decapitated it on the first round of fire, effectively reducing my leaderless force to barely more than 1:2 odds. After another painful round of trading unequal fire, I tried getting the survivors off the map. A second Titan was knocked down and rendered immobile (and eventually destroyed) before the lone escapee was able to exit the hex and eventually beat a hasty retreat. In spite of at least 6 tries with Scanner skills in the 50% or better range, I was never able to get a successful scan of those opponents to find out what they were, and was completely baffled as to how a 40 ton recon Titan could pack that much firepower, until seeing that they were actually two 70 ton Lights in the after battle report. Definitely a "delete squad and restart" experience.

I discovered the hard way that ganging up on a single opponent in the same hex (the only range that most of your "rookies" can hit from) is a BAD idea, since the engine will ALWAYS explode if the section where it's located is destroyed. The effects of the explosion are enough to leave most Recon class Titans in either a crippled or severely damaged state, and any with existing heavy damage are likely to be destroyed. Titans in adjacent hexes will take moderate damage as well. That places a serious penalty on Close Combat designs, since you definitely DON"T want to take out the Center Torso on most designs by accident, and such weaponry puts you right in the middle of the blast when it happens.

As a free download, it's worth the price, and is probably good for a few evenings of mixed amusement and frustration. I bought it back when it was down to $7.99, and barely worth that. If I had paid the original cost when it was released, I'd have considered it robbery. If your computer can run an old copy of Cyberstorm (Win 95/98 will, XP or Vista won't), that's a much better thought out and easier to use program of the same genre.
Iceman
12/15/08 09:36 AM
194.79.95.229

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Quote:

First, it's probably closer to "Cyberstorm" than "Battletech".





It was never intended to be a BT clone. In fact, the developers don't play BT AFAIK. It was based off *MechForce*, which in turn is based on BT. It does resemble CS more than BT.

Quote:


Every time you choose an action from almost any of the module menus, you need to manually click the "exit" button to return to the previous menu level; it NEVER does this automatically,





In most screens you can right-click (anywhere) to go back to the previous screen, so that you don't have to use the exit button.

Quote:


I immediately found out that the AI is not constrained by a lot of the same rules as the player.




Those 2 (a lot) exceptions you mentioned are actually intended. Larkin wanted to provide more diversity in squad composition.

Quote:


my group leader's lighter Titan was "headshot" by a large weapon that decapitated it on the first round of fire, effectively reducing my leaderless force to barely more than 1:2 odds.





Only a TB can actually decapitate some recons with no previous damage to the head. It's what makes it a good weapon, given its low range. It's very uncommon though. In BT it's easier to decapitate 'Mechs

Quote:


In spite of at least 6 tries with Scanner skills in the 50% or better range, I was never able to get a successful scan of those opponents to find out what they were,





Rookies are never good at scanning. When they're successful though, the XP is great. Kind of a balance issue. Not that you need the scans all that bad early game, not for calling shots anyway For IDing titans, wait until they get inside visual range (15 hexes). Not the end of the world, especially because you won't hit much of anything consistently beyond that anyway.

Quote:


I discovered the hard way that ganging up on a single opponent in the same hex (the only range that most of your "rookies" can hit from) is a BAD idea, since the engine will ALWAYS explode if the section where it's located is destroyed.





No it won't. Jocks have at least a 50% chance to prevent the engine from exploding, which is increased by their DCS equipment and skill.
There are other ways to disable titans BTW.

Quote:


That places a serious penalty on Close Combat designs, since you definitely DON"T want to take out the Center Torso on most designs by accident, and such weaponry puts you right in the middle of the blast when it happens.





Disagree. Rookie AIs will tend to eject when their titans are heavily battered. Higher level players will use CC titans to take out legs or the LoT, or side torsos, with called shots. Disable the titan, and you'll even get better salvage
To be on the safe side, turn your shield on, and part of the blast will be absorbed by it. That's one of its roles in the game.
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