Stopped playing

[Panta_slith]

All right, I am sorry to say that I have decided to give up playing FPC until the next (one or more) patch/es solve the problems I have experienced while playing alone and with friends.In my latest game, for the fourth time I was prevented, on alternate turns, to give ANY order to my units (EW set to medium, playing WP), and that added to the poor behaviour of my forces (AI useless, as I said in another thread, On Call artillery on vacation, never happened) madee me playing my pbem game quite frustrating. My friend, playing NATO, has other complaints, related to the combat replay. We are both experienced wargamers having played other games for years and presently we feel puzzled and frustrated. It is impossible to apply some realistic tactics, at least as they are described in the military tactical manuals. During the 1973 Yom Kippur war, the Israeli tankers were taken by surprise and decimated by infantry with Saggers hidden...in open ground. They fired well before the tanks, even the Israeli tanks, with their commanders with their heads out of the turret, could spot them. The Saggers, which the Egyptions managed to handle so well, never seem to fire in FPC and most units seem to behave rather stupidly in general.And I have also referred to the spotting problem.
It is a shame, since I expected the game to be more apt as a tactical simulator, but clearly it is not. It excels as a commander's frustration simulator, but that is not what I expected. Of course, it is my mistake, I had too many expectations. Maybe in some time the patches solve the numerous problems and bugs (which at the start I considered almost unexistent, silly of me)and I will be able to play again without getting pissed off. [:(]

[CapnDarwin]

Sorry to hear that, but we do understand. We are still working on 2.03 to get PBEM working correctly including the zero orders bug. Spotting fixes where made over the weekend and a number of the issues you raised have been addressed and we will be looking at a couple more in the next update.

Hopefully we will see you back down the road.

[Panta_slith]

Yes you will, I still think the game is great, or at least it has everything to be a longtime hit, but in its present status, at least for pbem playing, which is that interests me the most, it still needs some work. Meanwhile I will be waiting for the next patches.

[TigerTC]

Is PBEM still difficult?

I too have taken a sabbatical. Christmas was a busy time and I came back and dived into one of my MMOs -- a completely different game and a real time suck.

I still love FPCRS and am going to play some more. I do want to play some PBEM but have been unsuccessful in my earlier attempts. I popped in here to see how things were going.

[cbelva]

I feel your pain regarding the PBEM. It will be greatly improved with the 2.03 patch. I know this is sounding like a broken record right now. We want to get it released as soon as possible too. Rob and I have been playing PBEM++ with each other and we have found at least one bug that is still needing to be squashed. Other than that one bug, it is playing really smooth with the patch. There will always be room for improvements, but I think most people will be happy with the way it plays once we get the patch out.

[Panta_slith]

It is good to read that, I am eagerly waiting for the 2.03 patch. I also hope that the adjustment of the spotting and fighting routines for the infantry won't take long. I can always play without EW and with unlimited orders to overcome the other problems I have been experiencing so far. I know that rewriting long strings of code is an arduous process...

[CapnDarwin]

2.03 should have a better and more correct spotting and hence fighting going on. We will see how the AI picks up on the spotting changes too. We may need to tweak a few things for the 2.04 if all these changes knocked the AI off the bubble.

[TigerTC]

ORIGINAL: cbelva

I feel your pain regarding the PBEM. It will be greatly improved with the 2.03 patch. I know this is sounding like a broken record right now. We want to get it released as soon as possible too. Rob and I have been playing PBEM++ with each other and we have found at least one bug that is still needing to be squashed. Other than that one bug, it is playing really smooth with the patch. There will always be room for improvements, but I think most people will be happy with the way it plays once we get the patch out.

I trust you guys will keep working hard and making this game better and better.

[pzgndr]

ORIGINAL: Panta
It is a shame, since I expected the game to be more apt as a tactical simulator, but clearly it is not.

I'm not expecting a perfect sim but it needs a reality check regarding helos and ADA, spotting/enegagement of units under cover, etc. When I started changing my tactics to work around what I felt wasn't right in the game, I stopped playing. I'll pick it up again when things are improved in v2.03. I like the overall system; I'm just taking a pause while things get resolved.

[Panta_slith]

All those adjustments will have to be done one time or another if the engine, albeit modified, is to be used in other scenarios/periods. Urban combat, for instance, is harsh and tricky. You can see how it is simulated by Steel Beasts, a simulator made for the military that can be played in its civilian version, here: http://www.esimgames.com/?p=1574
But if everything goes well, the engine will be tweaked to a more plausible model, I just hope it won't take for ever! [8D]