Comparison with Battle Academy 1

[mllange]

Forgive my ignorance, I haven't been following the development of BA2, however I own BA1 and most of the expansions. Is there a summary available providing a comparison highlighting the differences between BA1 and BA2?

[Tac2i]

Smoke and a random mission (skirmish) generator are two enhancements.

[FroBodine]

Well, I hope it's a lot more than that. I would call that BA 1.1

[Tac2i]

From the BA2 product page:

Control both the Axis and Soviet forces in more than 30 missions across 4 single player campaigns and corresponding multiplayer missions.

More than 130 units storm across the battlefield. Learn the hard lessons of the early war in Panzer III and BT-7, or feel the ground shake to fury of the Tiger, Panther, T-34 and IS-2.

New gameplay features include smoke, infantry dash, fighter cover, partial damage, and trenches – along with a detailed combat model that’s second-to-none.

The seamless multiplayer experience has been expanded with the addition of cooperative support – can you and a friend work together to defeat the enemy?

An already fearsome modding flexibility has been further expanded with editor improvements including automatic edging, achievement editor, and reinforcements. All atop a powerful scripting system giving complete control of all the game systems.

[Blond_Knight]

The editor is much improved over BA1. Its very easy now to draw and edge linear objects. Also they automated some things like victory locations and reinforcements to generate their own scripts so you don't have to.

Edit
I see they've "sleeked" the artwork up some since the EAP. Very nice.

[IainMcNeil]

There are literally hundreds of improvement. Here are a few off the top of my head
* Random map generator
* Skirmish mode with random sides on random maps for single and multiplayer
* Army list system where you can specify which force fights which force - e.g. 1941 Pz Grenadiers vs 1941 Tank Army
* Co-OP mode - play all single player scenarios in Co-Op mode
* Integrated air model. Call in fighter support, gain air superiority and launch air strikes
* Smoke - smoke bombardments, mortars lay smoke, tanks lay smoke
* Trenches - trench systems allow LOS down the trench line but not in to it from outside
* Partial damage - tanks can be immobilised, weapon systems knocked out, accuracy or movement reduced
* Open topped armoured suppression - infantry can now suppress armoured vehicles if they are open topped
* Green units - many early war Russian units are green with limited shots and reduced accuracy until they gain some combat experience.

There are hundreds of other changes but these are the ones that I remember right now

[FroBodine]

Thank you, Iain. I am definitely getting this game.

What is the reason for weapon systems getting knocked out? Why not just destroy the tank? The only reason I can think of this being more than just eye candy is that you could continue to move the tank around and use it as a ruse, if the enemy does not know the weapons have been knocked out. What other thoughts did you guys have for modeling weapons systems damage?

[Tac2i]

A vehicle with it guns knocked out can still move. A vehicle that has been tracked and can't move, can still fire it's weapons.

[FroBodine]

Yes, I understand the vehicle can still move with its gun knocked out. I was wondering what use modeling this has in the game.

But, thinking about it, you could still use the vehicle to take a victory location. Other than that, it is useless. That was my point. What is the use of a vehicle with its gun knocked out?

[Tac2i]

As you surmised, it can still capture a victory location. Yes, an armored vehicle without functional weaponry isn't of much value unless it captures that one victory location you need to win.

ORIGINAL: jglazier

Yes, I understand the vehicle can still move with its gun knocked out. I was wondering what use modeling this has in the game.

But, thinking about it, you could still use the vehicle to take a victory location. Other than that, it is useless. That was my point. What is the use of a vehicle with its gun knocked out?

[FroBodine]

Pretty darn cool. I am having a blast with this game so far. And, I'm just on the first campaign mission!

[Missouri_Rebel]

So does the game have a random map generator that can be used in multiplayer with user defined point purchase?

Really enjoyed much of the single player aspects in BA1, but the mutiplayer experience soured too quickly with the limited maps.

EDIT: Looks like it does have random maps for mp. Can someone elaborate how these are handled in mp mode?

[mllange]

Appreciate the responses. I hope it isn't a case of an underwhelming release in terms of content where you have to purchase scores of DLC extras or expansions. I suppose I'm getting old and cheap.

[MrsWargamer]

On first glance I am guessing some will dismiss that game as not being worthy of the expense.

I personally think it is worth the expense. But as I said, initially visually it doesn't look tooooo dramatically different.

Most of the value likely will require some digging. Reading comments that highlight the changes will certainly make the difference.

[Meroka37]

Random map or skirmish is for multi or single, that's a great value...

[TheWombat_matrixforum]

One thing that I see seems to be carried over from BA1 is that, in single player at least, when the enemy turn is processing, you still see which units the enemy has as each gets cycled through for orders by the AI. It seems like a no-brainer to instead have the game display a generic enemy image (lower left of the screen) while it cycles through the AI units. As it is, you end up getting a pretty good idea of what is there, and what is not there. Just seems weird. Not a huge deal, but odd.

[kaburke61]

ORIGINAL: TheWombat

One thing that I see seems to be carried over from BA1 is that, in single player at least, when the enemy turn is processing, you still see which units the enemy has as each gets cycled through for orders by the AI. It seems like a no-brainer to instead have the game display a generic enemy image (lower left of the screen) while it cycles through the AI units. As it is, you end up getting a pretty good idea of what is there, and what is not there. Just seems weird. Not a huge deal, but odd.

+1 to that. I myself don't look down in that corner when the turns are playing out.

[Redmarkus5]

ORIGINAL: Iain McNeil

There are literally hundreds of improvement. Here are a few off the top of my head
* Random map generator
* Skirmish mode with random sides on random maps for single and multiplayer
* Army list system where you can specify which force fights which force - e.g. 1941 Pz Grenadiers vs 1941 Tank Army
* Co-OP mode - play all single player scenarios in Co-Op mode
* Integrated air model. Call in fighter support, gain air superiority and launch air strikes
* Smoke - smoke bombardments, mortars lay smoke, tanks lay smoke
* Trenches - trench systems allow LOS down the trench line but not in to it from outside
* Partial damage - tanks can be immobilised, weapon systems knocked out, accuracy or movement reduced
* Open topped armoured suppression - infantry can now suppress armoured vehicles if they are open topped
* Green units - many early war Russian units are green with limited shots and reduced accuracy until they gain some combat experience.

There are hundreds of other changes but these are the ones that I remember right now

One comment regarding LOS down the trench line. This is rare in reality because any half-trained infantry unit will kink the trenches to prevent exactly that problem. In fact, making your way down a defended trench is a tough ask.

[Redmarkus5]

ORIGINAL: jglazier

Yes, I understand the vehicle can still move with its gun knocked out. I was wondering what use modeling this has in the game.

But, thinking about it, you could still use the vehicle to take a victory location. Other than that, it is useless. That was my point. What is the use of a vehicle with its gun knocked out?

Enemy units still waste AP firing on the damaged vehicle - they don't know that the gun is knocked out. This can be very useful indeed!

[Redmarkus5]

ORIGINAL: kaburke61

ORIGINAL: TheWombat

One thing that I see seems to be carried over from BA1 is that, in single player at least, when the enemy turn is processing, you still see which units the enemy has as each gets cycled through for orders by the AI. It seems like a no-brainer to instead have the game display a generic enemy image (lower left of the screen) while it cycles through the AI units. As it is, you end up getting a pretty good idea of what is there, and what is not there. Just seems weird. Not a huge deal, but odd.

+1 to that. I myself don't look down in that corner when the turns are playing out.

+1. That annoys me as well...