Norm Koger's Distant Guns: Russo-Japanese War sets sail

[Vyshka]

Last night Storm Eagle Studios released Distant Guns. A 30 day demo is downloadable, and the game is purchasable via the download. I haven't had much chance to play it yet, but it sure does look nice and it seems to work pretty well. I am anxious to see where he takes this series. After playing the Ulsan scenario I am looking forward to seeing some World War I action in this engine. I would say that Norm has another hit on his hands.

[Vyshka]

Here are some screenshots for people to enjoy. I had to reduce them to about %50 size to get them to show up without stuff being cut off in the armchair general blogs. So I apologize if some of the detail is lost.

Initial screen when game is loading:



main menu:



Start of the Ulsan scenario as the Russians:



Gromoboi firing on the Japanese:



Damage status of the Ryurik:



Ryurik on fire:



Ryurik falls out of formation:



Edit: I really like the interface. In the last picture you see some yellow strips along
the 4 edges of the screen. If you mouse there you will move your view right, left, forward, or backward. If you mouse in the other areas along the the edge of the screen you will rotate the view right, left, up, and down. You can zoom in and out as well. You hear sounds based on your camera position. The interface for giving orders is pretty simple as well. It makes it easy to get things done and then be able to watch the action unfold. There also is a shell cam, that will sometimes take you for a ride with one of your shells as it heads towards and enemy ship.

I will post some more when I have played later today.

[sabre100]

I just bought it this morning, the game is nice but I hate the purchase and activation scheme, that is why Matrix Games still rock they provide the best way to buy and play PC games.

[Vyshka]

What didn't you like about the purchase/activation scheme? It seemed pretty quick, and painless to me. The Matrix method is nice because as long as you keep your SN# stored somewhere safe, you can always get the game installed again. On the other hand it is a PITA to have to enter the SN# every time you install a patch. The DG method does restrict you to having it installed on one machine at a time, which some people will not like. There is a utility for moving the license between computers. I thought it was nice though that the download starts out as a demo, with just one scenario visible, Ulsan. Once you activate the game though, it is already on your system and unmasks everything else. So people get a chance to play the game and see if they like it, and if they do it is a short step to fully activating the game.

[Terminus]

The campaign game isn't a part of it, though, is it? I found the description a bit vague. You have to buy it separately, or am I mistaken?

[Vyshka]

Yeah, that was vague. At some point I guess it is going to cost $ for the campaign game, but right now it is free. It is in the game right now, it is not some future vaporware product. So it is a separate item in your shopping cart, but it doesn't cost anything. I am not sure how it would work if you buy the game now, and the campaign stuff later. When you activate the game you use the license id they give and the password you chose. That in turn unmasks the portions of the game you paid for. So perhaps they will give another license id, and you have to activate again? I'd buy it up front while it is free (normally $25). I haven't played around with it yet, but some people on SZO have.

[Terminus]

I've only downloaded the trial version, and I'm not sure I'm interested enough to spend my money. But hey, that might come yet...

[WITPgamer]

Interesting, thanks for posting the information Vyshka!

[TheHellPatrol]

Downloading it now, after purchase of the "bundle" main/campaign which is the only available option for now @$64.95. 2 hours to go......
P.S. I neglected to add the "free campaign" to my cart even though i bought the bundle. It wasn't very clear and i was too hasty. I hope it doesn't cost me double![:@]

[Terminus]

I can't quite decide if this is going to push me into or out of buying the game.

[Terminus]

Well, I bought the thing. Looking forward to running something bigger than armoured cruisers...

[pad152]

I'm really trying to like this game.

I'm having major problems with the pan & zoom controls. On my system I have to pause the game to issue orders otherwize things jump all over the place (there is no pause in multiplayer).

Whats with the fly on/fly off crap I think the interface is poor.

The game seems more about controlling a line of ships, this may be historical but, the lack of control you have over individual ships just isn't doesn't do it for me. You can only set course, speed, and select which ship to target. There is no ammo type selection, you can't ever order a torpedo attack, no input or control over damage control.

If you read the release notes that came with the demo you'll see
Build 955
* Easter eggs...

Easter eggs in a wargame - What were they thinking!!! [&:]

Reading the docs that came with the demo, the campaign seems kind of weak, you can't move troops, or capture anything, no control over coastal guns, you can only sink ships. Ships missions seem limited to patrol, supply, or minelaying.

I'll give the demo a few more tries this weekend, but so far the game is a big disapointment.
All I was hoping for was a 3D version of Action Stations or an upgraded version of Great Naval Battles.

I wish matrix would pick up the Great Naval Battles and give them an upgrade.

[Grouchy]

Having issues with the campaign, after the scripted starting sorties the other side isn't going to sortie anymore. Already have 'won' 2 campaigns without any fleetbattles in both of them.

Furthermore i saw russians AI ships colliding with eachother but don't know if that is working as designed or not [:)]

[Brigz]

ORIGINAL: pad152

All I was hoping for was a 3D version of Action Stations or an upgraded version of Great Naval Battles.

I wish matrix would pick up the Great Naval Battles and give them an upgrade.

I wish Matrix would do a facelift of Action Stations. Now that was a great naval game, except that it was limited by prehistoric graphics. The game engine was excellent. The graphics were so bad that I had to develope a way to plot ship movement on graph paper. But it sure was a fun game.

Sorry to hear that Norm's latest program appears to be a less than stellar game.

[pad152]

Action Stations

The graphics were so bad that I had to develope a way to plot ship movement on graph paper. But it sure was a fun game.

I guess you never seen John Tillers naval games like Jutland? Same graphics as Action Stations but half the fun![8|]

[pad152]

ORIGINAL: Grouchy

Having issues with the campaign, after the scripted starting sorties the other side isn't going to sortie anymore. Already have 'won' 2 campaigns without any fleetbattles in both of them.

Furthermore i saw russians AI ships colliding with eachother but don't know if that is working as designed or not [:)]

Please explain, I thought victory was based on ships sunk or tons sunk?

Are you saying the campaign is scripted, doing the same thing each time?

[martxyz]

If you play Action Stations in DosBox and use D-Fend to tweak it, in terms of size and resolution, you can get it to look a bit better. Also you can make it run lightning fast, whereas, on my old Amiga, I could have made a cup of coffee while each turn was playing out. I can't get sound, but I don't THINK there was any in the first place. There is a basic land graphic, which affects LOS etc. The only problem is that the interface is a bit on the old side, too say the least, and whenever you pull up the stats on an individual ship, the amount of information provided is just mind-boggling. I'd love to say that, because of it's excellence, I still play it, but I'm afraid it seems I've got lazy over the years with new user-friendly GUI's. But, if it's control you want, and you do, then it's brilliant. If you're looking for games with a similar ethos to Action Stations, NWS has some home-grown games, and are in the process of producing a massive new simulator called Navies at War which looks ike it will be fantastic. They seem to go for oodles of well-researched details and control, but combined with a really easy interface. They are also friendly, very responsive to users, and have a very straightforward activation system similar to Matrix. They also sell Matrix games.  [:)]  

[Banquet]

ORIGINAL: pad152

Please explain, I thought victory was based on ships sunk or tons sunk?

Are you saying the campaign is scripted, doing the same thing each time?

Campaign victory/defeat is based on merchant shipping sunk. Nothing to do with warships sunk. Hence you could potentially win/lose the campaign without ever engaging in a suface battle with an enemy combat fleet. (In practise, highly unlikely!) Alternatively you could win the campaign whilst losing all your ships. The campaign judges how many merchant ships Japan gets through to Manchuria.

[Grouchy]

Pad152,

No don't think the campaign is scripted, and I wished the AI did do something. Seems the ships at the start have some orders already (go to port x, patrol area x). After those missions are finished, the russian AI isn't coming out anymore. The japanese and neutral merchants can bring in their supplies uninterrupted to Manchuria and Japan. Result: Victory as the japanese without doing anything.

[Oleg Mastruko]

ORIGINAL: Grouchy
Furthermore i saw russians AI ships colliding with eachother but don't know if that is working as designed or not [:)]

How did it happen? I played betas, preview copies etc. since last autumn/fall and version 0.908 or something. I haven't played the release version because I am on a vacation behind ancient analog modem and can't download the release version right now.

In couple months of playing every scenario available in the beta I have never ever seen ships collide, except in realistic situations, ie. when one ship was hit and suddenly lost speed or had its rudder damaged, so that the next behemoth in line could not avoid it (realistic I think) and/or when bigger ship deliberately rammed small one, to sink it.

In fact I am very positive this game has the best AI and pathfinding of any naval game I can think of (not that there are too many tactical naval games anyway). I am not saying collisions can't happen, only that I haven't seen a single one that could be ascribed to bug or bad AI.

Oleg