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| 6 JUN 2010 at 6:41pm |
przyCenturion
Posts : 138
Joined: 8 NOV 2003
Location: US
Status : Offline | [sm=feedtroll.gif]
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| 6 JUN 2010 at 9:09pm |
porterswentzellCommander
Posts : 1393
Joined: 18 APR 2004
Status : Offline | Doesn't seem to show up on steam....too bad
We took away their country and their means of support, broke up their mode of living, their habits of life, introduced disease and decay among them and it was for this and against this that they made war. Could anyone expect less? Brig. Gen. Sheridan
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| 6 JUN 2010 at 9:12pm |
GreybriarCommander
Posts : 2704
Joined: 30 MAY 2008
Location: US
Status : Offline | Did anyone else notice that there is a Hearts of Iron III Complete Pack for sale at GamersGate? It includes: [ul]Hearts of Iron IIIHearts of Iron III GE Infantry Sprite PackHearts of Iron III GE Sprite PackHearts of Iron III Japanese Infantry Sprite PackHearts of Iron III Soviet Music PackHearts of Iron III Soviet Sprite PackHearts of Iron III US Sprite PackHearts of Iron III Soviet Infantry Sprite Pack [/ul]
Unfortunately it does not include the Semper Fi expansion.
This war is not about slavery. --Robert E. Lee
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| 6 JUN 2010 at 9:54pm |
SytCommander
Posts : 1037
Joined: 2 AUG 2008
Status : Offline | Well, EU3 Complete doesn't include "Heir to the Throne", either. I think that Paradox should be careful with labelling their bundles "complete" and instead go a route that allows them to "upgrade" the bundles, e.g. "gold" => "platinum" => "diamond" => "dylithium" etc.
[b][color=darkred][i]One strikeout is a tragedy, a million strikeouts are a statistic.[/i][/color][/b]
- "Stallin' Joe" Dshugashvili, Manager of the Moscow Red Stars 1922-53
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| 6 JUN 2010 at 11:08pm |
Ian FCenturion
Posts : 271
Joined: 12 SEP 2009
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Wolverine101
Toward the last page of impressions this popped up recently: Yes indeed there are many good things for the user in SF, although they should have been fixed properly in vanilla without the additional cash. However there are MANY MANY HUGE problems with SF. Now the AI improves it's infrastructure and IC, which is good. However in many instances this is ALL the AI does! In my game the US has around 1500IC! It's now 1943 and Japan hasn't constructed a single unit and now has 0 manpower to do so. The whole game has been pushed completely out of wack where country's that start with good IC do both and lower IC ones just build Facts etc. US and USSR go completely nuts on both counts and what's worse is the massive memory leakage brings everything to a crushing crawl unless you save quit and reload the game every 6 mths! Factions wander all over when aligning to axis/allies, Italy almost joined the allies within a few months and japan USSR. While the UI improvements are great everything else is appauling![image]http://www.wargamer.com/forums/images/smile/wacko.gif[/image]
I was literally just getting out my card to purchase this on Gamer's Gate when I read this...ouch. I'll wait for the patch.
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| 6 JUN 2010 at 11:17pm |
jomniGlobal Moderator
Posts : 2477
Joined: 24 APR 2007
Location: SG
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Syt
Well, EU3 Complete doesn't include "Heir to the Throne", either. I think that Paradox should be careful with labelling their bundles "complete" and instead go a route that allows them to "upgrade" the bundles, e.g. "gold" => "platinum" => "diamond" => "dylithium" etc.
The problem is the timing. They release a pack called "complete" when there are still expansions in the works.
So "complete" means "complete as of the publishing date".
Actually this expansion got me interested in HOI3. But if it still results into a crazy free-for-all, then I'll guess I'll pass.
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| 7 JUN 2010 at 1:29am |
GreybriarCommander
Posts : 2704
Joined: 30 MAY 2008
Location: US
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Syt
Well, EU3 Complete doesn't include "Heir to the Throne", either. I think that Paradox should be careful with labelling their bundles "complete" and instead go a route that allows them to "upgrade" the bundles, e.g. "gold" => "platinum" => "diamond" => "dylithium" etc.
I wholeheartedly agree.
This war is not about slavery. --Robert E. Lee
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| 7 JUN 2010 at 1:55am |
FlickJaxCenturion
Posts : 598
Joined: 5 OCT 2005
Status : Offline | Memory leak is still the killer for me
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| 7 JUN 2010 at 2:22am |
tonedogCenturion
Posts : 93
Joined: 29 JUN 2005
Location: UK
Status : Online | Wolverine101 Toward the last page of impressions this popped up recently: Yes indeed there are many good things for the user in SF, although they should have been fixed properly in vanilla without the additional cash. However there are MANY MANY HUGE problems with SF. Now the AI improves it's infrastructure and IC, which is good. However in many instances this is ALL the AI does! In my game the US has around 1500IC! It's now 1943 and Japan hasn't constructed a single unit and now has 0 manpower to do so. The whole game has been pushed completely out of wack where country's that start with good IC do both and lower IC ones just build Facts etc. US and USSR go completely nuts on both counts and what's worse is the massive memory leakage brings everything to a crushing crawl unless you save quit and reload the game every 6 mths! Factions wander all over when aligning to axis/allies, Italy almost joined the allies within a few months and japan USSR. While the UI improvements are great everything else is appauling! I was literally just getting out my card to purchase this on Gamer's Gate when I read this...ouch. I'll wait for the patch. Originally Posted By Ian F
Originally Posted By Wolverine101
I was literally just getting out my card to purchase this on Gamer's Gate when I read this...ouch. I'll wait for the patch.
However in many instances this is ALL the AI does!
In my game the US has around 1500IC! The USA has quite low manpower when at peace, so they have nothing else to spend their IC on.
Quote:
It's now 1943 and Japan hasn't constructed a single unit and now has 0 manpower to do so.
That's just not true, ran the game for a month and then loaded JAP:
Clearly JAP is building units. If they are out of MP later on that would be why they're no longer building units later though.
Quote:
and what's worse is the massive memory leakage brings everything to a crushing crawl unless you save quit and reload the game every 6 mths!
I regularly run the game for 4-5 years without slowdown [image]http://www.wargamer.com/forums/images/smilies/confused.gif[/image]
Quote:
Factions wander all over when aligning to axis/allies, Italy almost joined the allies within a few months and japan USSR.
That hardly happens all the time, and if you dislike it you can turn off the Japan in comintern/Italy in the Allies victory condictions so the AI doesn't try for them.
just to add some balance to the criticism.
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| 7 JUN 2010 at 2:39am |
panzerooCenturion
Posts : 216
Joined: 9 JAN 2004
Location: AU, NSW
Status : Offline | Well first up I have to admit I have not yet been able to play a lot of the expansion as yet.
With a 12 week old baby and work my time is a crazy balancing act.
However I have been able to give it a quick run through.
Any way the game is not standalone and I think atm HOI3 is 50% off sale with the expansion being another $20.
Not bad price wise, and I more than ever have to pay close attention to what I buy. A baby suddenly means time and money are precious commodities. So iam very happy to say that semper fi has made HOI3 a good strategy game.
The most important improvement is the military AI. The AI does now defend in depth to the best of its abilities. A good player will still prevail, but it can be a challenge. On attack the AI does some crazy and unpredictable moves, which contrary to what that might imply actually makes for an interesting game play. Keeps you on your toes abit more. For example invading France as the Germans and suddenly having the French AI pull a few divisions out of the line an attack occupied Norway. Totally doesn’t help save Paris much but forces the player to send troops to Norway and lose abit of focus.
Also the US AI conducts some fairly aggressive pacific island hopping campaign with marines….
Not sure how often this happens but the US even launched a serious invasion of Japan itself, which the jap AI fought to a standstill.
The UI is vastly improved making it a lot easier to organise OOB and create theatres, HQ command structures and troop transfers. Also my personal favourite allows for the unit number to be displayed on the counter rather than the commander…
The game also runs a lot faster now. I use a dual core vista so I must admit since the 1st patch I never really had any major issues. I ve heard quad core i7 machines might still be problematic….
The main issues with the 1.4 patch have also been addressed
I.e. the US now builds cags with their carriers, support brigades no longer take all the damage in battles .
Supply is either an arcade mode where the player can chose to basically not have it modelled or it seems the way it was designed to be, i.e. a large mechanized force deep in Russia will run out of supplies very quickly.
There are of course still kinks to iron out, mostly balancing and a lot of immersion issues
Generic sub pictures and pre war tanks pictures etc, nothing which affects game play as such but takes away from the immersion factor.
Paradox have already promised a patch as soon as enough bugs come to light. As much as what people might hate on paradox they are very involved in the game community.
The vanilla version is intended to be an open sand box affair diplomatically. So its likely that you will see weird things like Japan invading Poland and the US joining the axis only to declare war on Germany. However a new feature allows the player to set the victory goals for each faction. Essentially this lets the player dictate what the AI will try to achieve ( you don’t have to do this but it helps to add historical parameters to the game)
For example you can set the German Japan Italy axis victory goals which will mean Japan is more likely to focus on china and the pacific arena. Again I haven’t played enough to test all this out.
From what ive heard it’s still in need of balancing .
In any case I am more involved in the modding of the game than the vanilla version. Without sounding too biased I strongly recommend the ICE mod for more historical play. We are balancing it for semper fi and the modding possibilities with the expansion are a dream…..
So much so that I wont play the vanilla version at all anymore. But I am biased as I said.
So its early days , a patch for the ( few) bugs is on its way but its fair to say the expansion has made HOI3 worth buying.
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| 7 JUN 2010 at 5:18am |
Ian FCenturion
Posts : 271
Joined: 12 SEP 2009
Status : Offline | Just returned from a friend who bought this.
Start: September 1939 Playing :UK
March 8th 1940 Japan annexes Nat China & Communist China.
B.E.F. set to AI control: objectives: defense of Franco-Belgian border.
AI sends 3 divs to border, the rest (10 divs) to Maginot Line.* (My mistake -reason below)
I'll play a bit more tomorrow.
EDIT: from the manual:
*Lower Level HQs
Automated Army Groups and below know less about where they are supposed to
operate, and need more micromanagement. The correct way of using them is to
set objectives, or an axis of advance, on the other side of a border until you are
happy with the piece of front it will try to cover (shown as a thick dotted black line).
This needs to be rechecked as they advance, and new objectives set, etc. Lower
level HQs will not garrison provinces unless specifically told to do so by placing
defensive objectives. Again, placing garrison objectives along hostile borders is
not recommended.
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| 7 JUN 2010 at 5:27am |
ArizonaTankCenturion
Posts : 582
Joined: 25 APR 2005
Status : Offline | I fired up the patch...err...expansion as well and am seeing the standard mix of good and not so good. But frankly have not played enough to really comment fully.
I can say that I really love the new OOB browser and the ability to set objectives for your allies. The OOB browser is a life-saver....finally, you don't have to click on every stack to find out what your army is doing.
I am still wondering about the strategic AI however. I started a Day of Infamy game as the US. I started strategic bombing from England in early 42. My daylight bombers wiped out most of the Northern German cities without seeing a single interceptor. Finally, when I attacked Munich, the Italians scrambled fighters from Italy. Out of curiosity, I opened up the game as Germany....all of the German interceptors are fighting the Soviets.
"No, No, mix them all up. I'm tired of state's rights."
Union General George Thomas' reply to his chaplain, when asked if the dead from the Chatanooga campaign should be buried by state as had been done at Gettysburg.
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| 7 JUN 2010 at 6:15am |
panzerooCenturion
Posts : 216
Joined: 9 JAN 2004
Location: AU, NSW
Status : Offline | seems like this could be the luck of the draw, either the german interceptors fought the soviets or they fought the bombers, historically they were diverted to the bomber streams, and the soviet airforce gained the upper hand.
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| 7 JUN 2010 at 8:15am |
UbercatCommander
Posts : 1184
Joined: 1 DEC 2008
Location: US, Near Allentown, PA
Status : Offline | Wow, luck of the draw. Ok. So, if England AI doesn't defend the home islands, that will be luck of the draw? If France AI sends its entire army to Mongolia, that will be luck of the draw? Historically, Germany had little or no choice but to defend the Fatherland as best they could with the Luftwaffe. Reducing that to a coin flip is ludicrous.
No. I don't have SF, but those are just the kinds of bone headed tricks the AI often pulls. If I'm sure SI has been fixed to a working state, I may buy it some day, even though most of the fixes claimed for it should have been in patches of the original game.
One thing seems clear. Reading Paradox forums isn't a good way to get a fair indication of the state of a Paradox game. There are so many fanbois over there who just spout that everything is peachy, no matter how bad it is. I checked the Achtung Panzer: Kharkov 1943 section a few weeks ago because I had a question about the game. After I read the responses to another poster with innocuous questions, I didn't bother. The fanbois chose to interpret his question as some kind of attack on the game. (it clearly wasn't) Rather than answer honest questions, they just grilled the guy and I think he gave up.
I don't feel like prefacing each question with "I kiss the mud that is stuck to the bottom of Paradoxes tennis shoes", so I have to look elsewhere for answers. Way to go, fanboi.
“I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours." -Stephen Roberts
“I’m not convinced that faith can move mountains, but I’ve seen what it can do to skyscrapers.”
-William H. Gascoyne
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| 7 JUN 2010 at 8:59am |
LongBladeGeneral
Posts : 20586
Joined: 2 MAY 2003
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Ubercat
I don't feel like prefacing each question with "I kiss the mud that is stuck to the bottom of Paradoxes tennis shoes", so I have to look elsewhere for answers. Way to go, fanboi.
[sm=00000289.gif]
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| 7 JUN 2010 at 9:27am |
bamjoCenturion
Posts : 145
Joined: 24 NOV 2007
Status : Online | Thanks for the update and first hand impressions panzeroo. It's good to hear what the game is actually like.
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| 7 JUN 2010 at 9:51am |
sandman2575Centurion
Posts : 449
Joined: 4 JUL 2008
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By PANZEROO
On attack the AI does some crazy and unpredictable moves, which contrary to what that might imply actually makes for an interesting game play. Keeps you on your toes abit more. For example invading France as the Germans and suddenly having the French AI pull a few divisions out of the line an attack occupied Norway. Totally doesn’t help save Paris much but forces the player to send troops to Norway and lose abit of focus.
Very hard to see this as something beneficial. The insane AI amphibious invasions are one of the things that continue to drive me crazy about HoI3... Canada sending 3 divisions to land at Kiel or Wilhelmshaven, for example... no air support, just 3 div's landing on the beaches... What are they supposed to do? Drive toward Berlin on their lonesome? France sending in the Marines to Norway while Paris is under threat is not 'interesting', it's preposterous, and it ruins the immersion value of the game.
I wish there were some kind of political factor that would influence how the AI launches amphib. attacks. How long would the Canadian government last if it sent a few unsupported divisions to their certain death in an obviously mad attempt to invade Germany?
Originally Posted By PANZEROO
The main issues with the 1.4 patch have also been addressed
I.e. the US now builds cags with their carriers, support brigades no longer take all the damage in battles .
This is good news, but Paradox should have released this as a separate patch, not folded it into an expansion you have to pay for.
"Well, if this is it, old boy, I hope you don't mind I go out speaking the King's?" - Lt. Archie Hicox
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| 7 JUN 2010 at 12:16pm |
WillardCenturion
Posts : 315
Joined: 17 FEB 2004
Location: US
Status : Offline | So I understand this correctly, I would need to pay twice - as in buy HOI3 and Semper Fi - to make this game work correctly?
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| 7 JUN 2010 at 12:38pm |
smittyohioCenturion
Posts : 241
Joined: 23 JUL 2004
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Willard
So I understand this correctly, I would need to pay twice - as in buy HOI3 and Semper Fi - to make this game work correctly?
Yes, you'd need both to play the expansion.... Whether it plays "correctly" depends on your point of view....
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| 7 JUN 2010 at 5:03pm |
Electric_StrawberryCenturion
Posts : 226
Joined: 6 JUN 2006
Location: US
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By sandman2575
I wish there were some kind of political factor that would influence how the AI launches amphib. attacks. How long would the Canadian government last if it sent a few unsupported divisions to their certain death in an obviously mad attempt to invade Germany?
You mean like Dieppe?
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| 7 JUN 2010 at 6:48pm |
jomniGlobal Moderator
Posts : 2477
Joined: 24 APR 2007
Location: SG
Status : Offline | Semper Fi experience from Matrix Games Forum.
Quite detailed.
[link]http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=2489350[/link]
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| 7 JUN 2010 at 6:58pm |
RayferCommander
Posts : 1854
Joined: 19 FEB 2006
Location: US, Michigan
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By jomni
Semper Fi experience from Matrix Games Forum.
Quite detailed.
[link=http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=2489350</a>]http://www.matrixgames.....asp?m=2489350</a>
Nothing there but a notice that it was either moved or deleted?
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| 7 JUN 2010 at 8:06pm |
jomniGlobal Moderator
Posts : 2477
Joined: 24 APR 2007
Location: SG
Status : Offline |
http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=2489350
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| 7 JUN 2010 at 9:49pm |
sandman2575Centurion
Posts : 449
Joined: 4 JUL 2008
Status : Offline | Originally Posted By Electric_Strawberry
You mean like Dieppe?
Well, Dieppe was rather exceptional, wasn't it? The AI in HoI3 goes about pretty much every amphibious invasion as if it were Dieppe, i.e. not looking (or able) to sustain a beachhead, buildup, and breakout, but 'let's capture a beach and see if we meet resistance... and if we do, we're pretty well screwed.'
i suppose there is a scripted Overlord event in HoI3 which does try to accomplish a major invasion...but the pinprick landings that accomplish nothing other than to annoy you the player happen way too often.
"Well, if this is it, old boy, I hope you don't mind I go out speaking the King's?" - Lt. Archie Hicox
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