Mike Fisher -> RE: EIAers (1/19/2008 10:19:13 PM)
|
Hi everyone. I did the maps and graphics for the original EIA way back in the early 80s, and much playtesting, although i can't claim to have been 13. But only a few years older at 18. I have been playing the release version of EIA-NW for the past few weeks. First - a big first - I want to thank Marshall Ellis for the enormous amount of work he has put in to EIA-NW; it is a fine job that he has done, the map looks great, the interface works well and after some intensive solo play I found the program to be very quick, very light on system resources and very dependable. The game is so close to the original EIA and it is a joy to play it on the computer. Mind you, having everything digitised and automated, and having AI opponents that do their moves in a second, makes me realise how long it took humans with the paper game to play EIA. I have been playing for two and a half days over the weekend in my first game as Austria, and I am only up to 1810! And the AI will play on long after a human player would have thrown the dice away into a corner of the room. I can see from the board here that there's lots of suggestions for improvements to the system and the AI, avid searching for bugs to tighten up the code, and a new beta patch is available - I am mightily impressed by Marshall's work to date and his encouragement of constructive comment to keep improving the product. I enjoy the way the online community at Matrix and Paradox and similar sites keep working on the games with such enthusiasm and commitment, its all part of our common enthusiasm for history generally and military history in particular, so please keep up the good work! Especially regarding the AI, the development of which I find quite fascinating. It is worth paying tribute though to Marshall's first iteration of the AI, it took my human Austria, cautious at first as I relearned the game and learned the interface, four years from 1805 to 1808 before finally taking Paris, and that was with the help of AI Britain, Prussia and Spain. I can see that there'll be lots of debate and development on the AI, but as the first release cut I think it is pretty good. But nothing beats a human opponent! I hope you all got the same thrill and enjoyment I did playing digital EIA and hope you all and the development team had a terrific, well deserved, holiday season. all the best Mike.
|
|
|
|