Strategic Layer? (Full Version)

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lancer -> Strategic Layer? (12/10/2008 11:09:20 PM)

Goodaye,

Now that the tactical bugs appear to be largely ironed out by the hard work of Sean and Eric I was wondering how the strategic layer of the game compares to that of JA2?

Perhaps somebody with experience of both could provide a comparison?

Cheers,

Lancer



zhanga -> RE: Strategic Layer? (12/10/2008 11:49:45 PM)

Ok nothing definitive, just a few of my observations:

1. Travelling - JA2 has a grid system divided into squares where each has a custom map behind it. Towns can take up multiple squares. You can train militias to defend captured squares with sufficient loyalty. You can travel to any aquare on the map but you must clear the squares that you travel through of all enemies before proceeding to the next. You could leave a map before all enemies are cleared by retreting to the edges with all you team. But then risk an ambush on the next map. This provides some interesting situations where you can sacrifice certain badly wounded members of the team to facilitate a withdrawal only to run into another rambush, etc..

in HG, you have predefined locations interconnected by roads. You can only travel to a location accessible from where you are. I have not tried to stop on a road in the strategic layer and then drill down into the tactical map of the road that I'm travelling on for fear of the dissapearing squad bug. But I don't think this is possible in any case. I think once you have a helicopter you can fly to whichever location on the strategy map without having to clear a route. You can't retreat from a tactical map until you have cleared it of all enemies.

2. Income - In JA2 you get income by capturing silver and gold mines among other things. You don't get any income by capturing ordinary towns. And you must capture the very square the mine is sitting on to start the income flow. And the money will increase as loyalty of the whole town increases.

In HG, every location you capture generates an income. Some are small while others are bigger and you can increase the income by purchasing improvements for these captured locations.

3 Militia - In JA you train a set number of militias in towns you capture by assigning mercs to that task plus some cost. These militiamen/women are AI controlled in combat and can imrpove in skill as the game progress.

In HG, you don't train militias at all but you can hire local mercenary squads to defend your captured territory if counter attacked to either do it all on their own or compliment your own defending mercs.

4. Stash - in JA you essentially dump all your excess equipment in a pile on the ground on the tactical map and equip your squad on the strategy map. This is fine but in some games you could have the militia or enemy pick up your stuff when they run out of ammo for their weapons because it's essentially just lying there on the ground.

In HG you have this concept of "cache" where all your stuff is kept in a pile not accessible from the tactical map but only from the strategy map by pressing the B key, by your people. You can do this as long as your team is at this location. So you can essentially leave your stuff on the map and distribute your guns to your team just before the shooting starts. I'm not sure if you can still access your cache if the location is re-occupied by the enemy.

That's it so far.



zhanga -> RE: Strategic Layer? (12/11/2008 12:08:56 AM)

Overall, i think JA2 may have more stretegic depth but HG also has some good features.

In JA2, especially early on in the game, it's a constant juggling act and lots of frustrations when your newly arrive Merc recruit is cut off and stuck on the road between the first and second map with his handgun. But he can of course wait until dark, in real time, to sneak to the next map. And when he finally sneaks into the airport, it has been overrun by government forces and the guns you ordered from the internet for him was stolen from the crates... :)

HG is not as complicated at the strategic level and I also like the cache feature. The way the recruits and guns you order arrive immediately is not very realistic, but it does simplified strategic options especially for the new players.

on that, Erik, how is HG performing in sales? I hope this game does well for Matrix Games so that we don't see the end of this type of (chess with guns) games.



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