mockingbird

Nope. It's not a rename. Most likely they'd ditched the whole range-based aspect of the original. I don't see any controls for multiple craft interception too, although that doesn't mean they're not there. I'm actually pretty hopeful that they'll take up this opportunity to improve the dull minigame from the originals. I'd have to see the whole interface in action before I pass definitive judgment, but so far it really looks like an arcade game from the 90s :-/ Hopefully you can rotate it to get a proper top down view.

Shareware releases, as the name implies, were meant to be shared among people so that everyone could try and form an opinion about the product. It was in the pre-internet times, so people actually relied more on cover cd and copying stuff from friends. Some shareware versions were actually full versions, some had limited functionality, others would nag about registering and paying the author. I think with the advent of the Internet as we know it, the term shareware became confusing, because it's essentially an umbrella term, hence, people chose to use the more specific distinction into "Demo", "Freeware/Open source", "Trial version" releases. I can't really blame them, with the tight budgets and deadline. I mean, creating a proper demo takes resources which could have been better spent otherwise. On the one hand, I'm glad that for once I am not forced to use your friendly p2p tracker to make an informed purchase, on the other, it's a shame that they advertise their product via an imperfect build.

Oh yeah, Russian games are... peculiar. The Brigade E5-6 series are a good example of that. Usually they have lots of nice ideas and attention to detail, but unless you figure out the exact way the developer intended you to play them, you're in for a rough ride. They usually require fan-made mods and patches, too. Had the same situation with City of Abandoned Ships. But, when it comes to German games, I remember Blue Byte, I remember piranha bytes. Germans used to make good games. Dunno what happened, as recently they mostly seem to churn out shovelware tractor simulators mostly. I think the future of BIA depends a lot on the modding. I saw one guy managed to unpack the game files, but it remains to be seen what can actually be done. Analyzing the list of problems I have with this game, they all seem to be easily fixed, and it seems many guys on the official forums seem to share my sentiment. But, the point still stands, based on demo impresions, I'll definitely give it a pass, until I hear abut some serious patching, or modding going on.

Well, no point in forcing yourself to like stuff that doesn't agree with you. Although it's sometimes worth it. I remember I didn't like Brigade E5 and E6 at first, but with some patience, I got a few weeks worht of entertainment out of them. Trying to do the same to the Paradox games. Tried Europa Universalis and it didn't agree with me. Mostly because of the scale, I'm not too keen on the grand strategy bit. But, I know they are nicely detailed strategy titles and I think I'll be getting back to them sometime. Now if I were a fps player, I could afford to be picky. With strategy games there's no such luxury, and dammit I need that quality mental masturbation fix every now and then. Now, when it comes to the BIA demo, I subconsciously wanted to find any kind of redeeming features in it because it's a tactical squad game. Not many games like that come out recently, so I though, what the hell, let's see if it's enjoyable at least. Turns out it didn't. This makes me wonder, BitComposer spent all that time and resources and ended up alienating the only fanbase they would have hoped for. Are the JA2 fanboys rabid and self-entitled? Sure they do. But that's what you become if you are faithful to a single game for 13 years now. Had they chose to humor the fans, make a 1:1 remake rules-wise, they would earn a sure buck and wouldn't have to worry about this whole balancing thing that obviosly gives them a lot of trouble. Turn based does not sell very good in the XXI century, that much may be true (Although Civilization 4 and 5 beg to disagree here), but I'm not really sure they'll be better off at the rtwp market (which is only slightly less niche, imo). This is infuriating, because I look at the whole Back in Action project and all I see is missed potential and a bunch of resources that could have been put to much better use. There, the bile is almost gone, let's carry on with the conversation, shall we? Same here. I really hope Firaxis manages to deliver. I had my moment of doubt after Civ5, but right now I'm cautiosuly optimistic. I disagree with some of their design choices, but from what I saw and read, it still may be a decent game after all. For one, they aren't as clueless as the Bit Composer guys.

I am aware of the guard command, still I'd prefer to issue the fire order myself. Feels much more personal and involving this way. My biggest gripe is that apparently BitComposer chose to ignore virtually every RtwP game out there. I mean not just 7.62 and Aftershock, but even Fallout Tactics. If they handled line of sight and guard mode at least the way Tactics did, the game would be so much better. No, really, I remember the guard mode in Tacics allowed you to set the %cth treshold and which body part to aim at. Shame nobody thought about that. Yeah, supposedly fog of war screws the pausing and I like it that they chose to axe the entire fow system instead of just tweaking the pause settings. This doesn't make sense to me, the game would be so much better with fow, and they even made a spotting skill for the mercs that would go with it perfectly. Now, I've read some of their justifications. I know that community manager guy is neither a dev, nor is he very proficient in English, but it's absolutely heart-melting when I read that they cannot include a custom MERC in the game, because it destroys game balance. The mind, it is blown. And I begin to wonder, are they THAT incompetent? I mean they're supposed to be the professionals here? The game is full of these little things that make you wonder what sort of twisted logic is behind that. An example straight off the top of my head: C4 charges can only be used in pre-defined spots. Ok, I can accept that, engine limitations, etc. etc. Problem is, there is one, just ONE such spot in the entire demo mission, and blowing it up is of extremely limited tactical benefit. I mean, none of the QA testers bothered to point that out? Then you start comparing these things to the original JA2 and wonder, why the hell they did go on about fixing stuff that wasn't broken? The changes to the levelling system, the changes to merc contracts (they chose the Unfinised Business over the original JA2 contracting method), weapon attachments, etc. What can I say, I played the demo, I dicked around on the official forums, the whole experience left a lot of bitter bile in my system, hope you don't mind me sharing.

Being a long-time JA2 fan, I kept my eye on this, just like on all the other remake attempts. I approached the demo preparing to be dissapointed, I didn't follow the development very closely, but from what I read, it wasn't going to be the jagged alliance remake I've been waiting for. Still, I was looking forward to checking it out, I was a squad based tactical game after all. So, I played the demo, completed it, time for some impressions. Wall of text incoming: The graphics are easily the best part of the game. They aren't partricularly impressive, but the environments are detailed and, overall, it's what I would expect from a strategy game in 2012. Only the character faces are less-than impressive - it's essentially the same mesh with different texture and hair. The second good thing is the AI. While it doesn't really contribute much to game difficulty (I'll get to the issue later), the AI looks pretty decent. Has some random brain fart moments (ie.g. sometimes not reacting to gunfire just a few meters away), it often tries to flank you, takes cover and stays put when it seems the logical thing to do. Overall, the AI feels natural. Unfortunately, that's the end of the good stuff. Now, as said, I am a big fan of JA2. Unlike some of the fans, I've partially gotten over the fact that turn based JA2 is unlikely to happen and thus I'm not going to bitch how BIA is RtWP. Actually, I've played most (if not all) of the squad based RtwP games, and had good fun with each one. What about this one? For starters, I kinda like what they did with the strategic (or whatever it's called) panel, that lets you pause, plan, synchronize and review actions. Unfortunately, the rest of the system does not live up to the standards. Compared to virtually ANY rtwp game out there, BIA is missing several small components that make playing it a chore. Examples: no "shoot until target is killed" command means you either plan 20 shots for each guy, or risk that they stop shooting in mid-combat. There is no indication whatsoever to tell you when the currently planned action will be completed. Which means, you order the unit to fire, and you only have a vague idea when the shot will be taken. Third thing, no time compression, which means you have to pause a lot when fighting on two fronts. These are small things, but they were present in the Brigade E5 and the UFO: After---- series. And they do affect the game. Without them, unit management gets really tedious. Next comes game difficulty. When I dowloaded the demo, I saw a disclaimer that it is supposed to be hard. Bring it then, says I. Unfortunately, the demo mission failed to deliver. Yes, I reloaded a number of times, but most of my deaths were caused by either: (o) me struggiling with the interface - I queued a few shot orders less than I should and the soldiers stopped firing in the middle of combat, or they just refused to shoot for some unknown reason. (o) the AI scored a random critical hit vs. a prone target far away. Take these two away, and the mission wasn't all that hard. It got even easier when I chose to abuse the almighty Draganoff (sic!) to pick offenemies at a distance - apart from a lucky scritical hit, the AI was powerless against it, although it did cower behind obstacles and attempted flanking maneuvers from time to time. The final nail to the game's coffin is the lack of fog of war. I actively sought for a justification for this decision on the official forums, but couldn't find anything close to a reasonable justification. What's more, I've found many users actively defending it as a "feature", because y'know mang, we got them predator drones and stuffs. Fog of was is apparently last-gen. What can I say, I've seen fog of war in 7.62 and in Aftershock series, and it's not true that it doesn't work for such games. As a matter of fact, it actually adds a lot of depth. Without it, the game fells too easy. To add insult to injury, one of the devs said that they actually had fog of war in one build, but as for now, the feature is out. I made a promise to myself not to compare the game to JA2 too much, but alas it's inevitable. One major step-down is the health and injuries system, which was a big thing in JA2. You most likely remember it - you had to bandage your wounds so as not to bleed to death, then the merc would be out of commission for some time, untill treated by a competent medic. In BIA, you can get shot at as much as you want, medikits will restore your HP instantly. The only penalty is when you get hurt badly - the merc will fall over and require immediate treatment in order to survive (although the time limit is pretty generous here), afterwards, a chunk of health will be removed until the unit rests. No biggie, because lost HP do not affect unit performance for as much as I could see. What can I say, I preferred the earlier system more, but the current BIA system actually works well with the current gameplay. With the amount of lucky hits the AI gets in, you will get shot often. Weapon customization got really simplified when compared to JA2. Now you only have one attachment slot, so you have to choose, silencer or scope. I suspect that this means laser sights and bipods are out. Not to mention retractable stocks and all that. Shame. Merc personality was a big thing in JA2. The colorful personalities and banter actually made a great portion of the game's atmosphere. Recreating it with 100% fidelity would be very hard, if not impossible. Unfortunately, my opinion on the actual design skills of the BitComposer folks is not too high, but I have to give them that, they tried hard to capture some of this. The voice acting is decent (but not spectacular), and it appears that the mercs have some stuff to say. Unfortunately, it falls apart in practice. The pace of the game is largely to blame here, in turn based JA2 you had all the time in the world to listen to your mercs' one-liners, but in the frentic rtwp, they all get lost in the racket. What's worse, the mercs repeat themselves much too often. Unfortunately, I cannot say anything about the strategic layer of the game, cause there wasn't any in the demo. Verdict: This is NOT Jagged Alliance, BIAtch! Well, that didn't turn out too well... Overall, the game has potential for future development. As for now, it desperately needs some polish. It's not a total disaster like the Jagged Edge game, but it feels subpar when compared to the other rtwp titles out there. I really like the environments and it's a shame that the assets would largely go to waste on a game that only vaguely resembles the original it claims to remake.

I'd really love to hear some info myself. Looking at BlueBlood's first post, I think he would very much want the next UFO to be XCOM... Well, I think Altar's been bugged about the issue since Aftermath, and their reply is as follows - better squad control & development, less and less gritty atmospher, more pastel colours. Thus, I don't feel they're ever turning back to the AM atmosphere (which, I must add, is unfortunate in my books.) Speaking story wise, I think the After____ series got a little bit exhausted. Personally, I would take a break form the whole humans vs. reticulans vs. even weirder races in an even weirder environment scheme (and thus I cannot blame ALTAR for moving on to something different for now.) Actually, I relly enjoy the strategic feel the whole series have introduced - the simulatneous action system, squad development thru training & experience, down to the little aesthetic bits such as different vision modes and customizable weapons, and would really love to see it perpetuated in some way. Of course the whole thing would need more fine tunig - weed the bugs, optimise load times, add destructive environments. That would make me a happy man. On the other hand I would enjoy the color being more toned down, the aliens more scary and less straight outta plastic toy store. Yeah, In the ideal world I would really enjoy a remake of AM using the upgraded engine of AL, much as I enjoyed the atmosphere back then I was a bit dissapointed by squad controls. So, If i were god, I would lock them ALTAR dudes in a cold cellar and say: Thou shalt make me an X-comme re-make. But that's probably never gonna happen (-: (And this means I am back to waiting for Jagged Alliance 3 and JAZZ Hired Guns... unless we get together a crack-team of modders and... but that is just wishful thinking. (-:

"Oh, quite balanced and much more interesting than in AS" True. I love the way AL forces me to try out many different squads and weapons. The only thing I am missing, though, is the modability of the weapons and the less pastel atmorphere... (And the really horrific research stuff from AM... but let's not get sentimental here, khem, khem) I remember my first fight with martians was a shock, so far it was all nice and fluffy, but suddenly these pitiful pieces of green snot were dropping my soldiers one after one. As to the armor - I believe their weapons deal mostly EM damage, so don't get too desperate about these heavy suits. Lighter armor AFAIR gives more protection against EM, and as a side effect, you can run away from grenades and plasma bolts as they tend to travel quite slowly, as well as run from the dudes with lightsabers. You should have gotten the Warp Cannon by now, try it, it is a lifesaver. Drops the bugger in one/two shots. Meleeing them should also work wonders (on paper, didn't ry it), since their armor offers pitiful protection vs. that (even worse than vs. fire) Speaking of which, anyone here had any luck with melee weapons? Last time I tried it in mid game, lured by the promising damage outputs of the improved buzzsaw, but realized quickly that I lack melee specialists, and for better results at least 3 melee guys per squad are required. Upon starting a new game on Hard, however, I've found out the hard way that getting close to ANY foe is suicide (even with the noble intention of conserving ammo in mind).

My crashes also most often go hand in hand with the memory leak - once the loading times get absudily high, the game's bound to crash on me sooner or later. So if this is your problem BB, just save, exit to system and reload ever two hours or so. As to the fast clicking on the tabs Azrael Strife has, I'm having the same. It seems that it is irrelevant what kind of tab you click though. Learned the hard way to stop doing that and just use the bar at the top of the screen. Come to think about it it is nice that the devs care about us so much - they make the game CTD if we play too long so that we can take breaks and let our eyes rest a wee bit.

"That much tactics against Beastmen?" I think it's more to do with blasting them to kingdom come marine style, but this is only a guess (-: Hey, he could'ave just brough in four guys with miniguns, in heavy armour and with shield add-ons and turn them all into Beastburgers... but where's the finesse in this? (Although I admit it is fun to do every once in a while (-: "The Expedition and the Martians are awfully more difficult to slaughter, I'm afraid..." I think the races are actually balanced in terms of difficulty (more or less) all it takes is a change of tactics. Personally, I have no problems mopping up the entire Ret base with just two guys in light armor, dual wielding pistols, at daylight.

Good looking tactics there, BlueBlood. If I may comment: "1 x squad leader (accelerated rifle).He will be the focus of the squad,boosting squad attributes ect,and providing accurate fire against high priority targets." Hmm, perhaps you could consider giving him a sniper rifle as well, then? From my experience Sniper Training I will suffice for some time? "2 Marines/troopers.Armed with accelerated rifle,shotgun,and katana,these guys protect the left and right flanks of the squad,and provide overwatch for the squad when advancing to a new position.They also carry 2 attack grenades for extra tactical options." Hmm, I'd be a bit skeptical about the katanas. With sniper support and two heavy weapons you theoretically have enough firepower to hold the advancing enemy. If you don't, however, your best bet would be to switch to full auto and keep firing, not waste seconds for digging up stuff from your backpack. You can utilize the space taken by the katana for grenade launchers this way, for even more long range fire suppport. You tend to emphasize mobility in your tactics, yet you pack your men in heavy armor. I realize you want maximum protection and are compensating through the use of leapfrogging, but perhaps lighter suits on the supporting team could give you a bit more flexibility this way? Does your sniper/scout utilize heavy suits, too? This is something I wouldn't recommend - he needs to run around to snipe, scout and set these mines.

Agreed, there is definately more than one way to skin a Beastman C-: Currently, I am having fun with two guys, two gatlings and tight passages. I am also officially in love with NV goggles: Equip the entire squad with these things, give them silenced weapons and do a night mission. Immediately swith to NV and enjoy the special ops feel.

That's weird. The AL Ufopaedia I just downloaded doesn't differentiate between two kinds of suits for Rets (and since it is based on raw game data I would actually believe it). Also, the in game description identifies the armor as 'Reticulan,' and that reticulans can wear it. Just that. And I can't seem to get any suits from the Expedition thru trade...may be just my luck. Are you sure it is a feature and not a bug? I am having bad memories of base inventory in all the UFO: AfterXXXX series pulling all sorts of tricks on me /-:

Has anyone experienced something similar? I had the two Reticula Henchmen from the first reticulans,

Sniper tactics don't work too good for me, I fear, since in most missions them buggers hole themselves inside building and won't move. I once saw four greys armed with PSI weapons inside a dome with only one entrance. In general they also like to hide behind all kinds of debris, which makes sniping them tedious. My solution #1: Grenades. Identify the juicy spots where they may be lurking and fire away. Watch for "Reticulan missess %Charname%, chance to hit was X%" messages - PSI weapons have low range so they must be around. My solution #2: Fast strike in. Running soldiers with fast weapons can quickly scout around and shoot them to hell before they have a chance of hiting them (PSI weapons take a long time to fire) and if they control one guy, there's always the other. Dual wield pistols for best results.