Undo is a bit overpowered at the moment so actually it will if done in your own turn, but what's the fun in that. When playing for real I usually spend a lot of time positioning my termies so they cover their butts...it takes time moing forward but they get there..."safely"
Patch 1.3.3 in the works We're currently working on a patch that will optimize the memory usage on the iPad even further as well as some minor fixes. We need to test a bit more before it's going live, but we're working at getting it ready as soon as possible. A nice weekend to you all!
Great to hear that memory usage is being optimized further! Hope it can reduce the sometimes long AI thinking part (was reported by someone else too in Steam) I will very happy if achievements bug can be fixed. Sad to see always 1 achievement attained only in GC. Need any more info or testing, please let me know.
This probably won't lower AI thinking time all that much, for that to happen I think we would need to slightly re-write and clean up the code so that it loads faster. The main focus is optimizing memory since we're still getting reports on early crashes due to memory. Personally I don't know why it's runs perfectly on one mini/ipad and crashes at with the first GS deploy on others, but that's why we're trying to improve further. The next major update will be the Fangs of Fenris update, which I would guess is ready end January.
Good to hear plan fixes nevertheless Will see if it speed things up abit, think can live with that. Will the next coming update patch the achievements ? The fangs of fenris is the space wolves campaign dlc?
Was replaying missions for banner unlocks, thinking if this game has more "collectibles", would definitely increase replayability and stickiness, even better if the collectible can be used in the game, not in a way that influence game but such as cosmetic wear on termis, that would be nice
What we need are more missions, not more Achievements... Would an Achievement for turning your Terminator left 50 times really add to gameplay? Or an Achievement for completing a mission without having any Command Points available during every Genestealer round help? XBox 360 has lots of those types of Achievements waiting for you. Do people count Gamerscore on iOS? How do you even see what your Gamerscore is? It is not always staring you in the face like on the 360's Dashboard.
Agreed. Anything else is more important than achievements. They are magic points that worth nothing and do nothing.
There are enough missions already. This game needs more diversity in every its aspect, not another missions with the same rules. New chapters, new monsters, new rules, new weapons and units, ability to play campaign as a genestealers.)
I second that one While playing as a different Chapter in a new campaign sure is nice, turning the table with a Tyranid campaign would be even better. Achievements? Couldn't care less. While a select few in a minority of games are interesting and really make you think (E.g. Ravenmark:SoE's often brutal requirements for best stage completions), unfortunately most are along the cited "turn left 50 times" lines.
I'd love a Genestealer campaign. Also, while I know its been confirmed there will be no Tyranids other than Genestealers in SH, there was talk about mutations like acid spit and poison blood being added. To me, additions like that will add more to the game than more campaigns that are similar to existing ones but use reskinned Terminators.
And I finally found time to finish the 12 missions of the "Sin of Damnation" campaign. Overall I did not find them too difficult on Normal mode. The amount of planning I did at the start of each mission for sure was novelty, something you do not see that often in this genre. I only reloaded on special occasions. E.g. when I messed up a move by tapping the wrong spot and forgetting to undo before I moved to the next unit. Or, on one memorable occasion, when all 3 Marines on Overwatch (in the same direction!) first missed, then jammed their Bolters, and the one lone Genestealer got through and massacred them all. I completed most missions with all Marines alive. If I remember right, I only lost 1-2 on 2 missions in total. Kotovsky wrote on page 50 that he had to reload 50 times for mission 11. As I found it rather difficult in terms of planning beforehand, I will outline my thoughts for general amusement in the next post. I lost 2 guys during this mission, and could have avoided those with better planning. Did not reload once, went through in one go. Planning took me almost half an hour; I think actually playing the mission took less time, but I did not watch the clock.
I blew through the Sin of Damnation pretty easily on both PC and IPad, it isn't all that difficult as generally each stage can be passed with a simple placement of Terminators on overwatch preventing entire sections of the map from allowing genestealers to advance. The last stage is especially easy as you can pretty much just run your Terminators to the exit. Messenger of Purgatory was much harder. I barely passed Cleanse, having the bare minimum of units and flamer ammo left at the end. The genestealer entrances are much harder to block with a single Terminator. The second mission was easy but the third, Extraction took me at least half a dozen tries and so far is the hardest mission I've completed. I'm currently on the third mission of the third campaign, Sword of Halcyon. Overall it seems easier than MoP, but the fact that all missions have a turn limit forces a more aggressive style of play than I used in the other campaigns. I do appreciate the added challenge and tension the IAP campaigns bring. They certainly are ore difficult than the base campaign. However, I wonder how much can really be changed in the long run by added more and more map configurations without adding new toys for the Terminators and Genestealers to utilize.
Sin of Damnation - my planning process and actual play Pre-mission planning: With only one squad taking the easy approach of disabling all relevant spawnpoints by parking a Marine right in front of them is out. I don't know what the forcefields do exactly, so I am not taking them into account during planning. Then I move on to plot my path through the stage: The 2 spawnpoints in the northwest look dangerous: the bend in the corridors only offers very short firepaths for my Marines. So I will take the other one, going southwards from the starting point: In the 3x3 room right to the west, I turn south. Follow that path to the next 3x3 south, blocking off the eastern spawnpoint with one Marine. I designate the Flamer for this, pretty much turning him into a sacrifice, due to his limited ammunition. At the T-crossing right west of this room, I plan to move west towards the 2x2 room, and from there to the objective. If needed, I can leave the Librarian behind to guard against the 3 spawnpoints in the south half of the map. Plan B is to move south at the T-crossing and focus on controlling the south spawnpoints to secure a path to the objective. This way, I can keep the Jeansdealers from spreading out and chasing me; instead killing them off as they appear. For this, the Librarian and Lightning Claw seem ideal: LC to block of the center west spawnpoint (again, a corridor bend shortens the firepath, making a melee unit the better choice). Librarian to block one with his Forcefield Psi power, and overwatching the other of the southeastern two spawnpoints. The remaining two units (Autocannon - heavy firepowe, and Sergeant to cover him, just in case) will rush west to the target room to get the sample and escape. ------- My initial unit placement from left to right now is: Librarian leads point. Also good in case I run into the Broodlord early, as he has a guaranteed kill in melee, provided I have enough Psi points left. Lightning Claw next, then Autocannon. Followed by Flamer, who will stay behind to cover the east spawnpoint. And Sergeant last, in case I need to cover my back on the short way there (better save than sorry). ------- So, how did it work out? On turn 2, the Broodlord comes along to say hello, before I can even move out of the first 3x3 room. He surprises my Librarian who was not on Overwatch that early into the stage. But the Emperor guides his hand to slay the foul Xenos with righteous fury. And 7 Psi points later, the score is Librarian 1, Broodlord 0. A few Jeansdealers show up at the east spawnpoint, but my Flamer is not in position yet to cleanse them with the Emperor's burning wrath. Time to test the portable Forcefields. The Librarian uses his to block them off while the rest of the squad moves past, and the Flamer takes position to spread fiery death. We move on southwards and reach the next 3x3 room, while Mr.Flamey happily burns away anything that rears its ugly head. The bad news is that I see several blips at the southern spawnpoints. So I cannot be sure that I can move all units to the objective fast enough on this way. I merge plans A & B, and have the AC and Sergeant rush west; while the Librarian and LC move south to hold, and keep their backs safe. LC dies on first contact; chance finally caught up with him, for all the slaughtering he did in previous levels with streaks of excellent rolls. But he bought my Librarian enough time to get past the south center spawnpoint and take position. He now has Overwatch on all 3 spawnpoints in the map's south half. Flamer runs out off ammo in the same turn, and gloriously takes two Genestealers down with him in close combat. AC and Sarge stroll leisurely to the objective, not firing a single shot in the whole stage, due to lack of targets. Mission complete! ------- Post-battle analysis: It would have been better to use the Sergeant instead of the Flamer for blocking the first spawnpoint. And the AC instead of LC for the south center one. With his high killchance, I could have moved him right in and have him in front of it in no time, without much risk: the corridor leading to it is only 7 squares. I can move that in one round, with the help of a few CP. Then Flamer and LC would be heading for the objective. Librarian would do pretty much the same thing, he worked out best, comparing plan to execution.
The reason why there's not GS campaign is that it's a major challenge to make a good AI for the terminators, which means it's also going to be an expensive and time consuming task. It's true that we have been talking about adding GS variations to the game and I agree that it would add a more interesting gameplay
Regarding new achievements We actually have made some new achievements also made some MP achievements at some point, but we haven't had time to add all the code that's needed for them to work. It's actually not a quick job, especially on the MP side so at the moment priority lies elsewhere.
Sad to hear. but still consider this: You can make a campaign against renegade mentally-retarded chaos chapter. There is no need in strong AI, just scutter them on map in overwatch mode or randomly wandering and fireing. I got a bug: game is constantly closing when I try to start last mission in Sword of Halcyon. Ipad mini retina. Device restart fixed the issue.
