Universal Strike Team Hydra (by Wave Light Games)

How's the loot in this game? Someone earlier mentioned that this wasn't a diabloesque-type game with loot, yet there are 11 equipment slots...those two things seem to contradict each other. As another loot-rpg fan can you elaborate?

 

There are 11 slots per character and there is a random loot algorithm. It a actually very similar to Diablo 1 loot where you have a base item and that item has a random level and quality attribute. Those two attributes along with base item type determine the stat boost given when the item is equipped.

As you play the game, you get better and better item awards.

I think most tactics games don't usually have so much complexity in the loot system. Honestly, though the main focus of the game is tactical choices. The best loot in the world isn't going to save you if you're caught in a cross fire, flanked or suppressed.

 

Looks very cool !

Ill have to take a look into this... too many good games #

 

Thanks! The game is very different from Demon's Rise and not just a sci-fi reskin. There are major changes in morale rules and new elements like the suppression rules and such. Therefore, there's a reason for a lot of the changes made that will likely be more apparent as you play the game more.

There is a voice frequency slider in the options menu. Are you saying it doesn't work? If so, I'll look into it.

I actually really like the on-screen camera controls. Once you get used to them, they allow you to fully control the camera with just the left hand and you don't have take your hands off their rest positions to do 2-finger pinch / zoom, etc. I would recommend you try them a bit more before passing judgement. That being said, since the actual 2-finger rotate / pinch controls are much improved, I should be able to add an option to hide the on-screen controls.

Yeah, that's not the intention. I'll fix that.

 

No, I'll be keeping it as is. When you click a tile as a position to move, it shows you in the pop up window how many attacks you can make after that move and the enemy that are within line of sight from that position are highlighted in red. It's not an easy system but these games aren't necessary supposed to be simple. I'm quite happy with it as it is.

I did try this for a time during development but the problem is that the screen jumps around too much on larger levels with loads of enemies. It gets quite disorienting. I prefer the current system where the camera just zooms out to show the action during the enemy turn and then goes back to whatever zoom level the player had earlier.

I'll look into this as option down the road. Currently, there's a "Next character" button that you can just press to go to the next character in your roster. I'm not sure I want to force that option to a player. I think it would be better to allow the player to make a move and look around the map on their own before moving their next character.

I'll keep that as something to think about for future games. I don't want to go back and rip apart an already finished game. The more you play, the more you'll adjust to the style, it's not something I want to revisit.

 

I might do something to make the indicators under a unit brighter or something and have them dull down when the character has low action points to suggest that his actions are done for the turn. Will see how it goes.

 

I appreciate that this element isn't to your personal liking. I won't be changing it though because if I tweak it for you, it will be less ideal for others. I have had feedback from others that absolutely loved the huge number of equipment slots in Demon's Rise. STH has slightly fewer but still the same core system ... with a modified item costing formula that makes high value items more expensive than in DR games. Ultimately, I'm not going to make a game that will please everyone in this particular area but that's fine since there are a lot of games out there to play.

I'll look into it but if I make it bigger on the phone 5, it becomes ugly on the ipad pro. UI scaling is a difficult art and I'm happy with something that works well enough.

I'm not sure there's much benefit in having multiple save slots for the same playthrough. There really aren't any downsides to losing a battle so I don't see why you would need multiple slots for the same team. I think having 20+ slots for many simultaneous playthroughs is perfectly fine.

 

I like her as is. The future is all nano-tech anyway so I don't feel having a big med pack is appropriate for the setting.

Yeah, I think so ... I may be using the term interchangeably. I tried to be consistent in using the same words for the same things but might have missed it somewhere. The only items that cannot be used by all characters are specific weapons like Missile Launchers for the Vanguard, Flame Throwers for the Incinerators, etc.

Yeah, probably will in the near future.

Yeah, I'll do something to enhance the next character button to not look at units that are low on AP. Will give it some thought. Probably won't do an auto-move to next character on end of move for reasons I explained earlier.

Nope ... not going to happen. It would mean re-writing whole sections of the game and mechanics and I'm not going to do that for no real benefit. It's a hard-core tactical rpg ... it's meant to be a little on the complicated side.

The item generator will invariably create some unusual items or useless items at the extremes. So that's why the shop has the 3 star categories. You probably don't want to waste your time looking through the 1-star item box unless you're hoping to find some kind of bargain. Just like you typically don't rummage around the bagain bin in a real shop. I generally save up my money and spend it on the 2-star or 3-star category. That's really the intention ... the 1-star box is meant to be mostly junk.

If I can come up with an easy way to in-highlight the items you can't afford, I'll add it. It's more complicated than you think since you can sell items to increase your gold so I can't just make items that are within the player's staring money total. I can't think of any other games that do this either so not sure why it would even be a good idea.

Pretty sure that is a cover point. I'll double check when I can.

Your characters kneel down when next to half cover so that's a visual indicator. Having a permanent cover indicator would be very difficult since the cover is directional. I think it would make the UI very messy if I didn't hide the shield indicators after the character moves.

There are 9 skills per character whereas Demon's Rise only had 6. The skill button / menu keeps the overall UI much cleaner and I like the way it looks when it opens and closes. Other than the increase in skills per character, one of the main reasons I went this approach is that the majority of the feedback I got from Demon's Rise players was that the ability UI buttons felt cluttered. Therefore, it comes down to not being able to please everyone all of the time. I don't plan to revisit the UI heavily. It's quite functional and fluid, I'd suggest spending some time to get used to it.

 

Nope ... starting characters are meant to be weak at the beginning. They gain action points very quickly in this game so moving and healing won't be a problem for her once she levels up once or twice.

No, the dead people getting no experience is meant to punish players for not keeping their team alive. Otherwise, you'd have people charge in and drop high-level grenades on themselves every game to kill loads of enemies and still get loads of XP. Also, in a game with no perma-death, it's the only way to really make losing a team-mate painful. I may go one more and have a team mate suffer permanent stat loss for multiple deaths.

And the theme behind the game is winning WITHOUT sacrificing your elite team mates. You are meant to be a tactically-wise commander, not the head of a suicide squad.

 

Anyway, gents ... thanks for feedback as always.

Please do play the game and tell your friends and family.

I may not be monitoring closely today as I've had some other major events occur in my life that are not game related. Will check in and answer questions when I can.

 

instant buy

Can't wait til i get home to try this on my big ipad. Trying it out on my old ipad2!

 

Short feedback: enjoy it much, the roster of characters is a masterpiece! Not disappointed that i jumped on board as soon as i saw the gane was released. Knowing you from DR 1 and 2, im really interested how far you will push this gem with the upcoming updates. Anyway, really good work, pat yourself on the back!

 

Quick question for anyone who can answer - I like my tactical games fairly simple, the Advance wars games are some of my favourites ever but I've never got into Xcom and found it a bit over complicated for me, so I guess what I'm asking is where does this sit on the curve please?

 

Alright... Im convinced. Getting this now. Glad i held off on Egglia. LOL

 

It's definitely on the complex side. However, if you just want to move, shoot and blow stuff up, you can just play on the casual difficulty. You can then play without worrying about using cover, morale, suppression, etc. There are 5 difficulties that wildly change the feel of the game.