StarDestroyer.Net BBS

So after a week or so I feel like i've explored the game enough to really talk about it. What it is, how it works, and whether or not it might apply to what action game dudes are looking for. I'll start with what's changed from Midway.

One of the better changes is that the game has gone out of its way to avoid the stupid spreadsheet nonsense and constant micromanagement issues the first game had. You don't need to spend near as much time in Pacific's tactical map as Midway's because Pacific has largely streamlined unit spawning and orders into context sensitive quick menus. So you don't need to run all the way back to your carrier to spawn a new squadron.

Another good change is that the units are way more defined. Especially the boats. Allied and Axis ships are no longer copy/paste models of eachother. All of the ships and units are characters of their own and not necessarily designed to the be the national polar opposite of another.

Damage control is much more streamlined, though it's still a bit too fast for my tastes.

A big change is the game now uses an "auto aim" system for naval artillery. This was primarily done to work in conjuction with the greater emphasis on "subsystem killing" the developers had in mind. Much like Klingon Academy and other space sims of old, the game wants you to take out components and shoot specific locations on enemy ships to quickly neutralize them. Technically, you can still perform manual aiming in the game against both aircraft and ships by aiming at a point "ahead" of them and shooting at where they will be. The manual mentions this so apparently, it was intentional.

The unit variety is very good but the pickens is a bit slim in some areas. I really like the selection of old school units such as the Minekaze class destroyer.

Also, the game has unit perks. I'm talking Call of Duty 4 style perks. They don't work in the exact same manner as CoD but they're most certainly inspired by it. Things like "Face Hardened Armor - Your ship resists damage better". "Radar Fire Control - You shoot farther and more accurately."

You see I think this was a very cool idea on the developer's part. Since it allows even further individualization of the game's units. It helps to make the game more chaotic and unpredictable. The perks are activated in a menu and are time limited but they "recharge" in multiplayer. Perks are "gained" in a level by capturing bases and depots and they can be passive, applying to all units all the time, or limited, applying to single unit for a limited time.

What's really fun to do is save up all of your perks, and then trigger them all at once in a specific unit. For instance, I was playing as a Cleveland Class Cruiser in Island Capture and was unfortunantly confronted by two Mogami Class Heavy Cruisers and a Destroyer. I activated Face Hardened Armour, Radar Fire Control, and Auto Loaders (weapons reload faster) all at once and my ship basically had a cocaine high. Kicking the shit out of both CA's and sending the destroyer packing.

Now I like this, in a sort of way, it's even realistic. Since the capabilities of any ship in a war can sometimes be more than skin deep.

Finally, the single player is much stronger this time around. The Japanese Campaign was wanky but not unbearably so. It's even occasionally intruiging at some points. Their are many skirmish modes and gameplay types that can be done with and against the AI or other players. Units can be unlocked by performing well in missions (doing things like minimizing losses and maximizing the enemy's). The AI isn't stupid, depending on the difficulty set it plays on the same level humans do tactically. Meaning you can trust units to fend for themselves if you want. You don't need to babysit everyone.



Right, now that i've said what I liked about, here's what SUCKS.

Damage control. Like I said, it's too fast. You can lose your engine and literally have it repaired before you've even lost a few knots. But what's really sad is that the game has visually impressive damage effects, AND THEY DON'T MATTER AT ALL.

You can demolish the super structure on an opposing ship, set him afire, blast PT Boat sized holes in him......and 20 minutes later he'll still repair up to 98% health. Anyone else remember Klingon Academy? I sure do.

The AI cheats like a mother fucker, especially on island capture. Where you can literally watch it spawn a MULTI MILE LONG LINE of unending heavy cruisers that respawn the moment you kill them. This is fucking stupid because it takes all the value out of keeping units alive, they're now individually worthless. Lose an entire Task Force? Replace it in 2 minutes. Wipe out an enemy's task force? Another right around the corner. WHO KNEW JAPAN HAD SUCH INDUSTRIAL POWA?

As I stated before, some of the unit pickings are slim. Other than Wankmato, the Japanese have only two other BB classes, Kongo and Fuso. Compared to the Allies 4 BBs other than Iowa.

The Allies have only 3 major destroyer classes. Compared to Japan's 6 or so. The allies have only two CAs to Japan's 4.

Finally, Colorado isn't in the game. Adding insult to injury, the model is there, but my favorite ship is UNPLAYABLE.


So to sum it up, it's easily better than Midway was. It improves in many areas and is pretty fun for the most part. It has its stupids and moments of embarrasment but none of them are really game-breaking.

It's not even out here until next week. Bah.

Their is more to it than I initially expected and the full game is way better than the horrid first impression the demo gave me. It's one of those games that doesn't seem like much at first, but you have to look beneath the surface.

What's the multiplayer setup like? Is it just BF1942 stuff like Midway? Are there bots, coop, stuff like that?

Yeah, their's also a ton of really original game modes. Island Sieges, which work similar to WiC's "push" mode. Competative, which calls for players to attack AI units to see who can cause the most damage the fastest. Duel, which is a round-based team deathmatch for surface warships. Escort, which is kind of like Competative but in a defensive role, and of course, Island Capture, the primary game mode.

Their is no campaign co-op but bots can be used in any multi mode and they can all have different skill settings. Tactically the AI is perfect, they shoot and play just as well as any human. It's the strategic area they cheat a ton.

Stark wrote:What's the multiplayer setup like? Is it just BF1942 stuff like Midway? Are there bots, coop, stuff like that?

I hope you can ram other ships with more realistic consequences than them sinking and sliding under your ship, then popping up unscathed on the other side (Wonky as it is, BF1942's physics engine was a lot of unintended fun).


Now, seriously, what's this game's learning curve like? Is it accessible for casual gamers? Or will it have me run into the night wailing like a banshee like Silent Hunter 4 did?

And no, I haven't played the previous installment, but I'm tempted to try them.

It's not as hard as SH4, but beware it's not an Quake-em-up either. It's by no means hard but i've still seen journalist fuckholes giving it demerits because they were too stupid to find the unit spawn key on a 10 button xbox controller.

LordOskuro wrote:Now, seriously, what's this game's learning curve like? Is it accessible for casual gamers? Or will it have me run into the night wailing like a banshee like Silent Hunter 4 did?

I've never messed with this series before, and I picked up the demo in a flash. The auto-aim in particular makes it too easy, if anything. Joint point and shoot when it comes to naval units. Aircraft are pretty similar to BF1942 or any other arcadey flight game. The command portion of the game is reasonably straightforward, although the interface is a little obtuse at times. It still didn't take long to get the hang of, though.

I'm quite enjoying the multiplayer. Island Capture is really quite fun with a decent team. Or heck, even a chaotic team. Seem to get stuck as the Japanese, which is fine by me. Last teams I've been on have been a IJN whitewash. Heck, we even had a guy who couldn't get the hang of changing his HQ to build ships instead of flinging 'planes off the deck of his carrier who still managed to be useful by flooding the enemy with torpedoes. I seem to spend most of my time in that mode in the map, filling the screen with arrows. It's amusing to see some people deploy just 8 PT boats, wire them all to their command PT boat and charge a cruiser or two.

Competitive mode, I love the Raiden one in the storm, and the Destroyer one. Watching the Ohka carriers go over is both hypnotic and worrying.

I'm still utterly useless in Subs, mind, and my flying skills are alright unless you want me to lob a torpedo. It is nice to see a ship actually get blown in half on occasion, whether by torpedo or gun volley.

Japanese ships have ridiculous torpedo capabilities. Generally their destroyers can pitch obscene numbers of torpedoes in the water and their cruisers can further back up those numbers. However, most of them are staunchly deficient in AA defense and they're pretty fragile ships. Only Akizuki has good AA capability at the cost of torpedo count.

A bit late, but I agree pretty much with exactly what Hawkeye said. Aside from damage control and the way in which units are too casually thrown away, this is a good game. Commanding battlefleets and watching as dreadnoughts pound away at each other rarely gets old, and the variety of piloting ships, planes or subs keeps it from getting stale. It's not a simulation, but combat is far more realistic than most other games on the 360. The online missions are a lot of fun as well, one of my favorites is the competitive one as US subs trying to sink the IJN fleet.

However, I've been having problems where the game freezes up occasionally, usually when connecting to an online game or (rarely) playing single-player. I'm wondering if anyone else has had this problem, or if it's something with my game/console.

I've had that now and then. Not been on Live recently to see if it still happens (only got one wire and it's in the back of my new PC). Here's to hoping it's a known issue they're working on...