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Universal Combat - First Impressions


Supreme Cmdr
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My first impressions are...wow....great game. Love the graphics. They just look, cleaner, than BCMG. Haven't played it very much, as after I got it installed, I needed to go to bed (I work 3rd shift).

My only "compaints" (I have 2 of them)....miss the 1-9 system for speed control. Taking some getting used to, using w,s,a,d....granted that is what the majority of the fps games use. My 2nd "complaint"....why hasn't LucasArts been knocking down your door, begging you to make a REAL Star Wars game????? I think Universal Combat would make a totally AWESOME Star Wars game...unless they have, and you have turned them down.

On a good side note, I had to buy a new graphics card (mine didn't have the vertical shader 1.1 with it). All in all, good, good game. Great job....it simply looks outstanding.

Chris

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well as i started the game i noticed no intro (which isn't a bad thing considering bc3k's intro was god awful)

Graphics : total knockout "outdated" (as claimed by several game sites) my foot pretty amazing and the new flocks of wild life are a refreshing addition , ships are really improved from bcm

SoundMusic : congrats to whomever made the music (and tell him he should have been working on star trekandromeda's music ) pretty good as for the sounds well it's all good apart from the lasers which still remind me of bc3k

Gameplay: bigger and better , love the new gunships and tanks btw. the gameplay isn't really different from the older games but the combat in UC feels truly like a sci-fi epic rather then a bunch of 3d boxes fighting with zero ability to strafe and shoot stright ( alot of times i found myself either bored to death with the battles or annoyed by how my AI mates collided with each other )

Story : oh come on SC even poorly scripted hentai games got more plot involved then this (btw is there an ACM editor? that way at least fans can make their own ACM's and plots..)

all in all it's ace in my book and cheers to SC for the awesome consept which seemed lost in the voids of time

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quote:

Originally posted by Supreme Cmdr:

quote:

I just proposed that showing you what unit is controllable would make the game much more intuitive. As for examples, lookie here:

Oh, thats what you mean. I will think about it, because you are right, it does look informative. The

problem is that considering that you can switch to and control almost every asset in the game, it

could very well clutter the scene if those sort of Planetside cues were used. I guess they could be

drawn based on distance from the object. Dunno, but good suggestion - I'll think about it a bit

more.


Instead of a visual clue like in Planetside, why not try some sort of mouse over icon. This way the icons wouldn't show up all over the place.
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quote:

Originally posted by MythicalMino:

My 2nd "complaint"....why hasn't LucasArts been knocking down your door, begging you to make a REAL Star Wars game????? I think Universal Combat would make a totally AWESOME Star Wars game...unless they have, and you have turned them down.

Chris

I have too agree totally..... I think a S*** load of games could benifit from use this game(UC) as a master template for there games... SC you should think about licensing out the engine of your game... Epic Games does it... I think you could make a crap load of money doing that. But what I say before about combining those game is still true.... I would get down on my knee [forget my wife] and beg for your hand in marriage!! Or at least build a temple and worship you as a gaming god!!

But maybe for the "1-0" speed control put it as an option in the Option menu. Oh in roaming mode does anyone know it there is a way to get "Jobs" or are you just stuck with mining & trading as a only means of Income/freelance-task? if its in the book tell me what page... maybe I over looked it!

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quote:

My 2nd "complaint"....why hasn't LucasArts been knocking down your door, begging you to make a REAL Star Wars game????? I think Universal Combat would make a totally AWESOME Star Wars game...unless they have, and you have turned them down.

Chris

well i think he had his time with big time publishers and look what came out the dreadful bc3k 1.0v... when working on creative games such as this it takes time which companies like take2 or even lucasarts wouldn't give or would easily replace with a marketable product which could be a total waste of time (take disney games which follow quickly after each movie , all are the same repeatitve tiddler minded platformers which your 2 year old brother would finish with ease)

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Well, I just got my copy of UC from Electronics Boutique, and am quite excited to get back into this world.

In my anxiousness to step back in and see the latest offering from the mind of Derek Smart, I installed it on my machine at work machine. As expected, it didn't run on my aging rig here (my video card isn't nearly strong enough!), so I've got to wait a while more before installing it.

I wanted to tell you about the conversation I had with the sales guy at Electronics Boutique... I came in and picked up the game and we chatted a bit while he was ringing me out. He said he'd heard a lot of great stuff about the game, and that he'd sold three other copies (in addition to mine) today. He'd even pulled a copy of UC off the shelves 'with intent to buy'. I think our conversation cemented his purchase decision.

Congratulations to DS from an old-timer, and I'm anxious to get into this new world!

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"I saw Derek Smart making a cool game!

I saw Derek Smart standing on a soap thing!

Ooo -Eee OO ahah, ching chang walla walla bing bang!"

This one gets a gamers elbow and a sore trigger finger up!!

If right now I fumpling in the cockpit as a blind man. The book of knowledge will open something much greater for me!

*manual time*

L8rs!

BTW: No Probs. Steady code for what I have done so far, good dx effects, and frames/sec.

ProX

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quote:


Originally posted by MythicalMino:

My only "compaints" (I have 2 of them)....miss the 1-9 system for speed control. Taking some getting used to, using w,s,a,d....granted that is what the majority of the fps games use.


Put me down as a vote for the old system. I absolutely hate w-a-s-d. So much so that I haven't played Starwars KOTOR until they allowed the arrow keys to be mapped to movement (latest patch fixes that.)

First impressions are... WOW!

Many, many subtle changes and everything looks so polished now. Really digging it!

The few keyboard mapping changes have really thrown me for a loop though and I feel like a newbie again! After years of knowing the BC keys by heart it tough to unlearn old habits.

My solution so far has been to map a bunch of commands to my joystick. BTW, using the in game mapping for the joystick buttons doesn't work so well. Not that they don't map correctly, but they are REALLY sensitive. Pushing a button mapped to "cycle" targets results in the tragets whizzing by, much too fast. Again my solution was to map the corresponding keyboard commands to my stick using a MS joystick profile. now I just have to come up with a good mapping for all the commands.

So many commands and so few buttons....

I really, really miss using the ships afterburners.

This is going to take some getting used too.

[ 02-06-2004, 03:30 PM: Message edited by: Andergum ]

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quote:

My only "compaints" (I have 2 of them)....miss the 1-9 system for speed control. Taking some getting used to, using w,s,a,d....granted that is what the majority of the fps games use.

Ditto here. I miss the 1-9 throttle control as well. Also, afterburner and retro rockets although holding down W/S perhaps mimicks afterburner/retro? Not sure. I'm also a little unsure how VTOL/FTOL works. I haven't read the manual yet, so shoot me.

Just playing some IA scenarios so far. SWEEET! I'm loving the planet based gameplay. I think I'll be spending awhile just playing these 4 or 5 scenarios. These justify the price of the game alone IMO. Huge improvement over BCM. The added ambience helps too. Plant life, trees, animals and especially the building and vehicle models. And the music is awesome.

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Do my eyes deceive me or is that a Battlecruiser Generations splash screen I see!!!

As far as WASD goes, I think I'll like it. It took me forever to break the habit when playing BCMG and I would still always hit those keys from time to time. That being said, I'm missing 'max thrust' and 'zero thrust' keys.

Only spent a few minutes with it before I got destroyed, but I liked what I saw, a lot. I'm sure I'll have plenty more praise after a few hours and a planet side trip.

Quick points:

Awesome new models and textures.

I like the look of the new interface.

Not sure about the phasing issue with the sound (hollow, reverb like).

OOOOH I like the new 'docks' in Galcom (I can hide in there)

I wanna zoom CLOSER when in external view!!

more to come...

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quote:


Originally posted by Andergum:

Put me down as a vote for the old system. I absolutely hate w-a-s-d. So much so that I haven't played Starwars KOTOR until they allowed the arrow keys to be mapped to movement (latest patch fixes that.)


You can use the arrow keys in UC

quote:


The few keyboard mapping changes have really thrown me for a loop though and I feel like a newbie again! After years of knowing the BC keys by heart it tough to unlearn old habits.

Yeah, it takes some getting used to

quote:


Originally posted by Andergum:

I really, really miss using the ships afterburners.


I plan on putting it back in actually.

[ 02-06-2004, 05:09 PM: Message edited by: Supreme Cmdr ]

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It was a little jarring to me to see a BATTLECRUISER GENRATIONS splashscreen when I coulda sworn the product I bought was UNIVERSAL COMBAT. Yup. That's what the box says. The CD too. But the splash screen calls it BATTLECRUISER GENERATIONS. Strange.

I also had the sinking thought of, "I've bought this game before" when I finally got into the game. The graphics look much nicer, though. Not much time right now to play with it more, but I'll give it more time soon!

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quote:


Originally posted by vogelap:

It was a little jarring to me to see a BATTLECRUISER GENRATIONS splashscreen when I coulda sworn the product I bought was UNIVERSAL COMBAT. Yup. That's what the box says. The CD too. But the splash screen calls it BATTLECRUISER GENERATIONS. Strange.


Thats not the splash screen. That screen is the SafeDisc splash screen. I forgot create a new one when we switched from BCG to UC. Anyway, I have done that now and it should be the UC one in the 1.00.02 patch.

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Guest trix9000

just being honest....

I think the graphics look about 3-4 years old and very dated. The various models in the game are rendered with a very low poly count. The planets look very sparse and undetailed. If you look at a game like star wars galaxies, the planetscape is beautiful. In UC there is only like a few types of trees, the ground foliage looks positively awful. The tree trunks on the the tree look like 16x16 textures, scaled down and then placed on the trunks. Basically the planets look very sparse and ugly.

The space scenes are an improvement but still are not even in the same ballpark or even league of games like homeworld 2 or Eve. The problem with the graphics mostly stems from the poor quality textures, and the general lack of detail. Maybe some static meshes could have been added or something to add some detail. Up close everything looks bad. Like I said these graphics would have been fine like 3 years ago but today they dont really impress.

Still though cool game overall, just saying my honest opinion please dont flame me for blasphemizing your supreme commander and his team.

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The one other big thing on my wish list that didn't make it into this cut of the game... real-time planetary shadows (Like those seen in Hegemonia). It's still pretty shocking to initiate planetfall into a bright & purty atmosphere only to find yourselfe in the pitch black darkness of night. Planets don't need to *cast* shadows mind you (I'm not *that* picky) but I would like to be able to see a clearly defined light/dark side from space.

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quote:

Originally posted by trix9000:

just being honest....

I think the graphics look about 3-4 years old and very dated. The various models in the game are rendered with a very low poly count. The planets look very sparse and undetailed. If you look at a game like star wars galaxies, the planetscape is beautiful. In UC there is only like a few types of trees, the ground foliage looks positively awful. The tree trunks on the the tree look like 16x16 textures, scaled down and then placed on the trunks. Basically the planets look very sparse and ugly.

The space scenes are an improvement but still are not even in the same ballpark or even league of games like homeworld 2 or Eve. The problem with the graphics mostly stems from the poor quality textures, and the general lack of detail. Maybe some static meshes could have been added or something to add some detail. Up close everything looks bad. Like I said these graphics would have been fine like 3 years ago but today they dont really impress.

Still though cool game overall, just saying my honest opinion please dont flame me for blasphemizing your supreme commander and his team.

Hmm nice attitude to debut your induction into the BC community.

Dont forget in this world gameplay trumps graphics. Considering the fact the planets are actual planets hundreds of thousands of square kilometers in size I am suprised even so much as stick trees could be rendered. As for low polycount and whatnot on models I think the minute you get into a huge land or space battle your computer will be begging to end it all and will be grateful for the models not being "bleeding edge" quality. Maybe one day when we all have graphics processors over a terabyte in size we can have the massive details we want so bad with BC titles.

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quote:


Originally posted by trix9000:

The various models in the game are rendered with a very low poly count.


The poly counts fit the games scene rendering budget just fine. This is not a game where you know there are only going to be 5 entities on screen at any one time. It can go up into the dozens of units in the blink of an eye and not everyone has powerful machines to run it.

And the game's AI kernel takes up more of the processing than the rendering pipeline. In fact, the rendering is considered free, in some cases.

quote:


The planets look very sparse and undetailed.

They are huge. You have to go to populated places.

quote:


If you look at a game like star wars galaxies, the planetscape is beautiful.

Thats funny. Comparing the size of the SWG world to this. Yes, its beautiful - no doubt - because with a smaller area, you can go to very high detail.

quote:


In UC there is only like a few types of trees, the ground foliage looks positively awful. The tree trunks on the the tree look like 16x16 textures, scaled down and then placed on the trunks.

I don't know what you're talking about. For one thing, the textures are not 16x16

quote:


The space scenes are an improvement but still are not even in the same ballpark or even league of games like homeworld 2 or Eve.

Again, they are games on a much, much, much, smaller scale.

quote:


Maybe some static meshes could have been added or something to add some detail.

Static meshes? I have no clue what you're talking about. And I'm not quite sure you do either.

quote:


please dont flame me for blasphemizing your supreme commander and his team.

Thats the kind of thing that gets your post deleted and you banned. If you didn't come here to flame or insult anyone, you shouldn't have to point it out.

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quote:


Originally posted by trix9000:

just being honest....

I think the graphics look about 3-4 years old and very dated. The various models in the game are rendered with a very low poly count.


3 to 4 years ago is Starlancer, Freespace 2, Terminus land. If you think UC's graphics aren't better than those you must be on some kind of iced tea.

[ 02-06-2004, 09:20 PM: Message edited by: Supreme Cmdr ]

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Guest Hellbinder[CE]

ok...

quote:

just being honest....

I think the graphics look about 3-4 years old and very dated. The various models in the game are rendered with a very low poly count. The planets look very sparse and undetailed. If you look at a game like star wars galaxies, the planetscape is beautiful. In UC there is only like a few types of trees, the ground foliage looks positively awful. The tree trunks on the the tree look like 16x16 textures, scaled down and then placed on the trunks. Basically the planets look very sparse and ugly.

The space scenes are an improvement but still are not even in the same ballpark or even league of games like homeworld 2 or Eve. The problem with the graphics mostly stems from the poor quality textures, and the general lack of detail. Maybe some static meshes could have been added or something to add some detail. Up close everything looks bad. Like I said these graphics would have been fine like 3 years ago but today they dont really impress.

Still though cool game overall, just saying my honest opinion please dont flame me for blasphemizing your supreme commander and his team.

That is just DUMB.

Did you learn the Term "static meshes" from reading UT forums or something? I wonder...

I just played the game for the First time and I absolutely disagree with what you are saying. My first reaction when the Game loaded and i was sitting just outside earth was OMFG!!!!!. It is beautiful. Thats the freaking bottom line. The Space portions of this game are Freaking Beautiful. The Textures are not low res, the space effects are very pretty and the models look fantastic.

Honestly I cant even begin to Justify in my mind how you are even saying such total Ridiculous nonsesne. Its that simple. Have you actually *really* even played the game? What hardware are you using? Becuase it looks Fing SWEEEEEET on my 9600 Mobility in my new laptop.

The planetside graphics are obviously not as nice as a standard FPS type game. Or even a Limited MMORPG game. The ENTIRE PLANET is being rendered in REAL TIME. Or do you even unerstand that??

My reply has nothing to do with your little comment about Derek either. You think you can print some trash like that and then if anyone responds to you with the TRUTH you can hide beind your little witless coment. Soory dude not going to fly with me. The Game is what it is and you are talking nonsense.

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Ya I thought it all look awsume... does any body know if there is a way to get tasks/job if your on planet in a ground vehicle and in a friendly zone and in roam.... or am I just stuck with mining and picking my own targets. I went over the book abit. If I misssed it can some tell me what page?????? PLEEEEEAAAAASSSEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If there is none the that need to be fix with a patch or an expansion pack.

But I am still glad I bought it.. And since I payed only $20 USD I want to pay $10 USD to SC just because he has earned it!!! Who else agree??

Hows that for first impressions. SC message me on how best to pay!!

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Maybe this will get deleted since only first impressions go here and i still have not received my copy of UC but here it goes anyway

Opal_Dragon: if i recall correctly, you can go to debris fields again in UC and collect lots of cargo pods, the lobs thingie got cut from the game during development but you really should set off and roam the huge universe (its even bigger with the new galaxy now...if that wasn't cut from the features) and explore, destroy your ennemies and raid their ships!!! there's a lot to do in the game. There's no practical way of obtaining money other than deploying the drones and waiting for your salary but the game is not about getting rich anyway.

Throw Resnig through the airlock and have a fun time exploring young commander.

EDIT: oops...!!! i overlooked the part were you said that you're on a planet...well

cheers

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quote:

does any body know if there is a way to get tasks/job if your on planet in a ground vehicle and in a friendly zone and in roam.... or am I just stuck with mining and picking my own targets. I went over the book abit. If I misssed it can some tell me what page??????

OK. If I read you right your asking if this game is like ,say Starlancer, where you have discourse with characters which give you certain tasks to perform. The short answer is no...

however don't panic. This game is also as much about exploration as well as combat.Try the ACM scenario in which you have a specific task to perform within a given time frame.Hopefully the SC will make available the GBS 3 (Game Builder System) in which you write your own scripts.Even if we have to pay for this it will be a HUGE enhancement to the game.

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Guest trix9000

yes the game has a large scale to it, but I still dont understand why more detail couldnt have been used. Basically the design decision was to create more open empty area at the sake of depth and detail. This is Galcom's design decision and it is there game, but im entitled to my opinion just like you guys are entitled to kiss mr. smarts feet and praise his word as if it were gospel.

Im have a 5900 ultra and a athlon 3000 so and they game is basically running at full blast. Sometimes quality is better than quantity. The character and the weapon models could have used more triangles. But the game is still good. Im surprised this wasnt made into an mmorpg as the design decision really lend well to a game of this type.

If the game had been broken into zones alot more detail could have been added at the expense of a bit of load time. But adding a lot of detail to a game this size probably would have taken a long while. Still my first impression is that I enjoy the game. nice job

Its ok to mix criticism with praise

[ 02-07-2004, 12:19 AM: Message edited by: trix9000 ]

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Ok, I am copying this over from my post in the Gone Gold forums, enjoy!

Ok, got the game today, played for two hours or so and here are my "Official" First Impressions:

The game came in the standard box, very nice looking with a jewel case, nice size manual and keycard with map printed on one side. The manual is very well done and although alot of it is rehashed from BCM (and maybe BCMG which I never purchased!) it seems stramlined and clarified. It is much easier to read and contains alot of info. This is one of those game manuals that you can take to work with you and read because it is very well done.

The packaging was very nice, and obviously this was NOT meant to be a budget title! Dreamcatcher has REALLY shot themselves in the foot with this one! How they intend to recoup any of the money spent on the quality packaging is beyond me, and it is becoming increasingly obvious that they dropped the price to spite Derek and 3000AD.

The install went fine although the Autorun did not work for me either, I am unsure wht because all my other games do autorun. Oh well, no big deal and not even an annoyance!

Game loaded and I was treated witht he Battlecruiser Generations splash-screen, I am with a few other people when I say please do not change that, it is kinda cool to see the BCG logo for the game!

After tooling around the menu screen a bit, which is also much better done than the old BCM screen I jumped into Roam mode and did just that....ROAM!

Oh YEAH!! This is classic BC!! The whole thing looks and feels like a streamlined and better version of BCM! The graphics in space are great (except for the close up look of the planets while in space: they still dont look right for some reason)! The ships look much better and are of a much higher quality than BCM. And the general look and feel of space is much better done here.

The interface is much like BCM with some menus seemingly streamlined and a bit more intuitive.

First thing I did was hop in a shuttle and head down to the nearest planet to look around and I continued to be impressed. No, the graphics are not as good as Planetside, or most other FPS, but with this depth who cares????

The fauna and herds of creatures roaming around bring much live to the world and make walking around and exploring much more fun and immersive.

I havent got into combat really yet nor even touched the depth that this game obviously offers but so far I am so glad that the game exists and I know I will spend much time with it and delving into the seemingly millions of things you can do!!

Derek, color me impressed so far, and congratulations on a job well done! Dreamcatcher can go screw themselves because they tried to kill an excellent title. I will NEVER buy another DC title unless they rectify the situation that they have put you and 3000ad in!

Congratulations!

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