Earthsiege Games RoundTable Category 22, Topic 17 Message 198 Wed Nov 02, 1994 D.SELLE [Rude Boy] at 20:11 EST I am pleased to see that Earthsiege is (generally) being well-recieved. Since Sierra is pulling off of genie, I will try to give you guys what help I can. But realize that I am doing this on my own time and money and that I am not a tech support expert. I have heard rumors that Sierra may resume some kind of a link with Genie when the internet connection is complete in January, but I don't know the details or how certain this is. I will check in here about once a week. Some notes 1) Responsiveness of the game Earthsiege is memory and CPU intensive. The recommended setup for the game is a 486 33MhZ with 8 meg of RAM. This was mentioned in the manual. If you play on a machine slower than this you should lower the detail settings to improve performance. If you have enough memory for it, a 1 meg smartdrive is also adviseable. 2) Thrustmaster support WCS MARK I This device is not supported unless you have an upgrade chip. Contact Thrustmaster for more information. WCS MARK II We provide a "default" setting for the WCS mark II that works with the V1.39 version of Thrustmasters "Command & Control Center" software. Rudder Pedals They don't work like the rudders for a plane, but function as they do in MPBT. (Moving the right pedal forward rotates your turret to the left or turns you to the left). If you don't like this setup, the programmers tell me you MIGHT be able to calibrate them backwards and get it to work. I haven't tried this so I don't know if it works. F-16 FLCS Well, I kinda messed up here. Thrustmaster wrote us B50 and M50 files for this sucker but I changed the names of the files before we made the final burn. You can do one of 2 things to fix this: Change the names of the B50 and M50 files from ES.B50 and ES.M50 to EARTH.B50 and EARTH.M50 *OR* change the Mdef line in the ES.B50 file to read "Mdef ES" instead of "Mdef Earth." Also, Thrustmaster did NOT include a provision to use the WCS II with the F-16 FLCS files they wrote for us. In general, if you have problems with TM support, it is better to call them than us. They were part of the Beta test for Earthsiege and are familiar with most aspects of the game. They also know far more about thier hardware than we do. The tech support number for thrustmaster is listed in the README file for earthsiege. 3) Getting Started We have had several people complain that the game is difficult to get started with. Earthsiege is as complex as many flight sims, and has a similar kind of learning curve. It rewards the persistent and skillful player. If you are having difficulty with the game, try practicing the single missions in "invulnerable" mode. 4) CD Info: We finalled the CD the same time as the floppy version, but CD duplication is done out of house so it takes longer. CD's should be in the store any day now. The CD version has the speech pack included with it and contains a couple short movies. You also have the options for minimum, medium, and full install with the CD. I personally would have set the speech pack at a lower price point, but I don't make those decisions. 5) Some HINTS -Build a new Herc every chance you get. The lager ones take more time to complete than the smaller ones. Construction time and salvage can become critical in later missions. -Try to shoot the weapons off the enemy hercs You have a chance to recover new weapons this way, even if you don't have the technology to build it yet. (Your armory won't build any new ones until you get the tech release, however). -Target legs and the waist. If you take out a Cybrid Herc's engine or blow off its legs you will get a lot more salvage for it than if you just blow away the center torso. The down side is he can shoot at you the whole time you are doing this . Note: this strategy is not the best one for survival in mult-herc combat. -You can't "kill the base" in every mission, and it is not necessary to do so to win. Sometimes just getting in and out can be hard enough. Read your mission objectives. -Some people here are giving autocannons a bum rap. I think they are the BEST weapon of all. You just haven't learned to shoot straight apparently . I may post more hints later if response warrants. --DaveS ------------ Games RoundTable Category 22, Topic 17 Message 278 Wed Nov 09, 1994 D.SELLE [Rude Boy] at 21:33 EST Hello again everyone! Here are some answers to questions that have been asked: But first a note on the nomenclature: Mirrimac Pitbull Are the names of the Herc's some people have been referring to. Notes about auto-tracking: This has been intended more as "training wheels" than a feature that a skilled player will rely on. It works best with lasers and can be helpful shooting down flyers. Most of the time I play with neither my targetting system nor the auto-tracking feature activated. Turret control: There is an undocumented feature that will allow you to traverse the turret at high speed. Holding down the "alt" key while pressing the I,J,K,M will cause it to traverse rapidly. I believe these key combinations will work in an .adv file but I have not tried it personally. CD Installation sizes: These are incorrectly stated in the manual. The readme file contains the correct information. Rudder patch: Since there seems to be demand for a patch to flip the rudder axies, I will find out what it will take to make one available here. Rudders will control either turret rotation OR herc movement (turning). I have tested this setup both ways myself and I am 100% sure it works either way. Joystick issues Joystick button 2 toggling between movement and turret control is NOT a bug, it is works (more or less) as designed, so blame me. I *like* this feature and use it all the time. If we WERE to do a patch on the joystick, what is it that people would want to see changed? Please be specific. It is not clear to me that the "turning" problem people have experienced is due to a true inefficency in the product, unrealistic expectations regarding the maneuverability of an 80 ton Herc, or if people don't understand how the interface is SUPPOSED to work. Out of environment space error: This is not our fault (really). You need to increase your DOS environment size in your config.sys. It should fix all the CD problems mentioned in this regard. Facing/Heading information: This information is available on the HUD (Heads up display). Two yellow bars at the top and left sides of the HUD indicate turret rotation and elevation respectively. There is a compass which numerically indicates your heading (facing) above the "turret rotation" bar. We may add an iconic orientation display in future versions since people seem to be confused by this. Deleting saved games: You can delete a career from the "career" menu. You cannot delete individual saved games or rename them. Saving the same mission twice will overite the previous save in that "slot." I realize that this is a bit clunky, but for a long time we intended to drastically limit the number of saved games and it was added at the end. The idea behind limiting saves was so people might actually end up on the alternate campaign paths (I bet most of you didn't even know there were any). Our Beta testers and QA people STRONGLY requested unlimited saves which we agreed was the right way to go. The upshot of this is the same thing that happened in the original wing commander: there are a lot of missions out there that no one will ever see because they just play the same mission over and over until they win . You don't HAVE to win to go on to the next mission. You may regret it later --but you can still continue. Oh well. Live and learn. Enemy Preview/Database: I love surprises, which is why there is no enemy vehicle preview. The potential for a database of known technology and enemies was eliminated when the "Barracks" screen was cut. With it also went a lot of the story elements I intended to include in the game. What can I say? It would have delayed shipping. Certain non-essential game elements were sacrificed so we could concentrate on other "vital" features. Look for more frosting on future cakes. I have some backstory written for the game as well as the complete text of Gierling's log (excerpted and edited in the manual intro) that I could upload if people are interested in that kind of thing. Technology Releases: These depend on how well you do on the campaigns. Since everyone is replaying the missions until they win, the tech releases will probably be all hitting in the same place. Generally you have the chance to get a tech release on certain special missions (no, I am not going to say which ones). If you achieve the mission objective you will get the tech release, if you fail the mission you will get another chance at a later date. Each new weapon and Herc type works this way. If a mission has a chance for tech release on it, generally this information will be spelled out for you in the briefing. Your technology development paralells Cybrids, but they always get the new goodies first . You will see the Cybrids using EMP's well before you have a chance to make them, for instance. Walkable terrain: I wish we had it too. Put it in the "future products" file. I consider this feature a must for a major sequel. Modem play: We are considering it in a future ES product. FYI Battledrome will be shipping in a few weeks with modem and network support. Battledrome is a robotic combat arcade game set in cyberspace--for those who didn't know. Low detail on weapons: Someone mentioned that they were only getting polygons on the weapons. If you have enough memory you should get texture mapping on the weapons at MAX shape detail. If you are "Low" on memory the game automtacilly throws away the highest detail level on the shapes and you will never see it (the second highest detail becomes the highest in the prefs). You will almost certainly be running the "low" memory version of the game on a 4meg machine, even if you run from a boot disk. NOTE: Shape detail has the greatest impact on your frame- rate, so if you set it to MAX it will slow gameplay on all but the most powerful CPU's. Rolling motion with turret movment: You only "roll" when your herc turns in place. You should experence no rolling motion when you traverse the turret right or left. There is a slight up and down motion if your herc is running or walking, which can "jiggle" your turret a bit, but that's all. Joystick problems: Someone mentioned a problem with the FCS choosing the wrong buttons. I really am not very familiar with hardware in general, but it sounds like you might have your WCS configured with an .adv file from another game? If not then you could have a problem with your game card or joystick port (this is especially suspect if you use multi-function card with a joystick port). We sent the game to PC test, who does our compatability testing, but it is possible that some hardware/joystick configurations were missed. If this is the case then the best I can suggest for now is to call sierra tech support and give them a description of your hardware so it gets into the database. Tech support has forwarded a couple of minor issues to us, but so far we have not heard of any joystick calibaration problems. Sorry I can't help you more. Note: The game DOES support CH Flightstick PRO. Skipping the intro: This is made up of 3 seperate parts, press ESC 3 times to skip them all. VCR function: please see my notes in the previous message. As I said before, if we had a shippable version of the VCR we would have included it. This was NOT "held back" to put in an add-on disk and you won't see one in the mission disk coming out early next year. Flyer missions: If we do them, it will probably be a seperate product and not an add-on. Can't say for sure, though. There is strong interest in doing one on the team. Turning while moving slow: You CAN rotate your Herc while it is stationary. You must be COMPLETELY stopped to turn in place (if you have even 1% throttle it won't work). When your herc is moving slow he is taking "baby-steps" which means it takes MUCH longer to turn then if you have a bit of speed built up (Hercs only have 1 size turning radius--BIG). There is a strategy for maneuving your herc that I find works well: the "J" turn. If you want to get a guy in your sights fast, back up and turn in the opposite direction:e.g., if there is a guy on your left flank, back up while turning right (you would have your joystick all the way down and right). Also moving slowly is generally a very unhealthy tactict. By the time you tweak your turret and get the guy lined up juuust right you will be Herc Pilot fricasse. Soo sorry . Somone claimed they hit a Herc with 26 missiles and it didn't die. I have never seen anything approaching this level of absurdity in our testing process. Missiles have a blast radius and are detonated on contact with the a herc's shields, if any. In some rare cases a missile hit may do little or no damage to a herc. For instance: your target is running directly away from you at full speed with his shields fully diverted to the rear. I can't imagine this happening 26 times in a row, however. I think it's more likely that you missed a lot (especially with EO missiles--it takes awhile to get the hang of them). Mouse Crash: I have never seen this happen. I suggest you call Sierra Technical support, if other people have this problem they may have a fix (I doubt it, becuase I would probably have heard about it, but it might be worth a shot). I have used logitech and microsoft 8.xx mouse drivers with the game myself. Weapons building: In general weapons are built based upon need. If you are out of or down to 1 weapon of a certain type, it will build a new one for you. The maximum # of weapons built at 1 time is 5. It is generally a good idea to keep your hercs as fully armed as possible. Scramble missions: I am surpised everyone is having so much trouble with these... To win the Rhino prototype mission you must save the base(60%) and at least 50% of the herc. You can still win the mission even if the rhino pilot is dead. I don't recall if this particular mission has a wingman or not, but I usually have a wingman guard one side of the base, while I patrol the other on scramble missions. I check the HDD display frequently while in this "guard" mode. When the enemy appears he is usually close to one of us. I send my wingman the "attack my target" message and then charge in. You should always avoid chasing enemy hercs far from a base you are defending. You will not get the tech release for the Rhino until the beginning of the next campaign if you lose this mission, but there is no other negative effect on the campaign besides this. Campaign 2 mission 1: Your main objective is to scout the waypoints, NOT to fight the enemy hercs. Run away at the first hint of danger. "Random" missions. Certain slots in each campaign are filled by "random" missions. This means that if you replay a campaign you will not necessarily see the same missions in the same order. If you do get the same mission, your mission path, the Cybrid herc types and locations can all be different. Some missions contain no random elemets while others are derived almost entirely from them. Difficulty in career mode: Is set to "BRUTAL." Campain 3 mission 3 (radar towers). This is actually one of the few missions that I still find challenging. I take a tomahawk with 4 ATC 35mm and 1 ATC 50mm. I have my wingman attack the same target as me so it dies fast, then when a radar tower's "guards" are dead, I have him destroy the base (so I conserve my ammo). I typically finish the mission with about 100 rounds left in each AC (10% ammo left). Since you are only fighting 2 guys at 1 time, shooting the legs on the mirimacs is a good strategy. Also, I think the briefing mentions that the enemy Hercs mount ARM's (hafta look). Avoid using radar in combat on *ANY* mission if there are reports of cybrids mounting ARM's in the breifing. It is a sure way to die. ARM's can lock onto an ECM pod too. Well, I think that is enough for now Thank you all for your interest in Earthsiege! Good hunting! --DaveS Dynamix ------------ Games RoundTable Category 22, Topic 17 Message 287 Thu Nov 10, 1994 D.SELLE [Rude Boy] at 23:45 EST Update from HRL HQ . There are 8 campaigns in Earthsiege. 5 Main and 3 alternates. No one is hitting the alternates because they are playing all the missions until they win . If you want to try an alternate campaign, lose the last mission of campaign 1,2, or 3 (just quit as soon as you get in). This is a guaranteed way to fail the campaign. Note: if you lose 2 campaings in a row you will lose the game, so you can't do this twice. Campaign 7 (the fifth campain in sequence) has no alternate so if you lose the "fourth" one you will lose the game. Backing up your career on an alternate path will overwrite missions if you have progressed beyond that point on another campaign path--so you probably will want to avoid saving over the last mission of a campaign if you go "exploring." This will allow you to resume the "win" path at any time. Here is what the campaign tree looks like: Camp#-- 0 "First" campaign |\ | \ (L) | \ 1 2 "Second" campaing (L) /| / / | / (EOG if you lose 2) / |/ 4 3 "Third" campaign \ |\ (EOG \ | \ (L) if you \| \ lose 4) 5 6 "Fourth" campaign | / | / (EOG if you lose 5 or 6) |/ 7 "Fifth" campaign (L) = "losing" branch EOG = End of Game Thus, 8 different campaigns (0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7). The box also says 45 missions. Actually Earthsiege shipped with 60 unique POSSIBLE missions, however you will only see about 40 of them per career. Sorry if this is misleading on the box. Marketing asked me how many campaigns there were and that's what I told 'em. Number of missions was my best guess for a career at the time it went to print. Next time we will put the campaigns in a straight line so that you have to complete ALL of them to win the game . Also, there is branching within many of the campaings themselves. For instance: if you lose the third mission in campaign 0 (the first campaign) you will get a scramble mission next, if you win it you will get a patrol mission. I can see that this didn't work out like I hoped it would. I grew weary in X-wing of playing the same mission over and over again until I won it, but it seems like this is the kind of thing people want. As far as the bug with the deleted campaign, I am pretty clueless. I have a career on the final version of ES saved up until the last mission of campaign 7 (fifth campaign) and I have replayed it many times. I have not seen anything like this bug in the shipping version, but there was a bug with careers a while back. It was fixed and regressed, but I will have someone check on this and see if it somehow got reintroduced. I would expect that it would happen all the time and not just the last mission if this was the case, however. If you reboot or turn off your machine while it is transitioning between the sim and the shell or while you are backing up a camapaign it is possible that your career file could get messed up (if you have the bad timing to do it while it is writing this file to the hard drive). This could affect *all* your saved missions in an unpredictable and possibly fatal way, especially if you have Smartdrive installed. You could check out your hard drive with Norton Disk Doctor or an equivalent utility to see if your files are okay. Beyond this I really can't think of anything else to try. I would be interested to see if other people encounter this problem when they reach the last mision. If you are worried about this bug, you can back up the contents of your \CAR directory as a safety measure the next time you get to the last mission of the game. TM stuff: You need to have the red button on the WCS II set to "Digital" and the black button (hat) set to "Analog" to use it with Earthsiege. We will begin working on a joystick patch to give people the option to switch the rudders and add keys for the throttle for WCS II users after the forein translations are completed. It is possible that we will add an increased "vanishing distance" for hercs in this patch as well. I have no idea what the timeframe for availability of this patch might be. You don't get salvage for destroying bases, and you surely don't get credit for friendly bases the Cybrids have destroyed! Some missions will have a "salvage bonus" for killing certain bases (some supply buildings or hangars for instance), but this is a special case and not a general rule. It is possible that one of the mission programmers made an error and put a salvage bonus on a FRIENDLY base, in which case you would get salvage if your squad or a cybrid killed it. I strongly doubt anyone on our crack team of mission programmers could have made such an oversight (looks around innocently). The reason you get a lot of salvage on scramble missions is simply because there are a lot of enemy hercs to kill. We have a pseudo vcr function we use in house to test most of our games. This is what was used to create the contents of the unfortunately named "\TAPES" subdirectory. It is a LOOOONG way from something that could be considered "consumer ready." There *may* be a vcr for Earthsiege sometime in the future, but it will not be ready when the first missions disk ships early next year. I too would like to see this in a shipping version of the game, but it is a ways off unfortunately. Well, I gotta work on getting Battledrome finalled, so you probably won't hear from me again until late next week. Until then, Good Hunting! --Dave Selle Dynamix ------------