Larian Studios Forums Dragon Commander Dragon Commander - Beta Feedback and Impressions

Greetings. I'm a vet turn-base strat player and a fairly hardcore RTSer (competative SC2). I would like to provide feedback on some important areas that should be addressed or fixed. I realize this is beta, and not all features may be currently implemented. I will largely address multilayer campaign.

Menus:
Various Options menus are cut off and cannot be scrolled down tot he bottom, namely Graphics, Combat Phase controls, Dragon combat controls.



Dragon Controls:
Having spacebar and right click both keyed to jetpack is redundant, and I found myself struggling with the instinct of hitting spacebar to fly vertically up. I found no control to move straight up, and having to look up to gain altitude was irksome over time.

Freelook for Dragon.
I would personally like to have a way to enable freelook when using the dragon. This has no practical application, but I really, really want to be able to actually see myself from more than just his hindquarters. I want to enjoy how awesome I look, because i assume the front of the dragon is rendered, but I've never seen it! Something like keybind ctrl or alt to freelook. while holding it, the mouse will pan an orbit camera around the dragon avatar, and whent he freelook key is released, the camera returns to the current behind and mouselook controls.
The top of every webpage here shows that beautiful concept art profile of the dragon... yet I've never once even seem his face, let alone be able to look around or zoom in to admire him!

Reticules pass through dragon.
I would like to see perhaps a gameplay/graphics option box to disallow the reticule boxes around units from showing through the dragon avatar. The mass of armies all having boxes criss cross over the dragon totally destroys the little immersion that there is from playing the dragon. The dragon model should sit on top of every graphics except the skillbar.

Macro Control.
As a strong SC2 player, I can barely manage to keep up the unit production in the RTS mode here. and it's very hard to micro and macro at the same time. This may be intentional to an extent: If you use your super powerful dragon avatar, you are punished by losing all macro production ability whilst you are playing the avatar. I don't like the idea of being punished for using the main feature of Dragon commander! The AI has superb prodction APM, and I'm forced to stay the out-of-combat commander far more than I'd like. I=The RTS here is more stressfull than many other RTSs. I thought it would be far more relaxed and fun. Getting caught up and playing the dragon -which is a lot of fun- really can hurt your win chance. I love the dragon micro capabilities with selecting all/nearby units and ordering them along. But the macro game almost makes it not worth playing the RTS mode.
I'm not entirely sure how to remedy this. Units produce so fast that having a structure automatically keep producing a queue because it will suck up your resources. The only practical solution I can think of is assigning a forge to maintain a unit count. Say set a ratio of 3 trooper:2 grenedier:1 shaman. As units die, it will replace the army population to fill that ratio.

Macro stratification of players.
The difficult macro (difficult meaning its hard to effectively use your recruits while actually commanding or playing the army/Dragon) will stratify players immensely. Casual RTS players, or players attracted from turn-based 4x games, will get stomped by someone who is APM capable (and probably get stomped by the AI). I think Dragon commander wants to (and should!) appeal to players who like turn based strategy, who like to play politics, who like to build infrastructure and plan out their map moves. But these players will get frustrated by the intensity of the RTS portion (specifically macro). I think it's easy to have a hardcore RTSr like me pick up the turn-based game, but I doubt a turn-based player will make an easy adjustment to this RTS system. It feels very hardcore. I doubt I have to be an ace Civilization IV player to master Dragon Commanders turn-based game. But that Civ player coming in better be an ace RTS player. It's a nasty disparity.

No politics in MP Campaign.
This I hope is a limitation of Beta. There is no politics or factions in the MP campaign game, nor random events. Without these things, the campaign mode is just a red herring cover for a purely RTS game.

Wow, I talk a lot about RTS.
I didn't think that Dragon Commander was being marketed as an RTS, let alone a hardcore RTS. Yes it has RTS, but it's not the focus [I thought]. The focus is "the pleyers get to play as a dragon in an RTS mode," and what really counts is the strategy from the overarching trun-based play. Yet the "RTS" verymuch overwhelms the importance and influence of the turn-based and Dragon. Like I said before, this RTS mechanic punishes dragon play, and is so incredibly fasted paced that if you ever stop clicking unit production portraits, you will lose. The dragon can turn the tide of battle, sure, but unit production is so darned time consuming. Units pop out so Insanely fast that you can't even rely on a production queue to actually play the game! Max out a trooper queue, you'll get about 25 seconds of dragon play before you have to morph out and start clicking again. Do that times how many shipyards, forges, factories.... kiss your dragon playtime goodbye.

Conclusion:
All in all, I think it's a great start for a beta. I thoroughly enjoy it. But I predict that the RTS portion of the game will utterly overwhelm those whom aren't hardcore RTS fans. So, if it were released as the beta is today, Dragon commander would have a very small market audience to attend to it, and loose out on a lot of casual prospective players because anything that requires such a high APM to play is very unappealing to all but the most loyal RTS players. I want my buddies to get into dragon commander. We play Civ, sins of a solar empire, gal civ, SC2, you name it. We all love 4x and turn based strat. But when they see me mashing the keyboard for unit production, everyone one of them says "I'll pass."


I sincerely hope Dragon commander isn't intended as a true RTS game, because it will never compete with the 'real' RTSs out there like SC2. I definitely don't want to see this title die a premature death, but as it stands, RTS'ers will say "I'd rather be playing SC2." and the Turn based players will say "I'd rahter be playing Civ." DO NOT strive to have a game pace of SC2. you will scare off any non hardcore audience.