Larian Studios Forums Dragon Commander Dragon Commander - Beta Ready For Release?

Beta testers, is the game ready for a 8/6 release? Considering there was no SP campaign to beta, I'm a little hesitant about pre-ordering. Thanks for helping to get the game ready

I trust Larian to not pull a delay this close to release, and they have also confirmed a day one patch that includes any changes that were prompted by the beta that obviously could not be included in the physical release, as boxes get printed a while before release.

So if you ask me, I'd say that yes.

I understand; thanks mate.

They are very good at supporting the games after release.

I am not at all ready. A few days ago my PC stopped working and I cant figure out what's wrong (possible MOBO or CPU I'm afraid) and I'll be leaving for a major trip in a months time. This means that starting to repair my pc now would be a waste of money since I'd need the money for my trip and a new place to stay when I come home and my studies start.

So I wont be playing DC until sometime next summer. Hallelujah.

I haven't seen the singleplayer except in videos, but I've been playing the Beta since the end of June and I can't think of too much more that could be tweaked, except for:

• Random starting locations on the campaign maps.
• Aerial Mines are only really good as Anti-Dragon weapons, and hence are not worth their 20 Research Point cost in single-player.
• The unit buy screen tells you how much you've spent, and I'd prefer to know how much you have remaining.
• I'd like to see fewer "Transport's Range/Damage increased/decreased" cards and more "Transports on a certain country cannot move.
• There needs to be a way to sell or trade in cards you don't have a use for.
• Extra Mouse Button 2 has "Dragon Morph" permanently assigned to it.

Nothing really major.

Ooh that's something even I forgot about, random starting locations, or rather random group locations for those 2v2 maps when you start next to your ally. :3

Thank you for the comprehensive list. Btw what are the cards used for you reference? I'm assuming the SP is confirmed for when the game launches?

Yes, the game will have singleplayer when it launches. :P

The cards are a big part of the gameplay. You get them in the story and Risk modes and use them in the Risk and RTS modes. They generally act as buffs, special abilities, extra units, or debuffs, as a one-time-use sort of thing. You get them at the beginning of the Risk mode and during the story mode for certain decisions you make.

Cards list various bonuses or penalties you can use to help yourself in combat or on the strategy map, or hinder an opponent. Certain buildings on the strategy map can give you cards every certain number of turns, and you can get them based on your decisions in the RPG phase in the single player campaign. There are mercenary cards that let you bring extra units into battle, cards which give a temporary dragon skill or unit bonus / penalty for one battle, cards that let you build a building on the strategy map for free, cards to increase gold production, block an invasion or prevent certain types of units from moving in a particular country for a turn on the strategy map, etc.

Yes, the full single player campaign will be available at launch (and is currently in the review version that some press has). The original intention was to eventually include the first part of the single player campaign in the public beta.

Funny, I can think of a number of things that can be changed/fix, a few of which really NEED to be changed/fixed. Most notably the camera zoom and lack of tooltips.

But is it ready for release, even in its current state?

Sure.

But I say that as someone who is more interested in the RPG aspects than the RTS aspects.

Multiplayer campaign is still lacking IMO but the strategy battle part is mostly in order. Is it ready for an 8/6 release? The single player might be, but the multiplayer campaign part needs a lot more depth imo. Altough with the new patch the game is somewhat better than it was (AI performance wise), the multiplayer campaign is still too shallow with almost no tactics involved. you just make units and send em off in the general direction of the enemy, if you have a win chance of 60%+ you usually win without playing any cards (in auto resolve). They need to work on that part.

What is wrong with the camera zoom, and what tooptips are lacking?

Thanks for the input everyone. I'm primarily a SP guy, so the MP doesn't really interest me. I doubt I'd ever play a MP match. Just too many ***-holes in the world :P

A multi-player match or skirmish against AI would be faster than the single player campaign, if you just have an hour, or something, to play.

Probably SP is easy for Larian to test themselves

MP is what needs many players to have tested

Quote from Steam "*Please note the beta does not include all content which will be present in the final game. Initially only Multiplayer content will be present in the beta and as we get closer to release, we will include parts of the single player campaign."

^ Lies?

The original intention was to include the first part of the single player campaign towards the end of the beta period. New features and tweaks were made as a result of beta feedback, and it is hard to estimate how long it will take track down unexpected bugs or go through multiple iterations of balancing, etc. The leaderboards were only implemented in the last couple days, which is why Larian is having a contest to encourage people to try it out before the release.

Lies require intent to deceive. I think Larian just ran out of time to make it worth putting in single-player.

If you're still not sold, there should be a demo at some point. If you already bought the game, it's only a couple more days anyway.

I think I will have time to play in about 4 hours - will anyone be on and is there like a newbie option since I havne't played in about 10 days and the game is now a new game ? (does the lobby give any indication of opponents skill ?)