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Frozen Synapse |OT| The Thinking Man's Shooter

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
Toma said:
Nice. There was a small update just now. You can let the soldiers now focus on a zone. No idea what else it does though.

Self-quoted for the new page.

Homework for everyone: Find out how to use this feature :p
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
Toma said:
Self-quoted for the new page.

Homework for everyone: Find out how to use this feature :p

Found it!

You'll need to define some zones first. Hold down T and drag the mouse to create a zone beginning from where the cursor was. There's no real interface for this but when you release T the zone is created. Once this zone is in place you can right click it and use the ignore zone order. There's currently no way to remove a zone once it's placed but they can be stacked.

Focus on zone will make the unit only attack units within the zone(s) that you specify. Ignore zone will make the unit ignore any units within the zone(s). It works similar to the focus/ignore unit orders but for any unit within certain areas of the map instead. I'm not actually sure what will happen if you end up with conflicting focus and ignore orders for unit and zone but this should be easy to test. It doesn't provide any kind of combat bonus like aiming, it solely determines what your unit will stop to engage in the first place. Focusing on an area will not make you kill enemies in that zone any quicker.

Generally, ignore zone is useful to ignore certain points of the map that will provide favourable cover to the enemy and to avoid distractions. For example, you want to look out a window over an open space and kill anything crossing before hiding but you don't want to engage an enemy in the opposite window who'll beat you with a static aim bonus.

Focus zone mostly seems useful as a counter to distraction tactics. You can tell your unit to focus on the area you want to kill and ignore anything moving closer. I guess it's useful if you have multiple units watching one large area and want each to play to their strengths but I prefer using ignore zone on the parts you don't want instead of focus zone on the parts you do want.

There is no order to aim at a point while moving. The earlier versions may have had it but now there's the aim order, which is solely based on direction and not points, and the check order, which is based on points but doesn't confer any of the aim bonus.

This will make the time i will take for a turn quite a bit longer..

And in case anyones interested. Another thrilling game with NIN90 I just had:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Va1AiIorA0s
 

NIN90

Member
Toma said:
And in case anyones interested. Another thrilling game with NIN90 I just had:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Va1AiIorA0s
grandpasimpsontuqn.gif

at 0:20
 

NIN90

Member
I don't like how the "move and die because everything will have advantages against you" mechanic keeps me camping like a motherfucker, especially in matches without nades and rockets.
Just had a 3MG 1SG match where both of us camped our asses of till turn 6. I moved out a bit in turn 7 and got 3 of my guys killed because he always had the avantage.
 
NIN90 said:
I don't like how the "move and die because everything will have advantages against you" mechanic keeps me camping like a motherfucker, especially in matches without nades and rockets.
Just had a 3MG 1SG match where both of us camped our asses of till turn 6. I moved out a bit in turn 7 and got 3 of my guys killed because he always had the avantage.

But only if you're facing each other. Move and flank. Use "Continue on Sight" a lot. It's a gamble, but that's FS for you.

Also, I really recommend people play Charge mode. It's perfect for environment utilisation. Certainly does wonders for picking out aim vectors and how to gain ground under fire.
 

NIN90

Member
Pylon_Trooper said:
But only if you're facing each other. Move and flank. Use "Continue on Sight" a lot. It's a gamble, but that's FS for you.

Also, I really recommend people play Charge mode. It's perfect for environment utilisation. Certainly does wonders for picking out aim vectors and how to gain ground under fire.

Yeah, but because of how the map looked and how we both had pretty much everything covered it was almost impossible to move out without getting fucked.
 
NIN90 said:
Yeah, but because of how the map looked and how we both had pretty much everything covered it was almost impossible to move out without getting fucked.

It did look pretty harrowing. Chalk it up as XP and find your retribution, Nin! :D
 
It'd be great if someone could possibly string together all the games of this first tourney into a nice vid, tracking the climb of players to the pinnacle and glory of GAF FS Godhood.

I'd watch it, at least.
 

onken

Member
Thinking's for losers.

Seriously though, this looks awesome. Shame I don't have the patience for these sort of tactics games.
 
onken said:
Thinking's for losers.

Seriously though, this looks awesome. Shame I don't have the patience for these sort of tactics games.

Funnily enough, this is totally a game for every fellow. The mechanics are simple enough to grasp very quickly, the concepts are lean and precise, plus it's essentially transmuting the instincts and reactions folks have honed in FPS games - particularly counterstrike - into tangible, determined choices in a strategy game.

Safe to say, I think Frozen Synapse is as much a gateway drug to other strategic genre titles as it is an addictive masterpiece in its own right.
 

Unicorn

Member
onken said:
Thinking's for losers.

Seriously though, this looks awesome. Shame I don't have the patience for these sort of tactics games.
It's a bit simpler to pick up than Chess, if that helps.
 

Moobabe

Member
onken said:
Thinking's for losers.

Seriously though, this looks awesome. Shame I don't have the patience for these sort of tactics games.

Patience?! You should watch one of my games (if they ever upload...) I spend about 5 seconds planning each turn and if it's not over within 4 turns I consider it a loss.

Also - if I can't blow it up with a rocket it may as well not be in the game.
 

ZZMitch

Member
Anyone have a problem with this game freezing in the menu? I heard that it might be an issue with 6900 cards but I was just seeing if anyone else here was having similar issues.
 

SapientWolf

Trucker Sexologist
ZZMitch said:
Anyone have a problem with this game freezing in the menu? I heard that it might be an issue with 6900 cards but I was just seeing if anyone else here was having similar issues.
Yes, that's a known 6900 issue. You have to force vsync in the driver panel.
 

Seraph-

Member
Is anyone else having trouble logging in to the grand server? I've tried on both my laptop and desktop, even at another house(new net connection) and have had it just hang at Logging in to Grand Server. Any ideas?

Edit: Looking online all I can find is a suggestion to reset router, which didn't work for me. :-\
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
Seraph- said:
Is anyone else having trouble logging in to the grand server? I've tried on both my laptop and desktop, even at another house(new net connection) and have had it just hang at Logging in to Grand Server. Any ideas?

Edit: Looking online all I can find is a suggestion to reset router, which didn't work for me. :-\

Everything works fine for me. And speaking of which, if anyone wants to have a match, I am up for it on UK2.

Btw, we are only missing two matches from the first tournament round, Yagya and N0b seem to work on their 2nd match, so only their third match and the third match from Cramen and Moobs are missing.

And you still couldnt upload them, right?
 

Seraph-

Member
Does anyone else think it would be cool if you could name your men? I mean I think it would be awesome if instead of MG1, MG2, etc they had some sort of stat tracking associated with a name, and how about when they die you have to rename, because they're dead. Then you could see who had the most kills in your squad, who was your best ever...or if one of them was just on a hellacious streak.
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
Seraph- said:
Does anyone else think it would be cool if you could name your men? I mean I think it would be awesome if instead of MG1, MG2, etc they had some sort of stat tracking associated with a name, and how about when they die you have to rename, because they're dead. Then you could see who had the most kills in your squad, who was your best ever...or if one of them was just on a hellacious streak.
Nice idea. You should suggest that in their forums. However, as soon as I name them I'd also want to decide which of the 4 possible mg's i prepared, i want to send to battle. And this is probably too much to ask for now. You could also make (theoretically) matches with 100 soldiers, and I wouldn't want to name all of them. But it's a nice idea to personalize the game a bit more, but Id rather want them working on a 2vs2 mode >_>
 
I bought the game and I'm loving the campaign, so far (i played 4 or 5 single player missions).

The only problem is that I miss some kind of RPG component in the campaign. Maybe some points to spent in character classes (like in Valkyria Chronicles) to level the classes in movement speed, accuracy, range, etc, at least in campaign mode.
 

Jintor

Member
If we're making suggestions, I'd love to see someone layer an XCom metagame over the top of this... :p

(Add Jintor for easy kills)
 

Corky

Nine out of ten orphans can't tell the difference.
How do I play non extermination skirmishes? Everytime I've chosen "instant skirmish" I've gotten the same game mode.
 
Corky said:
How do I play non extermination skirmishes? Everytime I've chosen "instant skirmish" I've gotten the same game mode.
You can select which game modes you're interested in by highlighting them in the bottom left corner. The default setting is only dark extermination.
 

Moobabe

Member
Ok - one grievance I have is the escape zones. I tried to maneuver one of my guys around cover but it automatically set a waypoint in the escape zone. I wasn't paying attention and now I've lost that guy....

Unless I'm setting one waypoint DIRECTLY in the escape zone I shouldn't be able to enter it.
 

Munin

Member
My friend is desperately looking for somebody to share a purchase of this game with but he doesn't have Paypal nor anyone willing to buy this game with him...any takers? I would pay for his copy via Paypal if somebody wants to make the purchase.
 

Corky

Nine out of ten orphans can't tell the difference.
archnemesis said:
You can select which game modes you're interested in by highlighting them in the bottom left corner. The default setting is only dark extermination.

That's wierd, I'm trying every combination imaginable but regardless of what mode I've got selected, selecting instant AI skirmish spawns 2-3 green guys vs 2-3 red guys every single time. I'm trying to get a game of hostage going but to no avail :/
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
Corky said:
That's wierd, I'm trying every combination imaginable but regardless of what mode I've got selected, selecting instant AI skirmish spawns 2-3 green guys vs 2-3 red guys every single time. I'm trying to get a game of hostage going but to no avail :/
Anything else than Dark extermination isn't possible in single player skirmishes at the moment, I believe. I was already asking this in the official chat.
It's not clear whether that's a bug or intended at the moment, though. I was told that there is simply no AI for the other modes right now.
 

Lemming

Member
Got the game yesterday and had a great first impression :)
Played only 4 campaign missions, but it´s been fun so far. Recomended!
Lots of incoming challenge requests, still gotta figure how to auto-deny them while i learn the game heheh.
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
Lemming said:
Got the game yesterday and had a great first impression :)
Played only 4 campaign missions, but it´s been fun so far. Recomended!
Lots of incoming challenge requests, still gotta figure how to auto-deny them while i learn the game heheh.
They are not direct challenges for you. It's just everyone who pressed the "find me a game"-button. I dont think you can deny them directly for now except for simply playing without logging in, but I saw this issue addressed in their forums. I think they will make an option available for it sooner or later.
 
Toma said:
Yup, MG's can basically hit anything across the level, they just need to see it, and the farther they are away, the longer it takes to kill. I would LOVE to have a measurement for the shotgunners though, to tell me how far they can shoot. A circle you can toggle on or off showing the reach would be optimal.
You can measure how far a shotty can shoot. Hold V, once the line goes from dashed to more hashed thats his range limit I believe (not 100% sure).

If anyone wants to play, I'm FreakinSyco in game.

People with ATI cards with issues with hard freezes can either force VSync in the ATI Control Panel or disable all backgrounds in the options.

Pylon_Trooper said:
But only if you're facing each other. Move and flank. Use "Continue on Sight" a lot. It's a gamble, but that's FS for you.

Also, I really recommend people play Charge mode. It's perfect for environment utilisation. Certainly does wonders for picking out aim vectors and how to gain ground under fire.
Continue on sight appears to be a winning tactic, I've started to take my shotty guy, set him to continue on sight and rush through the line of fire into a room and let him open up. Works amazingly well.

And most of my stupid mistakes happen because I don't COS a MGer when moving between cover, and he picks up a target and stands in the open trying to shoot.
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
Finally, university is over. Off to plan some tactics!

I'll be there if anyone wants to play on UK2 (TomaLexi)
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
Meatpuppet said:
Keen for some play by email matches, username is meatpuppet

Gazunta said:
Definitely add me if you want some easy wins guys. Username is Gazunta

most of us play on UK2. You arent, right? :( Couldnt add you a minute ago.
 

Corky

Nine out of ten orphans can't tell the difference.
Toma said:
Anything else than Dark extermination isn't possible in single player skirmishes at the moment, I believe. I was already asking this in the official chat.
It's not clear whether that's a bug or intended at the moment, though. I was told that there is simply no AI for the other modes right now.

Oh I see thanks, I'm assuming that since it's an "indie"game ( I personally love this game more than alot of full budget titles frankly ) we can assume pretty quick and regular updates? Maybe ala minecraft or something along those lines?
 

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
Corky said:
Oh I see thanks, I'm assuming that since it's an "indie"game ( I personally love this game more than alot of full budget titles frankly ) we can assume pretty quick and regular updates? Maybe ala minecraft or something along those lines?

We already got the first update yesterday. See post 603. So yeah, I assume that its being worked on and updated quite regularly.

And I really, really, really hate matches where both have only MG's. I need take position and camp it out for 8 turns.
 
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