Templar Assault RPG v1.4.17 Released

[johndramey]

I agree with Slayernz that having more on-the-fly instruction would be a good idea. Having a general "to turn your template, press the yellow boxes on either side of him. this requires 1 ap." would be a nice addition for a lot of the more casual players out there. You gotta remember that a lot of players don't bother opening the manual (or in this case the help file) and 2ill try to bull their way through the game without reading a lot of text. Not saying you gotta cater to these players, but having a easy mass appeal would help to make you more money.

I'm actually out of through house at the moment and sitting at a local coffers shop waiting for my girlfriend and her coworkers, heading out to a local microbrewery. So I can't type too much, but just wanted to toss in my two cents and post a quick screen shot of what slayernz is reporting. Here is the door you can walk through.



Might want to fix that soon, I could see a new player walking through that area and getting upset when they can't finish the mission.

[fallen]

Thanks! I will work on it and try to move what I can into the in-game dialogs. We'll lose the ability to use clear pictures to illustrate the concepts, but perhaps that is okay. All added to $TA-1117.

[xdesperado]

Can't complete 5th level of tutorial.

Started a new squad on normal to play through the tutorial. Obviously the first 4 levels were much easier to complete than on brutal, but still required some effort and extra ammo to get through in good order.

Fifth level though doesn't seem to have a mission completion point. Destroyed all eggs, grabbed the ammo stash, but level didn't end. No exit point marked in briefing. Returning to orange marked entry point didn't give exit lightning bolts. Ran around map a bit after that until out of ammo without running any other exit.

Note even on normal you have to burn through an inordinate amount of ammo because the Xeno are so resistent to damage. Not unusual to have to fire 4-5 shots to kill one.

[slayernz]

I've noticed the next level has a similar situation - you can walk through the closed door at the right-hand end of the map. I got a screenshot, but it's on my phone and I'm too tired to connect it up to the PC to attach the pic <sheepish tired grin>.

One other thing - please take the tutorial OUT of the skirmish list of campaigns. It should only be available for a new squad. Why? The tutorial becomes an extremely (and I mean with a capital E) easy way to get XP for your squad.

[xdesperado]

slayernz If all you do is the first level of the tutorial campaign then I agree it is overly easy to grind it for XP since there is no combat.

That said the rest of the campaign is pretty challenging on Brutal and I still haven't figured out how to end the last level.
Of course I've not tried the campaign with one of my experienced units yet either...

Also while the first level of the tutorial gives a zero risk way to gain XP, there are several other campaigns that have very easy low and low risk first levels. Those offer the benefit of much better Honor rewards that you can actually use in campain to buy better Weapons and Armor.

Bottom line is that if someone wants to grind for XP and/or Honor they have plenty of options to do so and the ability to abort in the middle of a level means you really never have to worry about losing a Templar unless you make yourself go all hard core.

Yes the tutorials first level is a cheesy way for an experienced unit to get XP but I like the overall campaign and the way it's a coherent plot with each level following logically from the previous one. Would hate to lose such a well thought out campaign for regular play.

Perhaps the original tutorial should be brought back with maybe a level or two added. Then adjust the first level of "The Abandoned Wraithborne" so it could be used as a regular campaign would be the best solution.

[slayernz]

Hmmm ... you're right xdesperado. It would be good to have a "Tutorial mode" version of the campaign that offers all of the goodness that the tutorial should offer. This will only be available once for new squads. In the Skirmish campaign list, the Full version of the campaign is available. It strips out a lot of the tutorial information, adds more Xeno's, even on the first level, and provides that great campaign but with some more bite.

[johndramey]

I'm still playing through the tutorial, but I've been pretty short on time. I just finished the second level, combat training, and gotta say that so far, so good.

slayernz is right, the walk through bug is present in the second tutorial mission. I snapped a screenshot and will put it here so slayernz doesn't have to



I think these are relatively high priority fixes. The tutorial should be the best thing you put out there, and having some mission that is potentially broken at the end can cause a lot of new players to give up.

Also, I just wanted to go through the briefing of the second mission and edit it. I'll also go back and correct the first mission, later.

Background
Your squad has successfully infiltrated the service bays.

It appears that the ship could be restored to full operation if the engines were restarted.

While the ship appears to have been abandoned by its crew, there are clearly xenos aboard. Your sensorkits indicate that the next section of the ship is crawling with them, you should proceed with caution.

You and your Templar squad is about to face your first hostile encounter.

Make the fleet proud, captain!

In this level, you will face off against your first xenos. Any xeno is a deadly weapon. They are ferocious warrior that can even shred through a Templar's Leviathan Battle Suit.

You must rely on your superior tactics, range advantage, and interlocking fields of fire if you are to destroy the xenos.

When a xeno comes into range, you can fire on it at the cost of 1 AP per shot. Touch the target once to bring up the range-finder, and a second time to fire.

Your Templar soldiers, scouts, and captain are all trained in the deadly art of Phalanx Fire, which allows Templars to fire past each other in even the tightest of spaces. See the diagram below.

Primary Objective

Your squad has reached the lower decks of the Wraithbone via the cargo service bays.

To re-enable the ship, you need to reach the engine bays.

Move to the three marked objectives to unlock the security bulkheads protecting the engine area.

Once the security bulkheads are unlocked, proceed to the extraction location.

Beware of the xenos that are infesting the lower decks.

[/size]

I changed the objectives to three, because there are three on the map. Let me know if you like the edits, but if you don't then it's cool. I'll keep going through the campaign and hopefully post more later.

[fallen]

The next release will focus on Tutorial fixes:
- Tutorial: fixed blocking bug preventing victory in Extermination level
- Tutorial: balanced levels - weaker eggs
- Tutorial: added 5th Templar (scout) to squad
- Tutorial: Increased Honor rewards for levels
- Tutorial: allow purchasing of weapons / armor
- Tutorial: fixed all doors

I am glad we are getting the fixes, but consider the tutorial we had before, even a few bumps along the way is still a major improvement. Thanks everybody!

[slayernz]

Sorry, I was meant to say that too ... I remember playing the tutorial back when the first was fresh out of the blocks. That was a good first experience, but this is so much better. It's a fantastic campaign for newbies to learn the ropes of what to expect when playing the game. Kudos to you both for your work on this.

For buying weapons/armor ... don't allow it until a couple of levels in, and have something in the mission briefing that specifically calls out the store. That way, you can manage that part of the learning experience too.

[johndramey]

Oh yeah, I totally agree with slayernz. This tutorial is really great and a huge step up, we're just trying to polish it up to be a flawless diamond ;D.

Also, why don't you just enable buying weapons and armor after the third mission, the advanced combat training mission? I just finished it and you mention honor points and XP in the briefing for the fourth mission, so it would be an organic place to introduce the shops. All you would really have to do it toss in a single sentence after the prompt about using XP and say something like "You now have access to the Templar's armory, feel free to stock up before this mission," or whatever.

No matter what, though, you guys are doing an awesome job. Booting up TA every update and seeing some large change is always a blast. Working through this tutorial is a blast, and I'm constantly amazed by the work that you guys do. Keep it up!

[contributor]

I'm a little late to the party, thanks to Amazon. First, well done! This is a big improvement over the original tutorial.

Other thoughts I had.

1. I agree that difficulty could be scaled down a little. I had an issue on the second level where a templar was killed after two hits from an alien that wouldn't die from 2 or three hits of defensive fire, and that was on normal difficulty. Could be daunting for new players.

2. To go along with this I think it might be good to explain saving AP for defensive moves earlier. The second level might be even more challenging than we think because all of us understand this principal, but a new player wouldn't know to save his AP at this point.

3. I noticed typos too, most of which were addressed by johndramey's post. I did find one more, but I don't have my tablet now, so I can't go back and look at the screen shot I took. I believe it's in the briefing for the last mission and may be due to another errant "s" at the end of a word, where it doesn't belong.

Over-all again, well done, I agree with the revisions that have already been proposed.

[johndramey]

Yeah, I actually meant to comment on lurker's #2. Maybe explain defensive AP in the first combat scenario. I can see new players getting absolutely whomped on that mission because they don't save back the required (in my opinion) 2 AP.

[fallen]

Thanks everybody! Definitely have an eye on the critical show-stoppers before we start doing text edits and the rest, so the "polishing" will happen over a few release.

I have also pulled the Tutorial from the campaign list so that you can't replay the first level of Honor / XP.

[johndramey]

So I've been able to sit down and play a bit more of the tutorial and I gotta agree with everyone that the last mission of the tutorial might be a bit too much for a new player. Even if the player doesn't split their forces (which is unlikely since splitting is mentioned multiple times in the briefing/mission) the amount of enemies and the eggs is pretty daunting. I'd recommend toning it down a bit, maybe halving the amount of spawn points for xenos or something. It is, after all, a tutorial.

[fallen]

johndramey - have you tried it under 1.4.9? It has been toned down, but may need to be toned again