Octopus Overlords

tgb wrote: ↑Fri Oct 20, 2017 8:12 pm I assume the game in question is Bomber Crew. Apparently you can pause it but not pause and issue orders, which makes it a no sale for me.

Kraken wrote: ↑Sat Oct 21, 2017 11:42 am It does look like fun, but I absolutely suck at realtime games. If you can't pause and give orders, is there at least a game speed control? I might stand a chance if I can slow combat to a crawl.

Montag wrote: ↑Sat Oct 21, 2017 8:05 am So uh the RAF lost more than 44% of the strategic bomber crews. Happy gaming?

• While there isn't a pause button in the game during a mission, you can press Escape and the mission will be paused and take you to a menu where you can change options and also look at the help menu. You can't issue orders from there, but you can address Real Life issues without losing your place in the mission.
• Losing a plane and/or crew doesn't end your current campaign. You get a new plane and can recruit a new crew. And while the recruits are fairly green (with a sprinkling of veterans), the plane in my case carried over a few upgrades I had added to the previous aircraft. For instance, the armored fuselage sections that had cost me a mint on my first plane were there when I got my second one. Now that wasn't true for all upgrades I had made, and I don't know if it changes from new plane to new plane, but it's better than starting off with a vanilla bomber. By the way, in my current campaign I've flown 24 mission, but I am on my third crew
• The "money" in the game is pounds sterling, which you spend, and "Intel". However, Intel isn't spent, it is sort of an XP system where as you accumulate Intel, new upgrades get unlocked. And as long as you are in your same campaign, you keep your Intel even if you lose your crew or plane or both.
• Also if you lose plane or crew or both, you still keep your money.
• There are upgrades to the guns, at least the tail gun, that provide a continuous ammo supply so you don't have to send the gunner for more ammo. That really does help.
• There are also upgrades to the crew that does help in managing the chaos that is playing Bomber Crew. It basically rewards you for getting through the missions by making the crew and plane better able to handle the tougher missions that no doubt I would be seeing if I ever could beat Operation Chariot

jztemple2 wrote: ↑Sun Oct 22, 2017 3:28 pm
[*]Losing a plane and/or crew doesn't end your current campaign. You get a new plane and can recruit a new crew. And while the recruits are fairly green (with a sprinkling of veterans), the plane in my case carried over a few upgrades I had added to the previous aircraft. For instance, the armored fuselage sections that had cost me a mint on my first plane were there when I got my second one. Now that wasn't true for all upgrades I had made, and I don't know if it changes from new plane to new plane, but it's better than starting off with a vanilla bomber. By the way, in my current campaign I've flown 24 mission, but I am on my third crew

Sepiche wrote: ↑Tue Oct 24, 2017 10:46 am Been playing this as well the last few days and really enjoying it. I am generally turned off by action oriented games like this without the ability to pause and issue orders, but everything else is just so much fun, and you eventually get used to all the tagging and having to order crew members around. It also gets easier when you get a radio operator high enough to get the Auto Tag skill. It isn't active all the time, but it works wonders when a bunch of fighters show up and you're trying to line up for a bombing run.

I think a lot of it is that the game reminds me of the old Avalon Hill game B-17 that my friend and I used to play all the time.

tgb wrote: ↑Tue Oct 24, 2017 10:32 pm Reading about this just makes me want to reinstall Grigsby's Eagle Day to Bombing the Reich

jztemple2 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 24, 2017 11:20 pm I will mention that I've rather burned out on the game after eleven hours.

em2nought wrote: ↑Wed Oct 25, 2017 1:43 am

jztemple2 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 24, 2017 11:20 pm I will mention that I've rather burned out on the game after eleven hours.

Paint it with iodine and mark it fit for duty, Doc.

naednek wrote: ↑Thu Oct 26, 2017 6:03 pm Is this worth $11? Or does it get tiresome after a bit

Holman wrote: ↑Tue Oct 24, 2017 8:28 pm

Sepiche wrote: ↑Tue Oct 24, 2017 10:46 am Been playing this as well the last few days and really enjoying it. I am generally turned off by action oriented games like this without the ability to pause and issue orders, but everything else is just so much fun, and you eventually get used to all the tagging and having to order crew members around. It also gets easier when you get a radio operator high enough to get the Auto Tag skill. It isn't active all the time, but it works wonders when a bunch of fighters show up and you're trying to line up for a bombing run.

I think a lot of it is that the game reminds me of the old Avalon Hill game B-17 that my friend and I used to play all the time.

FWIW, Legion Wargames has recently published an update/successor to B-17 called Target for Today. Reviews at BoardGameGeek seem pretty good.

They also have a Pacific B-29 version, and they're developing a slightly more tactical B-26/B-25 sequel.

OK, straight to the most important stuff - Jon and myself have been working non-stop on a Bomber Crew update, and it's available now!

Brew a pot of tea, butter your crumpets, sit back and check out the new features in Flakfire's guide.

Here’s what’s new:

‘Slow Time’ - Hold Ctrl
We think this is a good compromise for the players who like their action a little less intense at times, while retaining the urgency of the situations crews found themselves in.

By holding ‘Ctrl’, time will slow, allowing more breathing space for quick decisions. A small bar in the top left of the screen will show how much longer time can be slowed for. Once the bar runs out, it will fill again over a short period. The Slow Time feature can be used even when the bar is not fully filled.

For those of you who are hardcore #nopause advocates, a bonus is rewarded at the end of each mission if you do not use the Slow Time ability. And if you really dislike it, it can be switched off entirely in the options menu.

‘Quick Peek’ - Hold Shift
Quickly move the camera to view inside the bomber! This was in the previous release, but somewhat hidden. Especially powerful when used along with ‘Slow Time’!

Camera control keys - ‘W, S, A & D’
The camera can now be zoomed in/out with the W/S keys, and moved left and right with A/D.
This is especially useful in ‘Quick Peek’ mode!

Hot Keys!
We’ve added a few hotkeys to make some trickier actions a little more straightforward in the heat of battle!

Hot Key: Reload Ammo - ‘R’
Select a crewmember and hit the ‘R’ key - they will immediately head to the ammo box and grab a fresh belt. If they were manning a turret when the command was issued, they will return to it and reload!

Hot Key: Heal at Rest Bed - ‘F’
Select a crewmember and hit the ‘F’ key - they will head to the Rest Bed to regain some health.

Hot Key: Go to Pilot Station - ‘P’
Ever get that sinking feeling during a sortie? It’s probably because your pilot has wandered off!
Now you can simply select a crewmember and hit the ‘P’ key - they will go straight to the pilot’s station and grab the steering yoke!

Difficulty Balancing
We have made some changes to difficulty based on your feedback.
Later in the game, you’ll now receive higher level recruits and replacement bombers featuring better upgrades.

Improved Options
Volume for music and effects can be independently adjusted.
You can now flip the camera’s Y axis in the options menu.

The controls options have now been moved to the pause menu’s ‘Options’ page.

Happy Halloween!
We’ve included a few free special livery items for you to celebrate!

Various bug fixes and improvements
We’ve chased down many bugs, fixed a bunch and *think* we’ve fixed a few more.
We’ll try to address specific issues in the forums. Please do keep reporting anything you happen to find, we very much appreciate it!
We’ve also made various improvements, such as speeding up the crew survival wheel at the end of the missions.

That’s all in this first update! Please keep the feedback and suggestions coming, we are listening!

We’d like to say thank you to everyone who has helped make Bomber Crew such a great success. Your messages of appreciation, criticism and suggestions have been invaluable to us, and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Please keep sharing your opinions, your heart-wrenching war stories, and especially the pictures of your bombers, they’re incredible!

Sepiche wrote: ↑Fri Oct 27, 2017 1:20 pm That's an excellent update that shows a good amount of responsiveness to feedback.

Sepiche wrote: ↑Fri Oct 27, 2017 4:30 pm - I bought a ball turret early on and have my engineer man it on takeoff. He usually mans it until we start taking damage or running low on fuel and he's needed elsewhere.

tgb wrote: ↑Sat Oct 28, 2017 10:37 pm Dumb question I know but how can you tell if a fighter has already been tagged? I'm sure I'm wasting time tagging planes I don't have to.

Also there are a couple of clusters of icons that aren't explained in the "manual" and have no tool tips. Four below the list of crew members that sometimes turn red - I assume that's indicating damage but where? Also there are a couple on the lower right I'm not getting.