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CRS
Official Chat Event - 1/25/01 This is a log of the official World War Two Online chat event that took place January 25th, 2001. Chris "Mo" Sherland and Michael "Gryf" Weber were the guest speakers with Joel "Tongue" Solloway and Al "Rafter" Corey acting as the chat moderators. Will there be a POW system and if so how will it work? Nope. We're not doing POWS.
please explain to us how Mac beta is going to be run... will it or will it not be closed? Hoss has that all planned out, and we'll be getting some Mac news out soon. I saw uit running yesterday on a G4 at 29FPS :)
When will armouredcars and motorcycles be introduced? Soon after release.
How will non player AI loaders for mortars / MGs work? Well we'll have to abstract that a bit. Right now I do not have a firm answer for you. We have several methods to use and we'll need to play test a few to define what we are going to use in finality.
Will the Brick Forests[tm], the ones that aren't made of individual trees, be enterable by infantry? If so, will individual trees be inside of it or will it just be like a big ampitheatre with tree wallpaper? Mixture of both. We'll need colliders in there for cover, but the deep forrests may be a bit "vast" inside. We are going to make those off the beaten track and only infantry will be able to get deep inside. The fringes will be complete with trunks objects though.
When the Gewehr 41 comes out, will it be moddeled with its many inacurarcies? It would be unfair to model it as a working weapon, and therfor give the Germans an advantage.....same for other dodgy weapons ;) Well "Dodgy" weapons will be a bit difficult to model. More than likely we'll give some strict limitations on new weapons systems so they do not become the prevelant item in the field. It's really no fun to grab a new and improved weapon only to have it break on you. We do need to be aware of playability.
How will night fighting work? Will there be usable headlights, landing lights, flashlights, ect? Yes. We plan on having localized light sourcing and headlights searchlights etc. We'll see what we can squeeze in for release. Can't promise lights right off the bat.
How officers can punish soldiers that refuse to do what they are asked to do? No-one will be asked to do anything :) There will be missions posted and players can CHOOSE to take them or not. Complete missions and you'll be in a position to gain rank yourself and do your side well.
Will mission commanders have any control over who joins their mission or will the be stuck with who ever volonteers? Missions will be on a volunteer basis, but squads may run private missions as well. These will not be selectable by any players not in that squad. However, squad missions will not be worth rank points.
Will vehicles and buildings display damage based on the caliber of the round that has hit it? Well the building or vehicle will display how much damage it has taken. It doesn't matter if you used two 88mm rounds to damage a building or one 150mm round. It will display the amount of damage it has taken to date.
what is the ratio of time? For instance will 1 real hour = a day and how many times a day will nightfall come? It won't be 1 to 1. Probably more like 6-10 hrs of daylight foloowed by a 2-3 hr night session. We'll see how it all plays out.
Will all infantrymen look exactly alike, or will you be able to do some variation? We certainly plan some variation. how much we get in before release is all time related. We may have all the same at first and introduce new models later on.
will the wounded release wails of pain continuosly? come on that would rock Hmm, I don't think we'll be going that rout. We still want the kiddies to be able to play an hour then go to sleep afterwards :-)
Will officers have different uniforms and insignia to the lower ranks? Eventually. We want to support rank markings but we have a lot of big fish to fry before release. It's planned for, so you WILL see it in WWIIOL.
Will our squadname be visible anywhere, like in prebrief screens where we look to see who's on the mission with us? It would be helpful to know what group is with you. Yes it will be displayed somewhere.
is there any power source that the AA guns use??? p.s What are we going to use for creating new factorys?? AA guns don't need no steeking power :) Factories can be repaired and assigned to biuld "special" stuff, like R and D points, Ships, new vehicle spawn points etc.
Will resupplying in the field repair vehicles as well? What about, for example, a situation where an enemy flight catches a carrier resupplying on the decks? Will those aircraft be destroyable, or will the pilots simply land and sign off? Resupplying in the field is just that, resupply. No real damage repair was possible out there.
Will there be heavy bombers, such as B-17s, B-16s? Will there be classes such as the B-24 A-E? Yes to all but the B16 :P
Will there be location damage? Like say I aim for the leg? Will that affect his movement? IF you hit him, and it's in the leg, it will effect his movement.
You stated in the FAQ that spawn points would be heavily defended. My question is how far apart will they be dispearsed. If a side attckes, will it have to take over each SP, or will spawn poinst convert to enemy status when the front passes them? We have a rather complex system regarding the spawn points and the facilities surrounding them. It's a bit too complex to explain in a short briefing like this. We'll have an explaination for you when we get everything working and are playtesting it. Sorry.
What I mean to ask is, if a mission fails, will this have a larger impact on the game as a whole or will the game keep on going on some pre-determined track? There is no pre-deterined track. Mission completion/failure will impact the course of the game in incremental instances. Fail important and important mission once in awhile and you may not see a change. Do it constantly and expect to see a detrimental effect.
If a airfield is hit, will this cut down the amount of aircraft that can sortie from the field or once the alarm sounds will pilots be able to sortie a cloud of defenders? It'll depend on what you hit :)
What game do you suggest playing to get a "feel" for infantry? I have heard different opinions. Golly, we're going so much
farther than all the 3rd person shooters out there.
Will there be random battles? Say a convoy with two German tanks and 50 soldiers is crossing a bridge, but they run into 40 French soldiers with 3 tanks? Sounds like fun :) Anything is possible, you will be in control of where and when you choose to fight at all times. Missions will be more focused, but no one will be forced to go on 'em.
Will you guys balance the amount of players for each side on a server? If so what will be the ratio of Axis to Allied players? Well we do not plan on forcing balance on the players. We're going to have to see how the sides balance on a regular basis. if there is an imbalnce we have a few methods planned that can help even out a numbers issue.
Since you can qualify to drive offline and such, will there be a training field to practice infantry fire, or larger weapons, offline? There will be one SOMEwhere :) We may need to have that online to keep qualifications secure. We'll see.
Can a player have more then one character in the game? You will have one character, like Gryf. Each charater can have mutiple personnas. So I can be gryf the british infantry or Gryf the German Pilot or Gryf the French Tanker and so on. But all of them are Gryf.
Are you concerned that a 3:00 am raid, while the enemy are all literally sleeping, might through the game off a bit? Depends on what type of raid....tactical? Strategic? And on what type of facility...Factory? Airbase? Army base? Since troops will be forced to capture, and fight AI to do so, a midnight bombing raid may only slow down rebuild or resupply for a bit and not have ANY tactical effect at all.
How will the scale of 1:2 affect range on vehicles, planes and artillery? They will have the same radius of action they had in real life.
Can a carreening truck take out a whole infantry unit? Sure if they stand in the way :-)
Will you release ever theater as it comes out or do you have to buy WW2OL then d/l every new theater? Right now the concept is to add theaters for DL, and leave the big retail releases to a "hemisphere" type of paradigm.
Will I feel like I'm IN the game? (If I'm infantry, can I hear bullets whizz by, and will explosions be right next to me and make me deaf for a few minutes?) You will hear all kinds of sound on the battle field, Firing from yourself, firing from those around you. Bullets whizzing by, shells impacting.. all that stuff. It's gonna rock.
Will the heavy machinery require trucks to use, or will there be some other way to get those puppies out in the field? Tank perhaps? tow 'em with trucks only. Once you deploy a AT gun you'll be able to push it around though.
does a system like it can exist for Mankind, where you can receive a message on your cellular phone, requiring you for a mission in WW2OL, will exist? :) Well, we don't have a plan for that yet. I guess eventually we could. I'll know we have a serious hit when people leave their dates and anniversary dinners to go defend their ship that just came under attack :-)
What will pilots have to help out when shotdown? Otherthans chute...ex:gun,compass,map,first aid kit, raft? Well you will get a pistol, map and such at the very least. We'll have to look and see what pilots for each country used at the time and base it on that.
What infantry weapons have been modelled so far? K98, Lebel, and Lee Enfield. For the firat release we'll add the MG34, Bren, Chatternault, grenades, P80, that whacky French SMG...and a few others.
Theater question - will the smaller theaters be modeled? Balkans? Finland-Russia? Norway? Current plan is Blitzkrieg, North Africa, Balkans With the CBI and such coming for the Pacific Theaters.
Will there be gun jams with any of the guns? Whether it be infrantry rifles or tank turrets? Eventually. Right off the bat probably not. But that'll be an easy add later.
Will the damage done to a facility near a spawn point effect what units can spawn from there, i.e.: the barracks are destroyed, so only air and armor can spawn? Basically...yes.
Taking GRJ's careening truck idea to the next level, will the truck receive proper damage from each infantryman it hits, as well as other solid objects it runs into? Sure it will. However remember that it would take a lot infantry to damage the bumper of a truck :-)
Has there been any consideration that the Germans used large amounts of horse power? :) Real horses I mean... Will they ever make it into the game? Since the horses helped the german army stay in tact since their vehicles froze during the first winter. On our second pass through
the vehicles
Will you be able to shoot paratroopers or men that bailed out of their burning airplane? Yes.
Will you be allowed to act as a spy for the enemy? Or a traitor? If so, how would that work? If not, are there plans to include this later on? Well it's probably gonna happen no matter what we do about it. How much it interferes will gameflow remains to be seen. So far most of what we foresee is something that generates combat. Combat is the idea here so we're not sure a little spying is a bad idea at all.
Will bodies of dead soldiers, and wreckage of pplanes/vehicles remain after a battle for awhile? Seeing the results of war is emotional, yet I love seeing it! Yes they will...for a while. There are serious bandwidth issues in leaving stuff laying around though, so expect hulks and bodies to fade after a little bit.
Will you be able to pick up guns from dead troops and use them yourself if you are out? No, you will have the weapons you outfit with. There are bunch of technical issues right now with captured items.
Can we modify the battlefield in anyway? Ex. sandbags, trenches, pontoon bridges, barbed wire, etc No modifying terrain is not an option right now. Perhaps in the future.
Will tanks be weak in certain areas? Some are more armored in certain areas and it would be cool if you could fire armor piercing shells into the back of a tank knowing it's weak point and destroy it or disable it as a soldier.I Generally speaking loook at a history book and study the weaknesses of your enemy's equipment because it will be modeled as closely as we can.
Will hit calculations be performed client side or server side? Wouldn't you like to know?
Will bridge layers be available since you said no land modification? We do have bridge layers planned but we're not sure when we are going to implement them.
I am a little late....Will there be different units like FJ, SS, Engineers, etc? Fajitas? SniperSalads? hmmm. There will be a logistic arm later on when we have a lot of players though.
Will open turret tanks take more damage from over head attacks such as mortars and plane strafing? And will it increase the chance for crew injury? Absoloutly!
When can we see pics of Mo's bride in florentine leather? ;-) I'd have to say never on
that one :P
Will you see bullet holes and broken glass/plastic from the canopy after being shot at? Oh yeah
is it hard to take off in the 109 because of the torque yet/ We're finalizing the flight models now and the torque and the narrow gear of the 109 make it a real challenge to stay stright with.
Will there be train lines running throughout the landscape that are actually used for re-supplying? Yes. And those lines and trains will be interdictable as well with a dynamic effect on the supply flow.
will my 28.8k connection be enough when there are like 50 players on my screen around me moving around all at the same time? You should be fine on the bandwidth issue.
Will you take injury from flying glass? Hmmm, kinda like spalling
damage. I'd have to say yes on that one
will there be a "strategy" giude? KILL KILL KILL! << That enough? We haven't planned on one yet. But we are open to the idea.
wha will happen if you discoennect? You will be returned to your real life.
no captuirng and using equipment, what about passing off a grenade or ammo clip to a live ally? We'll have resuply, but it's not something we have planned from combat troop to combat troop. Expect resupply to be a bit more specialized.
Can soldiers and tanks and artillery have camoflage? Just the stuff painted on for now. We'll look into that after release though. We've seen some cool camo ideas lately and we want to do it.
How many players will you be able to see at one time? More than 32 I hope. Right now in the beta we are up to about 45 or so. We're aiming for 64 at release.
Wil you have to provide fule for vehicles? Vehicles will start with fuel and will consume it as you use the vehicle. Resupply is planned so you can refuel without having to RTB.
what's going to be the best screen resolution to play the game with? Well "best" as in looks will be 1600X1280, but best "performance on your machine" might be different.
Could you run over a guy if you flew low enough.. you know like hit him with the prop or something?? theoretially you could. But I doubt you would survive the impact either. I mean a human being is not alike a starling or sparrow.
Will resupply require me to actually carry items to troops, or will they just go to some magical drop-off point and get magically resupplied? In both cases, would I actually have to pick what is carried, or do I just move "supplies" from one point to another and the server just magically picks what you need? Resupply loadouts will be fairly generic, but you'll have to drop them off and have other players grab them to get points for a resupply mission. They'll be able to supply troops and AVFs from the same source.
What about some sort of first aid? Will that be available when resupply happens? We don't plan on it.
So with no first aid you just die? For now, yes. The medic thing is a big deal, and if we do it we want to do it right. It's pretty complex to do "well". The troop damage model has a clotting function, so if you're not going to die, you';ll be able to get yourself to a truck for a ride home.
Will air recon be superior to ground recon? Depends on what you're looking for eh?
If i'm in a tank with a few ppl hid in town can one guy get out and scout around then get back in the tank? It's in the plan but may not make first release.
will the big radar towers on the coast of england be there? and will the country suffer if their destroyed? Yes they will be there. The country may not suffer if they are damaged / destroyed, but their ability to "see" planes will :)
if someone is shot in the jewels do they continue fighting or lie down in pain? Well think about the last
time you took a knee to the noolies and consider your reaction.
Will the ranking people have a option to be a "Patton" and be down on the field with the troops? You'll be "Ammodog" the general, and you can fight with your buddies anywhere you want to.
Can you roll at all in neutral with the engine off? Yes, if you have enough momentum or on a steep enough slope to overcome inertia.
Are there one hit kill shots like Head shots? Of course. Taking a round anywhere in the body can be catastrophic.
If I wanted to ride a motorcycle from Berlin to Paris, could I? What would the travel be like? Would I have to cross "zones" or would it be continuous terrain? Continuous, and you'll need some fuel. Follow the roads for the least bumpy ride!
Will infantry be knocked onto the ground if shot in certain places? Yes.
is it possible to land on any part of the coast of england or are there set points for landing? There will be beaches and the like. Some places may not be suitable for landings though.
Will you be able to outfit your guy IE: Flac jaket ect. and will the weight you carry affect your movement? Weight will effect your abilities for sure. And you'll get access to more weapons as you go up in rank as well. No flak jackets though...it's 1940 :)
If you roll your vehicle, will you instantly die, ALA Aces High, or is there a slim chance for recovery via inertia? It's not likely you can recover the vehicle. Even if you should survive the innards of your vehicle would be soo shaken up itprobably won't work too well anyway. However we let the physics look take care of that stuff so you might be able to continue on in some limited capacity.
What is the next major vehicle/weapon to be modeled for both the Axis and Allies PaK36 and Cuiser A13
if I can't enter a vehicle I didn't spawn with, how does a "rescue mission" manage to "pick me up" ? Troops will be able to enter and exit trucks. Tanks and other vehicles are a different issue altogether.
Will schrecks be available from the start or will they come later in the game? Later in the game.
a shell lands nearby? will it affect your aiming? It'll blow you on your ass. If you can aim through that I want you on my side!
So you're saying that you /will/ get more access to new weapons with increasing rank? There has been a lot of controversy around that, I just wanna make sure I'm getting this straight... Rank and permissions. Here's the short version. You need a certification for all vehicles. Once you have that certification you can take the vehicle out on missions no matter your rank. Once you attain enough rank you no longer need to go on a mission to sortie the vehicles. This eases the rank restriction and still restricts vehicles a bit.
Can infantry fire when they are riding on a vehicle? Not at first. We'll add that eventually, but our first concern is getting troops to battle fast so "riding" is a priority. Chances are you won't be able to hit anything from a moving truck anyway :)
can tires be shot out and will it effect the driving performance of the vehicle? (not talking about track vehicles :-) ) Yes.
Will infantry get grenade bundles as antitankweapon or do we need to bring a big AT gun with us all the time? Right now we do not have the big grenade bundles as AT weapons. perhaps in the future.
How will country's generate funds for R and D and building of war machines? By saving resource flow. It's a cool system
Much thanks to Mo and Gryf for taking time out of their busy schedules to answer our questions, and to Tongue, Rafter and the rest of the Playnet.com staff for setting this chat up. Thanks guys! |
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Incorporated.
Copyright 2000 Mike DelPrete
"Booya"
