Tides of War

[No major spoilers]

I've just completed the submarine campaign for the League and it struck me just how amazing Enigma is when I started raving upon seeing the cutscene with the planes in them. I was convinced that they were coming for us and it really made my day when I realized what was really going on.

[/No major spoilers]

I think that Rising Tides is a _truly_ excellent game. I do think there are some soft spots here and there but the whole experience, right down to giving voice commands is _DEAD ON_.

Now that I've finished the submarine campaign, I'll probably play the surface campaign for the League, then maybe for the Kaiserliche Marine. I'm not too interested in the USN campaign as it seems a bit too vanilla for me, but the game is so good that I'll probably just play it anyway to see the storyline.

Given the alternate history of the world, I'm betting that there's no Washington Treaty (and probably no Great Depression either, given that the war is still going on) -- does this mean that we'll see the Akagi, Kaga, Lexington and Saratoga as they were originally laid down?

I also assume that in the upcoming expansion, we'll get to move up from destroyers into bigger and better surface commands, probably covering light and heavy cruisers (with BBs probably waiting for the expansion after) and so move into an area I'm more familiar with. Will the League's cruisers be more Japanese inspired or British? The Leanders and Southamptons would probably be more in line with the League's eggshells with hammers than the Yubaris or Aganos but the Myokos or Takaos outclass the County classes.

Of course, let's not talk about seeing a Yamato hove to over the horizon, only to be hammered into oblivion by Sea Mosquitoes...

Now for the questions...

Given that the Triple Alliance won WWI, will we see any KuK ships in the Atlantic? And -- since I haven't played the SMS campaign yet -- will we see a repeat of the classic sneak past Gibraltar?

Will we see a better damage control model as the game progresses? I can see the ease in implementing a hit-point bar, but it would feel a lot more interesting if, for example, weapons started getting knocked out independent of overall damage. X turret may be smashed but it shouldn't cause my speed to plummet.

Will we get to run carrier operations? I don't think that we should fly planes in Enigma because a flight sim has quite different realism requirements from a naval sim, but I would dearly love to be able to stand off 60 miles away from the target and specify the load out of the torpedo strike I'm sending to sink the South Carolina...

Again, thanks for making this excellent game!

TP,

Thanks for the very inspiring post. It's a pleasure to see someone enjoy this game we have begun.

Suppositions:

Nope, no Washington Treaty, but there will be a London Treaty with different limitations. Yes, we intend to build SOME of the ships as they were originally intended to be created including some of the truly amazing German Super Battleships.

LFN has more Japanese influence (note the Asashio class Destroyer, I-15 sub and for a little flavor, the Italian Arete). The Japanese are not wholly supportive hardware wise because of the potential for some of her enemies (like Korea who is part of the League) to potentially turn on her with her own ships. British shipbuilding et al. didn't really get back up to speed in Australia and various other locations for a number of years after the end of the Great War.

You will indeed be able to work your way up the ship ladder. We have a full palette of Cruisers, Battleships, Carriers and BattleCarriers on the way: ok, sneak peek time (there are newer shots than this, but these were handy -

http://www.tesseractiongames.com/temp/index.html

Questions:

KuK yes, in the future. Sneak past Gibralter is another story, it will happen, but not the way you expect.

Yes to the new damage model. It will be detailed with 3 levels of repairability as well as an effect on your crew (they die, you lose some capabilities...perhaps even damage control...). The Hull bar was as far as we could go with the initial version. Part of the new damage model is the new physics system. The way your ship actually drives, responds, etc. will be affected by the damage location and severity.

Yes, there will be Carrier operations. You will need to have sufficient rank and, eventually, sufficient players to accompany you to take one out. Initially you will function as the commander of the carrier air wing like in an RTS. The AI will decide how to carry out your orders, you just make them. Later you will still use the same interface, but they will be real players instead of just AI. Flyable aircraft are important to Enigma because there are certain players it will appeal to without diverting us from our core audience. Besides, nothing better than gunning down a manned aircraft...if you've ever done it in BF1942 you know what I mean.

Intially watch for Cruiser and Sub launched observation craft!

Hi East!

I'm... flabbergasted. Absolutely blown away. Thanks for posting the previews!! As near as I can make out, that's the Furious with the short flight deck but I don't know what the other two are.

That Zeppelin looks like a major sub-killer to me...

As for the LFN ships... that's interesting; I thought the Alliance was a Japanese destroyer (though I didn't know which), but I didn't realise that the Raiko was an Italian! I do get a _real_ Long Lance buzz when tearing around in the Bagheera, though... even if she does have tissue paper for armour.

Given that Germany occupies France, I'm betting that we won't see any Regia Marina, since the Italians are too sensible to provoke the enemy at their door, but will we see other of their designs? A Littorio vs a Richelieu matchup... oh MAN.

At one point I wanted to get the Fighting Steel Project because they had these hypotheticals but given the way that Enigma is turning out, there doesn't seem to be much reason to do so.

One interesting question -- why is Korea a free nation? It was a colony before the point of departure (i.e. the non-sinking of the Lusitania) and I can't see the Royal Navy in Exile aggravating their only potential allies by demanding freedom for the Koreans.

The carrier ops sound very intriguing -- very intriguing indeed. You make a good point about the audience -- and there's nothing like nailing the SOB who's been strafing your spawn point for the past 5 minutes. One worry I might have is that player controlled planes may end up, well, being player controlled and not giving a crap about actually sinking what is important -- but that's part of the game I guess.

As for Gibraltar, I'm glad to see that it'll happen, but after watching the end scene, I don't know _what_ to expect anymore. And given how predictable a lot of games have become, that's a _great_ thing.

Great preview pics! enigma!:

I don't think that we should fly planes in Enigma because a flight sim has quite different realism requirements from a naval sim

I disagree. I would love to be able to fly planes in Enigma.

It would have to be an elementary flightsim, nothing as complex as the serious simulators out there.

I'm personally a terrible pilot when it comes to a serious FS. However, some games are out there that simplify plane flight enough for novices like myself but still require that you to demostrate elementary flight skills. I'll sight Operation Flashpoint as an example.

Imagine in Enigma diving straight down towards a destroyer and releasing a bomb straight down its funnel and pulling up and away just in time.

Or dropping charges on subs from above.

Or shooting down enemy planes interefering with your league's naval offensive.

Who wouldn't want that!

Speaking of BattleCarriers...

Nice intelligence snapshots at the end of the USN campaign! Loved it. Oh the ironic parallels. Good stuff.

Great Epilogue too. Richtofen eh?

A Different World indeed!

The carriers you see in the preview are:

HERMES

EAGLE

COURAGEOUS

and

(the last one is a secret...but I will say she was a French design...)

The Zeppelin is the Graf Zeppelin and will function primarily as a passenger liner. One that you can board.

Can you give us a screenshot of how the Zeppelin comes down after being fired full of holes?

She's a helium airship now. Top speed around 80k and not likely to ever be shot down. She is a passenger liner.

not likely to ever be shot down. She is a passenger liner.

Remember the Lusitania! crazy: