Noob Observations

[Brimstone]

[FONT=Comic Sans MS]I've owned RO for a couple weeks now but have only got in about 10 or 15 hours of play, and I'd like to make a few comments.

First, a couple of things that are giving me a hard time.

Maps: Since I appear to have several minutes to watch my pc load a map, it sure would help tremendously if the picture I'm staring at was actually a screen shot of the map that is loading. It has been very confusing for me as I stare at a MG'r deployed on a sandbang, in a destroyed city, letting go with a 42 while tracers are bounding around, and then the map loads and you are standing in snow looking out over a bridge and frozen river.

Couldn't the screen shot and the map be linked in some way? I realize now that there are only 5 or 6 images we are looking at, but couldn't there be a screen shot for each map? If not, I'd say scrap the screenshot rotation and put the map briefings there instead. It would really help with tackling the difficult names and getting your mind around what is coming up and what you havta do.

Briefings: Um, apparently there aren't any when in multiplayer. I suspect that it is a bug and probably known. Pretty important information for noobs I'd say, hope they are working on it. Until then, me knowing one map from the other and what I'm supposed to do and when, advances at a crawl.

Bots: They just don't work very well in vehicles. After a couple minutes of placing my tank in just the right spot, I hop into the turret to do a little damage when all of sudden my tank starts tear asssing across open ground in full view of several opposing tanks and infantry. I quickly switch to driver to stop the tank, bot hops to turret, and well, I dunno what he is doing in there, but it ain't extending my life, that's for sure. So I hop back into the turret to kill one of the many targets now shooting at me and of course, bot goes back to the driver and immediately starts us running around until we burn horribly. Sure, there are voice commands and they respond sometimes, but I'm usually dead by then because I'm busy cycling through a few of the menu's looking for the right one.

Quite fustrating for noobs like myself. It's especially painful when you didn't leave base with a bot, but apparently picked one up along the way. Why would a tank crewmember bot be wandering out in the open battlegrounds anyway?

I might add, that I would always prefer to have my tank filled with real crewmembers, I'm not a solo tank guy. I can't tell you how much fun it is for me and my 2 buddies to crew a tank together! But alas, those times are few and far between.

Menu's: A bit clunky in my opinion. Exiting a server doesn't drop you back to the server page but to the main menu screen. The main menu screen is a large static image with little words on the lower left hand side to click. Nice picture, but there sure is alot of real estate that could be better used. Or is it since it's a Steamifed program, it hasta look like a HL & DoD screen?

Server filter profiles? There are only like 5 or 6 options. I doubt I'll need several profiles to sort 20 peopled servers in my ping range, but who knows. I would probably prefer radio buttons or something quick.

Music: Um, is there any? Not that I want it cluttering up the sound in game, but at menu's etc? I always think my headset is unplugged or something at first when the game loads, until I click Multiplayer and hear the click.

Tippy: Some of the vehicles tend to tip over rather easy. I guess some of those vehicles might have been a little top heavy, but they were also very bottom heavy. I'm not sure I should be able to roll a 10 ton vehicle on flat surface at half speed? Is this some type of bug or just a little known fact about armored vehicles?

Pings: There apparently isn't a Quick Refesh for the server page. When I hit refresh, correct me if I'm wrong, it contacts the master server for the list again and pings at the same time. I feel I'm not getting accurate pings as a result. I've found other games to be the same. After getting the whole list and the pings, hitting a quick refresh, which just pings the servers in your list, pings for almost all the servers go down from what was orginally reported.

This is usually not that big a deal, but I live in the midwest (Illinois), and there are only a couple servers, if any, that ever report back at less then 100ms. I'm used to hitting several hundred servers in various games at less than 100ms. In some games, you get kicked if you are over 175, and although it hasn't happened to me yet in RO, I worry about it. Especially since with a couple of filters applied (no pw, not empty etc..), I only get 19 to 23 servers back and half are over 175. Does RO run at a higher ping for some reason I don't understand?

All that aside...

Cha-Ching! Best damn 25 bucks I've ever spent in my life, and I've been to Tailand! Ha! You should print that on the box, royalty free!! This game is a keeper. The last couple years I've been searching for something, and the BF2's and COD's of the world just ain't doing it for me. Sure, they are a little giggly fun, but they ain't it. I've been looking for an adult, tactical, difficult, realistic WW2 game since, well... since I was 10 and reading Sergeant Rock & Ghost Tank comic books hehe.

I love the adult crowd that historical games tend to draw, and it's not overrun with 13 year olds off for 3 months summer vacation, spending 12 hours a day annoying everyone around them and jabbering on the mic nonstop while hogging all the vehicles.

On many occassion, I've given warning to the occassional teammate around me and they've responded over the mic 'Thanks' or 'got your six' or 'check left, I got right' in a deep gravely voice. And I'm thinking, 'Holy crap, that dude is older than me!', which usually isn't the case. This is extremely helpful in my case, because as of last night, I think I'm running about 60/40, enemy/friendly kills! Hehe, you really really don't want to advance too fast with me around! I'm doing ok with vehicles, but as for infantry, if you are moving, and in front of me, I'm probably shooting at you :P

All kidding aside. Awesome, realistic enviornments with a bazillion places to be hiding. Those destroyed factory and city type maps (wish I could give you map names and stuff but, haha, not a chance) are a site to see. Amazing sound and enviormental effects. I as blown away when I read there wasn't background tracks of explosions and gun shots running all the time.

Realistic as I've seen vehicle combat that's fun and not an arcade. Watching the puff of smoke and shell inbound through your own scope for those few seconds before you die is worth it!

No Rambo's and medics! Well, those satchel guys in the armored cars do alot of rambo'n but that's fun in a way too. Cause then you can hop out of your tank for a little one on one action

I could go on and on, but aparently, I already have! Please do not take anything said here as a complaint. I really do like the game and I can't wait until I become a useful teammate. It's gonna take some time, but I've got it, I'm gonna be here for years...

(not to mention the 4 friends I've convinced to buy RO)

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[Muddy_May]

RO soundtrack download link if you're interested: http://files.filefront.com/Red_Orche.../fileinfo.html

I also think the guy who put that together left a readme (in the DL) that told you how to get the music to play on the menus.

I have a song that plays on my main menu before I join a server but that's it.

[Llama]

Always great to have more people playing, welcome
Some good points there, I agree the loading screens arnt that great but it might not be very easy, especially for custom mappers, to implement a map as the loading screen. However i do think it could be made more n00b-friendly.

I'm not sure if you're aware but there is an in-game map screen (press 'o') which is all the breifing you'll need.

In RO the pings given are a round trip ping giving the time to reach the server and get back to you while I beileve most games give you the time the ping takes to reach the server. I've found RO is still easily playable with pings upto 200ms.

Oh, and excellent work spreading the word of RO

[Ron]

Unfortunatly bots are and will always be useless in tanks just remember to use the get out command its saved my life countless times.

[Solo4114]

V-6-9 tells bots to get out of the tank. I recommend binding a single key to the command so you don't have to fumble while you look at your keyboard. The bots are indeed morons. Interesting fact -- when bots are dumb enough on a server, they will only shoot at your tank when you are in the driver position. If you stay in the gun, they'll never shoot at you. Try it out in practice mode and you'll see what I mean.

The briefing thing is apparently a bug, by the way. There are supposed to be briefings other than "German Briefing" and "Soviet Briefing".

The map pictures when loading are, I believe, randomly selected. You won't see the same picture for the same map all the time. Once you play more you'll learn the map names. They're kinda confusing given that a lot of them sound the same, but you'll get the hang of it. I still get Basovka and Bondarevo mixed up sometimes.

[Brimstone]

Doh, this isn't a BB board, so sorry I haven't figured out quotes and junk yet, not to mention pretty graphic sigs...

Thanks Muddy_May, I'm gonna give that a shot. Dead silence is a bit odd.

Thanks Llama for the ping info. I haven't run into really any trouble as of yet, I guess I'm just spoiled with 50-60ms ping results.

Thanks Solo4114 for the info. I'm gonna go bind that V-6-9 in a few minutes.

Got a couple hours in last night, tons of fun. But it brought a few more questions to mind.

Are all servers Friendly Fire? If so, wow, what backbone Tripwire has! Good job!

Tanks are either 100% or dead? There is no immobilization or partial damage? ie no turret rotation, or no movement (track problems etc..) Although on that snowy destroyed airport map, I did manage to wedge a stgIII so tightly under a plane that a guy from our own team blew it up so it would spawn again, hehe.

Did shells bounce that often in real life, or am I a really bad shot?

Thanks again!