[Game] Frozen Synapse

[[-project.rattus-]]

I concur, as I prefer UK1 too...

And in other news:
YouTube - ‪Frozen Synapse: ColeusRattus (green) vs nimster (red) - Extermination‬‏

 

[I. Kant]

UK1 is fine by me, agreed - albeit at times of heavy traffic it runs just too slow for me linking. Luckily, it's not an issue, as I can log on during off-peak times.

 

[NoxNoctum]

So is this game any good? To me it just looks the R6 planning phase... minus the first person "action" part...

 

[[-project.rattus-]]

Which should answer your question really.

If you liked R6's planning, you'll love it. If you disliked it, you most likely wont enjoy the game much.

 

[NoxNoctum]

I loved it but... I dunno the combat in this looks too abstract/simple. Part of what made me like R6's planning phase so much was that it was COMBINED with the action phase and also you could issue all kinds of orders to have totally different results. (the single biggest problem being you couldn't rely on AI led teams to use flashbangs effectively, at least not when it came to breaching a room)

There are few video games that come close to offering the experience I had when I completed a Rogue Spear mission on the highest difficult in the "observe" mode the first time through after like 5 hours of planning . Damn it felt sexy to watch those dudes rape everyone because I had the timing down to a tee. 5 hours to plan, about 5 minutes to execute hehe .

If anything the videos of this remind me of Worms minus the ridiculous weapons/"crazy" fun factor.

 

[Nimsky]

I loved it but... I dunno the combat in this looks too abstract/simple.

It's abstract, but definitely not simple. I've never liked the R6 planning system but I love this game. It's very tactical and pretty deep actually. It's all about predicting what your opponent is going to do and coming up with the perfect plan. And when you finally DO predict his exact movements and your plan works... well, that's very satisfying.

Read this wiki page to get an idea of what the combat is like:

http://fs.error420.com/wiki/Time_to_Kill

 

[BlackLabel]

[url]http://www.destructoid.com/review-frozen-synapse-202827.phtml[/URL] :IS2:

 

[SiC-Disaster]

I've never liked the R6 planning system but I love this game.

Why not? It's every bit as functional as the planner in Frozen Synapse, although different in some respects.
For example synchronised roomclearing is done with the Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta commands, while in Frozen Synapse you have to perfectly calculate a countdown timer for something to be perfectly synched.
But in general they are very much alike, except for the fact that Rainbow Six had multiple-stories buildings with stairs and such (would be cool in Frozen Synapse too maybe, though very difficult to properly implement i guess).

Anyways, nailing down a mission plan in Rogue Spear for example was more fun to me then it is in Frozen Synapse, but most of that has to do with believability. In FS you control single units and have them do seperate things, while in R6 you control fireteams and such.
Which is my biggest gripe with FS: though highly tactical, the tactics arent very realistic. Roomclearing as a fireteam just isnt needed, because units function as single entities. You can make them work together, but the random generated situation hardly ever calls for it.
It's hard to describe exactly though. However i would love something like a SWAT mod for Frozen Synapse, where units function as a team ala oldschool R6.

 

[Nimsky]

Why not? It's every bit as functional as the planner in Frozen Synapse, although different in some respects.
For example synchronised roomclearing is done with the Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta commands, while in Frozen Synapse you have to perfectly calculate a countdown timer for something to be perfectly synched.
But in general they are very much alike, except for the fact that Rainbow Six had multiple-stories buildings with stairs and such (would be cool in Frozen Synapse too maybe, though very difficult to properly implement i guess).

Anyways, nailing down a mission plan in Rogue Spear for example was more fun to me then it is in Frozen Synapse, but most of that has to do with believability. In FS you control single units and have them do seperate things, while in R6 you control fireteams and such.
Which is my biggest gripe with FS: though highly tactical, the tactics arent very realistic. Roomclearing as a fireteam just isnt needed, because units function as single entities. You can make them work together, but the random generated situation hardly ever calls for it.
It's hard to describe exactly though. However i would love something like a SWAT mod for Frozen Synapse, where units function as a team ala oldschool R6.

Well, I disagree there. The R6 planner is nice in theory but hardly ever works when you hit the play button. Bad AI and lack of commands has a lot to do with this. Rogue Spear's AI just didn't seem to handle room clearing very well. It's not like in SWAT 4 where the AI can properly execute room clearance procedures and cover every sector. Instead you often get AI completely ignoring tangos that are right there in the room with them shooting at them, or flashbanging themselves, running into each other's line of fire etc. Rogue Spear's AI just couldn't act autonomously. You had to babysit them constantly, otherwise they would get themselves killed.

Now of course, it's an older game, but the planner would be much better if the AI could act on its own and if I could simply order the AI to clear a room with a simple command rather than having to meticulously place hundreds of waypoints. Yeah, maybe if I spend hours upon hours in the planning screen the AI might miraculously survive and kill every tango they see, but why would I dedicate so much time to babysitting / micromanaging an AI that should have been a lot smarter in the first place?

I know that goes against the idea of Rogue Spear being one of the best tactical shooters ever (and it is), but I just didn't like that part of the game at all.

And yeah, FS combat is very abstracted, but I like it for exactly that reason. Everything is based on mathematical values, and thus skill. You can't say "Awww dammit, he got me, lucky bastard!". In hindsight, none of the matches I've played in this game were based on luck. When you lose in Frozen Synapse, you lose because your opponent used superior tactics or you made a stupid mistake. It's very unforgiving, as a good tactical shooter ought to be, and that's awesome.

I don't think the game would have worked if the combat or graphics had been more 'realistic'.

 

[I. Kant]

In essence, FS is a game, with emphasis on its "gamist representation", rather than its "ludic aspects"; it is fun precisely because it does not pander to the fun-seeking crowd (but that is only my opinion).

It ought to be relished as a game - and Nims got that damn right - where you pit your skill against the skills of your opponents; where the pursuit of victory is a chase after perfection; where losses are the result of the sum of your mistakes during a round, etc.

 

[Nimsky]

50% off, today only.

http://store.steampowered.com/

Good price.

 

[Morello]

Worth pointing out that that is for two copies, as before, so if you find someone to go in with it is a total bargain.

 

[Tomcat_ha]

i've got the game now. feel free to challenge/rape me my account is tomcat_ha

 

[I. Kant]

Expect a challenge soon. Har har.

Edit: Whoa, there's 400+ people on UK1 as a result of the discount (compared to let's say 70-140 on usual off-peak loads?).

 

[Tomcat_ha]

some replays:
YouTube - ‪Frozen Synapse: tomcat_ha (green) vs AThousandD (red) - Secure2‬‏
YouTube - ‪Frozen Synapse: tomcat_ha (green) vs Chaos_Llama (red) - Extermination‬‏
YouTube - ‪Frozen Synapse: tomcat_ha (green) vs sea (red) - Secure2‬‏

 

[NoxNoctum]

Well finally got this... definitely a great game. Really really addicting and suprisingly deep. Grenade launcher guys and RPG dudes definitely add in an interesting element... I love firing rockets and then scurrying my guy behind some cover, never gets old .

Tried using some territory as bait in this one game, worked pretty well :

YouTube - ‪Frozen Synapse: cc//Nox (green) vs ProfessorOat (red) - Secure2‬‏

Music's really good too. One thing I'm confused about though... how do I switch servers? I took one of the texas ones but it seems like there's never more than 50 people on so I replay a lot of the same people... I guess I should have gone on the UK one. It's turn based so it doesnt matter... .

Starting to get better at predicting moves... almost got my first one round victory... I bet this guy was pissed over that grenade .

YouTube - ‪Frozen Synapse: cc//Nox (green) vs Dragon7 (red) - Extermination‬‏

This game remind anyone else of TF2 occasionally lol? I'm doing the same rocket fire/shoot grenade + dodge deal .

 

[I. Kant]

Expect a challenge on UK1, cc//Nox :F

Oh, and server changes - well, you have to restart the game to change the server once you log in... Or, wait, actually, I suppose you could try to go offline and re-log (though I can't remember off the top of my head whether it give you the option to log-off while in-game).

Editage: No, there does not appear to be an in-game option to log-off, unless your net connection is broken. But that's not what I wanted to write about, so let's put that aside, shall we? What I had wanted to write about was the fact that it appears that your handle is un-addable to the friends list. Or, things have changed and you are no longer able to add friends from a different server. Either way, I can't postito le challangito for you, sir. I weep.

 

[Nenjin]

I really appreciate what this game went for and achieved, but I suppose I'm not really one for pvp or for replaying SP a lot. I find myself wishing for what the game doesn't offer, which is that kind of X-Com angle.

Still, I killed 45 minutes on the first level, easily, trying for that no casualty victory and it felt really good to earn it (two close spawns that I turned the corners and fragged helped a lot) and others.

It's just when the mission is over and you've done your best, the RPGer in me wants points to spend on stuff and things for more tactical decisions down the road, and to be able to give VatClone#56 a name.

Hoping for a mod scene on this, any news of that?

 

[NoxNoctum]

Expect a challenge on UK1, cc//Nox :F

Oh, and server changes - well, you have to restart the game to change the server once you log in... Or, wait, actually, I suppose you could try to go offline and re-log (though I can't remember off the top of my head whether it give you the option to log-off while in-game).

Editage: No, there does not appear to be an in-game option to log-off, unless your net connection is broken. But that's not what I wanted to write about, so let's put that aside, shall we? What I had wanted to write about was the fact that it appears that your handle is un-addable to the friends list. Or, things have changed and you are no longer able to add friends from a different server. Either way, I can't postito le challangito for you, sir. I weep.

What you playing as I'll try to challenge you.

 

[I. Kant]

AThousandD

There is actually a list with FS nicks of people who've posted in this thread in the first post.