Escape From Zombie Island 2 ready for public consumption

[Wolfhart]

Ok, I'm a bit late off the old starting blocks... here we go:

The Troop Truck and the Cropduster animations suffer from the Pink Pixel Pestilence (pink pixels around the animations borders). The Truck is tolerable, but the Cropduster should be replaced. If you want another Sopwith Camel there's one by Ripptide, or you could use Aaglo's Gloster Gladiator which is quite generic in appearance. Or one of Kinboat's other oldies, or Ripptide's Heinkel He-51... your choice.

Oh, talking about graphics I must applaud your decision to use Balou's alternative victory anim for the National Guard ("It's Miller time!"). At last a scenario where that line fits like a glove

IMPORTANT! The idea behind Jeff Morris and his hobby project was original and fun, but alas not workable: you can't capture a unit tagged Leader.

After being eaten alive by the zombies as the authorities, I think that the zombies, while they're weaker at the start of the game, have become alot more powerful. While they don't have as many units to start out with, their productions gone up, so they end up making really big amounts of zombies really fast.

I also played the Authorities, and I agree with all of the above. The zombies are very productive, while my production was sluggish and painful until General Fullbright instigated a Morale Boost, after which production was merely slow.

Ok I got ya! 25 turns is a long time, I'd like to get this down to about 15. Does anyone think tech progression is too slow?

YES! 34 turns to get to Call 911 while not losing money each turn! Ok, I lost the Docks early and the Radio Station later on, while taking the barely inhabited Armory, so that cost me some beakers too...

Ok thanks for the tip. My only remaining concern is a scenario where Authorities build Dock Yard; Zombies capture The Docks; Authorities capture it back. Does the wonder still spawn for the Authorities? If the answer is yes then we have a definite, winning idea!

Yes, that works. I tried it to be sure, by making the Dock Yard go obsolete with Zombification like Bluemofia said, and letting the zombies capture the Docks. They never got any Docker, and after my reconquest it spawned Dockers for me again.


And the advisors are fine by me. Why should some thousands of wandering corpses stop my smart girlfriends from looking glamourous while voicing their opinions noone asked for..?

 

[KingArthur]

Ok, I'm a bit late off the old starting blocks... here we go:

The Troop Truck and the Cropduster animations suffer from the Pink Pixel Pestilence (pink pixels around the animations borders). The Truck is tolerable, but the Cropduster should be replaced. If you want another Sopwith Camel there's one by Ripptide, or you could use Aaglo's Gloster Gladiator which is quite generic in appearance. Or one of Kinboat's other oldies, or Ripptide's Heinkel He-51... your choice.

Can't go wrong with an aaglo unit I always say so I'll have a look at his.

Oh, talking about graphics I must applaud your decision to use Balou's alternative victory anim for the National Guard ("It's Miller time!"). At last a scenario where that line fits like a glove

It had to be done.

IMPORTANT! The idea behind Jeff Morris and his hobby project was original and fun, but alas not workable: you can't capture a unit tagged Leader.

Shame, I suppose I can make him upgrade to his hobby project instead of use Build Army.

I also played the Authorities, and I agree with all of the above. The zombies are very productive, while my production was sluggish and painful until General Fullbright instigated a Morale Boost, after which production was merely slow.

I could put a tile penalty on the zombies but I'm hoping to be able to tweak their unit cost a little and get the desired results.

YES! 34 turns to get to Call 911 while not losing money each turn!

Far too long. I'm going to release a biq update to all you playtesters tonight.

Yes, that works. I tried it to be sure, by making the Dock Yard go obsolete with Zombification like Bluemofia said, and letting the zombies capture the Docks. They never got any Docker, and after my reconquest it spawned Dockers for me again.

That's good to know. I love the way you guys save me the effort of testing every detail myself

And the advisors are fine by me. Why should some thousands of wandering corpses stop my smart girlfriends from looking glamourous while voicing their opinions noone asked for..?

I nearly wrote something that some people would find offensive so I shall leave the thought unwritten

 

[Wolfhart]

Forgot to write that I played on 'Banned', so I know I should expect at least some problems with science and production rates...

I love the way you guys save me the effort of testing every detail myself

That's what betatesters are for, Sire! May I add that my faster colleagues have done such an outstanding job so far that I'm having problem finding something else to write than 'I agree with him'.

Nah, I'm fine with the spawn units, because it limits the amount you can get of them, and it makes sure you get them. I personally won't build any of the spawned units myself, because there are better units at the same cost, so spawning them will make me use them.

Once again I agree wholeheartedly with Bluemofia (because he's smart and he beat me to it), so please keep the wonder spawning. Like said before: just make the Dock Yard, the Brothel and the Detective Agency go obsolete with Zombification.

I am currently trying to go through around 70 units and each of their Flcs so I can set them up in the game and make and or adjust sounds for them. This is time consuming work but needed to improve the game.

Indeed it is. There's at least four sound files with sound quality problems... my english is not good enough for describing the problem... like unpleasant electronic screeching side noices. Those files are
\Art\Units\romerozombie\gruñido01.wav
\Art\Units\zombiegun\gruñido01.wav
\Sounds\Ambience Sfx\Wolf1.wav
\Sounds\Ambience Sfx\Eagle.wav

and possibly the comer.wav file of the zombies too. Listen to them and tell me if I've just caught a slight tinnitus...

 

[The Omega]

I can do many things to get the balance a bit better, for example, raising unit cost of zombies or putting a cap on the number of units they can support for free. Maybe both is needed but I need to get a better feeling for how sever the position is - did you feel that your demise was inevitable? Or do you think it could have been improved and turned around with sharper opening play?

Well, it was mainly the shock of being attacked by zombie kings that got me, as it was my first game on this.... My hero units were out fighting against hordes of zombies, slaughtering them, and then comes a few king zombies, and my heroes get wiped out.... I think tagging the kings as defensive would help out alot. And maybe increasing the pop in some of the authorities cities, so they don't start out with as pitiful productivity as they do now.

After losing that game, I went back to the editor, and studied the map for a while, and after I thought I finally understood the scenario, I started a new game as the Company. And after about 30 turns into that game, I discovered something amazing. t3h c0mpAny 0wnz0rZ!!!!111!!!111 I controlled the entire eastern part of the city by the time the monster zombies appeared, but I was never able to capture the Radio Station.... Besides, the game froze on me, cause I still hadn't fixed that new gov popup at that time.... But the Company is now my favorite civ to play as. (I don't think they're overpowered, as the only reason I was able to capture that many citys at the beginning was by waiting until the zombies had killed off most of their king units, then charging with a few security and my heroes, and grabbing the cities before mutant zombies appeared.)

Then I began a game as the Survivors. And it went pretty badly. Lost the priest within a few turns. Left the Holdout and Mr Tokugawas house undefended so that Hannibal and Mr and Ms Tokugawa could attack the Graveyard (Which, cause the RNG hates me, ended up with the Graveyard not taken, Ms Tokugawa dead, and both Hannibal and Mr. Tokugawa redlined). Then sneaky zombies captured the undefended Holdout. At that point, after realizing that since I still hadn't fixed the gov popup bug (Internet was down, so I couldn't see that blue had found a solution), I decided that since the game would freeze on me anyways, to start a new one.

So I played as the zombies. And I had a jolly good time, even though it took me a while to readjust from my old zombie strategies. I was taking cities, and having a jolly good time. And then, when a popup saying that Zeb had declared war on me because of a mutual protection pact with the Authorities, the game quit. No explanation, no error message, just went back to my desktop. Checked autosave, and it did it again.....

So now I'm playing a game as Zeb, and I'm finding that while it's pretty difficult, it's really fun. I doubt I'll actually win it, but I've already captured the Graveyard and the Church, and my armies of farmers and sheep are advancing into the zombie infested heart of the city.

 

[KingArthur]

So I played as the zombies. And I had a jolly good time, even though it took me a while to readjust from my old zombie strategies. I was taking cities, and having a jolly good time. And then, when a popup saying that Zeb had declared war on me because of a mutual protection pact with the Authorities, the game quit. No explanation, no error message, just went back to my desktop. Checked autosave, and it did it again.....

If you still have the save then can you send it to me?

It may be that if you were playing with an unfixed script.txt file that the game was looking for an entry it couldn't find. I had to rename a few entries not just the one that affects the government switch pop up. Try playing with the new script.txt I sent via email.

So now I'm playing a game as Zeb, and I'm finding that while it's pretty difficult, it's really fun. I doubt I'll actually win it, but I've already captured the Graveyard and the Church, and my armies of farmers and sheep are advancing into the zombie infested heart of the city.

Ah, Zeb is a faction I'd really like to see developed more. Of course I'd need units like Combat Tractors and other stuff. Any ideas for developing Zeb e.g techs, units, buildings?

 

[Wolfhart]

Ah, Zeb is a faction I'd really like to see developed more. Of course I'd need units like Combat Tractors and other stuff. Any ideas for developing Zeb e.g techs, units, buildings?

Kinboat's WW1 Infantry as the ultimate armed farmhand, with trenchcoat and boots for all the dirty farm work, grand-uncle Helmut's old helmet for protection against those aggressive pigeons, and grand-uncle Helmuts gasmask against those rural smells...

 

[KingArthur]

Kinboat's WW1 Infantry as the ultimate armed farmhand, with trenchcoat and boots for all the dirty farm work, grand-uncle Helmut's old helmet for protection against those aggressive pigeons, and grand-uncle Helmuts gasmask against those rural smells...

Nice one, that's the sort of thing I'm after

 

[Wolfhart]

If one would continue the Great War theme, then a suitable ride for the armed farmhands could be a homebuilt armoured car, built upon the leftovers of great-granpa's old lorry which was found rusting under a mouldy tarpaulin at the very back of the old barn.
From left to right: Hunter's Hotchkiss, Kinboat's Lancia IZM, Ripptide's Austin Mk2 and Russobalt (personally I like the turretless Russobalt). In front of the cars, one of the armed farmhands from the post above.

Top left you have the present Cropduster (Kinboat's Sopwith Camel), and in front of it its proposed replacements, from left to right: Ripptide's Sopwith Camel, Aaglo's Gloster Gladiator, Kinboat's Nieuport 17 and SE5a, Ripptide's Heinkel He-51.

BTW, the Cruiser should not be tagged Rotate Before Attack.

 

[The Omega]

I like the Russobalt. It kinda looks like something you'd see on a farm.

 

[Bluemofia]

Just finished as the company. Relitivly easy. (PG rating still)

Won in 11 days, by "space race". The only problem they have is the getting the ammo, but eventually they'll get it. (and conquer with SMGs!) When I got *****, they started to kill everything basically, and I had litttle need for black ops because I had about 50 ***** running around killing zombies. (slew 3 kings hiding in their capital. And those were the last 3)

The most difficult part (aside from the ammo) is the annoying zombies trekking through your land, and them hiding out in the suburbs. (so they get defense bonus, and immunity to the manbot, and Van Allen.)

Ok, tactics that I've figured out for all non-zombie civs:
Capture the Confrence place, because that stops the zombies from getting monsters.
Capture the armory as Authorities, and you are safe the rest of the game as long as the other factions are still alive. Then nuke wave them.

 

[Bluemofia]

And I just remembered.

The priest, if the zombies go before the survivors, is always dead. Because the priest is essentially right next to a zombie city, and with 1 defense, and 1 movement, is screwed.

Also, do the zombies use the detective person? Because when I captured the detective's place, I didn't find him. And when I sent in a spy, I couldn't find him anywhere. (so... Where is he?)

And I almost forgot.

The Wondersplash CinemaTheater.pcx is spelled wrong. Need to change it so it won't crash. (You spelled it as CinemaThearter.pcx, but the txt file wants CinemaTheater.pcx)

 

[Plotinus]

The WWI infantryman, and the armoured farm vehicle, are absolute genius. This whole thing is clearly going to be awesome.

 

[Vuldacon]

\Art\Units\romerozombie\gruñido01.wav
\Art\Units\zombiegun\gruñido01.wav
\Sounds\Ambience Sfx\Wolf1.wav
\Sounds\Ambience Sfx\Eagle.wav

and possibly the comer.wav file of the zombies too. Listen to them and tell me if I've just caught a slight tinnitus...

Wolfhart... Yes, I have been working on the Zombie sounds and just trying to get something to work better for the Run sound. Brains, Brains, Brains will drive me nuts lol. I have the timing of the unit set to walk not "slide" across the screen and have all new sounds. This will take care of the Romero and Alpha Zombie sounds.
As for the Ambience Sfx Wolf1 and Eagle sounds, I am not sure what you are getting there. The Eagle.wav is just the female screaming and is set very low. That works well the way I hear it in game. The Wolf1.wav is the "Moaning Zombies" type thing and it does play at different rates as all ambient sounds do in the game. It should not be loud or have high pitches though. You may need to update your sound card or cadecs. Go to the "Ambience Sfx" Folder and listen to the same .wav files. If they play poorly or with high pitch levels as you mentioned, you probably need to address your sound system.
Testers...Great Feedback You are catching many areas we will correct. This saves a tremendous amount of time for King Arthur and I and allows us to continue to complete more work as we correct the areas you find...Thanks!

Please Bear with me on unit sounds and know that I am aware that many need to be either corrected or remade. I just started on them after first working on the game graphics and yes, there is a little more to do there as well.That said, I do appreciate feedback concerning unit sounds because I will address those that have the most need first. I will be correcting the Military Zombie as soon as I send the new Romero Zombie sounds and .ini to King Arthur.
Keep up the Great Testing

 

[Wolfhart]

As for the Ambience Sfx Wolf1 and Eagle sounds, I am not sure what you are getting there. The Eagle.wav is just the female screaming and is set very low. That works well the way I hear it in game. The Wolf1.wav is the "Moaning Zombies" type thing and it does play at different rates as all ambient sounds do in the game. It should not be loud or have high pitches though. You may need to update your sound card or cadecs. Go to the "Ambience Sfx" Folder and listen to the same .wav files. If they play poorly or with high pitch levels as you mentioned, you probably need to address your sound system.

Now I've run the mentioned .wav files on four different comps; the first and basis of my hasty complaint being my trusty old stationary Civ3 PC, and possibly/probably in need of new soundcard. The other three being my two year old laptop, my new stationary (not to be loaded with Civ3 according to the wishes of she who owns my heart, who don't want it occupied) and my newly-updated workplace system. The gruñido01 plays poorly on all four, the Wolf1 on the two oldest, and the Eagle only on the oldest, so you're right and I take back my complaint about the ambience sounds.

Edit: the Heavy Infantry, the Tank and the Manbot all have a Bombard Range of 2. If they are supposed to do more than just defensive bombardment, which I'm guessing since you've checked the Bombard Fx for these, you need to check the Bombard box for each of them.
If you have unchecked Bombard for these for some game balance reason, please disregard my comment.

 

[The Omega]

Edit: the Heavy Infantry, the Tank and the Manbot all have a Bombard Range of 2. If they are supposed to do more than just defensive bombardment, which I'm guessing since you've checked the Bombard Fx for these, you need to check the Bombard box for each of them.
If you have unchecked Bombard for these for some game balance reason, please disregard my comment.

Actually, if you do that, the AI will be able to bombard with those units, but human players won't be able to.... (Cause the AI cheats....)

 

[Virote_Considon]

For another unit idea for Zeb, Wyrmshadow made a Combine Harvister over on evo games. It could replace the Mean Machine for them, and it'd have worker abilities, too.

 

[Vuldacon]

For another unit idea for Zeb, Wyrmshadow made a Combine Harvister over on evo games. It could replace the Mean Machine for them, and it'd have worker abilities, too.

Virote_Considon... Yes, Great Idea and I am sure that many other units can be found as well for the Farmer Faction. While I agree that the Farmers certainly can use more development, this Faction just became playable. Unless people want to wait at least an extra two months longer than will be required to complete the work we now have, the Farmers will be marked as a future update after the Release. They are playable now at least. Later there will be time to seriously develop them better and if it is still wanted, perhaps some Zombie Advisors or other additions for improvement as well.
King Arthur and I are completing what we now have for this Release especially since it is such a major amount of work and we want to have it completed as soon as possible.

Wolfhart...I am not sure if King Arthur wants those units with the Bombarment setting. I am sure he will answer this question.

 

[KingArthur]

re. bombardment by Heavy Infantry, Tanks and Manbot. I've been changing my mind back and forth about them. Thing is I don't want them to be too overpowered.

Maybe a range of 1 with NO lethal bombardment.

 

[KingArthur]

re. Farmers.
Any substantive changes made to The Farmers will take careful planning. I want to give them there own tech tree, unit line and some unique wonders/improvements. This will take time and is best left for a future update.

In the meantime keep the unit suggestions coming - that combine harvester is perfect and I never even knew that it existed. Love the other suggestions too.

 

[KingArthur]

And I just remembered.
Also, do the zombies use the detective person? Because when I captured the detective's place, I didn't find him. And when I sent in a spy, I couldn't find him anywhere. (so... Where is he?)

Hmm. Sounds like there's a mystery to be solved here. Best call on Sam Hammer. Oh, wait!

Seriously, when I've been testing I've always found him maybe I haven't flagged him against every faction? I'll look into it.