FEEDBACK on Vbros packs 1, 4 and 5.
(Impressions after extensive testing)
OVERVIEW
Pack 1 is all about firearms, with action placed mostly in the 18th century. As hand-held arms, British have muskets and grenades, Canadians rifles, Pirates pistols, shotguns and bombs, and Westerners six-shooter Colts. British, Canadians and Pirates have cannons, and Western Gatling guns.
Pack 4 is wholly 21st century. Men are colonizing the moon, martians have arrived--and are not friendly--, and even our old faithful desktop computers are claiming for their long-forgotten rights. As usual, we have to rely on the US army to save the world.
Pack 5 will give old-time megaglesters a feeling of deja-vu. We come back to classic battles with swords, axes, arrows... New factions are always welcome, but with these old friends we will not find a lot of novelty.
ABOUT PACK 1
Firearms:
Although I personally admit a certain weakness for melees with cold steel only, guns get the upper hand as regards sound. A battle with dozens—-or hundreds-- of shots and the boom of cannons is satisfactory in itself, no matter what happens with the contenders. In these battles, units without firearms look a little pitiful, with their role limited to being cannon fodder.
Authenticity (for the historical minded):
Both British and Pirates are credible, although I would say that British are the absolute champions. Infantrymen carry muzzle-loading muskets, grenadiers and sabermen fit perfectly the epoch, cannons are also muzzle-loading, there are cauldron-like mortars (presumably firing grapeshot), and a curious weapon called Puckle gun. This was an advanced semi automatic gun that had no success at the time because of production problems. In the game, though, production goes flawlessly and it is a very useful unit in battle. Still keeping in good terms with history, if britishers want to fly they resort to hot-air balloons. Everything strictly in order.
Pirate units are also within logic: wooden legs, knives, cutlasses, all the firearms of the time, we can even believe in their improbable glider. There are no animal lovers among pirates, so we don't find any beast here-—not even the occasional parrot. And we have to accept their stranded ship by imagining that a tempest has run it aground and wrecked it. The history is not bad: without a ship they have to adapt to a life of plunder on dry land.
The other factions are not so strict. Western, for example, have golems called sand-monsters, and show a queer taste by feeding on big orange scorpions. Also, they have bankers who go to battle tossing coins (think of a banker throwing money away!). Gatling guns should be machine guns, but in the game they work as cannons. And I would lower the range of their six-shooters: the Colt was always a short-range weapon. The main AA defense is, of all things, a bush weed, and hardly visible at that. On the plus side, the outlaws: it is credible that, faced to upcoming battles, westerners open the jail and let out the prisoners expecting them to give a hand. And also plausible that those prisoners are kept with a steel ball chained to their ankles. We don't want them to flee, do we. Pity that with the ball the poor jailbirds are so hampered that they fall easy prey to any enemy with a firearm.
Canadians are not absolutely unbelievable, but, well, a little strange they are. We see them pictured here as exceedingly friendly: they not only have allies like iroquois indians and inuit, but have been also capable of convincing grizzly bears, geese, seals and beavers to help them (besides the more conventional horses and dogs). By the way, bears are really useful in battle, and it is the Inuit who tame them.
Relative strength:
In my tests, pirates seem the strongest, while canadians come out as the weakest faction in this pack.
ABOUT PACK 4
Of the four factions in the pack, USA looks almost real, Moon is credible, and the other two total phantasy. Martians is childish (only my own personal opinion, gentlemen), and PC, although carefully and lovingly designed, fails to attract interest. These bits and pieces of electronics are too lifeless to gain our sympathy.
USA is quite good. We have a lot of interesting units, with a busy uncle Sam producing soldiers of various flavors, tanks and fighter jets, and then fighting himself in his spare time. There are upgrades with such enticing names as “freedom”, “right to vote”, “patriots”... Even the food has turned into “patriotism”! More puzzling is the possibility of building several White Houses or having multiple presidents. Well, it is only a game.
A negative trait is the lack of faction colour. When playing with two or more USA armies on the map there is no way to tell them apart, so it is best to avoid this case.
Moon explorers should be played in their own tileset and at low speed (if you are patient), to simulate low-gravity conditions. It is obvious that extra care has been taken in crafting this faction, with its well-designed buildings and its many original fighting units: we have plasma gunners who shoot blueish bubbles, warriors with swords of light, static particle cannons, mobile AA guns, armed buggies, tanks, shuttles... even a long-range missile launcher, the use of which is not very clear. But, in general, all weapons are a little short of punching power. When pitted against the Martians--their logical foe-- our good Mooners are easily beaten by the alien stronger warriors.
And, again, colour is a problem, as only one of the moon units wears a coloured detail to show its faction.
ABOUT PACK 5
Goths are the dear old Dark Knights with some minor touches: here priests can shoot hugely satisfactory bursts of energy, there is no boss (the Dark Knight), and the riders have longer range in their attack. I have not been able to spot any other difference.
The Barbarians give the impression of a melting pot: there are many similarities to the megapack Indians (killer bulls, fire archers, axe throwers, stick fighters, bonfire), while from the Romans they have borrowed the battering ram—-as big, unwieldy and ineffective in battle as the original--, and a static catapult called fire launcher, heir of the ballista, as well as new batches of axemen and swordsmen. In short, Barbarians is perfectly playable, but adds little new to previous factions.
Aztec have some more interest. To begin with, the AI loves them. In all my tests one-on-one with CPU control they have made short work, not only of the other factions in pack 5, but of every one of the factions in packs 1, 2 and 4, as well as of the strongest in megapack. Under human control it may be another thing, of course, but there is no denying that these Aztec must have something. Production is fast, and in battle they behave efficiently. As compared with previous similar factions: No cavalry units, true to history, but there are golem and blow-pipe warriors. We have pretty damsels called “herbalist”, and of course, the Jaguar. It is an awful design, like a drawing by a six-year old, but it helps a lot to win battles.
TRIVIA
Cannons of the pirates show a distinctive splash when fired, while the british and canadian cannons do not. Probably the pirates fire explosive grenades while the others fire round shot or grape.
The explosive barrel of the pirates, when shot from long range simply vanishes. But if attacked closely, it explodes and kills the attackers. Cunning trap.
The British workers can learn to build a hand cart, and this helps them to carry much bigger loads when harvesting. A great idea. And the Moon people have carried it a little further by building a mining robot.
In Aztec, USA, and Pirates, as well as the obvious Moon and Martians, food is produced without animals that get in the way (thanks!).
The Western Banker attacks by throwing coins and bills. Improbable as it may seem, the effect on the enemy is devastating.
British are best played under the red colour, so as to properly show the soldiers redcoats. If Canadians are in the same game we have a problem, because their mounted police would need also the red.
The missile launcher of the Mooners has a range of 500! But it does not shoot where you would want: it follows its own will, and sends its missiles where it pleases.
Units left (forgotten?) in the factions, with no command or function related to them:
In Barbarians a unit called “food”
In Aztec, “advanced_architecture”, “barracks”, “cow” and “cheif”.
In Pirates, “Docks”, “worker”, “treasure chest”, “pirate ship”, “long boat”.
In Canadians, “cargo_ship”.
