You can find the article here. I watched this video earlier in the day after booting up World of Warships. I normally watch these videos on youtube, but this time I got to listen to Wargaming justify themselves while enduring a pretty laggy in-game interface. I do agree with some of their points. I agree with most of them, actually. The problem is, it’s easy enough to agree with what someone says when they’re just explaining themselves. WG explains their process in a way anyone would agree with taken by itself, but when you have an impression of them formed over months or years of playing the actual game, you’re not going to have such a charitable interpretation of what they’re saying. A lot of people probably just rolled their eyes throughout the video, if they even made it that far.
Even if these videos don’t convince as many people as Wargaming would probably like, it’s good that they’re doing it. The players, myself included, were sick and tired of having random incidents come up and Wargaming putting out one of their scheduled promotional videos instead of addressing it first. It always looked really bad when those videos came out at the wrong time. Videos made in response to what the community is saying and not just promotional materials are just as important as the dev blog and other announcements formats. Any time a game company goes on the record with something, it’s a good thing. The more they say they do and say they will do, the more the players and their shareholders can hold them to that. The more vague and nebulous they are, the harder it is to pin them down on any one issue. In those cases it really does just come down to each side’s interpretation.
On that note, they also released this on the dev blog. They haven’t forgotten about their commitments, thank goodness.
Also, I’ve been thinking about the Black Friday sales coming up. I really, really want Yoshino B, not even a quarter as much as I wanted an Enterprise B, but as a coal ship, it would save me a very long grind to get the ship. I’m still leaning heavily against this Black Friday list of ships even though my personal beef with Wargaming is over, but that ship in particular really bothers me. I’d be having the same problem if the tier 10 ship was another coal ship like Immelmann or Marceau. I haven’t made a decision yet, frankly because that’s pointless before the sale actually goes up, but I’m still leaning no right now. I’m taking my thoughts down here just to be on the record as time goes on. It’s helpful to be able to look back and objectively see how things have changed.
I’m still pretty disappointed with the event though. Saipan B instead of Enterprise B? I can’t quite parse that one yet. Saipan isn’t a bad ship by any means, I just don’t understand. Enterprise B seemed like such an obvious move this year. Oh well.
The scouting variant of the Cosmo Messer I made is more or less finished barring some minor internal tweaks and systems for the second cockpit.
Since I probably won’t be making a Cosmo Zero or anything based on it anytime soon (maybe when I get around to another faction) I wanted to see how the color scheme looked on a Messer. I even threw in whatever those pod parts are the Zeros always carry. They had to go on the top instead of under the wings to save space for the landing gears and any potential heavy weapons, but it actually looks fine. This version of the ship doesn’t take up any more space on a dock or in a hangar than the slimmer base model. As long as everything stays within height and width dimensions without getting in the way of the landing gears, you can do a heck of a lot with this ship.
Internal thrusters remain a must whenever and however possible
This version of the Cosmo Messer is designated A.R. but I forgot what the acronym was for. It’s something reconnaissance related. This is a ‘cosmo’ version of a catapult launched recon plane or ‘spotting craft.’ It’s not meant to fight, but it’s as well armed as the base model and can be equipped the same as all the others if that’s needed. Naturally it’s got an extra camera in the front since the nose camera is actually for runway landings and has an obstructed upward view.
These long cylinders are recon pods with an extra camera, a spotlight, and two sensors on the back ends
Two sensors for two different search profiles; too bad their range is pathetic …
The sensors just didn’t look right mounted in the front, and I needed something to ‘cap’ the back ends of the pods, so this configuration worked. Plus, if a bigger spotlight was going to be going on the AR model, it should be on the front of a recon pod.
The second cockpit isn’t programmed yet, but its monitors are mostly done.
Next up is the Cosmo Stuka.
Not to be mistaken with the Snuka from Star Blazers (though credit for the inspiration where it’s due)
The DMB87 Snuka is based on the Ju-87 Stuka, and the Cosmo Stuka takes design cues from both
The Cosmo Stuka took surprisingly little time to build up to this point, and this monster is even more customizable than the Cosmo Messers. I call it a monster not because it can carry much, much heavier weapons than the Messers, but because this is a subgrid heavy ship. I nearly wound up with 10 subgrids when I decided to try to approximate the shape and angle of the rear stabilizers. That still left me with 8 subgrids in total, including the landing gears, which are two layers deep. I’ve done minimal testing with the Cosmo Stuka, but she can fly and maneuver well without upsetting Lord Clang too much. Every now and then there’s a hinge related noise I don’t like to hear, but no actual damage, drifting, or shaking. Like with any ship, it’s generally better to just not fly like a crazy person.
The Cosmo Stuka has some unique landing gears and enough room to mount numerous and devastating weapons
I hate the way they look, but in the end I decided to add a connector to the bottom of the ship. It can’t dock with the Heinrich with this connector due to the landing gear/pods, but any ship with enough room and a raised connector should fit just fine. Since the Stuka’s a fast bomber, any ship meant to carry it will have the raised connectors it needs for refueling and rearming. Also yes those are basically Jericho trumpets (stuka sirens) on the front of the landing gears. I had to.
Side profile
The cooling system, or in this case, some parts to disguise the internal hydrogen thrusters (faced forward), had to be kept slim and short to not get in the way of any ventral weapon mounts the ship might need. On an unrelated note, I like how the lancer turret (Akiad Defense mod) and the landing gears fit perfectly right at the center of the Stuka. That was my intention, but it wasn’t always looking to turn out that way. I had no idea how long or how short the ship was going to be while I was building it, so I kept the AR Messer nearby for reference. It couldn’t be shorter, but it couldn’t be too much longer, either.
The only visible rear thruster is a large one beneath a tail shroud.
The back end is the least interesting as far as I’m concerned and I’m likely to change it up a few times before I call it finished. It’s not bad for a first attempt, it just needs more work. I would like to keep it to being a single engine ship though. That’s a cue from the Stuka that needs to stay.
I don’t have any particular reason for putting two extra gyroscopes on the outside by the tailfins. They’re not helping or hurting the look so I left them on there. The maneuverability is right where I want it to be, so it’s easier than stuffing two more inside before I know where any extra internal thrusters might need to go. Then again, there’s plenty of room in the nose.
The paint schemes should be interesting
This has been a great challenge to get right, but the subgrids are working out. This thing will probably never be survival ready, but I still love it.
I had so many ideas for today but none of them quite panned out. Sometimes you need that extra day–or in this case, that extra evening–to make something come together.
On the bright side, with a few extra days, there’ll be plenty that’s ready to go. At the very least this week will have a Fleeing Victory #8 and some site updates.
It took me a while to get around to this, but I’m glad I did. Gundam Battle Operation Code Fairy is the latest Battle Operation title, and something I’ve been hoping Bamco would get around to for a long time. This type of game engine and style is perfect for PVE and Code Fairy proves it. CF also does a few other things while it’s at it.
STRAIGHT OUTTA SIDE 3
The Story
The story is typical of Gundam sidestories, and I mean that in a good way. Forming a squad of mostly fresh pilots and sending them out on missions is a classic approach and something Gundam rarely screws up, especially in the Universal Century timeline. I’ve got access to all three volumes, but I wanted to take a break after Volume 2 to get this first impressions post up while my thoughts on Volume 1 were still fresh.
The squad consists of Alma Stirner, the Raid type pilot that you control, Mia Brinkman, the General type pilot, and Helena Hegel, the Support type pilot. Alma gets in people’s faces and stun combos them to death, Mia lays down several different kinds of ranged argumentation, and Helena picks off stragglers with a sniper rifle. It’s the kind of well rounded team that reflects Gundam Battle Operation 2’s rock-paper-scissors mechanic perfectly.
To no one’s surprise, the new(est) girl, Alma Stirner, is slated for the position of team leader, more or less from the get go. I feel like the game is dropping little hints here and there that Alma could become a newtype, but that doesn’t always happen in these stories. Still, UC Gundam has trained my brain from youth to expect newtypes to blossom sooner or later.
Things start off in September of the year 0079, so well into the war and just as the White Base is starting to become a serious pain for Zeon in the original series. After the introductions–and I just say that ‘Killy’ is a hilarious name. I’m sad the CO isn’t piloting these days–we’re familiarized with the all too familiar controls and do some mock fights. The first real mission comes up afterward and I loved it.
See, Gundam, and UC in particular, has this thing about war that feels so ‘all aspect.’ We’re told that our base needs to stay hidden at all cost, so whatever units were just detected need to be discouraged from coming any closer or outright destroyed. It does not matter if they’re friendly units or not. That kind of mission, and one dropped on pilots like Alma, Mia, and Helena of all people, is really interesting. Imagine if your first mission involved firing on your own side. It was the right amount of tension and mystery to start things off. The Federation and Zeon are both kind of crazy at their core and the side stories in the UC timeline always make sure to touch on that when and where they can.
Fortunately for Noisy Fairy, what they thought was a friendly Zaku was anything but.
Aside: It may look strange, but having vulcans on one side is a real space saver.
So we started blasting. The Zakus went down. The tanks went down. The tension went down. It was a great time.
I will say that the individual volumes are way too short. There’s no way I can really justify the price point for the amount of content (story included) that’s here, but considering it was based off the engine of a free-to-play title, there was probably some kind of reasoning for it. Ideally, Code Fairy could have been the PVE portion of GBO2, an expansion, basically. The problem with that is that GBO2 is a free-to-play game. There aren’t even premium subscriptions like on some of today’s MMOs to help with upkeep. Recouping the cost of making this game without having it be a standalone title seems unlikely. As it stands you’re paying for a full priced game and getting 6 missions, some simulator extras, and a handful of short animations. They could definitely add more to this in the future if they want, so here’s hoping.
The Gameplay
The gameplay is already well established in GBO2, so it’s all around solid. The mobile suits play exactly the same here, so I picked up the controls almost instantly. The only thing that gave me trouble is the Y-axis controls, which I have inverted in most games. Yeah, I’m one of those guys. Anyway, once I got past the first tutorial fight I was able to change it and we were golden.
In GBO2 it’s next to exclusively Player vs Player, so the suits are balanced with that in mind, and most of the mechanics reflect the delicate balance of capturing, defending, or destroying key locations. You can also directly repair your mobile suit with a repair tool while you’re in the field.
In Code Fairy, all of this is simplified and rolled into one key feature: capture points. Once you hop out of your MS, you begin the capture process. When that’s done and you hop back in your suit, it will automatically start repairing.
There’s a limit to how much repairing can be done, and a percentage gauge will deplete from 100% to 0% as your HP goes up. It also works on your squadmates. I don’t have a good idea of how much you can repair at most, but I’m guessing at least one full repair and maybe some extra. Again, I haven’t gotten a good fix on this or done any testing. All I know is that, while repairing per capture point is limited, it’s very generous.
Like GBO2, Code Fairy’s fights boil down to piling on as much damage as possible before the enemy’s I-frames kick in, and being ready to repeat the process as soon as those I-frames stop. Since it’s PVE and not PVP, the enemies are hopelessly predictable. That doesn’t mean it’s always a cakewalk. In Volume 2 I ran into some trouble when these hopelessly predictable mobs tried to pile up on me the same way players would. Support types can be difficult if they’re up on a perch; they will not hesitate to shoot you in the face while you’re climbing up after them.
Never underestimate the high ground.
The Graphics
I have this game for PS4 and it looks great for what it is. More importantly, it looks exactly how Gundam is supposed to look. The way the human character models are rendered is different from GBO2 but I’d say that’s a good thing. CF’s characters are more vibrant and lively. In hindsight, I wish they’d gone with this stylized look from the start. They look a lot better than the uncanny, almost-not-quite realistic look of GBO2’s character models. There’s also a touch of Valkyria Chronicles in Code Fairy here and there.
The mobile suits all move perfectly considering what they are. These things weigh 100 tons and you can feel that weight being expertly balanced by the UC’s cutting edge technology. The animations are just as smooth as before, and the addition of cutscenes really shows how expressive the models can be. Honestly, I’ve never seen such ‘cutesy’ Zakus before (mainly Alma and Mia). No not even ‘Lacus Clyne’s’ pink Zaku Warrior holds a candle to the Fairies.
Simulator and Data Link
The simulator has three modes, Situation, Cost Match, and Training. I haven’t had time to really break into this, but after the story missions, I think this will be one of Code Fairy’s main draws. Cost Match is simpler and more reminiscent of GBO2’s PVP matches. The units you can use are restricted by their point cost. Simple as that. Training is just the tutorial mock battles from the story. You can replay them to brush up on the controls or certain mechanics.
You can also link your GBO2 save data with CF. The only point of doing it (as far as I can tell) is to get the CF units, but that beats the crap out of an event gacha in GBO2. I’m so glad they didn’t do that for Code Fairy’s release.
The Characters
I’ll end this first impressions with some of the characters. I can’t say there are any duds in the cast, but I’m slow to make those kinds of judgements with how little screentime there is to go around. Part of the reason I’m only covering some of the characters is because there’s almost nothing I can say about some of the others until I’ve seen more of them. That’s just how it goes sometimes.
Alma: Interestingly, while Alma gets the most screentime, I can’t say she’s the most interesting overall. For me that’s got to be her CO, Killy Garret. As for Alma, she’s fun. Energetic, reactive, always ready to get in and get her hands dirty. I used to picture raid type pilots as edge lords, but Alma’s showing me a brighter, cuter alternative. She also keeps the tension down so I’m not constantly on guard for sudden tragedy and character deaths … so if CF decides to spring that on us later it’s going to hit like a truck.
Mia: She’s not just a pilot, she’s an engineer from Zimmad. That’s definitely going to be important later, if it isn’t already. As for her personality, she’s shy but excitable. She’s also noticeably responsible, seeing how she tried to take the blame for her slow reaction time during an important phase of an escort mission. Given the circumstances, she did fine. Like Alma said, everyone survived so it’s all gravy. Also, can I just say how hilarious it is for this girl to have so much firepower bolted onto her Zaku and still be carrying auxiliary equipment like the ground sonar? It’s hilarious.
Helena: The most experienced of the current pilots, and the only one prior to their formation that had seen actual combat. Helena’s not too quick to trust Alma, Noisy Fairy’s team leader, but she also wasn’t too miffed about the appointment itself. Once Alma proves herself, Helena moves on to ‘other’ matters that could use some work, like Alma’s conduct outside of battle. Honestly I think Alma riding the Gallop like a giant turtle was adorable. Anyway, while Helena’s normally all business, she’s usually got some good commentary to go along with whatever’s happening. She’s also a great shot. Just stay out of her line of fire. You’ve been warned.
Killy: She’s a gentle but strong presence in Noisy Fairy, always ready to bear the burden of any questionable actions the fairies have to take in battle. I get the feeling she’s a true Zeon, and by that I mean someone who genuinely believes in Zeon’s cause and hopes the Zabi family can bring it all to fruition. She’s also the most interesting character to me so far because not only did she used to be a pilot herself, but that past is having a huge effect on how she views Alma, Mia, and Helena. She’s not just trying to make sure she trains them well enough to survive the war, but she’s thinking very long term, if only vaguely. She’s a big sister type in the foreground, giving lots of leeway and guidance, and a battle mom in the background, making sure everything runs smoothly.
I’ll find some time to go through Volume 3 next week and do a follow up to this post. As for my overall first impressions? Pretty good. I hope they keep coming out with more content for Code Fairy.
Seriously, come on.
A special thanks to Sunday, the best day of the week for all things random.
Nothing noteworthy was finished in time for today’s post, but tomorrow’s a Sunday and that’s always got potential.
A while back I posted some pictures of the Prinz Heinrich (inspired by the one-off cruiser, not the battleship from WoWs) and it was coming along nicely. Since it was based on the D-37 Timberwolf, the interior was already a solid design. I never dared to change it too much until recently. While I was updating the ventral section, something finally snapped and I decided to strip out the ship’s interior entirely and try to see if I could improve it. Now it’s not something I would consider an improvement over the vanilla version of the Timberwolf, but it’s surprisingly roomy by comparison. The only reason I attempted this was because of a passage ways mod that has both open and enclosed block types. It’s perfect for maximizing the interior space of a ship while hiding most conveyors.
Something else snapped while I was redoing the interior of the ship and I wound up adding a larger super structure, stripping all the weapons, redesigning entire parts of the hull, particularly the bow section, and I referenced one of the Halo ships on the Space Engineers workshop to experiment with some subgrids. I rarely have any luck trying to incorporate subgrids, but lately hinges have been surprisingly reliable and stable. I won’t touch piston bases for any reason, not even to make an spacecraft catapult, but the hinges are fine, rotors are good if used sparingly, and piston heads make good decoration. The only rotor in use right now is for a combination search unit (sensor, spotlight, and camera).
The hinges being used have extra armor attached to them. The ship’s a bit heavier than it should be but I’ll make a sweep sometime and cut back on parts where I need to. Greeble can sometimes help with that. Normally the hinged parts are fixed but there are two sets in the back that are designed to fold and rotate to put the armored wings in different configurations. It looks really nice, but it’s also kind of insane for one of my builds. The term ‘unique armored cruiser’ fits Heinrich perfectly now.
I’ll try to find the time to finish up the major changes so I can put up a guided tour video along with some screenshots. There’s also a new Cosmo Messer variant (a scout) that comes with it. The Heinrich can carry two of them, one internally and one near the stern.
