I'm SO close to jumping on this one however... I'm not entirely sure what I get for my money and what I get for further IAP's? There are just two IAP's? Which unlock two campaigns? How large are these campaigns compared to the one(s) that come with the initial purchase? What downloadable content is there and do I have to pay for this also? How much of the above is single-player? Thanks, Jamie.
You get 30 scenarios across 3 campaigns (10/10/10). There are three expansion campaigns (France/Market Garden/Sea Lion) which are 10 scenarios each I believe. And all user made scenarios are free to download. Cross platform play is available so you can play against any PC based opponent-there should be no shortage of opponents to play. If you have never played the game before and want to see what it plays like before dropping $20 you can always try the free demo. Also knowing Slitherine (a partner of Matrix Games) you needn't be worried about dropping $20 on this game and then seeing it for $4.99 a week later. I doubt this price will ever be dropped.
Yes, but those extension campaigns cost $10 each. So don't think you're getting those 3 with the game for $20. --DotComCTO
Hi guys to clarify for everyone. The base game includes * Tutorial Campaign with 2 scenarios. * Desert War Campaign 1941 with 11 scenarios. * Normandy Campaign 1944 with 10 scenarios * Battle of the Bulge Campaign 1944 with 9 scenarios. * Normandy Skimrish campaign - rebuild of the Normandy campaign but with a random selection AI units. * Allied & Axis Special operations missions. These are one off scenarios where enemy spawn and you have to survive as long as you can with no reinforcements. * User Content including 10 single player campaigns and 3 multiplayer missions. * 30 dedicated multiplayer missions The In App Purchases are $9.99 each. These are generally harder & larger scenarios. These contain new units and settings not covered in the base game. For example the German, British & French 1940's units, Paratroopers & supporting equipment, boats and commandos. * Blitzkrieg France 1940 - 9 missions * Operation Market Garden 1944 - 8 missions * Operation Sealion 1940 - 10 missions
To add even more detail to Iain's post, for those who are interested: - the Market Garden addon is a Carryover campaign, the missions are played in order, with surviving units from some scenarios carrying forward to others (the missions take you back and forth between fighting for survival as the airborne troops and trying break through with the advancing armour column). - all the expansions each include 4 or 5 additional multiplayer maps using their units and settings. Cheers Pip
Just to be clear, the various scenarios (included with game and IAP) have single player components, correct? Unlike many others, I do not play many real-time multiplayer games on my iPad, so I'm really interested in the single player aspect and how competitive the AI opponent is.
Yes - the 30 campaigns included in the main game are all single player, the multiplayer maps are additional. Each expansion then has a further ~10 single player maps and ~5 multiplayer maps using the new units, settings, etc. We recognise that the majority of players will be playing single player, and so the game has a ton of content for them. Multiplayer gets mentioned so often because it's very easy to play MP games, and a lot of people who try it out then end up addicted to it . Cheers Pip
I added it to the tasklist today, so definitely. Although I need to get an iPad3 first . I imagine we would turn back on the ground detail too as the iPad3 has a lot more graphical horsepower. Cheers Pip
I would recommend incorporating that list into your iTunes description, as that really shows your offering a lot of content in the base price.
Hey Pip; just a quick note from a new member here. I'm not quite an old fart (heh; give it a bit), and have been playing wargames in all forms since Tactics 2 (if anyone remembers that). Just picked up an iPad 3 today and thought you might want to know that I bought Battle Academy solely on Slitherine's reputation and association with Matrix Games. And I'll probably buy the extra campaigns when sober. By all means, when you can dedicate the time and resources to going 'retina' please do so. By the way, the game looks *very* nice played on a large screen HDTV. Tom (Oh what I would pay for a nice wargame of The Punic Wars on the iPad).
Question If i install a free game on my ipad and it has the full unlock inside as IAP. do i need to repurchase the full unlock if i remove the app from my ipad. or will i be able to just add it back to my ipad and redownload it without paying. help would be much appreciated.
No, everything you buy is available in the cloud. When you re-install you simply follow the same steps you used to buy the IAP content and instead of a dialog saying "buy xxxxx for $x.xx" it will say "you already own this item, download again for free?". Many apps have a "restore purchases" option in settings, but either way, once you have bought content, it is yours and can be uninstalled, reinstalled to your hearts content. This is NOT the case for some consumable IAP's such as "gold coins" "magic leafs" and stuff like that, and I can think of at least one app (Tank Battalion Blitz from Namco) that does requires you to manually back up your game and purchases to iTunes since what you get from the IAP is random everytime. In either case you are always better off backing up your device to a PC or MAC as well as using the cloud to redownload your stuff. Most PC's won't even notice 32gigs or so of iPad data on their HD. And I think many of us have experienced iTunes love of occasionally wiping out all your stuff when syncing for no apparent reason so back up are always smart.
Ok so as expected I took the plunge and bought this. As has been said already, this is a very professional product, looks great, plenty of style - and the gameplay is really excellent. It's definitely 'premium'. However for me there are a couple of issues: (1) I find the panning, zoom and rotate very unresponsive and quite 'jerky'. this is on a new iPad so I was quite suprised to find this. I'll try it on my old iPad 2 later to see how that fares. (2) I find the 'double click to select' mechanic inconsistent - sometimes I'll try to double click on a unit and the game thinks I'm trying to issue a command to an existing unit. This could just be me getting used to the game though, I guess. Anyway, it's definitely a 'keeper' and the content is very rich so far - nice work guys. Cheers, Jamie.
I'm finding the same as you, both items 1 and 2. 1) Hopefully they'll be able to smooth this out, and I also haven't found a consistent way to rotate yet. It seems to pan a bit, then zoom, then rotate once my fingers have moved almost a half a turn. 2) Two ways around this. Either always deselect the unit by tapping on its portrait before trying to select a new unit, or go to the options and click on "Enable Auto Deselect". Either method adds a few taps per turn, but cuts down on frustration significantly. Also: 3) I'm also finding that occasionally the map will suddenly shift all the way over to the south edge when I select a unit/order. I haven't noticed any pattern to it yet...has anyone else experienced this? 4) There seems to be some inconsistency with the Chance to Hit/Penetrate/Kill. For example I can target the front of a PzIV 4 squares away and have 19%/85%/16%, yet the rear of a PzIII 3 squares away shows 31%/0%/0%. And many times the target blows up even if I do take the shot even though it shows 0% chance to penetrate or kill. Technical issues aside it's been fun and mostly challenging so far. I'm on mission 9 of the Desert Campaign so far, and have had a tough time putting it down to get some actual work done around here.
