I'm rank 7 now, and I'm starting to win more frequently. In fact, I just beat someone ranked 1.
So I know I must be starting to do some things right... or there are a number of people who have collectively decided that I deserve to finally win a few matches.
Here is the deal:
I am starting to notice more and more that controls and their effects aren't always entirely reliable/intuitive.
Ex. I rally to a point, and I call reinforcements to an army, and then units go walking off on their own to an unknown destination.
Ex. I bring planes to a spot, and they go flying off to the side.
Ex. I direct my units to attack a particular node, and they instead attack a different node that is nearby (or split their attention).
Ex. I try to group units, and it fails.
Ex. I queue engineers to do things (shift key), and they stop what they are doing to move on to next item, with current building unfinished.
Ex. I call for reinforcements, and they never seem to arrive.
Ex. I group up a bunch of units that are split between two locations (locations A and B ), and although I subsequently click to bring all the units to location B, the units that are already at Location B turn around and head back to Location A... and no matter how many times I re-click, the units keep heading back towards Location A. (I do understand why, but this behavior still seems exceptionally counter intuitive, suggesting that maybe movement logic should be reconsidered)
Ex. I click to retreat, and some or all of my troops just keep plowing forward into the enemy.
Ex. I click to attack, and a couple of my units just freeze at a distance and don't move in.
I mean, I constantly find myself re-clicking units and buildings to ensure that everything is doing what I want...
Part of the problem seems to be that the tutorials left some things vague, and the controls and behaviors of units are a bit shady/misunderstood.
And part of the problem is that everything happens in slow motion, and it is like everything is a delayed reaction.
And part of the problem is that there is not always a responsive cue (although there is in many circumstances, but not all).
In a strategy game, I want to know that when I have clicked something, I can RELY on that click.
I want to know the game understood and received my click.
Controls need to be reliable... EVERY TIME.
For me, reliability of controls, and ability to anticipate results intuitively, are a minimum expectation of every game.
This aspect of the game needs to feel really tight.
Anything less feels a bit amateurish, however amazing the other features and characteristics of the game.
Until this aspect of the game gets fixed - or at least clarified - the game is definitely still awesome, and still roughly playable, but it is also still sub par IMO.
The way things stand, it doesn't feel like I really have solid control.
It just feels periodically inconsistent, occasionally unpredictable, and therefore glitchy, in a not-always-so-good way.
Sometimes it seems more like I'm strategically herding cattle (cats?) with minds of their own.
In fairness, a lot of the clicks do work exactly the way I expect...
And no.. I haven't counted how many times I am having issues in each game, but it's enough to motive this post.
... and I do think the scenarios above will be familiar to a lot of people.
I still love the game... and there is a lot of be thrilled with.... so I hope this aspect improves soon.
I mean... I was on throughout the weekend, and noted that the highest number of people I saw in "General" was 30 players.
So maybe I am not alone in what I am seeing?
Could this be something that is turning some people off?
