rjung@castor.usc.edu (Robert Jung) (04/10/88)
In article <2327@cadnetix.COM> pem@cadnetix.COM (Paul Meyer) writes: > The documentation also suffers from overportability in one >annoying respect: like games such as recent Ultimas and the Bard's >Tales, the manual is non-system-specific. Unlike the others I >mention, the machine-specific stuff is NOT included on a separate >reference card--it is simply omitted. This means there are NO SCREEN >PICTURES and NO DIAGRAMS OF WHAT TERRAIN TYPES AND OBJECTS LOOK LIKE. >Playing the third scenario that comes with the game, I found myself >trying to pick up every piece of machinery on the map because I didn't >know what a datapack looked like (though once I'd found one I >understood it immediately--it looked like a disk). While I agree about the lack of diagrams as a problem with the BREACH manual, I disagree about your "lack of system specificity" [whatever] comment. The manual that came with my ST version of BREACH specifies what menus to click, what keys to press, whatever for both the Mac and the ST variations... Maybe you have a later/earlier printing? By the by, the manual isn't very well-written. Took me three passes to finally figure it all out. > One of the best things about Breach is the Scenario >Builder--after you've played some of their canned scenarios, you can >begin creating and trading your own. This is where the limits on >opponents and objects get irritating. I started a medium-sized >scenario, based on a situation in a popular SF book already treated in >a wargame. I laid out most of the terrain and enemy base, and went >back to put in the guards and base population. Oops, more than 40 >enemies already! I hadn't even gotten to where 2/3 of the prisoners >were to be! I laid out the soldier's starting equipment and started >placing some supplies to be raided from the enemy base, and oops, more >than 30 objects at the point where I started to place the first third >of the prisoners! D**n! Maybe the limits are to prevent overzealous players from making "monster" games? I haven't run across any limit errors in my scenarios yet; Maybe you're just too ambitious. (On a side note, what would be nice is a scenario-encoding format that allows people of machine A to use scenarios from machine B. Playing your own scenarios is dead boring, and not all of your friends might have the game. Omnitrend does release BREACH Scenario Disks, however...) > Breach: > game: 8/10; Mac implementation: 9/10 ST implementation: 9/10 (Are there any other formats out there?) --R.J. B-) <=====================================><=====================================> Disclaimer: These ideas are all mine! Mineminemineminemineminemineminemine! Send e-junk-mail through Bitnet to rjung@castor.usc.edu