Management / Sim Carrier Command 2

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

https://tallyhocorner.com/2021/08/3x3-4/

Carrier Command 2

Where’s my crew of able androids? Why, in the year NEARFUTURE, are none of my war machines fitted with night vision cameras? How come my carrier is capable of 90 knots while the amphibious vehicles it disgorges dawdle to shore like clapped-out AAVs? Why has that enemy warship decided to go lounge on a beach mid-skirmish? Why can’t I drag-select groups of units on the nav map? Am I missing Hostile Waters’ soul chips as much as I think I am?

I’m three hours into MicroProse’s Carrier Command sequel and the nagging questions are mounting up like bladderwrack on a storm-pounded Cornish beach.

Right now, the novelty, tactical freedom and splendid GPU-gentle visuals, are keeping my enthusiasm levels high, but, if the niggles continue to accrue at their current rate, full-blown malaise by Monday morning is by no means out of the question.

Carrier Command 2, like its Eighties inspiration, is a sim-RTS hybrid in which capturing islands with the replenishable contents and appendages of a futuristic flat top is the name of the game. Every randomly placed, procedurally generated archipelago has its own topography and defences, and, once conquered, grows your tech tree in a different manner.

Naturally, you’re always sharing the map with at least one silicon adversary, and that carrier owner is just as interested in acquiring beachfront real-estate as you are.

The virtual ship’s bridge you exit at your peril is both a delight and an irritant. Lined with usable stations, flickable switches, and functioning monitors, it implies that the game’s aggro arcs were never meant to be operated by lone defrosted mercs like your good self. Whereas the Rainbird original let you wage war from a single well-organised control console…

…in CC2 – assuming you don’t multiplay – you’re very much a blue-buttocked fly. WASD hither, press this. WASD thither, press that. The captain’s throne with nearby holo-map that should be tailor-made for solo players, is, in fact, little more than a posing/pondering plinth.

If the game was less bridge-focused, and units were more street/strait-wise, first-person excursions in winged and wheeled death-dealers would be more tempting.

As things stand, spending prolonged periods away from your floating nerve centre, is asking for trouble. A lot can go awry in the time it takes to personally deliver a Razorbill’s bomb-load, or pulverise a vehicle column with a Seal’s main gun.

Turning a blind-eye to the UI and AI shortcomings would be significantly easier if there was an Early Access banner on the Steam page or a “PLANNED IMPROVEMENTS” post in the official forum. It’s hard to believe that MicroProse Mk II would let a game with Carrier Command 2’s potential to please, sail into the sunset with “CAVEAT EMPTOR” daubed on its flight deck, but right now there’s no evidence to suggest they won’t.

 

[Galdred]

My concern is that I could basically make any of these games within Arma 3, and it would be better in terms of tanks, choppers, planes, weapons, AI, pathfinding, UI, graphics, etc..etc. It wouldn't be much fun without the framework though, the feeling of progression etc. But it bothers me that the actual mechanics are already here and good and have been for decades.

Wasn't Carrier Command: Gaean Mission actually made on an Arma Engine?
It was quite fun, but had a ton of AI issues (like rovers being unable to drive on 95% of the islands, as they featured a lot of elevation and trees...).

 

[anvi]

Not sure what engine they used, but yeah it was the Arma company, and it's a shame about the various problems. I had some fun with it but it was pretty shallow and repetitive too. It's frustrating because you could make much better within the Arma games but for some reason they don't do it themselves.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

https://store.steampowered.com/news..._medium=tweet&utm_campaign=twitter-2021-09-18

Update - 17 Sept 2021 Fixes and Improvements

Dear Players,

Today we release v1.0.18. Please see the change notes below for a full list of changes.

While our day-to-day and week-to-week updates have been entirely focused on quality improvements and fixes, we are planning to release new features in larger feature updates, and have already been working on new features for Carrier Command.

Initially, these features will probably focus on important reworks and updates to existing systems rather than adding new systems or components. In particular, we are interested in looking at the inventory system and barges which players have given us a lot of feedback on, as well as general game balance.

We have also been in conversations with CC2 modders and are discussing integrating some of the best mod content into the base game as well as how we can best support further modding for the future. We have already been updating the moddable APIs in these regular updates to help modders do more. We are trying to have these conversations on the public issue tracker so it is transparent and open to all players. Feel free to read what is going on and even get involved in the conversations!

We look forward to hearing your feedback on this new update!

Much love <3,

The Carrier Command Developers

Spoiler

v1.0.18

Fix - Fixed softlock if disconnected from a server while using a vehicle camera
Fix - Fixed z-fighting on countermeasure arm button
Fix - Clients no longer get stuck in a black screen if disconnected from a server when using a vehicle camera
Fix - Fixed mesh for 160mm gun not being capped causing it to be see-through
Fix - Fixed being able to hear outside audio when standing in the corners of some rooms on the carrier
Fix - Fixed carrier physics so that players can't fall through the carrier if walking out of the air hangar while the elevator is up
Fix - Fixed carrier engine RPM and audio not being affected by running out of fuel
Fix - Carrier fuel gauge changes color as fuel level decreases and fuel valve indicators switch off
Fix - Chaingun attachments no longer continue to fire on clients if docked with the carrier during an attack order
Rework - CIWS guns now do reduced damage to non-air vehicles
Rework - Removing vehicles and attachments from bays will restock the items even if the carrier's inventory capacity is then exceeded
Feature - Added multiplayer client UI that displays the connection timeout status if the server stops responding for more than 5 seconds

 

[agris]

Anyone playing this? How's it shaking out? On release, I got the impression that it was a game really designed for co-op and that the UI was woefully inadequate for single player, maybe just inadequate in general.

other than UI issues, is the gameplay loop fun? it sounds fun on paper, being able to command all these various vehicles while also acting as the nerve center for a carrier group.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1489630/view/5520845108874665451

Major Update 1 - The Logistics, Mouse Control and Modding Update - Out Now!

Dear Players,

Major Update 1 is out now!

In Major Update 1, we have added mouse control support for flying aircraft (with customization), new modding features, and completely reworked the logistics system and economy balance.

These new updates are in response to the biggest and most requested changes to the game by the community (via the official issue tracker), and inspired by the incredible mods being created by the community.

We are really pleased with how this major update has turned out, with many aspects of playing the game being dramatically improved. The game is now much more balanced, the logistics system is much easier to use and more effective, and the aircraft are so much more fun to fly. We hope you enjoy the changes and look forward to your feedback!

There has been no shortage of quality suggestions and requests - we would have loved to add many more of the fantastic player suggestions that have been submitted. However, there is only so much time in a day and it is a matter of ordering the most important changes first. Rest assured, we will continue to develop future updates and we look forward to working with the community and continue to improve and support Carrier Command 2.

There are so many possibilities for what could be next. More modding and workshop support? Improved AI? Public server lists? Please let us know your thoughts on what should be prioritized by posting suggestions on the official issue tracker, and placing stars on your favourite suggestions.

See the full changes in the patch notes below.

Enjoy this new update!

Much love <3,

The Carrier Command Developers

Spoiler

v1.1.1

Feature - Added mouse controls for flying aircraft with several options to suit different preferences, including:
- Continuous motion or offset from center of screen
- Mouse controls yaw/pitch or roll/pitch
- Invert X/Y control
- X/Y sensitivity (for continuous motion mode)
- UI options to enable/disable mouse joystick visualisation on aircraft HUD
Feature - Completely overhauled aircraft physics to be more responsive, easier to handle and generally more fun
Feature - Overhauled barge logistics management and economy
- Players now have more direct control over where barges go and what they do by setting waypoints
- Improved logistics screen UI that makes it easier to track what barges are doing
- Increased overall barge inventory capacity
- Many rebalances to item costs and production times
- Rebalanced currency awarded for destroying enemy vehicles and capturing islands
- Items can be discarded from the carrier's inventory without waiting for barges to collect them
- Logistics screen now displays barge hitpoints
Feature - Officially integrated some features from QuantX's CC2 UI Enhancer mod
- Holomap
- Cursor position is visible to other players in multiplayer
- Holding interact and moving cursor lets you take bearings, measure distances and indicate direction to other players
- Island names/difficulties/factories displayed
- Cursor coordinates displayed in bottom left corner
- Vehicle Control Screen
- Added option to enable/disable grid overlay
- Hovering air vehicle waypoints displays their altitude
- Propulsion Screen
- Added an overview of aircraft that are taking off/landing/taxiing
- Navigation Screen
- Added option to enable/disable island names
Feature - Improved screen modding support
- When connecting to a multiplayer game, clients automatically download modded screen scripts so all players are in sync
- Running the game with "-dev" command line argument enables realtime file updating for screen script files
Feature - Vehicles remember which bay they were last docked with on the carrier and try to dock in the same bay if available when returning
Rework - Removed manual control from artillery cannon attachment - this attachment is now for remote support only
Fix - Fixed screen brightness not loading with saved game
Fix - Using mouse to pan map screens around now has consistent behaviour across all map screens (vehicle control, logistics, holomap)
Fix - Moving mouse offscreen no longer causes maps/scrollbars to jump around when dragging

 

[Galdred]

Anyone playing this? How's it shaking out? On release, I got the impression that it was a game really designed for co-op and that the UI was woefully inadequate for single player, maybe just inadequate in general.

other than UI issues, is the gameplay loop fun? it sounds fun on paper, being able to command all these various vehicles while also acting as the nerve center for a carrier group.

I read the review in a French paper magazine (Canard PC), and it was rated 8 out of 10, but with friends, and the reviewer said it was an amazing co-op experience, but a lot of it was lost in SP.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1489630/view/5297923907235584385

Announcing Major Update 2 - Releasing on 21st February 2022!

Dear Players,

Major Update 2 is nearly here, and includes the new modding development kit, Steam Workshop support, and player manufacturable and controllable fleet ships!

The Modification Development Kit


We are extending modding support in Carrier Command 2 to include the ability to mod 3D models, textures, shaders, audio, localization, as well as the existing script modding. In Major Update 2, the game will include the complete development kit for creating these new types of mods, including the source assets, a simple compiling tool, the modification developers manual, and new in-game UI for activating and uploading mods to the Steam Workshop.

This is all in response to the huge levels of interest that players have shown to modding, with some players already putting huge effort and time into creating mods, and many mods already available. The new development kit will make more possible, and everything easier.

This new modding support will enable various new types of cosmetic game modding. This is the second big modding update we are pushing and will continue to listen to players and modders for what other types of support they would like to see next.

Steam Workshop Support


With Steam Workshop support, it will be much easier to share and download mods. You will be able to browse, subscribe, comment and vote up modifications.

It is also a much safer way to get mods, with Carrier Command 2 only allowing specific files to be modded, such as the textures, meshes, and audio. The scripting files are already sandboxed for safety.

Downloading and installation of mods is automatic, and there is convenient in-game UI for selecting and activating the mods you want to use.

Fleet Ships


We are adding the ability for fleet ships to be manufactured and controlled by both the player and AI teams. This is a very popular and frequent request from players and we are very excited to add this.

In Major Update 2, you can manufacture several loadout variants of the smaller fleet ship from your drydock. These ships are controllable from the map with waypoints, and can also be navigated from first person. They can be equiped with several loadouts, including the main artillery gun, cruise missiles, anti-air missiles, and CIWS.

These ships can also be assigned to support the carrier, in which case they take up vic formation. Note that their engines are less powerful than the carriers, and the fleet can only travel at the speed of it's slowest member.

Fleet ships resupply from the carrier when in proximity. This this visible on the map where you can see the mechanism and the resupply state.

The enemy AI will also manufacture fleet ships, which will also assist in capturing islands and fighting the other carrier teams, so expect carrier duels to have a new dynamic, with more firepower on the battlefield.

We have also been making various bug fixes and improvements with the upcoming release. Today we release hotfix v1.1.4 with several fixes to enemy aircraft and airfield behaviour, but we have continued to make improvements and expect all enemy airfield issues will be resolved in major update 2.

We are very excited to share this major update soon and thank all our players for the feedback and support.

Much love <3,

The Carrier Command Developers


v1.1.4
Fix - Fixed enemy aircraft not considering air/sea targets as valid when docking in a hangar.
Fix - Fixed island aircraft docking and operation states not being updated to correct states during dock/undock.
Fix - Increased enemy aircraft detection range and fixed aircraft not launching from hangar.
Known Issue - In some situations, enemy aircraft may have issues taking off from airfields. However these are fixed in v1.2.0.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

https://store.steampowered.com/news..._medium=tweet&utm_campaign=twitter-2022-02-18

Launch Party Live Stream! (21st February - Stream: 1600 UTC, Release: 1700 UTC)

Dear Players,

Carrier Command 2 Major Update 2 - The Steam Workshop and Modding Update - is coming on Monday the 21st February at 1700 UTC!

Please join us one hour before for the launch party live stream, where we will be deploying our own fleet of ships as we battle the enemy fleet, as well as making a simple mod to show how the new modding and steam workshop support works. We will also be chatting to players, answering your questions, talking about this new update, and what could be next!

Thank you to all the players who have already been creating incredible modifications and those who have inspired this update or made suggestions on the official issue tracker!

We can not wait to see what creations and content the community create with these new tools, and we are looking forward to the player feedback on what we have been working on the past few months.

See you on Monday!

Much love <3,

The Carrier Command Developers

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1489630/view/3209389788146203438

Major Update 3 - The Dedicated Servers & Server List Update - OUT NOW!

Dear Players,

Major Update 3 is out now!

In this major update, we have added:

Dedicated Servers


We now include a new dedicated server with Carrier Command 2, and you can set up your own server by following the dedicated servers guide.

Public Server List


You can now browse and join public servers from the game (main menu > multiplayer > public games) and also from the Steam server browser that is built into Steam.

Mods-Over-Wire


Servers can now be modded, and mods are shared automatically when you join a server. Modded servers show an icon in the server list so you can tell which servers are modded. Only certain files can be modded and the game scripts are all sandboxed to help protect players security.

These are frequently requested new features by the community, and an obvious next step for Carrier Command!

We hope you enjoy this new update and we look forward to supporting players more in the future with another major update and other improvements already in the works!

See you in the public servers!



Much love <3,

The Carrier Command Developers

v1.3.0

Feature - Added dedicated server program for hosting public servers (see http://geometa.co.uk/wiki/carrier_command_2/view/dedicated_servers)
Feature - Added public server browser
Feature - Added in-game text chat box
Feature - Server mods are downloaded on clients when joining a game
Rework - Mods are no longer loaded on the main menu (except for translations)
Rework - Modding enabled for game objects and tile definitions
Rework - Rebalanced CIWS ammo capacity

 

[Hag]

The infamous Grim Reapers team, known mostly for their extensive DCS videos are now playing some Carrier Command 2 campaigns :



Good intro to the game. It is looking quite fun actually for coop play with a good balance between arcade and sim, although it may lack some complexity for endgame, at least against AI. Does make for some impressive fights though. The second ongoing campaign may end in PVP, should be quite the show.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1489630/view/3681168956373385213

Major Update 5 - The Carrier Fleet Update - OUT NOW!

Dear Players,

The Carrier Fleet Major Update is out now!

Get ready for multiple carriers per team, HOTAS controller support, air support cannons, and more!

Allied Carriers

This new update introduces multiple carriers per human team! Coordinate your carriers, and get ready for some really big PvP battles.

HOTAS Support

We have reworked controller support, so now you have new controller binding options as well as absolute-mode for throttle inputs! This means you can set up your HOTAS controller to pilot your vehicles.

Air Support

We have added a new turret, specifically for aircraft! This turret is a gimballed cannon (for use on the gimbal camera slot), allowing you to fire rounds from above. This means you can set your helicopters up as gunships, or even use gimbal control on your fixed wing aircraft!

There are also several fixes and improvements. See the change notes below for full details!

Thanks for all the players who have shared their thoughts and ideas to make this update possible.

Much love <3,

The Carrier Command Developers



Patch Notes

v1.5.1

Feature - Added carrier count option for human teams in multiplayer hosting options
Feature - Indicator for carrier to respawn at when returning to bridge
Feature - Added team chat with channels
Feature - Air boss control to hold take off
Feature - Undock buttons signal aircraft to take off when in air boss hold state
Feature - Rotor aircraft can take off even when fixed wing is holding on runway
Feature - New gimbal turret for aircraft
Feature - Joystick input and binding support including axis inversion and absolute axis settings
Rework - Torpedoes now steer to target bearing even once active unless a target is acquired
Rework - Torpedoes now detonate when near target
Rework - Map screens now zoom to cursor position
Rework - Barge logic has been updated to support multiple carriers - barges now only load items ordered by the following carrier in waypoint queue
Rework - Inputs in controller bindings grouped into player, vehicle, UI categories
Fix - Resolving issue with lightning sometimes spawning incorrectly

 

[Galdred]

Anyone playing this? How's it shaking out? On release, I got the impression that it was a game really designed for co-op and that the UI was woefully inadequate for single player, maybe just inadequate in general.

other than UI issues, is the gameplay loop fun? it sounds fun on paper, being able to command all these various vehicles while also acting as the nerve center for a carrier group.

I just tried the game. Inadequate UI in general is correct. It feels a bit weird that the UI feels so cumbersome in a futuristic game.
Compared to Carrier Command: Gaean Missions, this one is more focused on coop indeed, and on strategy over tactics:
That is, you can engage beyond visual range, use a spotter to rain missile/artillery death from afar, and such things.
In CG: Gaea Mission, the enemies only "spawn" when you are near, but the controls are much more straightforwards, and with the Dead Islands mod, the tactical combat is pretty satisfying.

It is possible to solo CC2, as the AI can handle the various drones, but as in Gaea Mission, it is inept at doing so. However, the fact that you can just ask for a cruise missile delivery may make it a bit easier to solo.
At least, it feels cooler to be in the command post of the carrier, but drone handling was more intuitive in CC:GM.

I think CC2 is the better game, and it seems to have some mod support, but I haven't tried any yet.

 

[puur prutswerk]

This game is lots of fun. UI does need some getting used to, but after that it's great.

I want more this.

I haven't tried multiplayer yet. At first sight it would appear dead, but apparently most multiplayer for this game is organized through a third party Discord server, invite link here https://discord.gg/84hbxjz6eT

Lots of stuff that you just need to know or find out though. For example it took me a long time to figure out that you can click waypoints on the vehicle controlscreen to set height for planes and such. If you don't set them to 1000m plus they're going to get shot down.

 

[General Disarray]

This game is lots of fun. UI does need some getting used to, but after that it's great.

I want more this.

I haven't tried multiplayer yet. At first sight it would appear dead, but apparently most multiplayer for this game is organized through a third party Discord server, invite link here https://discord.gg/84hbxjz6eT

Lots of stuff that you just need to know or find out though. For example it took me a long time to figure out that you can click waypoints on the vehicle controlscreen to set height for planes and such. If you don't set them to 1000m plus they're going to get shot down.

Hard agree.

I have played this game multiplayer with two friends a lot, one actually works as a radar firecontrol specialist officer in the navy and the other is a hard-core sim fan. We are talking all the sim games and getting a 4090 to make eight hours runs in Microsoft Flightsimulator.

And it's really fun running around between the stations and planning logistic and attacks. Rushing to fuel islands in order to not stall out in the water or deciding to hit a heavy ammo island in the hope that you get unlock a blueprint for a AA missile or some other ordinance that you need. I usually operate the logistic, ordering production at factories and queue up barges to get the supplies to the carrier, you really hit the max weight limit on the carrier quite fast which makes this more tricky than one would assume. Simulator friend has the helm, navy friend operates radar and aa&torpedo defence and drone pilot.

We are just now working on our skills to launch long range attacks in order to save time and act more like a carrier than a battleship. The game has a nice pace. When moving between island the game is really calm and quite immersive with the sea, day/night and weather simulation. While still being intense during fights, specially vs other ships that starts to spam torpedos.