Some thoughts about The Troop

[毒士文和]

The troop is my favorite small-scale battle WWII game. The settings of GP and MP are very interesting. It is much better than headquarters WWII in terms of strategy and authenticity. It would be perfect if it could add elevation and building destruction systems. Unfortunately, there is only Tom, and the development speed is relatively slow. It can't catch up with games like Headquarters WWII in terms of speed,which has launched two DLCs in a very short time. I hope to see The Troop 2 one day in the future, with better systems and expanded game content to cover the entire World War II.Anyway, I appreciate Tom's hard work.

[PoorOldSpike]

Yes, Tom and the small PLA dev team are sitting on a goldmine and should hire more staff to work on other theatres, perhaps they don't want to be millionnaires..:)
(PS- there are already an army of playtesters sitting twiddling our thumbs waiting to help for free like we did during Troops early acces)

[CellNav]

Originally posted by 毒士文和:

The troop is my favorite small-scale battle WWII game....

+1
TROOP is excellent at simulating "Small Unit Tactics".

[Cona1l]

Originally posted by CellNav:

Originally posted by 毒士文和:

The troop is my favorite small-scale battle WWII game....

+1
TROOP is excellent at simulating "Small Unit Tactics".

At the risk of being accused of pedantry, the Troop doesn’t simulate small unit tactics. It’s not a simulation at all. A great deal, including command and control, ammunition management, along with the human factor (fear, fatigue and confusion) have been abstracted or simply left out. Time has been hugely compressed, as in some cases has been geography. There is far too much information (LOS tool) and not enough uncertainty.

It is, however, an excellent game and it creates a superb verisimilitude of one aspect of WW2 tactical combat. In doing so it allows for the application of appropriate small unit tactics. The fact they work so well is an absolute triumph for the design of the Troop, combining historical fidelity with a game that is enormous fun to play (in a way that no proper simulation could ever manage). Tom should be very proud of his creation.

[Ennea]

the gameplay is great, people that enjoy the game (like me) want more and thats normal.

I agree with the OP , elevation and building destruction systems would be a great next step. Perhaps even some limited off map assets, Eitherway i hope we will see more in the future!

[PoorOldSpike]

Originally posted by Ennea:

the gameplay is great, people that enjoy the game (like me) want more and thats normal.

I agree with the OP , elevation and building destruction systems would be a great next step. Perhaps even some limited off map assets, Eitherway i hope we will see more in the future!

Yes, each of us have a wishlist of things we'd like to see added to Troop, and sometimes the devs take up our suggestions and sometimes they don't..:)
For example I once suggested a 'Visibility slider' so we can set it to Short (say 25 hexes) to simulate light ground mist, Medium (say 35 hexes) to simulate haze, and Unlimited over the whole map, but the devs never implemented it.
(And because Troop has no ground contours at the moment, setting the slider to Low or Medium could sort of simulate the restricted shortish range visibility caused by contours and ridgelines etc).
"The whole art of war is guessing what is on the other side of the hill"-Duke of Wellington.

[thyge]

Originally posted by PoorOldSpike:

Yes, Tom and the small PLA dev team are sitting on a goldmine and should hire more staff to work on other theatres, perhaps they don't want to be millionnaires..:)
(PS- there are already an army of playtesters sitting twiddling our thumbs waiting to help for free like we did during Troops early acces)

spike
I am going to put some thoughts into ur head, I hope it dont explode
1) maybe Tom already is a millionnair
2) maybe Tom prioritize other things higher than money
3) hiring more people takes a lot, of time. first the interwiews to find the right people, then
the training, then new people make mistakes that has to be corected, maybe some dont
cut it and have to be fired again, so he has to start over with interwievs.
4) if he hires more people then they might also start flirting with the coffe lady
5) if they see a dog in front of a computer, typeing, they might think it is cruel, and call the
animal police

[PoorOldSpike]

I think PLA Studios are only a part of a larger game producer, I can't remember the name.

[Cona1l]

Originally posted by PoorOldSpike:

I think PLA Studios are only a part of a larger game producer, I can't remember the name.

Are you sure? This is what the website says:

ABOUT

PLA is a development studio specialising in applied games and interactive design. We are expert in crafting an interactive experience, combining an efficient technical resource with invaluable design services.

From day one our development process is goal-driven and we keep the purpose of every project in focus throughout. We work with a variety of clients across education, defence, healthcare and research - from consultancy on scope, budgeting, design, objectives, platforms to ground up development and full deployment. We are here to offer assistance no matter what stage you are at. Get in touch.

Companies House doesn’t suggest they’re owned by anyone else. They used to be called Workhouse Games Ltd.


https://www.plastudios.co.uk/

[Cona1l]

Originally posted by PoorOldSpike:

Yes, Tom and the small PLA dev team are sitting on a goldmine and should hire more staff to work on other theatres, perhaps they don't want to be millionnaires..:)

You’ve made this point ad nauseam in the past, Spike. And it’s no more valid now than it has been in the past, irrespective of how much you repeat it.

The problem is that you’re assuming that adding additional staff members automatically equates to increased sales. That may not necessarily be the case. But what is true is that you have an immediate increase in your working capital requirement and costs. This is even more acute now that employers’ contribution to National Insurance has increased to 15%. So, you’d have to be very confident that you had sufficient cash reserves to cover the period before more new product increased sales and that the future extra sales would cover the increase in operating costs. Expanding too quickly is one of the most common causes of companies going out of business.

An alternative might be for Tom to look for a private equity investor / venture capitalist. That would provide the cash reserves to fund expansion but at the cost of giving up a share of the profits, having to answer to shareholders, and potentially losing control of the company.

Only Tom really knows what is going on or what is financially best for his company. And he’s got far too much good sense to listen to our ill-informed suggestions.

[PoorOldSpike]

I was a paid developer with Cases Computer Simulations in the 1980's and therefore know a little bit about producing games..;)
[img]https://i.ibb.co/217Z6Xc1/Cases-jpg.jpg[/img]

As regards PLA, Tom's got an army of players (us) willing to help him develop and playtest new units and theatres and maps for free..:)

[CellNav]

Originally posted by Cona1l:

Only Tom really knows what is going on or what is financially best for his company. And he’s got far too much good sense to listen to our ill-informed suggestions.

I'm not on Discord so if there are any thoughts about a Kick Starter to help future development then please let us know Conall.

[RAUBKATER1]

Originally posted by PoorOldSpike:

Yes, Tom and the small PLA dev team are sitting on a goldmine and should hire more staff to work on other theatres, perhaps they don't want to be millionnaires..:)
(PS- there are already an army of playtesters sitting twiddling our thumbs waiting to help for free like we did during Troops early acces)

+++

[Cona1l]

Originally posted by CellNav:

Originally posted by Cona1l:

Only Tom really knows what is going on or what is financially best for his company. And he’s got far too much good sense to listen to our ill-informed suggestions.

I'm not on Discord so if there are any thoughts about a Kick Starter to help future development then please let us know Conall.

Tom’s never mentioned wanting to do a kickstarter nor has he posited the idea on Discord, as far as I’m aware.

[CellNav]

Originally posted by Cona1l:

Originally posted by CellNav:

I'm not on Discord so if there are any thoughts about a Kick Starter to help future development then please let us know Conall.

Tom’s never mentioned wanting to do a kickstarter nor has he posited the idea on Discord, as far as I’m aware.

Kick Starting reminds me of "P500" for board gaming. A new game is designed and the publisher requires 500 pre-orders to make the cut, for printing and whatever.

There are 657 members on Tom's Discord.
Unknown how many Steam members here owning the game.

Publish another "TROOP" type game, unlocking scenario and map design.
Charge 100 quid for this version ....
OMG .... is that half a million quid ... at least? (nah, just 50,000)
Indeed .... an "ill-informed" suggestion.

[PoorOldSpike]

Regarding Discord, I don't like its layout because everybody's posts (for all games including Troop) are simply in one long list instead of being neatly split into different category threads like Troop, and I also don't like the clunky way screenshots and pictures are presented at Discord.
I only visit Discord now and again to see if anybody is asking for gameplay help, and I often tell the people over there that the Steam Troop forum is the spiritual home of Troop (because it's Steam game), and leave it up to them whether they want to come here..;)