Soldat 1.4 bullets...

[EdgeXanadu]

They don't look good at all.

[Cecil]

Hello.  I'm really quite new to Soldat, but I hope my views are still welcome.

I have been playing Soldat for a couple of weeks and I actually really like it and was about to register when I found out that version 1.4 was going to be released in a couple of days.  I decided to hold off from registering until the new version was out because it seemed foolish to buy something that was only going to exist for another couple of days.  And frankly, I didn't really care whether it was going to cost $9 or $14, it's still a very small amount, and I'm more than happy to support a game that's this good, and yet I don't have to pay for it.

I thought downloading and trying out v1.4 would just be a formality, unfortunately it wasn't quite what I expected (bug fixes, some new maps and maybe a couple of new features).  I hadn't read anything about it before downloading and installing it.

Although I have experienced numerous problems with this new version (the lobby not working, small and/or malformed text, death console misalignment, wrong map version, etc.), I know lots of other people are also having these problems, and they're only teething troubles that will soon be rectified in a patch.

The main things that are bothering me are the graphical changes.  The most important being the bullets.  I can't really see why all the guns have become 6" calibre and fire 8' long, multi-coloured, fluorescent projectiles (or indeed, how).  It really is a very strange modification, it also negatively impacts the game, in my opinion.  When I first saw it, I'm not sure what I thought it looked like, other than simply wrong, but I have since seen people referring to them as "flying laser dildos" and balls of plasma or something similar.  Whatever they look like, they don't look even remotely realistic and really jar with the rest of the game.  A lot of people seem to be attacking this opinion as worthless, subjective and, ultimately, only temporary.  Well I must say I really don't agree that I (or many others) will simply "get used to it" and purely because it "feels wrong for a lot of people that isn't an argument against it".  Just because a feeling isn't tangible, measureable or even objective, doesn't mean it has no merit in an argument.  I may not be able to put the feeling into numbers, or even, for that matter, words, but it is nonetheless real and potent.  I wasn't attracted to Soldat (and I don't enjoy playing it) because I can be a purple alien with four arms, or a cyborg who battles equally outlandish creatures that need to be hit 25 times by a laser chaingun or struck by 3 missiles from a hand-held automatic rocket launcher to kill them, whilst everyone glides around at breakneck speed as if they are on ice-skates.  I play it because it is at least based on reality, and I have to walk, run and jump to get where I want to go, along with liberal use of the jets, and where I (and everyone else) fire bullets from guns which we can at least imagine in reality, even if none of us have ever been anywhere near one, and which kill in a few hits (dependent upon whether they are hit in the feet or the head) and if I really want to fire a rocket (which will obviously kill someone), I have to brace myself and crouch down on the ground to do so.  In this context, seeing scud missiles, or indeed, "flying laser dildos" firing from the weapons and people throwing Kryptonite grenades doesn't sit well with me at all.

All that assumes that it has no effect on gameplay, which it unfortunately does.  Even with the real bullets, most of the time we saw them all, but occasionally, if you weren't concentrating properly, or it was a dark map, or you were killed particularly swiftly, or even if there was simply a lot of action on the screen, it was entirely possible to miss where bullets were, and more importantly, where they came from.  A number of times I have been happily bounding homeward with the enemy flag, only to hear a shot ring out and see my lifeless body impact the ground.  At which point I'm left thinking "Damn, he did that well.  I must head back and repay him".  He might even get me a second time, but eventually I'll find out where he was.  I even think I might be getting the hang of where to hide and where to launch blitz attacks from, but with these new, enormous, brightly lit projectiles, there may as well have been a neon sign above the firer saying "Over here!".  Now they can't use that point again, because I and everyone else saw them, and they know that I know about it, so I can't use it either.  Another problem is with the grenades.  I have trouble injuring people by actively throwing a grenade into them (I do it regularly, but nothing happens, I assume it's a lag-based problem), so I generally throw grenades onto the ground when I think someone is about to land or run across, and, hopefully, they will tread on it, and it works quite well (as long as they don't see me throw it, of course).  I've even been caught out by the same trick occasionally, although usually if I hear someone throw a grenade closeby but don't see them thow it, I will stand still or jump into the air.  However, this is all now moot because it is impossible to miss a grenade flying through the air with a bright tail that often remains once the grenade has landed, like a warning beacon.

I honestly can't see any merit in the new effects.  Even if they only offend one or two people, surely that would be bad enough because I really can't imagine they'll actually attract anyone.  And, they evidently offend a lot more than just one or two people.

I'm really not sure what to do now.

Thanks for reading, especially if you managed it all.

[SirJamesaford]

I love them for some reason, but it does look a bit like a plasma gun or whatever.

[#38]

Hello.  I'm really quite new to Soldat, but I hope my views are still welcome.

I have been playing Soldat for a couple of weeks and I actually really like it and was about to register when I found out that version 1.4 was going to be released in a couple of days.  I decided to hold off from registering until the new version was out because it seemed foolish to buy something that was only going to exist for another couple of days.  And frankly, I didn't really care whether it was going to cost $9 or $14, it's still a very small amount, and I'm more than happy to support a game that's this good, and yet I don't have to pay for it.

I thought downloading and trying out v1.4 would just be a formality, unfortunately it wasn't quite what I expected (bug fixes, some new maps and maybe a couple of new features).  I hadn't read anything about it before downloading and installing it.

Although I have experienced numerous problems with this new version (the lobby not working, small and/or malformed text, death console misalignment, wrong map version, etc.), I know lots of other people are also having these problems, and they're only teething troubles that will soon be rectified in a patch.

The main things that are bothering me are the graphical changes.  The most important being the bullets.  I can't really see why all the guns have become 6" calibre and fire 8' long, multi-coloured, fluorescent projectiles (or indeed, how).  It really is a very strange modification, it also negatively impacts the game, in my opinion.  When I first saw it, I'm not sure what I thought it looked like, other than simply wrong, but I have since seen people referring to them as "flying laser dildos" and balls of plasma or something similar.  Whatever they look like, they don't look even remotely realistic and really jar with the rest of the game.  A lot of people seem to be attacking this opinion as worthless, subjective and, ultimately, only temporary.  Well I must say I really don't agree that I (or many others) will simply "get used to it" and purely because it "feels wrong for a lot of people that isn't an argument against it".  Just because a feeling isn't tangible, measureable or even objective, doesn't mean it has no merit in an argument.  I may not be able to put the feeling into numbers, or even, for that matter, words, but it is nonetheless real and potent.  I wasn't attracted to Soldat (and I don't enjoy playing it) because I can be a purple alien with four arms, or a cyborg who battles equally outlandish creatures that need to be hit 25 times by a laser chaingun or struck by 3 missiles from a hand-held automatic rocket launcher to kill them, whilst everyone glides around at breakneck speed as if they are on ice-skates.  I play it because it is at least based on reality, and I have to walk, run and jump to get where I want to go, along with liberal use of the jets, and where I (and everyone else) fire bullets from guns which we can at least imagine in reality, even if none of us have ever been anywhere near one, and which kill in a few hits (dependent upon whether they are hit in the feet or the head) and if I really want to fire a rocket (which will obviously kill someone), I have to brace myself and crouch down on the ground to do so.  In this context, seeing scud missiles, or indeed, "flying laser dildos" firing from the weapons and people throwing Kryptonite grenades doesn't sit well with me at all.

All that assumes that it has no effect on gameplay, which it unfortunately does.  Even with the real bullets, most of the time we saw them all, but occasionally, if you weren't concentrating properly, or it was a dark map, or you were killed particularly swiftly, or even if there was simply a lot of action on the screen, it was entirely possible to miss where bullets were, and more importantly, where they came from.  A number of times I have been happily bounding homeward with the enemy flag, only to hear a shot ring out and see my lifeless body impact the ground.  At which point I'm left thinking "Damn, he did that well.  I must head back and repay him".  He might even get me a second time, but eventually I'll find out where he was.  I even think I might be getting the hang of where to hide and where to launch blitz attacks from, but with these new, enormous, brightly lit projectiles, there may as well have been a neon sign above the firer saying "Over here!".  Now they can't use that point again, because I and everyone else saw them, and they know that I know about it, so I can't use it either.  Another problem is with the grenades.  I have trouble injuring people by actively throwing a grenade into them (I do it regularly, but nothing happens, I assume it's a lag-based problem), so I generally throw grenades onto the ground when I think someone is about to land or run across, and, hopefully, they will tread on it, and it works quite well (as long as they don't see me throw it, of course).  I've even been caught out by the same trick occasionally, although usually if I hear someone throw a grenade closeby but don't see them thow it, I will stand still or jump into the air.  However, this is all now moot because it is impossible to miss a grenade flying through the air with a bright tail that often remains once the grenade has landed, like a warning beacon.

I honestly can't see any merit in the new effects.  Even if they only offend one or two people, surely that would be bad enough because I really can't imagine they'll actually attract anyone.  And, they evidently offend a lot more than just one or two people.

I'm really not sure what to do now.

Thanks for reading, especially if you managed it all.

i don't hate the new bullets, but i have to agree, no matter what mods you use, the enemies will be able to see your nades and bullets "like neo signs" (like cecil pointed out), and it does seem much easier for me to dodge around them.

of course, im sure there are the honest people who would change the bullets back with a mod and give themselves disadvantages, but i just don't think that all the players who play soldat needs to learn how to mod. honestly, i think only a minority of people know how to work with all the files in the folder, while most people would just play the game as what it is, a short break from life.

[Protoman]

I like the bigger bullets. It adds stragety to it; see a weak sub-machine gun wont fire the same calaber as the minimi will.

[],.-oMEGa-,.[]

The main thing that annoys me is that the grenades dont travel as far or as fast as on v1.3.1 In fact they are probably ten times less affective against enemies as on v1.3.1

[O.R.I.O.N.]

It's called nerfing.  Let's face it, having up to 5 instant-kill shots at a time is plain unfair.

[rantanplan]

Here is a proof that it seems we can't get back to 1.3.1 bullets.
For some odd reasons, 1.4 makes the bullets brighter.
I'm still trying to figure out how to make them exactly the same.

I would love you for that -- or I would even try to

[Judgment Day]

I think they're a little to big. I've considered getting the mod to change them back to 1.3.1 bullets.

[chron1c.]

I used the mod and changed them back.

[ynvaser]

These new bullets are suck ass big time. They're looking like plasma or something. The nades are lethal fireworks? Or WTF?

[Laser Guy]

i used the 1.3.1 bullets too

[Meep.]

I never quite noticed at first.  They look nice to me though, a bit like tracers.