EIA v1.27.01 Beta Hotfix #3 Available

[pzgndr]

Attached is the v1.27.01 Beta Hotfix #3 for the next v1.27.xx official patch. This should be applied over the installed EIA v1.26.04 Official Update game files and previous v1.27.01 Beta and Hotfix versions. You should be able to extract (copy&paste) the new EXE file from the zip file directly into your v1.26.04 install or previous v1.27.01 Beta install.

Release notes so far:

Empires in Arms the Napoleonic Wars - 1.27.01
=============================================
- Port attack resolved as running blockade battle – resolved.
- Minor nation garrison assault being restricted – resolved.
- Supply path incorrect over sea crossing – resolved.
- Lone leaders not always removed from map – resolved.
- Unit evacuation bug introduced in v1.26.04 – resolved.
- Comprehensive AI improvements – resolved.
-- improved AI politics versus human players
-- naval blockades, guarding sea crossings, redeployments
-- naval combats and loser retreats
-- amphibious invasions and sea supply
-- land retreats, advances, redeployments
- Fleet depots checked for port supply source available not always working – resolved.
- Cannot take militia loss for pining force defeat – resolved.
- Combat retreat not always working correctly and retreats units two areas – resolved.
- Discrepancies with French enforced peace terms with Prussia and Austria in 1812 and 1813 campaigns – resolved (database .ged files updated).
- Request land from AI ally not working – resolved.
- Kingdom minors not being conquered – resolved.
- AI naval attacker not rolling for wind gauge – resolved.
- Port size and build capacity added to area info box – resolved.
- Redundant PSA adjustments for conquered minors – resolved.
- Reparations incorrectly paid and received and documented – resolved.
- Port attack vs run blockade and automatic wind gauge not always working correctly – resolved.
- Ghost units appearing in area grid – resolved.

Empires in Arms the Napoleonic Wars - 1.27.00
=============================================
- PBEM Admin button not always working correctly – resolved.
- PBEM simultaneous diplomacy not always working correctly for some human client players – resolved.
- Warning message added for last PBEM player to verify all simultaneous diplomacy files are loaded prior to ending turn – resolved.
- AI improvement for Reinforcing A Field Combat – resolved.
- User Manual section 11.2.11 updated for allied forces reinforcing a field combat – resolved.
- Units not in a city sometimes being foraged as besieged – resolved.
- AI-AI siege combats not always working correctly – resolved.
- AI-AI city trivial combat not working – resolved.
- AI determination of enemy in range of target area not always working correctly – resolved.
- Swedish minor corps not drawing allied supply in 1813 – resolved.
- AI improvement for defending capitals of allies – resolved.
- AI improvement for place/remove depots – resolved.
- AI improvement for naval interceptions – resolved
- Game bug lone transports not being eliminated – resolved.
- Some minor nation control not correct at start of Classic 1805 campaign and possibly others – resolved.
- Downgrade Free State to Conquered evacuates units – resolved.
- Restrictions on Territorial Losses rule implemented v1.26.02 to restrict one province per victor for AI only changed to exempt Kingdom of Poland provinces – resolved.
- Saved manpower for human Prussia not working correctly – resolved.
- Added PBEM Admin Menu button for non-PBEM solitaire games – resolved.
- Port build capacities not working correctly, nor documented in the game manual – resolved, and section 12.5.3 updated in the manual.
- Nation current status of forces, land factors and sea factors, added to the game log during Economic Phases for player reference – resolved.

Good news and bad news. The bad news is that I continue to find and fix some bugs, but they are fewer and fewer. The good news is that we can focus more on AI improvements, as the game becomes more playable. To that end, there have been several AI changes made to improve strategy and execution. Aggressive human players can still beat up on the computer opponents pretty good, even on Hard difficulty settings, so a few more political bonuses have been added to toughen the AI versus human players.

I think with this v1.27.01 Beta version we are ready to go a little bit deeper into the game to find and resolve AI grand strategy issues, particularly in the middle game, and particularly when AI major powers seem to stagnate for no apparent reason. What weaknesses need to be addressed? As always, if you spot issues, please report them and provide game save files.

And an announcement. I have hinted at this, but I want to say that I intend for v1.27.xx to be a final official update. We have literally resolved most all of the old Mantis bug list issues and made numerous game enhancements and AI improvements. I want to resolve any remaining game bugs, perhaps make a few more enhancements if anyone has good suggestions, but mostly get the AI computer opponent as good as it can be and declare success. So I need players' help these next few months to play the game and provide comments. I hope to wrap up code development this summer and take a break from this project. So, please, speak now (over the coming weeks and months) or forever hold your peace. Let's have fun with this game!

UPDATE 4/28/2024 - Hotfix #1 posted.
UPDATE 5/13/2025 - Hotfix #2 posted.
UPDATE 5/27/2025 - Hotfix #3 posted.
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EIANW 12701 Beta[3].zip

(3.16 MiB) Downloaded 1 time

[pzgndr]

FYI, I am busy with Hotfix #1. We had a couple more bugs fixed regarding fleet depots being checked for port supply source available and taking militia loss for pining force defeat. I continue to wrestle with AI response to aggressive (ahistorical) human players, so I've added some more money and manpower bonuses based on various triggers. We'll see how that goes.
I'd like to give it another week or so to see if any other players have issues to report or other comments, and I'll try working them into the hotfix. Please speak up or send me an email or something. Thanks!!

[pzgndr]

Alright, Hotfix #1 posted today. As discussed above, a couple more small bug fixes. Also, as I was playtesting the 1813 scenario, I noted some problems with how I had set the enforced peace and access for France, Prussia, and Austria in the 1812 and 1813 scenarios. If you use the editor, be careful to set both sides for winner and loser for enforced peace and access settings.

Playtesting 1813 more this time around, I made several AI performance adjustments for the following: Austria DOW on France in summer 1813, Great Britain and Russia redeployments towards France, improved minor forces reinforcements, and more. I think there are still some late game issues in 1814 that I want to investigate further. But for now it looks OK. So the early (1805) game and late (1812 and 1813) game are looking OK but I still want to investigate mid-game issues further. Here's where other players can help, since it takes me a while to play into 1808-1810ish. If you can provide me game saves at points where the AI computer opponent(s) appears to be stagnating rather than doing something more aggressive that a good human player might be doing, please send me a save.

Thank you to the dozen or so players who downloaded the v1.27.01 Beta. Please update to Hotfix #1 and check it out. Enjoy!

[pzgndr]

Hotfix #2 posted today. A few more small bug fixes: requesting land from AI ally, kingdom minors not being conquered, and several AI naval combat issues. And a game enhancement to add port size and build capacity to the area info box.

There were a LOT of AI improvements and adjustments beyond what I'm listing in the release notes. I've got two players who have been aggressively challenging the AI, and thus challenging me to keep up with some code changes. I've been keeping a running list for this hotfix:

- additional forage losses for human players exceeding 12 corps
- reduced AI combat morale bonuses for Med/Hard, from 0.25/0.50 to 0.10/0.20
- another AI money/manpower bonus for each enforced peace term
- AI alliances to work more aggressively together against human player(s)
- added small modifier for human players to control minors
- easier for AI Turkey to raise border feudals
- MP capital defense improved to allow more aggression for Med/Hard AI **
- improved human players talking to AI to request land
- adjusted AI informal peace checks to prevent AIs declaring on each other and then going to informal
- fixed Russia alternate dominant power check (for Poland controls E/W Galatia and Russia controls Poland)
- 'fixed' AI France DOWs on Prussia and Austria to finish one war before starting another one
- reviewed AI economic manipulation
- adjusted AI alliance penalty in 1805, now reduced once France DOWs Pr/AU
- improved AI attacking MP capital **
- Port builds changed "> cap" to ">= cap" so you don't get a 'one-off' warning
- improved AI defending MP ally capital and retreats **
- fixed AI naval supply to OOS coastal unit
- fixed AI reinforce amphib landings

Those items with ** regarding how the AI attacks and defends MP capitals should resolve several longstanding issues where, for example, AI Russia would come to Prussia's aid and march forces to Berlin only to pause or retreat for no good reason. Likewise, AI France would approach Berlin or Vienna with a majority force only to pause or retreat for no good reason. I think I found the reasons why that happened and resolved those weaknesses. The AI computer opponent continues to evolve and improve. We're getting there.

I expect we'll need another hotfix sooner or later to resolve any lingering bugs that need fixing, but moreso to see how this new and improved AI performs and what weaknesses remain that need attention. I still have some concerns about some AI naval actions and I'm curious how AI France performs mid-game to get enforced peace and enforced access with Prussia and/or Austria and then advance on Russia. Anybody with a good game save to send me would be most helpful. At some point, v1.27.01 will be stable and playable, and then I'll look at moving on to a v1.27.02 release candidate for the next (final) official update. Please check out this latest beta and provide whatever feedback and comments you can.

Again, thank you to the dozen or so players who downloaded the v1.27.01 Beta and Hotfix#1. Please update to Hotfix #2 and check it out. Enjoy!

[pzgndr]

FYI, I am busy with Hotfix #3. I had hoped to get a quick update out that resolves the reported game freeze issue, and that's fixed, but there are several other issues that I want to resolve before posting another update. And I suspect there will be another hotfix or two after that before we get to a new version. I'd like to resolve all of these lingering game bugs and more obvious AI glitches before posting what I hope to be a pre-release candidate that should only need some AI grand strategy adjustments.

[pzgndr]

Hotfix #3 posted today. Firstly, I apologize for the reported game freeze issue in the last hotfix. As I resolved that one and was working on a few other issues, several more issues were reported to me. So I've been busy these past couple of weeks trying to get this update in good shape. There were a few bug fixes regarding redundant PSA adjustments, reparations, and port attack vs run blockade naval combats. I also finally ran to ground a long-standing graphics glitch that had ghost French corps units at the end of the area grid; this is fixed except for France I Corps if it is actually in the selected area. Other than that, here's what else was on the list for this hotfix:

- Added extra checks for evacuate port
- Added check for siege winner to return to rural area
- Adjusted how AI France moves to invasion point for prep for war against Prussia/Austria in 1805 *
- Added check to restrict AI place garrison/unit in enemy occupied city
- Fixed a find_path glitch for AI assign redeploy units
- Fixed minor fleets not being removed from map upon conquering
- Fixed AI overgarrisoning cities
- Added check to verify human winner surrender terms

That "*" item for AI France was the problem for the game freeze, as AI France was trying to redeploy units to Hanover in preparation to DOW Prussia but did not have a friendly path to get there. I suspect there may be other odd situations depending on how a game goes where AI players trying to redeploy through central Europe may not have a friendly path and the game hangs while it tries to assign units, but I'll wait and see if any cases get reported.

Assuming this hotfix works well now and allows players to get through the early game and into the mid-game, I'm curious to see what issues players find regarding AI Grand Strategy and what weaknesses need to be addressed. I'm also assuming there may be other game issues that I need to resolve so there may be another hotfix or two. At some point v1.27.01 should be in good shape to move forward to v1.27.02 as a release candidate and final adjustments. That's the plan. Stay tuned! Enjoy!