What's coming in v1.11

[Erik Rutins]

Hi everyone, the v1.11 update is in testing and we're hoping to release it late next week if all goes well. Here's a preview of what's coming down the line. This update includes some major enhancements in infantry combat, usability and a bunch of minor bug fixes.

*** v1.11 - July 27, 2006 ***

Fixes and Changes:
-----

1. Fixed incorrect message log message that displayed deflection result message for some shots that penetrated but did no damage. These will now be reported as "penetrated, but caused no damage" rather than "deflected". This caused there to appear to be more deflections than were actually occurring.

2. Fixed bug where retreat paths may in some circustances veered toward enemy units, particularly in multi-phase retreats.

3. Routing units no longer count toward ownership of objectives that they happen to be near.

4. Infantry units now default to kneeling instead of standing when idle and/or firing (except when advancing and firing)

5. Fixed a bug that made Direct Area HE fire less effective against field artillery in some cases. This bug also made Direct Area HE fire less effective against unspotted units.

6. Removed 50 point reduction for Player as Defender. On Normal difficulty, the player will not get exactly the points listed in the scenario file. At Hard Difficulty, the player gets 75% of the points listed, but never less than what is needed to purchase the core battle group. At Easy Difficulty, the opposing side gets 67% of the points listed.

7. Fixed a problem that prevented the main menu music from playing correctly.

8. Fixed a missing morale failure message for infantry surrendering, which would display as "???" in the event log rather than with the intended surrender text.

9. Fixed a bug that in rare cases would return an incorrect facing aspect from turret to target when at a specific angle.

10. Fixed a rare bug where tracer fire for infantry firing when mounted could get misplaced and show up firing from a map edge.

11. Added support for intro movies.

12. Fixed a rare bug that could prevent fire at infantry in buildings at a few very specific angles.

13. Improved the behavior of building transparency, as this was sometimes not making a building transparent when a new unit in the building was sighted. Buildings should now consistently become transparent when sighted enemy or friendly infantry are inside and be non-transparent when no one is inside or when those inside have not been sighted.

Improvements:
-----

1. Added more detailed infantry casualty modeling. We now track casualties to infantry units in several steps. Each time an infantry unit takes fire, it may be destroyed or may take casualties. The first time it takes casualties, it will be marked as having taken light casualties. The second time it takes casualties, it will be marked as having taken heavy casualties. If it takes casualties a third time, it is destroyed. It is still possible to destroy an infantry unit in one attack, but unlikely.
Units that have suffered light casualties have a 50% chance of -1 Firepower each time they fire. They also have -1 to Close
Assault, -1 to Rally and -1 to Suppression Recovery rolls. Units that have suffered heavy casualties have a 100% chance of a firepower adjustment of -1 and a 50% chance of a firepower adjustment of -2 each time they fire. They also have -2 to Close Assault, -2 to Rally, -2 to Suppression Recovery rolls and -1 to Base Morale. These different states are shown by a new indicator. Gray = No Casualties, One Medkit = Light Casualties, Two Medkits = Heavy Casualties, Skull = Destroyed.

2. Added more detailed infantry suppression modeling. Infantry that are already suppressed can now be pinned down if suppressed again. Infantry that are pinned down have to unpin before they can unsuppress. A unit that is pinned down takes an additional -1 firepower modifier (on top of being suppressed) and a -2 Close Assault modifier. Pinned units cannot move until they are unpinned. These different states are shown by a new indicator. Gray = Unsuppressed, Yellow Prone Soldier = Suppressed, Red Prone Soldier = Pinned Down.

3. Added new Defend sub-order: Defend->HoldFire - There are 3 hold fire options: Hold unless good shot, Hold unless Close Assault, and Hold All Fire - only infantry units can use the hold unless close assault.

5. Added a new immediate order for Cancel Target - this command will order a unit that has an existing target to no longer target. Unless otherwise targeted, the unit will autoselect a target during planning. This is useful if you want to cancel an existing target and let the AI pick a new target for the unit or if you want to halt direct area fire.

6. Added a Line of Sight (LOS) tool to the order menu. It works similar to the existing target rubberband. However, the LOS tool will show you the current maximum LOS distance (based on terrain/sighting factors along the line of sight) and will tell you why LOS is blocked once the rubberband turns translucent. This new information appears on the second line of the readout next to the mouse pointer in the format [Maximum LOS Distance] [Reason for Blocked Line of Sight]

7. Adding Facing as sub order to the Engage menu. Units that are under Defend or Engage orders can now choose to change facing during the reaction phase. Doing so will change the unit's facing during the reaction phase but cancel any other movement the unit had previously assigned.

8. Added additional support for modding unit data. The scenario XML files now have a tag for 'models' (assignment is to 'default'). Unit data files now have a new tag for 'set' structure with an element tag setid. (assignment is to 'default').
Under 'set' is a list of all the in-game models to use. Now, to use different models, just add a new 'set' and assign it a custom setid. Update any scenarios with the new setid for the 'models' tag and the new models will be loaded instead of the default models. If new models do not exist for a given unit, the game will load the default models. This will allow modders to add entirely new models and/or meshes without having to overwrite the existing data. Please see modification guide for more details.

9. The targeting line has been improved to now show the maximum line of sight distance in meters when a shot is unobstructed or, when obstructed, to note the reason for the obstruction or blockage. This will also now tell you when a shot is out of your sighting arc, which means you need to change unit facing in order to shoot.

[Prince of Eckmühl]

Improvements:
-----

1. Added more detailed infantry casualty modeling. We now track casualties to infantry units in several steps. Each time an infantry unit takes fire, it may be destroyed or may take casualties. The first time it takes casualties, it will be marked as having taken light casualties. The second time it takes casualties, it will be marked as having taken heavy casualties. If it takes casualties a third time, it is destroyed. It is still possible to destroy an infantry unit in one attack, but unlikely.
Units that have suffered light casualties have a 50% chance of -1 Firepower each time they fire. They also have -1 to Close
Assault, -1 to Rally and -1 to Suppression Recovery rolls. Units that have suffered heavy casualties have a 100% chance of a firepower adjustment of -1 and a 50% chance of a firepower adjustment of -2 each time they fire. They also have -2 to Close Assault, -2 to Rally, -2 to Suppression Recovery rolls and -1 to Base Morale. These different states are shown by a new indicator. Gray = No Casualties, One Medkit = Light Casualties, Two Medkits = Heavy Casualties, Skull = Destroyed.

2. Added more detailed infantry suppression modeling. Infantry that are already suppressed can now be pinned down if suppressed again. Infantry that are pinned down have to unpin before they can unsuppress. A unit that is pinned down takes an additional -1 firepower modifier (on top of being suppressed) and a -2 Close Assault modifier. Pinned units cannot move until they are unpinned. These different states are shown by a new indicator. Gray = Unsuppressed, Yellow Prone Soldier = Suppressed, Red Prone Soldier = Pinned Down.

3. Added new Defend sub-order: Defend->HoldFire - There are 3 hold fire options: Hold unless good shot, Hold unless Close Assault, and Hold All Fire - only infantry units can use the hold unless close assault.

5. Added a new immediate order for Cancel Target - this command will order a unit that has an existing target to no longer target. Unless otherwise targeted, the unit will autoselect a target during planning. This is useful if you want to cancel an existing target and let the AI pick a new target for the unit or if you want to halt direct area fire.

6. Added a Line of Sight (LOS) tool to the order menu. It works similar to the existing target rubberband. However, the LOS tool will show you the current maximum LOS distance (based on terrain/sighting factors along the line of sight) and will tell you why LOS is blocked once the rubberband turns translucent. This new information appears on the second line of the readout next to the mouse pointer in the format [Maximum LOS Distance] [Reason for Blocked Line of Sight]

7. Adding Facing as sub order to the Engage menu. Units that are under Defend or Engage orders can now choose to change facing during the reaction phase. Doing so will change the unit's facing during the reaction phase but cancel any other movement the unit had previously assigned.

8. Added additional support for modding unit data. The scenario XML files now have a tag for 'models' (assignment is to 'default'). Unit data files now have a new tag for 'set' structure with an element tag setid. (assignment is to 'default').
Under 'set' is a list of all the in-game models to use. Now, to use different models, just add a new 'set' and assign it a custom setid. Update any scenarios with the new setid for the 'models' tag and the new models will be loaded instead of the default models. If new models do not exist for a given unit, the game will load the default models. This will allow modders to add entirely new models and/or meshes without having to overwrite the existing data. Please see modification guide for more details.

9. The targeting line has been improved to now show the maximum line of sight distance in meters when a shot is unobstructed or, when obstructed, to note the reason for the obstruction or blockage. This will also now tell you when a shot is out of your sighting arc, which means you need to change unit facing in order to shoot.

Wow, Erik!

This stuff is major.

I wasn't expecting these kind of upgrades until y'all published a knock-off later on.

Thanks,

PoE (aka Ivanmoe)

[Der Oberst]

Nice job Erik! Can't wait.

[Adamant]

This is great news...Keep it up n we'll keep on playin' ur games[:)][:)]


Surprised not much response to this news????

[Txema]

WOW !!!

Excellent news. Looking forward to the update !!!


Txema

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: Adamant
Surprised not much response to this news????

Well.. spread the word! [:)]

Thanks for the vote of confidence folks, I know you'll enjoy the updated version.

Regards,

- Erik

[jungelsj_slith]

Will these changes be included in the demo?

[kipanderson]

Hi,

The changes and tweaks look just the job.


Looking forward to the patch[:)].

All the best,
Kip.

[FNG]

Great news. The fact that an update including new features (not just bug fixes) has been released so quickly is a great sign for the future of the game. Thanks Matrix & Koios.

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: molotov_billy
Will these changes be included in the demo?

Yes, indeed they will. The demo will be made with the latest version we have ready. I expect we'll start working on the demo at some point during August.

Regards,

- Erik

[Erik Rutins]

I forgot to add one point to the above:

- Added a chance for Direct HE fire to penetrate buildings and affect units inside at full strength. This should make buildings a bit more dangerous for infantry when taking direct HE fire, until we have time to implement destructible buildings.

Regards,

- Erik

[benpark]

Very nice changes. Thanks for the update, Erik.

[jpinard]

I don't have the game yet... but these changes look sweet.  I'll be in line to try that new demo!

[FeurerKrieg]

Great stuff guys! [&o]

[trikky]

Wow, great work guys thanks for putting this enhancement togther!