Forge of Freedom Screenshots

[Gil R.]

Okay, we are almost ready to show you combat screenshots, so in the meantime I'll post two screenshots showing the economic part of the game.

[Gil R.]

First, this is the list of buildings one can build in cities. Buildings are essential because they produce military units, research new upgrades, strengthen the economy, or help support one's forces before and after battles. As you can see the costs of buildings are based on money, iron, horses and/or labor. (Note the list of available resources at the top, and that buildings I can't afford are grayed-out.)

[Gil R.]

And here is the "City List," where you can quickly see which resources each city is producing (for each, one must choose money or labor and horses or iron), the level of Men (= population), which buildings are under development and units are under production (see how I'm creating a new Cavalry unit in Jackson, Miss.?), and then resources available for impressment and the chances of successfully impressing resources or mustering/conscripting new brigades (and the chance of "danger," which means negative consequences from a failed attempt, such as unrest).

[Joram]

I think you need a brothel to increase the population rate!

Seriously though, looks interesting! Can you explain more about the "danger" column. You can fail to make something?

[Gil R.]

ORIGINAL: Joram

I think you need a brothel to increase the population rate!

Seriously though, looks interesting! Can you explain more about the "danger" column. You can fail to make something?

It's pretty simple: if you're trying to get resources, you have a %chance of succeeding and a %chance of suffering a penalty for the attempt. Thus, for example, in the first line you can see that Montgomery has 20 Horses with Success 70% and Danger 40%. This means that if I try to impress those horses I have a 70% chance of getting them and a 40% chance of suffering provincial unrest for sending my representatives all over the area trying to grab up horses.

Blockade-runners work in a similar manner: there's a chance of success, but also a chance of losing some ships.

[spruce]

Gil - it seems you choose labor over money where the figure for labor is higher ... seems pretty logical choice. Is the difference due to other buildings in these cities ?

Can you switch between labor and money later on?

[andysomers]

Gil,
 
This looks better and better as we go - I am thoroughly impressed.
 
I still would much rather see attrition based more on morale, supply, and fatigue than just movement.  I am concerned that a long movement by an army (e.g. Lee in summer '63, Hood in fall/winter '64) would corss several provinces and each would lose a significant number of men.   In other words, if it is 5% by march (this is probably realistic of what Lee lost between Fredericksburg/Culpepper and Chambersburg/Carlisle in '63) I think that's probably fine.  However, if it is say 20-25% for the 3-4 provinces in between these two areas and 5% per province, that is too much.  Can you elaborate a bit when you get a chance?  Thanks!
 
AS

[Gil R.]

ORIGINAL: spruce

Gil - it seems you choose labor over money where the figure for labor is higher ... seems pretty logical choice. Is the difference due to other buildings in these cities ?

Can you switch between labor and money later on?

Each province has a base production level for each resource, and as you build mints, mines, horse farms and factory you can add +2 to the relevant resource category. So, if a province starts the game producing 5 Iron and you build three mines you will get to 11 Iron.

[Gil R.]

ORIGINAL: andysomers


Gil,

This looks better and better as we go - I am thoroughly impressed.

I still would much rather see attrition based more on morale, supply, and fatigue than just movement. I am concerned that a long movement by an army (e.g. Lee in summer '63, Hood in fall/winter '64) would corss several provinces and each would lose a significant number of men. In other words, if it is 5% by march (this is probably realistic of what Lee lost between Fredericksburg/Culpepper and Chambersburg/Carlisle in '63) I think that's probably fine. However, if it is say 20-25% for the 3-4 provinces in between these two areas and 5% per province, that is too much. Can you elaborate a bit when you get a chance? Thanks!

AS

Okay, I checked the manual (now the the relevant part of the manual is written), so here's the deal with March Attrition. Infantry and artillery brigades serving in "container units" (= divisions/corps/army) that have a Logistics Rating of "Fair" or worse will lose 5% strength per province. (I had wrongly said 5% per march.) If the governing logistics staff is rated "Good," "Great" or "Excellent" then attrition is only 2.5%, and "Superb" leads to no losses. Such land movement also has a chance to lower unit's disposition.

This is one of those things that can easily be changed once the game is out -- we'd certainly entertain arguments in favor of lower (or higher?) rates of attrition.

[Jonathan Palfrey]

Thanks for the screenshots and info. I'll reserve judgment until I try it, but at first sight micromanaging the production of each city or province looks a very time-consuming and intimidating task. Perhaps it's easier than it looks?

There must be rather a lot of provinces on each side.

[Gil R.]

ORIGINAL: Jonathan Palfrey

Thanks for the screenshots and info. I'll reserve judgment until I try it, but at first sight micromanaging the production of each city or province looks a very time-consuming and intimidating task. Perhaps it's easier than it looks?

There must be rather a lot of provinces on each side.

There are around 250 provinces, though three are in Indian Territory (= Oklahoma) and about 10-15 are in Canada (and can only be entered if Britain enters the war). However, only provinces with cities can have production changed, so that's about 30 per side. And it's not too time-consuming. In the first turn of the game it's smart to set things as needed, but then you only shift production when you find yourself short of a particular resource. In fact, since shifting causes that state's governor to become a bit grumpy/grumpier it is bad to shift back and forth.

[Gil R.]

Here's one of the most important screens: the Development Screen. Every province with a city -- i.e., the provinces that can be further developed by adding buildings or that can produce military units -- has one of these. As you can see, there are buttons for the buildings list (posted above) and list of units one can build in that particular province (soon to be posted). On the far left you see the light bulbs that track research -- when a row reaches the end, one gets to choose an upgrade in that category. The building icons show all of the buildings already in the province (and, if one is under construction, show how many more turns remain).

Please note that we haven't yet tied in our governor photos to the governors they represent, so that's a random governor, not John Letcher. I'll post a new screenshot once we've got the governors photos right.

[scout1]

I figured with 4 pbem games of WitP and 1 of BiI going, I wouldn't have the time/inclination for any other games. But, you've broken me. This one is one that I gotta get. Very nice .....

BTW, what is the time scale per turn ? Months, weeks, days ?

[ASHBERY76]

[;)]Nice city graphics.[;)]

[Gil R.]

ORIGINAL: Gil R.
Okay, I checked the manual (now the the relevant part of the manual is written), so here's the deal with March Attrition. Infantry and artillery brigades serving in "container units" (= divisions/corps/army) that have a Logistics Rating of "Fair" or worse will lose 5% strength per province. (I had wrongly said 5% per march.) If the governing logistics staff is rated "Good," "Great" or "Excellent" then attrition is only 2.5%, and "Superb" leads to no losses. Such land movement also has a chance to lower unit's disposition.

By the way, you've got me thinking about what might cause a division/corps/army with a "Terrible" Logistics Rating to lose 10% of its men on the march, and I keep picturing that chase scene in "Blazing Saddles" with the giant reefer that makes the lead pursuer tell his men, "You go this way, and you go that way, and I'll just walk around here in circles..."

[Gil R.]

ORIGINAL: scout1

I figured with 4 pbem games of WitP and 1 of BiI going, I wouldn't have the time/inclination for any other games. But, you've broken me. This one is one that I gotta get. Very nice .....

BTW, what is the time scale per turn ? Months, weeks, days ?

Thanks -- that's good to hear.

I answered your question in the other thread, but the scale is two weeks per turn. But if you have McClellan it takes three.[;)]

[spruce]

I really like the graphics - would have been cool tough if there were streets or roads in the city

[spruce]

GilR,
 
IIRC a significant portion of conderate defenders fled Lee's army when he turned North for his second Northern Incursion. I guess supply was one of the reasons those guys were reluctant to join the main army body.

[marecone]

Woooow!!! [&o] Beautifull!!!
Very, very nice. But I knew it will be good [;)] So much effort by Gil and Eric and all of us giving ideas.... No way this would not work [:D]
Roads in city. If it is not too much, please do it. It ads to the realism. Everything else, superb!

[Gil R.]

Regarding roads in the city, I'm remaining silent and letting Pixelpusher answer that. Only he knows whether that might happen some day.