Questions on the game

[Bronze]

I have been lurking in this and Adanac's forum for over 4 years and am more than over anxious for this game to be released. There are a couple of questions that I have not found answers to and was wondering about some of the changes that may have occurred when Mr. Hunter took the game to Matrix.

1. What effect do aircraft now have in the various theaters?

2. How do gas and artillery influence combat? Can you bombard (+/- gas) and not do post bombardment combat?

3. Do replacements trickle in and/or are the cohorts called up?

4. What impact do tanks have in battles?

5. How about a screen shot involving a combat?

6. Does railroad infrastructure come into play and can you influence this?

7. How is US involvement illustrated? Will they ever send troops? Can they potentially not send troops?

8. How is submarine warfare (esp. in regards to the British Isles) modeled?

9. Can corps units serve under a different nationality's HQ? And is the building up for an offense still the same as it was a couple of years ago?

10. And the ever important release date? I know there are many who have been waiting years.

[7th Somersets]

These answers are incomplete I know - but here goes
 
1. Aircraft can be used to remove fog of war and also to help in artillery effect. The more aircraft you have and the more advanced they are the better chance of achieving air superiority = better effect.
2. Artillery can fire 'normally' or using gas (if you have researched the advance). Gas has a limited useage - as in the Great War - it was most effective when first introduced and before countermeasures were developed. Again you can research improved gas warfare as the was goes on - adding new opportunities to attack the enemy with gas. Artillery can fire without an assault. A good form of attrition if you can keep producing the shells.
3. There are both manpower and weapons limitations. The game seems to reflect history in that (apart from deployment units) countries tend to have a buildup of units during the first year/two years. Then you struggle to keep the units viable as manpower limitations bite (assuming that you are using your troops).
7. US involvement is reflected in a number of ways. There is a diplomatic element to the game - players can encourage countries towards their point of view to a certain extent. Once the USA gets involved as the Triple Entente you feel an immediate boost in resources. The US forces build up at their historical rate - ie slowly at first - but significantly at the end.
9. Corps can serve under different nationality HQs. I don't know what the building up for an offensive was like a few years ago. Now each HQ has a number of points that allow offensives to be initiated. It does have the effect of offensives 'running out of steam' unless you are clever with HQ deployment etc.
 
Release date??? It seems to be very close to being finished (but I am not on the 'inside').
 
Well worth waiting for in my opinion.

[Bronze]

Thank you - those questions have been hovering in the back of my head for years.

[SMK-at-work]

Answers to some of the questions 7th missed:
4/ Tanks are seperate, small, units and affect the attacks of any other units they are attacking with by increasing the chances for damage and to force a retreat.
5/ can't do sorry
6/ Each country has a resource for strategic movement in contiguous land masses that represents rail and probably canal movement.  The further you move a unit strategically the more resource it uses up.  when you have 0 left you cannot use strategic movement any more, and you cannot move a unit further than remaining resources allow.
8/ Some transport units are required to be set to "shipping" in various sea areas to get resources and production for various nationalities.  Having submarines set to "anti-shipping" in those sea zones gives a chance to intercept and damage or destroy those transports.  If the number of transports falls below a set level then the country will loose resources.  It's a long term battle!
 
 
 

[Bronze]

Wow, this game gets better and better.

6. Can you further develop this railroad/canal infrastructure and is it needed to move resources?

11. Have the graphics changed from the earlier screenshots? Not that they're all that bad but.....

12. Is the AI still programmed having seen various plans and attempts before? - I forgot the name that Frank gave it. How is the AI?

[SMK-at-work]

You cannot do anything to strategic movement other than use it - and it is not used for moving resources - it is assumed to be what is left after internal infrastructure has done its job.
 
Nope the graphics haven't changed.
 
Dunno about #12 - I assume you mean some sort of learning AI?  I have no idea.