Guns of August 1.22 Public Beta 2 Uploaded!

[Greg Wilcox]

Hi everyone,

The new version v1.22 Update is now available as a Public Beta via our Members Club (Fixing the issue with the troops reporting on the battle not giving casualty and kill reports for fear of getting court-martialed if the losses were unacceptable). While we do final testing we figured we'd offer you a change to get it early as well. This is still a beta, but it's stable and solid as far as we can tell. Barring any major issues being found, this version will become the official update.

You can download this as a Registered Download as long as you have registered your Guns of August serial number in our Members Club (click on the MEMBERS link in the top nav bar).

Change list for 1.22 Beta 2

1. Fixed Rail movement failures were still happening due to a stacking error (it was counting the unit moving to the hex twice which sometimes caused it to not move because the hex was thought to be overstacked).
2. Fixed A hex ownership bug in conquered countries. The bug report sent by a player dealing with US troops in Constantinople is fixed.
3. A naval supply problem through Athens is fixed.
4. Diplomatic display you will no longer see how close a neutral country is to declaring war on you.
5. Romania will no longer declare war if Russia is conquered.
6. Overstacked units will not participate in combat but are still subject to the results. (If a hex is overstacked, the game selects the units with the highest strength and readiness automatically).
7. The addition of the Alternate graphics being able to be selected within the game.

[Franck]

1. Fixed Rail movement failures were still happening due to a stacking error (it was counting the unit moving to the hex twice which sometimes caused it to not move because the hex was thought to be overstacked).

Thank you, thank you and thank you. I'm unlikely to restart my 3 PBEM because of that ( well maybe the last one... ) But knowing why rail move failed I can make sure it dosen't fail anymore! Thanks.

6. Overstacked units will not participate in combat but are still subject to the results. (If a hex is overstacked, the game selects the units with the highest strength and readiness automatically).

YES, YES, YES AND YES!!!! No more 8 corps strong paris that is unbeatable ( or really hard to beat! )



Would it be possible to include ALL of the mods in the member area too?

[SMK-at-work]

4. Diplomatic display you will no longer see how close a neutral country is to declaring war on you.

 
while I understand the problems this is supposed to fix I think it is overkill - some indication of political leanings should be given.  Occasinoally there weer surprise declarations - eg Bulgaria, but normally the process took long enough to give appreciable warning.
 
And it doesn't stop a declaration of war on Italy on T2......

[wargamer123]

will this ruin my 1.21 beta games? if I import them

[Franck]

All previous edition did... 

[flintlock]

Thanks the heads-up. I'm sure Frank must be pleased to work on a patch for a change where he's not adding additional resolution support.

Appreciate the continued support.

[ejs6263]

Greg:

Is there any possibility of uploading this to the beta testers forum?

[Greg Wilcox]

Should be up there.


-Greg

[ejs6263]

Thanks, Greg. Much appreciated. This game still maintains some addictiveness for me so it's nice to keep it up to date.

[jhdeerslayer]

Any idea when this Beta Update will be official?

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: Deerslayer
Any idea when this Beta Update will be official?

Well, what's the consensus? Is everyone pretty happy with this release? If so, I'll let Frank know that we have a candidate to make official.

[wargamer123]

Erik, I think the largest modification needed to the game is not done.

The operational movement is patched but the surrender and hex control is not.

[Sabre21]

Hey Erik

I've really been playing the heck out of this game over the last week with the latest beta patch and have really been enjoying it. The only oddball things I've encountered is when Serbia and/or Romania surrender and any remaining hexes that weren't overrun by the CP still require the expenditure of an HQ point or the use of a cav unit to occupy it. I don't know if this was already an issue since I just recently bought the game.

There is an oddity with that though..During solitaire play, I had a few infantry units 2 hexes away from the russian border inside the former Romania after it surrendered with the row of hexes running along the border still having the Romanian flag on them that I couldn't freely occupy. During the movement phase my austrian units were frozen in place with a red border around them as if I had moved them, which I never. The next turn the units were now adjacent to the russian border having moved into those very same hexes that I couldn't get into. This happened twice to me and only there in the same spot.

I also noticed that when Holland surrenders that any of my units that are in the former Holland also get a red border on them and are unmoveable for that turn. I am not sure if that is intended..but so far I only see that hapening in Holland and in Romania..and only to those units adjacent to hexes that the CP had not already overrun. The difference is in Holland I can freely move into them (after the turn my units are unfrozen), and in Romania the computer moves my units into the ones along the Russian border as stated above but not any others. those along the Bulgarian border or elsewhere still require the use of cavalry or an HQ point to enter.

If you prefer me to post these issues eleswhere I can.

Sabre

[Sabre21]

Oh and a couple comments..the AI, in 99% of the cases, blocks my cav units from exploiting when I have them on the front line adjacent to an open space. Even when I get tricky and remove a stacked infantry unit and replace it with a cav unit so as not to change the number of units stacked, the computer still blocks them.

This same craziness occurs when I no longer have any HQ points to expend. I have seen the computer strip the border of defenses the moment my last HQ point is used. This mostly happens against minor allies that rarely get any new HQ points..like Turkey, Serbia, Bulgaria..etc. But if I do get a new HQ point in one of them..you can bet I will now face a strong defense where before it was empty.

It doesn't happen 100% of the time..but enough for me to know that the AI knows exactly what I have stacked.

On a wishlist sidenote..I wish there was a way to prevent Russia (or any other country) from surrendering..I would like to be able to occupy all those nice juicy resource hexes way to the east and have never been able to get that far without them surrendering first. Along that line..I started to turn my forces west after Russia surrendered in Oct 1916 and up to that point had only defended in the west. Having never engaged the Brits in a sea battle cuz I'm too chicken to see my German navy get wiped out, I had the Brits surrender on me that ended the game. I did manage to take Alexandria from them (they had 1 corps there), but the only other forces they lost up to that point were an occasional arty bombardment. They surrendered a couple turns after Russia did which ended the game which was a big letdown. I would just like to fight them to the very end..no surrender.

[FrankHunter]

It doesn't happen 100% of the time..but enough for me to know that the AI knows exactly what I have stacked.

The AI has no ability to look at what the other side has.  However, it knows the number of HQ points you start with, and how many you used and it keeps running totals of the number of attacks launched on each front each turn so it knows when offensives are petering out.

They surrendered a couple turns after Russia did which ended the game which was a big letdown.

I would assume the combination of lack of food and "a bad die roll" in response to the Russian surrender caused that. 

The only oddball things I've encountered is when Serbia and/or Romania surrender and any remaining hexes that weren't overrun by the CP still require the expenditure of an HQ point or the use of a cav unit to occupy it.

That's as its supposed to be. 

There is an oddity with that though..

Hard for me to follow that exactly, any chance you have a saved game of that?

[Sabre21]

ORIGINAL: FrankHunter

Hard for me to follow that exactly, any chance you have a saved game of that?

Sorry Frank..I didn't happen to save that one. I will try and recreate it.

One of the things I mentioned earlier about when Holland or Romania or Serbia Surrender that any hex that wasn't overrun still has the original country flag in it.

In Serbia, and the western part of Romania, on the turn after surrender, my units can freely move thru those originally flagged hexes without requiring an HQ point nor a cav unit. Once moved thru by anything other than an HQ or an arty unit, the hex then shows the flag of the unit that just went thru it. I am not sure why an HQ or an arty unit won't convert the hex over.

In Holland, the turn after surrender, any unit that was involved in the invasion gets frozen with a red border as if they were moved. During the movement phase, selecting the "cancel" option removes the red border but the unit is still frozen until the follow on turn at which point I can freely move them thru any former Dutch hex including those with a Dutch flag on them converting them as described above.

In eastern Romania that problem with the couple rows of hexes along the Russian border has plagued me on several games. After surrender, I have to either use a cav unit or expend an HQ point.

I will try and recreate all this and send you the appropriate save games.

One last thing, is there any way to tone down or even turn off (like having a toggle on the start-up page) the surrender routines for the major powers. It's kinda frustrating to finally achieve a breakthru on the eastern or western front only to have the AI surrender a few turns later. It reminds me of playing a spoiled player who sees that he has a serious uphill fight and just decides to quit as in that game I mentioned where the Brits quit a couple turns after Russia surrendered ending the game without suffering any major troop loss.

[FrankHunter]

One last thing, is there any way to tone down or even turn off (like having a toggle on the start-up page) the surrender routines for the major powers. It's kinda frustrating to finally achieve a breakthru on the eastern or western front only to have the AI surrender a few turns later.

Well that was kind of the idea. To force the enemy's morale to collapse. Once that's happened the country's will to resist is gone and the war is over. The reasoning was that Germany for example collapsed even though foreign troops hadn't even crossed the Rhine and even after huge territorial gains had been made in the East.

Morale collapse forces you to consider other elements besides a counting of troops. The home front for example can't be left to starve for a few years and still expect morale to remain high because you took Amiens. Civilians just aren't going to see that as a good trade. Its also tough to tell people that the surrender of your allies will have no effect on them.


On the subject of hex control after surrenders, if anyone runs across an anomaly please zip together all the "autosaves" and send them to me at fhunter@telus.net

[Sabre21]

ORIGINAL: FrankHunter

One last thing, is there any way to tone down or even turn off (like having a toggle on the start-up page) the surrender routines for the major powers. It's kinda frustrating to finally achieve a breakthru on the eastern or western front only to have the AI surrender a few turns later.

Well that was kind of the idea. To force the enemy's morale to collapse. Once that's happened the country's will to resist is gone and the war is over. The reasoning was that Germany for example collapsed even though foreign troops hadn't even crossed the Rhine and even after huge territorial gains had been made in the East.

Morale collapse forces you to consider other elements besides a counting of troops. The home front for example can't be left to starve for a few years and still expect morale to remain high because you took Amiens. Civilians just aren't going to see that as a good trade. Its also tough to tell people that the surrender of your allies will have no effect on them.

I understand the ramifications of morale and how it affected the populace during WWI. But being this a game, I would still like the ability to turn it off now and then. The game just seems to really get going when a major ally just up and quits.

Neither France nor England gave up when Russia collapsed and while things were pretty tough in 1916-17 I doubt either of those countries would have thrown in the towel even if Paris had been occupied.

[FrankHunter]

If countries surrendering when their morale hit zero was turned off when would the game end?

I think the loss of Paris and the fall of Russia both hitting the French population in 1916 after the losses of Verdun would have caused their surrender but that of course would be debateable. If bad events can be spaced out over time its easier to cope with the same events.

[SMK-at-work]

I have some examples of wrong control after surrender (still fighting French & Brit forces in Italy, Russian hexes not changing control) but they are situation that occured when we were playing with 1.20 or 1.21, although we're now playing them with 1.22 - I presume yuo want ones where the problems happen in 1.22?