1.04 Update

Empires in Arms is the computer version of Australian Design Group classic board game. Empires in Arms is a seven player game of grand strategy set during the Napoleonic period of 1805-1815. The unit scale is corps level with full diplomatic options

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pzgndr
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RE: 1.04 Update

Post by pzgndr »

Let's see what happens from here.

Bingo. Move onward.

I am reminded of a quote from the 1976 movie, "The Gumball Rally":
Franco: And now my friend, the first-a rule of Italian driving.
[Franco rips off his rear-view mirror and throws it out of the car]
Franco: What's-a behind me is not important.

[;)]
Bill Macon
Empires in Arms Developer
Strategic Command Developer
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gazfun
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RE: 1.04 Update

Post by gazfun »

Your analogy is void of any real fact since you don't know any of us. In fact, I have noticed that more TGHQers abandon the game then the people that are on here complaining (myself and some others I am in games with included).
You dont know anything about TGHQ at all quiet frankly, since april this year you havent visited us much. And havent said too much to us with only 9 posts since april 2008 and 2 or 3 of those are only files uploading posts. So I hardly think you can say anything with authority.
Out of the 5 games we that had started with us we still have 4 going, and they have been going since around December 07
We had 3 restarts in one game, and that has continued for 6 months and going strong, because of the strong commitment of players.
The fiflth game pulled out as the GM and a few people drifted away from us, due to a combination of personel problems, and email issues, but they didnt keep up with the patches, and so caused a sync problem all the time.
The fourth game GM pulled out and has been replaced by a stronger GM, this games will be continuing, and looking for 1 player, replacement due to personel problems.
We have had a few replacement players but at quiet an acceptable level.
A lot of the guys are having fun with the game actually. We have had hassles with bugs sure but the main thing is that most of us just keep on keeping on, and adjust to suit, that situation, but we find that mostly not to many bugs have come forth since 1.02, and the game has stabilised a lot since 1.03 thanks to Marshall and the testing team.
Thanks guys all of us at TGHQ appreciate it immensly.
NeverMan
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RE: 1.04 Update

Post by NeverMan »

Well, I'm in Game 5 of your THGQ and in over a month real time we've managed ALMOST a month game time with 2-3 players dropping out. That's what I know.
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gazfun
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RE: 1.04 Update

Post by gazfun »

ORIGINAL: NeverMan

Well, I'm in Game 5 of your THGQ and in over a month real time we've managed ALMOST a month game time with 2-3 players dropping out. That's what I know.
This is to do with issues of the OLD GM not to do with the game, it is the performance or non performance of people thats the main cause. Nothing to do with TGHQ.
NeverMan
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RE: 1.04 Update

Post by NeverMan »

ORIGINAL: gazfun

ORIGINAL: NeverMan

Well, I'm in Game 5 of your THGQ and in over a month real time we've managed ALMOST a month game time with 2-3 players dropping out. That's what I know.
This is to do with issues of the OLD GM not to do with the game, it is the performance or non performance of people thats the main cause. Nothing to do with TGHQ.

You were trying to "call people out" based on the game and you were implying that most games were closed due to people's non-commitment and not bug issues and saying that people basically need to buck up and be "wargamers". All I was pointing out is that YOUR group (THGQ) has had several dropped players just in the month I've played with them, that's all. My point??? People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
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Romanov
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RE: 1.04 Update

Post by Romanov »

 Ok, here's my ten cents worth. I also have been playing EIA since it's release and have gone through the hassles of the restart, as bug after bug was found[:(]. Also of course having had the players themselves leave a game for one reason or another.[:(]
The bug issue I beleive is coming under control, at the present moment there don't seem to be any game stoppers.[:D] However I too paid I believe good money to purchase this game, but have also purchased games at retailers, for a lot more money, and found them to positive rubbish. (I'm censoring myself here, as you may gather.)[:D] and these are games released by supposedly reputable companies.
Marshall at least is putting in the hard yards to improve the game, I'm not sucking up to him just stating fact.
I agree that gamers should have the right to complain if it's a legitate complaint, and it's obvious that here it's at least being taken into account. As I previously alluded to "others " have got your money and couldn't care less.
Also the updates are coming out, other companies would release a disk and have you buy it.
There is a game here that has a lot of potential I only hope Matrix realize it.
 
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Marshall Ellis
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RE: 1.04 Update

Post by Marshall Ellis »

ORIGINAL: NeverMan

ORIGINAL: delatbabel

I have finished my latest round of testing on the latest 1.04 DEV release and have given Marshall the OK to release that as a beta.  There are a few fixes outstanding but it's much better than the current release, especially from an AI perspective (even playing France was a little tough).

Let's see what happens from here.

Are the free VP/PP still in the game? If so, then that's why it's still challenging. It's not that the AI is good it's just that the comp gives itself endless amounts of VP/PP. It's hard to compete with that even when you've gotten two unconditionals from all neighbors, have been in wars you've won the entire game and own most of the map.

It is still in 1.04 but I have adjusted in 1.05 to a more realistic / random level.

Thank you

Marshall Ellis
Outflank Strategy War Games


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Marshall Ellis
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RE: 1.04 Update

Post by Marshall Ellis »

ORIGINAL: NeverMan

ORIGINAL: timewalker03

My personal experiences with the board game were fine. My game groups did not have problems with speed. In the 4 PBEM games I have participated in not one made it past march without restarting, and none restarted due to player participation, but because of bugs in the game. Once again it goes back to game design. I will not bash players or their level of play at all. I will not bash players dedication since the factor of Real Life plays into things and dedication may change on a moments notices due to unforseen factors. The only negatives I have found with the game are how the game plays and how crappy the AI is. As delatbabel has stated we should see an AI improvement which would be nice since I bought the game for a single player challenge and not for a PBEM lifelong game.

Being a Wargamer does not make anyone special in any way. You are not any better than a video game player, you just play games from a different niche then as an example a sim player. Blaming the problems of a game on the players is a sad way to try to hide behind the fact that the game is currently sub par compared to the original board game. I do fully understand that you will not have a direct port, and I do realize ADG gave a thumbs up to the game in its current form. I am sure they make some money every time a copy sells which of course they endorse since they have to do nothing to make the money they are making. No matter what, it comes down to quality of product and how Matrix treats its consumer. I did not purchase this game to help them develop it further. I purchased this game to play EiA solo. Not for the PBEM feature. If they wanted me to playtest the game they should have selected me when they asked for testers in 2003 as I put in an app to test. And I would still be here helping them. Instead I paid $60 to be a tester which falls into the realm of Bull$%^& as far as their company practices go. I also don't support something in a blind manner, and I would be promoting Matrix and Marshall if things were good from the start. Which of course they weren't. The only fault when it comes to dedication lies in the games maker. They launched a much inferior product than they could have, and the progression to make this the best game possible is very slow. Hopefully that will change.

Great post!

For me, I just feel that they should take the blame for making this game. I don't really see how the "gamer" comes into play at all. The game is not stable, what does that have to do with gamers? Gazfun, you are really grasping at straws here.

The game is in bad shape and has been since it was released. It's getting better but very, very slowly. Personally, I don't really care about the AI since the only way it's ever going to be challenging is if it gives itself a bunch of free VP/PP, otherwise it's a blow over, so that doesn't really make it an AI or technically "challenging". There has been little done to improve PBEM since the game was released. There are still game-stopping bugs.

You can use the "one developer"; however, the game has been in development for years and they still charge MORE than most PC games that are finished and polished.

What game stopping PBEM bugs are you talking about?
Are those bugs that I am not aware of?
Are they in Mantis?



Thank you

Marshall Ellis
Outflank Strategy War Games


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DCWhitworth
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RE: 1.04 Update

Post by DCWhitworth »

ORIGINAL: Marshall Ellis

What game stopping PBEM bugs are you talking about?
Are those bugs that I am not aware of?
Are they in Mantis?

Yes I'd like to know too. What are these game stopping issues that Neverman seems to speak of so often ?
Regards
David
NeverMan
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RE: 1.04 Update

Post by NeverMan »

ORIGINAL: Marshall Ellis
ORIGINAL: NeverMan

ORIGINAL: timewalker03

My personal experiences with the board game were fine. My game groups did not have problems with speed. In the 4 PBEM games I have participated in not one made it past march without restarting, and none restarted due to player participation, but because of bugs in the game. Once again it goes back to game design. I will not bash players or their level of play at all. I will not bash players dedication since the factor of Real Life plays into things and dedication may change on a moments notices due to unforseen factors. The only negatives I have found with the game are how the game plays and how crappy the AI is. As delatbabel has stated we should see an AI improvement which would be nice since I bought the game for a single player challenge and not for a PBEM lifelong game.

Being a Wargamer does not make anyone special in any way. You are not any better than a video game player, you just play games from a different niche then as an example a sim player. Blaming the problems of a game on the players is a sad way to try to hide behind the fact that the game is currently sub par compared to the original board game. I do fully understand that you will not have a direct port, and I do realize ADG gave a thumbs up to the game in its current form. I am sure they make some money every time a copy sells which of course they endorse since they have to do nothing to make the money they are making. No matter what, it comes down to quality of product and how Matrix treats its consumer. I did not purchase this game to help them develop it further. I purchased this game to play EiA solo. Not for the PBEM feature. If they wanted me to playtest the game they should have selected me when they asked for testers in 2003 as I put in an app to test. And I would still be here helping them. Instead I paid $60 to be a tester which falls into the realm of Bull$%^& as far as their company practices go. I also don't support something in a blind manner, and I would be promoting Matrix and Marshall if things were good from the start. Which of course they weren't. The only fault when it comes to dedication lies in the games maker. They launched a much inferior product than they could have, and the progression to make this the best game possible is very slow. Hopefully that will change.

Great post!

For me, I just feel that they should take the blame for making this game. I don't really see how the "gamer" comes into play at all. The game is not stable, what does that have to do with gamers? Gazfun, you are really grasping at straws here.

The game is in bad shape and has been since it was released. It's getting better but very, very slowly. Personally, I don't really care about the AI since the only way it's ever going to be challenging is if it gives itself a bunch of free VP/PP, otherwise it's a blow over, so that doesn't really make it an AI or technically "challenging". There has been little done to improve PBEM since the game was released. There are still game-stopping bugs.

You can use the "one developer"; however, the game has been in development for years and they still charge MORE than most PC games that are finished and polished.

What game stopping PBEM bugs are you talking about?
Are those bugs that I am not aware of?
Are they in Mantis?




The CleverDevils2 bug.

This group now has to WAIT for 1.04 to come out before we can continue playing this PBEM game. If the game can't continue then it's a "game stopper", right?
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Jimmer
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RE: 1.04 Update

Post by Jimmer »

ORIGINAL: Marshall Ellis
What game stopping PBEM bugs are you talking about?
Are those bugs that I am not aware of?
Are they in Mantis?
CleverDevils is still stuck.

However, to refute what someone said earlier, I am unaware of ANY game-stopping bugs that have clearly existed since the original release. The current one CleverDevils is experiencing MAY have been in existence (we may have been the first game to actually have an Ottoman Empire get played in a war). But, I don't think there are any obvious ones that are not end-cases.
At LAST! The greatest campaign board game of all time is finally available for the PC. Can my old heart stand the strain?
NeverMan
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RE: 1.04 Update

Post by NeverMan »

ORIGINAL: Jimmer

ORIGINAL: Marshall Ellis
What game stopping PBEM bugs are you talking about?
Are those bugs that I am not aware of?
Are they in Mantis?
CleverDevils is still stuck.

However, to refute what someone said earlier, I am unaware of ANY game-stopping bugs that have clearly existed since the original release. The current one CleverDevils is experiencing MAY have been in existence (we may have been the first game to actually have an Ottoman Empire get played in a war). But, I don't think there are any obvious ones that are not end-cases.

Jimmer, be serious man. If you want to have blinders on that's fine, but too many people here value your opinion and this post is seriously misleading. NO game-stopping bugs since the ORIGINAL RELEASE??? ARE YOU SERIOUS???
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Jimmer
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RE: 1.04 Update

Post by Jimmer »

Show me. Show me a verified bug that has been present in the code since December.
At LAST! The greatest campaign board game of all time is finally available for the PC. Can my old heart stand the strain?
NeverMan
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RE: 1.04 Update

Post by NeverMan »

ORIGINAL: Jimmer

Show me. Show me a verified bug that has been present in the code since December.

Without looking at the code, I'm going to say that the bug CleverDevils2 has now "has been present in the code since December."
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Mardonius
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RE: 1.04 Update

Post by Mardonius »

ORIGINAL: delatbabel

I have finished my latest round of testing on the latest 1.04 DEV release and have given Marshall the OK to release that as a beta.  There are a few fixes outstanding but it's much better than the current release, especially from an AI perspective (even playing France was a little tough).

Let's see what happens from here.


That is great to hear Del. Thanks for your work. Much appreciated.

Marshall: Thank you for your unwaivering efforts. Any word on when we will see a Beta and thereafter a final 1.04 final release? Got an Ottoman Empire to create (unless I get stomped) and want to make sure I don't run into Jimmer's Clever Devil's bug.

best
Mardonius

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"Yes, you will win most battles, but if you loose to me you will loose oh so badly that it causes me pain (chortle) just to think of it" - P. Khan
anarchyintheuk
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RE: 1.04 Update

Post by anarchyintheuk »

From my personal experience the board game had quite a few bugs. A couple of the rules arguments were definitely game enders. I don't see thte difference here.
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Marshall Ellis
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RE: 1.04 Update

Post by Marshall Ellis »

ORIGINAL: NeverMan

ORIGINAL: Jimmer

ORIGINAL: Marshall Ellis
What game stopping PBEM bugs are you talking about?
Are those bugs that I am not aware of?
Are they in Mantis?
CleverDevils is still stuck.

However, to refute what someone said earlier, I am unaware of ANY game-stopping bugs that have clearly existed since the original release. The current one CleverDevils is experiencing MAY have been in existence (we may have been the first game to actually have an Ottoman Empire get played in a war). But, I don't think there are any obvious ones that are not end-cases.

Jimmer, be serious man. If you want to have blinders on that's fine, but too many people here value your opinion and this post is seriously misleading. NO game-stopping bugs since the ORIGINAL RELEASE??? ARE YOU SERIOUS???

I think I understand what you are saying. The problems you may be talking about originated in earlier versions, Neverman. Some of the block problems stemmed from not transmitting PBEM moves properly in the PBEM files but that stemmed back from 1.02k pr prev. These non-transmittals allowed enemy forces to occupy the same area without combat. I am preventing this type of move in 1.03 and 1.04 BUT these patches are good at prevention as opposed to cure. I have tried to cure what games I can so that you guys can keep playing (BTW: I thought cleverdevils was on again???).

I apologize for your grief.







Thank you

Marshall Ellis
Outflank Strategy War Games


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Jimmer
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RE: 1.04 Update

Post by Jimmer »

ORIGINAL: NeverMan

Without looking at the code, I'm going to say that the bug CleverDevils2 has now "has been present in the code since December."
Not good enough. You said
The game will be coming up on a year soon and there are still bugs in the game that cause CRASHES to games, meaning some games can't continue due to these bugs that have been around almost a year now.

Show me where there was a bug existing in December (i.e. produce a bug report, a forum post, whatever).

I contend that the vast majority (~100%) of the significant bugs have been eliminated that were logged at or shortly after release. There indeed are new bugs now, some perhaps which were in the code then, but were not reported. There are even a few that got lost in the change of bug-reporting processes. But, I cannot think of any that existed and were documented in 12/2007. In fact, I can't think of any that were logged at 1.02 that aren't fixed in 1.03 (both released versions).

Your error may have been in focusing on the last sentence of my post. If you did that, you might have gotten the impression that I thought there were no bugs present at all. But, taking that sentence without the rest of the paragraph is taking it brutally out of context, which I clearly stated in the first sentence of that paragraph ("... that have clearly existed since the original release.")
At LAST! The greatest campaign board game of all time is finally available for the PC. Can my old heart stand the strain?
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Jimmer
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RE: 1.04 Update

Post by Jimmer »

ORIGINAL: Marshall Ellis
(BTW: I thought cleverdevils was on again???).
No. It's waiting for Gwheelock to become an official beta-tester, so he can get version 1.04. Then, he'll fix the game, give it to me to take my turn, and then re-fix it (since I suspect that every time I move something will break in the Ottoman area).
At LAST! The greatest campaign board game of all time is finally available for the PC. Can my old heart stand the strain?
NeverMan
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RE: 1.04 Update

Post by NeverMan »

ORIGINAL: Jimmer

ORIGINAL: NeverMan

Without looking at the code, I'm going to say that the bug CleverDevils2 has now "has been present in the code since December."
Not good enough. You said
The game will be coming up on a year soon and there are still bugs in the game that cause CRASHES to games, meaning some games can't continue due to these bugs that have been around almost a year now.

Show me where there was a bug existing in December (i.e. produce a bug report, a forum post, whatever).

I contend that the vast majority (~100%) of the significant bugs have been eliminated that were logged at or shortly after release. There indeed are new bugs now, some perhaps which were in the code then, but were not reported. There are even a few that got lost in the change of bug-reporting processes. But, I cannot think of any that existed and were documented in 12/2007. In fact, I can't think of any that were logged at 1.02 that aren't fixed in 1.03 (both released versions).

Your error may have been in focusing on the last sentence of my post. If you did that, you might have gotten the impression that I thought there were no bugs present at all. But, taking that sentence without the rest of the paragraph is taking it brutally out of context, which I clearly stated in the first sentence of that paragraph ("... that have clearly existed since the original release.")

I understood exactly what you said and I'm submitting THIS bug as having been here a year (since original release). The bug has been around since the original release. You yourself said that this group was probably the first to find it, so there, that's my submission of a bug.
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