Advanced Tactics: Gold gets Massively Updated!

[Philkian]

Matrix Games is proud to announce the release of the v2.14 massive update for the critically-acclaimed, highly flexible wargame construction kit and World War 2 operational wargame, Advanced Tactics: Gold.

The v2.14 update has been in the works for months and contains numerous additions and improvements. The most exciting new feature is the addition of Commanders. Random commanders and an officer pool have been added in a separate new random game module called "New Dawn". Commanders can gain levels with experience. Levels bring higher combat and morale bonuses and can also bring the commander action cards and feats. This update also includes changes in Random games, strategic map enhancements and other minor bug fixes.

Here below the full changelog:

V2.14 – March 21, 2013

• Additions:

o Random commanders and an officer pool have been added. They have been added in a separate new random game module called "New Dawn".

 Each people has its own naming lists and portraits, so the Germanic, Anglo-Saxon, French, Russian, Arab, Japanese and Chinese people all have their own unique looking officers. With some variety in initial stats.
 Commanders can gain levels with experience. Levels bring higher combat and morale bonuses and can also bring the commander action cards and feats.
 Feats provide free bonuses now and then; cards provide bigger bonuses at a time of your choosing and special actions, but come with some danger when played. It’s possible for a commander to be killed or wounded playing them.
 Since there is no art budget for adding truly new features to a game over 2 years old I would really like to thank graphic artist and volunteer extraordinaire Mike Gaffney. The commanders would never have looked as great as they do without the great artwork he provided. I cannot stress enough how much volunteer work like this is appreciated.
 "Operational Planning" card that gives all units attached to HQs attached to the HQ playing the card a bonus of 0-20% off/def based on level of the officer.
 "Organise Wargames" card that gives all leaders attached to HQs attached to the HQ playing the card an experience point boost of 20-100 experience points based on the level of the leader in question.
 "Recon Operations" card that gives all units attached to HQs attached to the HQ playing the card a multiplication of their recon points at their present location.
 Added an editor tab that allows you to relatively easily create some leaders for any ATG rule-set scenario by replacing the master with the New Dawn master.
 Already did one such small scenario conversion, you can find it in NEWDAWN/ directory.
 Game allows renaming of officers but this can be disabled by setting rulevar 906
 Officers show up in OOB window.
 You can create a new HQ without a leader.
 Officer pool accessible if selecting HQ without officer.
 You can move a general (dismiss) to the officer pool without replacing him.

o 3 Extra options added to the random game setup menu: no farmlands, no suburban areas and higher production cost.

• Changes:

o Max staff support of commander is shown in transfer window so you can fine-tune your transfer of staff to HQs
o Editor request: New event picture is auto-loaded as systempgraphics/trans.bmp
o Explained rebels and volunteers card a bit better in description on card
o No mention of staff points anymore in interface (only in editor) to improve clarity of rules.
o Leaders have more staff points.
o Bit slower leveling for leaders
o You can change command of empty units without loss of leader cards.
o Lower base chance on death or wounded when playing cards and even lower chance when officer levels up.
o Mouse over on MXSTF shows a little bit more info.
o Random games now always have each player get equal number of start cities.
o Strategic map looks nicer on really large maps.

• Bug Fixes:

o Navy production ends up with ally bug fixed.
o Loaded on transport HQ link crash.
o Ships can never be strategically transported, not even at insane costs.
o New production now starts with base morale of the regime.
o Officer pool stats issue fixed.
o Bug with recon and seeing contents of enemy HQ fixed.
o Fixed a minor bug with rebel card.
o Production lines cancelled message when playing officer card message fixed.


The v2.14 update is comprehensive and will bring all versions of Advanced Tactics: Gold to v2.14. To download the update, players can run “Check for Update” via the game menu or on the game’s download page.

“The update is evidence of our commitment along with VR Designs to keep supporting this series” said Erik Rutins, Director of Product Development at Matrix Games “and this is highlighted by the constant flow of new features and game optimizations which stresses how important it is to both developer and publisher to keep it fresh and appealing”.

Get more information on Advanced Tactics: Gold from its official product page.

[Moltke71]

I updated but v. 2.11 is still showing on the intro screen. How do I know if the update really took?

The "New Dawn" module is in the game directory but doesn't show up as an option on "Load Scenario". The new options for making scenarios don't show up.

[Tac2i]

Re New Dawn: If your game has been properly updated, you should have an option to create an "A New Dawn Random Game." You don't access it via the "Load Scenario" button except to load the "demo" officers scenario.

ORIGINAL: Bismarck

I updated but v. 2.11 is still showing on the intro screen. How do I know if the update really took?

The "New Dawn" module is in the game directory but doesn't show up as an option on "Load Scenario". The new options for making scenarios don't show up.

[Andrew Loveridge]

If it updated correctly it would show as 2.14 with the new option to start a New Dawn Random Game.
Could you make sure it installed completely and to the correct directory?

[Moltke71]

Long story short: when my new rig was made, ATG was duped to two drives. I had to do two uninstalls and a regedit delete. I did a clean install and updated fine. Sorry for any fuss.

[Tac2i]

Some of the bulleted items in this announcement might not make complete sense to someone who did not participate in the public beta of the new features. Therefore, I've taken the liberty to rewrite slightly some of them and remove those items that someone upgrading from 2.11 or earlier without having tried the public beta versions (2.12, 2.13 and 2.14) might not understand. Hopefully this is helpful.

----edited by webizen----
• Additions:

o Random commanders and an officer pool have been added. They have been added in a separate new random game module called "New Dawn" (anewdawn.at2).

 Each people group has its own naming lists and portraits, so the Germanic, Anglo-Saxon, French, Russian, Arab, Japanese and Chinese people all have their own unique looking officers and scome with some variety in their initial stats.
 Commanders gain experience levels as they command troops in combat. Levels bring higher combat and morale bonuses and can also bring the commander action cards and feats.
 Feats provide free bonuses now and then; cards provide bigger bonuses at a time of your choosing and special actions, but come with some danger when played. It’s possible for a commander to be killed or wounded playing them.
 An "Operational Planning" card that gives all units attached to HQs in the chain of command of the HQ playing the card a bonus of 0-20% offensively/defensively based on level of the officer.
 An "Organise Wargames" card that gives all units attached to HQs in the chain of command of the HQ playing the card an experience point boost of 20-100 experience points based on the level of the leader in question.
 An "Recon Operations" card that gives all units attached to HQs in the chain of command of the HQ playing the card a multiplication of their recon points at their present location.
 Added an editor tab that allows you to relatively easily create some leaders for any ATG rule-set scenario by replacing the masterfile with the New Dawn masterfile.
 One small commanders demo scenario which you can find it in NEWDAWN/ directory.
 Renaming of commanders is allowed. For ATG editor users, this can be disabled by setting rulevar 906.
 Commanders show up in OOB window.
 You can create a new HQ without a commander.
 Officer (commander) pool accessible even if selecting HQ without officer.
 You can move a general (dismiss) to the officer pool without replacing him.

o 3 extra options added to the random game setup menu: no farmlands, no suburban areas and higher production cost.
-----end edits-----

P.S.
My NATO Counters Mod for 2.14 beta is compatible with this final released version.

[dominickpa]

It's not clear to me the role of commanders. Are they the next level above staff? If so, do HQs have to be connected to them to receive experience? Does distance play any part? Can one commander in the supreme HQ be all that is needed? I could not find any info on this subject in the game manual, so is there info available to clear these questions up?

[bobarossa]

Leaders/Commanders were added in the last patch. There may be something in the readme file for it(no, couldn't find anything). I find leaders only gain experience when they are at the lower HQ levels. The Leader in my Supreme HQ never gets any experience. This may hold for HQ's that have a subordinate HQ but I haven't verified it. I suspect distance plays a part. If the HQ can't provide support to the unit why should unit actions provide experience to the Leader?

And to answer your first question, Leaders are in addition to staff. They add to the benefits of having a unit under an HQ. I believe the listed combat and morale bonuses are in addition to the standard bonus a unit gets from being attached to an HQ.