Thoughts on 1.60 beta patch

[Hellfirejet]

I will do some more screen shots showing how the research has been modified for all the major Countries.

[operating]

ORIGINAL: kirk23

The turn each Country activates is unchanged,I was talking about turns in regard to research and the time they take to complete,the Germany will have the advantage in research,but the other Countries will complete their research,in respect off each other,in total game scale roundabout 6 turns on average.

Misunderstood what you meant..[8|]

[operating]

What's the story on "Pill boxes"?

[operating]

Kirk,

In the below SS Suprass has just lost Constantinople. It could have been taken by the English, instead let the Russians get the honor of capturing the Capital for 2 reasons. First; the Russians need a morale/NM boost to prevent elimination from the war (forced to surrender at "0"% NM), Secondly; Constantinople would be a source for PP once the capital begins to recover from battle damage. At the same time; Bulgaria is just a few turns on it's "March to war", it more than likely will rally to try and retake Constantinople, with other CP units. The Diplomatic picture did not reflect an immediate change to Bulgaria's status (I'm hoping it does), due to this nearby capture to them, nor an immediate change to Russia's NM of 18%. Russia NM should have immediately gone up +10% NM (spoils from a enemy capital capture) to a total of 28%NM, also Turkey should be taking a -20% NM loss at the same time. Because this happened NOW, I feel it should have reflected the stats in the game NOW, instead of at a later turn. Perhaps I am just feeling the pressure from an impending defeat.

Another "Special Event" feature that seems to be missing from the game is: "The first Russian Revolution". I thought when Russia's NM went below 40 NM, this event would have taken place giving the Russians a +30 NM (or so) boost, as stated in an earlier change log of another version. Was this cut out of the game or what? Another thing is: When is the "Special Event" for the final "Russian Revolution" supposed to take place? Certainly not after Russia has surrendered.....

Concerned, Bob

[Hellfirejet]

The first Russian Revolution does not take place until February 1917, from your screen shot you are still in July 1915. Why is the Russian morale so low? Is it because you have been taking to many casualties in combat, or because you have Lost Capital Cities & Fortresses?[&:]

[operating]

ORIGINAL: kirk23

The first Russian Revolution does not take place until February 1917, from your screen shot you are still in July 1915. Why is the Russian morale so low? Is it because you have been taking to many casualties in combat, or because you have Lost Capital Cities & Fortresses?[&:]

"All of the above", Just because my arms and legs have been cut off, does not mean I cannot bite you![:D]
Take Note; What Russia needs is divisions, not corps size units.

[operating]

Question: In another MP match; Aqudor is about to lose Turkey (low NM), Russia has captured Bagdad capital and 4 other Turk cities, English have captured Constantinople capital and 6 other Turk cities. Let's say Turkey surrenders next turn, then Russia surrenders several turns later, upon Russia surrendering, Will the captured Turkey-(now neutral) former cities and hexes revert back to Turkey that are under Russian ownership?

I've been in matches where Russia had captured Turkey cities but had surrendered while Turkey was still active while being in CP, in those matches where Russia surrendered first, the Russian held Turkey cities and hexes reverted back to Turkey, however the present outcome is some what different...

[amtrick]

I know this is kind of late, but I just finished a run through of the 1.60 beta game, once as CP and once as Entente, both on SP/balanced setting. I thought I would share my thoughts/observations on this latest version.

The platform stability seems pretty solid now. Occasionally the game will minimize itself down to my task bar, for what appears to be no reason at all. But no crashes of any sort.

It seems the game is reasonably fast now. I play on an older laptop with 3 GB of RAM, so I’m well within the original game specs. Like a couple of other people I seemed to notice a definitely slowing of the AI turn around turns 15 – 19, but nothing I couldn’t live with.

I won (ultimate victory) as the CP on turn 40 (Dec 1915). I won as the Entente on turn 39 (also Dec 1915). I must confess, the 10 PP convoys for the CP really altered the game balance since I have a work around to keep the AI from (stupidly) moving the CP convoys. The Germans got regular massive injections of PPs that were …. most useful.

Some strange things did happen during the game. When playing as CP I landed in invasion force in Finland near Turko then advanced on and captured St. Petersburg. Shortly after that Russia surrendered. I moved my invasion force back to Turko, but when I got there the port was gone! My troops were stuck in Finland for the duration.

Playing as Entente, around turn 9, I noticed the Gibraltar garrison just disappeared. About two turns later it was back in place.

Both pre-dreadnaught and the small garrison repairs/reinforcement cost 0 PP, and the small garrisons cost 0 MP to repair. I thought that was changing in this release.

I had a French transport moving toward Serbia when the French African Army appeared (in transports). That gave the French a (-1) sea transport capability, which the game rectified by simply magically transporting the first unit back to its original place the map. By the same token when the Gallipoli invasion force appeared on the map, it created a British (-2) sea transport capability, since I already had two units in the water. This time the game just let me carry the negative transport capability until everybody got on land somewhere. I liked that resolution better.

I noticed a reinforcement rate change not mentioned in the change log. A moved unit can gain a +2 point improvement per turn, while an unmoved unit can gain a +3 improvement per turn. Don’t know if this is WAD or not. Convoys also seem to be tougher. In the last version of the game 4 subs could pretty well eradicate any convoy in one turn. Now it takes 5 subs.

When playing as CP, England, Russia and Italy all seemed a bit “brittle” when it came to surrendering. Russia was relatively unscathed geographically when it surrendered. Italy had barely been pushed 3-4 hexes back from the German/Austrian border when it went all white flag. England didn’t have a single CP unit landed on the Isles and had very active forces in the Middle East (France had given up) when it came asking to be allowed to surrender. Admittedly the Brits had lost one or two Dreadnaughts by this time, but come on …. stiff upper lips and all that.

Not that these last items are bugs of any kind, but let me lay out three things I wished could be addressed. The first is letting humans control all friendly convoy movement. Doesn’t seem to be such a hard thing to do. Next, give me some visibility into the enemy’s National Morale figures so I can go for the weakest one in the herd.

And finally, let’s face it the ending of the game is kind of lame. After destroying the armies of your enemies and laying waste to their lands you get a ten second “Ultimate Victory” screen that then flips back to the opening menu? How about a video, some stirring march music and a summary of how many of enemies soldiers/sailors/airmen molder in their graves because of you? And how much of their territory has been incorporated into your victorious empires? I think we all have earned a bit more than what we are getting now. I get that there have been bigger fish to fry up to this point, but hey, give us a better payoff.

[aesopo]

Any chance that the nato symbols for the units be replaced? They are way too ugly.

[operating]

Hi amtrick!

I agree with most of what you wrote, much of it very true, however there are a couple of things to point out.

Amtrick wrote;
Some strange things did happen during the game. When playing as CP I landed in invasion force in Finland near Turko then advanced on and captured St. Petersburg. Shortly after that Russia surrendered. I moved my invasion force back to Turko, but when I got there the port was gone! My troops were stuck in Finland for the duration.

Playing as Entente, around turn 9, I noticed the Gibraltar garrison just disappeared. About two turns later it was back in place.

First, There is no port at Turku, Finland, you may have disembarked there, or near there, does not make it a port. The SS below shows the map of Finland, only Helsinki has a port, from which you could have embarked from (if captured). Secondly, to avoid paying 2 points for upkeep on a garrison holding Turku that is only worth 1 PP at the most, then just disband the unit while it is at full supply.




Third, Garrisons at Gibraltar and Malta are always there, unless You have moved them or disbanded them. When you don't see them on your turn at a specific location, check the mini-map for a green dot, To be absolutely sure there is no unit there, wave the disband "X" over that location, for it will produce a white halo effect, meaning that unit is there in a "ghost state" (certainly an abnormality), once you have determined that the unit is there, you can do what you wish with it (move, upgrade, disband, ect.) .

If you do not feel challenged by the AI, try MP, for you will have a fresh appreciation for the game, believe me, for when I first tried it I was amazed and continued to enjoy MP to this day.

Merry Christmas!, Bob

[amtrick]

Operating/Bob:

You're right, my bad. No port at Torku. Should have done better research when I got back and couldn't leave. Thanks for the info on "ghost" units. Apt name, kinda spooky when they fade in and out!

MP is kind of "out there" for me. My game time is pretty limited and sporadic. The challange would be for my opponent to not lose patience with me. [:@]

Rick

[operating]

ORIGINAL: amtrick

Operating/Bob:

You're right, my bad. No port at Torku. Should have done better research when I got back and couldn't leave. Thanks for the info on "ghost" units. Apt name, kinda spooky when they fade in and out!

MP is kind of "out there" for me. My game time is pretty limited and sporadic. The challange would be for my opponent to not lose patience with me. [:@]

Rick

Rick,

Another thought about "ghost units"; When look at a location like Gibraltar, if you see entrenchments graphics (but no unit), that is an indication a unit is there or had recently been there, for there is no other way for entrenchments graphics to appear on the map.

As far as MP goes; most of my present and past matches have been from Europe. Because of the time zone difference of 5 to 6 hours there are usually only 1 turn or possibly 2 turns a day, not exactly a blistering pace to worry about. I love it when I get somebody from the North American Continent for the turn arounds are a lot quicker at all hours of the day.

If you want to do a test MP match, there are 2 open postings in the MP lobby; 1 for Entente 1914 and another for CP 1914 feel free to give it a go, the invitation also is to all who are reading this post. The only catch is: It will be a short game, for the official 1.60 patch will be out soon, that usually means current matches will be unplayable once versions are "updated" on one or the other's computer.

Best of luck, Bob

[amtrick]

Bob:

Tell you what, when the 1.6 official patch comes out I'll give MP a go. Reserve me a slot.

[operating]

ORIGINAL: amtrick

Bob:

Tell you what, when the 1.6 official patch comes out I'll give MP a go. Reserve me a slot.

Hi Rick!

I was very skeptical about going MP at first, as detailed in this thread: tm.asp?m=3405063&mpage=1&key=, however that quickly changed. Many of the matches never finished because of CTDs, but in 1.60 beta the game has been noticeably stable to date, 34th turn now without a hiccup, hope to get to at least 40 turns before update. Actually only had 1 match go the whole 118 turns in this AAR thread: tm.asp?m=3613346 of which I was very proud to have competed in.

Merry Christmas! Bob

[operating]

Hello Kirk!

Been thinking about the Tallinn Port placement on the map.[8|] What do you think about moving it 1 sea hex to the west? The reason being: Once CP captures the city of Tallinn, any Entente ships (Russian) are trapped to the east of Tallinn Port, I'm not sure yet if Entente subs can wiggle under that port in either direction (east or west), hard to tell in SP. Plus I don't know yet if the Baltic becomes a zone of red dots (to the Entente), once Tallinn is captured!? At this point: Essentially Helsinki and Petrograd would in a state of blockade (not that Russia got merchant ships anyways). I do have a couple of MP matches where this is about to happen, where I am CP it is OK, but as the Russians it could be a disaster, plus I question if English subs would be able to repair at remaining Russian ports, getting past captured Tallinn Port? . Of course this map might have been designed for just such an out come, blockade. So I have to question if this was the intent of game design not realizing the consequences? [&:]

Just thinking, Bob

<edit>
Just found out in a MP match that "NO" Entente ships or subs can get by CP Tallinn port either way.

[Hellfirejet]

ORIGINAL: operating

Hello Kirk!

Been thinking about the Tallinn Port placement on the map.[8|] What do you think about moving it 1 sea hex to the west? The reason being: Once CP captures the city of Tallinn, any Entente ships (Russian) are trapped to the east of Tallinn Port, I'm not sure yet if Entente subs can wiggle under that port in either direction (east or west), hard to tell in SP. Plus I don't know yet if the Baltic becomes a zone of red dots (to the Entente), once Tallinn is captured!? At this point: Essentially Helsinki and Petrograd would in a state of blockade (not that Russia got merchant ships anyways). I do have a couple of MP matches where this is about to happen, where I am CP it is OK, but as the Russians it could be a disaster, plus I question if English subs would be able to repair at remaining Russian ports, getting past captured Tallinn Port? . Of course this map might have been designed for just such an out come, blockade. So I have to question if this was the intent of game design not realizing the consequences? [&:]

Just thinking, Bob

<edit>
Just found out in a MP match that "NO" Entente ships or subs can get by CP Tallinn port either way.

Tallin port moved.[;)]

[operating]

Kirk,

Yes, that will be just fine. The funny part "before moving" port was; The Baltic stayed Entente friendly, because of Helsinki!

Bob

[MarechalJoffre]

Will we get to see the new patch soon after the New Year's eve? Just out of curiousity, I can't wait. [&o]

[Hellfirejet]

ORIGINAL: MarechalJoffre

Will we get to see the new patch soon after the New Year's eve? Just out of curiousity, I can't wait. [&o]

I'm hoping that the new patch will be released very early in January, but while waiting for the patch, I have kept myself busy testing the game some more, plus I have decided to add Destroyers into the naval game, these will be your main anti-submarine weapon at sea, because they receive research upgrades.[:)]

[operating]

These DDs will they be added on top of the current Naval OOB?