Gaza Scenario - warning!

[HobbesACW]

Well I just beat the Gaza scenario - played 3 hours solid and got into the unit replacement screen for the next game. I was absent mindedly hitting replace on the leader portraits to see what leaders where available without realising my points were
being deducted until I had none left.

Undo All seemed to just undo the previous choice. I then went into the campaign screen to see if I could start the selection again - but this just took me into the first battle and overwrote the autosave.

So Koios - are all my efforts in vain? Although I had a major victory in the Gaza scenario the next one does not appear. I'm not prepared to spend 3 hours making the same moves in the hope that I will win again - so is the game over for me????

Very poor if this is the case, why is there no option to save before unit selection? I often don't want to select units for my next battle straight after I have completed the last anyway - and why doesn't the next battle appear as a valid selection even though I won Gaza?
Chris

[Deride]

hobbes,

If you select to "Restart" the battle via the menu, it will start you back over at the Order of Battle screen where you can repick all of your choices including replacing commanders. We did the purposely in case you did not fare well based on your choices.

You can not "undo" commander choices because they would basically allow you to keep "rolling" until you get all perfect commanders (i.e., tactical genious).

Deride

[Deride]

ORIGINAL: hobbes
and why doesn't the next battle appear as a valid selection even though I won Gaza?

I think the unlock actually happens when you hit the loading screen for the next battle. So that might explain why.

We are planning an update release of the game for retail. In the new game, all levels start unlocked for set battles. There seems to be a general consensus that this would be best.

Deride

[HobbesACW]

Thanks for your reply Deride, seems it would be much better if the code unlocked the next battle the moment you win the last (or as you mentioned, didn't lock them in the first place). If anyone has any problems during the following unit selection screen they are in the same boat as me.

I can understand that it would take extra coding effort to allow a post battle save point - but if this is not possible surely a uniquely named save file could be produced automatically at the end point of each battle - 'gaza_autosave' (this would only be replaced at the end of a turn in the gaza scenario).

The updated release for retail won't help me very much as I already have the game - will the update be available in a patch for those with the game already?

If it would work - can anyone send me an early save file for the next battle: battle 5? I assume there are no cheats that allow unlocking of battles then?

Very disappointing that the code allows a player to get into this predicament.
Chris

[Deride]

ORIGINAL: hobbes
I can understand that it would take extra coding effort to allow a post battle save point - but if this is not possible surely a uniquely named save file could be produced automatically at the end point of each battle - 'gaza_autosave' (this would only be replaced at the end of a turn in the gaza scenario).

There actually is a save point at the end of the battle before the end victory screen. There is also a save point at the OOB screen. If you select to go to the main screen at that point, you can come right back into either of those screens.

ORIGINAL: hobbes
Very disappointing that the code allows a player to get into this predicament.

Chris,

I understand you are frustrated, and for that, I am sorry. However, you should not rely completely on autosaves. It is best to save a campaign game periodically as another name so you can recall it later. If, however, you do rely on the autosaves, make sure that you don't start a new campaign or the campaign autosave will be over-written.

The scheme that we used for this game is very common in the industry especially among first person shooter games that autosave campaigns.

Deride

[HobbesACW]

Well my plan is to buy the new Caesar game (I think it is out soon) ?
By the time I have finished it I should be able to play the Gaza scenario again without being bored by redoing the same moves.

Great game - I will make sure I don't mess up the selection screen again.

(The snag with having to make a selection after a game is that you can be up until 1:30 am trying to finish a game - then have no choice but to pick the army for the next scenario that you may not be intending to play for a month or two)

Chris

[HobbesACW]

P.S. I have played a few FPS - but I know what to expect and save the games often - just wasn't expecting to get into that type of problem with this type of game.