COTA Patch 3

[Mehring]

Here's the thread- tm.asp?m=1404853
Arjuna- "I have investigated and yes you have discovered an anomoly. What is happening is that the senior on map base is erroneously checking its line of supply status at the 0600 resupply determination event even though it is "restricted" to just one such event per day - ie at 1800. While it wasn't receiving supplies from off-map, it was despatching those it had and in this process it redetermines its status.

I've fixed it and the testers have given the thumbs up. So it will be in the new Patch 3 coming shortly."

So all the time you thought some crafty infiltrator was cutting your supplies, it wasn't, it was the game. This is not cosmetic or a desirable embelishment in my opinion, but fundamental to the game functioning as I'm sure it was intended to.

[simovitch]

Mehring,

This fix will only show the correct status of the supply from the SEP to the senior base (i.e. green line if if not cut). Supplies were still being delivered to your units according to the scenario settings.

Before the fix, it appeared that the senior base's supply was cut, but it was just not recieving supplies from the SEP at the 0600 check per the scenario settings. With Patch #3 the senior base still won't recieve supplies at 0600, but the line will now show green if it has an uninterrupted supply line to the SEP.

[Mehring]

I'll look forward to seeing how it plays out. I recall some fairly inexplicable supply situations- unfed, unfueled units with no ammo close to supply bases when there was 80% or more supply. That's why I got curious as to what was going on and looked to see if there were enemy units in my rear (so to speak).

At least people won't be sending troops out on wild goose chases for non existant infiltrators/outflanking movements.

[Arjuna]

We had a "go slow" issue last week, which we finally solved today. Due to a "fix" I had made the game was running 12 times slower if the Supreme Force didn't start on the map. Anyway once we found the cause we have fixed it again. [;)] A new build went out today.

[captskillet]

Great news Dave...did any other bugs show up during testing other than the great slow down????? maybe by early next week we could see a patch!?!?!?!?!?! [&o]

[Arjuna]

Hi all,
 
The latest SITREP on the COTA Patch 3 is that I believe I have fixed all known issues and that includes the annoying atStartPers assert.
 
While testing I confirmed an issue with the force allocation routines where the companies of a battalion would be split up and allocated to separate objectives. I made some changes to the allocation routines and this too is now fixed.
 
I also took the opportunity to tweak the allocation code that tries to keep dug-in and fortified units assigned to their current objective. The tweak shows promis and is being tested now with a new build. I have asked Richard to coordinate a review of the scenarios to make some adjustments that should take advantage of these mods.
 
The autotesters are going full bore and hopefully we can wrap this up real soon.

[06 Maestro]

This sounds very good. Thanks for all your hard work.

I suspect that the on line players group will have a surge of activity as soon as this is released. I for one, will be looking for an opponent to try out the new scenario.

[captskillet]

Well Dave any good news to report?????[&o]

[lyceum]

Cannot wait for this patch to come out!![:D][:D][:D]

New scenario is going to be awesome[8D]

[simovitch]

Dave has proposed some clever tweaks to improve both the attacker and defender AI performance, which we approved and are now testing in a new build (#16[8|]). Bugs are being squashed left and right and it's looking good.

[captskillet]

Any chance we see this before Xmas??????[:'(] [;)]

[Arjuna]

Yeh there's a chance. [;)]
 
The latest build has proved to be pretty solid bar for one error, which I am working on. This is an important one affecting the resupply, so I better make sure its fixed. Richard and the boys have modified various scenarios this last week to accomodate some of the other changes and these are being tested now.

[Pergite!]

I spent the evening yesterday looking over my Italian Orbats for my Beda Fomm project, so I cant wait to be able to put them all into a working scenario soon enough. I will probably have alot to do balancing the thing with the new estabs units to play out like it should.

[lian]

Christmas, merry christmas... a good gift this patch

[Arjuna]

OK I've just finished a new build that fixes the resupply error reported above. It also fixes another bug reported by the beta testers in that last couple of days. The other good news is that the autoesters have been running hot 24/7 now without error ( save for these two reports ). That means we're getting very solid with the vast majority of games running through to the end without an error. This is looking very good. The testers are paying particular attention to manual play and in particular to the effect of the resupply change made above. I want to be sure that junior Bases draw on the right senior Base.
 
All in all it's looking good. [:)]

[lyceum]

Excellent news!! Cannot wait [:D]

[captskillet]

Thks for the report Dave................. maybe we'll get to see it here in a week or so??????

[Deathtreader]

Hi all,

Also looking forward to the patch......... presumably current save games won't run on it??

Rob.

PS/ I've noticed with some scenarios that when right clicking on some bridges (even at max resolution) the black bridge symbol does not appear in the terrain popup yet does in others. No huge deal but I'm curious as to why and if this has some hidden movement effects. The units still get across the major river but the rates can be different from those in the manual.

Rob. [:)]

[Arjuna]

Hi all,
 
As I mentioned the game is running pretty reliably at the moment. The focus is now on checking and revising scenarios for play balance. We need to do this as the AI has been improved, especially with the effectiveness of arty units now staying put longer in their firebases and the fixes to the resupply, which means they end up providing much more effective on-call fire support.

[Deathtreader]

ORIGINAL: Deathtreader

Hi all,

I've noticed with some scenarios that when right clicking on some bridges (even at max resolution) the black bridge symbol does not appear in the terrain popup yet does in others. No huge deal but I'm curious as to why and if this has some hidden movement effects. The units still get across the major river but the rates can be different from those in the manual.

Rob. [:)]

Anyone have an idea??