Matrix Games Forums

Curtis Lemay wrote: Thu Apr 23, 2026 5:38 pm I finally heard back from MaximKI. I'll text the five new guys the drill to gain access to the site directly.

I've now done so. Each should confirm that they've received a text from me about it.

Curtis Lemay wrote: Thu Apr 23, 2026 6:52 pm I should add that maximKI has evidently created this TOAW Beta Test sign up site:

https://www.matrixgames.com/beta/the-op ... -of-war-iv

So, perhaps late comers can still opt in to the test via that link.

I can't tell if my text even went out. Regardless, the new five can just go to the link above and follow the instructions. Once done, Max added the following instruction:

"Once they have completed the sign-up process, please ask them to reach out to me and confirm that they have completed the application process. I can approve them afterwards."

Edit: I'm moving this issue out of this thread, since it will get buried in here.

New Thread is here:

https://forums.matrixgames.com/viewtopic.php?t=416803

I've finished Additional Features item #21. This gives designers/players the option to toggle between displaying a commander's rank with either text or insignia. Rank text varies depending upon the nationality. It can be confusing due to differing names. Also, with Japanese and Chinese, almost incomprehensible. So, displaying the ranks with insignia (which are universal) seemed needed. I've been working on it for weeks and I've got it as good as I can for now. Unfortunately, I could not apply transparency to the insignia here. Instead they are displayed with a black background. I don't think that too much of a hardship, so I won't waste any more time on this now. I think I could get it perfected, but it would require making masks for each bitmap and that is a bridge too far for now.

Here is the Commander List dialog. The ranks are shown in text. Note that the Australian "General" is four stars, while the Austrian "Generals" are three stars. Confusing.

Now the ranks are shown with insignia. Clearer. (But note the black background):

Here is the Commander Inventory dialog showing text ranks like before:

Here is the same but with insignia ranks:

Here is the Commander Inventory page 2 with text ranks:

And here with insignia:

Curtis Lemay wrote: Fri Apr 24, 2026 6:30 pm (But note the black background):

Actually looks good, even a bit epaulette like.

Telumar wrote: Fri Apr 24, 2026 8:13 pm

Curtis Lemay wrote: Fri Apr 24, 2026 6:30 pm (But note the black background):

Actually looks good, even a bit epaulette like.

Thanks. Now I feel a little better about it.

I completed the creation of a variant of my Gettysburg 1863 scenario: "Gettysburg 1863 GotS". This is a variant of Gettysburg 1863 based upon the science fiction novel "Guns of the South": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Guns_of_the_South

In this novel, South African Neo-Nazis time travel back to 1864 to reverse the results of the ACW by gifting the CSA 100,000 AK-47s. It works. The main battle in that novel was The Wilderness. Since I don't have a Wilderness scenario ready, Gettysburg will have to substitute. Quite simply, all CSA small-arms are replaced with AK-47s and away we go. While the Army of the Potomac will still enjoy very good terrain on the defensive and artillery superiority, it probably won't be enough. But, it will be interesting (at least to Southerners).

Here are the CSA Inventories before and after the changes.

This compares the on-map units before and after the changes. Note that the game is now scaled to the biggest CSA unit and this shrinks the values on the Union units:

Here are the equipment reports for the old and new equipment involved. Note the obvious superiority of the new equipment vs. the old:

In the Original, the Union's Costner Brigade was the largest unit in the game. It's been shrunk in the Guns of the South version:

In contrast, the Stonewall Brigade is the largest unit in the Guns of the South version:

The 47th North Carolina Regiment was the featured unit in the Novel. Here it is in the original and in the Guns of the South version:

Finally, we have the strength comparision. Note that rearming with AK-47s increases AP by a factor of 6.1 and DF by a factor of 2.4. Add in Artillery and the change is 4.5 and 2.3.

Comparision to USA strengths show the USA originally had an edge of 1.29 and 1.28. But in the Guns of the South version, it is at a 0.29 and 0.55 disadvantage. It can only hope that terrain and artillery can save it.

I've been conducting a test of my new Gettysburg 1863 GotS scenario. This scenario, like its historical predicessor, has subordinate regiments inside the brigades/demi-brigades. Thanks to this test, I discovered a bug with the arrival of subordinates as reinforcements. Reinforcements should always arrive in-supply. But, it turns out, subordinates do not. So I had to dig around and fix that issue (bug #34 below). I've now done so.