INFORMATION ON SPWAW VER2.0

[Wild Bill]

This information just came from Michael Wood, chief programmer at Matrix Games. Here is a list of the changes you will find in the upcoming Version 2.0.

Due to the many changes and added features in the game, it has become an improved version of the game instead of just a patch.

It will not be a huge download. It will be installed just like a patch would. It is not another game.

Wild Bill

FEATURES and CHANGES COMING WITH SPWAW, VER.2.0
From Michael Wood

The batch file, “start.bat” and the file, “intro.exe” are no longer used. A new Windows file, called “spwaw.exe” is now used to start the game. No more DOS box will be there when you end game.

If a unit has fired all of its shots during opportunity fire and an enemy unit moves close to it or fires at it, the unit may now, with a special experience check, gain extra shots. This will prevent players from trying to use up all the opportunity fire for a unit and then charge up to it and fire. Since this requires a special experience check, it is uncertain as to how many opportunity fire shots the defending unit will have.

When selecting and firing at a target using the “Target” button, “t”, the targeting window now closes before the shot takes place. The same occurs with the “Target Indirect Fire”, “z” and the “Fire Smoke with Direct Fire” button, “x”.

Thanks to a special effort by Mike "Warhorse" Amos and a small team of collaborators, trains have been added to the game. Though not fully functional, they do allow for battles where trains were involved. This is a feature unique among SP games only in SPWAW.

When in the scenario editor deployment screen, pressing the “u” key will, upon verification, destroy the currently selected unit. This feature was added to replace the bug, which destroyed any unit, assigned to the “A0” headquarters unit, which has been fixed. The bug was popular among scenario designers.

Engineers can now remove tank traps and blow holes through walls and hedges.

Medium and large caliber artillery can now blow holes in walls and hedges.

Fires will now persist longer and may spread to adjacent hexes with flammable terrain.

Beach assaults by the United States Marine Corps will now occur in the generated and long WW II campaigns.

When firing, the button buffer is now flushed immediately and the buttons will not respond to clicks until after the fire and return fire take place. The keyboard buffer has been flushed in the past, but the not the button buffer. This keeps the player from accidentally clicking the fire button, and clicking it again, before the enemy returns fire and suppresses the firing unit.

Units in hexes adjacent to impact hexes can now take suppression or even casualties from large caliber ordinance.

Suppression code was rewritten, so that high explosives bombardment causes a lot more suppression against infantry and armor from direct fire and from indirect fire in the target hex and adjacent hexes.

Vehicles are now hit more often than before by bombardment.

Improved computer opponent setup, to handle city battles better.

Altered calculations, to allow smaller caliber guns to do more internal damage against lightly armored vehicles.

Changed term “dug in” in game to “in cover”, which better describes the condition.

Computer controlled vehicles should no longer plow through every building they come across. The path finding code has been rewritten. They will now avoid entering buildings, unless the building has a victory objective.

Artillery effectiveness vs. soft targets and vs. armor units gauges has been added. These work much like the toughness gauges. Raising one of these above 100% will make the artillery perform better than normal and reducing it below 100% will retard artillery performance against the specified type.

A new button, the “True Troop Cost” button can now be found on the preferences screen. When on, this button will cause troop costs to be generated, using the unit’s experience as a factor. Before now, this only occurred when “Country Training” option was off. This option replaces the “Hide Fort” option, which is now considered to always be off.

In campaign generator and the long WW II campaign some users wanted to be able to set the points before starting the campaign, instead of using the points generated by the campaign code. Either campaign will now use the default calculated starting points unless the player has changed the starting ‘Battle Points’ value in the preferences to a value other than “XXXX” for Player 1. If he has set this value, the game will use this value.

Multi-language support is now available. New EXE will be available for Polish, Finnish, Spanish, German, French and Italian. Many other languages are also in the works. NOTE: If you can translate please write us.

Maximum units have been increased to 800.

Maximum formations have been increased to 400.

Maximum core units have been increased to 200.

Some players felt bridges were are too easy to destroy. They have been made tougher. It should now take about a 105mm gun to destroy a wooden bridge and about a 150mm gun to destroy a stone bridge.

In campaigns, the number of turns for a battle was randomly determined each time the battle was loaded. It is now determined when the battle is generated and saved with the game.

Transporting units now display the name of the unit they are carrying in the lower left hand side of the main map screen. If they are carrying more than one unit, the last unit loaded is displayed.

When the option ‘Full Ammo’ was turned off on the preferences screen, strike aircraft were not carrying a full bomb load, which meant some planes were flying the mission with no bombs. Strike aircraft now start every battle with full ammunition, even when the “Full Ammo” option is turned off.

Units firing at other units in the same hex were automatically facing to the right of the screen, which sometimes made the rear of the unit face the enemy force, when the enemy force was coming from the left of the screen. Units should no longer do this. They will now retain the facing they had before they fired.

Some player’s felt off board artillery was out of command too much. It has been made easier to contact and stay in contact.

Holding down the “.” key should now cause the VCR replay to abort, in midstream. Note that you should hold the key down until the current packet has been displayed, at which time the game will stop the VRC and resume play.

Counter battery fire frequency was adjusted.

Some players felt units should be exchangeable for units not of the same type, for instance armor for infantry, while in a campaign. A unit now can be exchanged for any type of unit. This exchange is, however, a hardware exchange. The officer and men remain the same, with the same skills and experience, minus the experience penalty generated by the exchange.

Some players wanted to be able to continue the long WW II campaign after a defeat. They now can. A defeat generates no victory points, however.

The mouse cursor now becomes an hourglass while the human players unit is moving and during bombardments, so he will know he cannot choose another unit.

The map size in campaign generator and long WW II campaign battles is now random chosen and will range from 40 to 80 hexes high.

Vehicles and guns that have been abandoned no longer have the “+” drawn on them. This should make it easier to see, at a glance, if the unit is active.

BUGS ELIMINATED:

Assigning a unit to the ‘A’ headquarters formation destroyed the unit. It no longer does so.

Philippines were using Arabic sounding names for leaders. They should now use more Spanish sounding names.

There was an error in the indirect fire code that caused an on board mortar section to miss with all rounds or straddle unit and hit with almost all rounds, because the wind was not being considered.

This has been corrected. Indirect fire now assumes that the shells are spread out within the hex, which increase the chance of hits, but when hits occur, reduces the number of hits. This should prevent all rounds missing for 6 turns and then one turn, all rounds hitting the squad and wiping it out.

There was a wind direction error in the indirect fire scatter pattern code, which made the scatter always to the north and northwest. Artillery fire should now scatter in other directions, as well.

Fortifications were assigned artillery officers. They will now be assigned armor officers. This should make their direct fire more accurate.

Off board artillery was being assigning armor officers. They will now be assigned artillery officers. This should make their indirect fire more accurate.

Text was changed from “Can small load guns” to “Can load small guns”.

When fire guns indirect fire, the crews were facing the direction of fire, but not the guns. The guns should now face the direction of fire, as well

Moving the mouse to the bottom of the thumbnail map caused the map to scroll. The mouse must now touch the bottom of the screen to cause scrolling.

Immobilized units were not reported as immobilized. The pop-out data box for immobilized units should now say “Immobilized”, when the cursor is moved across them.

Non-vehicular units that were pinned sometimes reported as “buttoned”, when the cursor was moved across them. They should report as ‘pinned”, now.

In campaign generator campaigns, players were unable to fix/upgrade units, were not receiving experience, were having leaders replaced properly. The computer opponent was sometimes purchasing enemy troops or no troops at all, the date and battle numbers were not incrementing, support units were becoming part of the core units, units were not having ammunition replenished between battles, the score was being calculated incorrectly and units were left strewn across the battle field between battles.

All these were fixed and should now work properly.

When firing a specific weapon “c”, sometimes the weapon was not fire due to facing on non-turreted units. The non-turreted unit should now turn, as needed to face properly and fire.

In campaign generator campaigns and long WW II campaigns, some text messages before the battle were not being displayed. Now, a screen, with orders, should now appear before each battle, in these campaigns.

User defined campaigns, text messages before battles were not displayed in saved games. They should now be displayed.

Crews were not re-combining with their parent unit (vehicle or gun) after any campaign battles. They should now combine with the parent unit automatically, if they abandoned the parent unit and it was not destroyed.

They will combine with the parent unit, even if that unit was destroyed, if the player repairs the unit immediately. Otherwise they are reassigned to some other force, not controlled by the player. Note that repairing a unit with living crewmen no longer means replacement of the leader.

Immobilized turret-less vehicles could turn to fire weapons during the computer opponent move. This should no longer occur.

Crews bailing out of units with 0 speed always had 0 speed the turn they made a voluntary bail out. Crews should now have some movement points. How many movement points the crew will have, depends of whether the unit is sighted, has been fired upon, has moved or fired itself.

Some new countries were using the wrong objective flags and when the opposing armies were from the same nation, they used the same flag for both sides, instead of using the red army flag for one of the armies. All countries should now use the proper objective flags. When fighting a civil war, one of the countries will now have a red, “R” flag.

Game was crashing when all units on the human player side or the computer player sides were destroyed. The game should now end at the end of the turn, when this occurs.

When replaying the enemies last turn on the VCR, the buttons to the left disappeared as they should, but moving the mouse over the region caused some to reappear. This should no longer occur.

Sometimes, Special Forces and Partisans on infiltration missions who did not arrive during the battle were not available for the next battle, in campaigns. Instead they became permanent reinforcements, due on turn 255. This should no longer occur. At the end of a battle, if they have not arrived on the map, they are reassigned to the formation from which they came as ready and available.

Vehicles immobilized by flooding out or bogging down were not acquiring the point of damage needed to let the user know they were immobile, on the repair/ upgrade screen. They should now receive one point of damage when immobilized in this fashion.

Units could not throw hand grenades and Molotov cocktails at vehicles one hex away. They can, now.


WHAT WE ARE WORKING ON:

Increased numbers of levels. Due to gun elevation, hit location, penetration and movement cost issues, this feature is being delayed. The game mechanics use real world physics, instead of armor factors and random penetration values, so addition of further levels is more complicated than it might be in some other games. But, we are working on it. We just didn’t have time to release the change in this patch.

Larger maps. Players will be able to use maps of size 240 high and 100 wide.

TCP/IP play with Roger Wilco and Battlecom voice support. Also look for our new SPWAW game server for Opponents and league play coming soon.

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In Arduis Fidelis
Wild Bill Wilder
Coordinator, Scenario Design
Matrix Games

[This message has been edited by Wild Bill (edited 06-10-2000).]

[Billy Yank]

Originally posted by Wild Bill:
Game was crashing when all units on the human player side or the computer player sides were destroyed. The game should now end at the end of the turn, when this occurs.

I've got a question on this one. When the game ends, will the victor be given credit for all unclaimed victory hexes. I remember playing a US vs. Iraqi scenario in SP3 where I wiped out the last Iraqi unit before I had grabbed the last VH and I only got a marginal victory.


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Billy Yank
I don't define "my own" the way you want me to.

[Larry Holt]

I'm salivating!! Will I have to restart my campaign in progress?

You guys are the greatest!

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An old soldier but not yet a faded one.
OK, maybe just a bit faded.

[headhunter]

Great ! I am really impressed. Can't wait do get this patch ...

[Wild Bill]

Okay Billy Yank, Johnny Reb here.

You don't own it till you put your foot on it. War is hell (G)!

Larry, it won't have a negative effect but some of the improvements may not show up either. That would be your call.

Hopefully, looking good for less than a week from now, Headhunter!

Wild Bill

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In Arduis Fidelis
Wild Bill Wilder
Coordinator, Scenario Design
Matrix Games

[nikb]

Wow Wow Wow...it just gets better - unbelievable.

Nik

[Howling H R Bryars]

Thanks folks, for all your efforts. Could you tell me where (URL) the update will be posted?



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HRB3
aka "I Scream Man"

[Alastair Anderson]

Has the problem regarding firing uphill at adjacent units been looked at?? ie bottom hits at short range were producing some ultra high armour values. Interested to know about this one becasue it has a major effect on close combat fighting between armoured vehicles. I know Paul was looking at it... any result??

Great work guys - sounds great. Increased unit numbers is a real bonus. Once bigger maps come too it'll feel like a more detailed divisional level game almost. Awesome... Pity there just wont be enough hours in the day.

Cheers
Al

[Spunkgibbon]

Thankyou everyone at Matrix Games. Where would we be without you? Spending £30 on disappointing games with no support and no contact with the writers is where.

It's very strange. There seems to be something fundamentally wrong with getting a game for free and then pestering the makers for improvements who then take notice and provide them.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's fantastic, a real step forward for gaming. I just feel a bit guilty about it is all.

And I'm not even Catholic...

Thanks again for giving us the best wargame ever, thanks for taking notice of our suggestions (and gripes and moans) and thanks for giving us reason to feel guilty.

[Tombstone]

SP:WAW is more than fantastic, it's totally unprecedented. First of all it's a software product that 'shipped' more or less on time. Second of all it's various bugs are being addressed immediately. Thirdly the amount of care given to the consumers' wishes is HUGE... and on top of that it's FREE. It's ridiculous. Matrix games has done a really good thing here. I work at a software game development company and it's no walk in the park.

I'm really happy with the product and how it's changing to the users' needs, but I was just wondering one tiny little thing... It would be possible for one to play at SP3 scales with the new increased unit limits and map sizes would it?? I know it's not really possible, but that would make me wet my pants.

Also, I noticed that there were no controls for animation level. Sometimes it takes too long to fire all the bullets and such.. am I just missing something or has that control been removed from the preferences menu??

Tomo

[Larry Holt]

Originally posted by Tombstone:
...
Also, I noticed that there were no controls for animation level. Sometimes it takes too long to fire all the bullets and such.. am I just missing something or has that control been removed from the preferences menu??

Tomo

Within preferences you can set fast arty to on so that you don't wait for each tube to fire individually.

You can also set message delay to 1 for .1 second delay or even 0 for no messages displayed at all.

Then again you can get a 700MHz system. While you are at it, get one for me.


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An old soldier but not yet a faded one.
OK, maybe just a bit faded.

[Semachus]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Wild Bill:
This information just came from Michael Wood, chief programmer at Matrix Games. Here is a list of the changes you will find in the upcoming Version 2.0.

What can I say -- but -- great!! great!!...I loved the game when it first came out and I love it now!

[Wild Bill]

Support goes in two directions when you think about it.

The support of you gentlemen has proven to be a great incentive for all of us.

You've lauded the good and tactfully pointed out areas for improvement.

I actually look forward to coming to this forum where men still behave like gentlemen, with common courtesy and dignity.

You don't find that often in this electronic maze of humanity.

So let us thank you for a change. Thanks for helping in the testing and improving of the game.

I've learned after many beta testing experiences that the public provides the best beta test group anywhere. You guys are all that and more.

To answer a few of the questions, the ones I can. Perhaps not divisional (unless you have a regiment in reserve) but pretty close to it.

Remember though, you are dealing with individual tanks and squads, not platoons as the base unit. That requires a lot more units and a lot more combat management. It is not for the faint of heart or the short of time.

I think the animation button has been removed but there are other preferences that can speed up the game so fast you can't even read the text. Use those.

AListair, Paul would be the one to answer you on uphill firing. That one is out of my range of expertise (and you don't have to go far to get there -

We are gamers. We have been abused and cheated too. We know the feeling. We are doing our best to avoid giving you that feeling.

Wild Bill

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In Arduis Fidelis
Wild Bill Wilder
Coordinator, Scenario Design
Matrix Games

[Pack Rat]

A truely impressive list of fixes and add to's. I must say I'm awaiting this almost as much as I was the game itself.

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Good hunting,
Pack Rat

[Belaja smert]

Originally posted by Wild Bill:

Multi-language support is now available. New EXE will be available for Polish, Finnish, Spanish, German, French and Italian. Many other languages are also in the works. NOTE: If you can translate please write us.

A truly impressive list! You have done it again. One question: Does this multi-language support mean fully translated game? If so, can I switch from one .EXE to another whenever I want to change the language?

Should make it even more interesting to play those Finland vs. Soviet scenarios...

Belaja smert

[Wild Bill]

Yes it should work just that way. One .exe file in English, the other in German, etc.

As for Howling's question, I imagine the download sites will be the same for the new version or patch (it is patch size, not a full new game)but that is my guess, not official as yet.

WB



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In Arduis Fidelis
Wild Bill Wilder
Coordinator, Scenario Design
Matrix Games

[Belaja smert]

Happy to hear that! BTW who translated the finnish version? I imagine that it wasn't anybody from Matrixgames.

Is it possible to make corrections to the translations, if necessary?

Belaja smert

[crumply]

really great game.

Does the update include a fix for the "all move" problem, as I was waiting for this fix before I tackled some of the larger scenarios.

Or has it been fixed somewhere, and I just missed the post?

[crazyivan]

THANKS WB i am drooling over the info on the pacth to come,most importantly the one on being able to select the pionts for the long campi- now you german untermenchen will feel the true power of the russian bear fall upon your facis.......sorry got carried away.you guys have done one hell of a job on this the only pian is a futher lack of sleep as the game keeps getting better my eyes look like shopping bags and my computer desk is full of empty cups and half eaten food wargamming is hell.keep up the good work .

from comrad crazy LONG LIVE MOTHER RUSSIA!!!!

[This message has been edited by crazyivan (edited 06-09-2000).]

[Fabs]

I can't wait to get my hands on the new version!

Thanks a million, guys!

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Fabs