Matrix Games Forums

Well it looks like we're now stuck with the game as it is. No signs of new development, Marshall hasn't posted since 2011 yet there's still some pretty irritating and basic bugs outstanding.

God I hope not. But given the tumbleweeds blowing through this place I'm afraid you might be right.

I remain cautiously optimistic that continued game development is just on hold for a while. Neither Marshall or Matrix has come out and said otherwise yet. I know Marshall is very busy with real life but he has indicated that he does intend to get back to EiA at some point. I can't say anything more; Marshall needs to pop up on the forum and speak for himself. Or Erik Rutins needs to say something official. [&:]

there's still some pretty irritating and basic bugs outstanding

The sad thing is we were pretty close to seeing these lingering bugs resolved with another patch or two. It's still doable, and if Marshall won't get back to EiA it remains to be seen if Matrix would eventually allow someone else to run with the ball. That's been happening with John Tiller's Campaign Series and Norm Koger's The Operational Art Of War III, as well as several other old games.

It ain't over till it's over. ~Yogi Berra [;)]

Yes I agree we are close to getting this so right now, just one more fix and it done in my view, we still get a lot of new players coming into TGHQ and are still keen on playing this.
We as a group are starting to get the 3rd Party Combat system going wel too.

If a few people email Marshall, I thnk his arm can be twisted. But he has very little time, so keep the wish list to a coupel of items. Loaning money, maybe poland manpower, what else?

At some point both Matrix and Marshall are going to have to cut their losses, it's really just inevitable financially. Hopefully, after a few years from now and dwindling sales, Matrix will allow this to go open source and we can fix the bugs/design issues.

i check back every few months to see if the game is "finished" - and if it is finally worth the $70 they are asking for it. the answer is always no. until the game gets marked down CONSIDERABLY in price or i am confident it is not broken, i will NOT be purchasing it.

ORIGINAL: denshiblocks

i check back every few months to see if the game is "finished" - and if it is finally worth the $70 they are asking for it. the answer is always no. until the game gets marked down CONSIDERABLY in price or i am confident it is not broken, i will NOT be purchasing it.

Well I paid my $70 4 years ago, and Im still going, I certainly got my $70 out of it. But Im not trying to Troll this issue though hey [:-]

gazfun, can i buy your copy for $12 second hand?

I can supplement with loaning of corps as a major problem.

ORIGINAL: Dancing Bear

If a few people email Marshall, I thnk his arm can be twisted. But he has very little time, so keep the wish list to a coupel of items. Loaning money, maybe poland manpower, what else?

Don't everybody get excited all at once, but for those still paying attention to activity on Mantis there has been some modest development work towards v1.09 this past month:

Empires in Arms the Napoleonic Wars - 1.09.00
=============================================
- 0000799: [Game Bug] Blockade intercepts following different rules to open sea intercepts (marshall) - resolved.
- 0000778: [Rules Deviation] Trivial battles preventing reinforcement attempts (marshall) - resolved.
- 0000615: [Game Enhancement] Editor adding new leaders? (marshall) - resolved.
- 0000552: [Game Bug] Garrison Limit Reached and existing Garrisons deleted/demobbed to "Pool" (marshall) - resolved.
- 0000760: [Game Bug] AI Taking ALL cav losses on break for that round (marshall) - resolved.
- 0000662: [AI Bug] AI too generous giving away minors (marshall) - resolved.

I could supplement with a wish of being able to zoom out on the map.

wow, quiet around here

If only we could have a decent Editor to have fun with the game. But the Editor is full of bugs and cant edit everything See what Id like:

- No need to always save/load for every change! (and changes that stay !! Had lot of problem editing the moral of France)
- Add counter to a country (any type) and change General seniority
- Change home nation provinces. I could create Poland or give Silesia to Austria for a 1740 / 1756 scenario.
- Create multi district minors ourself. Give Ansbach to Bavaria, Lausitz to Saxony, etc. You understand the point !

- Am I missing something ??

ORIGINAL: bOrIuM

If only we could have a decent Editor to have fun with the game. But the Editor is full of bugs and cant edit everything See what Id like:

- No need to always save/load for every change! (and changes that stay !! Had lot of problem editing the moral of France)
- Add counter to a country (any type) and change General seniority
- Change home nation provinces. I could create Poland or give Silesia to Austria for a 1740 / 1756 scenario.
- Create multi district minors ourself. Give Ansbach to Bavaria, Lausitz to Saxony, etc. You understand the point !

- Am I missing something ??

Current editor doesn't work properly -
Can't set minor countries to free.
Can't use free move to move fleets into ports.
Can't seem to reliably change states of war with minors.

Just to be clear, there's a difference between the game host admin menu to edit games in progress and the scenario editor to create/edit scenarios. And, there's a difference between a bug for an implemented feature that doesn't work properly and a feature that isn't there.

IMHO, if/when Marshall gets back to working on EiA, he needs to add some features to the admin menu first to allow hosts to fix games in progress and then add some features to the scenario editor to provide additional capability. And fix the remaining game bugs that require hosts to go into the admin menu in the first place...

I don't think Matrix would get enough money out of fixing this game to warrent paying the fellah money to keep working on it. I'd bet 99% of the people who want it fixed bought it years and years ago, I know I did. I don't think this game has much of a market left for new purchases, it's too niche

That said, I saw an update in January I think, so I am extremely pleased to see continued support for this game!! I am going to boot my copy up and give it a go now!

I just got it at xmas. I knew there were problems but bought it anyway.
I do not know the economics of fixing these things but after awhile there seems to be little point
which is too bad. Sometimes it think it would be money well spent compared to a dud like
Baptism of Fire. I bought that one too although the splash page art was so crappy I should
have known better. It reminds me of those D&D books from the 70's .... people with their
arms on backwards and one leg longer than the other. [:'(]

FWIW, I tried asking about the status of old games a few weeks ago and see what Matrix would say. See Status of Old Games thread. Iain responded but Erik did not. There really needs to be some other options for continued support of these older complex niche games. It boils down to a hobby effort essentially, not exactly a get-rich-quick scheme. It's a challenge, for sure.

ORIGINAL: DCWhitworth

ORIGINAL: bOrIuM

If only we could have a decent Editor to have fun with the game. But the Editor is full of bugs and cant edit everything See what Id like:

- No need to always save/load for every change! (and changes that stay !! Had lot of problem editing the moral of France)
- Add counter to a country (any type) and change General seniority
- Change home nation provinces. I could create Poland or give Silesia to Austria for a 1740 / 1756 scenario.
- Create multi district minors ourself. Give Ansbach to Bavaria, Lausitz to Saxony, etc. You understand the point !

- Am I missing something ??

Current editor doesn't work properly -
Can't set minor countries to free.
Can't use free move to move fleets into ports.
Can't seem to reliably change states of war with minors.

I can get the fleets to go in Harbour on a free move, it sits in the province, then as the turn moves on it, goes to the harbour.
The other issue is with Home province of nations which are taken in a peace settlement are hard to admin as they are not on the list of Minor provinces in admin.