New game - Hex of Steel (formerly known as Operation Citadel)

[Simulacra53]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1240 ... n_Citadel/

Operation Citadel

Operation Citadel is a turn-based WWII themed 2D game in which you can play against a friend, the AI or follow one of the campaigns. You can also use the in-game tile editor and unit editor to come up with something else if you'd like !

https://youtu.be/v_QPD_g48j4

EDIT:
The designer has decided to change the name and pricing.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1240 ... _of_Steel/

More info here
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app ... 3720005510

[Simulacra53]

Early access, single developer - very low price.
Judging by the dev’s YT the titles holds real promise.

Seasons, scenario editor and easy unit editing.
Potentially a mod’s dream.

[MrsWargamer]

It looks similar to some other Panzer General/Panzer Corps looking titles I have experienced in the last few years. Which is not a negative really, as those titles are also good.

[terminator]

The title of this game makes us believe that we can only play Operation Citadel while this game covers the whole of the European theater of World War II.

[valentin56610]

Oh hi ! I'm the developper and just came across your post about my game on this site ! Lucky search haha.

If any of you have questions, please ask, I'll answer with as much details as I can !

edit : The game's name is Operation Citadel because all good names were already taken, and I could not come up with something else.

[AndySfromVA]

I bought the game and I like it, so far as I've gotten. It has a lot of potential. It's certainly worth the few bucks I paid for it.

[valentin56610]

Is there stuff you wished to get but did not ? Or features ? (Not mentioning any Undo button, this is beyond my programming skills for now hehehe)
Basically any ideas to make it better ? I'm listening !

[darbycmcd]

It looks really interesting! Can you explain a bit about the scale you envision for the game, as far as what each counter on the map will represent, how much area each hex?

How are you resolving combat?

What other aspects of military operations are you including, supply, planning, C3I or ???

Keep up the good work!

[darbycmcd]

Oh, and change the name. why would you call it something very specific when it is a very wide open toolbox, you are limiting sales that way. People who are interesting in just Kursk will be disappointed, people who are interested in a toolbox will not look at it.

[Franciscus]

Hi
- new name, definitely.
- new optional unit graphics (specially for infantry, please [:)])


Regards

[valentin56610]

I will answer both of your message into this one so I'm not creating a ton of new messages.

The scale and what I decided for my campaigns and my map is around 4 km per hex, but it can vary on the scenario (thinking about the eastern front especially where distances are just huge) so I tried to cut the scenarios into stuff that still make sense but that also tries to respect the scale at all point. So for example small countries like England, for the Sea Lion scenarios I cut it into 2 maps of 70 x 45(south) and 45 x 70 (north).

Now about units, well the thing is once again, due to the various editors you are able to give the game the scale you want. But for my campaigns / scenarios, it's at an operational level. Few hundred kilometres not more. So for units it's often divisional level but can also be regimental level. But once again, as you can edit or create anything, it's up to you to decide when making for yourself.

About combat, it's pretty straight forward. Final damage = damage type (soft/hard/air) - enemy unit's armour - terrain modifier.
But it does not apply to everything. CAS / ground attack planes will ignore 50% of the armour. Strategic bombers will ignore 100%. Submarines deal a random damage value between 0 (miss) and a max of its hard damage value, to simulate the effect of a torpedo, because hitting does not mean sinking.
Also the health point percentage of the unit will modify how many damage it deals, a weak unit won't deal as much as if it was full health, makes sense, less people alive / ready to fight.
So all in all, if you want to know every little detail I'd advice you to take a look at the official guide I wrote and look at the combat / damage section (it's on steam).

About moral, I haven't came up with anything yet. I'd like to add this. Still figuring out how though, I'm unsure of how it will work and what effects it will have etc. If you have ideas, once again, I'll listen.

That's also the thing, to finish answering your first question, I came up with an idea of making a game, and I just kept / still keep adding up on top. The idea I had for the game in the beginning and what the game is right now are two total different things. I tend to make everything optional in the settings though (such as the supplies), so everyone can enjoy the game with the options he wants.

Ah ! You asked about supplies. Well I guess I'll explain that right after telling you that no, I am not going to add planning (thinking about HOI here in particular) because the game really is meant to be played in turn by turn and each unit individually. Just a real wargame where you have tons of counters and when it takes a long time to complete a turn. Not because it's a hassle and it's painfully long, but because you need to micro manage every move, every supply, etc. That's what in my opinion gives the game its flavour, not having everything automated, and you still have control over it.

About supplies, AGAIN, lol, this time for real. There is a simple and a complex mode. Simple mode is when you hit resupply, it resupplies regardless of the circumstances and where you are on the board, encircled, not encircled, basically you resupply without any condition. Now the complex mod that I added like 2 days ago, this goes deeper. There is a supply line created from every unit to the closest city. If this supply line is disrupted, meaning an enemy unit in the middle, you won't be able to resupply at all. Now if you're not on the road but somewhere in the plains or in the forest, you won't be able to resupply at 100% efficiency, I think it makes sense a truck will have a harder time getting to you in the middle of the forest, than getting to you on a normal road. I haven't added a limit supply number per city yet, that's yet to be decided, by me and the players. Like each unit has a supply consumption value and each city can only produce X supplies and so if you have too many units per city well they could not get as well resupplied. For now, it's not in the game.

about C3I no, don't think this will ever happen.

About your second message and the name, yeah, I get it. I'll rename it to something strategy warfare or something more generic.

Thanks for your questions ! I hope I answered with enough details. If anything, ask again, or visit the guide

[valentin56610]

Hello Franciscus !

new name yes, that will happen.

New optional unit graphics already is available, you can replace them by anything you want ! There is a guide on Steam explaining how to do that. I am not providing anything like new textures cause I'll consider this more like modding'

Same for tiles, you can replace any tile's graphics !

[demyansk]

How about Matrix on the Eastern Front as a name?

[RangerJoe]

How about morale as a modifier? Below a certain number, units won't attack. Below a lower number, they will easily break and try to run home to mommy. Above a certain number, they get a bonus.

[valentin56610]

I don't know if this is serious or not.

Just in case, I'll explain : My game isn't edited / published by Matrix. Someone noticed it on Steam and chose to talk about it here. Also, the game covers not just the eastern front, but all Europe + Pacific with Japan and US.

That's why I can't even just take something about a front in particular, it needs to be even more global

Adding that to the fact that I suck I coming up with naming / names ...

Thanks for helping, I appreciate it !

[valentin56610]

Yeah for moral this is going to influence fighting abilities. My question would be more like how and why do you lose moral, but more importantly, how to you gain moral ? Because some units are there only to support, like artillery, and not to eliminate or definitely kill a unit. Meaning killing an enemy would not really be a solution as not all units actually destroy enemies. Would moral apply to planes or boats ? That's also another question that's tormenting me hahaha. I thought about gaining moral when capturing a city you know, everything gets happy with a victory and want to keep on fighting, and maybe even the opponent would get a moral malus for losing a victory point etc. But I don't know, it does not seem so balanced. And yeah they could lose and gain moral when utterly being crushed or crushing an enemy.

Yeah there are a few possibilities, I'll definitely add it, im just not certain about how.

[RangerJoe]

Taking losses, no rest, those things tend to be bad for morale. Moral is something else, the "e" is important. Yes, I understand that English is not your first language.

Think of the morale of the British fighter command during the Battle of Britain. Some pilots went up but found an excuse not to engage. During the American bombing offensive in Europe, some bomber pilots would find things wrong with their aircraft but the mechanics could not find anything wrong. That is the effect for low morale.

[valentin56610]

There is no rest mechanics and probably won't be. I'll go with losses and fighting odds, as that's what's the game mostly focuses on.
Ahh English you my old friend. So in French it's the opposite. Moral (fr) = morale (en) and morale (fr) = moral (en) AWESOME

Yeah ok why not, I'll add it for all units. A global representation of how goes the campaign + regional / personal casualties / battle results.

[RangerJoe]

Morale can increase when resupplied. Morale can increase when friendly units are near. Morale could decrease when enemy units are near. In combat, if you have defensive artillery support, the defenders could increase while the attackers could decrease. Morale could increase when the unit does not participate in combat, hence a rest mode if you will. It may be that it is on a defensive assignment.

Yes, the English language is so much fun. The English will spell a word one way while the Americans will spell it another way:

colour = color
armour = armor
cheque = check
tyre = tire

[valentin56610]

Ok those are good ideas I'm taking notes.
Well it might not be a long time before I implement all this ! Thanks for the help !

What about Australians and New zelanders in all that ? They spell like the British ?