EIA v1.26.04 Beta Hotfix #4 Available

[pzgndr]

Attached is Hotfix #4 for the v1.26.04 beta for the next v1.26.xx official patch. This beta version should be applied over the installed EIA v1.25.03 Official Update game files. It includes all of the previous v1.25.03 HOTFIX files. You should be able to extract (copy&paste) the new EXE, \Data\database GED files, \Data\docs Release Notes, and \Data\programtext files from the zip file directly into your v1.25.03 install.

Release notes so far, including the recent EIA v1.25.03 Official Update HOTFIX:

Empires in Arms the Napoleonic Wars - 1.26.04
=============================================
- Cede of kingdom province as peace term not working – resolved(?).
- Cede of Free State does not retain current forces – resolved.
- Conquer of minor not always eliminating army factors and retaining them for later use – resolved.
- PBEM Admin Menu not allowing placement of corps in city/siege or fleets in blockade – resolved.
- AI bug with blockading fleet leaving blockade causing a run_blockade battle and game error – resolved.
- Deny Separate Peace selections not staying locked in – resolved.
- Spanish IIC and Turkish Anatolia I corps incorrectly show as infantry instead of cavalry in the alternate campaigns – resolved.
- Game log foraging messages improved for readability – resolved.
- Allied depot for invasion supply not working – resolved.
- Game bug with changing control of Sicily/Finland/Norway – resolved.
- Naval combats loading land units to battle – resolved.
- Naval combats with AI attacker versus human defender not taking defender losses correctly – resolved.
- Conquered minor country ships not always being returned upon becoming a Free State for human and AI players – resolved.

Empires in Arms the Napoleonic Wars - 1.26.03
=============================================
- Separate Peace not working correctly – resolved.
- Besieged unit foraging not working correctly – resolved.
- Comprehensive AI improvements – resolved.
-- add/remove depots
-- alternate capital protection (Leningrad)
-- amphib ops
-- blockades
-- builds in general and Polish Gd builds added
-- estimated supply costs
-- garrison attacks
-- informal peace and separate peace
-- land and naval redeployments
-- loaned corps
-- money loans from France and Great Britain
-- placing Cossacks
-- reinforcements in general to add new units/factors
-- sieges and besieged unit foraging
- Game freeze on AI finding over-garrisoned cities – resolved.
- Alternate Dominant Powers morale changes shown in unit display not being used in combat calculations – resolved.
- Accept Informal peace and Deny Separate Peace not working correctly – resolved.
- Turkish Nizami-Cedid corps not correct in Alternate 1812 campaign – resolved (database .ged file updated).
- Siege combat hangs when defending corps inside city surrenders – resolved.
- Mandatory surrender for civil disorder not working, and multiple victors in a simultaneous peace choosing terms based on highest PS not working correctly – resolved.
- Naval interceptions into adjacent sea zone(s) not working – resolved.
- Minors not conquered when kingdom unit is present – resolved.
- France and Great Britain cannot re-declare war with Start At War option selected – resolved.
- Alternate Dominant Powers bug for Great Britain – resolved.
- Peace conditions B.7 and C.4 ceded provinces should not contain Russia’s alternate capital city St. Petersburg - resolved.
- Added Restrictions on Territorial Losses rule for AI-controlled opponents only – resolved (human players can use house rules).

Empires in Arms the Napoleonic Wars - 1.26.02
=============================================
- Added game status percentage to Victory Point Status – resolved.
- Added AI grand strategy options – resolved.
- Added Alternate Dominant Powers optional rule – resolved (fixed in hotfix).
- Updated Fog of War optional rule for AI-AI combat – resolved.
- 0000110: [Game Enhancement] Add: Restrictions on Territorial Losses rule – resolved (v1.24.01 implemented the three province restriction on territorial losses, v1.26.02 implemented the one province per victor restriction for AI only).
- Change AAR land move arrows to center of areas – resolved.
- Game freeze when militia in outflank pinning force cannot be taken as casualties – resolved.
- French I Corps not appearing in Classic 1805 Campaign – resolved (updated database file eianw001.ged).

Empires in Arms the Napoleonic Wars - 1.26.01
=============================================
- Text overlap for unit stack display sometimes unreadable – resolved.
- Political Standings Screen shows Normal instead of Neutral – resolved (also changed Neutral zone color from Gray to White).
- Victory Conditions Screen showing some units, leaders, and fleets available to be removed that are not in play – resolved.
- Political Restrictions on Peace implements rule that France and Great Britain may never make an informal peace and may never be allies if the Great Britain and France Start At War game option is selected – resolved (see revised rule 6.4.3).
- Royal Marriages not broken upon declaration of war – resolved.
- Added Create Kingdom function to game editor – resolved.
- AI naval combat not taking losses or recording at-start forces in the game log – resolved.
- Added new data files and setup files for the 1813 Grand Campaign and made applicable code changes - resolved.
- AI improvements for Prussia saving manpower and Great Britain loaning money to support wars against France – resolved.
- AI land combat not taking pursuit losses – resolved.
- Reported bug with Turkey Ottoman nations falling to Austria in Fiasco zone – resolved.
- Updated data files and some setup files for the 1812 Grand Campaign and made some applicable code changes – resolved.
- Prussia unused manpower not being saved correctly or shown on nation status – resolved.

Empires in Arms the Napoleonic Wars - 1.26.00
=============================================
- Updated ai_ai_select_casualties and ai_ai_select_pursuit_casualties consistent with fixes made in v1.25.03 Hotfix – resolved.
- 0000774: [Rules Deviation] Garrisoned depots are not blocking enemy supply lines – resolved.
- Added new AI National Objectives functions – resolved.
- Adjusted AI naval builds for Spain, Turkey, and Russia vs Great Britain – resolved.
- Winter Land Movement optional rule not implemented correctly – resolved (see revised rule 13.1.3).
- Updated game options test in game manual and mouse-over messages - resolved (\Data\databases .ged files updated).
- Adjusted AI supporting land battles – resolved.
- find_path bug for missing path type when checking if the adjacent area is adjacent to the target area – resolved.
- find_path improvement for AI to bypass combats and non-access areas enroute to target area – resolved.
- AI-AI combats and human defender versus AI trivial combat attacker not seeing correct losses in game log – resolved.

Version 1.25.03 (08/15/2023)
Empires in Arms the Napoleonic Wars - 1.25.03 Hotfix (10/9/2023)
================================================================
- area_determine_owner bug - resolved.
- area_nation_exerting_control bug - resolved.
- minor country not being conquered by one month's unbesieged occupation of its capital - resolved.
- surrender conditions display glitch - resolved.
- 0000530: [Game Enhancement] Computer not choosing the optimal path when moving multiple areas – resolved.
- Controlling Major Powers issues - resolved (now, AI Major Powers with forces in range of a minor declared war on or close to Instability are excluded from selection).
- some AI garrisons not taking assault losses - resolved.
- game freeze due to insufficient pursuit losses - resolved.
- outnumbered AI garrisons keep attacking larger besieging forces - resolved (recently added feature deleted).
- combat freeze when some human garrisons take final assault losses - resolved (but combat summary does not capture final round losses).
- Accept Control checkboxes in Diplomatic Reactions screen clearing selections - resolved.
- game messages for Attacker to click DONE to resolve siege inappropriate for AI attacker - resolved (\Data\programtext files updated).
- AI not taking correct losses in some battles – resolved.
- human defender versus AI besieger not seeing final forces eliminated for taking losses and not seeing correct losses in game log – resolved.

I am hoping that this beta is the pre-release candidate for the next official update. The version notes only list one bug fix related to ceding kingdom provinces. I think I found and resolved the problem during playtesting where AI Prussia was trying to cede Poland to AI Austria. We still need to verify if this works for peace conditions or not.

My recent playtesting of v1.26.03 hotfix #6 got me to 1809. Along the way, I made several AI adjustments. Naval blockades, naval deployments/redeployments, and return of fleets to ports with ships ready for reinforcement are all improved. This primarily helps AI Great Britain but should help the other MPs too. I also made some adjustments to redeploying some forces back to home nation when not at war. Regarding Poland, there is an AI strategy where if AI Prussia, AI Russia, and AI Austria are allied then Prussia and Austria will each cede a province to Russia so it can create Poland. Comments about this are welcome; one of the strategy articles mentioned this and it seems ok, but I'm not yet sure how well it plays out.

My plan going forward to to continue playtesting to find and resolve issues and make more AI adjustments as needed. More players playing means more eyes on the game so if you can please play some and provide comments (and a good game save with an issue) then that would be helpful. We'll see how things go through August. Enjoy!

UPDATE 7/30/2024 - Hotfix #1 posted.

UPDATE 8/6/2024 - Hotfix #2 posted.

UPDATE 8/9/2024 - Hotfix #2 re-posted with bug fix for conquered minors (see post below).

UPDATE 8/23/2024 - Hotfix #3 posted.

UPDATE 9/13/2024 - Hotfix #4 posted.
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EiANW 12604 Beta[4].zip

(3.79 MiB) Downloaded 25 times

[amandkm]

I'm playing with this patch and had a strange naval error pop up after naval combat is resolved

[pzgndr]

I'm playing with this patch and had a strange naval error pop up after naval combat is resolved

Did Great Britain initiate a naval combat, so I can recreate this error? I ran your save without doing anything and did not get any errors.

I did run into a bug during my playtest a couple days ago with an AI blockading fleet trying to leave the blockade and erroneously creating a run_blockade naval battle that generated an error. I have also found and fixed a couple of other minor issues and made a minor improvement to the PBEM Admin Menu. I want to go through my page of notes to make some other AI adjustments, run another playtest, and release a hotfix next week. I apologize for these glitches, but this code development is a lot like squeezing jello - if I fix/improve something then something else pops up. And so it goes...

[amandkm]

strange... try this. I was playing as Spain, allied to Britain. Spain attacked the Turkish stack. Then when GBs naval turn comes, I get the error.

[pzgndr]

strange... try this. I was playing as Spain, allied to Britain. Spain attacked the Turkish stack. Then when GBs naval turn comes, I get the error.

OK, I see. Initially, I ran this a few times and did not get an error. Then I tried running it on the release version and got the error. When I updated my release version with my current version, I did not get the error. So, you got what I saw a few days ago and already fixed. Great Britain moved a fleet from Antwerp to the blockade at Le Havre, and then tried moving another fleet out of Le Havre to Portsmouth where there are ships ready for reinforcement. The AI trying to move a blockading fleet out caused a run_blockade battle that caused the error.

My logic in all this is that withdrawing a fleet from a blockade for a couple of turns might be risky but the AI gets stronger fleets. As I write this, I'm thinking I should add a check to exclude any fleet in blockade if there are enemy troops at the port eligible for embarkation. Don't take an unnecessary risk, and move on to another fleet that needs reinforcement. Thanks!

[AndrewV]

As I write this, I'm thinking I should add a check to exclude any fleet in blockade if there are enemy troops at the port eligible for embarkation. Don't take an unnecessary risk, and move on to another fleet that needs reinforcement. Thanks!

If the number of troops isn't enough to be a threat, then no need to be too cautious.

Plus it can sometimes be better to let the fleet out, then hit it later, with a larger stack.

For reinforcing a blockade, as GB I would probably purchase an extra fleet marker, stand that up with the reinforcement ships, then sail to the blockade box, and merge with one of the existing fleets.

For Great Britain, there is also the ability to flip flop, which can allow you to move most/all of the blockading fleet, hit a loose fleet somewhere else, then move back onto the blockade before the blockaded ships get loose. (Yes he could try to intercept, when you return to the blockade, but he can't load any troops when doing that, and if ship numbers are equal, Britian better naval modifiers, so should win often than not).

[pzgndr]

Here's a little success story from my playtesting yesterday. Prussia forced the Holland fleet to evacuate and AI Great Britain moved to attack, but there was no naval combat. I tracked down the problem and resolved it, so now I'm seeing naval combat. There was a check for enemies in the same location to set combat imminent for resolution, but I watched as every blockaded French fleet attacked. So I had to fix that. The other issue I saw was the wrong naval side sometimes retreating, so I tracked that down and fixed it. Bottom line is that the AI will now engage in naval combat in addition to interceptions that I previously fixed. We should all have a much more interesting naval game now. I want to continue my playtesting a bit longer and probably post Hotfix #1 later today with this and other changes.
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[pzgndr]

Hotfix #1 posted. After fixing Cede of kingdom province previously, I took another look at ceding provinces and what the rules say regarding transfer of forces. I fixed that so forces do transfer. I also looked at how the game was treating conquered minors and not always eliminating army factors so I fixed that. I did get around to making a minor enhancement to the PBEM Admin Menu. Then there was a nasty bug causing a game error related to AI blockade fleet leaving the blockade so I fixed that. Lastly, I noticed something odd about Deny Separate Peace not keeping my selections when I closed the screen and reopened it, so that's fixed.

I continued to make AI naval improvements, mostly for AI Great Britain. Blockades are more efficient, fleets return to port for reinforcement ships, and I got AI naval combats working. (See above post.) And I continued to make other minor AI adjustments based on my playtesting. I am seeing more and more AI behaviors that impress me and fewer issues that make me stop, investigate, and fix something. And as I see something working I usually pause to consider if it is working well or if an adjustment is needed. There are still some rough edges, of course, but I'm hoping players are now getting a better sense of playing a more human-like computer opponent.

Alright, I think Hotfix #1 is in good shape. Let's give it a workout. As always, I'm pushing ahead with my playtests but also on the lookout for any reported issues. My biggest worry is always that something I've "fixed" causes something else to break. The Law of Unintended Consequences always wins. Let's see how this one goes.

[pzgndr]

I spent the previous couple of days running the 1812 campaign and making a few AI adjustments. I switched back to 1805 today for another playtest, making a few AI adjustments. I took a short detour to make a little improvement to the game log foraging messages for readability (see screenshot). This has always annoyed me and now it's easier to see the foraging results.

I've gotten into 1807 playing as Austria and I plan to keep going into 1812/1813 or so. Then I want to run the 1813 campaign some to verify things. I'll probably get another hotfix out later next week. Player comments and suggestions are welcome now as I'm actively working on code development. I'm getting close to wrapping up this version and then I'm taking a break. So please chime in if you can.
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[amandkm]

Bill, I'll give it a go. I was wondering though, are there variations in the code for PBEM play, as opposed to hotseat and PvC play? Maybe if there's an interested pbem group that can try? Does anybody know how many active PBEM's there are?

Al

[pzgndr]

I was wondering though, are there variations in the code for PBEM play, as opposed to hotseat and PvC play? Maybe if there's an interested pbem group that can try? Does anybody know how many active PBEM's there are?

There's the PBEM Quick Combat game option to help speed things up so players don't have to exchange combat files, but other than that the game is the same. AFAIK, there are no active PBEM games going on and the group I was in contact with hasn't played in the past couple of years.

And I have to say that the lack of interest in this wargame is perplexing. Twenty years ago, folks were chomping at the bit for this game to get released. Then, when faced with game bugs and other issues, hostility grew. I can't fault folks for that, but my observation over the past five years or so is that as I have made more and more bug fixes, AI improvements, and other game enhancements, interest has inversely declined. Even among the dozen or so players I was routinely working with as pseudo-playtesters who wanted to help. Players don't want to be playtesters; I got it. But it sure would be nice to have some help, because it takes me days to try to run through 4-5 years of a campaign to see how the AI is behaving and investigate/fix things. But I digress.

Back to PBEM. The AI computer opponents are getting better and more challenging. Even for France and Great Britain. Ideally, small PBEM groups of 4-5 or less could and should be playing some games. I could use some PBEM game feedback. But I'll drive on with or without help.

[amandkm]

I hear you and I agree to a point. I remember the forum activity as we were waiting for this game. It was crazy! That said, it was a long while back, and how many 20 year old computer games are still being played regularly? Have you seen the difference between the earliest and current Strategic Command Games? For me, EiA is probably 10 years or more older than any other computer game I own.

I'll head to the opponents wanted section and see if I can get a game started. It seemed there was some interest recently.

Thanks again for keeping this classic alive.

Al

[pzgndr]

Hotfix #2 posted. The updated change log shows a few minor fixes: a couple of cav units were showing as infantry, a UI improvment for game log readability, and allied depot invasion supply not working. I've spent the past week or so playtesting, mostly the 1805 campaign and then the 1812 and 1813 campaigns these past few days. As I play, I see AI behaviors I don't like, investigate them, and resolve them.

A big fix was getting the AI to stop over-blockading. AI Great Britain is much more efficient now and having its fleets free allows for more activity. The AI will now pause after a MP surrender until temporary access is done before making another major DOW. I fixed a couple of issues with the AI Great Britain grand strategy. AI Russia will garrison Stockholm before redeploying units back to Russia, and the AI will also ensure an embarkation port has a garrison before launching an amphibious invasion. I saw issues with the AI improperly ceding provinces and also canceling DOW preps if answering a call to DOW someone else. I think outnumbered besiegers are better at moving out of the city so they can be retreated. Those are the highlights from my notes. There were several other AI adjustments here and there. I can tell you that the games I've been playing have been pretty interesting with a few surprises here and there. Players should be able to enjoy this game moreso now than ever before.

Alright, the road ahead. I have a couple of pressing personal matters (wife is retiring, new house is being built) that require me to wrap up this version in the next few weeks. I plan to playtest for another week or so and hopefully reach a solid end point where AI behaviors are mostly all good. If players spot any other issues and report them, I will deal with them. If all is well, I will post a Hotfix #3 as the release candidate, clean up the documentation, and send the files off to Matrix. That's the plan. Then I will take a break until later in the year after we relocate. After that, I'll continue to poke at EIA in a maintenance mode capacity to fix any problems and make whatever other improvements I can.

[pzgndr]

This game continues to fascinate me and I keep seeing situations that I haven't seen before. I'm playtesting Hotfix #2 as Spain. Russia DOWs Sweden and France gets control. Great Britain DOWs Denmark and France gets control. Great Britain doesn't invade Denmark, it invades French-controlled Swedish Pomerania instead. War with Denmark doesn't lapse since Great Britain is still at war with France. What caught my attention initially was that Great Britain was blockading Copenhagen, which I don't want the AI to do since the minor would scuttle ships and deprive the conquerer of prizes later upon creation of Free State, but since Copenhage is French-controlled that's an exception.

Anyways, Great Britain conquers S. Pomerania and reinforces the II Corps, then joins Prussia in its DOW and attack on Holstein. France DOWs Prussia in September 1805 and advances. So now it's October and I watch as GB's II Corps is loaned to Prussia and retreated to Berlin. This is all very interesting to watch, as I wasn't sure if II Corps might retreat into Denmark or back towards Berlin. And now I am left wondering if there is something in all this that I need to "fix" or just leave it alone. Other than this, everything else in this playtest is working correctly so far.

I share this simply to show what intrigues me enough to stop and investigate a particular situation. I want to encourage players to share similar observations and comments about the AI behaviors. If you see something you think should be "fixed" then please let me know.
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[pzgndr]

I hit a bug with Hotfix #2, regarding the changes I made for "Conquer of minor not always eliminating army factors and retaining them for later use." What I tried to do was to only zero out army factors and not zero out naval factors on the units. Well that part works but there was another function for how minor forces were saved and it was still saving naval factors as well as retaining them witht he unit. As shown, when I created Portugal as a Free State I got 16 ships with the units plus 16 ships as reinforcements.

This is now fixed, but players need to be aware of this. I am reposting Hotfix #2 with this one change. There were 10 downloads, so players should re-download and install. Sorry about that.
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Free State.jpg (839.4 KiB) Viewed 1111 times

[amandkm]

I downloaded but it won't extract for me

[pzgndr]

I downloaded but it won't extract for me

I see. I just re-posted Hotfix #2 again and verified that it opens. I also ran Hotfix #2 for several turns to verify things look ok. I was in a rush yesterday and did a replace of the EXE in the zip file. So that doesn't work; noted. I made a new zip file. Sorry about that. I'm hoping this hotfix gets us through next week, so I can complete a full-game playtest and I'll also be out of town a couple of days.

[pzgndr]

FYI. My playtest is currently into 1809. I've been making AI adjustments and various minor fixes along the way. At the rate I'm going, it will be sometime next week (week of Aug 19) before I am finished with a complete campaign game and can make some final assessments of AI performance. I think I am pressing too close to Matrix Games deadlines for Labor Day and a roadtrip I plan to take in early September to submit game files before my roadtrip. So, I will probably release another hotfix #3 later next week and let players try that before I wrap up files after my roadtrip and then submit them to Matrix for the next official update - probably late September or early October at this point. There's always a delay for Matrix to produce the installation package and for me to test it before they release it, so that's what I'm concerned about. We're getting there.

[AbNormal]

Hello,
When you find time please check Denmark evacuation.
Naval combat screen shows Russian ships, infantry core and garrison.
Infantry can be used as casualties.
Sometimes the evacuating fleet gets wind gauge.
Thanks for your devotion to this worthy cause!
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/down ... id=1214176

[pzgndr]

Naval combat screen shows Russian ships, infantry core and garrison.
Infantry can be used as casualties.

Not sure when this started, but fixed now. I added checks for land units for land combats and sea units for sea combats. Good catch! Thanks!!
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copenhagen.jpg (230.89 KiB) Viewed 900 times