EIA v1.27.03 Beta Hotfix #1 Available

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Attached the v1.27.03 Beta Hotfix #1 for the next v1.27.xx official patch. This should be applied over the installed EIA v1.26.04 Official Update game files and previous v1.27.03 Beta. You should be able to extract (copy&paste) the new EXE file from the zip file directly into your v1.26.04 install or previous v1.27.03 Beta install.

Release notes so far:

- AI naval redeploy and move_free_fleets adjustments
- area_which_location_owns_city and area_who_is_besieged changed to simple check for besieger and besieged
- move_free_fleets adjusted for Great Britain fleets stuck in Baltic
- AI Spain surrender calcs adjusted for AI victor versus human victor
- aitalkcode to allow request loan of ally's minor units
- AI Moving Army To Defend Capital adjusted to include redeployment of additional forces
- AI Great Britain reserved money for Prussian manpower fixed in 1812
- Fixed several unit_delete_unit instances (causing removal of units from game) that should have been delete_unit_from_area
- Fixed area_is_undergarrisoned function for siege combat modifer
- Fixed combat PP loss/gain issues
- Adjusted default intercept orders to None for minors at war with another MP not at war with controlling MP
- Adjusted nation_scan_all_areas_for_control to verify NSfalling and reset nation status if not falling
- Fixed AI for Great Britain to reserve funds for Prussian saved manpower and to transfer those funds
- New ai_look_at_amphib_raid function for specific port targets
- Adjusted area_nations_inf_corps_in_area to include minors
- Fixed ai_place_remove_leaders for sometimes placing a leader where a leader is already present
- Adjusted naval AI to remove leaders from risky amphib ops
- Fixed a couple of ai_assign_redeploy_units glitches
- Adjusted nation_friendly_factors_present_in_home_nation to include minors and allies
- Fixed nation_scan_all_areas_for_control for nation_convert_control issues for kingdom minors/provinces
- Fixed nation_vacant_factors to accurately sum max-current factors, to resolve AI surrender issue
- Revised Eco Phase current forces for maneuver corps land factors only, not garrisons or depots
- Fixed unit_create_garrison to set kingdom unit garrisons to kingdom nation, not original minor nation
- Fixed naval pursuit issues and updated game manual
- Fixed naval retreats for run blockade battles
- Adjusted checks for evacuation of ports to fix evacuation issues
- Created new functions ai_withdraw_available_units and ai_assign_withdraw_units for late-war AI France
- Fixed auto_conquer_minor to delete double PP gain for conquering and undo DOW
- Fixed nation_scuttle_port to include PP loss for scuttled fleets
- Fixed remove defender depot after combat

This has been in development over the past few weeks. I'll say something more later in another post, but for right now I just want to post this new version and get it out there. I'd like this to be a candidate version for the next official update. There will probably be a few hotfixes along the way to resolve any issues, but mostly to make additional AI improvements and adjustments as needed.

Feedback is welcome. Please see how this version goes and let's resolve anything - anything - that needs fixing, enhancement, or improvement. Thanks. Enjoy!

UPDATE 10/26/2025 - Removing this beta to resolve a few reported issues.
UPDATE 10/31/2025 - Reposting v1.27.03 Beta.
UPDATE 11/22/2025 - Posted Hotfix #1
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EiANW 12703 Beta[1].zip

(3.2 MiB) Downloaded 2 times

[pzgndr]

Alright, some comments about this version. Firstly, the good news is that I did not get many issues reported over the past few weeks. Most were minor or due to some faulty "fix" on my part and fairly easily resolved. This allowed me more time for playtesting on my own to find and resolve issues. Mostly I was playing the 1812 campaign looking for AI performance issues. I like this one because France is at its high water mark, there are advances and retreats in Russia, and then the real fun starts as Prussia gets back into the game in early 1813 and then Austria gets back into the game in mid 1813. Meanwhile, Great Britain and Spain are pushing on the French in the south.

1. AI Great Britain needed help with naval operations, specifically to get some invasions going and to get Sweden involved. This is better now. I added a new port raid function but it still needs some work.

2. AI Great Britain was supposed to be reserving money for Prussian manpower and then giving it to Prussia as enforced peace is ending. It wasn't working; now it is. So come December 1812, Prussia gets money to build forces, which start arriving by March 1813 in time to DOW France.

3. Poland surrender to Russia was still not happening, so that needed some attention. Yet again, I had to dig into code to resolve the status of provinces versus minors versus kingdoms and sort it out. This is working now.

4. Speaking of kingdoms, France had Confederation of the Rhine units creating garrisons, but they were being created as minors; e.g., the Baden corps was placing a Baden factor and not a COR factor. Since Baden doesn't exist as a minor when its part of COR, the garrison could not be attacked and caused other combat issues. Once I figured out the cause, it took some time to figure out the solution. This is working now.

Those were probably the four most challenging issues I was dealing with; the rest were relatively minor. The early game already looks pretty good with most all issues resolved. The late game now looks pretty good - with France withdrawing gracefully, Poland and COR minors being conquered, and multiple French surrenders working. That leaves the middle game. Are there AI grand strategy issues that need some attention? Are there any other bugs or gameplay issues that need to be resolved? What else is needed?? I still have a short ToDo List to work through, but I would still appreciate feedback from players with any issues you may spot or suggestions for improvements you may have. I'll keep working on Empires in Arms through the end of the year, but at some point in the New Year I want to wrap it up and send files to Matrix for a final official update. That's the plan.

I also want to mention again that the Admin Menu function is available for solitaire games. For PBEM games, only the PBEM admin has access to it. Players can use this to resolve minor issues on their own. Please report any issues to me with a game save, but feel free to make your own game adjustments and play past whatever issue(s) you encounter. I use this myself in my playtesting, as well as other debugging tools I have available. Anyways, it's there if you need it. (Or you want to use it in lieu of "cheat codes" to adjust something.)

[pzgndr]

I reposted the v1.27.03 Beta. There were some reported combat issues related to some units sometimes not loading properly for battle, which corrupted the battle and then caused some other issues. I am still investigating the root cause for why this happens, but I've added some comprehensive error-checking to verify that units that should be loaded for battle are in fact counted as being there and loaded properly. And when I say "comprehensive" I mean for each type of battle and for all units - major, minor, or loaned at war with the opposing force. So far, this appears to be working fine.

I spent time playtesting 1805 to verify AI performance. Good news is that naval invasions are working very well now and I saw a lot of activity in the Mediterranean as Great Britain, Spain, and Turkey competed for North Africa. As France sometimes gained control of North African minors, I had to make some adjustments to restrict Great Britain from some amphib ops into Spain or Turkey's DOWs. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but risky for 1805, so the adjustments are just for 1805. I saw Great Britain perform an amphibious raid on Amsterdam, which provided an opportunity to troubleshoot some landing/combat issues with that new function.

This should be a solid version build to play now. We shall see. I'd like to see all gameplay issues resolved so that I can playtest and work on AI grand strategy improvements. Sooner or later, we'll get there. Enjoy!

[pzgndr]

Posted Hotfix #1. Full notes here:

- Cleaned up combat_set_battles and combat_load_forces consistent with changes made for load_units_to_battle
- Fixed naval pursuit issues and updated game manual
- Fixed minor error in nation_convert_control
- Adjusted naval AI for blockades and for Great Britain guarding the channel crossing
- Fixed naval retreats for run blockade battles
- Deleted unit_validate_area calls in detect_unit_location causing endless loops
- Fixed nation_scan_all_areas_for_control (Again!) for nation_convert_control issues for kingdom minors/provinces
- Deleted redundant find_path checks for redeployments
- Included cav corps as special units for advancements to reduce reckless advancement
- Fixed AI-AI combat to record eliminated units and captured leaders
- Adjusted naval AI to exclude moving to ports under siege
- Fixed AI bug for corps creating 0-factor garrisons
- Adjusted AI redeployment function to improve late-war France performance
- Adjusted checks for evacuation of ports to fix evacuation issues
- Fixed a couple of access violation errors
- Added checks for forces assigned before ai_clr_assignment that could clear previous assignments
- Created new functions ai_withdraw_available_units and ai_assign_withdraw_units for late-war AI France
- Fixed auto_conquer_minor to delete double PP gain for conquering and undo DOW
- Fixed post battle cleanup for AI-AI and AI attacker combats
- Fixed nation_scuttle_port to include PP loss for scuttled fleets
- Fixed combat_nation_unit_pp_value_for_loss (again) for fleets in naval combat
- Fixed check to remove defender depot after combat

There are two themes here. One, more fixes for naval issues and for conquering kingdom minors/provinces. Two, and I'll say more about this in another post, late-war AI issues needed some more attention. Along the way I resolved a couple of access violation errors and other glitches. I continue to keep my eyes open for these challenging game bugs that lock up the game or slow down performance. Good news is that this build appears to be running very smoothly. As I've mentioned before, I plan to continue playtesting and making AI adjustments through the new year in anticipation of wrapping this up and releasing a final official update. As with v1.27.03, consider Hotfix #1 a pre-release candidate. We're looking for any remaining issues that need some attention. Feedback is welcome. Enjoy!

[pzgndr]

Late-War AI Issues

I've spent quite a bit of time lately playtesting the late war, 1812 scenario and 1813 scenario. One nagging issue was the conquering of kingdom minors and provinces. After several deep-dives into the applicable code sections, I think I got it figured out. I could say more, but suffice to say it's just complicated. The other nagging issues were the performances of AI France and AI Great Britain. I pretty much resolved the Great Britain issues with v1.27.03 and got the AI to perform amphib invasions and port raids in 1813 and 1814. So that's much better now. But France is a challenging case with enemies closing in from three directions: Prussia/Russia (and Great Britain) from the north, Austria from the east, and Great Britain and Spain from the south. I struggled to find a decent balance between retreating outnumbered units, defending the capital Paris, and redeploying available forces towards the enemies. I found France retreating too many units to Paris and not leaving enough to make possible counter-attacks. That reqired some adjustments to the capital defense checks. I also found France getting too many units "stuck" fighting some enemies and neglecting the others, requiring some rebalancing of forces. That required a couple of new code functions to get AI France to withdraw 'excess' forces back to France to then engage other enemies or redeploy toward them as the case may be. I think this is all working much better now.

Another interesting dynamic of the late-war is when France starts surrendering to some enemies but not all. As France retreats to Paris, it concentrates its army. Individual enemies are reluctant to attack, and France being outnumbered is reluctant to counter-attack. But as France loses territory and minors and dips into Instability or Fiasco, it starts surrendering in mid- to late-1814. The remaining enemies become more vulnerable to France lashing out. Ultimately, France finds itself in a No-Win situation and it's a matter of time before a victor is declared in early- to mid-1815. I find these late-war playtests interesting. Players who have not tried 1812 or 1813 and may be looking for a shorter game are encouraged to play these scenarios. If you identify any other issues with late-war AI behaviors and have suggestions for improvements, please let me know! Thanks. Enjoy.