Next patch in final beta testing

[simovitch]

Here's an update on some new features from the next patch:

Strat map now shows weather by zone during planning phase.

Allies must now have AS of 4 or greater to win BTR campaigns (increased from 3).

Human player no longer gets automatic upgrades, allowing player to upgrade or change most plane types manually.

Reinforcement arrival now displays, and centers on entry airfield and gives information about aircraft type.

Leader promotion messages now show inspiration and leadership values.

Auto plan raid range button increment increased to reduce multiple clicking.

Max ranges reduced for AI raids in keeping with available escort ranges. Added some tweaks to increase AI aggressiveness.

Me110 nightfighters will slowly auto upgrade to be fitted with upward firing cannon.

Added flak attack on enemy planes attacking landing aircraft.

Fixed some altitude loss and gain anomalies caused by inconsistent variable types.

Added incremental elevation gain during climb out from takeoff for intercepting fighters.

Reworked e-warfare device upgrades and implementation, fixed data errors causing ELINT to be broken in 1944 campaigns and axis aircraft radar unused in 43 and 44. Aircraft in 1944 scenarios now benefit from previous 5 months of e-warfare technology upgrades.

Pathfinder group pilots start with higher experience.

Area targets that do not produce terror points shown in blue circles in urban display mode, all others shown with black circles instead of red (to differentiate from jammed radar sites.)

Pilot roster now shows which pilots occupy a ready aircraft and highlights the leader. Added color highlights to Top and Honor Roll Pilot views.

When selecting a lead and following groups for a raid, only functional Nav devices will be indicated on the list (i.e. if range is too far for oboe, etc.)

“Find Air Units” tab is added to the reaction phase menu to allow easy lookup and location, showing fatigue, morale, fuel and damage of individual pilots/planes within the selected air group during the action.

Changed cloud movement direction to randomly move from NW to SW direction each turn. Added forecasting of next turns weather in the campaign summary.

Defender at-start start now sees cloud pattern for the upcoming turn.

Defending player less likely to strike balloon cables.

Attacker gains some experience if he kills a balloon.

Fixed bugs where experience was accumulating improperly or not at all.

Fixed bug where game was not properly recognizing fighter to fighter-bomber conversion capability.

Fixed bug where Defender Doctrine was resetting back to default each turn (My bad from 1.05)

Fixed bugs where P51 and P47 Fighter-bomber groups with swapped-out bombs could not be grouped together in a bomb raid. Now they can! Added “b” designation on group lists to differentiate which FB converted groups have bombs and which have drop tanks.

Groups equipped with Navigation (that are in beam-range of target), Elint, or Radar equipped show “n” “e” or “r” respectively on group lists.

Improved ability to select objects on map when zoomed out.

Added altitude performance bands to weapons database display.

fixed some problems with the ground campaign to reward aggressive bombing of frontline (causing earlier breakouts) and penalize if not (delaying breakout). It was nearly impossible to get a result, that got a result, that effected the timing of breakouts. Now it can be a game changer. Still testing this...

[simovitch]

Blue circled cities will not provide terror points... and note the weather displaying on the strat map.

[simovitch]

Weapons Database now displays altitude/performance bands for all aircraft... (beta)

[simovitch]

Lots more information in the Pilot Roster. Note the group leader is highlighted in yellow...

[simovitch]

Note weather forecast near the bottom of Campaign summary. Defending side gets a better idea of his avgas and oil industry.

"battle status" is for the beta team to track the ground campaign and will probably not be included in final display.

[warshipbuilder]

Here are the DB changes for 1.06

1943 Campaign

P-51H removed
XP-72 removed

This was done as that campaign has been shortened.

1944 Campaign

Changed 501 Sqn AIR HQ to 11 Group
Deelen AB assigned to Luft Reich

Both

Ta-154 changed Fug 212 to Fug 220

BoB

Ju88A-5 corrected defensive armament

BoB 41

68 Sqn assigned missing AIR HQ - 12 Group
96 Sqn Defiants added missing armament
255 Sqn Beaufighters added AI radar
307 Sqn Defiants removed AI radar

[Mappo]

Very great news [&o][&o][&o] Probably it is too late, but I would have a request. Is it possible to save the records about the italian squadrons after the september armistice? Maybe frezing those squadrons and removing their aircrafts, so as to make them unusable for the rest of the campaign? Playing as Axis or Allies at the end of the Campaign I enjoy to see the results of the squadrons and being an italian I would like to do this also for the italians ones
In any case, thanks again for your effort [:)]

[joey]

Wow! It looks like I will be restarting another long campaign!

What does France/Italy battle status mean on the campaign info screen? I assume it means how far along the Allies are towards a breakout, but how is it to be interpreted? Is there are value to be obtained or prevented (if you play as the German)?

[simovitch]

ORIGINAL: joey

Wow! It looks like I will be restarting another long campaign!

What does France/Italy battle status mean on the campaign info screen? I assume it means how far along the Allies are towards a breakout, but how is it to be interpreted? Is there are value to be obtained or prevented (if you play as the German)?

It's a tally to track the number of times the breakout dates were incremented or decremented in France and Italy. When I ran a full 1944 campaign AI-vs-AI these numbers never moved, i.e. there was no influence from the attacks against troops that the Allied AI seemed fairly good at executing. A recent playtest with some fixes (e.g. forts and afv values now help the Axis more, but forts can now be destroyed by bombing like afv's) showed these dates being pushed up by 11 days on the Gothic line and 5 on the westwall.

Some notes on the ground war, more relevant with 1.06:
1. It pays to cause disruption and damage to troops, especially during the retreat phase when they lack fortification because
the only time the breakout dates will adjust is when combat is initiated on a (weakened)troop that is situated on a front line (Normandy, Gothic, Westwall, Gustav) so weaken those troops before they stop and fortify.

2. Reduce supply lines by bombing rail centers nearest troops and along the supply route. lower supply means lower replacements. Supply lines will find road junctions if undamaged rail is not available, but roads provide lower supply levels.

3. Delaying the Normandy and Gustav front breakouts has much less impact on the end game than delaying the westwall or gothic lines. But keep bombing those troops nonetheless, especially during the retreat between frontlines so that they are weakened for the final drive into Germany.

[joey]

Good to know. I usually play as the Axis, so I would be looking at this from the opposite perspective. I am glad to see more emphasis is being placed on the ground war. It always seemed to me that no matter how many raids occurred on army divisions and how many AFVs were destroyed, the end date never changed.
Thanks again. j

[V72]

Thanks for the job done, take care of yourself.

[Orm]

Thank you for the update and all the work. [&o] [:)]

[Johntxic]

When is the release planned?

[simovitch]

ORIGINAL: Johntxic

When is the release planned?

When its ready.[:)]

Just got several bug reports from testers, been squashing them but there's always something it seems. Hope to sign off into Matrix' hands by the end of May.

[Zorch]

ORIGINAL: simovitch

ORIGINAL: Johntxic

When is the release planned?

When its ready.[:)]

Just got several bug reports from testers, been squashing them but there's always something it seems. Hope to sign off into Matrix' hands by the end of May.

+1 And not 1 minute sooner

[joey]

As it stands now, will this new patch require a restart of a new game, or will it work with an in progress game?

[simovitch]

Anytime we add new variables that will get stored in the data file when the game is saved, It is doubtful that an older version of a save will be compatible. In the case of 1.06, we added the weather forecasting feature, which I'm sure kicked all the data offsets around. So no.

[joey]

Thanks for your response. Can I assume the editor will work with this patch? Lastly, I have a custom mod I like to play. Will I have to recreate the mod in the editor, or will the mod still work in the new patch?

[simovitch]

Editor will work. Any modded data should work as long as the user didn't bugger it up or add new rows or columns.

Caveat: if you added new planes or devices in open slots they may not work or show up. This has always been the case.

[joey]

Thanks, I do appreciate all your work.