1. Just a little teaser. Check out our new GS desktop icon and title screens. Paul, who did these, is a graphic's wizard! The desktop icon (1st picture) on the left is our new CEaW-GS icon and the one on the right is from the standard (vanilla) game. I put those side by side for comparison purposes.
2. We hope very soon to officially release our mod to Slitherine (Iain). Slitherine (Christian) is working on an installer. But, for those who aren't afraid of a manual install and who would like to provide some early feedback we plan to post a link on rapidshare (similar to what we did for BJR v1.05) and keep it up until we get the official and integrated mod release from Slitherine.
3. Our major rationale for this pre-installer, manually applied, release is to solicit feedback and questions to improve the clarity of our documentation and to add a frequently asked questions (FAQ) section to the manual. The thread that references and discusses our manual is http://web.me.com/amcdonel/CEaW-GS/Welcome.html
4. By the way, both CEaW-GS and CEaW (standard) game can now peacefully co-exist with each and can both be played without having to reconfiguring either versions to switch versions.
Last edited by rkr1958 on Sun Nov 29, 2009 5:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I sent the final language files to Ronnie last night. So now we have all files needed. That means we can finally send GS to Slitherine for distribution. So I guess GS will be released in a few days.
CAVEATS: This is a candidate release of CEaW - Grand Strategy v1.00. It now must be applied manually and at your own risk. So, backup, backup, backup before you apply it.
Also, the link to the mod is on rapidshare (free account) and may not be available for download during high traffic times. The free accounts on rapidshare are throttled down during high traffic times to give priority to their paid users. So please be patience.
CEaW-GS v1.00 Mod Submission wrote:
1. It is with great pleasure that we (see screen cap of credits below) wish to submit CEaW - Grand Strategy v1.00 to Slitherine for your consideration.
5. Our release includes 7 languages, which are English, Spanish, Italian, German, French, Polish and Russian.
6. In order to solicit valuable feedback on the mod before Christian finishes the installer and creates the official version with installer we've released the link of the mod to the community in general. We don't expect to find any bugs as we believe our testing was very thorough and complete; however, you never know. The major reason is that we wanted to get feedback on the clarity and completeness of our manual. We, the developers and testes are so close to the mod that it's hard for us to gauge this properly. Also, we wanted to develop a FAQ section on the questions we will undoubtedly get. The questions and answers will likely fall into three categories: (1) clarification, (2) additions (i.e., we flat left something out in the documentation) and (3) design rationale.
Last edited by rkr1958 on Mon Nov 30, 2009 1:28 am, edited 3 times in total.
If we just make a copy of the vanilla game folder and use the mod files to replace the files in the various directories, will that also work (just to run the mod without trying to run the vanilla game)?
ncali wrote:If we just make a copy of the vanilla game folder and use the mod files to replace the files in the various directories, will that also work (just to run the mod without trying to run the vanilla game)?
Yes, just copy and paste the mod over the top of the vanilla game.
Woohoo! D/L'ed and installed. THANK YOU! Looks awesome. Will post again after I read the final version of the manual in more detail and check out the game more.
No matter how much you test, verify, test and verify again something always gets by when it comes to software.
To verify that you have the patch if you click credits you should see the screens that are show a few posts up (i.e., viewtopic.php?p=115732#115732 ). Look carefully, if you don't see the names EXACTLY as they are above then you have NOT applied the patch.
so get all the way to having the CEaW sub dir off Commander Europe at war and running the bat file that targets it but i don't get the checking of the scenario data files it just gets to start then dissappears
before i removed the scenario files it just loaded the vanilla game
CEaW-GS v1.00 Mod Submission wrote:
1. It is with great pleasure that we (see screen cap of credits below) wish to submit CEaW - Grand Strategy v1.00 to Slitherine for your consideration.
5. Our release includes 7 languages, which are English, Spanish, Italian, German, French, Polish and Russian.
6. In order to solicit valuable feedback on the mod before Christian finishes the installer and creates the official version with installer we've released the link of the mod to the community in general. We don't expect to find any bugs as we believe our testing was very thorough and complete; however, you never know. The major reason is that we wanted to get feedback on the clarity and completeness of our manual. We, the developers and testes are so close to the mod that it's hard for us to gauge this properly. Also, we wanted to develop a FAQ section on the questions we will undoubtedly get. The questions and answers will likely fall into three categories: (1) clarification, (2) additions (i.e., we flat left something out in the documentation) and (3) design rationale.
That #4 link is awfully hard to understand for us computer-illiterates. Step by step instructions, rather than a roundabout recollection of how the developer figured out how to get the mod to work, would be greatly appreciated. BTW I am really looking forward to seeing the finished product.
CEaW-GS v1.00 Mod Submission wrote:
1. It is with great pleasure that we (see screen cap of credits below) wish to submit CEaW - Grand Strategy v1.00 to Slitherine for your consideration.
5. Our release includes 7 languages, which are English, Spanish, Italian, German, French, Polish and Russian.
6. In order to solicit valuable feedback on the mod before Christian finishes the installer and creates the official version with installer we've released the link of the mod to the community in general. We don't expect to find any bugs as we believe our testing was very thorough and complete; however, you never know. The major reason is that we wanted to get feedback on the clarity and completeness of our manual. We, the developers and testes are so close to the mod that it's hard for us to gauge this properly. Also, we wanted to develop a FAQ section on the questions we will undoubtedly get. The questions and answers will likely fall into three categories: (1) clarification, (2) additions (i.e., we flat left something out in the documentation) and (3) design rationale.
That #4 link is awfully hard to understand for us computer-illiterates. Step by step instructions, rather than a roundabout recollection of how the developer figured out how to get the mod to work, would be greatly appreciated. BTW I am really looking forward to seeing the finished product.
O.K., step (4) is probably too confusion and unnecessary for most. I probably shouldn't have linked too it. The writeup was focused on conveying the steps necessary for Iain and Christian to build the installer.
The easiest way to get the mod working is to forget (4). Before you change anything make sure you backup. After you've backup up your vanilla game, just copy the mod files over the vanilla game like we did before. Sorry I made it too complicated.
Since there is no installer more detailed install instructions would be useful here. There are a few install challenges that would be somewhat taxing even to the tech savvy folks:
1. The *.BAT and *.ASC files included in the Grand Strategy game need to be edited with a text editor for a different game path if you purchased the Military History Gold game.
2. If you follow the partial setup instructions and create a "Grand Strategy" sub-folder within your CEAW game, it does not mention that you have to first copy the entire contents of your main CEAW folder into this new "Grand Strategy" sub-folder before unzipping the new add on into this directory and selecting YES when being prompted to over write files.
Note for #2: It possible I never got my BAT and ASC files edited properly, and perhaps step 2 might not be needed if part of the batch file work is copying over the missing files into the "Grand Strategy" sub-folder.
FWIW, impressions of some initial key changes of the "Grand Strategy" expansion release:
- Subs: Wow, the subs are a night and day change. Cost up from 50 to 60, but they appear to be a lot tougher to defeat due to the no-attack logic with opposing ships that can spot them (no attack unless the sub is seen and already beside a ship? That might be how it works). I could be wrong but did the manpower number for subs go down as well? It's 4 in Grand Strategy anyway.
- Random minor country reinforcements close to or on the capital city: This is brilliant, maybe my fave thing about the expansion so far.
- Garrison cost from 20 to 15. Too bad the manpower number is the same (5), but I guess that makes sense.
- Partisan generation logic: Maybe this is the biggest change? Related to garrisons because now you really need to buy garrison's. It's fascinating how much this changes the game, definitely a new challenge for the Axis forces.
- Motorised corps cost change from 45 to 50: Are they more powerful now? Not sure about this cost change if their game impact is the same. They are like very weak armor and bad weather makes them worse than regular infantry, but for summer encirclements they do use less fuel than the armor, maybe that basic value is the reason for the increased cost. Update: I see it now - Motorised corps move better in mud that either armor or infantry - that is a big difference in the game as well and as a result these units are certainly worth a 5 point price increase.
- Battleships cost from 80 to 70 (I think that is accurate) : This cost reduction seems like a gamey way to encourage battleship construction in the game. Many other WWII games have done the same thing, and the design logic is defend-able.
- Rail and sea transport restrictions: Still getting a handle on these changes. Definitely significant at any rate. The rail limits likely hurt the Axis the most, the seas limits might hurt the Allies more, at least later in the game? Not sure about these impacts yet.
- Weather: Whoa, okay, this is actually the biggest change in the game IMO, wow. Not only the crazy winters in Russia, but now mud seasons as well. And weather changes Europe now too. This is another serious new challenge for the Axis powers (along with the partisans and rail changes).
- Research limits by year: I have mixed feelings about this change. In a way it handcuffs players to not put all their research eggs in one basket, and results in much more predictable research results for all countries. For 2 player play it's probably good as it allows research parity that will likely not make or break the games by the time 1942/1943 roll around. Still, it seems to restrict player strategies so I hope it's an option users can tweak if they desire.
- Oil changes: Very clever the way this expansion allows the Russians to send Oil to Germany before these countries are at war. Same deal with Germany getting production from Sweden. This adds a nice challenge to the German player about when he decides to attack Russia, and likely reduces the chance of a Sea Lion (which I think is always a good thing - there are valid reasons the Germans passed on Sea Lion after all:P).
- Italy starting strength: The Italians are sooo weak early on in this version of the game, they really can't do much until they allow their manpower to rise. Another new challenge for the Axis powers, but I really like the way this was put in the expansion.
- Limit of 2 air attacks per hex: Thought I would hate this but I love it, it seems more realistic and I like the new challenge a lot. Mostly hurts the Axis in the east, and the Allies in the west I guess.
- Free generals: Love it, great addition and cleverly incorporated into the game.
- New art for many units: Good job, only complaint is I don't like the air and armor unit graphics that are not depicted from the side, that looks like a good side view image could not be found.
Last edited by BuddyGrant on Mon Dec 07, 2009 10:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
