Beta 3 release notes

[Rudankort]

Hello All!

Beta 3 is out. Here is what's new.

- A number of scenarios recieved visual polishing. Here is the full list:
Battleaxe.pzscn
Brevity.pzscn
Dash to the Wire.pzscn
Ras el Mdauuar.pzscn
Reconnaissance in Force.pzscn
Second offensive.pzscn
Alam Halfa.pzscn
Dash to the Wire.pzscn
El Alamein.pzscn
Gazala Line.pzscn
Kasserine Pass.pzscn
Mareth Line.pzscn
Tunisian Bridgehead.pzscn

Let us know what you think about the final look of these scens. The rest of the scenarios will be polished by the next build. New tiles used for polishing are of course also available in the Editor.

- 5 multiplayer maps were added, and the beta can now be used to play MP games on the test server. We are looking forward to getting your feedback on these! Kerensky will post more info on MP scens later today.

- I did several improvements in messages. They should not appear during AI turn or on top of turn splash screen any more. Also, messages at the beginning of the scenario are now shown correctly. In the editor there are 4 new options for script timing: at the end/beginning of Axis/Allied turn.

- All messages are now added to the message log which can be invoked via Ctrl+M hotkey, or via a button in the UI sidebar. In campaign mode, scenario briefings go there too. Let me know what you think about this new feature.

- A number of changes in minefield handling:
-- Minefields have spotting of 0. This includes planes located on top of them.
-- Minefields no longer prevent supply
-- Minefields slow down friendly units by adding +2 to movement cost for each hex covered with mines
-- Minefields can no longer attack adjacent units, and so do not need "Hold position (Passive)" behavior explicitly assigned to them

- Movement heroes no longer affect units in sea/air/rail transports

- Tooltip on Embark button was changed: now it shows the number of specific transport types you have, so for example normal air transports and gliders are shown separately.

- In Data folder there is a new file called diff.pzdat. This file contains all settings for all difficulty levels. So it is now possible to customize difficulty as you want. Also, the modders can include a custom diff.pzdat with their campaigns, thus making difficulty levels which are more suited to their content. (BTW, looks like nobody played AK on Manstein yet, because this difficulty contained a bug nobody has reported!)

- Fixed all known effects and animations bugs

- Fixed crash when using Mount and Supply hotkeys during deployment

- The game now discards all animations loaded into memory upon scenario end. (Only graphics is discarded, sound is not).

There were also many tweaks in the scenarios based on your feedback, but I don't have a list of what exactly changed handy. Kresimir will post details later today. For now, I suggest that you guys do not restart the campaign from scratch, but continue playing your current games. We need as much feedback as possible on the later scens!

[zappel]

- Movement heroes no longer affect units in sea/air/rail transports

That was something I never understood, bravo!
Also the other changes are improvements, too.

BTW, looks like nobody played AK on Manstein yet, because this difficulty contained a bug nobody has reported!

You're funny. I'm playing the original game on GFM-Level and have only DV's but AK is pretty much harder, yet on Colonel-Level!

[Razz1]

Did we get the paratroops loading bug fixed?

I've been doing allot of play testing and only checked loading of games in editor.

Read a few things and am quite impressed with the options we now have to program the AI.

This will take me hours to enjoy and test that part again.

You know Manstein is only for one General and we all know who that is, Kerensky

[Rudankort]

Did we get the paratroops loading bug fixed?

Which bug exactly do you mean?

[El_Condoro]

Will the ability to script the AI (Scenario parameters) by name or tag be added before release?

[omegabet]

- All messages are now added to the message log which can be invoked via Ctrl+M hotkey, or via a button in the UI sidebar. In campaign mode, scenario briefings go there too. Let me know what you think about this new feature.

I liked that. Sometimes one would see tags like <p><b>July 1st, 1943</b></p>

[uran21]

In campaign scenarios, some prestige, difficulty and scripting changes across the board. Not all scripting with spawning aircrafts is in (Mareth Line, On Road to India).
In Palestine glider reinforcements are placed closer to pumping stations, Basra should have fixed trigger for air drop attack and it should play differently also Persia has additional triggers and it should play differently. It is advisable to continue playing from saved games.

[ThvN]

Hello, I found a couple of small things:

In Battleaxe, the message warning you for the flank attack still comes up during the AI turn, pausing it. If I press 'OK', the AI turn plays through with the message still on screen. After the turn splash screen comes up the same message appears again. The message log also shows the message twice. Oh, and the splash screen still has a typo: The Marginal Victory condition reads 'Hold all but two objective', but the word objective should be plural: objectives

Another typo: the Briefing of Alam Halfa, the word 'Abwher' should be spelled 'Abwehr'.

If I come across minefields, sometimes when I just select a hex to move to, when I'm 'ambushed' (now broken, already reported), the minefield appears a few hexes away along the route I selected but my unit remains in place, although there are empty hex(es) between it and the minefield where it should have moved to. The unit can no longer move and/or fire. I've only had it happen twice, but I have not been able to reproduce it yet.

Another strange little bug with minefields is that sometimes they are not revealed. Example: on the first turn of Alam Halfa, I charge a tank right in front (15,22) of the M3 Stuart (16,23) and immediately fire at it, without deselecting or anything. After the combat is over the minefield (15,21) is not revealed. It will be revealed normally if I move the unit into the hex, deselect it (minefield appears) and than I reselect and fire as normal. I can repeat it with a savegame. Another unit I sent to the still unrevealed minefield hex (15,21 to finish of the Stuart) just stopped and revealed the mines normally.

[Rudankort]

If I come across minefields, sometimes when I just select a hex to move to, when I'm 'ambushed' (now broken, already reported), the minefield appears a few hexes away along the route I selected but my unit remains in place, although there are empty hex(es) between it and the minefield where it should have moved to. The unit can no longer move and/or fire. I've only had it happen twice, but I have not been able to reproduce it yet.

Watch out for predicted movement trajectory of your units (indicated with the arrow). If your unit is moving over some other of your units, and then runs into a minefield, I cannot stop it on top of other existing units (PzC allows only one unit per hex), so the unit can stop a few hexes away from the destination. The minefield is still revealed, because the player is supposed to know why the movement was stopped.

Another strange little bug with minefields is that sometimes they are not revealed. Example: on the first turn of Alam Halfa, I charge a tank right in front (15,22) of the M3 Stuart (16,23) and immediately fire at it, without deselecting or anything. After the combat is over the minefield (15,21) is not revealed. It will be revealed normally if I move the unit into the hex, deselect it (minefield appears) and than I reselect and fire as normal. I can repeat it with a savegame. Another unit I sent to the still unrevealed minefield hex (15,21 to finish of the Stuart) just stopped and revealed the mines normally.

Minefields are not spotted all the time, but only with a certain probability. In this respect they are similar to submarines.

Thanks for feedback! The typos will be corrected.