a few issues

[Gompel]

I am new to the forum and not really sure where to post, so I hope it's ok to make a new topic about the things I found in Beta 3.

I have included a zip file with two autosaves. If you run the axis autosave (which is at the point the battle is won), you can click 'End turn' but nothing seems to happen. Though, when you then click to go back to the main menu, the game suddenly resumes and you go to the debriefing (and not to the main menu). First time it happened to me after the end of the battle, the AI kept playing (saying: 'AI is playing').
Btw, sometimes I use the autosave because I stopped playing right after I won the battle and forgot to save when the new battle was loaded.
I also included the allies autosave so you can check what actaually happened. Load the allied autosave -> finish the battle -> axis autosave will be made and the new map will start. If you then directly load the new axis autosave and click 'End turn', the AI will keep playing and the game seems to be frozen.

Not sure if the library is up to discuss, but when I click to enlarge a picture, most of the time I get a blank screen. Though, for example the M10 Wolverine works ok.

It happened to me in Panzer Corps and in this beta: sometimes your aircraft moves over an enemy's airfield and gets an unexpected encounter. This brings me to my main point: you can't decide which route your unit takes (unless I completely missed this options for years). Changing the route your unit takes (the white arrow) could be useful to avoid ambushes. For example: if your aircraft happens to fly over an enemy's airfield when you point your mouse at a certain hex, you know it it rather dangerous, but you can't select an alternative route if you want to go to that same hex.

Question: is it ok if I post other things that might show up in my games in this same topic?

Thanks,
Patrick

[Gompel]

I have been playing a bit more and found a few other things. I am sorry if my points have been discussed before, but going through all the posts to check this, isn't worth it imo.

The new rule that you loose 'over strength' after upgrading seems ok in most cases, but is a bit weird when you upgrade infantry with new transport. Like a truck to a carrier. Why would I loose my extra (exactely the same) men if I buy some new transports for them? That doesn't make sense in my eyes. Though, I understand I would loose for example my extra Panzer IV tanks if I upgrade them to Panthers.

Upgrading to a better unit is cheap when it is in the same range (eg. Mk.1 to Mk.II). This makes sense since you can refit existing equipment, but with the new rule (that your unit is at full strenght after upgrading) it is better to upgrade your unit than to repair when it is for example at strenght 1.
You also get some very weird and unrealistic things. For example: I have a Cruiser Mk.IV at strenght 2. Repairing it to strenght 10 would cost 108 prestige. But if I 'downgrade' it to a Cruiser Mk.1 first (at no cost) and then upgrade it again to a Cruiser Mk.IV, I only pay 23 prestige.
Another more general thing is that now my tactic would be to wait for an upgrade till my unit is exhausted (like below the strenght of 5), since you get your replacements for free.
In my eyes it's better to pay for the replacements when you upgrade your unit.

[Flaygor]

Hi Gompel, I am fairly new to this also and I have tried to keep any misc comments within the scenario they occurred. I'm sure the Mods read everything so your thoughts will get picked up there.

One thing I do know is that most forums like to keep the number of posts down so when you do a report on a scenario just add any other thoughts to it.

The new prestige rules are new to all of us and take a bit of getting used to. You'll find that after a while you start to adapt to them. The flight path thing is an ongoing issue that has been discussed before.

[Gompel]

Thanks for your reply.
I will try to post in other topics then. I am reading up, but it takes loads of time.
I did see all the scenario post, but just wasn't sure where to post the general stuff.

[Rudankort]

I have included a zip file with two autosaves. If you run the axis autosave (which is at the point the battle is won), you can click 'End turn' but nothing seems to happen. Though, when you then click to go back to the main menu, the game suddenly resumes and you go to the debriefing (and not to the main menu). First time it happened to me after the end of the battle, the AI kept playing (saying: 'AI is playing').
Btw, sometimes I use the autosave because I stopped playing right after I won the battle and forgot to save when the new battle was loaded.
I also included the allies autosave so you can check what actaually happened. Load the allied autosave -> finish the battle -> axis autosave will be made and the new map will start. If you then directly load the new axis autosave and click 'End turn', the AI will keep playing and the game seems to be frozen.

I vaguely remember that this issue was reported before, not a critical one, because autosave created at this point is not very useful, but worth a look if there is time.

Not sure if the library is up to discuss, but when I click to enlarge a picture, most of the time I get a blank screen. Though, for example the M10 Wolverine works ok.

The Library in this beta does not include big images for PzC/AK entries, only for the new AC entries. This was done to reduce installer size (those images are huge).

It happened to me in Panzer Corps and in this beta: sometimes your aircraft moves over an enemy's airfield and gets an unexpected encounter. This brings me to my main point: you can't decide which route your unit takes (unless I completely missed this options for years). Changing the route your unit takes (the white arrow) could be useful to avoid ambushes. For example: if your aircraft happens to fly over an enemy's airfield when you point your mouse at a certain hex, you know it it rather dangerous, but you can't select an alternative route if you want to go to that same hex.

There is no plan to add waypoints to the game. This would be a major complication with no real gain. If you could make your moves in a more optimal way, this would allow you to finish the maps faster, and then we would need to reduce turn count to preserve the same difficulty level as before. In other words, we would have returned where we began.

The new rule that you loose 'over strength' after upgrading seems ok in most cases, but is a bit weird when you upgrade infantry with new transport. Like a truck to a carrier. Why would I loose my extra (exactely the same) men if I buy some new transports for them? That doesn't make sense in my eyes. Though, I understand I would loose for example my extra Panzer IV tanks if I upgrade them to Panthers.

This has been fixed in beta 4.

Upgrading to a better unit is cheap when it is in the same range (eg. Mk.1 to Mk.II). This makes sense since you can refit existing equipment, but with the new rule (that your unit is at full strenght after upgrading) it is better to upgrade your unit than to repair when it is for example at strenght 1.
You also get some very weird and unrealistic things. For example: I have a Cruiser Mk.IV at strenght 2. Repairing it to strenght 10 would cost 108 prestige. But if I 'downgrade' it to a Cruiser Mk.1 first (at no cost) and then upgrade it again to a Cruiser Mk.IV, I only pay 23 prestige.
Another more general thing is that now my tactic would be to wait for an upgrade till my unit is exhausted (like below the strenght of 5), since you get your replacements for free.
In my eyes it's better to pay for the replacements when you upgrade your unit.

Again, in beta 4 upgrade does not add replacements any more, in order to avoid these problems.

Question: is it ok if I post other things that might show up in my games in this same topic?

It is fine to post general feedback in this topic.

[Gompel]

Thanks for the explanations!
I have just downloaded and installed beta 4. Will do my best to get through the campaign, but I am still stuck in Africa sir. The US have joined though, so I will do my best to get to Germany.
Wished I had been in the beta earlier

[Lightning]

Hi,
Not sure if this was addressed, but somehow I managed to get a naval vessel as part of my core forces. The only way for me to "lose it" was to have it destroyed by enemy submarine fire in an ensuing scenario. I think I picked it up in the Battle for Crete. Also, is there a way to remove a unit from the core group so that it can be replaced with another unit? Lastly, I thought the Battle for Anzio especially difficult, even at the lower proficiency setting. Seemed as if the Germans received untold reinforcements and I never got close to reaching, much less destroying, the rail gun. Food for thought.

[ThvN]

Also, is there a way to remove a unit from the core group so that it can be replaced with another unit?

Hello Lightning, if you select a unit, pressing 'D' key wil prompt you to disband it. But then it will be gone forever...

[Lightning]

Is it just me, or is it difficult to make out the estimated losses a unit may take prior to combat? Zeros look like sixes and threes look like nines. I'm also not that crazy about the latest color changes for the interface. I think a simple olive drab ( a la TOAW) might be better conducive to the allied war effort and make things that much easier to view.

[Gompel]

It might be just you. I have no problems reading the numbers, not even on a higher resolution than I use for my desktop.
Though, when trying, I found a problem. When I run the beta at another resolution than my desktop, I get a black screen. Ctrl,alt,del, doesn't get out of it. Anyone else having this problem?

[ThvN]

I do not have this problem with using a different resolution, are you playing in fullscreen or windowed mode?

[Gompel]

Playing in fullscreen. No idea where you could select to play windowed, but tell me how and I will try.
When I start the beta, I always get the setup screen (see attached image). When I select any other resolution (haven't tried them all though) than my desktop resolution and click 'run', I get a black screen and my computer seems to be completely frozen.
If I run my desktop in a higher or lower resolution and try to run the game at also the same higher or lower resolution it works fine. But if the resolution doesn't match, it goes wrong.
I tried the same with Panzer Corps and it is no problem in this game. Though, when I run it at a different resolution than desktop, I can see a fast switch when starting the game.

Not entirely sure though that my computer really locks up. It might be just that I get a black screen as long as the resolution is different. Is there a way to exit/navigate the main screen with the keyboard, so I can try to exit the game?

[ThvN]

Gompel, I don't know a way to navigate the main menu other than with the mouse. Depending on your OS, did you try Alt-Tab or Alt-F4, or even the 'Windows key' to get a response from the system? I'm not a tech, unfortunately. And here's an image showing were the option for fullscreen/windowed mode is, it's in the game options menu. Just scroll down the image, I've put a yellow arrow next to it.

[Gompel]

Thanks.
I am running Windows7. I tried all the things I know, but none works (neither your suggested keys). In fact, even caps, scrolllock and numlock don't switch on/of the keyboard lights anymore.
Ah right, forgot about that menu since it's not in the main menu. Didn't know the 'Window Mode' was in there. I tried it but it didn't work either as it gave the same black screen when running in a different resolution than desktop.

[Gompel]

Today I finished the 1940 campaign on Colonel difficulty.
First of all, congrats on another great game! I really enjoyed this Allied Corps. Although there are a lot of changes, it plays in general the same as Panzer Corps (which I like).
On Colonel level I was able to go through the scenarios rather quickly. I consider myself an experienced player so I knew 'Colonel' would be a bit easy for me and things went as expected. Most of the time I finished the battles a few turns before the end and sometimes close to half the allowed turns. I decided to always over strenght all of my units and upgrade them as soon as new euipment became available. During the battle I always went for elite replacements and repaired all units for most of the time (unless it was near the end of the battle). This costs a lot of prestige, but I wanted to see how far I could go.

I went for Cassino and the Battle of the Bulge route. I was able to keep my core at full strenght till 'Crossing the Rhine'. The M26s were too expensive and I couldn't have all three of them fully overstrenght. Also some of my aircraft were left at the strenght as in the last battle.

My core force had all types of equipment except for anti-aircraft. Except for the 88 I never seen much use of it so I never use it. In my opinion using AA is too passive and I prefer using fighters. I think this is probably because of the time scale of the game and a fighter can usually attack the enemy aircraft next turn and is more effective.
I really like the idea of a core force. Gaining experience for your troops and having those nice heroes makes this game truly great and makes you want to play battle after battle to see your troops go stronger. Though, I also like the idea that you not always play with only your core force, but also have other troops only for that single scenario. But the way it is now, it gives some unrealistic gameplay. I use those troops as cannon fodder and especially near the end of the game I put those troops in very dangerous positions, only to protect the troops of my core force. I know that infantry in the open and at low strenght will get killed, but I don't care if they fill in the gap and protect my core troops. I sometimes even use them as reckless scouts. Would it for example be an idea to give a small prestige bonus for every unit or strenght point you have remaining at the end of the scenario?

I would say the gameplay was rather smooth. Though, I noticed that the AI is really fond of attacking mines. It quite often attacked mines instead of my troops where it didn't make much sense. I think that is because the AI checks for the better hit chance, but it should attack my troops if the mines are not important/blocking.
Since the Colonel level was a bit easy for me, I often discovered troops near the edge of the map. I killed them without much trouble since they usually didn't attack or move in their turn (arty and AA did attack more often though). But I really liked the surprise attacks when I didn't discover them in time!
In general I think the AI is really great and better than most of the games I have played. So well done! An AI that surprises you is a really great feel, almost like playing an human opponent.

I have always (since I started playing Panzer General) found it a bit awkward to choose between British and US equipment. In PG I usually played either with US or with British equipment, but not both. This time I did a mix of 'in my eye' the best units. But I still think it is odd if you have British and US units mixed in a single battle. For example, there were no ground US troops from the South during Market Garden, but leaving out all the US units I had would have made that battle very very hard. Why has the decision been made to be able to mix Allied units? Is this to give the player more freedom in selection and fun in building his army? Or will a new Grand Campaign have two routes: US battles and British battles?

Anyway, enough blatter.
I am glad I was/am allowed to beta test this game. Thanks for making those great games available.
Patrick

[Gompel]

Just to let you know that the new RC1 version no longer crashed my computer when switching to a different resolution.
Thanks, great work.