Slitherine

dshaw62197 wrote:Tonight I read through the unit descriptions on the purchase screen. Here's what I found under each.

Thanks Dave!

Perhaps this is a bit of a nit-pick, but here I go. I think the red and green move and shoot icons are a little visually jarring - I'm not an artist and couldn't tell you exactly why or what I'd suggest, but I think somebody with some good palette sense could help out there.

Thanks!

No problem Rudankort, my pleasure. I'll keep an eye out on other texts as they pop up.

Xitax wrote:Perhaps this is a bit of a nit-pick, but here I go. I think the red and green move and shoot icons are a little visually jarring - I'm not an artist and couldn't tell you exactly why or what I'd suggest, but I think somebody with some good palette sense could help out there.

Thanks!

I would agree, maybe a "halo" when you move your mouse over the unit that either gives a color code, which I would prefer.

Once more I'm working through the 1939 campaign. I chose the "Colonel" level of difficulty; it seemed like the median level (and after seeing Kerensky's AAR of the game on Rommel level, I thought I'd start slow LOL). Everything seemed in order, although there was one issue of note: it seems that the "glow" function no longer works on any terrain type other than cities. I hope this gets fixed as it was a lot easier seeing the units with their glow. (I've also mentioned this over in the bugs thread.) Won a decisive victory in Poland with no units lost.

I then decided to do something different -- replay the Poland scenario from the Allied side. As for the German AI... well, let's just say that if the real-life Germans performed like their AI counterpart did, the world would be a lot happier place. I was able to bottle the Germans up at Cracow for several turns; the AI threw everything it could at it, almost like a mini-Stalingrad. One thing the AI needs to learn is that it's not a good idea to drive its units in their transports right up to an enemy unit. I probably picked off 3 or 4 units alone in this fashion. Then, when it finally captured Cracow, the AI went nuts and scattered its units all over the map, where I was able to pick them off one by one. I was able to retake Cracow (which the AI left unoccupied), invade Germany and Slovakia, and end the game with all cities held by the Poles.

Now, I know that no computer opponent will ever match a human. And I also know that, in general, AI opponents are better at defense over offense. Nevertheless, I felt it was a good idea to mention that right now the German AI leaves a lot to be desired. PLEASE do not take this the wrong way -- right now the Allied AI does its job very well and (at the higher difficulty levels) offers a good challenge. I just figured that since it seems no one else has reported playing the Allies against a German AI, it might be good to see what would happen. BTW, I will repeat this with each scenario in the campaign, so I'll take on Norway next.

Oh... I have mentioned that that AI doesn't think well.

We need to get the Artillery fixed. Have the art move and shoot at the beginning of a turn. Not the end.

They always March right up to your units, in a truck or not in a truck. They always shoot after all land combat.

They need to fix the sequence of the artillery. Then the AI would be a vast improvement.

Leaving open cities has been around since day one of PG. There is no programing to guard cities. then there is the debate as to whether the AI has enough troops to do it and accomplish the task. You see this is a one way game. A human German vs AI.

Finished up Norway today, both sides. Managed a marginal victory as the Germans; nice to see Namsos returned as an objective, even if it isn't marked as such. (Which makes me think that it should be labeled as an objective to keep consistant with other scenarios, as this might confuse newer players.) As for playing the Allies, the German AI actually did a decent job of making headway in this scenario; it actually took all of southern Norway and was making moves against Trondheim when time ran out. One peculilar AI habit here: for the duration of the scenario, it never dropped its airborne troops. Instead it flew them around the board the whole time; I was able to pick off two over the course of the game, but at the scenario's end the final Ju-52 was still flying around, refusing to release the paras. Not sure if I'll still stick to the campaign or just jump around from here on out; but whatever scenario I pick I'll do the same of playing Germans first, then Allies.

dshaw62197 wrote:Finished up Norway today, both sides. Managed a marginal victory as the Germans; nice to see Namsos returned as an objective, even if it isn't marked as such. (Which makes me think that it should be labeled as an objective to keep consistant with other scenarios, as this might confuse newer players.) As for playing the Allies, the German AI actually did a decent job of making headway in this scenario; it actually took all of southern Norway and was making moves against Trondheim when time ran out. One peculilar AI habit here: for the duration of the scenario, it never dropped its airborne troops. Instead it flew them around the board the whole time; I was able to pick off two over the course of the game, but at the scenario's end the final Ju-52 was still flying around, refusing to release the paras. Not sure if I'll still stick to the campaign or just jump around from here on out; but whatever scenario I pick I'll do the same of playing Germans first, then Allies.

I've noticed the same thing about the German paratroopers - they just sit around doing nothing on the airplane. I know the scenario's balanced for the German player but it's not much challenge playing as Allies here and Germany's lazy paratroopers are a big reason why.

I've been working in the scenario editor and have created three custom maps. They are:

1. Crete -- German airborne invasion vs. British and ANZAC forces, May 1941.
2. Gibraltar -- Hypothetical German assault on the British fortress, May 1941.
3. Stalingrad Cauldron -- Final Soviet attack against the surrounded German forces, January 1943.

I'd love to try these against other players (I've already tested Crete a few times), and a special thanks to Razz and Kerensky for giving me lots of good tips/ideas on all three. Please note that all are works in progress and may have some bumps... I appreciate any info/thoughts/likes/dislikes you may offer!

Just drop me a line here or through the private messages and I will gladly set up a challenge.

Applied the new .0999 beta today. Downloaded and installed without issue. I played several MP games and started the 1939 campaign. First, issues and requests:

1. Please bring back the message scroll at the beginning of a MP turn, as it now only shows when someone posted a comment in the prior turn. Or is there a "history" button that can make it appear/disappear during your turn?
2. Also, I might suggest you switch the "refresh"/"play" buttons on the MP challenge screen. "Play" makes more sense as the first button; the "refresh" button is a more occassional feature that should be behind the play button.
3. In general, it appears there is something wrong with the strat map. When you click on a section of the strat map to return to the play map, instead of taking you where you clicked it instead takes you to a random part of the map. Since I use the strat map frequently to go to units on the board, this defeats that purpose.

All right, enough b****in'. Now, for what I like:

1. I LOVE the arrow movement. This is a great way to see how your units will advance. (It's particularly good for planes to see if they'll pass over enemy airfields so as to avoid ambushes.) Perhaps at some point in the future you might allow players to "plot" their moves by selecting a particular path to follow using the arrow feature. Anyway, I think it is great!
2. I like how fired units are "darkened" on the stat map. If we could also see units that have moved that would be great also.
3. Thanks for adding detailed weather info by clicking on the weather icons. Nice to have a full explaination of weather effects right at your fingertips.
4. I also like that tutorial messages can be turned on and off. If turned on, will they keep showing all the time, or only once?
5. Finally, I really like that, during deployment, the little unit panels show if a given unit has a transport or not. REALLY a time-saver there in regards to upgrades.

Overall, I think this beta is the most polished yet, and the cosmetic adjustments are fantastic. Now to kick the tires and poke under the hood to see how the engine itself is doing.

Hi Dave! Thx, I'm happy that you like the changes. I remember that strategic map often went black for you. Is it still the case in 0.999? As for the problem you describe - it is strange, I'll investigate.

I remember that strategic map often went black for you. Is it still the case in 0.999?

So far that problem hasn't occurred. I will keep an eye on that as I play this weekend.

I'm playing the 1939 campaign, getting a decisive victory in Poland and a marginal victory in Norway. Currently I'm five turns into the Low Countries, and have received my first award and hero. I have to say, these are GREAT additions and I am happy they are going to be included in the first release! The awards and heroes enhance the RPG factor of the game, in that it gives players more reason to care about their core units making it from one scenario to the next. It also seems the AI continues to become more competant. In Norway it actually did well with the Allied naval assets, and in the Low Countries it has used its aircraft equally well (I am currently playing on the "colonel" difficulty level). Also, not sure if any changes were made to the Allied fortifications, but they seemed a little easier to handle (not a complete walkover, but also not killing multiple German units trying to destroy them).

I've noticed another issue with the strategic map. It seems (and this occurs in all scenarios, single and multiplayer) that the icons are slightly "off" when viewing the strat map. In big maps the difference is not as noticable, but on smaller maps (like the MP Bruza map) the unit icons are way off from where they should be. Hope this is something that can be fixed as, again, I really like using the strategic map.

Finally, the multiplayer experience continues to impress. Server connections have been stable, and issuing/accepting challenges very easy. I know improvements are being made in many aspects of the MP experience, but at this point I think it is headed in the right direction.

Something I thought of today while looking over the scenarios. The current box that displays the scenario list is too small and too cluttered. I like how the map splash is emphasized, but it think the scenario box should be bigger. Right now it's not much better than scrolling through a small load/save window. Hopefully it gets some improvement so it stands out more. (I liked how the original PG laid out all the scenarios as a single screen, but then we'd lose the cool map. Maybe a compromise -- reduce the map size, increase the scenario box?)

dshaw62197 wrote:Something I thought of today while looking over the scenarios. The current box that displays the scenario list is too small and too cluttered. I like how the map splash is emphasized, but it think the scenario box should be bigger. Right now it's not much better than scrolling through a small load/save window. Hopefully it gets some improvement so it stands out more. (I liked how the original PG laid out all the scenarios as a single screen, but then we'd lose the cool map. Maybe a compromise -- reduce the map size, increase the scenario box?)

Unfortunately this is more complicated than it sounds... for the time being, what's done is done.

I figured as much. Something to think about in future releases.

I've started the France scenario of my campaign today and noticed something odd. In my previous scenario (Low Countries) I received two medals and one general. In the very first turn of France, I've received four medals! The recipients were two infantry, one artillery and one tank. Two questions: first, is this an unusual occurrence? And second, what benefits does a unit receive from being awarded a medal?

dshaw62197 wrote:I've started the France scenario of my campaign today and noticed something odd. In my previous scenario (Low Countries) I received two medals and one general. In the very first turn of France, I've received four medals! The recipients were two infantry, one artillery and one tank. Two questions: first, is this an unusual occurrence? And second, what benefits does a unit receive from being awarded a medal?

No physical benefits, just satisfaction that your units scored a lot of kills. If this is normal or not depends on how much kills your units have. Kills are shown in unit details screen.

No physical benefits, just satisfaction that your units scored a lot of kills.

Sounds good to me... bring on the bling LOL!

Kills are shown in unit details screen.

Ah, I see that now. Thank you for helping me figure this out. (Although when I first looked at the number of kills I thought it meant units rather than strength points! )

Installed the RC1 build today, no problems as usual. Haven't had much time to look at it (thanks work), but I did like the new sounds, combat loss visuals and the new comparison stats set-up in the purchase menu. I hope to give the game a full look this weekend.

One thing I did notice: when selecting a new scenario off the main menu, I noticed the scenario window didn't show the multiplayer maps at the top. Was this always like this (they only appear when making a MP challenge), or have they been moved?