Slitherine

Two things I've noticed in my recent playtesting:

1. It seems that in certain tiles the "glow" appears to be in FRONT of the unit rather than behind it. It gives the units a foggy appearance.
2. The buttons in the purchasing screen don't always activate when clicked. Sometimes it takes two or even three clicks to get a button to depress. This is on all buttons in the unit purchase screen -- unit types, units themselves, the purchase/upgrade buttons.

Ive noticed that as u have stated in point 2, but only in the multiplayer games, not in the scenarios or campaign mode

Thanks GS, I meant to add that it was an issue in MP games only.

Is it just me, or has the mini-map undergone changes from the previous beta build to this one? For some reason I'm finding it harder to distinguish units from cities now.

I asked about this once before but I don't think it was ever answered, so I'll try again. When choosing between Kiev and Rush to Moscow, what are the results of one's choice? Obviously, selecting Moscow means the chance to take Moscow before the snows fall and hence winning the war in the East. But what is the benefit of selecting Kiev instead? Or asked another way, is there any negative effect when choosing Moscow?

dshaw62197 wrote:I asked about this once before but I don't think it was ever answered, so I'll try again. When choosing between Kiev and Rush to Moscow, what are the results of one's choice? Obviously, selecting Moscow means the chance to take Moscow before the snows fall and hence winning the war in the East. But what is the benefit of selecting Kiev instead? Or asked another way, is there any negative effect when choosing Moscow?

The main difference is going to Kiev first puts you into Moscow '41 afterwards which is set up slightly different than Rush to Moscow. Load up the scenarios from the Scenario menu and you'll see the Russians have a different defensive arrangement. That's the only negative effect is that '41 scenario is slightly harder....not very much, so I wouldn't really worry about it.

Thing to note is that Kiev is also a limited deployment scenario so you only have 18 slots available. What I do is put in all my greenest units, so they can get their XP up. Also, the US East map (once you beat either of the Moscow maps) has 5 extra unit slots. So, buy the extra units during Kiev and also get their XP up so they'll be ready for the US (rest your most experienced units during Kiev and Moscow).

That makes sense... select Rush to Moscow to get an easier time against the Russians, but with less experience for the US campaign. I wondered if there was also a corresponding prestige differencial -- in the original PG, choosing early Moscow over Kiev cost an extra amount of prestige. In the selection briefing screen for Kiev/Rush to Moscow, there is mention made that choosing the riskier Moscow mission might cost the player prestige and wondered if this was in fact the case.

Well if you think about it, yes you do lose prestige for going directly to Moscow in exchange for fighting an easier battle for Moscow.

You lose (or rather, never earn) the prestige you would gain from capturing cities and VHes in Kiev, as well as the end scenario bonus from Kiev.

I'm about to begin the East Coast USA scenario in the '39 campaign. I was very happy to see that the prestige for this scenario went much further -- I was able to upgrade about 75% of my forces to their highest level, and the rest (mostly lesser-experienced units) upgraded to higher levels as well. Is there more prestige available now in this scenario, or is it price adjustment for upgrades?

It also looks like the US has received some coastal forts... glad to see that! There is a old WW2 bunker on the New Jersey coast that was built to defend the mouth of the Delaware Bay against German ships. It's an impressive sight (you can still go visit it today), I'm sure had there been Germans trying to land nearby this fort would have had all guns blazing.

I'm looking forward to seeing how this scenario (as well as the Midwest and Pacific coast) plays out.

As always, the new beta email arrives from Slitherine not long before I go to work (cue sound of crowd booing). Thankfully I did have time to download and install the new version (no problems during either task) and sneak a few turns in before I left for work.

Items of note:

1. I really like the improved graphics for core units. I think you've finally gotten a look that "pops" enough for players to tell core/aux units apart. Nice improvement.
2. In the same vein, the objective city flags stand out much better now as well. I haven't played enough to see if they're easy to spot when the surrounding area is full of units, but so far it looks better.
3. The redesigned splash screen at the beginning of the turn is... ok. I like how the information is presented, but for my tastes it's too small. The previous version might have been bland, but it was easy to read and stood out better. I'm not sure I need the scenario map splash displayed as prominantly; I'd rather have the game turn info bigger and easier to read. I feel like now I'm straining to see what turn it is.
4. Similarly, I like the direction of the redesigned game load screen, but currently the saved game names are too light to be read easily. I think they need to be brighter -- maybe white on black instead of light grey on black.

Sorry I don't have much to say about the game mechanics, but again I only had limited time to play through the game. I just wanted to put down my initial impressions while they were fresh in my mind. Hoping to get a lot more gameplay in this weekend.

I haven't had much time to play this weekend, but I did get in a few MP turns and play the '39 campaign up to the Low Countries scenario. My observations:

1. I noticed the difficulty levels have been trimmed to five categories. I assume "Colonel" is now the "average" difficulty setting?
2. It seems that the Norway map has had some adjustments -- there appears to be a new airfield on the southern coast, and the airfield at Bergen was moved from the north of the city to the south. I'm curious what prompted these changes.
3. Animation issue: the Ju-87B does not have combat animation.
4. On the Low Countries map, where a river runs through a countryside hex, the hex is labeled "countryside" instead of the river's name. The river names are present in all other types of terrain.
5. In both single player and multiplayer, all buttons in the purchase screen are "sticky." Sometimes it takes two or three clicks to get a button to depress.

I've also mentioned this on another thread, but I'll say it here too: during some replays of other players' turns in MP, it seems that not all actions are being shown in the replay. For example, once I saw one of my infantry units bombarded by artillery, then the turn ends. When I start my turn, said infantry unit was gone and an enemy infantry unit (which was not shown moving in the replay) will be in an adjacent hex, as if an attack had occurred. Not something that happens all the time, but perhaps once out of every 5-6 MP replays I see.

Finally, I do like the adjustments made to the mini-map, units and cities are much easier to tell apart now.

While working in the scenario editor this evening, I found a small issue: when using the "generate tiles" option, tiles are not generated in hexes where minor rivers intersect with major rivers. This has to be done by hand.

Also, while I like the new visuals for the terrain tiles, it would be helpful if a pop-up window appeared when placing the mouse over each terrain type; this makes it easier to tell tiles such as countryside and bocage apart. (Pop-ups for the terrain features tiles would be good too, since I can never tell the railroad and regular road "types" apart!)

I've installed the RC3 build (as always, no issues with installation). Overall the game looks very polished. In no particular order:

1. Love the new look for objectives in the strategic map; very easy to see progress and units.

2. Purchase menu works fine now; buttons work without repeated clickings.

3. No issues encountered in MP as yet (i.e., games becoming corrupt).

4. Manual looks great! A few points could be given more detail, but overall I think it is a good reference for the game.

5. Only one issue so far: I read that all SS units were renamed "elite." However, in my current games, all of the SS units still show the SS label.

That's all for now. As always, more to come later.

The game stores equipment table in saved game file, so any games started with older versions will still use SS units. But a new campaign will have "elite" units instead.

Another question, regarding the scenario editor. In the manual it says the users should check the scenario editor document for further details. However, I cannot find this anywhere in the PzC program folder. Is it located elsewhere, or was this held back until the final release?

I was playing the Early Moscow scenario in my campaign today, when I noticed a nice little touch: in one of the Moscow hexes was a small replica of the Kremlin! I had to look twice, then decided to check other scenarios. Sure enough, Paris has an Eifel Tower, London has Big Ben, etc. I love the extra detail, nice addition. Just one complaint: there doesn't appear to be a unique city overlay hex for Washington. Hope this gets added before the game goes retail.

Yeah, I know this is really minor, but it's little details like this that I really enjoy in a game.

Berlin has a special building.
Many of the special purpose MP maps also use these nice images too.

Berlin has a special building.
Many of the special purpose MP maps also use these nice images too.

Wonderful! I hope to see many more special hexes (as well as one for DC) as the game is updated over time. Nice work!

I'm currently on the US Midwest scenario in my campaign. Just a minor question: several cities that should be along the Mississippi are not present (namely, St. Louis and Memphis). I imagine this is a design choice, but it seems odd, since several smaller cities/towns are on the map. Just wondering what the design thoughts were behind the city choices.

I downloaded and installed RC4 on Friday (as always, no installation issues) and took a look around. (I have to say I'm going to miss the pleasure of having a new beta build arrive every week LOL!) Here's my thoughts/concerns/whatnot:

1. I installed the longer opening video, and it runs without a problem. I'm really happy you guys used this video for the game; when it first debuted a while back on the PzC website, I watched it a half-dozen times... it really is a fantastic piece, and captures the feel of PzC very well.

2. I finished my previous campaign (just missed out on winning a marginal victory, Americans held out in Seattle and San Francisco) and began a fresh 1939 campaign. Everything works very well -- animations and sounds are good (I really like the new mechanized sounds), AI seems capable, everything clearly labeled, etc. Strat maps look good, mini-map is useful, all buttons work fine (no "sticky" issues). The only thing that remains quirky is side-scrolling to the left; a few times it took a couple of mouse movements to get the screen to move, but this wasn't terribly noticable or problematic.

3. I love the new AI progress bar! I recall this feature is in Panzer General Forever, and I am glad to see it make its appearance in PzC. No more wondering if the AI is just taking its time or the game is frozen!


4. Finally, I like the changes made to the turn splash screen. Much nicer having everything bigger and easier to see. My only suggestion here is that the typeface color choice for the words is hard to see -- against the pale backgound, the letters look washed out. If the color was made darker (or just flat black instead of a process color) it might make the words stand out more. Also, I like how the briefings have been broken up and appear before and after each turn.

Overall, the game looks highly polished. I hope to get some MP turns in this weekend (it's a holiday here, so I'll be in and out), so I can comment on that aspect. But so far, so good!