Slitherine

St. Louis would be the same hex as Belleville, but I didn't want a victory hex there that a major city would warrant (mostly because of how the AI behaves around VHes). So it's Belleville.
Memphis would be right where a Panzer II recon unit is, so already under German control, and new purchases could theoretically start there. For example a bridge engineer can be bought there, placed directly on the Mississippi, and could allow turn 1 crossing of the Mississippi for the German player.

Makes perfect sense to me. As always, Kerensky, thanks for the explanations.

And one minor nit-pick. It just dawned on me, as I restarted the 1939 campaign, that when the player receives the "some units have not moved" warning prior to ending their turn, shouldn't it really say "some units have not moved and/or attacked"? I noticed this when I moved everything on my first turn, but did not use the Slovakian unit to attack the Polish infantry in the city closest to Slovakia. It might benefit players to know the system monitors both units' movement and attacks, so the "and/or" might help clarify that.

Two issues from my (limited) play this weekend:

1. It seems there is a visual "glitch" in the replay from MP games. I've noticed in several games I am currently playing, while viewing the replay a unit from the opposing player's side will seem to briefly appear in the replay, then vanish. After seeing this several times, I have a guess what's going on -- namely, I think the replay is showing the other players' moves that are "undone" and not repeated. (Once I saw an opponent's plane do the flicker-movement thing two or three times, then the plane's final move and attack were shown.) I don't think I've witnessed this in previous PzC builds; is this an intentional feature, or a bug?

2. I know you've tried to remove all references to the SS from the game, but on page 27 of the manual, top paragraph, it says "...occasionally assign bonus SS units to your core." I assume it's too late for the printed version, but perhaps you can correct the PDF before final release. (Hope this doesn't mess things up with your European audience.)

I have seen the 'undo move' thing, too. I actually think it's a good idea because if an MP game has a 'rule' that no undo can be done it will show the infringement. In future updates it might even be a good idea to have the undo button as an option set by the game starter so it can be turned off for an MP game.

Yes sir, it is the player using his unit to reconnoiter.

Ah, must be a new feature, I don't recall seeing that in previous replays. (Or maybe I wasn't paying good attention LOL!)

Yes sir, it is the player using his unit to reconnoiter.

Exactly why I think undo could/should be disabled in MP - we have recon to reconnoitre.

Now that the MP server has been closed until the final release on Monday, I'd like to share my final thoughts on the multiplayer experience during the beta.

In general, I do not play multiplayer versions of the games I own. I prefer to play at my own pace, and not have to worry about other players and their issues. (I know, I'm sounding antisocial here, but from what little I've seen of the multiplayer experience, there are a lot of less-than-mature players out there, and I deal with enough of that in everyday life not to have to endure it in my "leisure" time. ) So I have to admit that the multiplayer features of PzC weren't on my radar at first.

But after I tried the MP games, and saw just how easy it was to start/join a game, I became interested. And even better, the experience was quite the opposite of what I expected regarding other players -- everyone seemed cordial, took their turns on a regular basis, and generally were a lot of fun to play against. As the beta went on, I found myself forgoing the opportunity to make progress in my single-player campaign and instead jumping right into the MP portion of the game. I found the MP games more challenging and engaging, because each person played differently and employed unique strategies.

Now, as the beta comes to a close, I have to say: Panzer Corps' multiplayer has been a fantastic experience. I cannot wait to get back onto the multiplayer boards next Monday and start a whole new series of games. It has been a great pleasure to get to know some of the players in the beta, and I look forward to seeing them again. If there has been one big surprise for me in this beta test, it has been the MP feature and just how much I enjoy it. It adds immense replayability to the game, both in seeing how differently humans play vs. the AI, but also being able to see all of the custom scenarios/maps that have been created with the editor. It takes the game above and beyond the single player experience and adds tremendous value to the game.

So thanks to all the fine people I've had the pleasure to play against in MP... as well as all of the wonderful scenarios I've had the privelige to test out (Razz, Kerensky and El Condoro have created some truly fine maps!). I hope this doesn't sound too much like a fanboy's response, because it really is an honest feeling. I may not be a big participant of multiplayer games, but for Panzer Corps I'll gladly make an exception.

Likewise, I have had some great experiences with MP games during the beta. The main form of dummy-spit in online gaming, deliberately dropping the game when losing, is removed in this form of gaming - if someone stops playing a game, claim it in 30 days. That's the negative, the positives far outweighs it IMO. The social aspects of this game are immense and I hope it continues to be a driving force in scenario design and collegiality amongst players and designers. I've already discovered a number of really nice features in the Scenario Editor and will continue to release scenarios that employ them (Kharkov soon).

Thanks to those I have played MP against - there will be many more, I'm sure. Thanks for your commendation dshaw62197.

Question: will an online repository of custom scenarios be established? I could do it but am wondering if an 'official' one is envisaged. A forum page like the one that's here already is a start but there will eventually be dozens of scenarios created - it would be great to have a central place from which to grab them.

I've just returned from a lengthy hospital stay, so I'm only now applying the 1.01 patch beta. Installation went without any issues and game seems stable thus far. Only one "issue," if you can call it that, since I've started testing. I'm playing the '39 campaign on the General difficulty setting. I was playing Norway when, after the AI finished turn 18, the game ended with the "marginal" victory screen. At the time I was down to capturing Namsos, and after a difficult struggle was about to move my forces into position to take the town.

Now, I understand that I was beyond the point of achieving a decisive victory. However, in times past I recall that the game would play until the last victory hex was captured, then the scenario would end and award the appropriate victory. Here, it seems the game ends as soon as a decisive victory cannot be achieved. Is this a new twist on the Norway scenario? In previous games the scenario would last until Namsos was captured. It it isn't a new change, I might ask if it would be possible for the game not to stop before Namsos can be captured, as this is valuable prestige and experience lost (and I was just about to take the town, dangit!).

I apologize if this has been brought up already -- as I said, I'm trying to catch up on my backlog of work.

I hope everything now is fine with you, dshaw.

Thank you VP, it's good to be back.