Beta 4 (Release Candidate) release notes
Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2012 4:58 pm
Hello All!
New build is out. It is an RC (release candidate) build, which means we are approaching the release. No more beta versions will be release. The game will be locked early next week, so any feedback that will come over the weekend will be especially valuable. Here is what's new/changed.
- This build shows how AK, when installed as an expansion, will integrate with PzC to form a single big package. Tutorial campaign, Wehrmacht campaign and Afrika Korps campaign are all available, both in single player and multiplayer.
- All maps recieved the final polish and look pretty much final. We have not fixed all map errors yet, will do this in one big final round of fixing. Please report any issues you see on the maps, we'll make sure everything you report is fixed in the release.
- We have added one more MP map (Blood and Sand), and other 5 maps were updated based on your feedback. Thanks to everyone who is already participating in MP testing, and everybody else still has a chance to play some MP over the weekend! Note that Spoils of War map has been moved to the PzC part of the game.
- AK game will come with Library extended with a bunch of WW2 fighters and bombers, so you can see these in the Library section. Let us know if you find any mistakes in these new Library pages. Also, the Library now includes AK campaign tree.
- New AK intro video was added. This has increased the size of the package quite a bit, but we wanted to make sure it played well on all the PCs out there. If you have problems playing intro video, let me know.
- I've made one more round of AI tweaks. The AI in RC should be more cautious with its artillery units, and fire with them first too. Let me know if you notice any improvement in AI behavior.
- As a small experiment, we've included a feature to show how many heroes a unit has, directly on the map. This is done using golden dots on unit's strength plate. Each dot means a hero. Let us know what you think about this new feature.
- Also, some people were confused about special units which are important in scenario objectives. We've tried to provide some more visual clues about them. Supply dumps and old pumping stations have got their own icons. Other special units have got a different "glowing" strength plate. Let us know if things have become clearer now.
- We've made one more round of message tweaking, so that they do not appear on AI turn and make more sense.
- Italian unit list was extended to give them some better upgrade options. Compared to beta 3, the following italian units were added:
Bersaglieri 43
M15/42
Panther D
Brummbär
Bf 109K
Hs 129
75/46 C.A. m34 AT
90/53 M41c AT
The last two are AT versions of existing AA guns, which can now switch to AT mode.
- Italians have got one more order, awarded for 500 kills.
- We've made a huge number of bug fixes in game engine, UI and graphics. Here are some more important fixes:
All known problems with movement sounds and attack animations have been fixed.
All missing unit portraits have been added.
All buggy unit icons (wrong coloring, small planes overlapping ground units etc.) have been fixed.
Minefield should no longer prevent replacements, and properly trigger ambush
Air units supply no longer reduced by desert terrain
Recon units which have some movement points left, but cannot go anywhere, are not marked with green arrow
"Discard truck" option when loading into an air transport is back
Straits now have the same combat penalties as rivers
Motorcycle unit has got its own sound
Messages popup no longer shows HTML tags
- As usual, a number of tweaks and fixes in the scenarios was made, based on your feedback.
New build is out. It is an RC (release candidate) build, which means we are approaching the release. No more beta versions will be release. The game will be locked early next week, so any feedback that will come over the weekend will be especially valuable. Here is what's new/changed.
- This build shows how AK, when installed as an expansion, will integrate with PzC to form a single big package. Tutorial campaign, Wehrmacht campaign and Afrika Korps campaign are all available, both in single player and multiplayer.
- All maps recieved the final polish and look pretty much final. We have not fixed all map errors yet, will do this in one big final round of fixing. Please report any issues you see on the maps, we'll make sure everything you report is fixed in the release.
- We have added one more MP map (Blood and Sand), and other 5 maps were updated based on your feedback. Thanks to everyone who is already participating in MP testing, and everybody else still has a chance to play some MP over the weekend! Note that Spoils of War map has been moved to the PzC part of the game.
- AK game will come with Library extended with a bunch of WW2 fighters and bombers, so you can see these in the Library section. Let us know if you find any mistakes in these new Library pages. Also, the Library now includes AK campaign tree.
- New AK intro video was added. This has increased the size of the package quite a bit, but we wanted to make sure it played well on all the PCs out there. If you have problems playing intro video, let me know.
- I've made one more round of AI tweaks. The AI in RC should be more cautious with its artillery units, and fire with them first too. Let me know if you notice any improvement in AI behavior.
- As a small experiment, we've included a feature to show how many heroes a unit has, directly on the map. This is done using golden dots on unit's strength plate. Each dot means a hero. Let us know what you think about this new feature.
- Also, some people were confused about special units which are important in scenario objectives. We've tried to provide some more visual clues about them. Supply dumps and old pumping stations have got their own icons. Other special units have got a different "glowing" strength plate. Let us know if things have become clearer now.
- We've made one more round of message tweaking, so that they do not appear on AI turn and make more sense.
- Italian unit list was extended to give them some better upgrade options. Compared to beta 3, the following italian units were added:
Bersaglieri 43
M15/42
Panther D
Brummbär
Bf 109K
Hs 129
75/46 C.A. m34 AT
90/53 M41c AT
The last two are AT versions of existing AA guns, which can now switch to AT mode.
- Italians have got one more order, awarded for 500 kills.
- We've made a huge number of bug fixes in game engine, UI and graphics. Here are some more important fixes:
All known problems with movement sounds and attack animations have been fixed.
All missing unit portraits have been added.
All buggy unit icons (wrong coloring, small planes overlapping ground units etc.) have been fixed.
Minefield should no longer prevent replacements, and properly trigger ambush
Air units supply no longer reduced by desert terrain
Recon units which have some movement points left, but cannot go anywhere, are not marked with green arrow
"Discard truck" option when loading into an air transport is back
Straits now have the same combat penalties as rivers
Motorcycle unit has got its own sound
Messages popup no longer shows HTML tags
- As usual, a number of tweaks and fixes in the scenarios was made, based on your feedback.
Game mode with animations played from disk with no memory caching is not active by default, but it is available via /nocache command line switch. So people who are experiencing memory problems can use it. Let us see how it works for different people, maybe in the future this option could be made default one.
