Slitherine

As we draw this 10th DLC's BETA phase to a close, I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for your excellent feedback over our long journey, its been quite a ride indeed! Thanks for sticking with it, and helping us test it to make the best campaigns we could.

There most likely will not be any more BETA updates for testing, and we have our release date set for DLC 1945 West. However this does not mean we are done making changes (still processing feedback from BETA2) so if you have any final input for us to consider, please let us as there is still time to make changes!

Also, we haven't forgotten about helping players know when campaigns branch, I'm hoping to have a nice surprise in store for that coming soonish!

Great job as usual! This has been the cleanest Beta yet. My main suggestion is regarding the behavior of V-2s. They should not be subject to enemy fighters and have range to hit anywhere on the map in one turn.

This beta is quite big, the fictional campaign path is almost a GC by itself... and I haven't even finished the historical one yet (still need to do Elbe)! Quality-wise it's very good, and with this many scenarios I don't think anyone can complain about the amount of content, we even get some new units as well!

Could you please let us know when no more changes will be made? I just stumbled on some typos in the briefing files from Wesel, I'll add them to the 'errata' thread later on. Again, minor stuff but I'll check the rest of the text files this weekend, so I'll hope there's still some time for me to make some useful suggestions.

We gave this some consideration, and as much as a better reflection of 'realism' it might be, I found that it was actually pretty detrimental to game play. The ability to instant hit anywhere on the map is awkward and not visually interesting (you never see the V2 in flight and massive movement radius creates and extreme white wash of the entire map when a V2 is selected) and this is especially bad on the Sealion45 map, which is pretty gigantic and actually covers a pretty significant amount of land.

Still, V weapon tweaks are in order. Speeding them up (movement speed) while decreasing their fuel (less time 'flying' around) makes for a better effect. Now they only get 2 full length moves before they run out of fuel. Think of it as only having 1 available course correction mid flight.

As soon as I have a list of changes resulting from BETA2, I will post them on the forum!

Kerensky wrote:We gave this some consideration, and as much as a better reflection of 'realism' it might be, I found that it was actually pretty detrimental to game play. The ability to instant hit anywhere on the map is awkward and not visually interesting (you never see the V2 in flight and massive movement radius creates and extreme white wash of the entire map when a V2 is selected) and this is especially bad on the Sealion45 map, which is pretty gigantic and actually covers a pretty significant amount of land.

Still, V weapon tweaks are in order. Speeding them up (movement speed) while decreasing their fuel (less time 'flying' around) makes for a better effect. Now they only get 2 full length moves before they run out of fuel. Think of it as only having 1 available course correction mid flight.

Understood. Glad to know it was considered. I hope some of the V-2 tweaks include increases to the air defense. As I recall they were almost impossible to hit.

Well they do have the highest defense rating in the game.

Most up to date changelog:

Various text corrections
Final pass for visual polish on all maps
Several historical heroes have been added

Sealion45: Added some Allied radar installations, cleared several units from the area north of Liverpool to allow AI to disembark units faster, 5 V1s and 4 V2s are made available to the player on turn 18.
St. Vith: Commandos no longer marked as special units
Bastogne Siege: Triggers now checks if there are more than 9 GROUND AUXILIARY in reserve to declare decisive victory, instead of checking for exactly 10 AUX units
Antwerp: Several V weapons are now available to the player on turn 1, 5, and 10
Nordwind: M3 tanks replaced with M5s
Colmar Pocket: Removed victory hexes being created on the East bank of the Rhine, increased size of Allied second wave
Ruhr Pocket: Added a victory hex to Windhagen. Increased strength of Allied units around Erpel
End on the Elbe: Doubled the size of the final American and Soviet attack waves

Kerensky wrote:
Sealion45: Added some Allied radar installations,

That may make an already delicate air game problematic. Did it still play well with the ini boost from that?

Let's just say the German player got some compensation in return...

Kerensky wrote:Let's just say the German player got some compensation in return...

Vergeltungswaffles?! I'll have mine with syrup... but, seriously, i think the extra V weapons will more than compensate the AI having radar. I really was a bit surprised when I didn't come across any structures on that map, so it's really nice to see some added.

OK, great.

Here's another thought about unit images (allied) - I don't know where to put the comment. I know it's not timely for '45W but for the future:

It would be nice if the UK 3" vs 3.7" AA guns had something to distinguish them - a label or something life on Stukas, etc. The reason is the 3" range is 2, the 3.7" is 3. Big deal when manuevering aircraft. Actually this was something i noticed in AK but forgot to mention. I saw someone else mention an AT unit similarity and I remembered this.

They did get extra V weapons (in Antwerp as well), but not waffles. Actually they got more than just V weapons as well.

As for Allied Anti tank and anti aircraft gun art, yes there is nothing we can do about that at this junction, but if and when Allied Corps comes around, I imagine that will definitely be an excellent time to remedy any confusion.

I have thoroughly enjoyde the long and entertaining journey from the original core game to DLC 45 West. I write this message with a happy tear in my eye. I have enjoyed every moment of it, but I have to commend you on some of the great additions to DLC West which have goven this game new dimensions. In particular V1 and V2 weapons, the Flying wing. i even enjoyed the restriction of prestige and the need to destroy supply/fuel dumps to gain prestige. I have enjoyed some of the testing large scale battles against a resistant enemy. hopefully this is not the end., but rather a new beginnning of exciting new projects in the Panzer Corps world to continue making the game interesting and exciting

I'm looking forward to the last Grand Campaign DLC!

I wish I could have tested some more and hope to have some more time for gaming soon.

Longasc wrote:I wish I could have tested some more and hope to have some more time for gaming soon.

Me too. Why not using the time until release date for further tests? I'm also looking forward the final GC West, will it really be the end of the GC???