WW1 Gold preview

[calvinus]

Hello everybody,

I have finally some official news about WW1 Gold. We are very close to the completion of all tasks for this new version of the game.

Herewith listed you can find all will come in...

New features:
- Added new italian music: "Ta Pum!"
- Game now has a mew map north-south oriented and much better looking
- Added Battle Logs window
- Added Stacks and Armies/Fleets Management window
- Added check-box in WW1 Configuration Tool that allows to switch to/from the new Gold map view
- Added buttons in many events notification window that allow to center the map on the concerned area
- War Plans window now allow multi-national selection
- Diplomats Management window now allow to display ambassadors of all controller powers
- Added Army Rooster window
Work in progress: - New 1915 scenario
Work in progress: - UBoots warfare informations are now displayed in North Sea area
Work in progress: - Von Lettow is now employed in Africa like a special support unit

Improvements:
- The tooltip on the top frame now shows the complete list of available combat doctrines, so included those ones discovered by the allies
- All available combat doctrines can be used in battle, so included those ones discovered by the allies
- U-Boots hunting tests results are now notified to all players
- Once ready for rebuild, the destroyed units are now available in full-force status
- Recruitments window: it's now possible to upgrade the fire-power of all corps, so included also the units deployed on the map
- Added a check during air duels to avoid flying aces replacements
- Civil Production level may no more be higher than 9 nor lower than 0
- Military AI for placement of reinforcements has been considerably improved
- Military AI for spending of RPs has been considerably improved
- Military AI for maneuvering has been considerably improved
- Military AI for build and maintenance of Fronts and Rear lines has been improved
- Military AI of battles has now a more prudent and less obstinate attitude
- Rolling Barrage checks now require a lesser usage of artilleries
- Added checks in battle tactics selection window to avoid players use combat gas that cannot be adopted
- Game updated to version 1.3.0 of irrKlang sound library
- Removed lags at scenario start caused by soldier uniforms update in 1916/1918
- Scenario target cities are now displayed in map window in a more distinguishable way
- Removed the stretched display of background map when Offensives window is visible or during battles if Retreat/Breakthrough/Counterattac windows are visible
- The look & feel of Shipyards details display has been improved

Scenario corrections:
- All scenarios: "Naval codes" is now a naval technology
- 1914 scenario: added special event for placement of BEF in Le Havre in case Mons is under German control
- All scenarios: corrected image of Arab cavalry unit

Fixed bugs:
- Corrected the only-AI battle freezes in strict-turn-based mode (4-players game)
- Fixed a bug that caused infinite U-Boots reinforcements
- Fixed a rare crash in trench battles related to the assault troops fire-power determination
- Fixed a bug that prevented the AI defender from committing support units (tanks & assault troops) in trench battles
- All new unit build & fire-power improvement orders can be done only if the national treasury has 1+ EPs
- Fixed a bug that caused a wrong increment of the economic hit losses caused by strategic submarine warfare
- Naval minefields can now be placed only on coastal sea areas
- Fixed a bug that caused a wrong calculation of victory standings at the end of Nov.-Dec. 1919 (last game turn)
- Fixed a bug that caused a wrong execution of army reactions in single-player mode and a loss of synchro in multi-player mode
- Fixed a bug that caused sometimes a loss of synchro in multi-player mode when executing not-military orders (i.e.: diplomats missions)
- Added an additional delivery check for interceptions in multi-player mode (if no response packet is delivered, no interception takes place)
- Fixed a bug in Multiplayer setup that caused a loss of synchro at very game start if a client did not choose the playing side
- Fixed a bug in movement path generation that wrongly included the unpassable areas in path
- Naval movement paths procedure fixed
- Fixed some bugs in fire procedure during air duels
- Fixed some bugs in fire procedure during naval duels
- Fixed a display bug in sieges and land battle windows: exhausted units where sometimes not properly reported when committed
- Fixed some bugs in fire procedure during land battles
- Fixed residual bugs in rail conversion during movements
- Fixed a bug in end-scenario VP checks that cause wrong victory determination in some scenarios (i.e. Caporetto, Palestine)
- Fixed a bug in map window that caused sometimes the display of popup menu for merging stacks, so preventing the movement into enemy areas
- Fixed crash in interceptions window (upon timer expiration)
- Fixed crashes caused by musics & sounds engine
- Corrected wrong tooltip of battle requirements in Off-map boxes


And now some screenshots...

1) First of all, a quick view of the new map on the Western Front in 1916:




2) Warplans window now allows you to switch fastly to the other controlled nation(s):




3) Diplomats Management window now allows you to display and manage the ambassadors of all your controlled nations:




4) Several events notification windows now allow you to center the map on the concerned area:




5) A new useful tool has been added... the Army Roster:




6) The look & feel of the Shipyards detail was ugly, so we improved it:




7) A sample of the Battle Logs window:




8) And finally the new Forces Management window:





The Beta Testing will start soon. Candidates are welcome.
Our primary needs are:

a) a German player who can translate all new text into German language;
b) a Spanish player who can translate all new text into Spanish language;
c) a English speaking player who can do an AAR, and...
d) testers of course!


Send PM to Philippe for the cadidate.


Thanks,
Calvinus.

[Bruit Bleu]

Wow that's an impressive list of changes !
But I'm sorry I can't help with testing, too much work these weeks...

The cosmetic changes look great ! The map is very nice. And the gameplay modifications seem very appropriate, I can't wait to play it !

Just a question: have you done something to improve the look of the map NATO counters ?

[calvinus]

Just a question: have you done something to improve the look of the map NATO counters ?

I adjusted the display offset of NATO counters because in some cases units were apparently displayed in the wrong place.

[GUIGUITZA]

Hi,
good job, but what about the events? the AI play only goods event for him? do you do something for the gameplay whit the move (naval transport it's not very simple)?

[Redsco]

Hello





Thank you for this job, I am realy impatient to try it..



Tkanks

[CSS]

[SIZE="6"]awesome ![/size]

[dooya]

A user in the German forums asks whether it will be possible to change between controlled nations on the main map without clicking into a province of the particular nation (I guess he means like it is now in the war plans window)

[calvinus]

Hi,
good job, but what about the events? the AI play only goods event for him? do you do something for the gameplay whit the move (naval transport it's not very simple)?

Nothing yet on events. Maybe in the future.

Naval moves: naval path determination is now improved, no more weird paths.

[calvinus]

A user in the German forums asks whether it will be possible to change between controlled nations on the main map without clicking into a province of the particular nation (I guess he means like it is now in the war plans window)

The nations switch is not changed. You have to click areas. There's no space in the top frame to print all nation flags, like in Great Invasions, sorry.

[dooya]

The nations switch is not changed. You have to click areas. There's no space in the top frame to print all nation flags, like in Great Invasions, sorry.

Just curious: the flags fit into the war plans window, but do not fit into the top frame?

[calvinus]

Just curious: the flags fit into the war plans window, but do not fit into the top frame?

The Warplans window has enough space (look at the screenshot, in the top-left corner of the window) for a large flag (the flag of the nation whose warplans are currently displayed) and other two small flags (that you can click on to switch nation display), ok?
Well, each Warplan window will show no more than two flags at once: Germany and Austria-Hungary for Central Powers, and France and Russia for the Entente. In fact, only these nations may choose a warplan in the very beginning of the war.

On the other hand, the top frame is currently full of information, for the active nation, and there's no space for the list of controlled nations, that can be long (think of later scenarios). The space is not enough because you have always to think the min horizantal resolution that we must provide is 1024 pixels! And now these size is currently full of information....

[dooya]

How about a "Next Nation" button to iterate through the nations? Or at least a short-cut?

[HonkryTonk]

I never bought the original game because I had so much on my plate but I must say that I will definitely be getting this the day it comes out. Great looking map!

Please tell me that it will work on windows 7 64 bit.

Good job Cal.

[Carnium]

Great stuff

[Lannes]

super news thx Calvinus

[calvinus]

How about a "Next Nation" button to iterate through the nations? Or at least a short-cut?

Two arrow buttons ('next' and 'prev'), close to the nation flag printed on the top-left corner of the screen.
I do not know how much they will improve the gameplay, because you are forced anyway to browse the map to move the armies (you have now also the Army roster), but it can be done.

[dooya]

Two arrow buttons ('next' and 'prev'), close to the nation flag printed on the top-left corner of the screen.
I do not know how much they will improve the gameplay, because you are forced anyway to browse the map to move the armies (you have now also the Army roster), but it can be done.

Sounds good to me. I will report this back to the German forums and let you know what the user who asked this question thinks of it.

[dougbush93]

Looks great! Awesome work!

Doug

[06 Maestro]

Absolutely fabulous.


I volunteer for the C beta player. If the game will be released in a month or so, my AAR will not be completed as I cannot go that fast. However, it would be well under way.

[dooya]

Two arrow buttons ('next' and 'prev'), close to the nation flag printed on the top-left corner of the screen.
I do not know how much they will improve the gameplay, because you are forced anyway to browse the map to move the armies (you have now also the Army roster), but it can be done.

Sounds good to me. I will report this back to the German forums and let you know what the user who asked this question thinks of it.

I told him and he said that this would indeed be an improvement.

[calvinus]

I told him and he said that this would indeed be an improvement.

I added this further improvement.

[dooya]

I added this further improvement.

[06 Maestro]

That force management window is a winner. That will streamline one of the more difficult tasks in the old game.

[HonkryTonk]

So, any word yet if it will run under Windows 7 64bit?

[Nikel]

So, any word yet if it will run under Windows 7 64bit?

There is a thread about W7/Vista x64 and WW1, in your case which is the problem? What error do you get?

[HonkryTonk]

Oh I don't have a problem now. Had the demo on an old vista computer but have recently upgraded to a new one with win 7 64. I wanted to make sure there was no problems before I got my hopes up.

BTW, I loved the look of the old map even if I didn't care for the orientation. With that said, the new one looks flippin awesome.

[calvinus]

...
BTW, I loved the look of the old map even if I didn't care for the orientation. With that said, the new one looks flippin awesome.

Running the Gold edition, you will be always able to choose if to play with the old map or with the new map! Just a click in the Game Configuration tool.
And only one restriction: if you start a game with the new map, you cannot get it back with the old one, and viceversa. This because the new map has several new areas.

[calvinus]

That force management window is a winner. That will streamline one of the more difficult tasks in the old game.

This new window allows you to manage stacks located in the same area, during the Military phase. During the Redeployment phase, instead, you can also manage forces located everywhere (on the same Front, for instance), in order to redeploy them quickly from one stack (in one place) to another stack (in another place). Also, you will be able to assign leaders command.
During all phase, finally, you can change the army assignment of not-HQ stacks, according to the standard restrictions of course (i.e.: you cannot assign a stack to VI army if it contains a unit that can belong only to III army!).

And last but not least, this window can be used also for naval forces. With only one obvious restriction: you cannot redeploy naval squadrons from one sea to another one... no teleport, sorry!

[calvinus]

Oh I don't have a problem now. Had the demo on an old vista computer but have recently upgraded to a new one with win 7 64. I wanted to make sure there was no problems before I got my hopes up.

For this reason, beta testers running Windows 7 64bit are strongly welcome!

[06 Maestro]

This new window allows you to manage stacks located in the same area, during the Military phase. During the Redeployment phase, instead, you can also manage forces located everywhere (on the same Front, for instance), in order to redeploy them quickly from one stack (in one place) to another stack (in another place). Also, you will be able to assign leaders command.

This is even better. From the screen shot i thought is was only for units in the same province. This looking better all the time. Excellent work!