First Thoughts...

[Prussian Prince]

Good game so far. Have only played the first few turns of the Campaign Games. I like the new features. Slight problem with Howe being activated then staying locked. Got this message for about 3 turns before he finally activated for good. Great job Guys!

[Dragoon!]

Good game so far! really like the new scenarios.

Is anyone else not seeing the naval bombardment icon?
I think this must be a bug in 1.00a

[PhilThib]

Not exactly the bug, but it is "temporarily" disabled in version 1.00 because we need deeper checks on some other features linked to it (e.g. distant unload order) and AI compatibility...

The button should return very soon if tests are favorable

[GlobalExplorer]

Have just played a year in the Independence War campaign (British) and I like it very much. It seems actually not hard, probably because my experience from ACW told me to use my units aggressively. Certainly moving my best armies into virginia proved to be the right strategy. I have done well so far and pacified large parts in Massachusetts, Virginia and Carolina by mid 1776

I am very happy about the graphics and the campaigns. Before I was afraid that the game would be too simplistic compared with ACW, but not so. The 100+ turns campaigns are massive in scope, while the smaller armies make it much easier to keep a mental picture of my forces and plan meticulously right down to the few artillery pieces. EDIT: But the lack of an option to combine units makes this planning much harder than I first thought.

Some annoyance came from the fact that scripted events often took away leaders when I had just begun to use them in indendent forces. And often locking units for no apparent reasons, as well as wrong "unlocked" notifications in the message panel. EDIT: this has been established to be caused by the default activation setting in v1.00 and can therefore be easily fixed

Another annoyance: The [color="red"]coloured ribbons[/color] for the diplomatic / military options. You should consider replacing them with text panes of some kind. I am really struggling with this

I also have problems to understand some restrictions in the water transport, especially the [color="red"]southern exit from Montreal[/color]. Maybe it could be made more clear if there is a rapid, like it is already done at the Niagara falls.

I am also very much handicapped by not having an option to [color="Red"]group units [/color]with a commander, as it was possible in ACW.

The option to invest in new units is very nicely done and offers a great compromise between the overkill in ACW and the scriptedness in NCP. Well done!

But all in all: [color="Blue"]absolutely outstanding game[/color]. I have whined in other threads about the graphics in NCP, but I can finally say that you fullfilled all my expectations this time. This is graphically better than ACW. About the gameplay and historic depth I never had any reservations.

I must reiterate: the map, change of seasons and unit icons are beautifully done, it is extremely satisfying just to look at that. Yes I am a graphics whore, but this is imo what sells your games in the first place, without these graphics hardly anyone would want to get into such a complex system.

[GShock]

Still can't believe turn is 30 days long. Compared to 15 in AACW all i can say at this stage though, is that the processing times are shorter.

[GlobalExplorer]

My game turned out more difficult than it first seemed. Cornwallis Carolina campaign kind of failed and I just realized that I have to control all strategic towns to win. I still think I will win soon, because I completely annihilated the US main army in Massachusetts! Athena managed to let me cut her off from land and sea, ~5000 rebs died and I even managed to capture their precious equipment.

I cannot get enough of looking at the landscape, especiall if it's snowed.

[FM WarB]

Still can't believe turn is 30 days long. Compared to 15 in AACW all i can say at this stage though, is that the processing times are shorter.

BoA monthly turns, ACW 2 week turns, NCP one week turns. With that prograssion, I thought WIA would be one day turns...lol

[GShock]

The lack of promotion and division systems makes the game quite enjoyable with much less micromanagement. The fact the turn is 30 days long is also adding to this, i find WiA very much enjoyable and am still at the carolinas...in overall i think, it's a stable, nice game, with the usual mastodontic potential in improvements shared with the common engine and the usual big quality game i got so used with.

I enjoyed a lot the distant unload order already but i thought this scenario would be easier for the brits....it's tough, very tough and the AI seems somewhat improved probably thanks to the lack of excessive micromanagement of DIVs and Army HQs.

[Pocus]

You can promote leaders to a new rank, if they gain enough seniority. But yes, there is no complex stack manipulation and chain of command as in AACW. Refreshing for the AI too

[GlobalExplorer]

You can promote leaders to a new rank, if they gain enough seniority. But yes, there is no complex stack manipulation and chain of command as in AACW. Refreshing for the AI too

This does not compute. Merged units are scripted in the game, so the engine must handle them anyway. Why then do we not get a +/- button to group/ungroup? This is not so much for chain of command, forming divisions etc, but simply making the game less of a clickfest.

So while I kind of gave up complete overview of my stacks, I just finished my first campaign succesfully:

[GShock]

Scripts add elements, no those we can't handle but units are not assembled in DIVs correctly and can be manually detached to form separate independent forces.

[lodilefty]

Remember, in WiA [as was true in BoA], there is no 'Army, Corps, Division' organization. Design intent states that this would be ahistorical.

You get 'big stacks' representing the loose aggregations and temporary 'organization' of the time.

There is a beta group discussion about the 'commander-single unit' combinations...

[GShock]

I mean that assembled troops he mentioned consist of leader + historical bde.

I think, as said elsewhere, that if leader is killed the unit should be disbanded and go to the pool as replacement while if the unit is destroyed the leader should be auto-dismissed.

More leaders add more CP to fight the CP penalty, there's no need to manually stack-unstack them, besides athena loves to manage easy things.

[GlobalExplorer]

Remember, in WiA [as was true in BoA], there is no 'Army, Corps, Division' organization. Design intent states that this would be ahistorical.

You get 'big stacks' representing the loose aggregations and temporary 'organization' of the time.

There is a beta group discussion about the 'commander-single unit' combinations...

Sorry can not participate because I have no access to the Beta forum.

No problem to accept what you said about ACW chain of command structures omitted because it is unhistoric. But what about the 'commander-single unit'. It is in the game, so it cannot be that you consider it 'unhistoric' either. Why then can it not be controlled by the player? No disrespect but the way it is designed now is inconsistent, and I suspect it was left out of the engine out of practicability. But this is not very practical for the players.

I am not after forming Divisions as in ACW I just see this as a way to organize my forces better then it is now. Just learned to lock my stacks but is still a chore to scroll through big armies with 8 commanders and 15 units, and it turns into a clickfest. The way it is now is way too demanding on my short time memory.

[Rafiki]

Sorry can not participate because I have no access to the Beta forum.

I'm sure lodi's intention in saying that was to let you know that the subject is taken seriously and given due attention

[lodilefty]

I'm sure lodi's intention in saying that was to let you know that the subject is taken seriously and given due attention

Yes, sorry I was so cryptic....

Discussions are ongoing in beta forum, but it is not my place to announce progress or results thereof...

Rest assured, though: I'm going cross-eyed tracking down the text strings, region liinks, fubarr events, etc....

so sometimes I'm a bit terse....

No excuses. After all, I volunteered for this and it's FUN!