techumseh
Deity
I'm not sure what the difference between a playtest version and a final version that will be updated based on the comments of people who play it, is exactly, but I'll go along. 
It's a solid scenario, fun to play and your best yet. Units are superb, as is the art and map generally. After the first year, the action is steady and interesting. I'm playing as the Americans in my second game. It's August, 1778 and I've just about defeated the British, moving on New York from north and south.
Here are my suggestions for your final final version.
1. Roads. Weren't there a few more roads, esp. in New England? I don't really know, just wondering.
2. Leaders. Leaders are too weak and too slow. I lost George Washington again when he attacked a single British regular unit and lost. They should move as cavalry.
3. Artillery capture. The artillery capture event is unrealistic and makes the Americans unstoppable as the human player. By July 1778 I had 88 artillery units. The next turn, including French reinforcements, I had 106 artillery units. I'm just blasting my way up the coast, from Philadephia to New York.
Since colonial cannon production was almost non-existant, the capture event makes sense. However it needs to be dialed back considerably. I suggest that you use the 'RandomTurn' trigger to limit it to a 1 in 3 chance, and cut the number of reinforcement cannon the Americans receive in half as well. Also you could use the 'Defender Only' modifier so that attacking British cannon are not captured.
4. The South. The south is boring for the first half of the game. I know it's based on the historical British strategy, but it lets the 13 Colonies move their entire army north until 1779. It would be more realistic if the American player didn't know when the British were actually coming, or where. More random loyalist action in the south would add to the fun, too.
Full-scale British intervention in the south depends in a couple of cases on capturing Charles Town and Savannah. These attacks are weak and can be easily stopped by the Americans, so the British don't get the reinforcements from capturing these cities. Would it be possible to strenghten the British attacks on Charles Town and Savannah?
5. The French. All French units actually belong to the 13 colonies. Why does the French civilization even exist?
Where is the French Navy? It was the loss of of naval superiority that cost the British the Battle of Yorktown, and ultimately the war. I think you could do a lot more with the naval side of the scenario, including adding river transport. And please, massively increase the movement of naval units.
6. Delayed Events. You have 41 delayed events. Each delay adds 284 bytes to the events, but you only have only 1773 bytes left, so that's only 6 delay events that have to be simultaneously triggered for some events to stop working.
You could economize on the delayed events for Ft. Ticonderoga if you used a single delay event trigger a flag, and the flag trigger the rest of the 'CreateUnit' events. You can also get a one turn delay by giving the attacker a new technology and using that as the trigger for your actual event.
7. Historical Simulation. This game tends toward a historical simulation in that all events are based exactly on what happened historically. It's a valid approach, but it limits strategic options and thus replay value. In "Operation Market-Garden", I used multiple events files with different reinforcement events for the Germans, so the British player didn't know where the counter-attacks were going to come from. When you begin the scenario, the program randomly selects one of the events files and loads it. It might work here, but obviously only if you make separate scenario versions for both the British and Americans.
That's it for now. On to New York! Liberty or Death!
It's a solid scenario, fun to play and your best yet. Units are superb, as is the art and map generally. After the first year, the action is steady and interesting. I'm playing as the Americans in my second game. It's August, 1778 and I've just about defeated the British, moving on New York from north and south.
Here are my suggestions for your final final version.
1. Roads. Weren't there a few more roads, esp. in New England? I don't really know, just wondering.
2. Leaders. Leaders are too weak and too slow. I lost George Washington again when he attacked a single British regular unit and lost. They should move as cavalry.
3. Artillery capture. The artillery capture event is unrealistic and makes the Americans unstoppable as the human player. By July 1778 I had 88 artillery units. The next turn, including French reinforcements, I had 106 artillery units. I'm just blasting my way up the coast, from Philadephia to New York.
Since colonial cannon production was almost non-existant, the capture event makes sense. However it needs to be dialed back considerably. I suggest that you use the 'RandomTurn' trigger to limit it to a 1 in 3 chance, and cut the number of reinforcement cannon the Americans receive in half as well. Also you could use the 'Defender Only' modifier so that attacking British cannon are not captured.
4. The South. The south is boring for the first half of the game. I know it's based on the historical British strategy, but it lets the 13 Colonies move their entire army north until 1779. It would be more realistic if the American player didn't know when the British were actually coming, or where. More random loyalist action in the south would add to the fun, too.
Full-scale British intervention in the south depends in a couple of cases on capturing Charles Town and Savannah. These attacks are weak and can be easily stopped by the Americans, so the British don't get the reinforcements from capturing these cities. Would it be possible to strenghten the British attacks on Charles Town and Savannah?
5. The French. All French units actually belong to the 13 colonies. Why does the French civilization even exist?
Where is the French Navy? It was the loss of of naval superiority that cost the British the Battle of Yorktown, and ultimately the war. I think you could do a lot more with the naval side of the scenario, including adding river transport. And please, massively increase the movement of naval units.
6. Delayed Events. You have 41 delayed events. Each delay adds 284 bytes to the events, but you only have only 1773 bytes left, so that's only 6 delay events that have to be simultaneously triggered for some events to stop working.
You could economize on the delayed events for Ft. Ticonderoga if you used a single delay event trigger a flag, and the flag trigger the rest of the 'CreateUnit' events. You can also get a one turn delay by giving the attacker a new technology and using that as the trigger for your actual event.
7. Historical Simulation. This game tends toward a historical simulation in that all events are based exactly on what happened historically. It's a valid approach, but it limits strategic options and thus replay value. In "Operation Market-Garden", I used multiple events files with different reinforcement events for the Germans, so the British player didn't know where the counter-attacks were going to come from. When you begin the scenario, the program randomly selects one of the events files and loads it. It might work here, but obviously only if you make separate scenario versions for both the British and Americans.
That's it for now. On to New York! Liberty or Death!
