[Beta] R.E.D. WWII Edition v.31 - Need testers !

[Gedemon]

Ho, thanks, just found out that the P-36 was not defined, I will correct that. For the tanks, the Sherman's project should be available during 1942.

For a quick fix, open RedDefinesUnits.lua, find the line

US_P40, US_P51, US_P38,

and replace with

US_P36, US_P40, US_P51, US_P38,

 

[Tasties]

I was playing as Germany. Also, how exactly do you make France surrender because capturing Paris is only causing my game to crash. (Sorry for the late reply. Went to sleep right after my post.)

 

[Gedemon]

that problem is computer dependent (on the 1939 map, I'm still waiting for a save game from the 1936 map), nothing to fix it now, sorry (except deselecting "Allow Scripted Events" on the setup screen before launching a new game)

 

[Gwynin]

Testing the 1939 scenario out now and streaming it for any poor soul who has patience for the turn wait times at http://www.twitch.tv/vonarens


PS, one thing I've allready noticed is that the extreme mod slows down the movement of certain units (mainly planes), atleast when you move em from city to city (not at war yet so have not tried attack moves)..

PPS, I've taken the liberty of editing the map a bit to give me a easier time, hope you dont mind

 

[gertjantommel]

Dear Gedemon, thanks for releasing a new update of the incredible nice mod!

First few remarks:
Data Files v4 loads with v30 and with v31.
Menus in v31: after loading I only have the correct wording on the "loading hotseat game" button. The others have "TXT_KEY_RED_SCENARIO_SELECT", "TXT_KEY_LOADING_SP_GAME", "TXT_KEY_RED_MENU_BACK"

This I resolved by deleting cache and the previous mods and manually install v4 and v31. This again shows the importance of a "clean" install of the datafiles and mod.

Now I can see the 4 renamed scenarios. I will start with earth 1942 and report back in later. [on the side: I was hoping for an earth scenario from 1936 onwards...nevertheless 1942 is fine as well].

So far so good. I decided not to thick any of the game option buttons, maybe later I will try them to see whether they cause crashes or the like.

 

[Dragalex]

Ho, thanks, just found out that the P-36 was not defined, I will correct that. For the tanks, the Sherman's project should be available during 1942.

For a quick fix, open RedDefinesUnits.lua, find the line

US_P40, US_P51, US_P38,

and replace with

US_P36, US_P40, US_P51, US_P38,

Problem fixed !
Thank you.

 

[Gwynin]

@Gedemon

Considering that the v.31 has the option of no fog (I guess that was the option before gamelaunch? my memory is soo crap when Im tired), is there a way to activate fog again during a game or do I have to start over ?


btw, I did not have a Hitler speech when I started the 1939 game, not sure if its suposed to be working ?

 

[Gedemon]

the "no fog" can't be changed mid-game. It will be an option for new game in v.31 final, maybe in next version of the beta.

For now if you want to start a new game without it, change the CLOSE_MINOR_NEUTRAL_CIV_BORDERS value to false in the DefinesEuro1940.lua file.

The bug with the speech is noted, don't know what is causing it. Activating the mod, launching a game, escaping to main menu and relaunching the mod allow the speech to start... strange.

 

[gertjantommel]

@Gedemon

Played the 1942 earth scenario up to turn 19 (July 10 1942). I was randomly selected to play Germany. Up till now I have pushed back the Soviets past Yekatarinaburg. The frontline has become at a stillstop in Africa. Lots of fighting goes on in Asia! Wow. My Atlantic wall is still holding the British off and at home in good old England. I am playing at "king" level.

Few remarks:
1. Fighters are intercepting across the globe, although I am not sure whether the Japanse had such few fighters (as next to nothing is happening there on interception).
2. I do not see any convoys loading or unloading. I am not sure whether this was your intention (no convoys) or just something that is not playing out right at the moment.
3. I believe some cities need a bit of upgrading (i.e., extra factories (e.g., Vienna)) and some as the filling of personnel is becoming a problem. This was eventually a problem but in 1942 it wasn't. You might solve this for the Germans by filling their personnel at the start to the maximum.
4. I am not sure wether Stalin could use some "reinforcements" arriving. To me it seemed a bit too easy to take Moscow, Stalingrad and Leningrad...
5. Bombing activity is somewhat low for now (e.g., UK is not really bombing cities in Germany), but I will play to see whether it will intensify over 1943.
6. Retreat function: I didn't change anything to my civ setting, however the retreat function in v3 does not work in v31 (or at least I don't see any retreats by Soviet units).

I will try to comment some more, if you have any specific thing you want to know, let me know.

UPDATE: when processing the moves of turn 20, Civ5 crashes. I will try to figure out what happens when and report back...off to work now...

 

[Gedemon]

Thanks for the feedback

At this point it's core "feature" problems that are my main concern:
- interception/airsweep
- alert text (the one at the center of the screen) reporting "normal" result: if you're playing as UK, and one turn have a weird text saying "you Messerschmitt Bf-109E has intercepted a Heinkel 111" I'd like to see the log of that turn
- retreat
- city damage limit on air raid: when the city is captured during the turn by the AI, it won't limit damage, that bug is known, and I won't be able to do anything about that, until I take over the bombing AI, but if the city is not captured by the end of the turn, it should return to it's damage state made by non-air units.

The balance discussions should go in each specific scenario thread.

Retreat are working on my test game on Europe 1939 scenario. Anyone else with the problem on the 1942 map ?

 

[Gedemon]

okay, after a few test it seems that what I feared is confirmed (and it explains the broken retreat feature on the 1942 map): a combat that happen outside human player visible plots does not trigger the "end of combat" functions.

That means that full map visibility will be mandatory on all scenario.

I have some ideas on how to restore a kind of virtual fog of war, like giving invisible promotion to all units that are not in contact with the front line, and that even open other possibilities like "Ultra" projects to temporarily remove the invisible promotion from those units...

 

[Gedemon]

v.31 Beta 2

Fix the Military projects that were not triggered, reduce building cost of submarines (375->300), force visibility on all maps except Stalingrad (all combat visible because there are 2 players only there), add the P-36 in the US default list.

Now I need something to accelerate combats, turns are going to take 5-6 minutes each on the 1942 map...

 

[Gwynin]

Without knowing anything about how combat is done behind the scenes, it would seem that it is the animations that seem to determine how long a battle is. I guess that since MP does not have animations one could see if combat is indeed faster there, I sadly have no experience into the MP part myself so do not know if that is actually fact.

I do however hope that we will not have to resort to disable animations, it would turn the game into a quite more dull experience atleast for me.

 

[Gedemon]

Since patch .674 the combats for the AI are all calculated during it's turn, then it end it's turn, the next AI start computing whatever it compute during it's turn while the animation from the combats of the previous AI are playing...

There are 2 combat functions the mod need to "hook" on to get results and apply change. Both are not triggered if quick combat is enabled, and the second one, the most important, is not triggered if the combat is invisible for the human player.

The first ones are all called at once, the animation are played, than all the seconds are called. They are called in the same order, so I can still track combat by numbering them and stocking info from startcombat #1 to be retrieved during endcombat #1. Because all needed info are not available in either of them, I need info from both. (2 examples: can't get the city from startcombat, can't get a dead unit from endcombat, and I won't even mention the mystic ways I use to get the interceptors)

Simple consequence: since patch .674 for the mod combat features to work (AI interception, Airsweep, Interception giving XP, Units retreating, Custom result texts, etc...) ALL combats animations must be played.

 

[gertjantommel]

@Gedemon

In response to your "core feature" questions:
1. It seems that the airsweep/interception is not fully functioning. I tried to do some air sweeps and really none activity is mentioned although there are fighters available. It seems that fighters are "bombing" every turn which means that they do not perform what they are supposed to do. Not sure how to solve, but it seems that you want some reports on what is taking place or not. (Now I am playing as US)
2.Alert text...there are so many texts that it seems impossible to track them, but I will try to see whether something strange is there.
3. Retreat/frontline: Retreat in my US time has not really taken place yet, however, the frontline issue remains the same for the none-human players. But you already investigated that.
4. City air raid: It seems that the odd thing is happening (as well as in the previous version): attacking a city with an airplane does some damage up to a certain point, when the next bomber strikes, it deducts the damage and then magically adds that amount of damage as "health" to the city. I am not sure this is done intentionally or not, but it bugs me...

 

[Gedemon]

4 is a "feature" yes. Cities has a limit of damage received from air attack, after that damages are transferred to nearby improvements, and can make them pillaged them after a while.

the new beta should fix 1, 2, 3.

 

[gertjantommel]

@Gedemon.

I am playing Japan now and the retreat feature is working under beta2. I also notice that the "messages" are displayed in a better way now. The frontline works as a charm! Thanks again. I also notice that my bombers are being intercepted now. Frankly, I haven't really seen it across the globe but maybe not paying attention enough.

The other thing indeed is that I can see all enemy units across the globe...

One major issue (from my part): I don't have the building Harbor in my building list, which makes it quite impossible to embark units as I check the box "only embark from harbors".

Another minor thing: Guadacanal has 0 citizens

 

[ZeroZeroSix]

okay, after a few test it seems that what I feared is confirmed (and it explains the broken retreat feature on the 1942 map): a combat that happen outside human player visible plots does not trigger the "end of combat" functions.

That means that full map visibility will be mandatory on all scenario.

I have some ideas on how to restore a kind of virtual fog of war, like giving invisible promotion to all units that are not in contact with the front line, and that even open other possibilities like "Ultra" projects to temporarily remove the invisible promotion from those units...

I dont dislike no fog it make it more realistic but its just my view. Anyway, the Ultra project can be the Enigma machine !

 

[Gwynin]

Haven't tried beta 2 yet, but without fog its kinda easy to avoid the brittish navy and totally dominate their convoys.

I do however like the idea of a ultra project and such, anything will be better than no fog at all

 

[Gedemon]

Anyway, the Ultra project can be the Enigma machine !

Actually Ultra was the denomination for the intelligence gathered by decrypting signals from machines such as the Enigma.

But yes, a sort of Enigma related project could be added to restore invisibility quicker when an opponent's Ultra project is finished.