ATTN: Gamers using the Open Beta for 2.0.11.X

[cbelva]

The open beta was released last week. So far we have had very few reports which we interpret as good news. If we are not receiving any reports we assume that the beta patch is working for people. The few reports we have received were from gamers who had previously reported problems with Patch 2.0.10 reporting that the problems were resolved.

To help us evaluate this beta patch, we would appreciate some help from those of you who have downloaded it and have been using it. Please give your comments to the following:

1. How is the combat model working? There were a few adjustments made to correct some problems with the prior patch. We want to make sure that we did not knock anything else out of sync.

2. It you have had an opportunity to play a game in either classic PBEM or PBEM++, is it working as intended or have you experienced any problems.

3. If you had previously reported a problem/bug with the prior patch, has that problem been resolved?

4. Has there been anything thing else that you have noticed in the beta patch that seems odd or off?

Thanks for your help.

[pzgndr]

ORIGINAL: cbelva
1. How is the combat model working? There were a few adjustments made to correct some problems with the prior patch. We want to make sure that we did not knock anything else out of sync.

I have already made some specific comments regarding the changes made in v2.0.10 for "Posture Changes Take Time to Implement" and suggest these be reconsidered.

Perhaps mine is a lone voice in the wilderness but after over two years my biggest gripe is that I still do not fully know what to expect with some of these postures and, when given orders to move why some units in a screen posture still take 30-40 minutes or more to start moving, by which time they are usually decisively engaged and taking unnecessary losses. So I don't get it. Perhaps at least please clarify (again?) what the logics are for different unit types scooting from different postures and what the expected time delays are? That would be helpful while we await Southern Storm. Thanks.

[rocketman71]

1. Combat seems to run more fluently, with info/target lines/explosions more smooth. No other problems.
2. No PBEM.
3. Yes, reported bug solved.
4. Nope, things look good. Haven't played more than a few hours or so though.

[CapnDarwin]

Thanks for the information! We like dead bugs.

[Deathtreader]

Hi,

I've noticed in the TACOPS Diary text that artillery bombardment's start and finish times are being reported in reverse. e.g. started at 0624 and finished at 0620.

Otherwise so far so good!

Rob.

[Stimpak]

1. How is the combat model working? There were a few adjustments made to correct some problems with the prior patch. We want to make sure that we did not knock anything else out of sync.

Combat is MUCH deadlier now. Attacks that would've killed 1-2 tanks previously now result in platoon/company wipes. Combat pace is much faster, Soviet units will actually shoot enemies that are in the open [:@], and I am enjoying the TacOps Diary reporting weapons' chance to hit.

3. If you had previously reported a problem/bug with the prior patch, has that problem been resolved?

LoS bug seems to be fixed.

4. Has there been anything thing else that you have noticed in the beta patch that seems odd or off?

New text is funky.

[clodhellmer]

Same for me. A lot of more hits and kills. But from my side it makes sense. Did you also adjust the artillery? I have the impression that the artillery is now much stronger, I mean more hits and kills. One thing is still unsatisfied for me: Tanks engaging a BRDM 1 at around 4100m. Hey, sorry thats makes still no sense for me. One more irritation is the Air defence. SC is Hell`s crossroad. AD Unit is a 2S6 at hex 2815. Hitting my Gazelle at 1802 and killing the whole unit in one turn. From my side that should be impossible. One question: Are the BMP`s or M2 using there ATGMs when engaging armored targets? If yes, with the pop up text? And I observed in the red hammer campaign that my BMP company was not able to destroy a german unit with a MG, even as the BMP unit was right next to the MG. From my side, if a INF unit is attacking (dismounted, of course) it should be more lethal. As a German, of course I was proud of my MG holding the ground against the russians! Oh yes, and direct support is now working without crashing the game. To hit the bottom line, the game makes now more fun for me.

[CapnDarwin]

@Deathtreader - we are fixing the swapped times in the next iteration. Nice find.

@Stimpak - funky, how and which text are we talking about? We do have some extra debug text flowing right now.

@clodhellmer - arty has not changed, but the fix of the LOS bug may be part of the change in hitting power. A BRDM is a recon or HQ unit and those are top priority targets so they will get shot at often. The 2S6 is one on the most dangerous AD systems in the game. Steer clear and kill them early. Small teams or squads can be hard to take down in a hex depending on its cover. Infantry can kill tanks, if they have AT weapons, and if they are in the same hex or adjacent.

Thanks for the feedback guys. Enjoy the game!

[Stimpak]

I'm merely noticing a font change. No real problem.

[CapnDarwin]

Some of that is dealing with some skin engine quirks. If something is hard to read, let me know and we will get it fixed if we can.

[Stimpak]

Further testing's revealed a few more gripes...

Mi-24s seem reluctant to fire upon the enemy still.

And I'm not exactly comfortable with how deadlier artillery is, particularly NATO's. The dreaded M270 (A respectable, high-value target on it's own) could wipe out half or all of a company in one hit, now this applies to M109s as well which seems like it would allow a NATO player to shut down an entire tank regiment with just one battalion of M109s.

[CapnDarwin]

Stimpak, I'll open bug reports for both items tonight and see what is going on. We saw some odd behavior in a test scenario the other day where Mi24s decided to defend a location instead of hunting. As for arty you are the third or fourth to state that it appears to be overdoing it some. I will check it out this evening and see if any of the latest fixes knocked it out of sorts.

Thanks for the information!

[Stimpak]

It's not so much the Mi-24's AI behavior is that it seems to still be suffering from the LoS bug in part. Show them an enemy plainly in the open, and it seems like they just try to hover in place while getting shot up, neither screening nor shooting back.

[CapnDarwin]

That gives me ideas where to look. Do you have a save game that shows the problem you can send my way?

[Stimpak]

Save is a part of custom scenario with custom databases. Currently going through a DAR indirectly played by some friends.

Another bug I've noticed before 2.0.10 and persisting still is that some units' waypoints don't match their "next action". When issued orders, a unit's waypoint could show 0730, but it won't actually start moving until say, 0830 hours.

[CapnDarwin]

The Next Action may not be a bug. That is the time the unit is starting to do a move. If your first waypoint is off some distance the time associated with it is based on an estimate of when the unit will get there.

[rocketman71]

I too found that NATO arty seemed more deadly than before patch. Took out 5 T-72s in one barrage, that I haven't seen before.

[CapnDarwin]

Rocketboy, thanks for the info. We are looking into the code to see if we caused a problem with the latest fixes.

[Javolenus]

I play the game on Steam. The previous build kept crashing with "access violation" messages. And so I opted into the Open Beta on Steam. No crashes so far. But I have noticed something odd -- whenever I save a screenshot the game seems to save as normal, but when I later open the JPEGs in the "Screens" folder, they are blank. In other words, the game seems to be saving screenshots as "blank" JPEG images.

Also, re. screenshots, I noticed that I can only take a screenshot at turn-end, after the action is finished. I don't seem to be able to take screenshots *during* a turn. Is this deliberate?

I also noticed that sometimes (not always) when a unit is blasted by fire and the fire animations kick in, a graphical anomaly occurs where, in the bombarded hex, it shows odd shapes/textures or no textures at all (i.e. it shows a white square). Hmm ... this happened (on my PC) in previous builds.

[CapnDarwin]

Javolenus, You are only the third person with the odd screenshot/animation glitches that we've had reported. We have not been able to find a cause for this. Can you tell us your setup (OS, language for OS, graphics card and drivers, any special third party overlays, etc). We'll see if we can figure this out.