Version 3.06 under way

[Rasputitsa]

ORIGINAL: pzgndr

ORIGINAL: Rasputitsa
For v3.06 - When the Map and Counter mods are installed

I assume you sent ChemKid's mods to Frank. It would be nice to just have all those included with the next update with a selection option in the game. It's been like pulling teeth to get those mods to players ever since the original hosting site went down or whatever. I use them.

With the supply fixes, it will very interesting to see how the game plays.

I have sent copies of the CotD mods to Frank and I am sending out copies to anyone who needs them, just send me an email address so that I can reply with links to the folders.

I had hoped that Matrix would host the files in the Members Area, but nothing came of it.

CHEMKID has left the forum and his email is now inactive, so I have no way of contacting him and I'm not sure what the position would be of using his graphics in the published game, rather than a self install private mod.

[Rasputitsa]

ORIGINAL: FrankHunter

Rasputitsa, I believe the unit symbols for battles might be hard-coded, I can fix that.

Thanks, that would be a great advantage.

[Rasputitsa]

Can I suggest a change of wording in the 'Supply System' control panel text, which at first I found awkward.


Image contains suggested text :

[Rasputitsa]

I've redone Reports so that they are no longer deleted after they are read unless you explicitly do so. Also, all the popups such as "Hospital setting up in Linz" etc in Full Fog games have been moved to Reports that arrive by messenger. So no more instant information in Full Fog games except for knowing the weather.

Thanks for keeping 'Reports' available to refer to, but can something also be done about the 'Battle Completed' battle screen data, as the progress of the battle gives a lot of information about what has happened to enemy units and what factors were applied to the battle.





Can the text in the box be saved somewhere, so that it can be refereed to after turn resolution is over, as with FOW settings this is the only time you can assess the condition of enemy units and the losses they may have suffered.

[Rasputitsa]

This came up during a game :

All it seems to mean is that this corps commander, KIENMAYER in this case, has no divisions left under command, at least that is what I think it means.

However, it is not in the normal message format and not too informative in this panel style. It looks more like a system message than game information.

[Rasputitsa]

I've redone Reports so that they are no longer deleted after they are read unless you explicitly do so. Also, all the popups such as "Hospital setting up in Linz" etc in Full Fog games have been moved to Reports that arrive by messenger. So no more instant information in Full Fog games except for knowing the weather.

If the Pop-Ups are still going to be active in 'Hidden Enemy', or no FOW selections, can the Pop-Up panels be made to mouse-slide, or the map remain movable, so that the map can be reviewed while the Pop-Up is on-screen. Can turn resolution be continued whilst the the Pop-Ups are stored to one side to be refereed to later and progressively cancelled as the player regains control to start the next turn.

Either way, it would be good to have a text archive of previous messages in all FOW settings, if possible, so that the player could review what has happened during turn resolution and during previous turns.

The '????? has received new orders' message would not have to be saved, just the action messages.

[Rasputitsa]

The game only seems to be using the WeatherRainBackg.bmp file, as a message background, regardless of the weather. I don't think I have ever seen it use the other background images.





Here the weather is clear, but WeatherRainBackg.bmp is used.

[berto]

ORIGINAL: Rasputitsa

CHEMKID has left the forum and his email is now inactive, so I have no way of contacting him and I'm not sure what the position would be of using his graphics in the published game, rather than a self install private mod.

A sensible and right proper view of things. But without that mod (or some other suitable substitute), I would not play this game with the, TBH, atrociously poor default graphics. Sorry to have to say it.

[Rasputitsa]

ORIGINAL: berto

ORIGINAL: Rasputitsa

CHEMKID has left the forum and his email is now inactive, so I have no way of contacting him and I'm not sure what the position would be of using his graphics in the published game, rather than a self install private mod.

A sensible and right proper view of things. But without that mod (or some other suitable substitute), I would not play this game with the, TBH, atrociously poor default graphics. Sorry to have to say it.

CHEMKID was happy to post his mods on the forum and pleased that they would be of value to players, so they are still available as a self install improvement, not ideal, but I would hope that there is talent on the forum who could produce a similar map, now that CHEMKID has shown the way and the style which is appropriate.

We will certainly need such skills if Frank produces a new campaign with a different map area. Here's hoping. [:)]

[Rasputitsa]

When there has been a battle in a hex then the hex is highlighted by the cursor, but whilst the cursor is in place the hex can be frozen during the following turn and you cannot select any of the units in that hex.





The fix is to save the game, close down and game and restart with that game save, the cursor is gone and the hex and any stacked units can be selected again.

Playing another turn later in the game and now the cursor is highlighting another battle, but has not caused the freeze, I can select and shuffle the units in the stack. I don't know why this is a transitory feature.

Not a big problem, but messy.

[Rasputitsa]

I think that when you load a saved game, whilst a game is already running, instead of fresh from the start menu, you get the weather map (clear, or muddy) which applied to the originally running game, rather than from the newly loaded save file.

[Rasputitsa]

When you have a unit attached to the army commander (e.g. NAPOLEON, new feature from v 3.05) the orders delay becomes much reduced, even when the actual distance is very great.

Here NAPOLEON is at ULM, whilst 'Marulaz' is attached to NAPOLEON, but is at INGOLSTADT. The orders delay is not taking that distance into account with an orders travel time of only 2 hours :

[Rasputitsa]

Not sure completely how the game handles replacements, the manual covers some of it, but how about types of replacement. PFE restricts the allocation of replacements, with only certain allocations for certain types, or nationality of unit.

I am not sure whether CotD already does this, but should there be an allocation for infantry, cavalry, artillery, or elite units.

You are not going to find many long service, elite, Imperial Guardsmen, as most replacements are likely to be barely trained new recruits and replacement artillery, or trained cavalryman would be limited.

So should there be some limitation on how different types of replacements are allocated, or made available, as operates in PFE.

[Rasputitsa]

ORIGINAL: Rasputitsa

When you have a unit attached to the army commander (e.g. NAPOLEON, new feature from v 3.05) the orders delay becomes much reduced, even when the actual distance is very great.

Here NAPOLEON is at ULM, whilst 'Marulaz' is attached to NAPOLEON, but is at INGOLSTADT. The orders delay is not taking that distance into account with an orders travel time of only 2 hours :

The normal message sequence is that the order goes from the army commander to the corps commander, then the corps commander sends the order on to each unit under command. There are then two elements in the orders delay, but when the unit is attached direct to the army commander, the corps commander delay is missing, so there seems to be only one delay element and this is not taking into account the actual distance.

Then I get this (image below), which is more accurate, so I maybe not using appropriate game saves, losing track of which side is AI. I still think there is something amiss with orders delay and units attached to the army commander. I need to play on and get some more consistent information to see what is happening.

[Biondo]

[&o] Can't say nothing else!

[FrankHunter]

Q.Can I suggest a change of wording in the 'Supply System' control panel text
A.Done

Q. but can something also be done about the 'Battle Completed' battle screen data, save reports
A. Given how that works I can’t see being able to do much there but I’ll look at it.

Q. Division by zero error involving Kienmayer
A. That’s a system error and it should never happen. If it happens again after this next update I will need a saved game to find it. Is it happening within the orders phase?

Q. can the Pop-Up panels be made to mouse-slide, or the map remain movable, so that the map can be reviewed while the Pop-Up is on-screen. Can turn resolution be continued whilst the the Pop-Ups are stored to one side to be refereed to later and progressively cancelled as the player regains control to start the next turn.

A. Those are modal dialog boxes and they require exiting before play can resume. I could put them in a modeless dialog which could be moved behind the screen and which would allow the map to be scrolled and then have a way of moving it back to the front but that could get messy. I actually prefer the existing method as I want to be sure they’re read.

Q. The game only seems to be using the WeatherRainBackg.bmp file, as a message background, regardless of the weather.
A. Fixed

Q. When there has been a battle in a hex then the hex is highlighted by the cursor, but whilst the cursor is in place the hex can be frozen during the following turn and you cannot select any of the units in that hex.
A. Fixed, just have to click once on the battle hex indicator and then it’ll return to normal.

Q. I think that when you load a saved game, whilst a game is already running, instead of fresh from the start menu, you get the weather map (clear, or muddy) which applied to the originally running game, rather than from the newly loaded save file.
A. Fixed

Q. When you have a unit attached to the army commander (e.g. NAPOLEON, new feature from v 3.05) the orders delay becomes much reduced, even when the actual distance is very great.

A. Fixed. They use the exact same procedure, what happened there was a bug in the print statement if an estimate went over 24 hours. So in your example, travel time should have said 1 day and 2 hours. For the engineer its under 24 hours so no bug. Regardless of the print statement it still would have taken a messenger 26 hours, not 2 to get to the first unit.

[Rasputitsa]

Thanks Frank for the prompt reply, now the inevitable question, when might v3.06 be ready. [:)]

[Rasputitsa]

Q. Division by zero error involving Kienmayer
A. That’s a system error and it should never happen. If it happens again after this next update I will need a saved game to find it. Is it happening within the orders phase?

This happened some time ago so memory is weak, but the screen shot has the KIENMAYER orders box open, so it must have happened during the orders phase. I think it occurred when the corps was close to destruction and there were few, or no divisions left under command.

I think it happened previously when KOLOWRAT was trapped and being destroyed with the corps commander possibility left on the map alone.

I have just transferred all the units out of a corps, as a test to see what would happen to a corps commander without divisions. When the last unit is transferred the corps commander disappears, is no longer on the map, or in the 'Find' units list, which is good to know. Something to avoid doing in the game.

However, the 'Division by Zero' message did not appear.

[Rasputitsa]

Q. When you have a unit attached to the army commander (e.g. NAPOLEON, new feature from v 3.05) the orders delay becomes much reduced, even when the actual distance is very great.

A. Fixed. They use the exact same procedure, what happened there was a bug in the print statement if an estimate went over 24 hours. So in your example, travel time should have said 1 day and 2 hours. For the engineer its under 24 hours so no bug. Regardless of the print statement it still would have taken a messenger 26 hours, not 2 to get to the first unit.

Thanks, just finished reading about the Waterloo Campaign with a great deal of detail about the background situation, specifically the passing of messages and orders. Much angst about who said what and when and why orders did not arrive in time, but interesting that the average speed of messengers was about 2 mph, sometimes slower.

Waterloo: The Campaign of 1815 - Two Volumes - John Hussey, Kindle - Two volumes seems excessive, but it covers the whole campaign from Napoleon's return to France, up until the Allies entry into Paris, in considerable detail using multi-national archives. It does make more sense of how CotD functions, especially the constant uncertainty.

It's not like Hollywood with everyone galloping about, horses don't last long that way, it mostly happens at a walk. Very occasionally an senior aide, who was well mounted, could maintain a faster pace over shorter distances.

The game matches the actual events of the era very well, despite how it may look to modern eyes.

[FrankHunter]

" but interesting that the average speed of messengers was about 2 mph, sometimes slower."

In the game its roughly one hex per hour, which is about 5.6mi/9km, perhaps I need to slow it down It was a long time ago but I believe that number was based on Petre when he was writing about the distance from when Napoleon was writing his orders on the way to the Danube front in 1809.