New patch in the works

[simovitch]

The new dev team has been working on a new patch. Emphasis on fixing the oil/fuel bug, game balance, and improving the axis AI.
Progress so far has been good with several major bugs and data errors ironed out.
Some of you know already about the oil/fuel bug. It's true, it is borked. In BTR Oil has nothing to due with aviation fuel, the push-pull routines sometimes counter each other out, and the axis are awash in fuel and oil such that it is impossible to cause a shortage before the game ends.

This has been fixed and we are testing and massaging it to make it a viable strategy for the allies, and punish them if they ignore it.
Sleepy axis AI squadrons in Bulgaria has been fixed, now Ploesti will be defended and ready for the allied bombers.
hundreds of 88mm FlaK 41 guns otherwise sitting in factories, the AI will now distribute these to the axis air defense batteries.

Stay tuned.

[nelmsm1]

So glad to see this!

[cohimbra]

I'm tuned [&o]

[Templer_12]

Great News

[davidjruss]

Many thanks for the info

[cohimbra]

And what about Jg 300, 301 & 302 issue? Don't know if this is the right place to speak about this, anyway...as far I know Jg 300, 301 & 302 should upgrade their night fighters Bf 109G-6/U4N & Fw 190A-5/U2 to respectively fighters Bf 109G-14/R6 (07/44) & Fw 190A-8/R8 (01/44). But this doesn't happens because there's no Bf 109G-14/R6 nor Fw 190A-8/R8 pools because they are Bf 190G-14 & Fw 190A-8 extra cannon variants (and only this two last model have their a/c pool). Soooo...maybe is it possible to point this two upgrade paths to the right direction?

Bf 109G-6/U4N upgrade to Bf 109G-14 (instead of /R6 variant) in 07/44
Fw 190A-5/U2 upgrade to Fw 190A-8 (instead of /R8 variant) in 01/44

It can be nice to have some more fighters at the front in '44 hot days.
If this is already addressed in latest patches or if it's impossible to fix I apologize with you guys, but I haven't the time to play intensively right now. Keep up the good work!

[Zorch]

A patch is great...but we really need 'Ace's Edition' of this game.

[simovitch]

ORIGINAL: cohimbra

And what about Jg 300, 301 & 302 issue? Don't know if this is the right place to speak about this, anyway...as far I know Jg 300, 301 & 302 should upgrade their night fighters Bf 109G-6/U4N & Fw 190A-5/U2 to respectively fighters Bf 109G-14/R6 (07/44) & Fw 190A-8/R8 (01/44). But this doesn't happens because there's no Bf 109G-14/R6 nor Fw 190A-8/R8 pools because they are Bf 190G-14 & Fw 190A-8 extra cannon variants (and only this two last model have their a/c pool). Soooo...maybe is it possible to point this two upgrade paths to the right direction?

Bf 109G-6/U4N upgrade to Bf 109G-14 (instead of /R6 variant) in 07/44
Fw 190A-5/U2 upgrade to Fw 190A-8 (instead of /R8 variant) in 01/44

It can be nice to have some more fighters at the front in '44 hot days.
If this is already addressed in latest patches or if it's impossible to fix I apologize with you guys, but I haven't the time to play intensively right now. Keep up the good work!

Actually it looks like there should be no upgrades for the nightfighter Bf109G-6 or the Fw 190A-5 at all, since upgrading to the G-14 and A-8 would lose the "nightfighter" class for these aircraft, as does the current upgrade to the cannon models.

So the fact that they were looking for upgrades which had no planes kept them as nightfighters and thus working properly.[8|] What makes more sense is to upgrade to the TA154 and/or later model He219, or Me110 etc although historically it looks like those Groups didn't upgrade to anything.

[Denniss]

After "Wilde Sau" was more or less given up in early 44 the JG300 units were changed to day fighter role.
There should be an .exe-induced change switching these units to day fighter role by transforming the Bf 109/Fw 190 night fighters into their respective day fighter version. This would require to limit these units flying Bf 109/Fw 190 night fighters only

[Zorch]

The 'Suggestions for future patches' thread has a list of fixes/enhancements. Should we be adding to that thread (although it is 5 years old)?

[simovitch]

ORIGINAL: Zorch

The 'Suggestions for future patches' thread has a list of fixes/enhancements. Should we be adding to that thread (although it is 5 years old)?

Yes, since more or less we are referring to that thread. Just don't duplicate a request or ask for graphic enhancements...

@denniss: thanks, then we should upgrade as cohimbra suggests.

[Denniss]

you just need to ensure only the JG 300 units would be eligible for using 109/190 as night fighters or one may misuse this upgrade and change all night fighters to day fighters.

[simovitch]

Finally fixed the code so that Rimini City and airfield remain in German hands behind the Gothic line.

[warshipbuilder]

You have tread to very carefully when you start messing with the a/c upgrade paths. What makes sense on the surface may not translate in to the practical, and cause other unintended upgrade problems for other units.

[simovitch]

ORIGINAL: warshipbuilder

You have tread to very carefully when you start messing with the a/c upgrade paths. What makes sense on the surface may not translate in to the practical, and cause other unintended upgrade problems for other units.

Right, and I see the potential exploit that Denniss mentions if they upgrade to day fighters. I think a final upgrade of these Bf109 and FW190 night fighters to the TA 154 (or nothing) is innocuous enough.

[Denniss]

Isn't it possible to use a hardcoded .exe-induced change that transforms the JG 300 units and its Bf 109/Fw190 aircraft to day fighters? Would still require a change to limit the use of Bf 109/Fw 190 NFs to these units. All pool and factories need to transform as well.

[simovitch]

ORIGINAL: Denniss

Isn't it possible to use a hardcoded .exe-induced change that transforms the JG 300 units and its Bf 109/Fw190 aircraft to day fighters? Would still require a change to limit the use of Bf 109/Fw 190 NFs to these units. All pool and factories need to transform as well.

Yes, it's possible, but this isn't high on the priority list. We are having a little trouble getting the code to override the data pulled from the data files (trying to fix the Jet Age scenario) but once we break through that obstacle (and we will) it will get easier.

[simovitch]

A quick update on the patch development.
1. Variable moonlight now corresponds to actual phases of the moon relative to sunrise/sunset. I can't believe I never appreciated how messed up that was. Testing shows a fair impact on how the Nachtjagd plays out.
2. 'Top pilots' view now shows days until return to service for WIA veterans.
3. Much improved response from Luftwaffe units in Balkans "Sud Ost" groups.
4. Hundreds of 88mm FlaK 41 now distributed by AI from AA pools to home defense. AI code didn't recognize them before.
5. Map now recenters only when an event falls outside of the current view. The frenetic screen jumping is greatly reduced, especially for BoB and the smaller scenarios.
6. A fair bit of scenario rebalancing. As a minimum benchmark the defending AI should beat the attacking AI in most cases.
7. Fixed a bug where the random number generator was always producing the same sequence of numbers and not re-seeding. This impacts anything that is randomly set at the start of the scenario, and possibly some other effects. If you have ever watched the attacking AI you may have noticed that it always used the same "Strategy" number (Strategy=2 in most scenarios). Now you will see he likelyhood of each game using a different strategy of target selection by the AI attacker! The code was there but never used. Other random effects like at-start damage, cloud cover, and aircraft readiness will make each game a bit different from the last.
8. Reworked the Fuel-Oil economy routines. Shortages are now much more likely to occur with a dedicated fuel/oil campaign. Both players will be notified when the shortage is in effect, but only the defender will see just how bad it is. beside fuel to fly airplanes, shortages impact the delivery of replacements to ground units leading to greater ability to break the defensive lines.
10. fixed the Jet Age '44 scenario. Me 262's now come on with a vengeance at start, with the AI doing a good job of integration into the Luftwaffe. A silly little bug was causing them to be overlooked for early development.

11. Other minor UI and bug fixes effecting the weather, night bombing and priority target selection are being tested. No AI cheats are being introduced, just adding some smarts and removing some dumbs.

We are hoping to get this wrapped up and available in a month or 2, depending on Alberto's RL workload.

[nelmsm1]

Really looking forward to this. Thanks for continuing to work on it.

[joey]

I love the idea of a patch for such a great game. I thank all involved in this process.
I do have one question. Will there be any improvement the Allied AI in BTR? I like to play the Germans in BTR. I would love a beefed up AI to play against.