RUS Public Beta Patch 1.06 RC 1 = September 4, 2012

[lodilefty]

Barring any GameStopper bugs, this will be last beta before official release!

Caveat Emptor: beta release, so be willing to properly report bugs!
http://www.ageod-forum.com/downloads/Patch_RUS_v1.06_RC1.zip

There are so many changes, the name of the patch is now 1.06!!!!

Patch 1.06 Release Candidate 1
=======================================================================================================================
The patch is a comprehensive patch, includes all changes since original release.
It can be applied directly over your initial game installation setup version. Changes from 1.05b beta RC3 are in blue.

Due to the large number of changes, please refer to the attached change log for details.

Highlights: Please give very specific feedback for these changes:

• New game engine update with changes to Siege Logic, new "Occupancy Rules"
• Map Aleas, causing Storms and Influenza
• Revised Loyalty change rules
• Partisans activated: using Advanced Revolts logic.
  
  • They may appear in Regions where a faction lacks MC, but has >50% Loyalty
• Revised logic for the "Verdun" options
• Weather Zones revised to reduce "checkerboard"
• Gerneral fixes and tweaks to the database

[DarkGarry]

One little thought on Engine - when division goes throught the territory with zero military control it is auto switches to Offensive Posture. Can it auto switch back to Defensive posture when it left "hostile" region and continues to walk on "friendly" land. It will save a lot of WTF during the game and improve playing experience

[Xaloc]

Thanks for the work lodilefty

I've been playing the Southern Whites with this new RC and I like to comment a pair of details.

The British and French Fleets of the Black Sea appear without any transport (and thus without transport capacity) but they ara able to carry troops and supply wagons. Is this WAD? Sorry if this has been commented before but I didn't find anything about it (although I'm not very good with the search system). If it's a bug I can provide a save.

Another thing is I got two generals P. E. Tilo. One with the White Force that pop up in Crimea, and another one with the reinforcement option to get a new White General. A save game can be provided as well.

And finally I feel the new weather system designed for the ancient world represented by AJE is a bit harsh in RUS. For instance the Allied Fleet inside the Murmansk harbor has been hit like 4-5 times by storms and was nearly destroyed until it was withdrawn by event. I think a WWI era fleet anchored at a harbor can't be destroyed like that. It looks like the system is designed for triremes, not for Battleships, cruisers and destroyers. Also I got continous pestilence events (i know the russian weather is hard, but they strike finns, balts, romanians... which are not activated). Maybe some tweaks in the effects of MapAleas for RUS could be done?

Well I return to my Southern White campaign, I got the game only three weeks ago but I'm hooked on it! Thanks for the continous improvement ompom:

[le Anders]

A WWI fleet can still be severely damaged by the harsh arctic weather, and I don't think Murmansk harbour was as good back in 1918 as it is today. Still, it's a bit harsh to have them lose more than 1/3 strenghth.

[DarkGarry]

Minor map bug - check region connecting Kharkov and Novocherkassk, it look Clear on the map, but has Wooded description.

----------------

AI ... Well, you need to work on it still... Tried to play as RED Grand Campaign.

Siberian Whites were not able to capture even Ekaterinburg. They had MORE THEN ENOUGH forces, but they DID NOT MERGE them.

The result was many attacks with inferior forces, huge casualties and ... city still RED.

The simplest strategic idea for AI -
1. check for closest RED stack in the target city (or in the open field)
2. Assemble stack to have approximately 2 times as much pw points (in the open field 1.5 may be OK).
3. If we did (2) - we can attack, otherwise DEFEND.

Current algorithm just wasting armies while attacking superior enemy forces.

[DarkGarry]

Red Verdun does not happen.

My suggestion is to make fortification available anytime in Tsaritsin, Moscow and Petersbourg. Make building time for 2-3 turns.

I read the trigger is 100 enemy units in the neighbourhood - it is A LOT. It means army a bit less than 100 000. The whole Denikin's army is smaller. It is about 45 000 at the beginning and it is capable of capturing Tsaritsin.

[Xaloc]

A WWI fleet can still be severely damaged by the harsh arctic weather, and I don't think Murmansk harbour was as good back in 1918 as it is today. Still, it's a bit harsh to have them lose more than 1/3 strenghth.

Well, the same happened to me with the White Black Sea Fleet, it was caught in a storm and nearly destroyed it. I have no idea how harsh the weather in the Black Sea is, but after testing this new system my overall impression was that the effects were a bit harsh for that time.

[Pat "Stonewall" Cleburne]

Navies are too expensive to fix in this game to have them taking storm hits in harbor.

[DarkGarry]

Regarding navy - I suggest to apply only cohession demage because of storm. It is not slaves driven old galleys, not even age-of-sail brigantines, it's pretty modern ships. Does anyone have any info about serious damage because of hostile weather to military fleet? Another thing that travel in storm is hard - so probably ship in storm will have to move VERY SLOW. Military engagement or landing during storm is not possible.

[Pat "Stonewall" Cleburne]

Couple of comments. 1 nm per turn for not recognizing independence is too much.

Also, storm events are destroying units that I'm trying to build as well as damaging the minor country armies. Maybe figure out a way to only drop hits to 1, not 0. Or just not affect locked/static units? Or I think the best solution would be to have them not affect units in structures. It would make people actually think about wintering in a structure instead of in the field. This could also allow the player to prevent the minor nation armies from being beaten up before they come into the war.

[Orel]

Red Verdun does not happen.

My suggestion is to make fortification available anytime in Tsaritsin, Moscow and Petersbourg. Make building time for 2-3 turns.

I read the trigger is 100 enemy units in the neighbourhood - it is A LOT. It means army a bit less than 100 000. The whole Denikin's army is smaller. It is about 45 000 at the beginning and it is capable of capturing Tsaritsin.

I second that, even though I never play for Reds. The old system, without any triggers was more logical, at least from my standpoint.

Towards the fleet: I don't think I had trouble with fleets being damaged or destroyed in harbours, but if so then I would change that towards making fleets safe in harbours. Unless another group of German patriots takes control over British ships, we shouldn't expect a Scapa Flow II happening.

[Pat "Stonewall" Cleburne]

Aren't there supposed to be white verdun events too? I've never seen those either.

The Caucasion and Ukranian independence options need to be much cheaper. You don't even get to control the Ukranians. I wouldn't select that event even if it was just 1 nm per turn, much less with the big added cost.

[Baris]

There is one option for Ekaterinodar. Option is visible for whites even reds controlling the city. It is not as much powerful as Red verdun option.

Black sea is generally windy especially in winter. There were many times tankers and big freighters hit the coast . But in game storm effect is a bit more frequent.

[DarkGarry]

That what I meant regarding fleet - tankers and freighters may suffer once in a while, but military ships in 20th century are much more robust. I wrote my suggestions above.

[JamesL]

I'm playing the southern whites in the grand campagin - its early september 1920 & suddenly all my German forces have disapeared leaving only the Balt regiments that were in their divisions. It came without warning (at a very awkward moment for me!) and there was no notification in the message log or event description to account for their dissapearence! I asume the Germans must've pulled out of my war at this point.

I'm using 1.05b RC3, I started my game with RC1 & added 2 & 3 as it went on.

[lodilefty]

I'm playing the southern whites in the grand campagin - its early september 1920 & suddenly all my German forces have disapeared leaving only the Balt regiments that were in their divisions. It came without warning (at a very awkward moment for me!) and there was no notification in the message log or event description to account for their dissapearence! I asume the Germans must've pulled out of my war at this point.

I'm using 1.05b RC3, I started my game with RC1 & added 2 & 3 as it went on.

Yes, there is an event that removes the last of the White-Germans in 1920. I'll investigate [and fix!] the missing message!

[lodilefty]

Also, storm events are destroying units that I'm trying to build as well as damaging the minor country armies. Maybe figure out a way to only drop hits to 1, not 0. Or just not affect locked/static units? Or I think the best solution would be to have them not affect units in structures. It would make people actually think about wintering in a structure instead of in the field. This could also allow the player to prevent the minor nation armies from being beaten up before they come into the war.

For next update:

Added Map Aleas, which cause random Storms at Sea, Storms, Sandstorms, and disease to strike forces at random.

• Many thanks to the AJE team for developing and debugging the new Map Alea system!
• Frequencies reduced to lessen the disruption to game
• Values are adjusted to cause mostlly cohesion and supply losses
• Only Severe Disease [Pestilence] can now actually “kill” an element

[lodilefty]

Red Verdun does not happen.

My suggestion is to make fortification available anytime in Tsaritsin, Moscow and Petersbourg. Make building time for 2-3 turns.

I read the trigger is 100 enemy units in the neighbourhood - it is A LOT. It means army a bit less than 100 000. The whole Denikin's army is smaller. It is about 45 000 at the beginning and it is capable of capturing Tsaritsin.

For next update:

• “Close to city....” triggering events now require:
  
  • At least 1 garrison unit in the 'target city'
  • Enemy 'Force Ratio” of at least 2:1 in the nearby regions [as defined in Areas.ini]
• “Verdun” options modified for RED, Southern Whies and Siberian Whites
  
  • Starting Turn 2, player may 'purchase' the Verdun Option. This cost allows future construction of the 'Verdun' forces in the first [and only the first] critical region that is threatened.
  • As soon as an enemy force fulfils the “Close to city...” test, the 'Verdun' force will appear there, and further such appearances will be disabled for that Faction.
  • Forces appear entrenched outside the structures. No fortification structures are added.
  • RED Cities are: Moscow, Petrograd, Tzaritsyn
  • Southern White Cities are: Dzhankoi, Ekaterinodar, Tzaritsyn
  • Siberian White Cities are: Omsk, Irkutsk

[JamesL]

"Only Severe Disease [Pestilence] can now actually “kill” an element"

- For historical flavour prahaps you could change the name of "Pestilence" to "Spanish Influensa" or just "Influensa" as there was a severe world wide pandemic of it at the time.

[DarkGarry]

There are several issues with Emplaced batteries:
1. It is movable(even movable by railroad!), that is not realistic. It should stay where it is built.
2. When emplaced battery is defending city and lost battle, so area is under 100% enemy millitary control it goes into PASSIVE posture and it is not engaging in battles, so it is HARD TO CATCH that beaten emplaced battery. If area falls under enemy control - emplaced battery should be captured or destroyed.

------

Suggest to rework Trotsky - remove his RailroadMan feature, because it does't make much sense and when he lost a SINGLE battle, so that area is under enemy millitary control - it is VERY HARD TO RETREAT.

[DarkGarry]

Average division cohession and average stack/corps/army cohession is displayed incorrectly. It is not average of unit's cohession it consists of. Also try redistribute units between divisions - tooltip is wrong.

[lodilefty]

There are several issues with Emplaced batteries:
1. It is movable(even movable by railroad!), that is not realistic. It should stay where it is built.
2. When emplaced battery is defending city and lost battle, so area is under 100% enemy millitary control it goes into PASSIVE posture and it is not engaging in battles, so it is HARD TO CATCH that beaten emplaced battery. If area falls under enemy control - emplaced battery should be captured or destroyed.

------

Suggest to rework Trotsky - remove his RailroadMan feature, because it does't make much sense and when he lost a SINGLE battle, so that area is under enemy millitary control - it is VERY HARD TO RETREAT.

IIRC, making a unit truly static causes the AI heartburn, so it must be at least slightly mobile.
I'll look at that more, in light some new code coming courtesy of AJE!!!

Agree on capture. I'll look at 100% Capture probability...

[JamesL]

The only part this simulation that does'nt always ring true to me is the fate of leaders of badly lost battles.

At the moment a leader can just be killed in battle or end up "recovering from injuries" for a 2-4ish turns in a nearby city after his formation is destroyed. Both realistic outcomes but the "recovering from injuries" fate always happens - surly a leader could escape the destruction of his formation uninjured too.

Also a leader's "recovering from injuries" period could be a lot longer than just a few weeks depending on how badly he was wounded.

The "recovering from injuries" fate also happens when a leader looses a seige - in this situation would it not be more realistic for him to be captured as being in a siege he's surrounded & trapped. The possiblity of capture would also exist if a leaders force is beaten by an overwhelming enemy (esp with a lot of cavalry!)

[Xaloc]

I like the changes for the next update, thanks lodilefty. And as JamesL points out, it would be nice for flavour exchange "pestilence" for "influenza", an epidemic which hit the entire planet by then.

[DarkGarry]

IIRC, making a unit truly static causes the AI heartburn, so it must be at least slightly mobile.
I'll look at that more, in light some new code coming courtesy of AJE!!!

If you make weight = 1000 it will prevent railroad movement.

[DarkGarry]

For next update:
•“Verdun” options modified for RED, Southern Whies and Siberian Whites

•Starting Turn 2, player may 'purchase' the Verdun Option. This cost allows future construction of the 'Verdun' forces in the first [and only the first] critical region that is threatened.
•As soon as an enemy force fulfils the “Close to city...” test, the 'Verdun' force will appear there, and further such appearances will be disabled for that Faction.
•Forces appear entrenched outside the structures. No fortification structures are added.
•RED Cities are: Moscow, Petrograd, Tzaritsyn
•Southern White Cities are: Dzhankoi, Ekaterinodar, Tzaritsyn
•Siberian White Cities are: Omsk, Irkutsk

Well, the main question - will this garrison forces be locked.
If 8 weak guards units can't be put into division - they will be crushed without doing much damage to the enemy.
If they are added to the stack of defenders, they will produce a command penalty, so likely it just not worth it.

Only fortification and strong emplaced battery were representing a valuable defender's asset.

[DarkGarry]

Also I suggest to provide more detailed info on Leader abilities, so players can test it in game.
I read manual, but many abilities are not obvious, like:

1. Has friends in high places
2. Merciless to rebellious population

Please explan what these abilities do and mechanics behind them.

Also it would be nice if you test all leader abilities... For now I'm pretty sure that
1. Propagandist does not work (at least as described in manual and tooltips) - does not increase loyalty as far as I checked. And it is probably one of the important non-combat abilities cause it can be used in requisitions and conscriptions.
2. Brutal ocupier does not work (by the way - why national guards are brutal occupiers??? - they are local guys!) May be rework it into some BONUS ability for POOR national guards (increase loyalty?) Otherwise there is little motivation to build such an inferior unit.

[DarkGarry]

In general Loyalty implementation is really WEIRD, I checked loyalty in capitals of regions and discovered that there is some % of population loyal to Ukraineans in Vladivostok, in Lithuania, in Tajikistan. It is not correct ABSOLUTELY - these cities are so far away from Ukraine to support it. As a side effect it lowers Green loyalty and reduces chances of uprisings.

On other hand I captured Kharkov for REDS, got 100% military control, but the loyalty was 98% Ukrainians, 2% Whites .... And it didn't change for several turns.

Generally - some % of loyalty for REDs should be EVERYWHERE (at least in all area capitals).

[lodilefty]

I'm playing the southern whites in the grand campagin - its early september 1920 & suddenly all my German forces have disapeared leaving only the Balt regiments that were in their divisions. It came without warning (at a very awkward moment for me!) and there was no notification in the message log or event description to account for their dissapearence! I asume the Germans must've pulled out of my war at this point.

I'm using 1.05b RC3, I started my game with RC1 & added 2 & 3 as it went on.

Fixed. Message now works OK.

"Only Severe Disease [Pestilence] can now actually “kill” an element"

- For historical flavour prahaps you could change the name of "Pestilence" to "Spanish Influensa" or just "Influensa" as there was a severe world wide pandemic of it at the time.

Changed to "Influenza"

There are several issues with Emplaced batteries:
1. It is movable(even movable by railroad!), that is not realistic. It should stay where it is built.
2. When emplaced battery is defending city and lost battle, so area is under 100% enemy millitary control it goes into PASSIVE posture and it is not engaging in battles, so it is HARD TO CATCH that beaten emplaced battery. If area falls under enemy control - emplaced battery should be captured or destroyed.

------

All Emplaced guns now have weight = 999 [no rail movement unless railPool >1000!!!] and Capture Probability = 100

Average division cohession and average stack/corps/army cohession is displayed incorrectly. It is not average of unit's cohession it consists of. Also try redistribute units between divisions - tooltip is wrong.

Weighted average based on max hits I think?

Please clarify what you mean by "redistribute - tooltip"

[lodilefty]

Also I suggest to provide more detailed info on Leader abilities, so players can test it in game.
I read manual, but many abilities are not obvious, like:

1. Has friends in high places
2. Merciless to rebellious population

Please explan what these abilities do and mechanics behind them.

Also it would be nice if you test all leader abilities... For now I'm pretty sure that
1. Propagandist does not work (at least as described in manual and tooltips) - does not increase loyalty as far as I checked. And it is probably one of the important non-combat abilities cause it can be used in requisitions and conscriptions.
2. Brutal ocupier does not work (by the way - why national guards are brutal occupiers??? - they are local guys!) May be rework it into some BONUS ability for POOR national guards (increase loyalty?) Otherwise there is little motivation to build such an inferior unit.

In general Loyalty implementation is really WEIRD, I checked loyalty in capitals of regions and discovered that there is some % of population loyal to Ukraineans in Vladivostok, in Lithuania, in Tajikistan. It is not correct ABSOLUTELY - these cities are so far away from Ukraine to support it. As a side effect it lowers Green loyalty and reduces chances of uprisings.

On other hand I captured Kharkov for REDS, got 100% military control, but the loyalty was 98% Ukrainians, 2% Whites .... And it didn't change for several turns.

Generally - some % of loyalty for REDs should be EVERYWHERE (at least in all area capitals).

I absolutely must see a saved game for the UKR Loyaly, but it must be for the first turn you see it appear, pluse \Backup1 folder for that turn...

Changes in Loyalty are very very slow, barring changes from events [mostly the Move Capital Options] or following play of Regional Decisions.

There are a few "loyalty" abilities, that can help :
=Propagandist [the unit must be inside a city]
=Unforgiving
=Occupier [NOT Brutal Occupier]
=Pillager [actually reduces Loyalty]
=Propagandist-Trotsky [the unit must be inside a city]

Brutal Occupier is a "Flavor Ability" with no uilt in function. Generally, the units with it have a higher Patrol Value than others.