A Few Quick Issues

[Canon]

I launched the game to just take a brief look at what's new and I noticed a few problems.

1) In the July-Campaign Start, their is a double garrison in San Francisco (Central California Garrison I believe?)

2) Some Artillery units in the Confederate Army of the Potomac are mistakenly displayed and counted as Infantry regiments (3rd Wash. Art. from Longstreets Brigade, Lynchburg and Louden Art. from Cooke's Brigade)


Just a few design questions as well:

Is it intentional that the historic name of armies have been changed? In the Shiloh scenario Grant commands the Army of the Cumberland (not created until after Stones River in early 1863), and his actual Army of the Tennessee is commanded by Buell, who should be leading the Army of the Ohio. In the campaigns, McDowell's early army is called the Army of the Potomac instead of the Army of North-Eastern Virginia. I know the names of the armies is very minor, but it seems phony to me.

Also, Jackson was giving Irregular fighting skill? Not sure when he'll ever get to use it, nor where he showed that talent historically...


The graphics are going to take getting used to, and I can't say I'm a fan right now. To me, the generals and units look much more cartoonish and have a more generalized feel to them. I guess what I'm trying to say is in AACW the Generals stood out apart from each other more.

I also miss having immediate info on my armies laid out in front of me. In AACW I could click on a stack, know if it was active and easily change postures, special orders, and other actions/info without going through filters or the main stack info disappearing when I click on specific units.

In all honesty, this brief glance has been disappointing, but I have yet to use any of the new improvements, really haven't played and I have faith that if there are any mass calls to change things, these will probably be answered in future patches.

[Ace]

Also, Jackson was giving Irregular fighting skill? Not sure when he'll ever get to use it, nor where he showed that talent historically...

Do not worry about Jackson. It has already been mentioned in beta, and this unintentional ability shall be changed to charismatic in future patch (it was supposed to be charismatic in the first place).

I also miss having immediate info on my armies laid out in front of me. In AACW I could click on a stack, know if it was active and easily change postures, special orders, and other actions/info without going through filters or the main stack info disappearing when I click on specific units.

I know how you feel. I felt the same way when I opened the game for the first time.
But, after a while you get used to it. It doesn't bother me any more, you just have to look to other places than before. For instance, stack strength is on the main map next to general portrait, general activation is shown by yellow stars indicating his rank (as opposed to silver stars when he is not active), etc.. New players which never really played AACW1 generally said they like the new streamlined look more, while old players (me included) after a while felt no significant difference.

[fred zeppelin]

Do not worry about Jackson. It has already been mentioned in beta, and this unintentional ability shall be changed to charismatic in future patch (it was supposed to be charismatic in the first place).

What file sets that parameter? I see several Thomas Jackson files in the Game Data/Models folder. They all have the Charismatic trait, but it's not showing up in game. Possible to mod it?

[Ace]

Beside the model files, abilities are set by alias files as well.

search alias directory for text string abiCharismatic

result: 2 matches
one in abi_alias as expected
one in Abilities Kind

These files should be moded if you do not wish to wait for the patch.

[vaalen]

I am somewhat stunned by the leader portraits. They do look cartoonish, and not at all like the real generals. I am very familiar with photographs of Grant and Lew Wallace, for example, and these portraits look like a poor version of what they really looked like. The leaders in the original ACW were very realistic, and looked like the real leaders. This really breaks immersion, and I just do not understand how this could happen. Granted, it does not effect gameplay. I also much preferred the original look of the troops. In short, the new leader and unit graphics do not make me happy at all, and I find them very disappointing.

[fred zeppelin]

Beside the model files, abilities are set by alias files as well.

search alias directory for text string abiCharismatic

result: 2 matches
one in abi_alias as expected
one in Abilities Kind

These files should be moded if you do not wish to wait for the patch.

Modded how, exactly? I gather from your use of "as expected" in the one instance but not the other that the error lies in the Abilities Kind file? How should it be changed?

I'd rather not wait for the patch if it's something easily fixed. Seems silly to start a whole campaign with the leader abilities screwed up.

[Leibst]

If the only problem is that Jackson has a wrong ability you have only to change its model file and put into it the correct ability (take care of doing this right), and delete the cache files in models and units folder. After that run normally the game.

[fred zeppelin]

If the only problem is that Jackson has a wrong ability you have only to change its model file and put into it the correct ability (take care of doing this right), and delete the cache files in models and units folder. After that run normally the game.

The Model files are correct. Apparently the problem lies elsewhere - supposedly in the Alias files, though I can't figure out how to correct it.

Looks to me like "Charismatic" is showing up as "Irregular Fighter" (in the case of Jackson) and "Patriot" is showing up as "Indian Fighter" (in the case of Forrest).

[Leibst]

maybe is just text error? i dont have the game so i just can guess

[fred zeppelin]

maybe is just text error? i dont have the game so i just can guess

Hard to tell. I've compared the Models files in CW2 with those in AACW and they mostly match up. There are a few discrepancies, though, and given how much time and effort went into the stats in AACW, one wonders if the changes in CW2 were intentional (and, if so, the rationale).

The most immediate problem in CW2 is that the stats as reflected in the Models file are not showing up consistently in the game. It looks to me like "Charismatic" is showing up as "Irregular Fighter" (in the case of Jackson) and "Patriot" is showing up as "Indian Fighter" (in the case of Forrest).

EDIT: Looking at it again, it appears that Jackson also has different abilities show up in the game, depending on where you look at him. In the stack display at the bottom of the screen he has three abilities, including Strong Morale. But when you click on and open his unit card, that ability is replaced with Very Fast Mover. All of them are listed in the Models file, but they're showing up inconsistently in the game.

Geez, guys.

[Mickey3D]

A leader has different abilities depending of the file you look at because abilities can change when promoted. By example, if I remember well, Jackson get the "quickly angered" trait when becoming a 3* leader.

[fred zeppelin]

A leader has different abilities depending of the file you look at because abilities can change when promoted. By example, if I remember well, Jackson get the "quickly angered" trait when becoming a 3* leader.

Yeah, I'm familiar with that. That's not the issue here.

The problem is that the stats are displayed incorrectly. Just start the the main campaign and click on Jackson (in Johnston's army) and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Same with Forrest in the Shiloh scenario.

[Mickey3D]

Yeah, I'm familiar with that. That's not the issue here.

My mistake, I did not read your message to the end

May be is it a display problem due to the fact Jackson has 4 abilities and only 3 are displayed ? It seems abilities are displayed in reverse order between the stack display and the unit card (see Lyon's example below). This would explain why we don't see the same list of abilities for Jacskon.

[ATTACH]24635[/ATTACH]

[fred zeppelin]

My mistake, I did not read your message to the end

May be is it a display problem due to the fact Jackson has 4 abilities and only 3 are displayed ? It seems abilities are displayed in reverse order between the stack display and the unit card (see Lyon's example below). This would explain why we don't see the same list of abilities for Jacskon.

[ATTACH]24635[/ATTACH]

Don't think that's it.

In the main campaign, click on Johnston's army and find Jackson. In the stack display at the bottom of the screen, his card shows three abilities: Surpriser, Irregular Fighter and Strong Morale.

Now click on Jackson and then click on his icon at the far right so you open his individual card. He still has three abilities but Strong Morale has been replaced with Very Fast Mover.

Two problems with this. First, it mkaes no sense to give him the Irregular Fighter ability. None of his three Models files gives him that ability. That's clearly an error.

Second, of course, even the abilities he is shown as having aren't being displayed consistently.

I don't think it's a matter of the number of abilities. If I remember correctly, Forrest has four abilities on his unit card. (Of course, one of them is Indian Fighter, which is another obvious error.)

The problem is that somewhere buried in the code is an error in how the Models stats are being displayed in the game. My guess is that it has something to do with the Charismatic and Patriot abilities breaking the display somehow.

If it's been fixed in beta, as has been reported, I wish they'd just post a hot fix. Not sure why that issue needs beta testing. It's just a typo somewhere.

[Mickey3D]

I'm playing with the beta version and the latest patch. There Jackson has the following four abilties :

1. Surpriser
2. Charismatic
3. Strong Morale
4. Very Fast Mover

In the stack display we see abilities 1, 2, 3 and in the unit card we see abiities 4, 3, 2 :

[ATTACH]24638[/ATTACH]

I've reported this display problem on the beta testing forum.

[fred zeppelin]

I'm playing with the beta version and the latest patch. There Jackson has the following four abilties :

1. Surpriser
2. Charismatic
3. Strong Morale
4. Very Fast Mover

In the stack display we see abilities 1, 2, 3 and in the unit card we see abiities 4, 3, 2 :

[ATTACH]24638[/ATTACH]

I've reported this display problem on the beta testing forum.

The display problem I can live with, though it seems preferable to have all the abilities show up at least on the unit card. Understandable that the counter can't hold all of them.

And it is good news that they've apparently fixed the problem in the beta. Now if they'd just fix it for the rest of us poor unfortunates, it would be great.

I'm sure it's probably a simple fix. Apparently it's an error in one of the Alias files. Just wish I could figure it out for myself.

[Ace]

Strong morale in leader face view comes from him being attached to stonewall brigade, or vice versa, which gives strong morale trait to all units it is attached.
I suppose there is a glitch when the number of traits reaches over 3 (That is why we have genius ability).

So, here Jackson model has no genius ability since he has only 3 traits. But, when combined with Stonewall brigade, the unit stack has 4 abilities, one of which cannnot be shown. I think I can live with a glitch. He 'll be corps commander detached from Stonewall brigade soon enough