#13 Screenshots!

[Lannes]

Fantastic leure: leure:

I'm waiting this game since more time

[gunnergoz]

I am impressed with the detail and colorful layout of the map. I do worry that it is a bit cluttered and perhaps all those criss-crossing borders, roads and rail-lines tend to become confusing. Perhaps what's needed is a filter to show layers (railroads, roads, etc.) overlayed on top ot the map and terrain graphics. Also, will thee be a zoom function on this main map?
Keep up the good work, I'm going to be looking at developments often and wish you good fortune with the game.

[arsan]

Hi
One question to Pocus!
In the message panel of the first screenshot theres is a line about the number of prisioners taken (3.000) but also to the hits taken in the battle.
will the new game use "real" numbers for prisioners but hits for dead and wounded?
In BoA i miss some information in real numbers about casualties an also, some kind of statistical information: about losses in battles along a campaign/scenario, about battle record of a given unit o leader etc.
Will AACW have some of this kind of details?
And by the way, what's the use of prisioners in the game???
Thanks!

[Spharv2]

I am impressed with the detail and colorful layout of the map. I do worry that it is a bit cluttered and perhaps all those criss-crossing borders, roads and rail-lines tend to become confusing. Perhaps what's needed is a filter to show layers (railroads, roads, etc.) overlayed on top ot the map and terrain graphics. Also, will thee be a zoom function on this main map?
Keep up the good work, I'm going to be looking at developments often and wish you good fortune with the game.

I brought up the rail issue in testing. What I was told that the locations all have a rail/no rail image, but they probably wouldn't be selectable since the two versions are for building and destroying rail lines.

As for the zoom function. The main map screen is zoomable, and I usually have it fully zoomed in to spread things out a bit (And because I'm blind as a bat half the time). Once you really start messing around with the game itself, you get a hang of picking out what you need on the map and what you don't. It does take a bit of getting used to, but the terrain features and such don't get in the way as much as you'd think once you sit in front of it for a little bit.

[Spharv2]

Hi
One question to Pocus!
In the message panel of the first screenshot theres is a line about the number of prisioners taken (3.000) but also to the hits taken in the battle.
will the new game use "real" numbers for prisioners but hits for dead and wounded?
In BoA i miss some information in real numbers about casualties an also, some kind of statistical information: about losses in battles along a campaign/scenario, about battle record of a given unit o leader etc.
Will AACW have some of this kind of details?
And by the way, what's the use of prisioners in the game???
Thanks!

I can answer the prisoners bit. There will be prisoner exchanges in the game, so you have to keep track of those numbers for this. There will also be an option (As the North I assume) to end prisoner exchanges at some point and with some cost. The cost being because exchanges and paroles were the "civilized" way to handle prisoners, and it took quite a while for the North to become hardened enough to accept the "no exchanges" idea.

[Pocus]

for flavor we are using 'converted numbers' in message when speaking of number of men for prisoners and conscripts but it is possible that all this will only make things more confusing for players.

Paroling will be in the game, as Lee said. (Lee the betatester, not Lee the General )

[Fatboy]

The maps look great but why do some towns appear twice on the screen?
Once on the map surface & again as a location sprite. e.g. "Humboldt" on your 2nd sample screen. It does makes the map look a little cluttered.

I would be interested to know why you didn't follow the BOA pattern where towns appear only as sprites.

[Pocus]

this will be removed in all locations where there is a sprite (see my foreword!)

[arsan]

Thanks for the answers, Pocus and Spharv!!
Prisioners seems a nice detail!
And what about the statistics/record information? Any improvement from BoA system??

Cheers!

[Pocus]

some yes, but this has been left for the end of the project mostly. For now you get more details on the monthly Victory points you can get, and what are the victory/defeat level. You can also jump now to the map when you click on an objective in the ledger.
You also get the expense balance in the ledger, and the force list should get some overhaul too. I don't think we will have statistical screens of various parameters in 1.00 release, unless we postpone it further (but this is something we would like to have)

[arsan]

No, no, please!!! Don´'t postpone the game!!! leure: leure:
I´m counting the days to febrery 2007 !!!

It´s a minor thing that would be nice to have in a future patch if you find time...
And with excellent AGEOD´s patch philosophy we all know that we could expect much more than bug fixes in the future

I´m glad to hear the force list will be improved.
I didn´t find very the BoA one too usefull so i just scanned the map up and down searching form my units.
But with the bigger armies and map in the future ACW game a good one will be much more needed.

[Hidde]

Yes, statistics! I think I suggested this in some of the BoA forums. I believe that all kinds of summaries of battles, regiment losses, where and when generals died and so on is a great way to increase the immersion factor. By this I mean statistics that is kept and available throughout the game so that one can follow the progress of the war.
One seldom see this in games and I wonder why? Of course it's far more important how the game is designed and balanced but the immersion factor is also important. At least for me. If I only wanted to challenge my brain I can play Sudeko

[Irish Guards]

Looks fantastic, though.. I dont mean to be a nit pick and I know it is still planning but it seems that Cairo is in the wrong state, and the wrong side of the river.

[type7]

Looks fantastic, though.. I dont mean to be a nit pick and I know it is still planning but it seems that Cairo is in the wrong state, and the wrong side of the river.

There actually is a Cairo, MO, but it is much nearer to the middle of the state. So that could have caused some confusion.

[PhilThib]

Yes guys, I guess you are right I'll be correcting this right away.

[Florent]

In the road to Shiloh book, the Union ironclads are listed as Carondelet (instead of Carondolet), Pittsburgh(not Pittsburg) and there is a Mound City (in index there was no Mount Cedar).

[Spharv2]

You have to remember, back in this time period two people living in the same town might not even spell it the same.

When I went through and checked the state maps I did, I was working off of US topographical maps from the time, so to be consistent, went with everything I could find from the one source. If I'd had the CS maps (Not many of those left around) I would have preferred to use those, but you work with what you got. So when you see something that looks wrong, it could be, or it could be different sources. So, blame me if you see something terribly wrong, and I'll go back and check up on it.

[Fatboy]

I haven't seen a Terrain & Weather panel like the one in BOA on the screen shots.
Is this very attractive BOA feature going to exist in the new game?
If not, how will I be able to terrain & identify weather conditions on the map?

[Florent]

Just look at the second screenshot.

[runyan99]

I notice there is a difference between this map and the BoA map. The difference is that cities are represented twice, as both a 'drawing' on the map and as a square game 'piece' on the map as in BoA.

This seems a bit odd. It's slightly clunky when the 'piece' is placed directly over the 'drawing', but I can still see some of the 'drawing' underneath. Clunky, but forgivable. Worse is when the 'piece' is in the wrong place, and I can see both the 'piece' and the 'drawing' in different places. That's just sloppy.

For example, in the second screenshot, the 'piece' for the town of Humbolt is over the 'drawing' of another town, whose name might be McKenzie, but I'm not sure, while I can see the 'drawing' of Humbolt a little to the southwest.

Is this stuff going to be cleaned up a bit? I realize these are in-development screenies.