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All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> Empires in Arms the Napoleonic Wars of 1805 - 1815 >> News from the Beta

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News from the Beta - 4/16/2006 3:44:40 AM

Ralegh

Posts: 1557
Joined: 2/1/2005
Status: offline

I have just done some intensive playing of the beta - here is a little text rundown of how it went:

[I am playing Britain]

In the med, Britain started the game attacking Egypt and someone was kind enough to attack Naples and then let the war lapse: the British Kingdom of Naples added Romagna to the empire. When Turkey went into instability, Britain also took Syria.

In the north, Britain started the game attacking Sweden - Russia also attacked Sweden, and neither backed down! War! Russia conquered Finland while Britain took Sweden and then Denmark. Then a British expeditionary force of 3 corps made a lightning raid on St Petersburg - they got over the walls and forced the ships out, where they were first beaten and then forced to scuttle. The British force then sailed away before the Russian army arrived.

A second British invasion succeeded in taking St Petersburg again, and starting a supply chain towards Moscow. The Russians took St Petersburg back, killing the supply chain, and over the next few months obliterated the British forces. Britain offered informal peace, and the Russians agreed.

At this point Prussia and Spain were leading the game, with Britain 3rd. Britain attacked Spain with 6 full British corps and 2 full Naples corps, driving a supply chain from Gibraltar to both Lisbon and Madrid, and sending Wellington chasing the Spanish naval base. At land, the Spanish were a disaster, loosing their entire army in only 2 months. Their fleet managed to fight through the blockade, but stopped in the sea area outside, where Nelson ran through them several times (they were set to intercept all, so Nelson used his movement points to move through them 3 times!). [That's obviously a bug.] Spain eventually unconditiionally surrendered.

Next: Prussia.

_____________________________

HTH
Steve/Ralegh

Post #: 1

RE: News from the Beta - 4/16/2006 4:27:18 AM

rllahr

Posts: 1
Joined: 4/16/2006
Status: offline

Thank you for the great description of the action, I enjoyed it. Aside from the intercept bug you didn't mention too much about the gameplay experience. Would you, pretty please? Does it seem close to being ready for release?

Thanks again.

(in reply to Ralegh)

Post #: 2

RE: News from the Beta - 4/16/2006 6:53:06 AM

Windfire

Posts: 135
Joined: 10/24/2003
From: Colorado Springs, CO
Status: offline

Ralegh,

Thanks for the info. How challenging is the AI for solo games or as a stand in for missing players?

Paul

(in reply to Ralegh)

Post #: 3

RE: News from the Beta - 4/16/2006 12:36:07 PM

Murat

Posts: 803
Joined: 9/17/2003
From: South Carolina
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Ralegh

Britain took Sweden

Spain eventually unconditiionally surrendered

I found another bug - the game is too Pro British. These 2 events are virtual miracles. I could take Sweden's army and tie down the British army for ages, let alone having Spain's and all the guerillas - Spain should never unconditional unless forced to capitulate - they are designed for that.

(in reply to Ralegh)

Post #: 4

RE: News from the Beta - 4/17/2006 1:22:03 AM

ktotwf

Posts: 182
Joined: 6/25/2004
Status: offline

The British are Matrixs' boytoy apparently.

(in reply to Murat)

Post #: 5

RE: News from the Beta - 4/17/2006 1:39:41 PM

eg0master

Posts: 161
Joined: 3/20/2002
From: Stockholm, Sweden
Status: offline

Is the game really pro-british?
It is not clear from Ralegh's post if he plays a solo game against computer opponents or if he plays PBeM. If it is a solo game isn't this what we can expect? The AI will not be as good as any human player.

However the fact sweden falls pretty easy makes me think.
In a solo game it is abvious all minors attacked by the human player has to be controlled by the computer AI, but in a human vs human game - will minors be controlled by AI or the humans? Under all circumstances it would be nice to have this as an option in a future (if not in the first) release.

_____________________________

24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence? I think not.

(in reply to ktotwf)

Post #: 6

RE: News from the Beta - 4/17/2006 4:33:48 PM

donkuchi19

Posts: 1062
Joined: 3/14/2004
From: Cleveland, Ohio
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: eg0master

Is the game really pro-british?
It is not clear from Ralegh's post if he plays a solo game against computer opponents or if he plays PBeM. If it is a solo game isn't this what we can expect? The AI will not be as good as any human player.

However the fact sweden falls pretty easy makes me think.
In a solo game it is abvious all minors attacked by the human player has to be controlled by the computer AI, but in a human vs human game - will minors be controlled by AI or the humans? Under all circumstances it would be nice to have this as an option in a future (if not in the first) release.

Just like in the board game, in a PBEM, minors attacked by a major power will be controlled by any major power wishing to control it.

(in reply to eg0master)

Post #: 7

RE: News from the Beta - 4/19/2006 5:00:57 AM

Titi

Posts: 153
Joined: 9/15/2001
From: Montr�al
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: donkuchi

quote:

ORIGINAL: eg0master

Is the game really pro-british?
It is not clear from Ralegh's post if he plays a solo game against computer opponents or if he plays PBeM. If it is a solo game isn't this what we can expect? The AI will not be as good as any human player.

However the fact sweden falls pretty easy makes me think.
In a solo game it is abvious all minors attacked by the human player has to be controlled by the computer AI, but in a human vs human game - will minors be controlled by AI or the humans? Under all circumstances it would be nice to have this as an option in a future (if not in the first) release.

Just like in the board game, in a PBEM, minors attacked by a major power will be controlled by any major power wishing to control it.

The question may then be : if there is only 4 players, will the 3 other countries be fully AI controlled countries; some kind of countries with reduced options (no control of minors except few selected one like Sweden for Russia, ottomans for Turkey ...); countries controlled by UMP method or another method (two countries per player) or a mixed choice from the three?

(in reply to donkuchi19)

Post #: 8

RE: News from the Beta - 4/25/2006 4:47:56 AM

Ralegh

Posts: 1557
Joined: 2/1/2005
Status: offline

On the good side - I can play a game through with only one bug that caused a restore from backup (if you hit cancel in a certain "are you sure" message the game gets all confused and you can't proceed).
On the bad side - still lots of things being flushed out.
On the good side - fixes coming fast and furious.
On the bad side - AI tweaking still has a ways to go
On the good side - AI tweaking is on hold until the **** thing obeys the rules.

Currently the nation settings are either human or AI. You can't have an AI nation that doesn't take control of minor countries. There is no UMP option.

No one can stop Britain if they really want to take Sweden - I went in with 3 full corps (one of them cav), so I outnumbered them by about 3:1, with superior morale. Currently the game does not implement obdurate nations.

Minor countries are controlled by major powers as per the rules - regardless of whether the major is a human or AI. War with minor can lapse (and does too often at the moment).

The game is not prejudiced in favour of Britain (well, not any more that EIA is) - I just happened to be playing them this game.

Recent major changes are to streamline the play experience a bit - nominate which minors you are willing to control (for example), and who you would accept a limited surrender from, and stuff like that. It has caused some changes to file formats (to store the extra data) which has invalidated saved games and etc.

< Message edited by Ralegh -- 4/25/2006 5:48:46 AM >

_____________________________

HTH
Steve/Ralegh

(in reply to Titi)

Post #: 9

RE: News from the Beta - 4/25/2006 12:51:37 PM

AdmiralN

Posts: 9
Joined: 8/26/2005
Status: offline

3 full corps?
You mean Britain starts with all those men?! It's a scenario, isn't it? I only played campaigns so far, so I don't know scenarios oobs.

_____________________________

I have only one eye, I have a right to be blind sometimes... I really did not see the signal!

Admiral Horatio Nelson

(in reply to Ralegh)

Post #: 10

RE: News from the Beta - 4/25/2006 2:55:16 PM

Ralegh

Posts: 1557
Joined: 2/1/2005
Status: offline

No - Britain only starts with enough for about a corps and a half. I must have gotten my invasions confused. I didn't have a 3 corps force until I raided StP. I went into Sweden with about 10 factors, and had about 15 attacking Egypt (on the basis that Sweden was easier for me to reinforce). So I actually took the Swedes at about 1:1 odds.

A risky start against humans perhaps - but I was playing without the "France and Britain start at war" option, and wanted to press a little.

_____________________________

HTH
Steve/Ralegh

(in reply to AdmiralN)

Post #: 11

RE: News from the Beta - 6/10/2006 9:10:31 AM

ravinhood