Slitherine

quote:

ORIGINAL: Dunedain

And also, since surface combat between battle lines will be at the very heart of this add-on,
and we players will be paying to own and play this, as opposed to a free mod, then it is
well within the reasonable expectations of the players that we finally get the ability to intercept
enemy surface TF's with our own surface TF's while they are traveling through any ocean hex
en-route to their destination. :) Even if it is just the "poor man's" version of intercepts, as
has been proposed on this board before, where a check is done any time enemy surface TF's pass
through the same hex (like is done for submarine attacks now), to see if a surface engagement occurs.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Dunedain

That's great to hear. :)

For you fellows that are concerned about the efforts to fix/improve WitP and how WPO will affect that,
I think WPO will be very good in that respect. It's a new add-on that Matrix endorses and will sell,
and that means continued support for WitP.

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ORIGINAL: jnier

quote:

ORIGINAL: Bodhi
While I wish you all the best with your mod, I'm a bit annoyed that Mike Wood has been spending "a significant amount of time changing parts of the code" when the all major bugs haven't been fixed. IMHO, this should only be done after the bugs have been fixed, after all I purchased WitP not War Plan Orange.

Depends on what "significant" means. Significant could mean only a modest investment of time. OTOH, It could mean a lot of time. Let's not jump to conclusions before we have more info.

I do not see ANY major bugs when I play WITP, so I can't fathom the attitude of some people on this board. The folks at Matrix and 2 by 3 (not to mention Tankerace) could quit making wargames tommorrow and make a lot more money doing something else. They've decided not to do that and pursue their (and our) passion. So how about we give them the benefit of the doubt, at least until we have some real information? Then you can complain all you want.

"War makes Heros on both sides." Hero (the movie)



Thanks !!

KPAX

quote:

ORIGINAL: Tankerace

Hi guys. I have an anouncement.

War Plan Orange has evolved far beyond the small WWI style scenario that I had started back in August. It has come to consume almost my entire private life, plus a hefty amount of work over at 2by3 and Matrix Games.

To fully get the effect of a 1920's naval war, a good number of changes needed to be done to the standard War in the Pacific game. Mike Wood has graciously helped out, and is spending a significant amount of time changing parts of the code for this mod. These aren't small tweaks either.

As to my own part, I have poured enormous amounts of time into this, in scenario design, research, graphic editing, testing, and so on.

Throughout War Plan Orange's development, I have been in close contact with Matrix and 2by3, getting help, support, ideas, and more from them. They too have had hand in this project.

Throughout the development, the possibility was broached that this would be sold, for a small fee, as an official expansion. I am in favor of this, for several reasons. Number one, this gurantees several scenarios. As opposed to a single, long scenario, at the moment of release WPO will include a good number of scenarios. In addition with continued support, I can devote time after the release to do more scenarios, and provide continued support.

You guys need to understand, that this is not a simple “scenario modification.” This is not one or two graphic changes, or a few modifications. This is an entirely new database, new scenarios, new graphics, and thanks to the guys at Matrix, new code.

War Plan Orange stands on the verge of being a great expansion to an already great game. I have spent a lot of time, effort, money, and sweat into making it. I am sure that the end result will be something that everyone will be pleased with.

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WPO, as well as some of the user-defined scenarios now being published, needs graphics files that are altered from the basic game. Wouldn´t it be nice to be able to assign a dedicated graphics directory to a scenario in the Scenario Editor so the game engine automatically loads the correct graphics when you select that scenario? (There doesn´t seem to be an official Wish List where I could post this idea).

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I'll pay. This sounds great. As long as it is less than 150 Euros.

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WPO, as well as some of the user-defined scenarios now being published, needs graphics files that are altered from the basic game. Wouldn´t it be nice to be able to assign a dedicated graphics directory to a scenario in the Scenario Editor so the game engine automatically loads the correct graphics when you select that scenario? (There doesn´t seem to be an official Wish List where I could post this idea).

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Second comment: Somewhere I read that WPO contains all four planned Hoods for the RN, and for budgetary reasons none of the advanced ships under order at the time of the Washington Conference. I think you did this for play balance. This would never have happened in RL. After digesting the Jutland lessons, the RN realized how much the original design was dead on birth, in fact the Director of Naval Construction lobbied hard to have Hood scrapped on the stocks "to make way for something useful". The design was heavily modified to increase its protection, and just Hood was actually laid down, a case of wartime expediency, the other ships were suspended and then cancelled when it was clear that the German 15-inch battlecruisers they were intended to counter wouldn´t be built. The RN put all its effort behind the G3 battlecruiser design which had the kind of protection they felt to be necessary in future. If you remember that Hood cost 6,25 million pounds to build, you can be very certain that the RN would have preferred building two G3´s instead of three Hoods, whatever the budgetary restraints. I think you should change the OOB of WPO accordingly.

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PS....not to diminish your contribution in any way Tanker, but if Matrix is going to put their logo on this you guys just have to do something about those A/C graphics of yours.

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Tanker - maybe you could whip up a quick poll to post on the forum, like the earlier one about how to "fix" night bombing. Although it would not be scientific, you could at least get a sense of how many people will pay for the Warplan Orange mod and what they would be willing to pay.

I would be willing to pay, but not as much as I did for WiTP - maybe about $25.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Tankerace

If that is around $80 USD, then it will be MUCH less than 150 Euros.

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ORIGINAL: Tankerace

I want to make a comment, with mikemike suggestion in mind.

Because I turned down the G3 design (for reasons stated above, and the fact that it contradicts where I wanted to take War Plan Orange), I want to make one thing clear. Just because I turned down adding in the G3 does not mean I won't listen to player suggestions. If there is something you would like to see in the mod, go ahead and post it. Minor changes may be done, but understand that the more stuff I add in, the longer War Plan Orange gets delayed. As it is, I already have added in a cropload of new stuff, and I am still trying to get that finished.

I stated this way back when, and I'll state it again.

With War Plan Orange, my aim is to recreate a hypothetical naval war of the 1920s, one in which the Washington Naval Treaty causes a war rather than ends in. While "never were" ships will be included, Only those that were laid down, or were about to be laid down will be included. As of this stage of completion for War Plan Orange, this means the Tosa and South Dakota (12 X 16" variant) class battleships, and Amagi, Lexington, and final three Admiral class Battlecruisers. This also means armoured cruisers and predreadnoughts, scrapped 1921-23, will also be included. The following ships are out, and I have no plans to add them. I had decided this on day one of the project. The ships are:

British designs L2, L3, M3, M2, N3, G3
US: South Dakota 9 18In design (1921 design)
Japan: Hiraga 1921 design, Kii class design.

These ships were never intended to be in War Plan Orange, nor will be. The reason being the ships were never laid down, and in All cases but the Japanese Kii, never ordered. I am wanting to keep War Plan Orange in the realm of possibility, and I feel that to allow all of these super designs would pervert what I am trying to do with it. From a realistic standpoint, if you consider that for the Amagis, South Dakotas, and Lexingtons won't arrive until 1926-28, and they had been ordered in 1921, with a war on in 22, and ordered in 23, it is reasonable to assume, at this point in history, that these designs I have chosen not oto include would not have been ready for battle until after the time frame of War Plan Orange.

However, should enough of the players of War Plan Orange like to have all these paper battleships floating around, I will add them in (provided that enough want them in). However, I have felt from day one that they would pervert what I am trying to do with the game. If any one has comments on this, or have stuff they would like added in (Airships are a no), then please feel free to post them.

quote:

ORIGINAL: mlees

Dunno if this is OT or if it has been addressed, but in another thread, many players are saying that land combat in China is too easy for Japan, and gives the Japanese player too many VP's...
Do you deactivate the Chinese and Russian theatres to concentrate the player's attentions on the naval war?

quote:

ORIGINAL: Dunedain

Tankerace: I want to be clear that I'm not suggesting that it's up to you to put this in the mod,
you're designing the mod itself (and doing a great job :) ), I'm just saying that I don't think it's
asking that much for Matrix to put this very useful feature in, seeing as how it's an official add-on
that we'll be paying for and all. And this has to be the single most wanted feature in WitP,
anyhow. So this is the perfect time to do it. :)

I understand what you're saying about intercepts, but I'm not talking about some pre-planned
precision timed intercept that would be hard to execute. I'm talking about two surface combat TF's
traveling along near some islands or on their way to some other islands and both TF's have orders
to intercept and destroy any enemy surface combat TF's they come across. So when the TF's enter
the same hex as they are traveling, assuming they spot one another (this, of course, would have
modifiers for weather, if it's night time, the skill of the crews (lookouts, etc.), plus a random modifier
that determines exactly how close the two TF's are to one another within the hex in the first place, etc.),
they can turn and engage each other. Or if one TF is slower than the other and doesn't want to fight,
then perhaps the faster TF can pursue and bring them to battle.

This is the sort of "intercept" I'm speaking of, and it would be entirely possible for surface combat TF's
of this time to fight each other when encountering the enemy while traveling through ocean hexes
in the manner described above. :)