Erik Rutins
Posts: 37503
Joined: 3/28/2000
From: Vermont, USA
Status: offline
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Hi everyone,
The v1.03 update is in testing, but we thought we'd give you the tentative list of changes so far. Rob has been working overtime on this update and we think it will be a very nice overall improvement to gameplay, stability and AI behavior. Thanks to all of you who took the time to post suggestions and bugs that have made it into this release.
Changes in Flashpoint version 1.03
• New Feature: The “sudden death” rule is now an option that can be turned on or off via the Setup / Game Options page. Look for the item “Game Over when either Side < 20% Line Strength”. Further, if you choose to leave sudden death enabled you will be asked whether or not you want to continue the game when it is invoked. In that case use the “Cancel” button to continue on to the bitter end. In either case the rules relating to the claiming of VPs in proportion of line strengths as described on page 73 in the user manual will NOT apply to the final victory calculation.
• New Feature: The supply of specialized artillery ammo types is now somewhat limited. Sorry folks, but the era of free unlimited FASCAM (minelets), smoke, improved conventional munitions (ICM) and chemical munitions has drawn to an end. The concept now is that each artillery unit that is capable of firing anything other than HE rounds has a chance depending on nationality and type of round of running out of that type of ammo immediately after any given use. The percent chances of running out are listed below. Doing it this way imposes a reasonable limit without descending into viewpoint-inconsistent micromanagement and bookkeeping. Please note that HE is not subject to this limitation - it just runs out when the final rounds of ammo are used up.
Nation - FASCAM / Smoke / Chemical / ICM
US - 10 / 6 / 20 / 2
British - 20 / 5 / 20 / 5
WGerman - 20 / 10 / 20 / 3.5
Soviet - 33 / 3.3 /50 / no ICM
This means that, for example, any time a particular American artillery unit shoots FASCAM, there is a 10% chance that the unit will have just exhausted its supply of FASCAM rounds. It will not be able to fire any more until after it has been undisturbed on Rest and Refit orders for at least 30 minutes. Emergency resupply does not count! This will compel the player to evaluate the overall situation more rationally and not try to carpet everything on the map with gas and minelets. Please note that ICM (improved conventional munitions) are not selectable by the player but are used as needed by the units depending on the target in question. Since they have roughly 10x the effectiveness of conventional HE rounds they are extremely important for the NATO forces to have.
If a unit runs out of an ammo type then an entry will be made in the staff diary and a combat hint will also be displayed if combat hints are enabled. To further emphasize the issue, the unit badge in the UDP will have the words “Out of chemical”, etc in yellow letters on it. They will remain until the unit has undergone a full 30 minutes of Rest and Refit.
• Map visualization changes:
o New overlay: Max Combat Range. This overlay shows the area covered by longest range weapon in the unit. If that weapon is an indirect fire weapon then all locations within range are highlighted. If it is a direct fire weapon then all locations within the LOS and range are highlighted. Note: in the circumstances this may extend past current visible range – this is intentional.
o New overlay: Max Spottable Range. This is the surrounding area from which the friendly unit can be seen by a potential enemy unit. If an enemy unit is not in one of the highlighted squares, then the friendly unit in question is not spottable. Bear in mind though that even if there is an enemy in a spottable location it may not see you for other reasons….
o There is now an intermediate twilight map layer in addition to the day / night layers. Twilight occurs for the hour before sunrise and the hour after sunset. The visible change is automatic and helps to highlight the new visible range limit.
o The ‘P’ (Path) command used to show a series of little yellow triangles denoting the exact proposed unit path but not the location of the waypoints. The ‘W’ (All Friendly Waypoints) command showed all the waypoints but not the actual paths – just arbitrary lines connecting the dots. This has been changed so that ‘P’ command shows the exact path for the current unit (only) using an alpha blended and anti-aliased yellow (default) line from location to location on the actual path with the usual yellow dots at the waypoints. The ‘W’ command shows the same thing for all friendly units at once - but at the risk of some confusion if the paths cross too much. The ‘P’ and ‘W’ commands are now mutually exclusive.
o From time to time there has been a request that we simply draw a line from an attacking unit to a defending unit to make clear who is attacking who with direct fire. This has been implemented but is turned off by default. Look for a menu item Game / Show Line From Attacker to Defender. Both units must be on the map – this routine does not work for off-map units. It is now crystal clear who is attacking who. This is particularly helpful if the attacker is unspotted. He will still be unspotted but this new fire line will show you where the fire is coming from.
o A new selection screen has been created so that individual map overlay, grid line and other colours can be edited by the player and established as game defaults. The level of transparency can also be changed. This will allow the player to create a distinctly different hue for each kind of overlay so that he can tell which is in effect at any given time. Look for menu item View / Set Map Overlay Colors. Yes, it is possible to create unsightly or alternatively, invisible, colours. If you want to experiment with this you might want to consider keeping a copy of the original FPG_Colors.c32 file handy!
• New Feature: there is now a small ‘Victory Bar’ located to the right of the Radio Message Level indicators. The purpose of this indicator is to show which way the current VP balance is swinging. This is to help players realize they are in trouble on a timely basis! A percentage number is superimposed over top and is calculated in terms of whoever is ahead at that point. If the bar is mainly blue and it reads “90%” then the NATO player has 90% of the VPs collected so far. If the bar is mainly red then it is the Warsaw Pact player that has 90% of the points.
• New Feature: You now have the option to turn off the combat reports of ‘unspotted kills’ e.g. for minefields and arty where the target unit is not actually spotted by any friendly unit. Look for the new menu item Game / Reveal Unspotted Kills and leave it unchecked to obtain this effect. Hit animations and also the combat hint reporting the kill will be suppressed.
• New Feature: There was a request for an option to abbreviate the display of artillery barrages on the grounds that they slowed the pacing of the turn resolution unduly. A new option has been created that will reduce the SFX to a single token animation and explosion no matter what the intensity called for. Look for a menu item Game / Abbreviate Artillery SFX. This value is set to False by default.
• New Feature: A new combat hint and staff diary entry are created to reflect losses taken by off-map arty units during turn resolution to CB fire. The losses were being taken as of version 1.02 but not formally reported until now.
• New Feature: The unit popup menu had Barrage as a possible artillery order. Barrage now has a submenu for the various types of barrage (Harassing, Neutralizing, Smoke, etc) as an alternative to digging down into the combobox on the Unit Description Panel. Either way of specifying the barrage type works equally well.
• Scenario Editor: The Chain of Command tree will now let you move units around and resubordinate them to other units. This will affect the way the AI will make groups if the AI is in control. Just drag and drop the units.
• Important Fixes:
o There have been over 30 tweaks and adjustments to the game AI. Amongst other things unit doctrine will now be enforced a little more rigorously and more units will have to move back during turn resolution to conform to requirements. The unit involuntary movement (“scooting”) rules have been extensively rewritten too.
o When resupplying a unit with Rest and Refit orders you used to get a standard 18 (NATO) or 12 (WP) resupply ammo points. Now if the specific unit type can be found in the unit data table you will get the specified Ammo amount instead. This may be larger or smaller in the circumstances but represents a ‘proper refill’.
o The accuracy and range attenuation formulas have been carefully reworked. The net effect is that there will be somewhat fewer kills at the longer ranges and that units will be able to move somewhat better while under long range fire.
o Hints for arty, air, nuke "waypoints" now say “TRP” instead so as to not be confused with a movement waypoint hint.
o Sometimes the Arty and Nuclear toolbar buttons were enabled but using them would not fetch an eligible unit. This was the result of two different tests being applied and has been straightened out now.
o The Setup Boundary boxes are now shown in blue for the NATO player and in red for the Warsaw Pact player.
o The intermittent ‘crash on program exit’ and a few other minor skinning problems have all been fixed.
o In version 1.02 at the conclusion of a PBEM game the surviving enemy units would initially be visible for the post mortem but would then disappear if clicked on or scrolled off map. This was a flagging problem that has been fixed.
o The Windows file “thumbs.db” is continuing to cause a problem from time to time in the two briefings directories. Now whenever a new briefing is opened all pre-existing files (including thumbs.db) in both briefings directories are deleted.
o In version 1.02 when a scenario was started that had enemy minefields as part of the initial setup, the mines were visible to the other player during the pre-game setup phase. Fixed.
Regards,
- Erik
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