Hubert Cater

SMG42, Graphically it is easier under the isometric view, i.e. a little bit more space for the overlapping effect, and for combat it gives you 8 movement directions as opposed to 6 with hexes. Plus it has a little bit more of a modern/fresh feel as opposed to hexes (which was important for this sequel) but at the same time it is not to say I will never do hexes again

Thank you but I think the artist deserves most of the credit for making it look so good Now, you're mods aren't too bad either... saw the palm trees... keep up the great work!

Short break seems to be in order... after that... who knows?

Jim, I'd need to see your system specs to be sure but on rare occasions when the video card does not reset its memory properly a quick reboot seems to resolve this type of delay... perhaps this was the case?

Sorry my mistake Fantomas. Yes once you edit the effect of the terrain movement cost value this will also affect the final supply calculations as you have discovered... so this makes each terrain fully editable in terms of movement and supply. FYI, I had previously included supply penalties on units when adjacent two enemy units, similar to the extra cost to movement and this was the value that I had de-linked from supply calculations (as I had remembered changing something that had to do with supply) and mixed them up for your question.

Fantomas, currently supply is not affected by terrain so you can do what you like by reusing the depression tiles to model any other type of terrain as the movement cost values are editable.

This modifier can only be set in the Editor and will be the applicable value whenever the next Industrial Technology level is achieved. The 25% simply refers to the maximum value that can be set in the Editor.

This is a helper tool for editing the AI and is described in the plan.txt under the AI event scripts.

All in-game bitmaps are certainly editable but unfortunately there is no built in tool for creating 3-D icons per se, but depending on your skill level and Editing tools there is no restriction from adding in custom sets of your own.

Santabear, Bill is a tester simply expressing his opinion and you are certainly free to agree and/or disagree at any time. At the same time though, and as I have similarily expressed in another thread, please do not let it be taken as an official and/or final word on the game. Personally I can appreciate your concerns, as it is understandable not everyone will agree with some of the choices I have made, and while the game's graphical implementation is not likely to change any time soon, perhaps some of the mods such as Fantomas' 2-D mod will better suit your taste. I hope this helps, Hubert

Well if I am the God of SC2 I guess that would make you the God of *extreme* beta testing SC2 newbies beware!

I would agree if you could not move and/or disband units of an inactive major but as is it is just too much of an exploit. Yes, I could add more special rules like "you cannot move a unit or disband a unit" but I've never been a big fan a lot of special rules, so in the end I think this really is the best decision... at least for now until I can think of something better.

JameyCribbs, I think you raise good points and in the end I think you'll find that SC2 is just as flexible (if not more) than SC1 when it comes to the types of alternate yet *historical* strategies you are after. For example, the 1940 Demo Campaign starts with the ideal and optimal setting for the Invasion of Norway and the Fall of France, whereas if both players were to start in the 1939 campaign there would naturally be the possibility of quite a different setup (depending on the movement of forces, the results of previous battles etc.) by the time the spring of 1940 comes around. Essentially, while France may still (and likely) fall it might not be such a quick rollover as it is found in the Demo campaign. Don't forget, while Blashy enjoys stating his opinions, they do not in any way (or ever) *officially* speak for the final product... and if by chance you are looking for the final word... look no further Hubert

This is actually an issue that came up during Beta testing and personally I thought we could balance out the option with sufficient penalties but now that I have finally had a chance to think about this some more I suspect the best solution would be to just eliminate the possibility of a DoW on a friendly but inactive major. The option can still exist however if you decide to set countries like Italy or the USSR as Neutral via the Editor. This way you can play a more wide open game (if you like) but it avoids some of the additional exploits posted here.

2. Terrain only affects movement for now and only this is editable

This is just so players have a chance to discover the game for themselves first before the pro here has his fun

Hellraiser, I also want to reiterate what has also been mentioned in this thread that if there is indeed a found exploit that becomes fool proof I will definitely work to counter it as soon as possible. Hubert

Yes this should be possible and as you mentioned before in another thread it unfortunately looks like I missed a few scripts for out of the box alternate strategies. I'll also work to include these for the next patch.

Hellraiser, We realize that what you think you have found means the game is broken, and while we are saying that we have tested all of these varying options, at the same time, essentially, myself and the Beta testers are just trying to not give away all the strategies and consequences just yet. It is true, that in in the end the game allows you to do all sorts of things, and IMO this is a good thing as it allows for some very wide open strategies but this time around there truly are more checks and balances and ultimately more consequences than existed in SC1. I can give you a few hints such as what Edwin mentioned about having cities wide open as a result of using units to float around as U-Boat spotters, and this coupled with reduced MPPs as well as Production Delay... and if you start thinking long term here I think you'll discover that some of these strategies are not as good as you might think

Not at all off topic (for me) as I enjoy the language very much and will happily discuss it with anyone that is interested... and now is probably a much better tim for this type of discussion that let's say... ohhh... I don't know the last year or so when I couldn't even breathe If it ever does become really off topic then private email always works nicely as well. Glad you might take a look and I don't think you'll be dissapointed. They have an open developer email group, you'll notice the link on the main page, and the group members are all very friendly, professional and helpful if you ever do get started.

This came up just around the time we went Gold but the good news is that I believe I fixed this today. A few test runs should confirm this and I'll try and get all the recent fixes into an updated demo shortly.

Aesopo, I think there will be a few tangible surprises that should become readily apparent with this type of strategy under the full game. Like Blashy, I don't want to give everything away here but I can give you the quick example wrt the idea of the Italian navy possibly blockading Allied movements in the Med... eventually we came full circle and discovered that this is possibly the worst thing they can do early in the game. A few full games should reveal the reasons why but even now you might be able to guess the strategies and effective counter strategies that might just be in play under these circumstances.

Excel, This is actually not a bad idea and one that came up in the original design phase of the game. Desert Dave for example was a big propenent of expanded Amphibious Tech and unfortunately this was one of the areas that had to get cut, and there were many, just to get the game done. The good thing is that what we have now is not too far off (believe it or not but the already existing extra cost for Amphibious Transports can have a detremental effect on long term investments such as Barbarossa and Research/Diplomacy), and as mentioned can be handled pretty well in multiplayer and by the current event scripts, but perhaps a few AI tweaks coupled with an expanded Amphibious Tech and/or Cost system (simple enough to just have it cost that much more for earlier invasions but not too much) and we might just have a winner

I'll definitely second this and happily add that Bill did an excellent job putting together this manual for you guys. A fantastic read </font>