Hubert Cater

TCP/IP is coming soon... Hubert

Good point, so I am thinking then the easiest way to do this would be to remove the 'Reclaim' button and then treat each 'Down Arrow' beside a research area as the original 'Reclaim' button. This should act as you outlined above and make things really straightforward and easy to implement. I like it. Hubert

It's an interesting approach as well, although I think for me it would be a little too complicating for almost the same thing. Hubert

I don't see how it could get worse other than slowing advances down. Mathematically it's the same for all sides, the higher you get the slower in theory your advances will become. So if for example you both have level 1 jets and the allies have 2 chits and the axis have 5 chits in jet technology, then the allies have an 8% chance for the next level as opposed to the normal 10% whereas the axis have a 20% chance as opposed to 25% chance. This is a drop in 20% for both sides, same for everybody, so no real advantage or disadvantage that I can see. Now if the axis continue in successful advances in jet technology their probablility of attaining the next level decreases by 20% each turn, thus slowing their advances down by a greater amount for their current investment as compared to your investment/chance ratio at the lower level. For example if you are still at level 1 then you have only faced a 20% drop in investment/chance ratio whereas if the axis is at level 2 jets still with 5 research chits they are facing a 40% drop in investment/chance ratio. I sort of see this as research gap helper more than anything else solely based upon investments in each area. The closer you get to similar levels the same the drop in chance percentages, but no better or worse considering the argument that the Allies will still only have 1 or 2 chits in any given research area and this is the same regardless of research model. This is doable as well, but perhaps a middle ground of losing 50% of your investment in any area whenever you decide to switch may work as well. At least to have the option but pay a price. No promises on this part just yet, as I have to think about the implementation a bit. Hubert

I was refering to PBEM, although in fairness it's more than likely my playtesting was not as extensive as the public play done with SC once the game was released. Interesting offer, but I honestly don't have the time right now to do this, well at least not until I finish up a few things first. I will consider an open game period once I am satisfied with the TCP/IP and any other remaining items for the game. Currently I am undefeated as either side with default options selected, and I WILL honour anyone that dethrones me It's an interesting point, I am also considering adding a few research chits to the current US and Soviet setups to help balance the game in this respect as well. Originally I believe the 39' campaign had the US and USSR begin with 3 and 4 reseach chits as opposed to the 1 and 2 that exists now. Can't remember exactly why I changed it to a lower value, but I believe it was argued that the Axis was at too much of a disadvantage. Gotta love irony Just to clear up what I think the research model change will achieve is (to all posters) that it will still allow a quick advance in research at the lower levels, (same for all countries), but may balance out the incredibly high research levels attained prior to all major countries having become engaged. It may not in all cases, but that is part of the randomness of the model I guess. Hubert

OK wasn't sure. OK this can be looked at again, but as time permits after I tackle some of the outstanding items first. Hubert

The definition of realism here is the tricky part and I think this goes back to the two different camps I mentioned with respect to research. For one camp, realism is a research model that closely follows the historical achievements with allowance for minor variances, for the other camp, realism is allowing you to dictate what research areas you want to focus on and when, that will allow you to deviate from the historical record and chart your own path to technological achievements. OK fair enough, although I think the current setups are pretty close, but if there is evidence to show things are a bit out of whack please forward the details away! I think this is where we would have to disagree and where I am clearly in camp #2 My decision to go with the current research model was specifically to go against the conventions of "historical advances". I would say then it's probably best to think of adjustments within the context of the current research style and I for one kind of like the EUD's proposal, it's a slight tweak to the current model that should alleviate some of the concerns from camp #1. What are my reasons? Well I for one like the idea of the "what-if's" and the recreation of the war under your supreme leadership. For example, what if you as the leader of the German war machine poured significant funding into developing jet technology early on, would it have brought you victory. There was some evidence to suggest that Germany could of had jets by late 41 early 42 had they chosen to rigourously pursue that are of research etc. Plus with this evidence many historians have argued that it may have changed the course of the war. This leads to another argument that says then the game is inbalanced because the Germans develop jets and there is no way to defeat them. Well what can I say, that's war and your opponent has changed the historical parameters on you. OK but in fairness, it is tough, and there still be some tweaks in order, but I suggest that it's still possible to defeat this strategy as the Allies, although this is probably better left for another thread Hubert

You lost me

It would work as follows: Level 0 -> Each research point invested = 5% Level 1 -> Each research point invested = 4% Level 2 -> Each research point invested = 3% Level 3 -> Each research point invested = 2% Level 4 -> Each research point invested = 1% Once you get to level 5, according to the formula each research point would be 0%, but that's irrelevant since you can't get any higher research at that point and you are better off investing in something else anyways. To be honest I kind of disagree, if you increase the percentages than the likelyhood would be even faster of tech progressions and according to some of the arguments posted here I would think it would cause even more headaches. Mind you I should state that I generally don't have an issue with the current system as is, (I know I don't count, but I've been consisten in winning as either side) I think there is much more that decides the game than research alone. As Immer and others have pointed out, I tried to make the game similar to chess where every decision matters, like unit positions, deployment, when and where to use them, experience and so on. I am not saying it is perfect system, but if it can be adjusted slightly to accomodate most wishes than why not. Agreed Hubert [ September 12, 2002, 11:53 AM: Message edited by: Hubert Cater ]

OK give EUD the prize! I have to admit that this tech model really caught my attention. I think it sticks with the original flavour of the design but just may add that tweak to make a lot of people happy, i.e. the randomness is still there but does effect a diminishing return as you move higher through the tech tree. The idea that it may influence the spreading around of tech chits works well for me as well. So the question is what say you all? Any objectors? Hubert

This will be addressed in a future patch. The idea I am going with is to adjust the USSR with a *quasi three capital* system in terms of supply and production purposes. So Moscow, Sverdlovsk and Stalingrad will all act as *roots of the tree* similar to how a single capital works now. This should at least make it more interesting for the eastern front. Hubert

Kind of, HQ's exert influence in two different ways, supply and leadership influence. Supply influence affects any unit, even minor ones, while leadership influence only affects units of the same nation as the HQ. The change/fix with the last patch was to extend supply influence to other friendly HQ's since this was not previously possible. No problem! Hubert

The biggest parts of this patch were technical in nature, like resolving the CD detect issue, memory and CPU usage issues etc. As for the HQ's, I believe you misunderstood the upgrade here, they haven't changed their supply effects over minors, i.e. this is still the same, the only change here is that HQ's can now influence the supply value of each other. So this means that they can be linked, and can help in terms of supplying trapped HQ's and subsequent units in mountain areas etc. Hope that helps, Hubert

No this part won't change, sorry about that. Hubert

Hi Ralph, Not really sure what the problem could be, to reset your display settings try right clicking on your desktop and selecting properties. From there you will be able to select the 'Settings' tab and reset your original display settings, i.e. screen size, bit depth etc. If you click on the 'Advanced' button and then select 'Adapter' you should be able to reset your refresh rates to your original ones and this will eliminate the flashing. Try upgrading to patch v1.04 and let me know if you encounter the same problem, this would be better so we can discuss any tech issues with the latest version. Hope this helps, Hubert

The patch is self inclusive of all previous patches, so no need to download version 1.03 or 1.02, v1.04 will contain all the previous changes as well. In theory if you self extract the patch into your current installation folder it should work with no problems, even with mods etc., but if some of the core files have been changed in an unpredicted way then yes the best way around this is to reinstall the game, apply the patch and then apply any mods you have selected. Good luck! Hubert

Thanks!

OK I'll check this! Hubert

Great thread!

Try updating to v1.04 available here: http://www.battlefront.com/products/stratcom/download.html If you have a problem with the ALT-TAB keys you can now also use the ESC key. Hubert

Problem solved with v1.04! Download it here: http://www.battlefront.com/products/stratcom/download.html Hubert

If you update to version 1.04 this should no longer cause the game to crash, instead you will receive a warning message. Check the file size of the PBEM game, if it is really small, less than 300K then try zipping the file first as some ISP's strip these files for some reason. Winzip is a free utility available here http://www.winzip.com If after using this method it still does not work, let me know and I'll see what I can do. Hubert [ September 09, 2002, 10:10 AM: Message edited by: Hubert Cater ]

Hi Ralph, You won't need the patch to play v1.0 but it does fix a few bugs and enhances the PBEM play. The latest patch is v1.04 and is available here http://www.battlefront.com/products/stratcom/download.html Hubert

Thanks for the post Matt! All previously saved games from 1.02 and 1.03 are compatible, games from 1.0 will no longer cause the game to crash, now you will receive a warning message. Enjoy! Hubert

Great thread starter Russ and great follow ups guys. I've bookmarked this one and will get back to you on it from time to time with what will be considered as viable changes. I've just got TCP/IP at the top of the list right now, but as soon as that's finished up I will get back here ASAP. Hubert