Hubert Cater

Long answer short... yes. Part of the problem is the game engine I use is 2D and if the base of the engine were 3D this would not be a problem as 3D naturally supports the idea of 'zoom'. It is doable in 2D with some tricks like already having prepared bitmaps at the desired zoom levels (but this means loading even more bitmaps into memory and this is not a good solution as I'm already close to max video memory as it is due to all the layers in an SC map) and some video cards support bitmap stretching which can be used to zoom but not all do so that is one of the reasons I never put a high priority on it, since if I move to a 3D engine to reproduce a 2D game, the time and effort would simply be better put there. For the zoomable War Map I use the native Windows stretching commands but these are not optimized for speed so if I were to do the same thing for the actual game map, i.e. not use DirectX, then it would essentially be unplayable as it would be VERY slow. But all that being said I am still planning on looking into it and for any applicable/alternate solutions when I have a bit more time. Hubert

It is still on my list of things to consider for the future, i.e. definitely not forgotten, but as you can guess with the limited time and resources on my end some items just have to wait for down the road. Believe me, I wish this wasn't the case either . Hubert

Hi Dirk, Just a quick response in that Dutch East Indies are represented as their own territory and while we originally had a relationship between the Low Countries and the Dutch East Indies it was difficult to model the Japanese relationship with the DEI for oil as well so in the end it was modified to give priority to Japan as this was a large source of Oil supply for them historically. That being said there are a lot of modifiers that can affect this oil supply and needless to say the DEI is very important in this respect for both sides to play just right. Hubert

The scale has actually changed in that the map will appear a bit smaller than in previous releases. While the game engine can now support larger maps, in fact this release allows for the biggest maps yet via the Editor at 512x256, we decided to focus on making the game more playable by going with a smaller map. As a result you will notice that we reduced some of the unit builds and adjusted some of the allowable unit build types but overall the focus was more or less on making a fine grand strategy game that retained all the elements of previous releases but on a Global scale. As I'm sure you are aware, it is a tricky balance between content and playability but after developing and play testing this one for well over a year now I'm very confident we achieved just the right balance. Honestly, once you are in game and having to move your units and account for all the necessary strategies, i.e. production, unit placement, offensives and so on (for both theaters) it quickly becomes apparent that even at this scale the game demands quite a bit from the player. A quick aside here in that playing Japan is probably going to be the hardest to get just right as the preparation for an efficient Operation Z is probably one of the most difficult undertakings an SC player will face to date. All this being said though, there is an unofficial mod being worked on by Nupremal that promises to be simply outstanding at the full sized map of 512x256. For reference you can take a look at his Global mod for the Pacific Theater release to get an idea on just what we will be looking at here once his mod is ready for release. Hope this helps, Hubert

The best we can say for now is before the end of the first quarter of this year... that being said we are also looking forward to this release as well, quite a bit actually Hubert

Confirming with AzGungHo's reply we also have a tester running it just fine under Windows 7 64-bit. Glad to hear you are enjoying the games and hopefully you will enjoy the new release just as much Hubert

Hi Lampcord, Below is the full text from the Victory Conditions page and hopefully it paints a better picture of just what the campaign is all about * * * The world is poised on the edge of the abyss as the two most powerful dictators in history have formed an alliance to take over the globe. Top secret clauses in the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939 include plans for the division between Germany and the USSR not only of Poland, but also of Europe, Africa and the Far East. This Pact paves the way for Hitler to take control of central and western Europe while Stalin is free to impose his version of Communism throughout Asia. So, just how did this unlikely alliance come about? In the summer of 1939 Japan and China made peace, signing a friendship treaty whereby Japan retained control of Manchuria and annexed the cities of Tsingtao, Shanghai and Hainan in China. In return, Japan is paying China a sizeable subsidy to restore China's economy and infrastructure. This Sino-Japanese peace treaty was prompted by a military takeover in Japan by army officers seeking to avenge their defeat at the hands of the Red Army, and these officers have pulled the Japanese army out of China to send it straight into action against the USSR. Not everyone in China welcomed a peace treaty with the hated Japanese, most notably Mao's Communists who have greatly expanded in size and scope and are currently engaged in secret diplomacy with Stalin's agents. A Chinese civil war could break out at any moment, especially if Soviet forces approach Mao's stronghold in Yenan province. With Japan and the USSR at war, Hitler instructed his foreign minister von Ribbentrop to sign a Pact with the USSR, the intention of which is to keep Stalin embroiled in conflicts in Asia for as long as possible, thus neutralising any threat from the east to Hitler's own plans to conquer Europe. As Hitler's Panzers drive into Poland and the Red Army looks poised to defeat the Japanese in Manchuria, is the free world doomed? One can only hope that the world's largest democracy, the United States of America, will wake up to the danger and save the day before it's too late.

Unfortunately not for the game map but only in the War Map section of the game. Hope this helps, Hubert

Amadeus, Sorry to hear about the trouble, can you tell me for what version of WaW this is for and can you then send me the Error.sav turn so that I could take a look? This can be found in your Error directory in the SC2 WaW installation folder. I would also need instructions on how to repeat it, i.e. if this was your turn I would need to know what you did to create the crash etc. Send to support@furysoftware.com Thanks, Hubert

Just a quick update that the Manual has now been updated to reference the new combat model. This can now be found on page 38 highlighted by the 'New!' marker. Hubert

This is a great idea and a tough call at the same time as we originally introduced PBEM saving at the end of the turn to limit PBEM game abuse where players were usually replaying their turns, or portions of their turns, until they achieved the desirable result. Playing Hotseat would be a way to resolve this as you can save at any time... but granted there is no turn replay with Hotseat so this has a downside as well. Hubert

Thanks for the positive responses, always much appreciated and I can confirm that the map can indeed be modded much larger to 512x256 tiles where the current Global maps, i.e. the one that will be included in the release, are 256x64 in size. Officially there won't be any theater specific maps as we already have SC releases that cover those, but as usual there is no limitation from using the Editor to create these on your own. In terms of importing from previous releases, this is possible to a certain degree as much of it can be imported but due to the amount of data changes for the Global release some of the campaign info (and a few other items) will have to be redone by hand. It is certainly doable though as Pzgndr has already done this (for his very popular mod) for the Global release as well. Hope this helps Hubert

Thanks John, I'm glad to hear you like what you see and I agree that the team did an excellent job putting that manual together, notably Bill for the text, Dave for the edits, and Martin for the PDF layout. Hubert

To Rambo and John, please dial it down a notch. I am asking nicely to the both of you, thanks. Hubert

Good catch Cantona66, it looks like we may have missed this inclusion in the manual but the change is in there for the game. I'll see if we can get this corrected in time. Hubert

For anyone that might have missed it, we are happy to announce that the new manual is online Announcement sticky can be found here: http://www.battlefront.com/community/announcement.php?f=116&a=247 Enjoy! Hubert

Unfortunately no, just the SC2 plus Weapons and Warfare bundle with PDE only available as a separate expansion.

Alright let's everyone just cool down and let calmer heads prevail. Posts noted and consider this fair warning Hubert

Thanks for the interest Brian and we should have a few significant updates posted early next week if all goes well

Great idea for a campaign Jersey John and I think a mod of this, once the game is released, would be fantastic While not exactly like this campaign suggestion, we do have a pretty interesting "what-if" campaign that will be included with the initial release that hopefully will get even more creative juices flowing. More information on this likely early next week

I can definitely see the point where the AI will often do things that a human player will not and I guess my next question is if that is the source of major frustration, i.e. does the AI otherwise provide you with a decent enough challenge, including the harder levels where you still have to work to win the game etc.?

William, There is no problem with your post and it sounds like you are a very good player and in that sense you should definitely give Multiplayer a try as I agree with the other posters here that it will bring SC game play to a whole new level. In terms of the AI there are always incremental improvements but as much as we would like it to be as good as a human player this is likely to never be the case. Either way I do stand by the AI as being one of the better ones in comparison to similar games in the genre, but granted that might not mean much if you still find it does not meet the challenge you present to it. For the game itself, this was a long work in progress and will have quite a bit to offer as it is WWII on a Global scale which in itself is quite attractive to those waiting for this type of grand strategy game. Beyond that we will offer a demo so everyone will get an even better idea on what the game has to offer and hopefully you will like it enough to take the plunge. Hope this helps, Hubert

Hi Brian, There have been a few changes to some countries like Denmark and I think it is safe to say that it will fall much more consistently in this release. In terms of random strength values, not a bad idea, but I can confirm that this won't be the case in this release. We are still trying to use just appropriate strength numbers as applicable. Hubert

Hi Brian, When you click on the save game button (when in game) it will show the Saved Game dialog with a list of saved games as well as the current name of the file you wish to save. This file name can be edited by using the keyboard and the backspace button. Would this not do what you are looking for? Hubert

Hi Yolo, I would navigate to your installation directory and find the file called sc2.ini. From there you can reset the screen settings by setting all these lines to 0 and try again. For example: #ORIGINAL_SCREEN_WIDTH= 0 #ORIGINAL_SCREEN_HEIGHT= 0 #WINDOW_WIDTH= 0 #WINDOW_HEIGHT= 0 #FULL_SCREEN= 0 #BIT_DEPTH= 0 If you are running Vista you will have to click on the 'Compatibility Files' button at the top right hand side of the navigation window and change the sc2.ini file it shows from there. Alternatively, a reinstallation should do the trick as this resets this file as well. Hope this helps, Hubert