Brit

June 14, 2010

I am using a custom rule set. I have tried selecting the unit in the editor and then clicking 'properties' (in the same way that you would rename a city) but it crashes. The same when you click the unit so that it comes up in the bar at the top of the screen- I double click that and it crashes there too.

Strange. I tried it again, with a few variations, but it doesn't crash. Maybe we're doing something slightly different. I'm opening the map editor, switching to scenario with two players, switching to the first player, placing a destroyer, then double-clicking the destroyer (or double-clicking it on the unitbar or selecting it and pressing 'properties'). I wonder if it has something to do with your rules - since you're using a custom ruleset. Does it crash when you use the default rules?

June 12, 2010

Update on the state of things: It completely slipped my mind that the end of May was six months since EoS was released.

Sales in April were dismal. Fortunately, sales in May bounced back and we saw a 2x increase over April. Thanks to those increased sales and a foreign deal, I earned enough from the game to pay my bills for the month, which is an important step in continuing to work full time to make fixes and improvements to the game. I think the sales increases were partially due to releasing a new demo and also getting a print review in Armchair General (4 out of 5 stars). Given the precariousness of the situation, I often end up revisiting the sales and marketing posts.

Here's a quick summary of the thread so far, and a response to them. There's a few in-depth posts that I couldn't summarize in this list.

- Other Sales Outlets (Steam, Impulse, Direct2Drive, GamersGate)

I talked to Battlefront about this. While they were open to this, they said that their past experience of selling games through these outlets was that they didn't really see much in the way of extra sales, plus those outlets take a slice of the profits. My current interpretation of this is that gamers hear about the game first, then look for a place to buy it. As a result, having the game available in other places doesn't really increase sales, it just splits up sales among more outlets. If Steam or another outlet makes an effort to promote the game (through sales or front-page promotion) then those games can see an increase in sales. It seems unlikely that EoS will be one of the lucky few.

- Paid Expansion

Maybe. I'm not sure that there's enough active players to make much income on this. It would be good from a marketing perspective because it could garner some press. The longer I'm doing this, the more I think in terms of "what can we do to get more press". The strategy of "make good stuff" doesn't get much press coverage; instead, the press likes announcements.

- Expansion into different time-periods (Roman, Medieval, or early 1800's), scenarios, campaign, etc

I like this idea. It does require quite a bit of time and work.

- Add PBEM to the demo

Done.

- PBEM

Did some work on this. The PBEM system is basically working, although I want to make sure it's more robust (free of bugs and glitches).

- Add the ability to add your own units images and animations

Done. Added in a recent update.

- Improve the website

Done.

- More videos - better quality, draw people in, show them what the game is about

Need to do.

- Some more game options, like Quick Start, better game-setup menus, X free production at the beginning of the game, omniscient map view, etc

Need to do.

June 12, 2010

Is there a reason we can't play a LAN game through a VPN like Hamachi? My friend and I are having all kinds of problems with "real" internet option. I'm thinking the hotel he is staying at have some restrictions on their firewall. When we try Hamachi we can't see each other in the game lobby, but Hamachi is connected and running properly.

The game does use two internet ports when playing a multiplayer game - one for voice data and one for regular data. It is possible that their firewall is blocking the ports and therefore, internet play. As far as LAN/Hamachi play, I'm not sure. I don't have any experience using Hamachi. I think I'd have to troubleshoot it myself to figure out what's going wrong.

June 12, 2010

I am trying to design a unit set which uses NATO symbols and has a different coloured infantry, tank, etc symbol for the major nations (brown for us Brits, Green for the US, Red for the Russians, etc- I know the flag indicates the nation but I would like different coloured counters as well). So I have messed around the with the rules editor and created sub-rule groups of British forces, German forces and so on.

However, when I go into the editor (or the game set up) and try to get the British to use sub-set 1 and the US sub-set 2 and the Germans sub-set 3, etc it doesnt work. You select the US as subset 2 but when you go to the Germans and try to select 3 it sets that at 2 and re-sets the US as 1.

Hm. I'll have to check if there's a bug there. There might be.

Also on the editor how do you change the name of units you have created (not in the game but in the editor)? If I am doing a Battle of the Bulge scenario and I want to rename a unit the 1st SS Panzer Division how do I do it? If I go to properties and click on a unit to change it the game crashes.

You should be able to either select the unit + press "properties", or double-click the unit. At the top of the window is a section for the unit name. I didn't see the crash that you're talking about. Are you using a custom ruleset?

June 11, 2010

Have you had a chance to look at this Brit?

Okay, I looked at this. I was right about the code: the combat simulator sets up both sides to attack each other. While it doesn't make much sense when you're pitting infantry against infantry, the reason I had set it up this way was to calculate the effects of ranged units. If an infantry is attacking, and an artillery is defending, then there's a period of time when the infantry is moving in to attack the artillery. For a period of time, the infantry can't attack the artillery, but the artillery can attack the infantry because it's a ranged unit. So, by setting up both sides to attack each other, it simulates the effects of infantry moving in under fire of the artillery. (This would happen automatically in the game because artillery would have field orders that would cause it to automatically attack.) If I hadn't done that, then neither side would attack each other until the infantry was within combat range, and it would decimate the artillery.

So, that's the reason for the 2x damage in the calculation.

June 8, 2010

Porting EOS to Ipad / Iphone could be a good way to increase your audience. It would need to be simplified somewhat for the smaller screens / processing power, but that could also be a benefit. People who like it on the iphone may also purchase the full version for the PC.

Of course, it would only make sense to do if the development tools allow you to port it without a total redesign.

Funny, I was just talking about this last night with someone. I'm not sure what kind of work would need to be done to port it to an iPad platform, but I'm sure some of the display code would require some heavy rewrite. I'm also not sure about the interface - since there would be no left-click / right-click functionality. (I don't have much experience even using the iPad.)

June 8, 2010

Have you had a chance to look at this Brit?

Ah, jeez, I forgot about this.

June 8, 2010

I'd still like to see a way to get the content from the "New Game" menu. All the buttons in the game launch window would be better if they actually looked like buttons, and "random map" "load scenario" "load map" should be right there on the main screen rather than another drop down dialogue box.

Yeah, I know what you mean.

June 7, 2010

Thanks for the feedback.

Brit, I just noticed that you did up the inf defense value in the last update.

Ran the combat sim and it looks like for same tech level tank vrs inf entreched in cities the odds are right at 50/50 (avg damage on tank is 2x on inf, but inf has 1/2 hp). Is there anyway to set the combat sim to sim 2 (or more) turns?

The damage for two turns will just be twice the values you see for one turn. I don't know if that's what you're looking for.

Better, but given that inf tech level usually lags tank tech level by 1 tanks still have a slight advantage.

As far as the technology levels, the infantry (class 3) takes about the same research (140 cummulative research) as tank (class 3) (150 cummulative research).

I still think that unless entreched inf doesn't have a clear advantage over tanks it doesn't make sense to use them (like 70-80%). They are slow, takes time to entrench, and are no good at offense. They need to excel at defense or they won't be used.

I do see the point that in a tank vrs entrenched inf fight the tank side looses more production points overall. But the main point of the defensive unit is to win the battle, not attrite the enemy. Whoever wins gets the city and that alone will offset any production point difference.

A different way to make them more useful is to have them use only 0.5 food/oil. You could then have 2 in each city (and thus better defense). It just seems odd to have a inf army eat less than a tank army...

One of the things I was thinking about when balancing the infantry and tanks is the cost of production vs combat power. Since tanks cost a bit more than infantry, then a player might have more infantry in a city than the attacker has tanks. In other words, if an infantry costs 50 and a tank costs 75, then if both sides spend the same on production, it will be 3 Infantry vs 2 tanks.

Infantry are a little better against tactical bombers than tanks, so they have some advantage there.

Also, the infantry doesn't consume oil (but tanks do).

I can take another look at it, but there's some food for thought anyway.

June 7, 2010

Sorry for the interrupt people.

I played a little EOS when the demo first came out. But lack of PBEM was a real limitation for me.

So now I see you talking/playing PBEM and my interest returns. I just went to the FAQ and it still said no PBEM.

So what is it PBEM or NO PBEM? Is it a true PBEM or a hybridized PBEM/TCP interface? Can ya'll post a breif on the GUI mechanics for PBEM?

Thanks.

Hey. The PBEM system is in "beta" because there's still a few issues to work out, but for the most part, it works. The PBEM system is not actually play-by-email. What happens is that, when you're playing a PBEM game, you must be connected to the internet. When something happens in the game (you send a message, declare war, submit your turn, etc), then the game uploads the event to our webserver. When other players open their game, the game automatically downloads these events to their system. So, there's no actual email involved. Also, there's an application called "EOSMessenger" that comes with the game. This application monitors your game for new events. For example, if another player sends you a message, it will show up in the EOSMessenger application, and you'll know to open your game and respond.

The Demo version let's you play a PBEM game, but only on the Demo map, and only up to turn 25. If you want to give it a try, just setup a game with one other PBEM player, and then set yourself up to play both players. (After you create a PBEM game, then copy the Player 2 code and join your own game with the code.) You can jump back and forth between Player 1 and Player 2.

June 6, 2010

Thanks. By the way, what do you think of the user-created map/scenario/rules items listed on the main menu of the game?

June 6, 2010

I had a few questions about aircraft combat that have been bugging me.

For most combat units, they attack EVERY unit within their range with equal force (and vice-versa) for the duration of the turn that they are in range.

I another thread it was pointed out that aircraft are different. They do a full turn of combat in a single instant. So naturally this could work a few ways...

1. A full turn of combat is commenced with every unit the aircraft comes in range of in that turn.
2. The aircraft only attacks the unit it TARGETED (what if it was a group?), and only the target attacks back.
3. The aircraft only attacks the unit it TARGETED, but all enemy units in range can attack it (full turn of combat each).
4. The aircraft only attacks the unit it TARGETED (full turn attack), and all enemy units in range can attack it only while it is in range (not full turn attacks)
5. Something else?

The answer here will definately effect how I use the tac bombers. Especially if there is a difference in targeting a single unit vrs a group.

The way it works is that the aircraft gets a full round of attack against the target, and the target gets a full round of attack back. If the target is a group, the aircraft selects a target within the group at random (although, it's not entirely random - different aircraft have different preferred targets; tactical aircraft, for example, will target ground and sea units before other units). In addition to this combat between the aircraft and it's target, other units in the area get a short attack against the aircraft if it is within range. This is not a full-turn worth of attacks, and the duration of their attack depends on how long the aircraft is within combat range.

June 5, 2010

I get an error: "Update Validation Test Failed. Please notify the[sic] atomicboysoftware"

Ah. Not this problem again. There's a caching problem with the updater. You should be able to wait a little while and try again, and then it will work fine.

June 4, 2010

Just in time for the weekend -

Notable changes/updates:

- Added information on the image editor to the game-manual

- Reworked the main menu "Updates and Downloads" item, and window

- Changed the "Loading Images" popup

- Added airfield improvements. Current improvements: repair facility (to repair aircraft) and a radar

- Fixed a bug in the display of units in the image-editor

- Fixed a bug in the download-window that was messing up the display of map information

- Fixed a bug in the biplane movement: if given orders to move to it's maximum range, it wouldn't land within the same turn.

- Ground/Sea Units that are 51% damaged move at 2/3rds their normal rate

- Ground/Sea Units that are 85% damaged move at half their normal rate (only affects units with 7 or more HP, like battleships and carriers)

- Fixed a bug in the rules editor / AttackVs / Animation window

- Fixed a bug with ruleset crashing if the combat-types aren't setup correctly

- Fixed bug: the city-build time text doesn't update after the turn is processed

- Adjusted the AI's build decisions to produce fewer battleships

- Made some changes to the AI so it is more aggressive in declaring war

June 4, 2010

And will ai improvements be included?

1. Unit production choice.
2. Aircraft carrier movement.
3. Airborne troops.

Regarding #1: that's included in the "I also hope to fix the bug with the AI and the 1940s ruleset where it produces too many battleships." I ended up finishing that fix last night. Not sure when I'll have the update out.

June 4, 2010

I turned in a few minor bugs and some suggestions. Just curious. :-)

I don't remember exactly which bugs and suggestions you made (I write all of them down, but generally not with people's names). Here's the current list of items in the next update. I think you suggested airfield-repair, which is in there.