Strategic Command 2 Blitzkrieg v1.05a Super Patch Released!!!

[Madmatt]

We are calling the new v1.05a update a "Super Patch" because it not only fixes the few remaining reported bugs, but it adds a ton of new features and functionality to the AI, the Editor and game itself. One of the biggest improvements has to be with the AI, which will now much more intelligently use the special abilities of its units (like Paratroopers and Engineers) to prepare for, launch and even defend against attacks. Newcomers and veteran players alike should find the AI much smarter, and tougher from this point on.

A wealth of additions were also incorporated into the Game Editor which will allow much more freedom to create complex unit behavioral and add situational condition scripting into your own campaigns. If that wasn't enough, some new multiplayer enhancements are also being rolled out in this update to make those sessions a lot easier to manage and play.

v1.05a GAME ENGINE CHANGES (partial list)

- Paratroops within 'Operational Range' of an Offensive target and without any adjacent enemy units will now automatically 'Prepare' to be used in air drops on subsequent combat turns. This is simply generic AI behaviour that is being Added not something that can be controlled via scripts

- Note the AI will make every attempt to perform air drops under *ideal* conditions. AI will look for vacant cities that it can reach via air drop or for offensive/amphibious targets that will also be supported by friendly units

- Improved all AI naval movement to better avoid enemy units, i.e. under FoW recognizes spotted positions and uses them to its advantage when moving subsequent units

- Defending Rockets now include their entrenchment and defence bonuses when calculating their potential losses (Iron Ranger)

- Liberating countries now become the new PARENT overwriting the previous parent. for example, if the USSR liberates Iraq it will be the new Allied PARENT overwriting previous UK PARENT relationship (BioWizard)

- Improved AI logic and sequencing for Garrison and Reinforcement.

- Added a FoW feature for Engineers, now they will remain hidden under FoW while building a FORTIFICATION unless an enemy unit is immediately adjacent

- Added a FoW feature for Paratroops, now they will remain hidden under FoW while preparing unless an enemy unit is immediately adjacent

- Changed FoW for Land units spotting units at sea. Now all land units, with the exception of Bombers, will spot Naval units at 1/2 their current spotting range, i.e. AF spotting range might already be Reduced due to weather effects etc., all other spotting remains the same... should make the "cat and mouse" (Desert Dave) naval game a bit more interesting

- Note, Added the replacement of non City/Capital/fortress GARRISON positions to the AI. for example, when the AI has a GARRISON unit located in the Yugoslavian mountains, a nearby Corps will now replace an Axis Army or Tank Group if applicable and if available to do so

- Lowered land unit morale bonus/decrease for when a country surrenders or is liberated from 25-40% to 20-30% (Terif)

- Added additional AI debug features that can be accessed while in game:

- press the 'F1' key and this will generate a DEBUG subfolder under the 'SAVE' directory storing each 'autosave' by current campaign date. This will make it easier to reference something the AI did on its last turn (now repeatable with the stored save) under DEBUGSAVE mode

- Pressing the 'F2' key and this will generate a DATALOGS subfolder within the SC2 installation

directory. This folder will generate files keeping track of WEATHER as well as AI PLANNING, RESEARCH, and DIPLOMACY

- improved restrengthening/upgrades algorithms for AI units- Engineers that are not fully active can now fortify when adjacent an enemy unit (Iron Ranger)

- Fixed a previous ALT-TAB issue that did not allow you to switch out of the game during AI, Network and E-Mail replays without causing a crash

- Note an attempt to switch back to SC2 will only be successful when the AI or replay in progress has completed, i.e. the game is not frozen it is just completing its task first before popping back up

- Note, if your opponent completes their turn while SC2 is minimized you will be notified via the chat 'squak' sound effect played 4 times in quick succession, otherwise it is just your opponent sending you a text message

- Added an SC2 taskbar icon to the system tray (bottom right hand corner on most systems)

- Note, the SC2 icon will flash whenever there is a playable turn. for example, if you minimize SC2 during an AI or Network game this can be handy to let you know that either the AI has finished its turn or that it is your turn to play during TCP/IP

- Network games now also allow the inactive player to scroll around the map while waiting for the turn to start, v1.04 introduced scrolling for the inactive player but it did not include the period between synchronizations

- Added a few new network game indicators such as a message when your opponent has completed their turn and that game data is currently being transferred

- Added Research and Diplomacy to the 'Preference' options under the Options->Advanced dialog

- Note if Research and Diplomacy are not enabled in the Editor then these options cannot be Changed in game under the Advanced dialog, i.e. these options are considered locked from the Editor

- AI now includes fortesses in automatic Offensive/Defensive planning with an override possible via scripting

- Bumped sub raiding experience gain from .1 to .2 per convoy raid (Blashy)

- Fixed a strike range intercept bug for snow conditions (Terif)

EDITOR RELATED CHANGES (partial list)

- Added an ACTIVATION#1 event for Allied DoW on Denmark (Desert Dave)

- Added an #AI flag for EVENT scripts to give modders the ability to specify scripts for

either an Allied or Axis AI game (Edwin P.)

- Added a time stamp check to AI and EVENT scripts so that the Editor can now keep track of Changed files. This dramatically increases the processing speed of campaigns after the initial save. The Editor also now keeps track of changes and which Script files require re-checking/re-compiling only as needed

- Added an 'Update All' button for both the Edit AI/Event Script dialogs. This was simply Added in order to force a manual update of all scripts, i.e. a re-verification and re-extraction since this is now handled automatically by the Editor

- Amphibious Transports can now also use WAYPOINTS when using the PLAN script similar to regular Transports. See PLAN script notes for further details (Edwin P.)

- Note, using WAYPOINTS will also speed up AI movement of Transports

- Added BUILD_UP_AMPHIBIOUS_MINOR and BUILD_UP_SEA_TRANSPORT_MINOR flags for PLAN scripts. Now BUILD_UP_AMPHIBIOUS and BUILD_UP_SEA_TRANSPORT will include HQs by default while BUILD_UP_AMPHIBIOUS_MINOR and BUILD_UP_SEA_TRANSPORT_MINOR will not

- Added BUILD_UP_FLEET flag for PLAN scripts. This allows for organized naval FLEET movement via scripting. See PLAN script notes for further details

- Adjusted the northern coastline of France near Brest in order to take into account new strike range rules

- Adjusted coastal tile for Kronstadt port so that Finnish ground units cannot attack Soviet navy (in port) unless they control Leningrad, also takes into account new strike range rules

- For FORTIFICATION scripts you can now see the 'edge' info when viewing available FORTIFICATION sprites in the Editor, i.e. shown when moving the mouse over the sprite in the lower left corner of the status bar in order to ease the writing of forTIFCATION events

- Tweaked some of the Allied GARRISON, OFFENSIVE, AMPHIBIOUS, TRANSPORT, PURCHASE and RESEARCH scripts

- Tweaked some of the Axis GARRISON, OFFENSIVE, AMPHIBIOUS, TRANSPORT, PURCHASE and RESEARCH scripts

- Added Soviet Partisans for the Caucases flagged for Allied AI games only (Edwin P.)

- Bumped maximum German Submarine builds from 6 to 8 (Blashy)

- Added several WAR ENTRY (AI) events (Edwin P., Desert Dave)

- Fortresses can now be specified as a #DESTINATION_RESOURCE for UNIT scripts

- Added optional Victory scripts to check for a 1945/08/31 end date, original 1947/01/01 Victory scripts are still default (Blashy)

- Added a UK Engineers unit to arrive in Egypt March 1, 1940 via the UNIT script for Allied AI games only (Jollyguy)

- Added El Alamein FORTIFICATION tile to Egypt (Desert Dave, Jollyguy)

- Added a UK moves Government to Canada SURRENDER event (selectable with default still Egypt)

- Added required Convoy adjustments for a UK moves Government to Canada event

- Special thanks to the following additional forum members for their help on this patch:

- Retributar

- TaoJah

- Jollyguy

- Honch

- Iron Ranger

- Terif

- Kuniworth

- Normal Dude

- Thrawn

- Liam

- Hellraiser

- BioWizard

- SidiusPOA

[ Check out all the features of the v1.05a Super Patch and find links to download it right here! ]

[ November 21, 2006, 06:01 PM: Message edited by: Madmatt ]

[fantomas]

The first link to french patch does not work (Battlefront mirror)

[n0kn0k]

Check my site Fantomas. I'm hosting all 3 of them.

[ November 22, 2006, 03:33 PM: Message edited by: n0kn0k ]

[fantomas]

Thanks

Other problem I want to indicate : in download patch page, the links to 1.05 reame does not work correctly : it gives the readme of the 1.04 patch. Had Hubert a drink ?

[Hubert Cater]

Thanks guys, n0kn0k emailed these issues to me as well and I've let Matt know.

Hubert

[Steve Rogers]

Thanks for this patch, to Hubert and all involved - a great update indeed!

Regards,

Steve

[Major Spinello]

Coolness, considering the readme, I expect this to be the mother of patches!

[n0kn0k]

Hubert i was wondering though. How come there's a pretty big difference between the size of the 3 patches? Like 33, 22 an 18mb or so ?

[Hubert Cater]

I think this has to do with the differences in the User Manual PDF file, i.e. the Battlefront patch User Manual is quite a bit larger probably due to all the updates and images etc.