Pionier
19.04.09, 10:18
Cheat Prevention
There is now a PORandomSeed in the INI file. If set to 0 (default) it will always use the next randon number. If set to -1, it will always use the random number stored in the save file. If set to a number it will use that number. PBEM games are always treated as -1. This means that reloads of a PBL PBEM game will produce the same results. This also means that I will be able to reproduce bug reports.
New Turn Order
The old turn order option used to do all calculation for supply, recovery, and other items occurred between turns and was a bit unfair. The new turn order splits that processing inot three parts. There are now things like air combat and weather which still happen at the beginning of the turn. Things like supply and movement recovery now happen at the beginning of each side's movement instead of at the begining of the turn. Clouds move between sides.
New Supply Order
Instead of being a 3 level approach, we now use a formula based on the movement points of a virtual "Supply Unit" which has motorized movement and a 50% unit density.
The exact formula is 1.10 / (1.375 ^ (SupplyDistance / SupplyRadius))
Designers can also set supply levels for supply points either initially or through events.
Supply Units also have an enhanced effect, they will effectively move the unit closer to the supply point based on the supply radius.
Take the case of the supply radius is 5 hexes and the supply unit is 10 hexes away and the unit is 14 units away. Because the unit is less than 5 (supply radius) or less heses away from the supply unit, we enhance it's supply by moving it 5 hexes closer to the supply source.
Supply Radius 0 is treated like supply radius 1 by the new rules.
Rules change
The chance of engineering and rail repair are now modified by by the movement left.
AAA lethality was scaled down by a factor of 0.4.
Units surrounded now get a chance to RBC.
Battles now include the number of shots that each side takes. This is an average of about 2 per side. It can vary between 1 and 8 depending on the ratio of armored ant anti-personnel equipment. This may help with ants, lone tanks and some other items. This only affects the number of shots and not the chance of taking a shot or the chance of penetration.
Adjacent artillery/HQ now will bombard if they lack sufficient direct firepower(50%).
You are no longer assumed to have 100% visibility into your territories. Enemy units are now more likely to be able to slip around you without notice.
Overrun chances are adjusted for faster units to a max of a 2:1 additional advantage.
Overrun stands flag should be cleared when the battle takes over 50% of the defensive units.
Overrun at greater than 8:1 odds now decrease the chance of the unit standing.
ESS now actually works in spotting units that have moved, HQs, Airplanes, etc. I also added helicopters to the easy to spot list<g>
NOTE: This may unbalance some scenarios that have an ESS assigned. An ESS of the default (33) is treated as 0 to not imbalance existing scenarios.
Fixed nasty bug that Pioneer pointed out. Counterbattery fire was only happening if the artillery was on top of the stack!
Fixed modiferes for entrenched terrain. They weren't generally being used outside of clear terrain. This may need to be modified downward now.
Internationalization and customization
Added XML language support. I'm including the XML language files. They can be used wherever the DLL files are used.
The system uses GameText.XML.
The algorithm for finding the XML files is the same as for finding the DLL files.
F11 exports a NewGameText.xml file using the currently loaded scenario or language for easy transition.
Ear Candy
I've added two volumes, one for the background sound and one for the effects. They are controllable through the ini file. They go from 1 to 100.
I also added a left-right quality to the sound. You can hear the sound occurring on one or the other side of the screen.
Eye Candy
We now export to JPG instead of BMP. There is a JPQuality INI entry that can be between 1 and 100. 100 is full quality.
"Movies" option now defaults to saving only the micromap. There is an OPART.ini switch to restore the save of the full map, if desired.
Added new 'Movie' option that will try to create a movie given sequentially named scneraio files. Open a scenario, and hit create movie to create a movie. More detailed instructions will be needed.
Custom animated cursors now available.
Ease of use
Added .ini option to disallow mouse wheel zoom.
Mouse wheel zoom should work in all screens.
Next/Previous combat on the combat screen, and the P key will now cycle through most potential combats instead of just actual combats.
Small map now displays supply numbers.
C key closed the Stack Dialog
U key closed the Unit Dialog
F key closed the Formation Dialog
Shift Key now speeds up individual battles
Arrow keys work in the game selection screen.
Unit Info, Formation Info and Stack dialog now put the cursor back where it was when they go down.
Options Dialog split into two parts. Part one is the options that can't be changed for a game in progress. Part two is the options that can be changes.
Shift-L Now increaments the emphasis and updates all units in the stack to that emphasis.
Formation display now allows the space key to see the map. In 'Elmer Deploy' mode. it shows the formation tracks.
OOB display now allows the space key to see the map. In 'Elmer Deploy' mode. it shows the formation tracks. It also centers the list on the current unit instead of the first unit.
PlaceNames
#1-3 in a placename selects the font Placename 1-3.
<1-9 in a placename select the mapOptional1-9 bitmap. You can select multiple bitmaps.
#1Test will display Test in the PlacenameFont1 style.
<1OilRig Will display mapOptional1.bmp on the map, and OilRig in any combat reports, on the info line, etc.
ToolTips -
includes a picture of the terrain like the 3D map.
The top line now may include the unit name.
The Second line now also includes SP: as the last entry It's currenty the supply value x 100.
The Third line now includes
MP - Supply MPs to get here (Includes everything.)
RA - Supply Rail MPs to get here.
RO - Supply Road MPs to get here.
SU - Supply Distance to nearest Supply Unit.
Bug Fixes
Clipping maps in the editor should now work better.
Top map-edge reinforcements no loner have a problem with enemy control blocking them
Embarked helicopter units now work correctly.
Special handling for end of turn sal files and allowing reloading. No cheat message, no save on exit prompt.
Minimize now works while a dialog box is open now, darn it! Resizing still closes the dialog box.
Game select screen redone to work better. Moving the slection up and down also updates the current selection.
Weather bug fixed. The original intent was that the area around a weather boundary (3 hexes either side) could be from either zone, providing a mix. Unfortunatley, the way this was done didn't properly freeze the water.
Weather bug fixed. The middle of the weather zone will be more overcast when it is warming or cooling. This is going to become more pronouced. Warm/code fronts should be cloudier along the boundaries. This will become more pronounced if a zone is narrow.
Reload cheat fixed. in new save games, reloading should always generate the same events, etc.[:-]
Lag time in selection of units is fixed if crop circles are off.
Units no longer auto-centers. they will only center if the unit is off the map. That's the way it was supposed to work.
Mouse wheel no longer active when dialog boxes are open. That should fix most of the issues.
Next/Prev buttons in the editor now update the unit panel.
Scenario dump no longer shows P1/P2 equipment as the same in some cases.
Playback issues and unknown parent errors were fixed by not allowing zoom in the playback dialog.
Restored the ability to cancel sea invasion attacks, without zeroing out movement, and without banking/incrementing sea capacity. This was reverted to 3.1 behavior.
Overrun code sometimes allowed multiple attempts
Retreating units lose their entrained status
The Editor/Force Editr/Proficiency button now leaves the help wher it should be.
Donut of death fixed.
Going from the editor to a PBEM game now prompts for a password.
Elmer
Elmer understands more of the strengths and odds including artillery.
Elmer now moves his artillery up first, this should help with overruns and disengagement.
Elmer is able to do some limited island hopping. I use a continentEmpty procedure to check for which island to hop to in order.
Elmer plays ships a lot faster.
Elmer handles aircraft better
Elmer does beach invasions better
Elmer handles Airmobile unites better
Elmer works better when advancing slowly
Elmer uses attack helicopters like bombers
Elmer is less likely to move more than once.
Elmer is less likely to move away from an enemy unit if he's likely to suffer a disengagement penalty.
http://www.operationalwarfare.com/
There is now a PORandomSeed in the INI file. If set to 0 (default) it will always use the next randon number. If set to -1, it will always use the random number stored in the save file. If set to a number it will use that number. PBEM games are always treated as -1. This means that reloads of a PBL PBEM game will produce the same results. This also means that I will be able to reproduce bug reports.
New Turn Order
The old turn order option used to do all calculation for supply, recovery, and other items occurred between turns and was a bit unfair. The new turn order splits that processing inot three parts. There are now things like air combat and weather which still happen at the beginning of the turn. Things like supply and movement recovery now happen at the beginning of each side's movement instead of at the begining of the turn. Clouds move between sides.
New Supply Order
Instead of being a 3 level approach, we now use a formula based on the movement points of a virtual "Supply Unit" which has motorized movement and a 50% unit density.
The exact formula is 1.10 / (1.375 ^ (SupplyDistance / SupplyRadius))
Designers can also set supply levels for supply points either initially or through events.
Supply Units also have an enhanced effect, they will effectively move the unit closer to the supply point based on the supply radius.
Take the case of the supply radius is 5 hexes and the supply unit is 10 hexes away and the unit is 14 units away. Because the unit is less than 5 (supply radius) or less heses away from the supply unit, we enhance it's supply by moving it 5 hexes closer to the supply source.
Supply Radius 0 is treated like supply radius 1 by the new rules.
Rules change
The chance of engineering and rail repair are now modified by by the movement left.
AAA lethality was scaled down by a factor of 0.4.
Units surrounded now get a chance to RBC.
Battles now include the number of shots that each side takes. This is an average of about 2 per side. It can vary between 1 and 8 depending on the ratio of armored ant anti-personnel equipment. This may help with ants, lone tanks and some other items. This only affects the number of shots and not the chance of taking a shot or the chance of penetration.
Adjacent artillery/HQ now will bombard if they lack sufficient direct firepower(50%).
You are no longer assumed to have 100% visibility into your territories. Enemy units are now more likely to be able to slip around you without notice.
Overrun chances are adjusted for faster units to a max of a 2:1 additional advantage.
Overrun stands flag should be cleared when the battle takes over 50% of the defensive units.
Overrun at greater than 8:1 odds now decrease the chance of the unit standing.
ESS now actually works in spotting units that have moved, HQs, Airplanes, etc. I also added helicopters to the easy to spot list<g>
NOTE: This may unbalance some scenarios that have an ESS assigned. An ESS of the default (33) is treated as 0 to not imbalance existing scenarios.
Fixed nasty bug that Pioneer pointed out. Counterbattery fire was only happening if the artillery was on top of the stack!
Fixed modiferes for entrenched terrain. They weren't generally being used outside of clear terrain. This may need to be modified downward now.
Internationalization and customization
Added XML language support. I'm including the XML language files. They can be used wherever the DLL files are used.
The system uses GameText.XML.
The algorithm for finding the XML files is the same as for finding the DLL files.
F11 exports a NewGameText.xml file using the currently loaded scenario or language for easy transition.
Ear Candy
I've added two volumes, one for the background sound and one for the effects. They are controllable through the ini file. They go from 1 to 100.
I also added a left-right quality to the sound. You can hear the sound occurring on one or the other side of the screen.
Eye Candy
We now export to JPG instead of BMP. There is a JPQuality INI entry that can be between 1 and 100. 100 is full quality.
"Movies" option now defaults to saving only the micromap. There is an OPART.ini switch to restore the save of the full map, if desired.
Added new 'Movie' option that will try to create a movie given sequentially named scneraio files. Open a scenario, and hit create movie to create a movie. More detailed instructions will be needed.
Custom animated cursors now available.
Ease of use
Added .ini option to disallow mouse wheel zoom.
Mouse wheel zoom should work in all screens.
Next/Previous combat on the combat screen, and the P key will now cycle through most potential combats instead of just actual combats.
Small map now displays supply numbers.
C key closed the Stack Dialog
U key closed the Unit Dialog
F key closed the Formation Dialog
Shift Key now speeds up individual battles
Arrow keys work in the game selection screen.
Unit Info, Formation Info and Stack dialog now put the cursor back where it was when they go down.
Options Dialog split into two parts. Part one is the options that can't be changed for a game in progress. Part two is the options that can be changes.
Shift-L Now increaments the emphasis and updates all units in the stack to that emphasis.
Formation display now allows the space key to see the map. In 'Elmer Deploy' mode. it shows the formation tracks.
OOB display now allows the space key to see the map. In 'Elmer Deploy' mode. it shows the formation tracks. It also centers the list on the current unit instead of the first unit.
PlaceNames
#1-3 in a placename selects the font Placename 1-3.
<1-9 in a placename select the mapOptional1-9 bitmap. You can select multiple bitmaps.
#1Test will display Test in the PlacenameFont1 style.
<1OilRig Will display mapOptional1.bmp on the map, and OilRig in any combat reports, on the info line, etc.
ToolTips -
includes a picture of the terrain like the 3D map.
The top line now may include the unit name.
The Second line now also includes SP: as the last entry It's currenty the supply value x 100.
The Third line now includes
MP - Supply MPs to get here (Includes everything.)
RA - Supply Rail MPs to get here.
RO - Supply Road MPs to get here.
SU - Supply Distance to nearest Supply Unit.
Bug Fixes
Clipping maps in the editor should now work better.
Top map-edge reinforcements no loner have a problem with enemy control blocking them
Embarked helicopter units now work correctly.
Special handling for end of turn sal files and allowing reloading. No cheat message, no save on exit prompt.
Minimize now works while a dialog box is open now, darn it! Resizing still closes the dialog box.
Game select screen redone to work better. Moving the slection up and down also updates the current selection.
Weather bug fixed. The original intent was that the area around a weather boundary (3 hexes either side) could be from either zone, providing a mix. Unfortunatley, the way this was done didn't properly freeze the water.
Weather bug fixed. The middle of the weather zone will be more overcast when it is warming or cooling. This is going to become more pronouced. Warm/code fronts should be cloudier along the boundaries. This will become more pronounced if a zone is narrow.
Reload cheat fixed. in new save games, reloading should always generate the same events, etc.[:-]
Lag time in selection of units is fixed if crop circles are off.
Units no longer auto-centers. they will only center if the unit is off the map. That's the way it was supposed to work.
Mouse wheel no longer active when dialog boxes are open. That should fix most of the issues.
Next/Prev buttons in the editor now update the unit panel.
Scenario dump no longer shows P1/P2 equipment as the same in some cases.
Playback issues and unknown parent errors were fixed by not allowing zoom in the playback dialog.
Restored the ability to cancel sea invasion attacks, without zeroing out movement, and without banking/incrementing sea capacity. This was reverted to 3.1 behavior.
Overrun code sometimes allowed multiple attempts
Retreating units lose their entrained status
The Editor/Force Editr/Proficiency button now leaves the help wher it should be.
Donut of death fixed.
Going from the editor to a PBEM game now prompts for a password.
Elmer
Elmer understands more of the strengths and odds including artillery.
Elmer now moves his artillery up first, this should help with overruns and disengagement.
Elmer is able to do some limited island hopping. I use a continentEmpty procedure to check for which island to hop to in order.
Elmer plays ships a lot faster.
Elmer handles aircraft better
Elmer does beach invasions better
Elmer handles Airmobile unites better
Elmer works better when advancing slowly
Elmer uses attack helicopters like bombers
Elmer is less likely to move more than once.
Elmer is less likely to move away from an enemy unit if he's likely to suffer a disengagement penalty.
http://www.operationalwarfare.com/