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Progress report on 0.40 beta test?

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Nice! :)
Strange about the Japanese, but then again, a non-suicidal AI is not necessarily a bad thing :D

What happened in Morocco? USA did Torch and then handed back the territory or did Free France get the Atlantic provinces?
Anyhow, thanks for the updated pics!
 
Cool enough for me!

It's good to see Allies landing in Europe... how is the Axis, mainly Ger and Ita, reacting? (i.e. they ignore completelly the new front and keep sending gazzillions of division in Russia while Monty and Patton are chilling in Hamburg or do they start a serious two front defensive war?)
 
@Filou - Japan declares war on the United States and the Allies just after the first screenshots were taken, on October 7th 1942. I assume they held off declaring war since they were doing well in China. Note in the latest Asian screenshot the UK and Allies have advanced into Japanese occupied China from Hong Kong.
The US landed in Morocco and linked up with the British and Allied troops heading from Libya. The territory was then handed back to France after Vichy was annexed by Germany.

@Ricroma - As you can see by the European screenshot, the German and Axis units are attempting to defend against the United States landing in Italy. The Atlantic Wall is still well defended so the Allies have not attempted a DDay invasion from the channel. The US initially advanced well into Italy but as they entered Germany they found the going a bit tougher!

Europe1943.jpg


Asia1943.jpg
 
More screenies!

Here are some more updates of the situation in my beta testing.

In Europe 1944 the Russian juggernaut has advanced deep into Germany, winning the race to Berlin whilst the United States have advanced into central Germany, the Balkans and Eastern Europe. Romania and Bulgaria have defected to the Soviets. The Germans have successfully blocked the US from entering France via Italy but in doing so have let the door open for the Soviets!

In Asia Japan has defeated Nationalist China and made it a puppet state. The UK and Allies continue to gradually advance into Japanese occupied China, while the United States advances through the Pacific capturing key islands.

Europe1944.jpg


Asia1944.jpg
 
The Cold War begins!

The Allies and Soviets are victorious against Germany, although the map of Europe is redrawn as the Soviets steamroll into Western Europe! In Asia the United States launch a massive invasion of Mancjuria, Mengkukuo, Korea and the Japanese mainland, effectively cutting off all the Japanese forces in China.
The UK and allies continue to advance against tough Japanese opposition in Southern China, while Indian troops hold their borders.

Europe1945.jpg


Asia1945.jpg
 
The End of the War

Japan crumbles under the combined weight of the United States, UK and allies, and the Soviets! Japan is annexed in March 1947 and the war is over.

Scores at this stage - Allies 615, Comintern 397, Axis 0

Asia1947.jpg
 
Sweet! Really!

November 1942 - October 1944: Pratically speaking, the Germans were able to handle 2 years of 2 fronts war against URSS and USA! That's great, really! Maybe, only maybe, I dare to suggest that Germany should be more kind to move some more division from France or not opeartive fronts when in danger. To me it seems that the Atlantic wall has a couple of division each province (hard to tell though). Maybe moving one division every other province would had help against the Americans. And by the way: did the US only were too fast reaching germany, or Germany doesn't send his army to Italy, preferring to wait for the enemy to enter the national land?

Thank, and... did I already mention that this look awesome?

Ricroma

PS. And did the germans tried any offensive once they were being beaten by the two big guys? I mean, they're only possibility to survive seems to push the americans back asap, does the AI follow a defensive approach (like: "keep them on the other side of the alps") or a more aggressive one (like: "1 front is better than 2: let's see which one could be closed") Sorry, I don't understand anything of AI coding, but I have so many questions!
 
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@Ricroma - There was quite a lot of tweaking to get the right balance for the Atlantic Wall garrisons during the beta testing. There could still be too many units defending the French coast instead of reinforcing the Italian and Russian fronts, although changing the AI even slightly can cause major headaches. I usually test the AI in a handsoff game with a reload every month to reset the front AI's and then post my observations in the beta forum for the developers to examine.
When the United States invaded Italy they were blocked on the French border by German units but they managed to advance to the northeast, east and southeast eg. central and eastern Europe and the Balkans. The Soviets managed to surround and destroy quite a few German units in 1943-1944 which explains the rapid advance into the heart of Germany, while the United States was stuck in a wide front with barely enough units (although the AI managed to reinforce the Italian theatre extremely well). Once the US had sufficient forces they managed to push the Germans back in Southern France but by that time the Soviets had swept through central Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands and northern France. The German AI managed to send a constant trickle of units to try to stop the Soviets, but most of the German units were busy holding off the Americans! (In real life I'm sure the Germans would have done the opposite :D)
Personally I think the AI did a pretty good job of trying to hold off both the Allied and Soviet fronts. The HOI2 AI has difficulty handling 2 fronts at the best of times, so I was satisfied with the overall defence put up by Germany. Perhaps the only major thing I noticed was the large amount of units still retained for the defence of the Atlantic Wall. I will notify the CORE developers in my report of the game.
Any more questions feel free to ask! I'm currently running another handsoff test and will post more pics up as soon as I can. :)
 
Awesome

I do like how the AI went with ahead with Operation Olympic and Coronet, though that wasn't scheduled until spring of '46. Seeing how in the October Screenshot the US had secured Kyushu and most of Southern Honshu.

However, one question would be is that if there are events to make the world more or less historical, after Japan is defeated? Or is France going to be Soviet Occupied forever? Likewise the Balkans being US Occupied?

One last thing is there any events that add to German forces during 44-45 to maybe represent the recruitment of the old and young, maybe adding a few milita? Course once again the main thing for .40 was the AI rework, hopefully when .40 is released things will go better.

I'm just kinda tired of seeing Germany do ok then seeing it totally collapse and then the Allies and Soviets basiclly just land grab Europe.

Thnx for the screens and update by the way El.:)
 
@EmpressAria - The United States was able to bring all of its resources to bear against Japan once the Germans were defeated in late 1944, so it was only a matter of time before they invaded the Japanese mainland. After initially defeating the garrison units the Japanese managed to produce some units which held up the Americans in the north of Japan. After Japan and the Chinese puppet units were defeated on the mainland the US quickly sent more divisions and took out the 2 remaining provinces and ending the war.

With regards to the end of the war in Europe and Asia - I believe the CORE developers are still working on the Cold War events. This has not been a priority for them as there has been a massive amount of work on the AI for this release. Hopefully one of the developers can answer this better for you. I found that the map of Europe hardly changed once Germany was defeated - except that the French territories liberated by the US were returned to France, as well as IndoChina after Japan was defeated. I guess the Soviets weren't in the mood to share any conquered territories!

Every major nation has a Desperate Measures event which fires once things start to go really bad for them. Both Germany and Japan had this happen to them to reflect the recruitment of stopgap units such as the Volksturm, but usually this isn't enough to stop the Soviet tidal wave! As far as I am aware, there are no free units given out for any circumstances, except for the creation of SS units, which is a gradual process anyway.
 
Ah ok, just I've seen situations where Europe is not liberated in any way in some of the current CORE games I've played, hence the US and Soviets keep conqured territories, least the US gave back France, and the Soviets keeping the french territories makes sense I suppose.

Really is too bad that Hearts of Iron III is on the way sooner then I expected, so that way CORE could release another version before the switch, as I have some really good ideas for Post War events, not just to make things go historical but to have the option to, like having a Soviet event for the return of conqured provinces and having an option like "Let us bring them Communism!" then have like a -200 relations for the country effected.

I would help the CORE team with these events but I suck at modding lol.

I guess I really am looking too much into a Cold War Scenario or setting one up anyways, and CORE is really more about WWII. Just you know with the Armageddon expansion to go all the way to 1964 leaves alot of room for stuff.
 
Yeah the CORE team have had their hands full getting the AI to perform well so there hasn't been much time invested in post war events. I'm sure it's on the to-do list but not a major priority at the moment. Once the next version is released they will probably take a look at some post war/ cold war events. The main thing is that the player will have a well balanced WW2 to enjoy :D
 
@Sensemann - So far I have only testing 1 full game with the new release candidate and I'm currently testing a second. So I can't give you a definite yes or no about the Axis. I'm sure if the Germans do well in Russia then they can certainly drag the war out for longer, but the Allies certainly become stronger as the game progresses, especially the United States (which is historical).

I'm not sure about the models, but I don't think there are any major changes with the unit types. There are some new inclusions with naval attachments but this won't affect the Skif images anyway. Maybe one of the CORE developers can answer this for you. I'm sure they would appreciate any extra help with graphic packs :D
 
el alamein said:
I'm not sure about the models, but I don't think there are any major changes with the unit types. There are some new inclusions with naval attachments but this won't affect the Skif images anyway. Maybe one of the CORE developers can answer this for you. I'm sure they would appreciate any extra help with graphic packs :D
Click to expand...
The naval models have seen a complete overhaul, but the major changes are AUX vessels, CVE's and the deletion of MTB's, from the top of my head. Apart from that only little changes to the 0.3 setup. We did swap infantry and assault tanks, I do recall, but nothing major.
 
Here's a screenshot of the Japanese efforts in the Pacific from one of my beta tests using Armageddon 1.3 beta
JapaninPacific.jpg


More posts soon
 
We're getting closer! Still some AI issues that are being fixed, and the CORE team are making the latest Release Candidate compatible with the 1.3 beta patch for Armageddon. More testing needs to be done once the next Release Candidate comes out, so it's still a matter of weeks and possibly months. I'm sure the CORE team members will be able to inform you on a possible timeframe.
We want to release a quality version which won't disappoint you with game breaking AI issues, although sometimes there is just no helping the AI in HOI2! :D

Here are a couple of screenshots from my last handsoff test with 1.3 beta Armageddon and CORE.

The Soviets have steamrolled across Europe, while the Allies were busy trying to save India from the Japanese. The US have invaded Manchuria and mainland China (which was annexed by Japan) and are pushing Japan back. Europe has become a series of Stalinist puppets, with Italy and Vichy France the only remnants of the Axis powers. They are being driven back by the Russian hordes! The UK is holding onto Malaya and Singapore but are bogged down in Siam. The Allies were unable to invade the European continent and start up a second front. It's a bleak future ahead for the Western World!

TheRussianBear1948.jpg


RisingSun1948.jpg
 
el alamein said:
We're getting closer! Still some AI issues that are being fixed, and the CORE team are making the latest Release Candidate compatible with the 1.3 beta patch for Armageddon. More testing needs to be done once the next Release Candidate comes out, so it's still a matter of weeks and possibly months. I'm sure the CORE team members will be able to inform you on a possible timeframe.
We want to release a quality version which won't disappoint you with game breaking AI issues, although sometimes there is just no helping the AI in HOI2! :D
Click to expand...
I couldn't have said it better myself... Somehow GER taking until 1941/1942 to beat FRA, and thus foregoing on attacking SOV is regarded to be something of a gamebreaker. :rolleyes: Tweaking that, and getting the new release 1.3 patch compliant, are the major issues that keep us from releasing as is. So certainly weeks, most likely a couple of months, I'd say.
 
Final results for the test with Tannu Tuva. A late invasion by the US in Italy helped stem the Russian tide from conquering all of Europe. In the Far East, the Japanese advanced into India, sweeping all aside and annexing India, while the US invaded Manchuria and China. The Soviets invaded Persia and then charged into India, squeezing the Japanese between themselves and the advancing Americans. Eventually The Japanese were driven out of the mainland of Asia, while the US staged an amphibious assault of Japan, which eventually squeezed the life out of the surviving garrison and land divisions. Croatia was the only Axis power remaining at the end of the game, which inherited a substantial navy from the Italian and German forces, but no troops or IC to repair them. The Allies were the winners with the Comintern a close second. The Axis were left in the ashes of history.

EndgameAsia.jpg


EndgameEurope.jpg

Time for another test....more screens to follow in the next few days.
 
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