Call for playtesters soon. - Page 2

winterfritz · April 24, 2002, 07:22

I'm looking forward to this, Exile

Off topic a moment: What other scenarios have you released? I've only ever found Age of War and American Empire, and recently Mediterranean Dark Age (which I'm enjoying very much

)

(Your cue for a little pluggin'

)

Exile · April 24, 2002, 07:44

You can find The Modern Age on the Spanish Civ2 site run by Jesus Balsinde and Dracula of Transylvania on the Civfanatics site. The former was my first real solo effort at scenario-building and the latter was an impulsive self-referenced joke that might nevertheless be playable if you're in the mood for a short game on a small map. There was 1 other scenario that I designed, a fantasy/medieval thing, (and it is complete and does work), that was actually a test of scenario ideas more than anything else. Don't think I've ever posted that one though. IIRC, it's called Aesgaard. I started work on two others, a Solomons campaign WWII, and a Saxon Conquest of England, but these two remain uncompleted so far.

I think that's all.

winterfritz · April 24, 2002, 07:58

Thanks a lot.

Dream Deceiver · April 24, 2002, 09:21

Oops, I didn't post my e-mail:
a.kaarna@pp.inet.fi

Exile · April 25, 2002, 20:20

Ok, between Henrik and I, we've got the events file working. I'm waiting for him to put together a new People.gif and then it's ready to go. In the meantime, I'm testing it myself to find all the bonehead mistakes and clean 'em up before sending this bad boy out. I'm happy to say that everything seems to be working--no problems that haven't had a solution. I'm also writing the readme file, and if you're familiar at all w/my scens, then you'll know that's like a thesis all by itself. Since SW is outta here, if you guys are still up for testing by way of a pbem, the British civ is now available again.

Gimme another day or two and I'll start sending.

Yeah. I know. But I'm a perfectionist.

Smaug · April 26, 2002, 05:23

Sounds like good fun. I'll take the English.

My email glassesslayer@hotmail.com

Exile · April 26, 2002, 07:51

There's a problem. See the "Ship movement" thread if you're interested. Until this problem is solved, we're temporarily on hold.

Patience.

Exile · April 29, 2002, 20:07

but it's done. Playtesting copies are going out now. Some of you will get the sound files, some won't. I started sending out the scenario and then following that mailing with the sounds, but they take forever to upload and I had two of them turn up undeliverable. So, I'm not going to send any more sounds for now. After some playtesting, when I start putting the thing up on the various sites, I'll also send the sound files and they can be gotten there. I'll also send them by request, but some mail programs won't take more than 1 mb worth of files, and the sound file is bigger than that.

Enjoy and give me feedback.

Exile · April 29, 2002, 20:52

If this works.

edit; don't think it did. I tried to upload the sound zip here, but I don't see it.

Dr. Nick · April 30, 2002, 22:20

10 minutes of play:

Jap government should be something else, possibly Fundamentalism: discontent is a problem (cuts on production of shields or food and shouldn't) and they start out with a huge fiscal deficit. Too huge, even if intended.
Why does Spain control South America?
Germany should have some bases in the Pacific islands, as should Britain and France(?).
Why does Germany control the Boer Republics?
Isn't cavalry lacking?
Japan should have less rail and be overall less developed: the Meiji restoration was only 2 years before the beginning. Definetly little to no navy.
Juan Manuel de Rosas was no longer 'leader' of Argentina (not since 1852). The Argentine President at the time was Domingo Faustino Sarmiento. Then again, I'd say make the Spanish a civ and Latin American "oriental" (barbarian?)

Dr. Nick · April 30, 2002, 22:21

If part of taht is in the readme, just put "read the readme". Heheh, I never bother with them.

Dr. Nick · April 30, 2002, 23:43

I must say I love the usage of the caravan, I'd wager it's the most important unit in the entire game.

Henrik · May 1, 2002, 02:40

Ok, exile I haven't yet started the final playtest version.
But in the version I had earlier ships bombarded too well, way too well.
Why not make them subs as in AoW or atleast lower thier stats a little?
This way oriental coastal cities cannot be defended at all against euros/japs/americans even at the start of the scenario.

This might've allready been fixed by you in which case you can just disregard this comment I guess

Dr. Nick · May 1, 2002, 10:27

Also, capturing the "oriental" (are they Barbarians?) cities is very difficult... I think you should have different oriental units defending the cities, that way you can balance out the cultures. In Asia you didn't have the same quality troops as in Turkey definetly, particularly China.

Dr. Nick · May 1, 2002, 19:11

At King lever, by turn 3 the whole Jap navy and army is gone and I haven't even taken Seoul... (and I only even attacked Seoul).

China is too strong, they should be pulled down after a little shore bombardment.

Dr. Nick · May 1, 2002, 22:55

Forget my whineing about Japanese deficit, by 1873 I had researched some 10 technologies and was making a net 200 gold each turn thanks to trade.

And the army should be that bad come to think of it, China didn't become a pushover till the 1890s.

And indeed, ships seem to be to powerful for coastal bombardment. Then again, Japanese ships without coastal bombardment aren't worth a damn, but you might want to make coastal fortresses buildable from an earlier date. As it is, coastal bombardment is too powerful.

Exile · May 1, 2002, 23:07

El and Henrik; Guys I am NOT looking for you to question the historical accuracy of my work. The units work the way I want them to.

What I'm after are glitches, bugs, and mistakes. Does a Russian city start out building a British unit? Is a specific game message garbled? These are the things I'm looking for now.

Thanks.

winterfritz · May 2, 2002, 06:48

Exile, the ship movement rates in the pedia are wrong. Examples: Gunboats supposedly move 11, but in-game, move only 5. Steamers supposedly move 23, but in-game move only 10.

Is this an intended side effect of the compromise you had to use to get the high ship movement rates? If so, my bad

Just checking though.

Exile · May 2, 2002, 10:28

Yes, the pedia movement numbers are all way off. Ignore them. Yes, it is a side-effect of the change in the road movement mulitplier. I'll put something in the readme to clarify this in the final version. You might check the defense minister's report to see if the numbers are accurate there.

Thanks.

Dr. Nick · May 2, 2002, 16:31

Meh.

Soundwave · May 7, 2002, 20:18

Exile, can you please, Send me the files in my e-mail or tell me where to pick them up, its a little hard to find!!

Exile · May 7, 2002, 21:17

I just finished putting the final touches on it. As far as I can tell, all the little stupid mistakes and problems have been ironed out. The scenario works the way I want it to, and everything functions as intended.

I'd like to hear a bit more from the folks I sent the test version to. If you want the latest version with all the fixes, leave your email here and I'll send the next one along. I've been playing it quite a bit, from all the civs, and can't find any more things to correct.

Soundwave, send me an email and we'll talk.

Henrik · May 8, 2002, 01:43

henrik.lohmander@telia.com

Dr. Nick · May 8, 2002, 17:09

m_carreras@hotmail.com

I just discovered that I can't build Field Artillery as Japan..

Soundwave · May 9, 2002, 00:30

sor_richards@hotmail.com

winterfritz · May 9, 2002, 07:15

winterfritz_21@hotmail.com

Soundwave · May 9, 2002, 23:24

Exile, how can i e-mail you, i dont know your e-mail??

I thought it would have been in you info, but i was wrong.

Exile · May 10, 2002, 15:39

exile@gbronline.com

winterfritz · May 11, 2002, 04:10

Exile: is there any particular reason why the manufactured goods unit doesn't ignore ZOC? I ask because I'm playing a game where some of my intrepid traders have become stranded in the Alps due to the AI constantly moving their units nearby

Exile · May 11, 2002, 04:33

This was intentional, for two reasons;

1.) This scenario is a primarily naval and trade scenario. It's weighted heavily toward those two aspects. I want coastal cities, therefore, to be more attractive as potential trade termini. If you venture into the interior of an empire, you take the chance of getting "stuck."

2.) I also want empires to have the ability to keep hostile trade units OUT of their territories. How many times has a trade unit insinuated itself inside your empire and made things "difficult" because it occupied the wrong square at the wrong time? I experimented both ways with this, and was very satisfied with the rigid zone of control.

Btw, I'm still tweaking little things here and there. Put in some new unit graphics tonight, and updated the readme file.