Hex of Steel News

[h3]CAUTION: This update is NOT multiplayer compatible with prior versions of the game. Do not attempt to cross version multiplayer. Either stay in 6.4.2 OR move to 6.5.0.[/h3]

Hello again :)

I have been at work for the past 3 days on something I talked about during my streams on Youtube, for those of you who watched me, you already know what this is :)

The last major feature the game was lacking was a better diplomacy system.

So, I got to work and updated it
Actually, it was a bit more than an update since I changed around 800 lines of code throughout the game (that were linked to diplomacy in general)
That was a LOT of work (but this was due to my code not supporting changes like those without redoing the entire thing from scratch)
This is one of the reasons why there are things that are simply not gonna change simply because my code sucks and doesn't really support upgrades but actually requires to be demolished and rebuilt, making it a huge pain in the butt

Anyway, I finished the work on diplomacy, and now you have a proper system where you can be at war with Poland, not at war with the USSR but still have the USSR at war with Poland

This system was needed for the quick games (custom scenarios) where for example both Germany and the USSR would be at war with Poland but Germany and the USSR wouldn't be allies
That wasn't possible with the old system because it was very binary. You were either at war, either at peace.
Now you can have common enemies without being allies.

Anyway, this fixes the Winter War as well, where Finland and the USSR will both be at war with each other without impacting anything else, and same thing for the Baltic States and the USSR in June 1940
USSR will mind its own business and there will be no intel sharing or any red units running around Germany
Not anymore

Unfortunately, the changes required for this to work made the whole thing slower (more expensive checks, since instead of checking if you are in the same faction or not you need to check in your list of allies or list or enemies or both even in some places) and so this slowed down the AI a little

At first, it was pretty bad, then I profiled the issues and saw there were things that could be optimised
I optimised some things and made them faster, so we got back at the previous level of speed/lag
Basically almost nothing changed in term of AI speed, but the code is more efficient now!
(All my tests are conducted on Europe 1939 with all countries in Free For All mode in hardcore with all options ON in the settings. With the previous version the first turn took 1 minute 12 seconds to complete, now it takes 1 minute 7 seconds. Small optimisations things a bit)

[h3]Additions:[/h3]

• New diplomacy system. New diplomacy tooltip showing wars and alliances per player.
  
• New pre war anti tank gun for Hungary.
  
• Added planes for Turkey.
  

[h3]Changes:[/h3]

• Many, many, many lines of code changed. Everywhere throughout the game. This means instability has increased, I did play test quite a bit and squashed all bugs I found. Since this update once again has really changed the code base of the game, it is likely there are going to be new bugs. If you witness something weird, please let me know so I can fix it in the best delays!
  
• AI's behaviour with planes. If the option "one more tile with planes" is one, AI will take advantage of that now and have its plane move aside one tile when it attacked a unit, to allow for maximum destruction/damage.
  
• When a VP is captured, if it used to belong to someone else, and if this someone else is your ally, the VP will go back to its original owner, no longer to you. Basically, when Germany invades France, if the USA or any ally of France take back France's stuff, it goes back to France. This is not only good because of this, but also because this means the AI will no longer steal stuff from you if it used to belong to you!
  
• You can now buy units from countries that are at war as long as you are neutral.
  
• Updated manual.
  

[h3]Fixes:[/h3]

• AI buying algorithm. Many fixes. Including ratio of tanks planes artillery etc both for majors and minors.
  
• General fixes I found while re writing the code throughout the game.
  
• All Weather policy not working properly, enemy that didn't have it would retaliate at 100% damage.
  
• Policies that altered partisan spawn were not working properly.
  
• You would attack an enemy when trying to place a waypoint on its tile.
  
• Research time could be wrong for some units.
  
• Infinite money bug when downgrading a veteran unit. Money would add up and veteran option isn't removed.
  
• Kasserine Pass as the Axis campaign scenario couldn't be completed due to 2 allied reinforcement tiles being major victory points.
  
• You couldn't send money in campaign through the diplomacy panel.
  

[h3]Removed:[/h3]

• Generic planes for Turkey.
  

UPDATE: Waypoint system has been changed a bit, please read the thread I made in the forum.

Hello guysss

Today I focused on implementing a feature that has been asked probably more than any other, may I present to you ... WAYPOINTS

Probably one of the biggest QoL feature that I implemented based on player feedback

So, have fun with it ya'll :)

To add/remove waypoints you need to hold down SHIFT and do a left click with the mouse.
Waypoints will be shown per unit when you select a unit. When the unit gets unselected everything disappears so it doesn't get in the way.
Every waypoint is linked by a white line indicating in what order the unit will move

When the unit reaches its waypoint you get an important notification (golden) so you know it got there

You can basically now gives orders to get somewhere and forget about the unit

Please do keep in mind that to keep this lightweight and not create lag every time you add or remove a waypoint I am not calculating the paths every time this is done, this means you can add waypoints to stuff the unit CANNOT reach, please keep that in mind. If the unit doesn't move after you set the waypoint, it's most likely because it simply cannot go there (Ships -> Land for example)
I have added a notification for this special case so that you still know about it, so if you set some waypoints and for some reason the unit cannot reach it you will get notified about it

And that's pretty much it about HoS for today :)

Ah, I also improved the AIs algorithm and it should be more performant now (meaning less lag, and faster play)

[h3]Additions:[/h3]

• Waypoint system. Use LEFT CTRL to enable the feature, and left click to add/remove any waypoint for the selected unit. When you will start pressing LEFT CTRL down all waypoints of all the other units (yours) will be shown, this is to help organise big troops movement and keep track of who goes where.
  I also added a new keybinding to use the key you want instead of holding down LEFT CTRL.
  
• New planes to Yugoslavia (Bf 109E, Hurricane Mk. I, Blenheim Mk I, Hawker Fury, Do-17K, SM-79)
  

[h3]Changes:[/h3]

• Marsh tiles can't be entered by tanks or anything else except infantry anymore.
  
• Minors will purchase less tanks (Found that Yugoslavia was getting way too many tanks).
  

[h3]Fixes:[/h3]

• AI was half blind and half cheating. It could see your territory but didn't see half of his. This bug seems to have been here forever so ... Just noticed it 2 days ago while doing a stream... But now it's fixed!!
  

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I am not as active as I used to be, but this is not because I am gaming all day, but rather because I am working HARD on my next project.
It currently features 40 planes, 70 vehicles of all kind, and 35 weapons!

Here are a few screenshots of the advancement of the whole project:
Multiplayer lobby

Amount of weapons currently in the game

German fighter sight

British fighter sight

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
MG-42 firing + walking in the woods

StuG III G in ambush position

View from the driver's port in StuG III G

Ju-88 A4 looking for a target

Currently supports up to 128 infantry bots in singleplayer, should be plenty to have some fun!

[h3]ADDED:[/h3]

• List of online players in the chat. Now you can see who is online and know if your friend(s) is playing the game or just to know if you're not chatting alone :)
  
• History to the chat. I set the history to be the last 10 messages that were sent before you joined the chat, this way you can know what people were talking about before you joined.
  
• Friend(s) system. When in the chat, to the right you now have a list of players connected and you can click on them and add the player to your friends or remove him from your friends. Your friends will be at the top of the player list for easier finding AND you will receive an in game notification when your friend is online. Useful for cross platform or people who are not friends on steam.
  
• Ping system in the chat. If someone does @yourUsername you will get a small notification to let you know someone mentioned you + the notification color will be blue.
  
• Public chat OFF setting in the settings. This way the chat is disabled. You can enable it by trying to send a message, the game will ask if you want to go online.
  
• Full mods support on Android.
  
• No ammo for unit to start with on turn 1 option in map editor. Useful if you are making a scenario when you want one side to be surprised by an attack.
  
• New boolean for unit editor: Can engineers build.
  
• No entrenchment on turn 1 in map editor option for units.
  
• Search input field in multiplayer when trying to look for a particular scenario to host.
  
• Possibility to kick a player in real time multiplayer lobby.
  
• Operation Edelweiss Soviet starting units fixes.
  
• Several soviet units starting month/year fixes.
  
• Made SMK into prototype tank.
  
• Added a new inputfield in the unit editor to have a custom manpower cost for any unit. Works the same as the custom unit cost but instead this is for manpower.
  

[h3]CHANGES:[/h3]

• Updated the manual (hence the 40MB update).
  
• Any player can now delete a PBEM game. Not just only the host anymore. Several players requested this after they had PBEM games that nobody played and needed to be deleted for clarity's sake.
  
• Ordered all events in the map editor.
  
• Sped up generation of events in map editor (useful if you have many events).
  
• Small improvements to UI in map editor.
  
• Europe scenarios changes.
  
• Cost of mechanised units has been changed (more expensive).
  
• Amount of movement points provided by means of transports are not added to the unit's base MPs anymore but are modifying its base value. Horse drawn units will have 4MPs, mechanised will have 5 MPs and motorised 6 MPs.
  
• Manpower has been reduced (too much).
  
• Base manpower will increase every month by 1%. Since I reduced the manpower available, and since IRL it grew every single year, I thought I could add 1% every month, which is roughly a division of infantry for Germany for example.
  
• Small changes to multiplayer UI.
  
• Reduced amount of ships built by non major naval powers (AI).
  
• Added 1 MP to all ships.
  
• Supply line should no longer go through enemy territory.
  
• AI will not buy bunkers anymore if they are winning and on the offensive.
  
• Adapted AI mountaineer option quantity to percentage of hills and mountains on the map. Won't spend money on this option if there are no hills on the map or not enough.
  
• Added horizontal and vertical layout for VPs generation in scenario generator.
  
• Marsh tiles are now impassable to any unit other than infantry.
  

[h3]FIXES:[/h3]

• Mines were invisible to your allies.
  
• Issue with season change and tiles.
  
• In the mod manager you couldn't delete or open a workshop's mod location (both buttons would not work). Now you can.
  
• Operation Husky Axis and Allies achievements were not triggered.
  
• Not correct amount of loaded files when loading mods being shown.
  
• Upgrade panel didn't show the unit's mode of transport.
  
• Empty Order Of Battle slots (blank).
  
• You could join your own hosted PBEM game, causing issues.
  
• You couldn't spawn units in the map editor.
  
• Private chat in PBEM wasn't working.
  
• AI buying function not always doing the best choices.
  
• AI was taking into account neutrals into its calculations for troops on the battlefield and making the composition of its army.
  
• Soviet Union would attack Finland between the Winter War and the Continuation War (at the same time it conquers the Baltic States) on Europe 1939 with Historical Focus ON.
  
• Small disparities with British hurricane and spitfires movement points.
  
• Units would show in the store even after their end date was reached.
  
• Guadalcanal ending instantly as the Japanese.
  
• Couldn't set a month or money amount for the money event in map editor.
  

Hello hello!

I come with more mods news :p

This time, it is for the very FIRST top for the game! I shall name it, top 10 mods for HoS!

Judging by the amount of subscriptions to mods in the workshop, it seems not many of you know of its existence or seem to know what's there, so this top, hopefully, will spark interest in some of you :)

[h3]NUMBER 1: Uncut German flag.[/h3]
Replaces the base censored German flag by the historically accurate one.
You can subscribe to this mod here Credits: Valentin56610

[h3]NUMBER 2: Tinted counters.[/h3]
Replaces all white on the counters by the counter's base color but tinted.
You can subscribe to this mod here Credits: Der Kuenstler

[h3]NUMBER 3: The Great War (WWI conversion)[/h3]
Brings WWI to Hex of Steel! No more, no less :)
I heard eastern front is under development, so only the western front is available at the moment.
You can subscribe to this mod here Credits: Chrys131

[h3]NUMBER 4: Modern Warfare[/h3]
Brings modern conflicts to the game, featuring the Russo-Ukrainian war.
You can subscribe to this mod here Credits: Chrys131

[h3]NUMBER 5: Napoleonic Wars[/h3]
Brings the 1800s to the game, with a Europe map with most countries of the time.
You can subscribe to this mod here Credits: Chrys131

[h3]NUMBER 6: National bunkers[/h3]
This mod changes the graphics of most bunkers giving them a more personalized style.
You can subscribe to this mod here Credits: Der Kuenstler

[h3]NUMBER 7: More Visible Airfields[/h3]
This mod changes the graphics of the airfield tiles to make them more visible even when units are above them.
You can subscribe to this mod here Credits: Der Kuenstler

[h3]NUMBER 8: Huge Pacific scenario[/h3]
This mod adds a new scenario to the game, it is taking place in the Pacific and is a huge one! Perfect for players that are looking for huge scenarios :)
You can subscribe to this mod here Credits: evolution.400

[h3]NUMBER 9: German Generals Portraits[/h3]
This mod replaces the base generals' graphics by custom ones showing their faces.
You can subscribe to this mod here Credits: Chrys131

[h3]NUMBER 10: More Visible Trenches[/h3]
This mod changes the graphics of the trenches tiles to make them more visible even when units are above them.
You can subscribe to this mod here Credits: Der Kuenstler

Thank you for reading and thank you to all modders that already have contributed to the workshop and that will contribute in the future!

Hello everyone!

I am making this news event to make sure everyone knows about the modifications I made to modding.
I have already talked about it in the Discord server (Discord server invite), and also in the change log of version 6.4.0 (6.4.0 change log), but in case some of you are simply not on the server OR do not read change logs (it's ok I won't be mad), here's an event with more visibility :)

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First of, I have re made the tutorials for modding:
You can find part 1 here : Part 1 : Creating a mod in HoS
And part 2 here : Part 2 : Sharing your mod to the Workshop

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With 6.4.0 out, it has now became incredibly easier to make mods that add units / tiles / countries

The big changes here are is the following:
- Ability to edit mods on the fly directly from within the editors

In any of the editors (country, unit, tile) you can now select a mod to edit, and remove/add stuff from it and save your changes directly from within the game.

Whereas before you needed to handle files, copy them from the root folder of the game to the mod's folder back and forth every time you wanted to edit a mod.

Now, everything is accessible from within the editors, as long as you activate the mod(s) through the mods panel :)

Happy modding!

PS: To the attention of modders, only one Custom Units.txt file is now allowed PER mod. If your mod uses more than one Custom Units.txt file, please get in touch with me so I can merge those files in a single one.