Hex of Steel News

[h3]ADDED[/h3]

• New AI behaviour: Retreat and defend. When the AI (nation) is considering itself losing the war (turn income of all the enemies > 1.3x the turn income of the AI + its allies), and when it is locally (3 tiles radius) outnumbered by the enemy, it will retreat and look for good defensive positions.
  
• Auto files checker for the mods menu (will refresh the UI automatically when mods are changed outside of the game, like a manual delete or dragging in/out things).
  
• Supplies rate on UI for selected unit or mouse over unit UI element.
  
• 8 commanders to Australia.
  
• 5 commanders to New Zealand.
  

[h3]CHANGED[/h3]

• Multiplayer compatibility 7.6.0 --> 7.6.1.
  
• AI ships target behaviour. They will now ignore empty enemy harbours instead of staying around like a swarm of flies on a dog shit. :)
  
• AI artillery / bombers / ships will try to prioritize shelling/bombing victory points first, even if it means doing less damage (if the unit on the VP has its entrenchment > 0). They (arty and light bombers) will also check the presence of allies in the direct vicinity of the VP to evaluate if they should shell it or if they should attack nearby units. Meaning, if force targeting a VP is not gonna be of any help since no friendlies can attack it anyway, it will do regular attack logic.
  
• Refined risk/reward attack logic for AI planes.
  
• Faction joined upon war declared for players having the same ideology. A Fascist country being declared war upon another Fascist country will now join its own faction instead of joining the Allies (Ex: Japan vs Thailand or Germany vs Spain).
  
• Units added to the reserve through events will now have a turn production of 0 automatically (ready to deploy right away).
  
• Renamed the 'Finite Manpower' setting into 'Realistic Manpower'.
  
• Updated Tutorial scenario.
  
• Tutorial scenario leaderboard entries have been reset entirely (scenario was changed enough that it would require a reset of the steam leaderboard).
  
• Color scheme of Australia and New Zealand.
  
• In the map editor, you can now set a player to be in its own faction instead of the only 4 available.
  
• Tuned down partisans spawn rate.
  
• Supplies rate changes. Units at contact with the enemy had too high supply rate which resulted in really sluggish battles. Now, every unit having an enemy unit adjacent to it will be applied a -25% supplies penalty.
  
• Terrain now has a bigger impact on supplies for the supply route.
  
• Optimized generation of supply line.
  
• Improved AI ships move goal picking.
  
• Updated Russian localization.
  
• Selected unit's stats UI window is now always shown (cannot be closed). This saves a click in the beginning, and reduces the size of the left UI panel by removing a now useless button.
  

[h3]FIXED[/h3]

• With Realistic Manpower ON (setting) you could start with negative manpower in some cases.
  
• Notification text when a player is being transferred a tile would show 'No Translation'.
  
• Custom Weather inputfields reacting oddly in the map editor.
  
• Steam leaderboards/stats were no longer working (no more uploads). Big shoutout to @DarthPorscheman without whom I'd never have noticed it was no longer working.
  
• Resistance suppression policy was not working.
  
• Real Time multiplayer units HP not synced.
  
• Event action SET TILE had no failsafe and no clear default value.
  
• Exploits to have ironman mode ON and therefore having your score uploaded to the leaderboard even though it was unfair.
  
• Android / iOS bugs only.
  

[h3]ADDED[/h3]

• New tile management menu (through diplomacy menu). You can now decide to request or transfer specific tiles. Useful when playing in coop or when the AI captures stuff you wanted to get for yourself. Transferring a tile to a player is free (one of yours) while requesting the ownership of a tile comes at a cost. The cost is calculated as follows: If the tile is a core territory of the player, then it costs 100 times the production value of the tile. If the tile is not a core territory of the player owning it, then it costs 50 times the production value of the tile. Meaning, if Slovakia captures a Polish factory, you can request its transfer to you if you can pay 35 (default factory production value)
• 50 = 1750. If the tile was previously owned by you, then it is only 15 times the production value (although currently, ownership is automatically given back, so no transaction is required). You cannot manage in any way tiles owned by the enemy (no request or transfer). Transferring or requesting a tile will send any unit on the tile back to the reserve of the player owning the unit.
  
• New optional setting: Finite Manpower. This only works if the Manpower setting is ON. It adds on to the Manpower setting, making it a finite resources. When this extra setting is OFF (default), when a unit is destroyed, 100% of its manpower is being sent back into the pool. This extra setting prevents this. Lost manpower cannot be retrieved, and wars of attrition of manpower are now possible. Small specificity: When transferring units to another player, the manpower used is yours. The player receiving the unit will not have less manpower in its pool. This puts an end to the exploit of transferring infinite units to your allies.
  
• New japanese planes: Mitsubishi J2M, Kawanishi N1K-J, Nakajima B6N, Mitsubishi A7M3 (prototype), Nakajima Ki-44.
  
• New optional setting: Show unit pre move path. Default = ON on new installs. This basically shows the path the unit will take when moving to a given tile (under mouse cursor).
  
• New graphics for the Desert biome mountain tile.
  
• 3 New event actions: Add VP (basically turning any tile into a VP) and Remove VP (removing any VP) and Set Tile Name (writing text on a tile).
  
• Units that are too expensive in the store are now greyed out with a 'TOO EXPENSIVE' text above them.
  
• New per scenario setting (map editor): Disable purchases. This will basically disable purchasing new units for players. Useful if you want to have a batch of starting units and only want these to be available in your scenario and control reinforcements with events.
  
• New keybind: End of turn.
  
• Stalingrad 43 Steam leaderboard.
  

[h3]CHANGED[/h3]

• Sending units back to the reserve (redeploying) now has a dynamic cost. It no longer costs a fixed 30 money, but is 10% of the unit's value. Redeploying a light infantry unit will be cheap, while redeploying tanks or ships will cost more, and scale with the unit's cost.
  
• Units in the reserve (but not under production) now have an upkeep cost, but not full like deployed ones. They have a reduced upkeep cost and the upkeep value is 30% of the real upkeep once deployed.
  
• Undo button was brought at the very top of the list of buttons for a selected unit for easier access.
  
• US light tank M2 was turned into the M2A4 light tank.
  
• When playing with Realistic Units Names option ON, the previous 'Battalion' word has been replaced by 'Brigade' to better fit the overall size of units represented in the game.
  
• Manpower cost of some units.
  
• Manpower 'Neutral' penalty has been replaced by Manpower 'not at war' penalty. Before 7.6.0. a country that was in the Neutral faction would have its available manpower cut in half. Now, this happens any time the player is not at war with anybody, regardless of the faction it is in.
  
• Tooltip for resupplying has been simplified, removed some text and changed its general look. It now implements the new manpower cost for healing a unit.
  
• Manpower amount display will now show 1 decimal when under 100k. So, before it would show 50k, it will now show 55.3k. It is more important now that manpower can be finite and you may need to know exactly how much you have.
  
• New risk/reward in AI's attack behaviour to better weight whether it should or should not attack in different situations. Current results are good and will help unclutter the board.
  
• Higher chance of AI purchasing motorized or mechanized units later in the war, or if it has enough money.
  
• Supply circle for supply ships/planes look.
  
• Pressing 'Escape' will now act as a shortcut for the 'NO' option on confirmation windows.
  
• Skip button icon.
  
• Redeploy button icon.
  
• Unit's stats button icon.
  
• Transfer button icon.
  

[h3]FIXED[/h3]

• Updating tiles through events would not always work.
  
• Units in reserve being removed from the scenario when opening a scenario in the map editor.
  
• Some issue with unit pathfinding when asking it to move from A to B.
  
• You could transfer core units to another player and it would not check if this would make it go over the max limit, this could be exploited to basically have unlimited core units.
  
• Units that were ordered to stay asleep would wake up if there were other units nearby (Neutral).
  
• Stalingrad 43 standalone scenario achievements could not be unlocked.
  
• One potential error during code execution when a submarine was asked to dive/undive.
  
• Game could sometimes show you the 'You still have research points available' popup window when all units were researched except the last ones that are being researched currently.
  
• Drawings sync in real time multiplayer issues/not always shown for allies.
  
• Country editor issues when having loaded mods which did not feature a Custom Countries.txt file.
  
• Deleting / Disbanding a unit that was a goal for the scenario would grant manpower and income but cancel the disband process after that. Could be heavily exploited.
  
• Checking if the unit has been used (while in the reserve) to determine its cost for a refund was wrong some times. Logic is: If you cancel the production of a unit that has never been deployed on the map, you should get full refund.
  
• Manpower difference calculation when upgrading a unit was wrong.
  
• Real time multiplayer damage and unit HP sync issue.
  
• Tooltip being displayed over the supplies popup/tooltip window.
  
• You could not resupply allies with supply ships or planes.
  
• Battle of Tripoli introduction text for the Allies was empty.
  
• Steam Rich Presence was wrong when using the map editor (after you opened and closed the store).
  
• Battle of Berlin Soviet side, wrong side assigned.
  
• Duplicating a 'Spawn unit' or 'Add unit to reserve' event action would result in the same unit being used over several event actions, and so instead of adding 2 or more separate units, it would always be the same one.
  
• AI not using Sea Bridges.
  
• You could not use supply ships while being Neutral.
  
• AI upgrading and downgrading its units to and from garrisons.
  
• Modded sounds would not play anymore in the Units Editor (but work fine in game).
  
• Linked/Chained capitulation would not work with event actions.
  
• UI bug in the map editor which prevented you to open the scenario settings.
  
• Sometimes events could not fire.
  
• AI not spending a single HQ point when purchasing commanders with Policies setting turned ON.
  
• Event issues with spawning units + repetition of event (resulting in 0 HP units).
  

[h3]ADDED[/h3]

• Political map opacity slider.
  

[h3]CHANGED[/h3]

• Updated game engine (Unity 2021.3.33 --> 2021.3.40).
  
• Multiplayer compatibility version --> 7.5.4.
  
• UK and US rules of war declaration on Vichy France.
  
• When importing an overlay for the first time, its opacity will be at 100% instead of 0% which could mislead a lot into thinking it was not working properly.
  
• Removed the popup window warning you of unsupported setting(s) when playing a campaign, since now all campaign scenarios have been reworked to work in par with manpower and upkeep optional settings.
  
• Units are now able to embark/disembark from trains on any railroad tile (hopefully this will solve the previous very tedious process of having to embark units one by one in cities and having to clear cities etc).
  
• When political map is ON, zooming in close to the map will fade out the country's names.
  
• Units can now embark and disembark in and from trains from any tile that is neighbouring a valid train tile.
  
• Reworked entirely the Steam API integration. Much more performant now. Cleaner code.
  
• Changed AI AA purchase rule a bit so that it purchases them a bit more often.
  
• Changed AI fighters purchase rule so that it purchases them even if things are not going well but are not yet entirely desperate.
  
• All AT guns now take 1 turn to produce instead of 2 (base, other modifiers still apply).
  
• Heavy tanks production time is now 3 turns instead of 2 (regular tanks).
  
• AA units now have a penalty when fighting in 'closed' spaces: Urban tiles (cities, harbours, factories) or in forest tiles. -50% damage modifier.
  
• Core units amount is now shown in the store menu for campaign scenarios when the manpower setting is ON (cannot display both at the same place on the UI).
  
• Italian counters color changed to prevent confusing them for US ones (when both were used next to each other).
  
• Minor rebalance on Europe 1939.
  

[h3]FIXED[/h3]

• Potentially fixed a crash on startup on M2 and above Macs (I need confirmation from one of you guys :)).
  
• 2 events system objects were in the editor scene when you were trying to import a new overlay.
  
• Some UI issues in the standalone games menu.
  
• Achievements missing for Pacific 1937, 1941, 1942, 1945 standalone scenarios.
  
• RGB color code for drawing not working/appearing.
  
• Manpower overlapping with core units amount when playing a campaign with manpower setting ON.
  
• Spring Awakening scenario in the soviet campaign had wrong player to be playing the Allies side.
  
• Soviet Western 1939 campaign scenario should have been the Poland invasion but started right away with the Winter War.
  
• Redeploying units or transferring units would not reset their waypoints.
  
• Event sometimes could not fire if they had a check date set but then the event check type was changed.
  
• For some reason the trench building had a progressive cost of 50.
  
• 2 trench units were with unknown countries.
  
• Steam rich presence status would not be working if you played some AI vs AI then went back to the main menu.
  

[h3]REMOVED[/h3]

• Bunch of achievements that were not really useful or were impossible / too hard to achieve (winning 100 multiplayer games for example).
  

[h3]ADDED[/h3]

• Edition time stat for maps. It will simply count how long it took to create a map in the editor. Just a useful stat I guess since it has no real use. But at least you will know how long it took you to make this or that map.
  
• Delete unit brush in map editor. 1 = tile painting. 2 = water freeze. 3 = season change. 4 = unit removal.
  
• New country: Iceland. Doesn't have any unit though, it's purely a placeholder the Europe 39 map.
  
• Land mines for Switzerland.
  
• New toggle in the units editor: Display only modded units. Will hide all base game units from the list.
  

[h3]CHANGED[/h3]

• Multiplayer / Chat compatibility --> 7.5.3.
  
• Increased painting accuracy when using the draw feature in game (x2 accuracy).
  
• Using same keybind for 'Next unit' and 'Sleep' will now execute in the reverse order (first sleep, then next unit, instead of the other way around as it was before).
  
• Several new campaign scenarios have been updated to be playable with manpower and upkeep settings.
  
• Changing the way backups are made when resizing maps in the editor. Instead of creating a copy and working on a copy, the game will now generate a backup file (file name + backup) and the currently open scenario will remain the active / base one. All you have to do is delete the backup file if you don't need it anymore.
  
• VPs to be held are now properly saved and restored when resizing a map in the editor.
  
• Ships are now allowed to move across harbour tiles (if they are not at war with the owner).
  
• Added Iceland as part of Europe 39 standalone scenario (so that Germany doesn't gain control over Iceland when they capture Denmark).
  
• Removed +100% manpower hardcoded USSR modifier.
  
• Optimized clouds system. They are now faster to process by 2.5 times.
  
• Optimized AI play time where I could (was lagging a bit due to excessive Resupply() calls). On average it is 2 times faster now.
  

[h3]FIXED[/h3]

• Mod would fail to upload to steam workshop if it was missing a thumbnail (in case you deleted it).
  
• Strategic bombers could bomb convoy route tiles.
  
• Adding one tile up when editing a map would add a minimum of 2 tiles. Same for adding one tile to the right. Same for removing 1 tile.
  
• Game would play both video sound and custom music in the main menu at the same time. Now, if a video is being played, the custom music won't be played.
  
• USA / Canada landing before allowed date on Europe scenarios (like from 1943 and onward for example, AI would start landing in France).
  
• Add unit to reserve event action was not working (it could never be saved/setup in the editor).
  
• AI ships would stay stuck near neutral or not at war with ships (sonar signals) when it should have just moved on. Same with planes.
  
• AI going broke because of upkeep and buying too many units in some cases.
  
• Supplies quantity calculations were not working with bridges (not counted as walkable tile).
  
• Construction engineering policy and any other policy that influenced turn production of units were not working (not changing the production turn amount).
  
• Naval convoy route tiles would get overwritten by autocoastlines setup if they were placed near the shore.
  
• Real time MP: some variables were not synced properly.
  
• Real time MP: If players left after they joined the session, the 'Start Game' would remain active even though it shouldn't have.
  
• Winning on Operation Wesurubung (Allies) would not continue the campaign.
  

Hello guys!

I have talked in length about making a 'Best HoS mods' official post, for a long, LONG time...
Actually, the last similar post was made on July 31st 2022... (Link to the post for those of you who don't remember)

This time I will not make a top, I will just give you a few links to some mods that deserve some attention, and that you may have missed.
These mods are not ranked by 'the best', they are unsorted and ranked purely by me.

Alright, now that you know what we're gonna talk about today, let's start! Here's the top HoS mods I would recommend you to play...

[h3]Mod number 1: A World Map WW2[/h3]
As the mod name may suggest, it features a world map. It has pretty much every country that you can think about, it adds and modifies a ton of units, highly recommended to show the creator some love as it took over 6 months to complete.

[h3]Mod number 2: Avalon Hill World Scale[/h3]
Yet another world map mod. Although watch out for this one as it is truly massive and may not be supported on lower end PCs (I'm not even gonna talk about phones/tablets). A ton of work was put into that mod as well, and still is, as it isn't finished yet, but I'd really commend you to check it out :)

[h3]Mod number 3: Europe+[/h3]
A brand new Europe map, very similar to the vanilla one, but bigger (not to a point that it is unplayable, though). It is not yet finished, so don't worry if you subscribe and you cannot see the map in the game, but it will be finished very soon. I cannot wait for that one to release as it was made from scratch, using a mash up of real life maps (for cities, terrain, height, roads and railroads). I will definitely base my next playthrough on YouTube on this map!

[h3]Mod number 4: Marked Airfields[/h3]
Still one of those mods I use all the time. It basically changes the graphics of the airfields a little to give higher visibility even when units are on it. It looks very natural and fits the game quite well.

[h3]Mod number 5: Napoleonic Wars[/h3]
A total conversion mod to bring the 1800s into Hex of Steel. Highly recommended if you are a fan of the era. There are pretty much all campaign of Napoleon and the Coalition as well as entire Europe conversion scenarios. I cannot fathom how much work was put into that mod as well.

[h3]Mod number 6: Jun1941[/h3]
Ever wanted a historically accurate HUGE eastern front map, where each hex is 10 km? There you have it :) This is a high quality mod that also took a very long time to make, but as it is now ready, I highly recommend you checking this one out!

[h3]Mod number 7: Injim War Far East[/h3]
Total conversion of the game, brings the Korean conflicts of the 16th century into Hex of Steel. To anybody interested in this particular era/geographical area, a must have! Features high quality counters.

[h3]Mod number 8: American Revolution[/h3]
Total conversion mod which brings the 1770s to Hex of Steel. High quality mod, beautiful counters. Lovers of the era/period will absolutely love this mod!

[h3]Mod number 9: 6 Day War[/h3]
Yet another total conversion mod, this time focused on more modern events. Not only does this mod bring brand new modern units into the game, but an entirely custom hand-made map. Hats off to the author for that one :)

[h3]Mod number 10: Korea 85[/h3]
This total conversion mod brings the Korean war into Hex of Steel. Nothing much to say, except it is a great mod! Highly recommended as well.

[h3]Mod number 11: Commanders 1939[/h3]
Changes the base game commanders counters to give them a more personalized/unique look.
It will show the portrait of each commander on the counter.

[h3]Mod number 12: The Burma Campaign[/h3]
Mod adding a brand new scenario to the game, the Burma road campaign!

[h3]Mod number 13: Ethiopia '35[/h3]
Another mod bringing some uncovered events of WW2. The Ethiopian front!

[h3]Mod number 14: Dragon and Cross[/h3]
Total conversion mod (high quality) that brings China in the 1850s and 1860s. Just great!

[h3]Mod number 15: Visible Trenches[/h3]
Visual mod, just like the improved airfields one, but this time with trenches!


Alright, that's it for me, this is only my favorite 15 mods (not sorted in any way).
I invite you to take a look at the 200+ other mods available on the workshop and see what you are most interested in!

Have a great week-end

Val