Destiny of the World News

Bug Fixes:

The new Battle Report caused a problem with old saved game files. This fix will allow you to used saved game files created prior to Early Access Release #9.

Leaders

One feature that's been requested is having Leaders in the game. So I wanted to announce that I have begun adding this feature to the game. The feature is still being designed, so bear in mind that all details described here are subject to change. I also welcome any feedback you might have regarding what you would like to see with Leaders in the game.

The number of active leaders will be limited for each country. The active leaders can be selected and swapped out during the game. There will be two types of leaders: Generals and Admirals. Generals will be assigned to Armies, and Admirals will be assigned to Fleets.

In addition to providing bonuses to their assigned Army or Fleet, having an Admiral or General in a Theater is needed to ensure full performance of a country's forces in that theater. If no leaders are present in a theater, their units will suffer some combat penalties.

The level of the leaders is roughly considered to be at the Army Group level. So, think of Army Group North, Center, and South for the Germans on the Eastern Front, for example. However, you can arrange your leaders as you wish, with the caveat, that you must maintain at least one per theater, to avoid operational penalties. This theater requirement is to provide a penalty if a player decides to concentrate all leaders on a single theater.

Each country will have enough active leaders to maintain at least one leader per theater of war. Some countries will be able to maintain multiple leaders on some fronts, since these occurred historically.

Theaters without a leader will suffer a performance penalty in combat. The amount of the penalty is still being determined.

For the Army or Fleet that a leader is assigned to, there will also be an impact to that Army or Fleet in battle. This will include bonuses or penalties to Morale, Organization, or Experience in battle, depending on the traits of the individual leaders.

I think this will add an exciting extra element when planning battles and your army organizations. I'll provide more updates as the feature becomes more finalized.

Most of the effort in this version has been spent on improving the AI in the Pacific, mostly for Japan. The AI was also supposed to prevent conflict between UK and Japan before Pearl Harbor, which wasn't being enforced properly. Also, there was nothing preventing a human playing as UK or Japan from attacking the other before Pearl Harbor, and the AI would not fully react. The game has been updated so that if either the UK or Japan attacks the other, the AI restrictions on attacking will be immediately lifted.

There is still a lot of work planned on AI and economy tuning, so you can expect more changes to come in these areas in future versions. I welcome any feedback on AI deficiencies or things that seem off in the economy.

New Functionality:

• New Battle Summary Report - view any previous week's battle outcomes from the game.
  
• When searching for a region, the searched region will flash briefly on the map to make it easier to identify
  
• Units Report--when clicking on a unit in the report, the region containing the unit will flash briefly, to make it easier to identify
  
• Resource Report--when clicking on a region in the report, the region will flash briefly on the map, to make it easier to identify
  
• Added short cut keys for all of the reports
  

Bug Fixes:

• Japan/UK were fighting before Pearl Harbor.
  
• Experience was not always rewarded following a battle.
  
• Japanese/UK convoys were being intercepted before Pearl Harbor in the Pacific.
  
• Fixed bug where neutral territory could be targeted for AI strategic bombing.
  
• Fixed bug where readiness was not recovering properly for AI Militia and Cavalry units.
  

Tuning:

• USA AI Added logic to also target Japanese targets in Asia. Previously, the USA would ignore Asia and concentrate solely on Oceana in the Pacific. Much more work for USA to follow.
  
• Japan AI Improved invasion planning logic. Much of the Japanese strategy involved capturing remote islands via invasions. The AI was getting stalled at numerous points. The new AI should be much improved at handling this.
  
• Reduced Sea interception probability.
  Improved initial USSR force deployment so that the AI can better defend against Germany. The USSR was leaving too many forces in the east against small Japanese forces.
  
• AI was treating armored units as stronger than warranted when planning. This caused the AI to misallocate forces, and this decreased AI effectiveness
  Increased USA focus on Europe and the Mediterranean for the earlier phases of the war.
  
• Shifted UK AI focus slightly more to Europe and the Mediterranean earlier in the war.