Armoured Commander II News

First of all, many thanks to everyone who bought the game today! This is just the beginning of over a year of planned additions and updates to the game, and I'm grateful that there's been such an impressive show of interest in the Steam release.

Based on testing and feedback from players today I've just pushed version 4.0.2 to Steam. I released 4.0.1 sneakily earlier in the day, just to fix some obvious and easy display bugs, and to enable a small bootlog that is exported to the ArmCom2 directory in your user folder.

4.0.2 is a more substantial update. All saved campaigns from earlier 4.x versions can still be continued in the new version. You may have to restart Steam to download the update, however. Any further bugs or crashes, please do report them on the Discussion Board. Changelog follows:



ADD: Basic bootlog saved to user folder
FIX: Minor display bugs



ADD: Player squad won't do any actions in Allied Action phase if all enemy units have been destroyed
ADD: If ambushed, player squad starts scenario Moving
ADD: Can use Escape to cancel new campaign from the Tank Selection menu
CNG: Guns now have a minimum RoF chance: 5% if using Ready Rack, 2% if not
CNG: Increased support level from random event now between 20% and 40%
CNG: Overrun attacks now allowed for units with no MG weapons
CNG: Multiplier for exp award at end of day
CNG: Select Weapon and Cycle Ammo commands combined in Scenario for Shooting Phase commands
CNG: Timing of sound effect for AI unit movement
CNG: Resupply no longer replenishes player squad
FIX: Control and enemy strength indicators now update right after end of scenario after return to Campaign Day map
FIX: Field of view display now hidden while air or artillery support attacks are being resolved
FIX: Scenario time console (upper middle) should now update as soon as player is spotted
FIX: Smoke not drawn during unit movement animation in scenario
FIX: Reposition message hidden for player when on overun action
FIX: Bug where pressing F would being up Fate Point prompt even when its use was not allowed
FIX: Trying to fire AP at a concealed enemy will no longer reveal if it is Infantry or Gun
FIX: Rare bug where a crewman could be sent to the Field Hospital for 0 days

I've uploaded a build of version 4.0.0 for closed beta participants, and this should be the version available to everyone from Thursday onward. There's no major updates from the previous release candidate, and saved campaigns from the previous version are still compatible. My thanks to everyone who reported issues with the previous beta and RC builds.

Changelog from the previous public release (3.0.2) follows:



[h2]General[/h2]

ADD: New option to display in fullscreen with either 16px or 8px font
ADD: New unit definitions for turret traverse speed: Fast / Slow / Restricted Slow
ADD: Crewmen in smaller turrets cannot operate gun or MG when CE
ADD: Panzerschreck teams for AI in Canada's Best and Patton's Best campaigns
ADD: Crew skills can define a list of antirequisites; if crewman already has 1+ skill in list, cannot add this skill (used for when effects would be the same or worse)
ADD: Campaign Records for Commanders of completed campaigns; Player Commander must be active to be added to records
ADD: Completed combat days now recorded for campaign
ADD: Error message if unable to log in to Steam
CNG: Fate Point system redesigned: player always has a set number per day, but must choose when to use them for incoming attacks and AP rolls
CNG: Redesigned the end of campaign display
CNG: Improvements to layout of campaign journal
CNG: Decorations only awarded at end of campaign if Player Commander is active
CNG: Knowledge stat now modifies crewman's exp gain rate rather than modifying skill effects
CNG: Experience points now only awarded at the end of the day
CNG: For attack and movement rolls, only the best possible skill modifier from each crewman will be applied
CNG: Most fire direction, movement direction, and movement crew modifiers are at half effect if crewman is BU
CNG: Campaign logs now exported to a subdirectory in the user's home directory
CNG: Updated some sound effects
CNG: Tank nickname can now be changed after being set for first time
FIX: Continue and Load options correctly greyed out if no compatible saved games found
FIX: Improved display of Fast Turret Traverse on unarmoured vehicles


[h2]Campaigns and Campaign Calendar[/h2]

ADD: Ability to scroll list of crewman in Field Hospital
ADD: Campaigns can set VP multiplers for certain tank models
ADD: Display of region in Campaign Selection menu
ADD: Option to be assigned a random tank model
CNG: Improved appearance of Load Campaign menu
CNG: Crewman in Field Hospital now ordered by minimum length of stay, then maximum length
CNG: List of possible campaigns now scrolls to handle longer lists of options
CNG: Revised and updated: Poland Campaign, September Campaign, Liberation Campaign
FIX: Crash if player chose to change tank during refitting, but then kept the same model in the Tank Selection menu


[h2]Campaign Day[/h2]

CNG: Hex zone capture check procedure
- no limit to number of zones that can be captured each check
- base capture odds depend on number of adjacent enemy-held zones
- multipler to enemy-capture and friendly-capture odds depends on current day mission
- if an enemy-held zone is cut off and has no enemy-held zones adjacent to it, its strength is halved (rounding up)
CNG: Target of Opportunity hex zones less likely to be captured by friendly forces
CNG: Zone capture messages now combined into one
CNG: Increased number of hexrows per Spearhead VP capture value increase


[h2]Scenario[/h2]

ADD: Pop-up message and animation for when enemy units move on the scenario map
ADD: Units with no LoS to any enemy unit at the end of their activation may become concealed again
- precipitation will increase this chance
ADD: Player squad is automatically spotted at start of scenario if ambushed
ADD: If Ready Rack for current ammo type is empty, weapon will automatically switch to reload from General Stores before next attack
ADD: Movement sound effect for AI units; not all movement types have an effect yet though
ADD: Pop-up message when an enemy unit moves but not far enough to enter a new hex
ADD: Sound effect for destroyed infantry squad / small team
ADD: Sound effect for penetrating hit on player, regardless of how it's resolved
CNG: Small teams (eg. anti-tank rifle team) now only spawned alongside infantry squads, separate list of spawn odds
CNG: Removed "enemy unit recalled" random event
- enemy armoured units now only recalled after a close armour save
- units hit in turret with RST more likely to be recalled
- no notifcation to player that an enemy unit is being recalled
CNG: Removed "random concealed enemy unit is revealed" random event
CNG: "Unspotted" units now called "Concealed," same effect
CNG: Close Combat teams will now be more agressive in closing the distance to the player
CNG: Decreased base crewman bail out chance
CNG: Player squad will no longer fire Smoke ammo
CNG: Message for a broken player unit weapon now a notification, player must press Enter to dismiss
CNG: Reduced overrun area fire attack bonus
FIX: Bug where player squad would have new terrain generated at start of enemy action phase
FIX: Bug with text notifications about sniper attacks
FIX: Skill modifiers that have been reduced to 0 (eg. from fatigue or injury) are no longer displayed
FIX: Resolving firepower on concealed enemy units no longer shows the odds or calculation, could have possibly revealed unit's class
FIX: Player squadmates on Overrun will now have LoS correctly regenerated so that units in the overrun target hex are in LoS
FIX: Enemy units that do a Close Combat attack now lose all Acquired Target statuses

With the first public Steam release coming in a few days, I thought it would be a good moment to say something about my immediate plans for the further development of the game. Earlier versions were released for free on the game's website, which is why the first Steam release is numbered 4.0.0. My first priority from the release date on May 14th is making sure that this version is working well and is mostly bug- and crash-free, and to continue to make minor improvements to it without breaking saved game compatibility. These include any minor quality-of-life changes that can be made to in-game displays, and adding additional detail to existing campaigns.

For the first major update, 5.0.0, I have planned the following additions and changes, although this list may grow or change as I begin to work on these elements in earnest:

• Campaigns and Units for the North African Theatre 1940-1942, including British, Italian, and German forces
  
• Severe weather effects for winter and desert conditions, which will be used for the Winter War campaign as well
  
• First batch of 13 Steam Achievements
  
• Weather system: adding light levels, fog, wind, temperature
  
• Additional crew skills, especially for minor positions such as the Assistant Driver!
  
• Crewman may be discharged and sent home if injuries are very severe
  
• Radio/signals system for communication with headquarters, support attacks, squadmates
  
• Periscopes
  
• More detailed bail-out procedure, with more choices to be made when saving your crew
  
• Mortars for enemy infantry, handling attacks from ballistic weapons and aircraft
  
• Steam Workshop integration for custom campaigns
  
• Minor additions to existing campaigns, such as adding in missing Early War units
  

Once I've started on some of these I'll open up an alpha branch for intreped players who are interested in testing out the newest additions. Also, even after 5.0.0 is released, I will keep the 4.x branch open for players who are finishing up campaigns that were started in the older version.

I've just updated the Closed Beta build, unfortunately it will break saved game compatibility with beta 3, so don't download the update if you want to continue your current campaign. Lots of minor fixes in this one, and a few new sound effects, hopefully all is stable enough for the open release on Thursday!

I've made some revisions to the Fate Point system which unfortunately break saved game compatibility with Beta 4, so I'm going to test this build first and then upload it as the first "release candidate" for 4.0.0 on Sunday. If you want to continue playing through an in-progress campaign, be sure to turn off automatic updates before then, since you won't be able to load any campaigns that had been saved under Beta 4. This is (hopefully!) the last major feature change before the Early Access release on the 14th.

In the meantime I've been making small improvements to Beta 4 which you may or may not have noticed. Any bugs or crashes please do report them in the comments.