Strategos News

[p]Since the last update we released the demo during the Wargames fest, providing support for it during that time, and have since gotten back to regular development work after closing the demo. We've been working on adding many new maps, some new units, campaign updates, bug fixes and optimizations, and more. [/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]UI[/h3]

• [p]player side indicator on unit selection[/p]
• [p]fixes to manual popup charts[/p]
• [p]added many newer unit portraits[/p]
• [p]improved in-battle popup messages[/p]
• [p]unit card centering improvements[/p]
• [p]banner improvements in style[/p]
• [p]loading screen bar[/p]
• [p]fixes to settings page layout[/p]
• [p]fix to navigable setting on some battle map UI[/p]
• [p]added AAR (after action report) feature for battles[/p]
• [p]fixed various AAR bugs[/p]
• [p]added scrolling to AAR[/p]
• [p]added link to quick start guide to menu[/p]
• [p]many small improvements to tutorial and manual texts[/p]

[p][/p][h3]AI[/h3]

• [p]many fixes to cluster analysis AI, including much better reaction to player flanking[/p]
• [p]use of reserve to meet to face player flanking better[/p]
• [p]improved AI use of majority light horse armies[/p]
• [p]fix skirmisher broad movements, improve initial group move of them for better screening[/p]
• [p]fix AI pursuing moving target issues[/p]
• [p]improvements to AI shooters getting out of one another's way[/p]
• [p]improvements to evade direction intelligence[/p]
• [p]better use of med foot armies[/p]
• [p]ranged light cav more independently minded[/p]
• [p]fix to major issue with AI main line group movement in some circumstances[/p]
• [p]improved AI exploitation of ranged superiority[/p]
• [p]made cav flanks more aggressive[/p]
• [p]improvements to raw pike deployments[/p]
• [p]improvements to reserve spacing and movement[/p]
• [p]improve angling to player main line and facing[/p]
• [p]improve ai main line group move in general[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Map-Based campaign[/h3]

• [p]added basic march and diplomacy rolls, turn carry over, reset[/p]
• [p]added dedicated map for Sicily campaigns[/p]
• [p]added fleet moves with unit losses[/p]
• [p]improvements to generate armies and move them on map, battles and return to map with battle result[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Text Based campaign[/h3]

• [p]finished about half of new Diadochi campaign with some better campaign-specific battle AI[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Graphics[/h3]

• [p]switched to improved grass shader gpu instancing integration and performance[/p]
• [p]significant improvement of animation play speed matching velocity[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Gameplay[/h3]

• [p]deployment improvements[/p]
• [p]improved zooming[/p]
• [p]cav evade speed changes[/p]
• [p]improvement to flank attack visuals[/p]
• [p]edits to ranged unit ranges[/p]
• [p]increase nonlight shooter effectiveness a bit[/p]
• [p]nonlight cav a bit faster and better at pursuing light foot[/p]
• [p]many fixes to lien shift, one overlap other combats, shift distance reduced, re-enabled guard mode[/p]
• [p]removed auto drop from infantry flankers but retains +200[/p]
• [p]added threshold change victory so you can win at 45% with high (>30) delta[/p]
• [p]shooting death rate vs fully armored changed[/p]
• [p]fixes to overlap charges[/p]
• [p]increase number elephant deaths in combat[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Optimization[/h3]

• [p]large improvement to combat logging performance that was causing stuttering on large battles[/p]
• [p]some optimizations of debugging[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Bugs[/h3]

• [p]fixed pause/unpause issues[/p]
• [p]fixed drag and drop of dispersed and routed unit cards[/p]
• [p]some erroneous recoil fixes[/p]
• [p]fix to overlap pursuit bugs[/p]
• [p]fixed issues with final %results from ad hoc commanders[/p]
• [p]fixed major battle map camera zoom bug that broke close zooms on some maps by height[/p]
• [p]more fixes to ugly unit turn arounds[/p]
• [p]fixed French translations mixing up Indian and Italian[/p]
• [p]fix to multiple units selected right click attack bug distance check[/p]
• [p]border disappear fix[/p]
• [p]fix bug with historical reenactment AI[/p]
• [p]fix to longstanding yoyoing bugs on charge[/p]
• [p]fix bug with calculating deaths on charge with immediate recoil[/p]
• [p]fixed bug with some units missing from Raphia map causing crashes[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Sounds[/h3]

• [p]improved marching sounds[/p]
• [p]improved start battle sounds[/p]
• [p]more unit card/info sounds[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Army Lists and Units[/h3]

• [p]added Cataphract horse archers, Illyrian hoplites, steppe infantry, steppe bowmen and steppe light archers, and Pantadopoi pikemen[/p]
• [p]fixes to bruttian allies list[/p]
• [p]update saka cataphracts[/p]
• [p]fix to thebes list error[/p]
• [p]minor edits to later carthage and polybian roman units and generals' ratings[/p]
• [p]split early successors into Macedonian and Asiatic, overhaul macedonian early successor and antigonid lists[/p]
• [p]fixes to some hellenistic army names and descriptions[/p]
• [p]changed roman army display names to be like "Roman (Polybian)" instead of "Polybian Roman"[/p]
• [p]minor improvement to Rhoxolani visuals[/p]
• [p]further work on stil wip elephant visuals[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Terrain[/h3]

• [p]various minor map visual fixes (especially to tiling)[/p]
• [p]more custom border layouts[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Added Maps[/h3]

• [p]Northern Hills [/p]
• [p]Norther Flat Field[/p]
• [p]Seaside[/p]
• [p]Rolling Hills by Lakes[/p]
• [p]Rolling Hills by River[/p]
• [p]Woods and Fields[/p]
• [p]Grassy Flatland (med) 2[/p]
• [p]Desert 2[/p]
• [p]Northern Woods and Rough[/p]
• [p]Desert Hills[/p]
• [p]Norther River and Hills[/p]
• [p]Mountain Pass[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Misc[/h3]

• [p]steam stats (including display steam name)[/p]

The demo for Strategos can now be downloaded from the main store page:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3064810/Strategos/

The demo includes custom battles on two maps, using default army size settings, with three of the final game's over one hundred factions: Polybian Roman, Carthaginian (Late), and Pyrrhic.



have fun and don't forget to wishlist!

In the time since the last update two months ago we have of course announced our publishing partnership with MicroProse, while also remaining hard at work on Strategos. See various updates below.


[h3]AI:[/h3]
fixes to reserve movement for cautious ai
extreme angle move to player fixes
fixes to ai shooting/move commands given while shooting
make AI better at using superior shooting advantage to draw player to them
fixes to AI very long skirmisher lines
improvements to AI use of reserves, move to morale support and mid line shoring up positions better
improvements to AI ability to meet player line and match combats as main engagement begins
AI better with flanking light horse
uniform line movement improved
cav turn in better for flanks and calculation location of player line/flanks better
AI better at remembering units they've seen already
Parthian type armies mixing some lancers and many light horse archers better about using horse archers to soften player before charging
fixes to ai orienting to player on extreme player horizontal moves, better line movement coordination with skirmishers
improvements to AI pursuit/evade collisions
fix to AI pursuit/charge follow up after routing target as flanker
non melee capable lights like slingers more likely to evade melee capable lights like javelinmen
using k means cluster analysis to massively improve AI main line advance against unorthodox player behavior
update to AI dynamic look for priority targets
improvement to use of generals by AI
nonlight evading cav better at evading steady spears/pikes


[h3]Maps:[/h3]
New Maps (some historical battles):
Improved Raphia, and new Grassy Flatland, Rolling Hills, Forest, Asculum, Ilipa, Mountain Forest, Flatland by the Sea, and two other additional skirmish maps
grass improvements to fading and few distance
dust in water fixes
fixes to some deployment locations and bugs
new rock, tree and water visuals


[h3]Tutorials:[/h3]
Two new bespoke maps for tutorials
localization and short videos to help understanding
localization of the manual.
improved tutorial text, information and bolding important info


[h3]Camera/Inputs:[/h3]
min zoom setting, fixes to max zoom on higher maps
improved UI-less free look/cinematic cam
improvement to left click cancel while right click dragging so don't deselect and other movement input QoL improvements
massively improved move to shoot/attack commands following of target
improved move to attack/shoot when given to multiple units at once towards same target
fixed starting camera position bugs
default post processing effects to off


[h3]UI:[/h3]
new Unit card and portrait visuals
new unit card routing/dispersed overlay visual
new unit banners visuals including pole/bar, star, cloth, frills, etc...
made unit banners selectable
Main menu background video
added combat turn timer circle/slider indicator on flags
new popups for if units goaded etc...
new waypoint marker visuals
made combat tooltip player vs AI order less confusing for resolution chance text
added separate music volume slider


[h3]Units/Armies:[/h3]
deep infantry unit type, and applied to Theban sacred band.
added leaders/officers to units (including killing them if general dies)
more civilization categories and thus leader/courier visual variety
updated Etruscan, Latin and Parthian allies lists
added Ptolemaic and Kushite allies for one another
new Elephant visuals in progress


[h3]Balance:[/h3]
rebalance of elephant deaths and auto breaking
balance for demo build units (Polybian Roman, Pyrrhic, and Carthaginian (Late))


[h3]Bugs:[/h3]
fixed some bugs with movement jankiness
fix to popup lifetime so decoupled from game pause
bug fixes to projectiles expiring
banner height fixes in trees
fixes to line shifting and unit overlap bugs
edits to pursuit times
fix to sparabara animation shooting timing
fix to combat sparring partners code
fix to pursuit direction being initially off in some cases
fixes to line shifting and flanks together
fixes to later melees following end of front melee combat bugs
fixes to blocked adjacency calculations
pike banner height fixes
adjustments to courier give orders distance bugs
updated poa charts
fixed adjacency calculation bugs
fix to units breaking out of combat bugs
fix to courier spam bug
fix to zoom/scroll window mix up bugs
more UI fixes for ultrawide
many fixes to attacks/charges caused by unit overlaps from pursuits
fix to banner rotate to face camera
pike/spear unit extreme angle reorganization fixes
fixed stab hands javelin direction for some light foot
fixed evading into terrain bugs
fixed coordination/spot assignment on certain attack commands
fixed issues with charge combat casualties calculations
fixes to skirmishers wait/shoot/move timings
fixes to flag holder positioning while in combat
fixes to AI use of guard mode and pushback
some missing tooltip translations added
fix to stop command given while in combat that caused overlap bug


[h3]Sounds:[/h3]
changed out/added sounds for:
-start game
-move command
-deselect
-drag move command loop
-ambient wind
-move to unit swoosh
-melee vs ranged attack command
-blocked vs un-commandable sound
-charge and rout horn sounds
-receive and fire arrows, slings and projectiles new and distinct sounds
updated sound distance settings and general audio mixing


[h3]Optimization:[/h3]
of world space popup messages, pooling them better
improved some debug performance on soldiers moving
improved garbage collection on highlight units performance
rewrote ammo management to be much more performant with more pooling of components and avoiding GC allocations
more caching of UI elements around unit cards
fix combat log calls to to-string for improved performance, switches to stringbuilder
cached hashsets for list of soldiers, searchable soldiers, nearby entities and such to improve garbage allocation


[h3]Text Campaigns:[/h3]
option to play as opposite side once campaign finished
updated alexander campaign armies, added battles of Gaugamela and Hydaspes, improved campaign text and added new campaign maps, added some new Persian units like average Iranian cav and Immortals, improved campaign translations.

[h3]Map Campaigns:[/h3]
Made first steps towards creating a basic, wargaming style map campaign to provide some dynamic, operational level maneuvers context for battles. It will include things like electing where to march and besiege settlements, limited fleet actions, simple diplomacy, dice rolling for most decisions, recruitment of locals, generation of armies and generals, and such in specific theatres of war (for example part of the First Punic war in Sicily).

Demo:
Nearly finished with limited build for a future public Demo.

Hello All!

We at Strategos Games are proud to announce our publishing partnership with MicroProse!

This exciting opportunity will provide the funding and development assistance needed to realize our vision for Strategos. MicroProse will also help bring the game to a wider global audience of simulation and strategy enthusiasts.

Check out coverage this week from content creators on youtube, and see the announcement trailer below:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Remember to follow and wishlist on Steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3064810/Strategos/

and to join the discord community to meet and discuss with myself and fellow Strategos community members and potentially join the playtest:
https://discord.com/invite/Y98uqcydwe