Grand Tactician: The Civil War (1861-1865) News

Patch 0.8819, uploaded April 27, 2021.
Hotfix 0.8820, uploaded April 28, 2021.
Hotfix 0.8821, uploaded April 29, 2021.

Please use separate threads in the forum if you experience any issues:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/654890/discussions/2/

• no rail movement on enemy territory
  
• added hint about low morale groups (reinforcements) in battle panel
  
• fixed: recruiting panel: sorting states by volunteers and drafts not working
  
• units with low strength are now disbanded after a battle
  
• added blinking symbol to inform player about available but not used research slots
  
• fixed: influence on state support coming from appointment of political commanders is counted every reload
  
• AI now takes state support into account when recruiting
  
• restricted “state to raise” for USCT/CSCT to main states
  
• units now may not move pre-war, garrisons may not be reinforced or transfered pre-war
  
• no trade of military goods between Union and CSA, also pre-war
  
• units get new name if commander is changed (CSA)
  
• added text search function for filters in military panel, eg. for commander names
  
• fixed: too slow construction progress for small buildings, eg. telegraph stations
  
• fixed: tooltips for colors, unread dispatches
  
• fixed: regulars are also resetted when researching conscription act, newly raised units now get longer contracts
  
• removed military installations from economic report “company foundations”
  
• added additional battlefields
  
• fixed: AI has more than 3 grand strategies activated when reloading
  
• fixed: loading info shows old policy descriptions
  
• fixed: units or garrisons across rivers do not block town occupation anymore
  
• horse artillery is now smaller
  
• fixed: rearguard actions not happening while a (multi-day) manual played battle is still raging after returning to campaign
  
• renewed readiness logics: now only units with high readiness may enter enemy territory, readiness is recovering and consumed depending on factors like commander attributes, weather etc.
  
• refixed: enemy fleets blocking town occupation
  
• fixed: lower pre-war unit sizes lead to negative sick numbers and unusual high brigade strength
  
• fixed: reloading resets number of sick soldiers
  
• AI now assaults in sieges if strength is appropriate
  
• fixed fleet renaming input caret
  
• fixed: when switching from fleet to army panel the old commander stays selected
  
• when replacing a commander the filter are now automatically adjusted to army/navy
  
• sea, river, rail movement buttons deactivated by default
  
• fixed: message for bond issuances also launched when enemy faction issues bonds
  
• fixed: wrong weapon type for 2 brigades in 1864 scenario
  
• fixed: unit icons may be displaced at the end of moving
  
• commander attributes are now correctly shown in commander management, taking into account lack of experience
  
• fixed: switching from a full readiness unit to low readiness unit while construction menu is open allows construction for low readiness unit too (Hotfix 0.8820)
  
• fixed: fleets recover readiness too slowly (Hotfix 0.8821)
  

• fixed: AI movement is sometimes stuck on an objective although already taken
  
• groups with low reinforcement times now appear immediately/faster on the battlefield
  
• reworked AI deployment and AI entrenchments, note: overlapping deployment zones still in work
  
• all subordinates of groups that arrive during night are placed immediately on the battlefield
  
• potentially fixed: deleting sprites in battles may sometimes lead to exceptions and lags
  
• fixed: Church0_0 disappearing when coming close with camera
  
• adding higher speed for horse artillery
  
• fixed: parapets receive wrong level when reloaded
  
• construction in game phase of parapets that were planned in deployment phase not possible any more
  
• added option to clear message log for battles
  
• fixed: changing group formation does not change formations of single brigades if order delay is on
  
• fixed: campaign influences (state support, national morale) are taken from campaign scenario start, not the latest values
  
• units may surrender now if routed and national morale & average army morale is low
  
• fixed wrong activated objectives in historical battles
  
• neutral objectives are removed in campaign battles to prevent sudden switches of defensive to offensive battles
  
• trenches and barricades are now hidden in FOW
  
• routed units EOD are withdrawing from battlefield at night
  
• reinforcements now entering in double line formation
  
• fixed: redeployment close to borders may shift units out of the map
  
• fixed: clouds not visible
  
• refixed: FOW visible for a second at game start
  
• added historical battles: Appomattox, Glorieta Pass
  
• units falling back now do not stop to engage enemies until their fallback destination is reached
  
• fixed: reloading campaign battles reduces commander attributes (Hotfix 0.8820)
  

• fixed: date inaccuracy leads to delayed changing of flags
  
• debug logs can now be deactivated in build
  
• added buttons to dispatches: “Mark all as read”, “Delete all read dispatches”
  
• fixed: first dispatch symbol remains on screen although deleted
  
• fixed: message log button remains active if LMB on empty dispatch paper
  
• added larger cursor for high resolutions
  
• added GT mouse cursor for main menu
  
• added additional commander pictures
  

Patch 0.8719, uploaded March 30, 2021.

Note: due to massive changes in the file and folder structure we recommend to do a file integrity check after installation of this patch.

Please use separate threads in the forum if you experience any issues:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/654890/discussions/2/

• AI construction of banks removed
  
• fixed: backwash of disintegrated fleets stay on map and appear pink
  
• fixed: low/none casualties in garrison battles with only one artillery battery as defender
• fixed: fleets are sending attached ships permanently to harbor when located close to a harbor
  
• group movement speed now takes into account the speed of attached units
  
• recovering morale on enemy soil now slower, casualties on enemy soil result in higher loss of state support
  
• rebalanced CSA recruiting
  
• added additional cities to map
  
• fixed: UI leak sometimes led to policies being activated accidentally
  
• fixed: influence of politically assigned commander on state support always zero
  
• overhauled unit retreats
  
• fixed: fort related issues (transfer, construction progress, UI area)
  
• fixed: transferring units resets contract dates
  
• allowing small AI recruitment pre-war even if no opponents are close
  
• fixed: defensive stance sometimes not recognized when deployment area is calculated in defensive battles
  
• changed production focus of companies to get less volatile production figures
  
• fixed: regulars act creates troops with strange strength and state origin
  
• fixed too high consumption of artillery from reinforcements
  
• fixed issue leading to too many sunken ships in naval battles
  
• fixed: naval battles not ending although one side has zero participating ships
  
• added random battlemaps
  
• fixed: placing telegraph lines leads to permanent exceptions
  
• fixed: damaged IIP’s delivering full supply
  
• added connection lines from selected unit to connected supply depots
  
• supply line animation changed for units: now only show connection to supply depot and closest local IIP
  
• added emergency AI policies if recruitment or financials are critical
  
• occupying towns now takes time, depending on strength of the occupation force
  
• fixed: newspaper messages popping up after reloading stating Lincoln has lost 1864 elections
  
• enhanced tooltip for goods production lines when opening company panel on map
  
• retreating units now search for friendly towns, forts, iip’s or units near the final retrat destinations
  
• units need to have at least one active brigade attached in order to impact frontlines
  
• added available supply map filter
  
• increased available workforce for companies
  
• fixed issue that caused low supply for especially units in the West, related to wrong price calculation of available local IIP’s
  
• fixed: supply shown at 100%, although no supply depot or IIP is connected
  
• replaced wording “of the WAR of >THE< Independence”
  
• convenience topics (removing some UI glitches)
  
• added enhanced tooltip for “fielded men” in top panel
  
• added probability for casualties in higher commander ranks for autoresolved battles
  
• added officer loss report after battles, starting from division commanders upwards
  
• now preventing replacements of wounded/killed commanders when autoresolve battle is still under way
  
• fixed exceptions related to West Virginia objective in 1864 campaign
  
• fixed: effect on treasury through “bank act”, “print notes” policies too low
  
• AI offensives are only continued if supply state is sufficient
  
• out of provisions and forage now impacts condition of men and horses
  
• fixed: AI raising armies in enemy states, esp. pre-war
  
• now removing top tier policies when policy subsidies are lowered
  
• rebalanced disintegration logic
  
• added “soft” disintegration by maintaining armies with heavy losses if friendly towns are in retreat range
  
• fixed: state support may run above 100 after assigning political commanders
  
• fixed: non-spawned armies may occupy towns in pre-war scenario
  
• engagement checks are performed more often now to prevent overshooting of two armies at highest game speed (still needs some rebalancing)
  
• fixed saving error related to unit history data
  
• changed calculation base for sick soldiers and the related mortality and recovery rate, this led to low number of sick soldiers in smaller units before
  
• fixed: fort bombardments with fort condition down to zero resulting in performance drops
  
• added: AI construction of supply depots
  
• added information about morale recovery in morale tooltip
  
• low supply ratios are now also leading to slower reinforcements
  
• fixed: building and iip occupation changes slightly after game start and condition suffers
  
• fixed: both units may retreat due to low morale in autoresolved battles
  
• fixed: IIP’s damaged when secession happens
  
• improved: AI offensives on campaign map (still work in progress)
  
• increased necessary morale for units to participate in battles
  
• supply depots do not fill up “digital” now depending on available products but slower if goods are short
  
• fixed: supply consumption in armies not scaled up to a week
  
• rebalanced supply depots capacity
  

• fixed: loading error when units were inside buildings, resulting in wrong battle and unit data
  
• overhauled unit retreats
  
• overhauled melee logics: units break sooner, fall back and recover faster
  
• fixed: AI still reacts offensively in defensive battles
  
• fixed: assigned battle flag lost when returning to campaign
  
• improved exactness of deployment zones
  
• fixed: AI does not carry out movements in historical battles if strategy is “defense”, eg Union at Gettysburg
  
• reworked AI objective settings for defensive battles
  
• fixed wrong objective point calculation to determine offensive/defensive battles
  
• added arrows to switch between armies in OOB
  
• increased sensitivity for units surrendering, maybe needs further rebalancing
  
• fixed: timed movement counter not updating
  
• AI now uses detachments to grab guns more carefully
  
• added slower morale improvement above the morale value at the start of the battle to - take into account low morale situations in campaign
  
• fixed: active objectives were arranged between defender and attacker, now correctly arranged around the defender
  
• fixed: AI is performing first assault move, although defending
  
• fixed: initial unit setups: group formation shows march columns while deployed in single lines
  
• refixed: fatigue does not recover EOD
  
• fixed: high collected objective points were leading to sudden victories/defeats
  
• fixed: units that had routed and reached retreat destination further added to negative morale of nearby troops
  

• UI layout improvements
  
• added further game options: UI scaling, zoom speed, lock campaign map rotation
  
• fixed resetting of UI scaling when opening options menu again
  

Gen’l,

February -21 brings more player requested features, as the recruitment system is upgraded with an option for faster creation of units, and policies are overhauled. Since January, the 1864 campaign was added along with performance improvements and a lot of other changes, big and small. Let’s take a look at the most important ones!





Many in the community have requested speeding up the flow of recruitment. Especially when starting a new campaign, it takes time to get the recruitment going, getting weapons upgraded, and so on. To make life easier, we have added a speed recruitment option in the army management panel.

The functionality is quite simple. First you select the Headquarters you wish to add the new units to. Then in the quick recruitment options select the number of units per type to be recruited. You can also change the initial strength of the units, from 50% to 75% to full 100%. The smaller units will start growing in strength later with additional reinforcements. Once happy, click to recruit, and the units appear under the selected HQ. The recruitment state is chosen with fastest arrival time (recruitment delay & movement to join the army) in mind.

You can also upgrade weapons for the best types available by simply clicking on the Headquarters in question, and then upgrade.

Other recruitment related improvements are the availability of volunteers via militia, and other, acts. Also the recruitment delays are slightly increased. These combined mean that it will be slower to recruit large armies early on in the campaign.





Another requested feature has been the policies and how they work. We also thought that the policies are not well balanced enough, and that it was too easy to activate the maximum amount, as research took quite little time. Instead of minor changes here & there, the whole system, along with policy effects, was revised. This is part of the campaign balancing, which has been ongoing, and will continue till the game is released in full.

First change is in the pre-war policies, which are chosen when the campaign is started. These policies included many weak ones and a few overpowered ones, making the choice — for those who wish to change them from the historical ones — rather simple. Now the policy effects are more balanced, so the choice should be more interesting. As an example, some of the pre-war policies are required during the campaign to proceed past certain policies: pre-war industrialization is required for industrialization III-IV policies, and so on.

Also the policies subsidies link is changed. Previously they made too little difference, as without any policies you could invest up to a million to each subsidy, and policies would eventually increase this by 50% at most. In the revised system, without a policy there are no subsidies available at all, and the subsequent policy levels increase the investment cap with increasing steps. The level IV policies for industrialization, agriculture and military will also include a bonus to nation’s morale, support or military experience.

With the changes in place, the policies and acts will become more powerful and interesting to use. The previous updates, which made the research speed depend on national support, and multiple simultaneously researched policies slower, adds to this. Now the player needs to think a few steps ahead.





The late war campaign, that was added in January, kicks off right before the Overland Campaign and Atlanta Campaigns commenced. Lt.Gen. Grant, now in command of the Union armies, has the task to end the war, preferably before the presidential elections of 1864 in November. Previous summer Lee was defeated at Gettysburg and Grant captured Vicksburg. But this does not mean the Confederacy is beaten. Already the Red River Campaign by Banks has failed to capture Shreveport.

The main forces in this campaign are those of Grant, Lee, Sherman, Johnston, Banks, Kirby Smith and Butler. And the fighting ahead would be the bloodiest during the war.

With the new campaign, we have also updated the campaign map and the number of commanders available within the game files has been bolstered to more than 1700!





Common:

Performance increase, with +10 FPS on average,
First steps with scalable UI,
Some UI improvements with very high resolution screens,
Fog of War calculation changed to instant when loading a campaign/battle,
Fix for the blurry screen after a fresh install, when using high refresh rates.

Battles:

Battle type improvement, with defensive/offensive operations changing the initial deployment,
Rebalanced skirmishers’ effectiveness in general,
AI use of cavalry improved,
Rebalanced unit routing and army retreats, that should lead into less casualties per battle, especially early in the campaign when units are green.

Campaigns:

Terrain now blocking combat and command radii of armies, mountain ranges now block arrival or reinforcements,
Rebalanced autoresolved battles, sieges,
Added rolling text information on the map informing about casualties from skirmishing, rear guard action, movement speed changes,
Changed raiding functionality so, that raiding armies no longer capture terrain, infrastructure is burned only within the combat radius of the unit, and raiding armies will skirmish with all enemies within their combat radii,
Improved AI defensive operations near capital city,
Before Military II -policy only early armies can be formed, and after the policy grand armies with multiple corps can be formed, grand armies made more flexible with rebalancing of command radii of armies,
Rebalanced intelligence gathering by armies, making scouting and use of cavalry much more effective in spotting enemy movement,
Added a large number of Grand Herald news from the Civil War, and around the world, for further immersion.

…and many more improvements and bug fixes, that can be found in the patch release notes.



The work continues to get the game ready. With recent feature updates, focus is back in fixing bugs reported by the community. In the background we are writing a proper game manual, creating more battle maps, preparing new tutorial videos and improving the game play experience with fixes to most requested topics, such as campaign & battle retreat routes, and melees & surrendering in battles.

Most Respy,

Gen’l. Ilja Varha,
Chief Designer.

Gen'l,

December 24, and all quiet on the Potomac tonight. With the cessation of fighting, troops retire to their winter quarters. Unofficial cease-fires are agreed on, and along the picket lines the Billy Yanks and Johnny Rebs approach one another to trade coffee, tobacco, stories... and news. While still enemies, there are many things that the soldiers in blue and gray agree about:

...that the generals on both sides are getting the enlisted men killed in futile assaults against enemy works, that the newest weapons seem take too long to reach the frontline regiments, that there's never enough information about what is going on, that the food is not that great...

...and that while the Grand Tactician's Christmas patch 0.8307 does not yet bring the end to the war, it brings a lot of fixes, improvements and requested features on the table, that will keep the men fighting.

These include, among others:

• Map Pack #1 is finished, with 10 new historical battle maps added and available during the campaign
  
• Raiding option to fleets to launch surprise attacks against blockading fleets
  
• More aggressive battle AI, if it has the numerical superiority
  
• Rebalanced numbers of volunteers and drafts, with drafts being used to fill up volunteer units and draft units reducing support in recruiting state
  
• Fixed morale loss and gain for losing or capturing cities during the campaign
  
• Poor training and low support slowing down movement of armies
  
• Armies no longer besieging enemy forts on the opposite bank of a river
  
• Option to withdraw instead of retreating, with rear guard action and only pulling away from the immediate danger
  
• New rolling text information about campaign events, like autoresolved battles including rear guard action and naval battles
  
• Improved naming convention for new armies
  

And a lot more...

Read the full patch notes here:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/654890/discussions/0/2993170476553402018/

We, the Grand Tactician Team would like to wish you all a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Also we'd like to thank all the Early Access players, who have supported us in making of this game, from providing feedback, to playtesting & bughunting, to the many friendly words of encouragement we have received while working hard to improve the game and finalizing it for the full release.

Cheers - and onwards!

Since we started the Early Access in August, we have been releasing new patches in a steady flow. While following the Early Access Road-Map, we have also listened to player feedback, adding and reworking features, improving the game play experience.

The first mile-stone from the Road-Map has been reached, and the game now allows mid-battle saving during both the historic battles and campaign battles. Thanks to players' reports we've been able to quickly fix related bugs as well, and keep doing so as we move forward.

The next steps have also been under development simultaneously. Map Pack #1, introducing 10 new historical battle-fields, has already been partially implemented during patching, with maps of Winchester, Olustee, Mine Creek, Cumberland Gap, Honey Springs and Honey Hill already added in the game, available for campaign battles. After three more historical maps, the next step is to start adding the randomly chosen non-historical battle-fields to increase campaign battle diversity.

And while adding maps, new historic battles have also been added: Shiloh (1862), Olustee (1864), and Wilderness (1864) are now available as stand-alone scenarios. A few more historic battles are also coming with the 1864 campaign.

Also on the Road-Map are the tutorial videos. We're proud to announce that we have teamed up with the one and only History Guy Gaming, who has already produced the first tutorial video about the game's Information and Options, and continues to produce new ones as we speak.

One of the most requested features by Early Access players along with AI improvements has been the weapon upgrades. First we added a standardization feature, which limited number of available weapons, but this alone was not sufficient, as hinted by the players. In the latest patch we've reworked the standardization feature completely, and now newer and more advanced weapons will be available in smaller quantity at start, and will slowly become more common when equipping more units with them, increasing standardization. Re-arming the whole Army of the Potomac with repeating rifles is no longer possible, and as the Confederate player you may be stuck with heaps of obsolete weapons only available to your troops for some time - making capturing of Union weapons from the battle-fields after victories more important. At the same go we added improved tooltips for weapons and perks, which should help players when choosing weapons and specialization for their units.

And while the economic model has been improved in the background, we've added further information for player about the state of their economy. Credit rating is now shown on the main campaign view, and if the rating drops too low, further recruitment is no longer possible before taking steps to improve the rating via policies, taxation, government spending and so on. Also the economic hit of military operations such as blockading and raiding has been added to the strategy panel, along with information about weapon production efficiency.

Next steps will include, in addition to the items on the Road-Map, improved information about the policies and their effects, as well as possibility to choose the reinforcing units in campaign battles - both requested by the community.

The march continues. Thanks to our dedicated community, who are helping immensely with reports, suggestions and feedback, the work on the Early Access version has been progressing well. The work is not finished, but with each patch the game is getting more and more enjoyable. Public patches are to be expected, like before, approximately weekly or bi-weekly. We have also allowed Early Access players to opt for developer patches, which arrive at even steadier flow. Using the Steam betas, players can see the latest features and give feedback about them, before the public patches come out.

We are, sir, Your very ob't se'v'ts,

The Grand Tactician Team.