JTS France '14 Update 1.04 Released

[Compass Rose]

JTS just released update 1.04 for the JTS version of France '14.

Please Note: This update is not for the HPS version, but only for the JTS version.

Changes to France '14 V1.04
- Added new Fragile Morale feature which applies to Austro-Hungarians
and Russians. Under this rule, Detached units have 2 subtracted from
their morale when rallying instead of 1, and units which much retreat after
an assault are automatically eliminated. However, this does not apply to
A and B quality units.
- When units are combined, the combined unit takes on the average of the fatigue
of the individual units by strength.
- Disrupted units have full movement allowance during day turns, 2/3 at night.
- Disrupted units take 3x normal movement to move closer to spotted enemy unit.
- New graphics compatible with East Prussia '14.

The update can be located here:

http://johntillersoftware.com/Updates.html

[ismael68d]

Hi everyone,
I've been reading in this forum for a long time, but I thought the release of East Prussia 14 might be a good time to register.
I was very delighted to finally see another FWWC Campaign (since i do not really care for computer games, France 14 is basically the only game I ever play - it's one of the very few games which actually does justice to a military conflict in terms of realism and historic accuracy) and the new Grand Campaign feature especially got me excited.
So I downloaded the new France 14 patch immediately, when I realized with horrors that this patch is only compatible with the JTS-Release of the game.
Unfortunately, I got my copy of France 14 from the HPS store, not knowing that there would be any difference. So does that mean that there is no way for HPS-customers to enjoy the new features?
Do I have to buy the JTS-Version to install the 1.04 update and pay the full price again?
Since I am a student, I cannot easily afford to pay 50 USD twice for the same game, just to make use of new features.
I understand that John Tiller ended his partnership with HPS, which might be the reason for that - but I think it's a bit unfair to exclude those who bought the same game for the same price just because they bought from a different publisher.
I would very much appreciate if their would be a solution for this problem (maybe an HPS-Update for a small fee?).
Maybe I just misunderstood the whole issue, so I am grateful if anyone could tell me what the situation is and correct me.

Best Regards,
Daniel

[Compass Rose]

As for your situation, you will need to delete F'14 and all of the folders associated to it and do a fresh install. Next, update it with the HPS v1.03 update located here:

http://www.hpssims.com/Pages/Updates/up_WWI/up_WWI.asp

The JTS updates are being released first and normally the HPS update will follow in about a week. JTS is able to release things quicker on their end since it is their own website. Once they create a new update, it has to be sent to HPS and "their people" have to look it over and find the time to publicly offer it. So that is where the delay comes into play.

[2-81 Armor]

Hi everyone,
I've been reading in this forum for a long time, but I thought the release of East Prussia 14 might be a good time to register.
I was very delighted to finally see another FWWC Campaign (since i do not really care for computer games, France 14 is basically the only game I ever play - it's one of the very few games which actually does justice to a military conflict in terms of realism and historic accuracy) and the new Grand Campaign feature especially got me excited.
So I downloaded the new France 14 patch immediately, when I realized with horrors that this patch is only compatible with the JTS-Release of the game.
Unfortunately, I got my copy of France 14 from the HPS store, not knowing that there would be any difference. So does that mean that there is no way for HPS-customers to enjoy the new features?
Do I have to buy the JTS-Version to install the 1.04 update and pay the full price again?
Since I am a student, I cannot easily afford to pay 50 USD twice for the same game, just to make use of new features.
I understand that John Tiller ended his partnership with HPS, which might be the reason for that - but I think it's a bit unfair to exclude those who bought the same game for the same price just because they bought from a different publisher.
I would very much appreciate if their would be a solution for this problem (maybe an HPS-Update for a small fee?).
Maybe I just misunderstood the whole issue, so I am grateful if anyone could tell me what the situation is and correct me.

Best Regards,
Daniel

Good question. I'm wondering the same thing myself. A lot of people eagerly anticipate just about anything new from JT, and buy as soon as possible (I bought East Prussia '14 last night, and really like it). What this could mean is like me, there are probably a lot of first (HPS) release France '14 owners out there who would like to be able to upgrade to the new standard. I don't believe JT would force us to spend money for something that's already been paid for once - it just doesn't seem like him at all. In fact, the policy so far has been to support the HPS versions of his games too. I'm thinking that in a short time, we'll be seeing a patch to update F '14 (HPS) to the new standard.

Maybe someone else out there might have better information.

[Xaver]

The problem is in the DRM system used now in Tiller titles expect dont need wait a lot to update F14 but i am waiting for Waterloo update to...

[Volcano Man]

We are working on the HPS update now, and it is essentially finished. Now we just have to wait and see how long it takes for HPS to put it up on their website. Of course JTS is quicker because John does it all himself.

All I can say is that the HPS F14 update should be ready "soon" (maybe tonight or tomorrow?).

IF you installed the JTS update by accident, then I think all you need to do is wait for the HPS update and put it over it, and it *should* work fine after that.

---

BTW, for those that are interested, and I do know that people are still waiting on the HPS update -- here is a list of resource file changes in the v1.04 update:

v1.04
- Complete overhaul of artwork by Jan Johansson (Jison), bringing the artwork up to the East Prussia '14 standard.
- Edited #1914_0822_01s_Campaign_Early scenario so that it uses the new early termination feature. It is now possible for the French to carry through with their historical Plan XVII attacks in order to get an immediate victory. It is assumed that if the French can capture the objectives on the map, then the attack would inevitably continue eastward (off the map) resulting in a French victory. The disadvantage to this tactic is that the French must know when or whether to abandon the attack and pull back, otherwise they will become too committed to a losing situation.
- Added new "Grand Campaign" scenarios (#Grand_Campaign_F14-A, #Grand_Campaign_F14-B, #Grand_Campaign_F14-C). These are designed to play with the associated East Prussia '14 Grand Campaign scenarios, for those who want to try to add a sense of a wider campaign where game results will decide the outcome of the war. See the notes document for more information.
- Doubled the probability of air unit availability, because it was felt that air units were not becoming available after use fast enough. Now it should take about a day before they are ready for a new mission (rather than two days on average).
- Increased the setup % of indirect artillery units from 40 to 60 because artillery units were taking a little too long to setup.
- Corrected British Royal Marine infantry battalion assault ratings in the "early" and "late" OOB (it was too low).
- Corrected German reserve infantry battalion assault ratings in the "early" OOB (it was slightly too high).
- Corrected German Landwehr infantry battalion soft attack rating in "early" OOB to be consistent with the "late" OOB.
- Corrected all cavalry unit speeds in the "early" OOB, they were using early values and were too fast, now lowered to their correct value by -1 speed to almost all cavalry units.
- Corrected German Jaeger MG unit assault ratings in all OOBs.
- Corrected the name of the unit Res.Jäger-Btl.8 and Res.Jäger-Btl.9 (there were previously duplicate Res.Jäger-Btl.9 units) in the "early" and "late" OOBs.
- Added the missing MGKs for Res.Jäger-Btl.8 and Res.Jäger-Btl.14 in the "late" OOB, and added those missing units to the #1914_0917_01s_Campaign_Race scenario.
- Added the missing Deal RMLI (MG) unit to the #1914_0822_01s_Campaign_Early scenario.
- Moved the Res.Jäger-Btl.9 to its correct division in the "early" and "late" OOBs.
- Swapped the map label and, in appropriate scenarios, the unit locations for the Belgian Fort de Loncin and Fort de Lantin. It turned out that these two forts were accidentally swapped when designing the original scenarios.
- Corrected the Horse movement cost in clear terrain in all PDT files.
- Increased the tactical movement speed of all infantry from 3 to 4 hexes per turn (light infantry/Jägers have a speed of 5 instead of 4). This is done to keep it consistent with East Prussia '14, and because it was deemed that 3 hexes per turn was not allowing battles to develop enough tactically. This combined with the new Disruption and Broken unit effects, should serve to make things much more fluid than before.

[ismael68d]

Hey,
thanks for clearing that up for me.

I don't believe JT would force us to spend money for something that's already been paid for once - it just doesn't seem like him at all.

I agree, this approach would make no sense at all, especially for game-franchises with such a relatively small and dedicated community. I guess I just got over-excited about the new features and so I panicked a little about the alleged "problem".

Given the exceptionally huge dimension of the new "Grand Campaign" maps I was wondering about playability in terms of time-consumption. In big scenarios, I always made heavy use of divisional A/I orders, so I can focus on the more important decisions and let the A/I do at least some of the micromanagement. Of course, the A/I doesn't always get the job done as I want. In general, I think A/I orders are a great idea but may still offer potential for improvement. So, is it imaginable that there will be an improved A/I for those orders or some other feature implemented in potential future updates in order to make these "Grand Campaigns" more fluid (in terms of playing-time per turn)?

By the way, I am German, so any language-mistakes are because of that^^

[Volcano Man]

Well, the Grand Campaign scenarios are more or less the same as the normal campaign scenarios, just that they can be linked by Strategy and Operations selections, and their results are used to determine what to play next. The scenarios themselves are no larger than the standard ones however.

That said, will A/I orders ever improve? I certainly would like them to, but I wouldn't hold your breath about it, it seems that the A/I is particularly difficult to program it the be smart. If you have specific suggestions then I could pass them along, but otherwise I think the A/I orders just has to be used in a limited way. For example, I have used A/I orders myself to move large formations around in rear areas, but once they get near then front then I will take over. All I can recommend there is that you try something similar, because it does minimize the frustration. Another method of A/I use is the semi-automated, which I think involves moving everything you want and firing with all the units you want, then end the turn and the AI handles all the units with remaining Movement Points. If nothing else, this might actually be the better way to play against the AI since it does not allow exact control. :)

[Volcano Man]

FWIW, I have been informed that the HPS update for F14 will be available on Friday (tomorrow). Check back with their website a few times that day and you should see it.

[Mr Grumpy]

Great news, thanks for letting us know............