Japan '45 Poll - One Question!

[Kool Kat]

Gents: 

Please take 15 seconds of your time to answer the following Japan '45 Poll question! 

[2-81 Armor]

Just wondering. What's the purpose of this poll? Full disclosure: I was on the play test team, so I'll admit to being prejudiced for the game.

[Sgt_Rock]

I think he is just trying to find out how many members have an active game going? I checked "Yes" because I have a solo campaign underway.

[Kool Kat]

Just wondering. What's the purpose of this poll? Full disclosure: I was on the play test team, so I'll admit to being prejudiced for the game.

Gents:

I am curious on how many Blitz gamers are playing Japan '45. 

There was a big "splash" during its release... followed by a couple of threads about tactics and strategies... a handful of "games wanted" posts... and then some reported issues regarding supply hexes, graphics. and other game bugs. 

BTW... has the Japan '45 patch been released? 

Also, the reported Japan '45 matches, there has been few player comments. Would like to see feedback on play ability, balance, and overall enjoyment levels.

Why?

I've been "on the fence" as to whether to buy the game. Initially, I was excited about it (pre-release), but my excitement level has waned due to the reported issues and relatively quiet player response to it.

Also, I wanted to gauge player interest and ownership of Japan '45 for potential PBeM matches.   

I believe the poll will help other players who may have similar questions.

Thanks to all who have responded to my poll! 

[2-81 Armor]

Just wondering. What's the purpose of this poll? Full disclosure: I was on the play test team, so I'll admit to being prejudiced for the game.

Gents:

I am curious on how many Blitz gamers are playing Japan '45. 

There was a big "splash" during its release... followed by a couple of threads about tactics and strategies... a handful of "games wanted" posts... and then some reported issues regarding supply hexes, graphics. and other game bugs. 

BTW... has the Japan '45 patch been released? 

Also, the reported Japan '45 matches, there has been few player comments. Would like to see feedback on play ability, balance, and overall enjoyment levels.

Why?

I've been "on the fence" as to whether to buy the game. Initially, I was excited about it (pre-release), but my excitement level has waned due to the reported issues and relatively quiet player response to it.

Also, I wanted to gauge player interest and ownership of Japan '45 for potential PBeM matches.   

I believe the poll will help other players who may have similar questions.

Thanks to all who have responded to my poll! 

Thanks for the clarification! Never have seen a poll used this way, but there's a first time for everything. As long as it works for you!

Might be any number of reasons why postings about the game have fallen off: Could be the new thing syndrome where like you say, there's a flurry, and then everything gets quiet. Maybe people are quietly playing and just not doing AAR's or posting at all. Hard to tell.

Afraid I can't help at all about bugs, or play issues. That's above my pay grade, and likewise, anything about patches.

Again, I'm prejudiced, but I do think it's a good and interesting game, and well worth checking out. I'm also certain that any problems will get addressed. The title has a very conscientious designer, and I'm sure he's paying attention to every report that gets posted, and comment made.

[-72-]

...to be fair, it isn't the game, but rather I'm not currently playing any from Panzer Campaigns at the moment. I guess the poll implies something other than that -which, in my case just doesn't apply.

I'm not playing any Civil War, Early American Wars, Musket and Pike, Panzer Battles, Squad Battles, Naval Campaigns, Modern Air Power, Strategic Warfare ... titles, either  -just to put the poll question into its full context.

[Strela]

Just wondering. What's the purpose of this poll? Full disclosure: I was on the play test team, so I'll admit to being prejudiced for the game.

BTW... has the Japan '45 patch been released? 

The patch has been delayed due to the hue and cry in this forum regarding the AI's difficulty crossing rivers at bridges.
We're dependent on John Tiller for that programming and he has not been available to date.
That said the patch is essentially done and for those that are wondering, before the AI fixes here are the proposed changes;

Changes for Japan '45 Version 1.1


    - Order of Battle; US 6th Army command range increased from 20 to 45 hexes.
    - Order of Battle; US M7 Priest, all values corrected.
    - Order of Battle; US LVT(A)4, all values corrected.
    - Order of Battle; US 155L20 Howitzer, all values corrected.
    - Order of Battle; US 762nd Tank Battalion renamed as 767th Tank Battalion.
    - Order of Battle; M8 Greyhound, hard value corrected.
    - Order of Battle; Marine Divisions command range reduced from 20 to 10 hexes.
    - Order of Battle; Marine Corp Engineers, soft value corrected.
    - Order of Battle; Marine Corps Artillery, all naming corrected.
    - Order of Battle; USAAF 3rd Light Bomb Group replaced A-20 Havocs with A-26 Invaders.
    - Order of Battle; USAAF 41st Medium Bomb Group replaced B-26 with B-25's.
    - Order of Battle; USAAF 11th & 494th Bomb Group replaced B-29 with B-24's.
    - Order of Battle; British BB defense value corrected.
    - Order of Battle; French Corps Exp Fr Extrême-Orient added.
    - Order of Battle; French naval units added.
    - Order of Battle; Japanese MG Companies increased to 174 men and all values corrected.
    - Order of Battle; Japanese Type 90 Artillery, now horse drawn.
    - Order of Battle; Japanese Yr41 75mm Gun, soft value corrected.
    - Order of Battle; Japanese Coast Defense guns can now fire indirectly.
    - Graphics; All nationalities have their flag included in the unit box.
    - Graphics; Revised Naval unit images (lifted from Japan '46).
    - Graphics; Japanese 47mm AT gun imagery corrected.
    - Graphics; Japanese Type 90 75mm Artillery imagery corrected.
    - Graphics; Japanese AT rifle imagery corrected.
    - Graphics; Field terrain graphic adjusted to better represent rice paddy. Both 2D & 3D.
    - Scenarios; All Japanese Coastal Defense guns now have a facing.
    - Scenarios; Supply sources created on Shima-Jima island to correct out of supply issues.
    - Scenarios; Corrected isolated units in hex (51,143) in 
      #45_1104_1-S: Operation Olympic Campaign – SOLO, #45_1104_1-S: Operation Olympic Campaign - SOLO (HP)
      and #45_1104_8: Operation Olympic - Beaches to Linkup.
    - Scenarios; All Japanese MG units on map and reinforcements increased in size to 174 men.

David

[Kool Kat]

Hey David: 

That was a gracious response and I thank you for it! 

I am not looking to "pick a fight," - but I need to get this off my chest. Warning - I may not be as gracious as David.

Smolensk '41 - the first game in the Panzer Campaign Series was released in 1999. That was 20 years ago! 

So, for 20 years, we have enjoyed this series.

Also, for 20 years, we have understood the limitations of playing against the AI.

• AI performed better on defense. 
  
• AI was not adaptive and mostly reactive.
  
• Playing against the AI was no substitute to playing against human opponents.
  

I believe that the majority of Blitz gamers play against human opponents. 

Enter this individual who plays exclusively against the AI and is upset that the AI cannot perform offensive operations crossing rivers at bridges. His games are "ruined" by this fact and he demands a fix to it.

And now, WDS releases a major new game - Japan '45, but cannot release the much needed patch for it because John Tiller does not have the work cycles for code updates - all so a small subset of players can play exclusively against the AI!   

And since this individual exhibited selfish behavior... wanting this fix so his AI-only games would not be "ruined"... let me exhibit some selfish behavior myself. This AI fix does nothing for me. I will never play against the AI. All of my matches are against human opponents. 

But even though this AI fix does nothing for me, it does impact me! It has stalled me from purchasing Japan '45 and I suspect has diverted WDS resources and time from implementing much needed patches... and possibly new game releases.       

So, while this individual posts on other forums how he discovered this AI bug and got WDS to address it... there's a much larger group of gamers who don't get to optimize their enjoyment of a brand new PzC game - Japan '45 because of a delayed patch release. 

Gosh, somehow we have been able to "play" this series for 20 years plus without "fixing" the AI's ability to cross bridges at rivers. 

[wiggum]

Kool Kat, what you are missing is that most customers of JTS are most likely not even active on the "blitz" forum. What you are also missing is that most customers of JTS are most likely playing against the AI most of the time! You dont believe me? Ask JTS or WDS about sales numbers and compare it to the number of people active on this board. I know you are a hardcore PBEM player. But keep in mind that not all customers of JTS play "PBEM only" like you. Most will play against the AI first and most will always stick to playing against the AI. Now i know you dislike playing against the AI but thats pointless...the Panzer Campaigns games are sold and advertised as having an AI. Most customers play against the AI. If the AI is buggy and can't perform a BASIC gameplay function like setting units into Travel Mode for an Assault across a Bridge this is indeed a BIG problem that NEEDS to be fixed.

I'm the person who "discovered" that bug. I never demanded that all other patches are delayed until this AI bug is fixed. I just pointed out that it is a MAJOR bug affecting ALL Panzer Campaigns games and that i think it NEEDS to be fixed since otherwise the AI would be basically be BROKEN since it CANT perform a BASIC gameplay function.

So it has maybe prevented you from purchasing it. But think about all the other people who buy Panzer Campaigns games and play against the AI mostly.

So i think WDS and JTS is correct in prioritizing this major issue. Should the Japan '45 patch be delayed because of that....thats another topic.

[Strela]

Ok, just to step in and calm things down as I'm the one that made the 'gracious' post.

Firstly, we welcome call-outs re bugs. There will always be things that we miss in testing and I don't want anyone to feel like they can't do that. I do ask that people don't make political capital off that as our whole approach is to try and provide the best experience we can to all our customers.

We will make a call on whether a bug is major or minor and proceed accordingly. The thing driving this fix is not that we view it as 'major', but rather when the next update cycle may be. If we don't include this fix in any upcoming patches/new releases then it will not be addressed for years. It is not enough of a show-stopper for us to do a patch release cycle.

To try and smooth the waters here, I'm happy to provide a link to the patched files (without the fixed AI) temporarily until the official patch is released. That hopefully would help any that are waiting for the updated scenarios etc to get playing. I would take down the link once the patch was out.

Is that a potential compromise?

David