What version of Steel Panthers do you play the most?

[Alby]

well here are some of the most recent.

SPWaW 8.40 Patch Notes


1) Fixed a bug which could allow size zero units with only one man left to appear as snipers in some combat and spotting routines.
2) Fixed a bug that sometimes caused the program, when generating maps in the editor, for any campaign or battle, with the Victory Frontage option turned off, to place the three victory hex clusters in unexpected locations. Please note that Victory Frontage off is useful for company to battalion sized battles and Victory Frontage on is useful for regimental or brigade sized battles.
3) Fixed a bug that sometimes caused the game to crash when starting a battle in the long World War II campaign, if playing or fighting the Germans.
4) Fixed a bug which prevented units riding on vehicles or in soft vehicles from taking damage, when the vehicle was hit by fire.
5) Fixed a bug in the OOB editor that prevented the unit text file value from saving properly.
6) Adjusted base experience and morale values used for creation of leaders and units. These are minimum values, to which a random number is added. ADJUSTED FOR BETTER GAMEPLAY IN SPWAW ENHANCED
7) Made it a bit easier to spot enemy units, especially at range one or zero.
8) Rewrote the code that chooses if the player mission is advance or assault in the long WWII Campaign and campaigns created using the Campaign Generator. Decreased the likelihood of Allied armies in the early war and Axis powers in the late war.
9) Changed the way reinforcement points are generated in the long WWII Campaign. Instead of having a maximum of 1/15th the value of the players force, the value is now 1/10th of the enemy force. The reasoning here is that reinforcements are more needed when the player is outnumbered, such as in a defend mission, than when he has the dominate force, such as in an advance mission.
10) In 1944 of the long WWII campaign, the computer opponent will receive more troops, if the human is playing Axis and fewer, if he is playing Allied. This effect becomes greater in 1945.
11) Rewrote bit of code that determines where a unit will move. In meeting engagements, if a unit was closer to a friendly hex than an enemy hex, it would move towards that hex. When visibility was high, that put most friendly units closer the friendly hex and most would move to that friendly hex and mill around. Now they will only move towards a friendly hex if there are no enemy hexes left or they are very close to the friendly hex, else they will move towards an enemy hex.
12) Altered the equations some for determining visibility in random battles. Extreme and very short ranges are less frequent (less than 5 or more than 40). Computer opponent artificial intelligence was having difficulty setting up, in these cases.
13) Reduced visibility in sand storms in the desert by a significant amount in random battles.
14) Modified how the German computer opponent picks troops in the long World War II campaign. Uses same pick lists, but picks in a slightly different fashion. Very small battles were using odd choices, since the unit costs have arisen in some orders of battle.

SPWaW 8.41 Patch Notes

1) Made it a bit harder to spot enemy units, especially at range one or zero. Adjusted too far in 8.40
2) Allowed the German artificial intelligence purchase routine a little more armor in small battles
3) Sniper units may no longer close assault vehicles.
4) Sometimes the player setup side was incorrect, when assaulting beaches. Fixed.
5) The in game save menu button now automatically saves the Mega-Campaign. This might be useful, if the player has been experiencing CTD and wishes to save without having to exit the scenario.


SPWaW 8.403 Patch Notes

1) In some screens(like the artillery targeting screen), the scroll delay was not functioning. Fixed.
2) Fire effectiveness of infantry primary weapons in slots 2 to 4 have been reduced, unless the firing unit passes a special experience check. This reduction always applied to infantry primary weapons in slot 1, but the code assumed that none of these would be found in later slots. The experience check for slot one assumed some troops would be goofing off, drinking tea or for some other reason, would not be firing effectively. This limitation now applies to these primary infantry weapons in other slots, as it is assumed that these would be fired by ammo carriers, squad leaders or some one else who might be otherwise occupied. Secondary or crewed weapons are handled in a different part of the code.
3) Reduced hex radius of secondary damage applied from attacks to units in the same or nearby hexes (the random artillery splash radius has been reduced).
4) Reduced effect of secondary damage to units in the same or nearby hexes from direct fire attacks (firing direct fire at unit and hitting other units in hex has been reduced, somewhat).
5) The default Bulgaria morale values were not being set properly (the values were core garbage, array problem). Fixed.

[Greybeard]

Hi Alby,

Oops - now I'm suffering from a bit of a bad aftertaste from the toes I just pulled out of my mouth..

didn't know that the SP-3 code was available for mods..

I do have a wish list for WAW though..

here are a few:

1 - change smoke so that it's no longer a deflector shield (should be able to 'z' fire thru the stuff at least), and so it dissapates more quickly.

2 - change smoke firing ability so that units with zero shots, can't pop/shoot smoke,

3- change the special op fire routine so that the dancing StuG will not happen.

4 - when units start a turn 'retreating' or 'routed', I find it unreal that when fired upon, they revert to 'pinned' status and seem to have no trouble blasting away.. this ought to be a random event, not a regular one.

5 - allow guns to be destroyed w/o having to kill the entire crew first, as damage is taken (guns, vehicles) one guy should not be able to operate the vehicle/gun at full effectiveness.

6 - smoke round qty.. mortars and guns should have smoke.. but should they carry more smoke rounds than HE rounds? - many times a mortar/gun will have 30 HE rounds and 30+ smokes also...

7 - increase the sticking danger for mud and swamps.. normally a very nasty hazard even for tracked vehicles..

8 - artillery delay for USA/USMC.. perhaps it's reasonable for 60mm's to be able to shoot at the end of a friendly turn, but not everything.. either up the delay to 0.4 across the board, or let other nations with light mortars also shoot at a delay of 0.1

9 - snipers, commando, and recon types.. '0' profile units in these classes should be very, very hard to spot.. they are trained for concealment.. snipers should be able strike fear into the hearts of an isolated unit, pick off gun crews, and be generally nasty dudes. Unless things have changed, WAW/H2H snipers are little better than a one-man recon team and too easily spotted.

10- Infantry toughness.. I often have 10 man squads taking 4-5 casualties, and the rest 'disperse'. Infantry seems far too fragile most of the time.

I guess these are my major "I wish" things..

It seemed that for a time Matrix and SPCAMO were working almost hand-in-hand with sometimes very similar improvements, then v7.1 came along and other than PzLeo, the game stagnated (Matrix had been working on a somewhat similar format game - close combat I think - but it's been years with little reported progress other than a few screen shots).

Thanks again for your efforts, and I do look fwds to the next upgrade..

-Greybeard

[Alby]

Hi Alby,

Oops - now I'm suffering from a bit of a bad aftertaste from the toes I just pulled out of my mouth..

didn't know that the SP-3 code was available for mods..

Well it isnt for guys like Leo and Us for doing MODS, but Matrix has always had "the Code" for the game.

I do have a wish list for WAW though..

here are a few:

1 - change smoke so that it's no longer a deflector shield (should be able to 'z' fire thru the stuff at least), and so it dissapates more quickly.

Yes that would be nice

2 - change smoke firing ability so that units with zero shots, can't pop/shoot smoke,

That was being worked on last time I spoke with the programmer, but it then caused some other bugs, and then he had PC troubles.
Dont know what ever happened, he usually doesnt tell anyone until he is finished working on things.

3- change the special op fire routine so that the dancing StuG will not happen.

Has been in all versions of SP,since SP1, even saw this discussed at schrapnel too. Not sure there is a fix for it.

4 - when units start a turn 'retreating' or 'routed', I find it unreal that when fired upon, they revert to 'pinned' status and seem to have no trouble blasting away.. this ought to be a random event, not a regular one.

Hmmm you talking H2H or Vanilla WAW or both?

5 - allow guns to be destroyed w/o having to kill the entire crew first, as damage is taken (guns, vehicles) one guy should not be able to operate the vehicle/gun at full effectiveness.

True enough

6 - smoke round qty.. mortars and guns should have smoke.. but should they carry more smoke rounds than HE rounds? - many times a mortar/gun will have 30 HE rounds and 30+ smokes also...

Not sure how the game determines how many smoke rounds a unit gets, I know its in the code, good question I will have to pose to the programmer.

7 - increase the sticking danger for mud and swamps.. normally a very nasty hazard even for tracked vehicles..

I know the "stuck' or "breakdown" chances are higher for this type of terrain but dont know exactly how much...I know it happens to me alot!!
:angry:

8 - artillery delay for USA/USMC.. perhaps it's reasonable for 60mm's to be able to shoot at the end of a friendly turn, but not everything.. either up the delay to 0.4 across the board, or let other nations with light mortars also shoot at a delay of 0.1

USA artillery should always have a faster response time than anyone else, historical fact, altho i agree I dont like the 01 delay, I have tried to see if I cant adjust that, but so far no luck.
hard coded for the most part.

9 - snipers, commando, and recon types.. '0' profile units in these classes should be very, very hard to spot.. they are trained for concealment.. snipers should be able strike fear into the hearts of an isolated unit, pick off gun crews, and be generally nasty dudes. Unless things have changed, WAW/H2H snipers are little better than a one-man recon team and too easily spotted.

This depends on unit size, anything size 0 should be harder to spot.
Anything with 4 men or more is size 1 and is easier to spot...ala Commandos.
alot also depends on what visibility and spotting preferences you have the game set to.
We have increased Snipers lethality in Enhanced from Vanilla WAW

10- Infantry toughness.. I often have 10 man squads taking 4-5 casualties, and the rest 'disperse'. Infantry seems far too fragile most of the time.

This could be a number of things..what type of infantry, are they fired upon while in the open, are they elite, or conscript.
also INF toughness can abe adjusted in the Preferences screen.

I guess these are my major "I wish" things..

It seemed that for a time Matrix and SPCAMO were working almost hand-in-hand with sometimes very similar improvements, then v7.1 came along and other than PzLeo, the game stagnated (Matrix had been working on a somewhat similar format game - close combat I think - but it's been years with little reported progress other than a few screen shots).

Thanks again for your efforts, and I do look fwds to the next upgrade..

-Greybeard

Good suggestions, I will pose to the programmer.

ALBY
:)

[Tank Jockey]

I have been playing SPWAW Enhanced mostly these days. I love the graphics and sounds and the game play seems solid. I recommend those who haven't tried it to do so. I am available for a few games also if you want an opponent - email me.:smg:

[Alby]

I have been playing SPWAW Enhanced mostly these days. I love the graphics and sounds and the game play seems solid. I recommend those who haven't tried it to do so. I am available for a few games also if you want an opponent - email me.:smg:

Send me a game, V2
everyone else kicks my butt, you might as well too..

anything but slots 5, 7, 8, and 10.
[email protected]

Look for Enhanced "FV" in about 2 weeks
for all the fixes/changes...click below

http://spwaw.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=10253

[Greybeard]

Hello Alby,
thanks for the comments..

For the 'dancing StuG.. what I am refering to is really the OP fire routines at ranges of 2 or less hexes.. at those ranges most units seem to be able to shoot and shoot and shoot - way beyond their available ROF.. I, too have suffered the 'dancing Stug' (not necessarily a StuG in particular, but nearly any unit in the game had done this before to me) - where I attempt to move in close with a squad or vehicle well after the target unit has ceased to OP fire and is well pinned.. only to have the target wake up and go into a shooting frenzy, blasting off at anything that approaches within the 2 hex radius - if I shoot at a routed or retreating unit under within the 2 hexes and don't kill it, then invariably it reverts to pinned status and starts shooting again.. but once it reaches retreat or routed status a 2nd time, it tends to stay that way..

Just by way of a little clarification..

Thanks again for all the work.. it ain't easy..

-Steve

[Alby]

Hello Alby,
thanks for the comments..

For the 'dancing StuG.. what I am refering to is really the OP fire routines at ranges of 2 or less hexes.. at those ranges most units seem to be able to shoot and shoot and shoot - way beyond their available ROF.. I, too have suffered the 'dancing Stug' (not necessarily a StuG in particular, but nearly any unit in the game had done this before to me) - where I attempt to move in close with a squad or vehicle well after the target unit has ceased to OP fire and is well pinned.. only to have the target wake up and go into a shooting frenzy, blasting off at anything that approaches within the 2 hex radius - if I shoot at a routed or retreating unit under within the 2 hexes and don't kill it, then invariably it reverts to pinned status and starts shooting again.. but once it reaches retreat or routed status a 2nd time, it tends to stay that way..

Just by way of a little clarification..

Thanks again for all the work.. it ain't easy..

-Steve

Yes sir I am with you...
SPWAW has the "special op fire" which was put in to eliminate 'some' of the shot draining tactics that were so common in sp1, 2 and 3.
Now you cant be so sure your 'junk' has used up all the enemy armors shots.
;)

There is a preference for the OP fire, in the prefs screen.
I have not played with it much but adjusting it down some would maybe help.
I usually just leave it at default 100%

[jadpanther]

Alby I'll take one of those games if your still offering them up.....

Jad

[Alby]

Alby I'll take one of those games if your still offering them up.....

Jad

Actually Tank Jockey was offering games, but I will let you kick my ass again too.
:)
Seems we have had some problems finishing games the last few we have tried....
Slot 6 or 9 are open...send away......:)
Can we try something a little smaller than those 20K Giant ones?

[ATCS]