A few comments, questions, and musings on the Matrix CS

[John Given]

Hey everyone, I bought the Matrix the other night, upgraded to ver. 1.04, and everything seems great. I really like the new engineer capabilities and the new units (though I'm sure there are many I've yet to see). I have some questions and comments though, so here goes;

1. In the manual, the new engineer unit screenshots show construction & bridge-builders with a defense factor of TWO. Shouldn't this be raised to at least 5, to reflect the fact that humans will try to scurry out of the way (read: RUN) when artillery is falling, etc? Seems unrealistically low.

2. I read somewhere that the (very nice) Project Blitzkrieg was incompatible with the Matrix edition. A. Is this true? B. What would happen if I installed it into my matrix folder anyway? (I just don't want to lose any scenarios (or especially units) unique to this expansion)

3. I usually play the Germans, because I really like the range advantage of many of their units, especially late-war armor. It gives me the luxury of sitting on a distant hilltop, picking off enemies that come into my los. However, with the change of artillery "disabling" armor 5% of the time, as opposed to 2%, I fear this tactic will no longer be practical or efficient. A. Why was the % change of a disable result raised from 2% to 5% - a 250% net increase? B. Any chance of it being changed back in the future? The number of disable results I took seemed painfully high before at 2%, can't imagine what things will be like at 5%.

4. Easy question - I notice that the mine removal unit for the germans is a modified truck with a defense of "1," But do the major powers of the war get an armored version - true armored engineering vehicle? A popular German type was based on the tiger chassis, if you can believe that. I'm not sure if the U.S., Brits, or Russkies got them in WWII, but it seems logical they would. This question is mainly being asked because of my unfamiliarity with the new matrix units.

5. If I leave the new visibility rules on, what will happen during the scenario? - will visibility change from turn to turn, or is there a "preset" night and dark built into the scen from the designer that will cause it to slowly get dark? (visibility gradually reduces to 1, and becomes a night scenario?) Or is it more of a random thing?

6. I went ahead and moved the (over 1,000) customized scenarios from my original TS folders to the respective matrix folders - I just cannot bear the thought of "losing" all those scenarios we've built up over the years. Question - has there been any compatibility issues reported with these custom scenarios and the matrix edition? (NOTE: Some of the East Front II scens are part of Project Blitzkrig, wasn't sure if that might cause any problems)

7. Read the manual section on the flying, shootable, one-shot bomber, loved it, along with the recon plane and the AA changes. Love the "hidden after firing" feature for smaller AT guns and commando's. I haven't seen the trains or the ships yet, but am anxious to try them out.

8. Love the unit re-skin/updates, but I had hoped for an all-new game engine. There were screenies I saw about a year ago (of the upcoming matrix) linked through the ACG forum as I recall, that showed a new game engine for the Matrix CS, including infantry platoons that showed the number of men in the unit, not just the strength points. What happened with that? And also, are there plans in the works to upgrade the game engine?

Anyway, thanks in advance for replying.

[Jason Petho]

1. In the manual, the new engineer unit screenshots show construction & bridge-builders with a defense factor of TWO. Shouldn't this be raised to at least 5, to reflect the fact that humans will try to scurry out of the way (read: RUN) when artillery is falling, etc? Seems unrealistically low.

These are NOT combat units and not designed to hold territory, hence the low defence. These units are to be used in areas that are deemed "secure". If your opponent has LOS to a bridging site and is hitting you with artillery, then the site is not secure.

2. I read somewhere that the (very nice) Project Blitzkrieg was incompatible with the Matrix edition. A. Is this true? B. What would happen if I installed it into my matrix folder anyway? (I just don't want to lose any scenarios (or especially units) unique to this expansion)

It is NOT compatible. Period. The files are encrypted differently, the unit ID's are different, etc. DO NOT install PB#2 to your install!!

Wait for a future update that will have revised scenarios up to the Matrix 1.0# standard

3. I usually play the Germans, because I really like the range advantage of many of their units, especially late-war armor. It gives me the luxury of sitting on a distant hilltop, picking off enemies that come into my los. However, with the change of artillery "disabling" armor 5% of the time, as opposed to 2%, I fear this tactic will no longer be practical or efficient. A. Why was the % change of a disable result raised from 2% to 5% - a 250% net increase? B. Any chance of it being changed back in the future? The number of disable results I took seemed painfully high before at 2%, can't imagine what things will be like at 5%.

You now have units that can act as hidden units instead of leaving your tanks sitting on a hilltop, which may not be the best tactical choice when playing against a human opponent anyway.

4. Easy question - I notice that the mine removal unit for the germans is a modified truck with a defense of "1," But do the major powers of the war get an armored version - true armored engineering vehicle? A popular German type was based on the tiger chassis, if you can believe that. I'm not sure if the U.S., Brits, or Russkies got them in WWII, but it seems logical they would. This question is mainly being asked because of my unfamiliarity with the new matrix units.

These are test units; if they are well received, they will be expanded upon. If not, they'll be left as is.

5. If I leave the new visibility rules on, what will happen during the scenario? - will visibility change from turn to turn, or is there a "preset" night and dark built into the scen from the designer that will cause it to slowly get dark? (visibility gradually reduces to 1, and becomes a night scenario?) Or is it more of a random thing?

There is both. The day-night and night-day is explained in the manual and the bootcamp document.

Otherwise there is a small chance that visibility will now change if the scenario has a visibility between 5 and 15 hexes.

6. I went ahead and moved the (over 1,000) customized scenarios from my original TS folders to the respective matrix folders - I just cannot bear the thought of "losing" all those scenarios we've built up over the years. Question - has there been any compatibility issues reported with these custom scenarios and the matrix edition? (NOTE: Some of the East Front II scens are part of Project Blitzkrig, wasn't sure if that might cause any problems)

Always move them over a few scenarios at a time, open up the game and see if there are any issues.

While they should be 98% percent compatible, the PB#2 scenarios will be updated (mine anyway) and included with a future update.

7. Read the manual section on the flying, shootable, one-shot bomber, loved it, along with the recon plane and the AA changes. Love the "hidden after firing" feature for smaller AT guns and commando's. I haven't seen the trains or the ships yet, but am anxious to try them out.

There are ** Bootcamp scenarios and a document to read along in the MANUALS folder. Take a peek, you'll be pleasantly surprised.

8. Love the unit re-skin/updates, but I had hoped for an all-new game engine. There were screenies I saw about a year ago (of the upcoming matrix) linked through the ACG forum as I recall, that showed a new game engine for the Matrix CS, including infantry platoons that showed the number of men in the unit, not just the strength points. What happened with that? And also, are there plans in the works to upgrade the game engine?

Depends on the dedication of the programmer. At this point, I wouldn't focus too much on a new engine as it is an insane amount of work and everyone working on this is doing it in their free time.

Thanks!

Jason Petho

[John Given]

Thank you for the prompt reply Jason! :)

On 1; I'll keep my construction engineers secure - no doubt there. I still don't really agree with the low defense factor, but I'm so protective of my units anyway that I doubt it'll become an issue.

On 2; Thanks for the heads up on Project Blitzkrieg - I won't install it! I'm glad I asked now.

On 3; A clarification - When I mentioned my tactic of leaving my tanks on hilltops with good visibility, I was implying that once I find a good firing position, I typically leave my tanks in place...sometimes for many turns, if I feel they are not threatened by enemy armor or are in danger of encirclement. However, with the 5% chance of artillery "disable" result on armor, this "sitzkreig" tactic could now mean even heavy armored units are subject to being worn down by even light artillery - just not something I agree with. I will have to keep my armor moving now, it seems.

On 4; A typo I need to mention - above, when I mentioned the german mine removal truck I meant *wreck* removal truck - the werkstat. Sigh. Sorry. But I get the idea - you say these will be expounded upon if they prove popular. How could they not be? I love any extra "toys" my forces can put to use. IMO, these types of units have been out of the game for far too long. Support units are what gives the game a lot of its variety - so I'd like as much as possible. :whis:

I'll give a few of those bootcamp scenarios a whirl - the way you describe it sounds almost like they were included to show / introduce the new units and their capabilities, as well as a newbie primer.