Happy Birthday Hex of Steel! 3 years already!
Over 400 updates have been made (in reality way more, it's just it's only the ones that have a change log..), and it's not over just yet!
On average, that's 1 update every 3 days, NON-STOP.
ADDED
- Poland 1939 big map 144 x 93 (no USSR).
- Poland 1944 big map 144 x 93 (Late war soviet winter offensive).
- Shock infantry for USSR (1944 and onward infantry unit).
- 4 new achievements for completing each new Poland scenario as both Axis/Allies.
- Engineers for New Zealand.
- You can now save changes to base game tiles in your mod(s). Meaning you can edit the tile's stats and make a mod out of it.
- Added double click on save to load (after 3 years, about time LOL).
- Added double click on map in map editor to open it.
- Lithuanian ANBO IV and ANBO VIII (planes).
CHANGED
- Updated graphics of all tiles, I can now use compression and this allowed me to ... cut the weight of the game in half! Yoohoo! 700 MB instead of 1.3 GB
- AI planes will not suicide anymore by attacking things they shouldn’t (like bombing a tile that has 3 AAs around it and would destroy the AI plane).
- AI minors plane buying rate. They will buy more now.
- Trains can now go and embark/disembark in refinery tiles.
- Ambush during bad weather for planes have been disabled. No more ambush, planes will just blocking the way.
- AI if historical focus is turned ON in the settings will not use landing crafts anymore (Specific list of countries that should not be using them, example: Yugoslavia, Finland…)
- AI will now trigger the purchase of engineers if some of its units are blocked by a river (units cannot reach goal because of a river).
- Changed a bit the behaviour of anti tank and artillery units when set to defensive mode. They will not longer leave their position and break their cover, they will stay put (unless they can capture a VP or need to defend one of its VPs).
- AI will not buy barrage balloons if the enemy doesn't have any bomber.
- AI will not buy recon planes if it doesn't have air supremacy and needs to buy planes.
- Improved AI's planes attack behaviour (which target to choose and most importantly, which target NOT to choose).
- AI recon planes will try to stay off victory points to allow for bombers to do their work and be more active (not staying in one place as it could be the case before).
- Improved AI's artillery attack and movement behaviour, less suicidal, will stay away from the enemy but still in range.
- Improved AI's use of terrain features. Will try to always have the high ground or stay in forests. Tanks will try to stay in the open.
- Slightly improved AI's performances (CPU).
- Small edits to Europe 1939 and Crimea 1944.
- Changed weight of fighters purchases for AI (was buying more bombers than fighters). It is now even.
- Replaced 'open maps folder' button in quick game menu in main menu.
- Size indicator for each scenario, QoL.
- Optimized AI planes second move.
- AI will less rely on landing crafts and prioritize alternative land routes.
- Optimized AIs pathfinding performance CPU cost. Will play faster and with less lags.
- AIs Armoured trains will now disengage if they need to be repaired.
- AIs artillery will now shoot before retreating.
FIXED
- Mails not being sent when playing PBEM multiplayer (or when trying to set up a new password).
- Entrenchment wasn’t taken into account anymore.
- AIs engineers not being engineers when newly bought. Behaved as regular infantry.
- Walther von Reichenau was a german hero (in reality he was a Field Marshal... oops).
- Instance of not being able to end your turn (on tutorial map as the USSR, first turn).
- Glitch when AI is playing at high speed and human player doesn't have quick movement, when a human unit retreats it could get stuck because AI would move its unit over it (air unit) and completely freeze the movement of the retreating ground unit underneath it. This would in the end result in an unskippable turn end.
- In the map editor, if a unit had a max purchase limit, if you were deleting it from the board it would not get you that unit back (+1).
- In the map editor, when using the 'spawn units on VPS' or similar, it would not check for max purchase limit.
- End of game visualisation data tanks count was wrong, it included bunkers, coastal batteries etc.
- Sound settings always closed themselves when closing in game menu.
- More stats small panel at the bottom left always closed himself after deselecting a unit.
- Graph bar end of game stat data visualization missing graphics (all bars).
- AI and engineers purchase, only purchasing if bridges were blown up and not just to cross a river.
- Non movable units were blinking when camera zooms out even when they attacked, but since they cannot move, they would never stop blinking.
- Fixed units in some cases that would get 3 action points.
- AI would somehow target land mines and try to move to attack them and end up stuck in one place because well you cannot attack a land mine.
- AI artillery or commanders would flee from the battlefield when being around a land mine (which they technically CANNOT see...).
- Midway campaign scenario was not finishable.
- Corrected city name Zielena Gora in Grünberg.
- Surrendering units would see their range set back to 1 (annoying for artillery..)