The update this week unlocks the Multiplayer feature. Players can now Host & Join games in using The First World War game lobby. We’ll soon be adding Editor and Steam Workshop support. These two features are best left for the final stages since game changes can easily break mods. That means we are getting closer to a final release. But there is still quite a bit to do before we can say it’s done.
Besides MP, this release has a number of bug fixes. One area we spent time on was trying to improve the historical flow to The Balkan War scenario. A lot of players have seen repetitive non-historical play from some AI nations, namely Bulgaria, Italy and to some degree France. As some here understand, the event code is quite dense and it’s very difficult to trackdown where things might be going wrong. On top of that there are two competing systems at work, the generic AI and the customized, nation specific AI. This forces us to be cautious about making really big changes that are difficult to test. I think we’ve made improvements but even if we fix all the obvious bugs, there are still subjective issues involving balance and how much weight we give to non-historical outcomes.
The recently added mechanism to penalize over taxing has been adjusted. We’ve reduced the ruse of Corruption penalties and added the potential for regional riots. This was our initial plan and we are interested in whether players prefer this method.
Work continues on the next scenario, The Russian Revolution. We are spending a lot of effort dealing with the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Right now it feels more complex than even the Balkan Wars and significantly more in depth than The Red Army DLC for Making History: the Great War. There’s a chance the new scenario might be made available in the next update. That is the goal.
Again, thanks for giving us feedback and pointing out the bugs.
Update #6 Release Notes:
- Turned On Multiplayer feature
- Added Defensive strength to Armored Train unit
- Increased width of text area for Submarine Range to prevent property display clipping
- Revised Mobilization data for nation at game start
- Added ability to read Non-Aggression & Neutrality Pacts at game start rather than just events
- Added Player condition test to Break Triple Alliance - may have prevented Assassination event from firing
- Updated Game Map to fix a few borders not displaying in some regions
- Fixed Animation bug in French Heavy Siege Guns
- Fixed AirUnit Group Selection UI Graphic that was slightly offset
- Modified AI Recruitment Template to reduce building of Armored Trains
- Fixed Mountain Infantry Terrain Penalties error
- Reduced Over Taxation Penalty and increased chance of revolts if taxes are too high
- Added script trigger: TriggerConditionControllerNationIsNot
- Added Land Defense Penalties to Infantry units in the Encyclopedia
- Assigned WARJUSTIFICATION_AGGRESSION property to Italy against Ottomans
- Fixed text errors in various Events
- Modified BFW Scripts increase chance of historical decisions
- Fix to make Bulgaria more prone to join Central Powers
- Bulgaria should no longer automatically form alliances when player is human
- Fix to increase chance Italy joins Allies
- Remove Ottoman Balkan Claims if defeated in 1912