Download the Panzer Corps 1.21 Public Beta

[fliegenderstaub]

I was playing half way through Modlin today and noticed I was not getting any of the special heroes. The custom difficulty settings were working as intended though. Just tried to load up a new game to see if I can reproduce that weird behaviour but I got a message the beta version has expired.

Has there been a change regarding those special heroes I was not aware of?

Well, my Beta has expired,too. Yesterday it worked normally. But regarding Modlin, Albert Kerscher had appeared as intended as well as the other heroes before (I've played Modlin yesterday).

[fliegenderstaub]

Btw.: Will there be a new "exe" to continue testing or can we expect the final patch soon?

[zappel]

Open Beta expired - what a pity.
And Beta 1.21 savegame can not be loaded in version 1.20:

[Delta66]

Open Beta expired - what a pity.
And Beta 1.21 savegame can not be loaded in version 1.20:

Yes, Brutal indeed, I didn't see any mention of the open beta final date. I thought I could complete my GC this weekend.

Will the saved games be usable iwith the forthcoming release?

[milliethedog]

I am also disappointed that the beta version has expired, I had just started the 1942 eastern front, found no real issues other than entrenchment and artillery changes do not seem to have had as big an effect as I thought they would, but as I have not reached Stalingrad or stevastapole yet it has not been heavily tested. hope the full patch is released soon, as I have just received a new version (Rome ii) of my other favourite game Rome Total war, but I cannot play it until its release on Monday!

[brettz123]

Mine reported as expired too...... has anyone tried reinstalling?

[soldier]

one unit will move out, get clobbered (thus revealing my artillery trap). A second unit will do the same despite having realized the arty was there. However it's still out of that unit's vision so it acts as if it learned nothing from watching prior play in the turn.

This is a bit off topic but it would be a great improvement to the AI if it could retain some memory. There's true fog where your unit has never been spotted while moving around but there are loopholes that a player (who has a memory) can exploit and the AI (who does not) cannot. Its pretty easy to leave vulnerable units around in dangerous positions provided the spotter is destroyed because the AI is blank slate. Nothing prior to the current turn is relevant or retained and no plans are made for future turns. Getting the AI to plan ahead is probably going into "deep blue" territory but an advanced AI might still work out where some of your units are because it saw them complete their move in much the same way a human does. It should be able to figure out a gun is behind your line after being hit by it.

am also disappointed that the beta version has expired, I had just started the 1942 eastern front, found no real issues other than entrenchment and artillery changes do not seem to have had as big an effect as I thought they would, but as I have not reached Stalingrad or sevastapole yet it has not been heavily tested.

The new 200% entrenchment levels against artillery are a big help in making towns tougher to crack but in most situations its still quite easy to cut the high level defensive numbers down with some preliminary fighter strafing and artillery. For me the real killer is that troops only ever face 50% of the entrenchment level so a town defender dug into 8 is still only 4 against your best troops and that number drops quickly with some bombardment. Fortunately all this can be modded now, so your guns can face 3 times, your tanks 2 and your troops, the actual represented level of defenses if you like. 75% works well for infantry, 100% is pretty daunting but even with these figures you can still do damage as trenches are not the sum total of the combat calculation.

[fliegenderstaub]

Mine reported as expired too...... has anyone tried reinstalling?

Yes, I have tried it and no, it won't work.

But setting the system clock back to August 15th for example makes the Beta work again!

[brettz123]

So they purposefully set the Beta to stop working and didn't let us know before installing it?

[zappel]

So they purposefully set the Beta to stop working and didn't let us know before installing it?

Not the first surprise. For a GC-Beta it is naturally that it will expire but for a open-beta-version?

[brettz123]

So they purposefully set the Beta to stop working and didn't let us know before installing it?

Not the first surprise. For a GC-Beta it is naturally that it will expire but for a open-beta-version?

Yeah, expiration doesn't particularly bother me but a heads up would have been nice. Oh well I suppose I can set the clock back and go from there.

[yarco]

Final patch please!
We are waiting too long. It could by a new game, not only a patch....

[ThvN]

Well, since the beta has expired I thought I'd put all my personal observations so far in a single post:

Bugs/issues I encountered (and the ones which have been pointed out to me and was able to duplicate):


- Not all the 1.21 gamerules carry over to the Grand Campaigns.

Example: the new entrenchment rules only work in the GC's if I merge the data from the main data file into the GC data files.


- The UI switching works better now, but still not 100%.

Example: When you select a new campaign, the sidebar switches as it should. But if I load a game (from the main menu) the sidebar stays the type that is appropiate for the currently active opening screen (Wehr/AK/AC), not the saved game. So I still have to first highlight a campaign that uses the correct UI if I load a game that is using a different UI from the opening screen.


- The minefields suddenly have a spotting range of 1 during bad weather.

- Hero bonus is being applied to their transports as well.

Example: I tested a unit with a spotting hero with rail and sea transports, and the transport spotting increased as well. I'm not sure if this is intented, so I thought I'd mention it.


- EDIT (removed this one, turns out not to be a bug)

- As a request, would it be possible in the future to allow the player to manually select which transport is used when you embark? I know this choice is already given if there are both sea/rail transports available, but for the other occasions the listing in the scenario determines what type (air/glider or air/sea) is assigned, which can be annoying if it's not the one you want to use.

Example: very noticable during the GC'41 Crete Naval invasion, where I have trouble deploying paratroopers because it defaults to a sea transport, even though I have the air/ground toggle set correctly and Ju 52's available. (also noticable in scenarios with multiple air transport types available)


- Two very little niggles, in the advanced options screen the sliders move with the preselected difficulty but the AI level doesn't change according to which difficulty is selected. And it shows the choice for '1.20' rules settings, but his should be changed to '1.21' for this new version.

- After I have chosen the tutorial campaign, the tutorial messages in the options menu are flagged 'on' and do not automatically revert back when I choose another campaign. They need to be manually deselected, again I'm not sure if that is as intented?


And to end on a positive note, the new moddable settings (shooting/strength) seem to work fine, even if used together. With the GC data files tweaked with the 1.21 settings I was able to quickly play through the GC's up to the Stalingrad scenarios, and the balance hasn't changed much although my advance knowledge helped a lot (although I don't use the special hero units). Prestige levels were lower but still good, so I guess the soft cap shouldn't affect players who take more losses too much.

[KeldorKatarn]

Guess we maybe need another beta round then.

[fliegenderstaub]

I hope it won't be weeks again...

[Longasc]

Well, a lot of bugs were found in 1.21 Beta.

Let's hope official 1.21 or 1.22 will have the mentioned bugs removed, especially those summed up by ThvN. I already wanted to launch a Grand DLC campaign, but I decided to wait for the patch before doing so.

[zappel]

And how will it go on? Any official comment would be helpful.

[Resolute]

Well due to the fact they're still trying to get the IPAD version out I would be suprised to see any updates in the near future, besides the lack of any information in the past regarding the current status of 1.21 speaks for itself. To be honest I am slightly dismayed since I was really eager to start a new DLC campaign and the limbo state of 1.21 has been going on for a while now.

[zappel]

Well due to the fact they're still trying to get the IPAD version out I would be suprised to see any updates in the near future, besides the lack of any information in the past regarding the current status of 1.21 speaks for itself. To be honest I am slightly dismayed since I was really eager to start a new DLC campaign and the limbo state of 1.21 has been going on for a while now.

That would be a pity.

[brettz123]

The problem as I see it isn't how long it would take but a complete lack of communication. Just come and tell us what is going on.