GS v3.10 available on the Matrixgames site

[Peter Stauffenberg]

Matrixgames / Slitherine have released GS v3.10 for PC and MAC. It can be downloaded here:

http://www.matrixgames.com/products/344/downloads/

[Peter Stauffenberg]

Release notes:

GS v3.1 is compatible with GS v3.0 so you can continue your current games.

This is the change list between GS v3.0 and GS v3.1

* Bug fix for the game hanging during convoy movement phase for allied player against an AI.

* Game tweak where units won’t lose experience for repairs at 7-steps or higher. Units repaired below 7- steps will lose experience for those steps that bring it up to 7; but not for any after that. The intent of this change is to make the more experience units “battle hardened” and more effective, especially later in the game.

* Bug fix for the game hanging in the unlikely event that Finland is conquered on the same turn that the last major axis power (i.e., either Germany or Italy) is conquered.

* Bug fix to Norway and Denmark not getting surprised if Sweden was attacked first on that turn. The fix also included morale loss of 5 applied to Swedish units.

* Bug fix for Swedish production not increasing as it should if the allies successful interdicted the iron ore being sent to Germany on or just after Swedish activation.

* Game tweak for mobilizing “neutral” countries (e.g., USSR in 1941 with no Barbarossa) that allow them to produce oil during mobilization while neutral. This means that if the axis player is following a fortress Europe strategy, the USSR will get 50 oil per turn starting in November 1941, when they mobilized.

* Game tweak to the USSR rail capacity, which is reduced by 8 during the initial turns of Barbarossa. For a 1941 Barbarossa this reduction last for 8 turns and for a 1942 invasion it last for 4. This reduction represents the relocation of Soviet factories to Siberia.

* Game change to the Russian Convoy where it is sent to the UK instead of Russia if rail supply is cut to Murmansk. To simulate this a new rail depot, Belomorsk on the White Sea was added. If the axis capture Belomorsk, they cut rail supply to Murmansk which means in severe winter that the Russian convoy will not spawn. In its place a UK convoy will spawn.

* Game tweak to the strategic attack icon that changed it from white to red.

* Game tweak that allows strategic bombers to switch between strategic and tactical targets. Now, they can choose to attack targets in resource hexes if those targets are spotted. A new keyboard command “x” (without the quotes) has been added to toggle strategic bombers between strategic (i.e., red icon) and tactical attack (i.e., white) mode.

* Game tweak that increases the shock attack from strategic bombers at the higher strategic bomber tech levels. Increase in shock attack of 3, 1 and 2 are added at strategic operations tech levels 2, 4 and 6 (respectively).

* Bug fix concerning a deployment bug that was in the initial (i.e., vanilla) version of the game. Normally, you can deploy only one unit adjacent to a city per turn except if that city is a capital, which allows for deployment of as many units as there are empty adjacent hexes. The bug was that when a leader was deployed to an adjacent unit then no other new units could be deployed adjacent to the capital even if there were empty hexes. This is now fixed.

* Bug fix in that France may deploy Naval reinforcements at Marseilles and Nice ports. Made a change concerning Italy in so much that Naval reinforcements may not be placed at Palermo and Messina (Sicily) and at the port of Tirana (Albania).

[Peter Stauffenberg]

This is the list of how unit XP will affect unit stats:



This is probably the biggest change in GS v3.10. Now units with XP levels will become considerably stronger and perform better. So keep your experienced units alive.

[Peter Stauffenberg]

Most of the changes in GS v3.10 are bug fixes.

An important change is that you can now toggle the target mode for strategic bombers with the X key. Strategic mode now has a red target icon while the tactical mode has a white target icon.

Strategic bombers get more shock damage with techs so you can now use them for carpet bombing of enemy units. They're not good at inflicting step losses, but the carpet bombing will lower the morale of target enemy units. This can be particularly useful in e. g. Operation Overlord where the Allied player can carpet bomb Axis panzer and mech units close to the landing zone. So the Axis player might want to keep their strategic counter strike units outside Allied air spotting range.

[Peter Stauffenberg]

Another important change is with Russian rail movement after being invaded by Germany (Barbarossa). The Russian rail capacity is reduced by 8 if Barbarossa started in 1941 or 4 if Barbarossa started in 1942 for 8 turns.

This reduced rail capacity simulates that the Russians transfer factories from western Russia to Siberia. This transfer used up a big proportion of the Russian rail capacity. So it's harder now for Russia to respond to the Axis invasion. Front line units will have to move to safety on foot. These units can be pursued by Axis panzer and mech units. It will be harder for Russia to form a defense line since fewer of the units can be railed to the staging areas.

[Peter Stauffenberg]

Another game change is that we have added the Russian rail depot called Belomorsk. It's located north on the map between Petrozavodsk and Murmansk (offmap). Capturing Belomorsk means the rail line to Murmansk is cut so convoys will have to unload in Archangel instead of Murmansk. Since the White Sea was frozen in the winter it means that the convoys couldn't reach Archangel in the winter.

So an Axis control of Belomorsk during a winter turn means that the northern convoy spawned will not be a Russian convoy. Instead the convoy will go to UK. So taking Belomorsk means you can reduce the number of PP's going to Russia via convoys.

In non winter turns you need to control Archangel to deny Russia the northern convoy.

[Peter Stauffenberg]

A small game change is that Russia will start collecting oil once they mobilize and not when Germany DoW's Russia in 1942. If delaying Barbarossa to 1942 means Russia won't start with a very low oil reserve.

[Peter Stauffenberg]

The 1939 Allied setup has been changed into a more defensive setup. That means it will be very hard for the Allies to capture Belgium on turn 1 (the dreaded turn 1 Dyle strategy used by some Allied players). Now the Allied player must move to the border in turn 1 and strike in turn 2.

This allows the Axis player to rail units to the western front on turn 1 and strike Belgium on turn 2 (before the Allies) if they expect an upcoming Dyle. Or they can allow a turn 2 Dyle to take place and send units into Liege and Antwerp on turn 3 to deny these cities to the Allied player. You just need fair weather on turn 3 to do that. With this strategy you have 2 turns to rail units to the west so you can respond with a stronger force on turn 3.

With a normal Case White you can decimate the Poles so much on turn 1 you don't need the Luftwaffe in Poland on turn 2. So you can fly these units to the west on turn 2 allowing them to support a strike into Belgium on turn 3 and 4. If you rail an armor and mech unit to the west on turn 2 you have a strong force to make the Allies pay for a turn 2 Dyle.

Still, it can be useful for the Allied player to do a Dyle. If the Axis player is not very experienced he might not get anywhere before the mud starts. Or you might get mud in turn 3 meaning that even experienced Axis players will be bogged down in Belgium through the winter.

At least it's not a no brainer anymore to do a Dyle attack on Belgium. You have to consider the consequences before you try.

[BPINisBACK]

Cool!! Thanks!

[FMFP]

Hi,

I have Version 2.1., can I upgrade directly to V. 3.1?

[Peter Stauffenberg]

Yes you should. The installer only requires the CEAW vanilla game.

[Morris]

Release notes:

GS v3.1 is compatible with GS v3.0 so you can continue your current games.

This is the change list between GS v3.0 and GS v3.1

* Bug fix for the game hanging during convoy movement phase for allied player against an AI.

* Game tweak where units won’t lose experience for repairs at 7-steps or higher. Units repaired below 7- steps will lose experience for those steps that bring it up to 7; but not for any after that. The intent of this change is to make the more experience units “battle hardened” and more effective, especially later in the game.

* Bug fix for the game hanging in the unlikely event that Finland is conquered on the same turn that the last major axis power (i.e., either Germany or Italy) is conquered.

* Bug fix to Norway and Denmark not getting surprised if Sweden was attacked first on that turn. The fix also included morale loss of 5 applied to Swedish units.

* Bug fix for Swedish production not increasing as it should if the allies successful interdicted the iron ore being sent to Germany on or just after Swedish activation.

* Game tweak for mobilizing “neutral” countries (e.g., USSR in 1941 with no Barbarossa) that allow them to produce oil during mobilization while neutral. This means that if the axis player is following a fortress Europe strategy, the USSR will get 50 oil per turn starting in November 1941, when they mobilized.

* Game tweak to the USSR rail capacity, which is reduced by 8 during the initial turns of Barbarossa. For a 1941 Barbarossa this reduction last for 8 turns and for a 1942 invasion it last for 4. This reduction represents the relocation of Soviet factories to Siberia.

* Game change to the Russian Convoy where it is sent to the UK instead of Russia if rail supply is cut to Murmansk. To simulate this a new rail depot, Belomorsk on the White Sea was added. If the axis capture Belomorsk, they cut rail supply to Murmansk which means in severe winter that the Russian convoy will not spawn. In its place a UK convoy will spawn.

* Game tweak to the strategic attack icon that changed it from white to red.

* Game tweak that allows strategic bombers to switch between strategic and tactical targets. Now, they can choose to attack targets in resource hexes if those targets are spotted. A new keyboard command “x” (without the quotes) has been added to toggle strategic bombers between strategic (i.e., red icon) and tactical attack (i.e., white) mode.

* Game tweak that increases the shock attack from strategic bombers at the higher strategic bomber tech levels. Increase in shock attack of 3, 1 and 2 are added at strategic operations tech levels 2, 4 and 6 (respectively).

* Bug fix concerning a deployment bug that was in the initial (i.e., vanilla) version of the game. Normally, you can deploy only one unit adjacent to a city per turn except if that city is a capital, which allows for deployment of as many units as there are empty adjacent hexes. The bug was that when a leader was deployed to an adjacent unit then no other new units could be deployed adjacent to the capital even if there were empty hexes. This is now fixed.

* Bug fix in that France may deploy Naval reinforcements at Marseilles and Nice ports. Made a change concerning Italy in so much that Naval reinforcements may not be placed at Palermo and Messina (Sicily) and at the port of Tirana (Albania).

Hi Borger :

At first thanks for your great job to accomplish this 3.1 version !

At second , Are the above changes including all changes from 3,0 to 3.10 ? Any other changes which is not included ?

[Peter Stauffenberg]

Not that I know of. However, the list was made up from the sum of several emails with version upgrades. Some minor things could have been forgotten to add to the list. E. g. I know there were some graphical updates to some images. Those won't affect game play at all.

At least I don't think there are any game play changes missing in the list.

[Peter Stauffenberg]

Morris: Maybe you could make an AAR as the Axis using GS v3.10? That would be a great test of how the changed XP rules etc. affect game balance. And we could all see how it unfolds.

[FMFP]

Yes you should. The installer only requires the CEAW vanilla game.

Thank's,

I've allready install it (V. 3.10( and it works fine.

Filipe

[JimR]

Great news! Thanks to Borger and the team.

[Morris]

Morris: Maybe you could make an AAR as the Axis using GS v3.10? That would be a great test of how the changed XP rules etc. affect game balance. And we could all see how it unfolds.

I 'd like to if I can find an experienced opponent sothat it will be a fairplay to show how 3.1 works without the effect of skill difference .
I will make a post to look for this opponent & if you can recommand any one ,please advise .

[Morris]

Not that I know of. However, the list was made up from the sum of several emails with version upgrades. Some minor things could have been forgotten to add to the list. E. g. I know there were some graphical updates to some images. Those won't affect game play at all.

At least I don't think there are any game play changes missing in the list.

there are two big changes which you did not mentioned in the list as follows :
1 the production limit change in 1939 ( maybe also 1940-1945,but I still not arrive then ). the original Germany sub production limit should be 3 , & now it changes to 4 . meanwhile the overproduce cost is increasing from 5% to 10 %. EP : sub 55 , first over produce was 57.5 , but now it change to 60.5 .


2 No limit for FTR production .

[Peter Stauffenberg]

I can't recall we have made any changes to production limits.

Removing the limit on fighters I remember, but not sure if it was done in GS v3.1 or not. I haven't seen GS v3.0 for over a year so hard for me to remember.

Thanks for finding these anyway.

[Peter Stauffenberg]

By checking the code I found the following:

// GS v3.01start
int techIndustry = c.getResearch().getLevel(12);
int techOrganization = c.getResearch().getLevel(13);
int techModifier = techIndustry + ((2 * techOrganization) / 3);
// GS v3.01 end

This means the unit limit for production is modified by: tech industry + 2/3 * tech organization.

I guess this explains the slightly increased German tech limits early in the game. I think we added this as a result of feedback that the tech limits for Germany were too low initially. With this change they get a slight head start since they have organization tech 3.

The code is flagged as GS v3.01 so it must have been added very soon after GS v3.0 was released.