Development Diary #34 - 24th of June 2009

[PIT_AMERO]

OK, so I assume that one can mod **ANY** faction to allow for "limited war", no? I tend to assume that this might be fairly easy, like one on/off switch in the code?

Can the AI handle a modded Allies faction to allow for limited war, or is this needed to be tweaked by the modder to make it "correct"? I actually assume that the AI **COULD** handle it because being attacked has different parameters than diplomacy...can't wait to get this game!

Regards,

Jeff

Yes, you will be able to give the "limited war" option to all factions.
In fact, you are free to give them (or take away) and new bonuses.

Thanks King!
I had asked about this a few weeks ago... So, if I understand this right, the AI creates the new theatre HQ, not the player...

Exactly.

 

[PIT_AMERO]

TO KING

Mate those provinces in Yugoslavia you need to do some fixing beograd is 2 on the east near romanian border
and those rivers need to change to
where is Sava river going into belgrade and joining with Dunav????

i think its better fro the game but as i understand we will have map editor so hell i will change that

and change the name of province Zrenjanin if you have it on the map cauz its not correct
Petrovgrad is more correct

The map is more than good.
It's not perfect, but also it's just a game and it can't be made from Google Earth pictures.
Plus that, as almost everything else, you will be able to easily mod this and have all cities on the right side of the river.

 

[ComteDeMeighan]

Nice AAR King

 

[Bobb4]

Love the AAR. Also love the AI. Looking good.
My question is I hope an easy one to answer.
In your capture of Yugoslavia you had three Theatres, one of which you used in your battle against Yugoslavia. My question is if you at the same time DOW Albania, would a fourth theatre have been created and if say you had captured Albania would you then have had a two front war against the same enemy controlled by two theatres.
What i am really asking but using your example battle is if two theatres AI's could work towards the same goal?

 

[varietygamer]

Sweet, no more micromanagement. Now I can watch the game play itself. Just issue orders and go for a coffee. Excellent.

 

[oda3333]

Nice AAR,thanks King.
My question is,
1.Is it possible to have only one theatre if I decide to do everything by my hand?
2.Is it possible to assign provinces from one theatre to another by the player?What will happen if all provinces of a theatre has been assigned to another?
Please forgive my poor English and thanks for answering.

 

[Baneslave]

You know, you are making it really hard for me to wait till August...

 

[PIT_AMERO]

Nice AAR,thanks King.
My question is,
1.Is it possible to have only one theatre if I decide to do everything by my hand?
2.Is it possible to assign provinces from one theatre to another by the player?What will happen if all provinces of a theatre has been assigned to another?
Please forgive my poor English and thanks for answering.

You don't have any influence over the theaters creation or composition.
Ofcourse, if you want you can turn off the AI control and thus making the theaters (almost) irrelevant.

 

[4th Dimension]

The map is more than good.
It's not perfect, but also it's just a game and it can't be made from Google Earth pictures.
Plus that, as almost everything else, you will be able to easily mod this and have all cities on the right side of the river.

Cities are not a problem. Problem is that a part of geography that was in HOI2, who had less detailed map, is missing in HOI3. And it's not an insignificant town, it's a river, an excellent defensive position, when you are defending southeastern Balkan.

 

[oda3333]

Understood,thank you very much.

 

[Federkiel]

Great AAR King, the best DD so far!
However, a few questions arose in my mind:

1. On the first screen we see Czechoslovakia already dismembered, only Slowakia is left. The date tells NOV 1938. How could this happen? Can players influence historical events through their actions? Say, a 1936 Anschluss achievable?

2. Though territorial gains are marginal, Italy's production boosts up significantly as the war begins (first screens). Is it possible to manually shift to wartime footing or is this a consequence of the DOW actually?

3. Is the player allowed to manage theatre HQs individually? Some AI-controlled, some manually? Or is it all or nothing?

 

[fizy45]

We also start to build Radar Stations. One in Rhodes to start monitoring the Eastern Mediterranean and one Taranto to do the same in the Central Mediterranean. It will take a while for these to become truly effective but if we are given enough time we will have good monitoring capabilities on Allied fleet movements. When spare IC becomes available a third radar station will be built in Sardinia to give us warning of movements in the Western Mediterranean.

So this means radar stations work as same in the real world because in Ho2 radars only works in air battles ???

 

[Windmolen]

1. On the first screen we see Czechoslovakia already dismembered, only Slowakia is left. The date tells NOV 1938. How could this happen? Can players influence historical events through their actions? Say, a 1936 Anschluss achievable?

From the previous dev diaries it's known that you can evoke 'decisions'. These are like the events in HOI2. Decisions for Germany are for example the Anschluss and probably also the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia. How it works is that each decision has certain triggers before the player can trigger it.

This is what Johan has posted in dev diary on politics

Laws and Decisions is a concept we have taken from the EU3 expansion In Nomine. For those of you who have played In Nomine the next bit will seem slightly familiar. Decisions are historical events with a difference. Instead of the event simply firing the player can choose when to enact the decision. Secondly a decision has a double trigger block, called potential and allow. Once the potential triggers have been satisfied the decision will appear in the decision interface, but it won’t be possible to be enacted until the allow block is also satisfied. However the decision interface will tell the player exactly what is required of them to be able to enact the decision. This has two distinct game play advantages; firstly the player doesn’t have to search though hundreds of event files just to find out how to annex Austria, the game will tell them. Secondly major historical event no longer will fire on a certain dates. Although this doesn’t prevent historical hindsight it does remove the more obvious predictability of the event system. No longer will the Anschluss event fire on the 1st of March 1938 there is now a certain amount of uncertainty. Not to say that all events have been shunted into the decision system, but the key ones have been.

 

[King]

Great AAR King, the best DD so far!
However, a few questions arose in my mind:

1. On the first screen we see Czechoslovakia already dismembered, only Slowakia is left. The date tells NOV 1938. How could this happen? Can players influence historical events through their actions? Say, a 1936 Anschluss achievable?

2. Though territorial gains are marginal, Italy's production boosts up significantly as the war begins (first screens). Is it possible to manually shift to wartime footing or is this a consequence of the DOW actually?

3. Is the player allowed to manage theatre HQs individually? Some AI-controlled, some manually? Or is it all or nothing?

1. Germany took the decision to dismember Czecsolvakia early, it can do that.

2. Once at war I was able to gear up my war economy even further

3. You can manage various HQs differently. There is one restriction, the AI wants needs to control everything below it in the hierachy. So either you can manage at the same level or detach units out of the hierachy.

 

[unmerged(18239)]

3. You can manage various HQs differently. There is one restriction, the AI wants needs to control everything below it in the hierachy. So either you can manage at the same level or detach units out of the hierachy.

Just have to add, this works extremely well!

 

[Bobb4]

So this means radar stations work as same in the real world because in Ho2 radars only works in air battles ???

The radar is a combine intellegence gathering tool and not just a radar in the historical sense of the word.
It is your complete signals, radar, intellegence centre. See DD on topic will post link.
Here it is. it explains how it works.
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?t=388733

 

[sbielas]

Hi King - great work!

Just a bit off topic question - when you were designing/inventing command structure, did you have in your mind some old (and unfortunately) abandoned project called - The Road to Moscow (Battlefield Design Group); look at the link

http://pc.ign.com/articles/131/131163p1.html?

Or it is first time you can hear about it...

 

[King]

Hi King - great work!

Just a bit off topic question - when you were designing/inventing command structure, did you have in your mind some old (and unfortunately) abandoned project called - The Road to Moscow (Battlefield Design Group); look at the link

http://pc.ign.com/articles/131/131163p1.html?

Or it is first time you can hear about it...

First time I ever heard of that game. Although looking at the screenshots it goes into much more detail than ours.

 

[unmerged(143001)]

3. You can manage various HQs differently. There is one restriction, the AI wants needs to control everything below it in the hierachy. So either you can manage at the same level or detach units out of the hierachy.

If I'm not mistaken, this creates a new HQ. Is that the correct assumption?

 

[unmerged(45464)]

Looking forward to having the AI micro the air force for me. At least the interceptors, in HoI2 I build AA instead because I didn't want to micro them, but AA wasn't very effective.

Can the AI rebase air forces? For example if I have some Int F in norhtern Italy and UK bomb southern Italy where the planes can't reach can the AI rebase them to be able to reach? Or can I only tell to AI to defend within the reach of the planes?