What are the most important updates/fixes for the next patch?

[unmerged(230810)]

Now that we know a new patch is being worked on, what are the key, essential bugs and improvements you guys think it should focus on?

I'm still new to the game, but a few I can think of are:

- Allow your supplies to traverse allied/puppeted provinces

- Fix the terrain equipment tech bug

- Fix the bug at the Kerch strait

- Get a native English speaking copywriter to fix all the spelling and grammatical mistakes. Far too many of the in-game messages have a misspelling or grammatical error (they even misspelled 'Hungary' on the Victory Conditions screen!) (And if there are no funds for this, the fans will surely do it; I can't be the only copywriter posting on the forums. We could fix the text in no time.)

- More possible Victory Conditions (at least 5 more per faction, ideally 10 more)

Two more ambitious updates I'd personally love to see:

- When a unit is out of supply, some type of indication as to why it's out of supply

- Allow player control over puppeted, and possibly allied, military forces (or, if that's impossible to implement, allow us to request expeditionary forces from allies)

And a UI fix for something that really bugs me:

- Change yes/no prompts so that the affirmative selection is on the left, rather than the right (as it is in every other software I can think of -- why HoI3 reverses this is beyond me, unless their intention is to make the game as counter-intuitive as possible).

What else?

 

[egslim]

Balance the Chinese states/Japan in some way that Japan doesn't conquer the whole of China in six to twelve months anymore.

 

[General War]

- the inability for ships to pass through Dardanelles if you are at war with whoever controls Suez
- ships stuck in Gibraltar after it has been captured (probably true for some other ports in straits)
- canceling building of naval units does not return the manpower
- ships on convoy raiding mission spam unnecessary messages each time they arrive at new location

 

[Cybvep]

- Allow your supplies to traverse allied/puppeted provinces

Yeah, that's important. There is no reason why this shouldn't be possible. I consider it to be a bug.

- Get a native English speaking copywriter to fix all the spelling and grammatical mistakes. Far too many of the in-game messages have a misspelling or grammatical error (they even misspelled 'Hungary' on the Victory Conditions screen!) (And if there are no funds for this, the fans will surely do it; I can't be the only copywriter posting on the forums. We could fix the text in no time.)

- More possible Victory Conditions (at least 5 more per faction, ideally 10 more)

Such changes are not that important. HOI3 has bigger problems.

- When a unit is out of supply, some type of indication as to why it's out of supply

Would be nice, although IMO it's more important to chance the functionality of supply bar in the unit screen. It should show the MAXIMUM carriable supplies and the ACTUAL percentage of that maximum.

- Allow player control over puppeted, and possibly allied, military forces (or, if that's impossible to implement, allow us to request expeditionary forces from allies)

Military Control is impossible in HOI3 and it will probably stay that way. Your second idea is good, though.

- Change yes/no prompts so that the affirmative selection is on the left, rather than the right (as it is in every other software I can think of -- why HoI3 reverses this is beyond me, unless their intention is to make the game as counter-intuitive as possible).

It's really minor.

Balance the Chinese states/Japan in some way that Japan doesn't conquer the whole of China in six to twelve months anymore.

THIS!

Things that need to be fixed/improved:
- supplies and fuel shouldn't be sent indefinitely to overseas provinces; put a cap on it, preferably definable in defines.lua
- AI countries should use buying license option or PI should at least give us a way to easily activate that feature by modding
- OOB browser should be maximizable
- UK and JAP need to be able to recognise threat coming from overseas countries in order to guard their homeland provinces properly
- make the Allied objectives feature relevant - Italy should send troops to the Eastern Front ONLY if I ask it to do so
- allied/puppet provinces neighbouring player's Theatre shouldn't be automatically added to it - PI should allow us to add allied/puppet provinces AT WILL, including overseas and enemy ones

 

[JASGripen]

- Allow your supplies to traverse allied/puppeted provinces

Yeah, that's important. There is no reason why this shouldn't be possible. I consider it to be a bug.

Of course there are reasons for this. I really do not see this as much of a problem. If you got units in the territory of your allied then that country tax your supply and feed it into its own supply system.

One has to understand that supply is not tagged "Germany's, "Hungary’s” etc, it is just supply, supply travelling from the capital of the specific country (and IC provinces towards the capital) towards the provinces in the country (or occupied by the country) in which units are situated at the moment.

 

[Cybvep]

The point is that supply should be able to travel THROUGH that territory.

 

[unmerged(230810)]

Balance the Chinese states/Japan in some way that Japan doesn't conquer the whole of China in six to twelve months anymore.

Ah yes, I forgot that, and I just spent a day fiddling with the files trying to balance it! It's actually not that hard -- just give Shanxi, Nat. China and Comm. China more officers and higher national unit when Japan attacks. But yes, it should absolutely be fixed in the vanilla game. We shouldn't have to mod files just to get something this basic done -- it's important that Japan have difficulty in China. It's an essential element of WW2.

Such changes are not that important. HOI3 has bigger problems.

I disagree -- misspellings and grammatical errors are incredibly simple to fix (we're talking a couple days work for the right person) and releasing a professional product with sloppy grammar reeks of amateurism. It's what I expect from a sloppy mod, not a professionally made game.

It's a matter of pride -- is Paradox proud of their work? Then take the time to polish it. Blizzard's games aren't riddled with spelling errors.

Heck, Creative Assembly's games are far more polished. And we know that Paradox likes to look down their noses at CA.

It's really minor.

Again, have to disagree. Either 1) Paradox is intentionally making the game counter-intuitive (which is pretty much inconceivable) or 2) they're just being sloppy and messed up one of the most basic elements of a user interface. How do you spend years designing the game engine and then not realize that you have the yes/no prompts reversed from the standard order in every other piece of software on the market?

It's not minor, it's symptomatic -- Paradox pays very little attention to their user interface. Oh, I'm sure they test it all day, but they've been playing the game since inception so they're simply unable to see its failings (no fault of theirs; the human brain just works that way). They need to hire experts from outside the company to help them with these features.

 

[Cybvep]

Ah yes, I forgot that, and I just spent a day fiddling with the files trying to balance it! It's actually not that hard -- just give Shanxi, Nat. China and Comm. China more officers and higher national unit when Japan attacks

No chance. It's far, far more complex. This is one of the harder theatres to balance - even in mods there are difficulties. However, HOI3 Vanilla is just crappy.

I disagree -- misspellings and grammatical errors are incredibly simple to fix (we're talking a couple days work for the right person) and releasing a professional product with sloppy grammar reeks of amateurism. It's what I expect from a sloppy mod, not a professionally made game.

If those days can be spent on sth more important, like bugfixing or AI improvements, then I would choose them over gramma-polishing in all cases. Otherwise, they can go for it.

Again, have to disagree. Either 1) Paradox is intentionally making the game counter-intuitive (which is pretty much inconceivable) or 2) they're just being sloppy and messed up one of the most basic elements of a user interface. How do you spend years designing the game engine and then not realize that you have the yes/no prompts reversed from the standard order in every other piece of software on the market?

It's not minor, it's symptomatic -- Paradox pays very little attention to their user interface.

Just press ENTER or ESC and be done with it. HOI3 has enough problems on its own - let's not trash PI for every little mistake.

 

[jmschaub]

Surrender events need to be fixed.

 

[JASGripen]

The point is that supply should be able to travel THROUGH that territory.

Yeah, but as I said, supply do not have any tag, ownership of supply is determined of who owns the province. Sure one can imagine the coding being done, but that is beyond tweaking it is about rewriting the whole supply code.

Surrender events need to be fixed.

It has been rewritten the most of it:
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?483605-The-SF-Event-Mod-Cooperative

 

[unmerged(230810)]

If those days can be spent on sth more important, like bugfixing or AI improvements, then I would choose them over gramma-polishing in all cases. Otherwise, they can go for it.

It's not an either/or. Copy-editing and programming/play-balancing are entirely different skillsets. The point isn't that they don't have the time to do it, it's that they apparently don't care enough to do it.

Surrender events need to be fixed.

Yup, another good one. I just had a bungled Denmark surrender in vanilla 2.03c -- something you'd think would be polished a year and a half after release...

 

[juv95hrn]

Longer naval repair times

No convoys through blocked straits (Fixed?)

Fix OOS carrier battles

Malyan peninsula 60 Infra

Org regain while retreating/ org loss while moving/attacking

Prevent license build exploits in MP (Fx SOV buying all their high tech tanks from the UK during the entire campaign, wtf!)

Lower officer gain and cost to make it harder to get 200 officer ratio

Scale officer ration usefulness

Much more severe weather effects

 

[Marcus]

OP has my vote, welcome aboard!

 

[jmschaub]

Yeah, but as I said, supply do not have any tag, ownership of supply is determined of who owns the province. Sure one can imagine the coding being done, but that is beyond tweaking it is about rewriting the whole supply code.



It has been rewritten the most of it:
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?483605-The-SF-Event-Mod-Cooperative

I wasn't really referring to unofficial fixes

 

[jaxpac]

Some easy fixes to the interface are still in order. Off the top of my head:

1. The OOB viewer closes whenever you disband a unit, this shouldn't be.
2. A button to unasign all leaders and either re-organize manually or have the Ai re-organize
3. Fix the auto-production sliders so that we can specify to run a deficit or surplus in supplies while the AI is automanaging sliders


After several dozen games now my number one issue is (and will be probably until it is fixed):

More control over the orders we give to the AI

Such as:

1. order my planes/ships to rest when org reaches a certain percentage. This way you could do more "set it and forget it" type of missions where you won't lookback 10 minutes later and the unit is destroyed.

2. order that the commander of whatever mission I set provide updates to me in the form of popups at certain times. It shouldn't be difficult to find out if my bombing is effective or not. I should be able to say "report each month" and get an update of casualties, progress, damage done/taken, etc.

3. some type of order or toggle to put a theater (or army or fleet or whatever) into fuel conservation mode. Keep doing what you can, but no patrol missions, no air superiority, etc. Only use fuel when there is a good opportunity to attack the enemy.

4. A better way to have the Ai handle subs and ASW. In some games I would be fine dumping my destroyers for example into an ASW theater and have them do what they can to protect my shipping. Sometimes this would be preferable to setting up tons of individual missions.

5. There needs to be a better way to momentarily detatch a unit from it's command to issue it an overriding order and then revert back to AI control once the order is completed. Currently you have to detach, make the order, wait for the unit to move, then re-attach. This is too much. It would be so simple if you could just give a command to an AI controlled unit and it would know "ok, these are orders from the Fuhrer so we'll do them and then once completed revert back to our normal OOB for orders.

 

[Danmark Rising]

I'd really like to see an improved diplomacy section and improved playability of minor nations. Its completely odd that Germany declares war on Denmark no mater what their relationship is other than out right joining the axis.

Ability to make Naval and Air Force HQ's

 

[Slan]

Some of my thoughts that I can't fix on my own:

Fixes/Mechanic-changes

• Units could use their destination-province to trace supplies, while moving. Units should retreat into the province with the most supplies and least troops. Units should be able to continue attack even if not in supply.
• Nations should be able to trade with their allies.
• Nations should be able to dishonour their Guarantees. That should have consequences like decreased relations and/or increased threat.
• The AI shouldn't give un-deniable Exp. Forces. There should always be an option to turn them down, maybe even an option to turn them off. The AI shouldn't give Exp. Forces to puppets, but puppets should send Exp. Forces to their master!
• Nations shouldn't 'auto-join' factions. In all cases, that should be the result of an event/decision or a game action. The requirements for joining a faction should be met if at war with a faction that the target faction is also at war with. (Any member of the target faction!)
• Minister-changing in events should work properly. Also, the HoG and HoS should not be changed unless the engine is explicitly told to do that.
• During Elections, the engine should use a proper way to select who should be the HoG and HoS. (That is important, because those are not changeable!)
• Distribute resources to Core provinces instead of stored only in the Capital and captured all at once. (No need to actually store the resources, only to have them captured piece by piece, not all at once.)
• If possible, remove the 'supply center' idea. It serves no purpose at all. (Or rather sending excess supplies back there serves no purpose.)
• Changing the government type should only automatically change ministers that are changed in elections with the new government.

New Features
Minor

• Option to change Ideology (Ruling Party) through events.
• Option to un-puppet nations.
• Delegate the 'changeability' of ministers from the government_positions.txt to goverments.txt, so it can be different for every government type. (So certain types could be able to change the HoG.)

Major

• Make Leaders have four different skill levels: each used on a different level of responsibility. The Rank of the leader would be determined by the position he has.
• Every country should have three separate tags for it: a Fascistic, a Democratic and a Communist version. (Kinda like Germany already does now.) They would change tag when they change Ideology Group, but they should be able to coexist. A very nice enviroment for Civil Wars! (There could be some special exceptions. Mainly the Soviet Union. That should have no alternatives.)
• Option to give territory. Could use a similar interface like the peace negotiations in EU3 or something.
• Option for the AI to ask for Licenses! That would be awesome!
• Option for communication among the different Ministers!

 

[unmerged(230810)]

Distribute resources to Core provinces instead of stored only in the Capital and captured all at once. (No need to actually store the resources, only to have them captured piece by piece, not all at once.)

That's a good one -- and along that vein, why not have multiple supply centers per landmass? And ideally, the ability for the player to designate the supply centers and 'store up' supplies for a coming offensive...

 

[Cybvep]

1. The OOB viewer closes whenever you disband a unit, this shouldn't be.

+1!!!

It's minor, but extremely annoying.

5. There needs to be a better way to momentarily detatch a unit from it's command to issue it an overriding order and then revert back to AI control once the order is completed. Currently you have to detach, make the order, wait for the unit to move, then re-attach. This is too much. It would be so simple if you could just give a command to an AI controlled unit and it would know "ok, these are orders from the Fuhrer so we'll do them and then once completed revert back to our normal OOB for orders.

I agree wholeheartedly. It could be automatic - if you select the unit(s) and then give the order, then AI control would stop until the order is finished.

Units could use their destination-province to trace supplies, while moving. Units should retreat into the province with the most supplies and least troops. Units should be able to continue attack even if not in supply.

Wouldn't that mean that units would often have no supply when advancing into enemy territory and therefore they would get those -50% modifiers? It could be very exploitive against the AI. I agree with other points, though.

Nations should be able to trade with their allies.

??? Isn't it possible ATM? Or did you mean puppets trading within an alliance?

Nations should be able to dishonour their Guarantees. That should have consequences like decreased relations and/or increased threat.

+1. I have no idea why they have changed it in one of the patches.

Distribute resources to Core provinces instead of stored only in the Capital and captured all at once. (No need to actually store the resources, only to have them captured piece by piece, not all at once.)

I get your point - losing all resources when the capital is conquered is just stupid. However, IMO resources should be "stored" in IC-provinces only.

Make Leaders have four different skill levels: each used on a different level of responsibility. The Rank of the leader would be determined by the position he has.
Every country should have three separate tags for it: a Fascistic, a Democratic and a Communist version. (Kinda like Germany already does now.) They would change tag when they change Ideology Group, but they should be able to coexist. A very nice enviroment for Civil Wars! (There could be some special exceptions. Mainly the Soviet Union. That should have no alternatives.)
Option to give territory. Could use a similar interface like the peace negotiations in EU3 or something.
Option for the AI to ask for Licenses! That would be awesome!
Option for communication among the different Ministers!

This is expansion material IMO.

 

[unmerged(230810)]

Another that would really improve the game without too much work:

Add a few new traits (especially for naval and air commanders) -- I think some mods do this already. Just a couple of new ones would really spice up the game.