RTW v1.00.24 Beta...public testing request.

[williammiller]

We are pleased to release the latest RTW3 beta, v1.00.24 ; this beta includes the following feature(s):

This version has an improved interface and sequence for battle generation. The player will get a more detailed assessment of enemy forces and a possibility of rearranging his own force before deciding to accept or decline battle.
There will also be a role for admirals, as area commanders. Before battle, the commanding admiral will do a command check to determine the extent to which the force can be modified. On a very good roll, he may even be able to add a ship.
Note that the enemy gets a vote too. There is a corresponding check to see if the enemy can add a ship to his force.

Due to significant changes in the battle generator, we would very much appreciate it if as many of you who can/are willing give this beta a try, let us know how you like it, but especially if you note any issues/errors/etc.

Thanks!


To opt into the beta on Steam: You can switch to this beta by going to RTW3 in your Steam Library, right-clicking on it, choosing Properties -> Betas -> then choosing the latest beta branch from the drop-down list and allowing Steam to update your game. If it updates correctly, you should see the latest beta version listed as your version in-game on the bottom right.

[blarglol]

Wow, what a huge new feature to improve the decision-making aspects of the game! Is there a "recon value" of sorts that plays into this? Does higher intel give you a more accurate assessment? Or do more and faster cruisers per say translate to increased scouting capabilities, and thus more data available when making these decisions?

[williammiller]

Oct 4, 2023 22:14:51 GMT -6 blarglol said:

Wow, what a huge new feature to improve the decision-making aspects of the game! Is there a "recon value" of sorts that plays into this? Does higher intel give you a more accurate assessment? Or do more and faster cruisers per say translate to increased scouting capabilities, and thus more data available when making these decisions?

Better intel will generally give you more accurate assessments of enemy forces, yes.

[colprice]

Just downloaded the beta - so far only one minor "bug"
Playing A-H (now in the 1940's) war with Italy (no surprise).

At the "home" screen - displaying ships in service - many of the pop-up message boxes are behind the main screen. This requires the mouse to click on the taskbar icon to reveal the boxes. This happens more than in previous version.

[fred]

Hi,

Thumbs up from me.  No bugs noticed, it worked well, and I liked the extra information available before deciding to engage.

A question and a request.

Does the player have any control over the Admirals assigned to command a district, other than the choice to remove them is they fail?

I think a further useful enhancement would be to give the likely time and weather conditions of an engagement - you might prefer to avoid a low visibility fight, for example, or a carrier battle where it was unlikely that flying would be possible.

[kingjames]

Hi - I'm fairly new to RTW3 (but not to wargames - old fart with a backcopy of Phil Dunn's Sea Battle Games). I've downloaded Beta and am enjoying it so far. Will report back.

[blarglol]

Oct 5, 2023 7:24:06 GMT -6 williammiller said:

Oct 4, 2023 22:14:51 GMT -6 blarglol said:

Wow, what a huge new feature to improve the decision-making aspects of the game! Is there a "recon value" of sorts that plays into this? Does higher intel give you a more accurate assessment? Or do more and faster cruisers per say translate to increased scouting capabilities, and thus more data available when making these decisions?

Better intel will generally give you more accurate assessments of enemy forces, yes.

But not the type of ships in the AO (fast scout cruisers)? In other words, what are the factors that go into the assessments?

Also is this safe to use on existing save files? Or should I finish any 1.00.19 games first?

[williammiller]

Should be safe to use with existing save games, but you might want to make a copy of your save just in case...

[colprice]

Hi,
Just loaded up a saved scenario - playing A-H vs Italy. On loading an Italian CL was placed atop my BB - at 90 degrees. Previous save hadn't indicated the presence of a CL.

[williammiller]

Oct 9, 2023 5:04:53 GMT -6 colprice said:

Hi,
Just loaded up a saved scenario - playing A-H vs Italy. On loading an Italian CL was placed atop my BB - at 90 degrees. Previous save hadn't indicated the presence of a CL.

The changes should not affect a saved battle...if you can post a save game of the battle (the entire save game folder zipped up) here that would help us to see what might be going on.

[foxxoniusaugustus]

I have encountered a bug that has grown out of an annoyance in the officer system. When set to manual officer assignment, the game will prevent the turn advancing if there are sea tiles without an assigned admiral even if you have no possession in that sea tile or spare admirals to assign. There is a work around, you can tell the game to auto assign even if you have no one available but this is unintuitive and should not work like that anyway. I also hate when this happens to regular officers and commands. If there is a vacancy it should not grind the navy to a halt and it should not prevent the player from advancing time. Every single command position represented in the game would have a second in command that would fill the position until a permanent replacement could be assigned. This is even accounted for in the game already, at least for the admiral positions so that if no admiral is assigned then a local captial can show initiative.

A simple fix would be to allow the player to advance time even if they click the 'No' box when prompted to auto assign. An extra option should also be added to ignore the prompt in the future.

[11226p]

Oct 8, 2023 2:33:15 GMT -6 fred said:

Hi,

Thumbs up from me.  No bugs noticed, it worked well, and I liked the extra information available before deciding to engage.

A question and a request.

Does the player have any control over the Admirals assigned to command a district, other than the choice to remove them is they fail?

I think a further useful enhancement would be to give the likely time and weather conditions of an engagement - you might prefer to avoid a low visibility fight, for example, or a carrier battle where it was unlikely that flying would be possible.

Yeah, it would be good if local time, the time until sunrise and the weather conditions are shown on the pop-up window too. Because I'd rather not commit to major surface engagements at night etc.

[andrewm]

Oct 9, 2023 8:55:23 GMT -6 williammiller said:

Oct 9, 2023 5:04:53 GMT -6 colprice said:

Hi,
Just loaded up a saved scenario - playing A-H vs Italy. On loading an Italian CL was placed atop my BB - at 90 degrees. Previous save hadn't indicated the presence of a CL.

The changes should not affect a saved battle...if you can post a save game of the battle (the entire save game folder zipped up) here that would help us to see what might be going on.

I have had a similar bug several times with earlier versions , after loading a save game. I believe always one I had saved before playing any of the scenario some enemy forces have appeared at the same start coordinates as my ships. On one occassion a 6 inch shore battery in the middle of the Atlantic. If it happens again I will try to send you the zip file

[williammiller]

Thanks for the replies and suggestions!