Armoured Commander: WW2 Tank Commander Roguelike

[Incognito]

Thanks for responding!

Equipped with the knowledge you provided, the new counterattack mission really did seem more engaging and dynamic. A brilliant addition. My one question would be: Is there any incentive to "hold the line," or are we cowards off the hook?  That you can easily add in-battle missions is great to hear--I can't wait to see what you come up with. It'll be awesome to watch the Flak 18 fighting beside its big brother in the cruciform carriage Pak 43. Anyways, I eagerly look forward to the new patch. Thank you for your work! 

[Rev_Sudasana]

My one question would be: Is there any incentive to "hold the line," or are we cowards off the hook? 

Right now the only thing at stake is increased threat to your tank, but in the future I hope to change this. Re-positioning during a counterattack just means you're trying to better place yourself to help defend against the attackers. In some cases you might be urgently needed as reinforcements for allied forces operating nearby, who could use some firepower. Actually in the future I might add an extra level of detail so you can get a sense of our your allies are holding up across the line. That way the mission would be even more dynamic, as you have to fight a flexible defense across the line.

[Rev_Sudasana]

The official release version Beta 2.0 has now been uploaded here: http://www.armouredcommander.com/downloads.html

I've also updated the online manual to reflect changes in the newest version. Manual now located here: http://www.armouredcommander.com/blog/online-manual/

[Incognito]

When I get the chance I'd like to add a full AAR, but for now just a quick and rather vague bug report. My tank having been knocked out in the explosion-kills-all-occupants manner, I exited. To my puzzlement, I found the same campaign still resumable when I booted up AC later in the day. Hitting C to continue, I was greeted with the names of the now deceased crew who were each being given a purple-heart (with the "posthumously" tag, of course). Then, despite commander replacement being set to realistic, I received, well, a replacement commander.

Edit: Just to add that my replacement commander proceeded to receive the Distinguished Service Cross for "extraordinary heroism" despite not yet having engaged in combat. Lucky guy! 

Edit 2: Later, a message displayed spontaneously halfway through an encounter awarding me 2 VP for capturing a zone, despite enemy units still being in the vicinity. Subsequent encounters are terminating randomly and early, with VP awarded before I've destroyed all enemy units. These are not things I've encountered before, so this particular campaign might be in some way corrupted.

[Rev_Sudasana]

It must have had trouble erasing the saved game, which should happen when you finish a campaign. If you continue that game later on, all bets are off, since variables won't be reset properly at the end of that day.

[Incognito]

The diagnosis seems spot on: A re-install, for 2.03, and everything runs perfectly 

[Rev_Sudasana]

Great! The big mystery is why it was unable to erase the saved game. Might have to build in a pre-check for loading saved games in the future.

[Rev_Sudasana]

I'm finally doing a full playtghrough of the entire campaign, noting rough areas and making minor fixes as I go. Doing fairly well so far, got the Bronze Star!

[GalagaGalaxian]

As a minor suggestion, how about tracking the stuff destroyed by the player and friendlies separately on this screen? Also tracking tanks/SPGs separately from lighter, less dangerous vehicles.

[Rev_Sudasana]

Should be possible to add this in the next major update. It'll break saved game compatibility, so I'd rather save it for an update that will be doing that anyway.

Any thoughts on the new campaign calendar system?

[GalagaGalaxian]

How you've reduced it to 68  guaranteed combat days instead of months of random chance? I think I like it. It makes things a bit more predictable while the random chance of the daily map and random chance of battles keeps plenty of Roguelike Randomness. It also meant I finally managed to get into a counter-attack scenario.

The fixed calendar system might also make producing alternative campaigns/calendars easier. Still hoping for for Canada's Best and Panov's Best one day (though Panovs is probably a far off thing, given the modifications that would be required for the Eastern Front).

I also like the reduction in size of both the daily map and the map sectors. Given how brutal fights can be, less individual fights is not necessarily a bad thing. Most of my games rarely last until September and far too many end in the first 1-3 days. I mostly blame myself for that, I wonder if my playstyle is too passive/cautious, I often just hunker down and take opportunistic shots while cursing my 75mm AP's impotence rather than try using my movement options more to get myself side-shots on enemy armor.

It has been a while since I played ArmCom (last version in my folder before 2.3 was Alpha7rc2) and I'm really loving all the additions since then. Keep up the good work!

[Rev_Sudasana]

Yeah I think Canada's Best comes first, since there's not much new to be added. I think the next big addition is overhead views of the player tank, then more detail on friendly forces, and somewhere in there I can shuffle things around to make alternate campaigns possible. The basic infrastructure is already in place: info for the Patton's Best campaign is already loaded from a separate file, but there's a couple things that need to be changed to make it more flexible.

[monkie]

I can't keep up with your updates, you are moving so fast!

Great job though, you are pushing PB far beyond what the cardboard would have ever been able to achieve. So great to see such a niche title get so much attention.

[Rev_Sudasana]

Thanks! I'd like to think that the game has far outgrown what was in PB, but I guess it'll always be part of ArmCom's game DNA.

[Incognito]

Quick bug report: On a fresh install of b2.05, movement times displayed on the left side menu are consistent with the new standard (i.e. 30, 45, 60); however, the (y) or (n) dialog box  that appears when a move is selected still uses the old times, and indeed the time subtracted (from the time left in the day) is the old number not the new. The map shortening/move-time lengthening seems a good change, by the way .

I like the zoom-to-battle animation. It helps contextualize the interface you see next.

The overhead diagrams of the tanks are great. Is there a reason why the m4a3(75)W has a shorter gun than the plain m4a3 (and all other 75mm armed tanks for that matter)?
Gratuitous ask: (It would be great to have the m4a1(76)w, just for completeness , as many of the early Sherman 76's deployed were of that model)

Keep doing whatever you're doing - a great game keeps getting better