[Pete]

Thanks for the quick replies gents. Although we have briefly considered using LSA it would take too much time to change things.  LSA is the platform of choice for our next mod .
I remember using a tool once for determining deployment zones. Free Deploy is such a tool but it works only with CC3.  Is there nothing similar for CC5?
About the entry direction: how were the battles in the original game designed and why can we not use that method with mods? Why do Allied BG's [in this mod] sometimes choose an entry point in the north of a map while in regular CC5 this is (as far as I can remember) not the case?

[Buck_Compton]

Ok it has been a while since eigther Pete or I posted here to give you an update of whats happening. I'll try to give you guys a bit of an update what has happend in the last weeks.

Maps and Stratmap:
I Believe I introduced you guys with the new map I've made for the Gully Area. There is still some sort of discussion going on concerning some maps PT made. I've removed the gully on the eastern side of the Villa Grande map as it would be no place to fight. Pete also found out that certain maps, especially those in Ortona themselves, had somewhat weird los enabling player to shoot straight trough buildings. As some of you might remember in The battle of the Scheldt mod we had no doors and windows coded in the buildings. I've done the same for most of the buildings in Ortona leaving only the holes made by destruction in the coding.

Sounds:
Pete has also taken responsibillity for most of the ingame sounds. Amongst them he added a couple of new ones like a new Bren Gun, Mg42 and Mortar sounds. He is still looking for a good sound for the thompson. I've also changed the Music wich is to hear in the Command Screen. There is also a plan to have the first few seconds of the same music at the start of each battle in order to set the mood of the player. I'm not quite sure but the same was done in Stalingrad mod and that worked just fine imho.

Data and Gameplay:
Pete has been busy with fine tuning the data these last weeks of the summer. He has made the effect of handgrenades better and the mortar teams are more effective to suppress your opponent. Also the effect of the Piat has been upgraded. He also will try to update the FT in order to make it more effective as in combat is seems quite apathetic. Altough there are no sources telling there was intensive use of the FT but accoring to the To&e they would have been in the area. So we want to give the player the opputunity to use equipment available in the area. Pete has also redone a large portion of the BTD's manouvring around with VL's and the quantity of them in order to make the single player games more intenste. Wich seems to have worked just fine because I have been struggeling to with hold the german offensive's.

We are about to get in the phase of the of playtesting H2H after Pete has done the final touches and a load of Ops and 2 Campaigns for each side.

I guess thats it now. I've hoped to informed you guys. As for those who are interested to know we havn't set a release date yet but I probarbly wont need to use the term Years :)

Cheers Buck

[Tejszd]

Thanks Buck for taking the time to let us know what is happening.....

[pagskier]

I'm really looking to cross that damn gully and move up the church, as I'm thiking I'll have as much fun than crossing those polder areas!

[Pete]

Basically I am having trouble making decisions    I am reviewing the elements file because I was not happy with the damage done by artillery and other HE effects. So I have been experimenting with the column 'HE effect' and to my surprise found that changes there gave better results than altering weapon effectiveness. Right now though I have slightly overdone it. Other things that I have been looking into is the movement of vehicles that is seriously affected by differences between the speeds of the elements. I have noticed before that random coding of maps results in vehicles twisting and turning from one element to another , seemingly following a theoretically ideal path between the fastest elements . I am trying to divide them into categories and give each gategory identical speeds.
The past 2 months I have spent reading more Canadian after action reports to get a better understanding of the progress of the battle. I found a report with Canadian maps attached that I wish I had seen a year ago because it makes a number of things a lot clearer. However, it is frustrating knowing where a certain company of a Canadian regiment was engaged but not knowing against which German unit. Most of the times the Germans are referred to only as 'panzergrenadiers' or 'paratroopers' and that is very little information to go by. Which is why I am not really bothered about it any longer.
I promise that your patience will be rewarded.

[Tejszd]

Thanks Pete!

[Pete]

Today the stratmap received its final shape and now counts 41 maps. One map that was previously deleted has been moved to a different location where it fits nicely even though it was not meant to represent that area.
Next weekend we will start h2h playtesting.

cheers,

Pete

[Tejszd]

Thanks for the update Pete!!!

[kweniston]

Looking forward to Ortona. Can I ask what CC the mod is for, I can't seem to find this. CC5, TLD? Thanks.

[Pete]

It's for CC5. If you don't own a copy already you should get one  

[kweniston]

[Pete]

Tonight we played several battles h2h and all works well. The sides are well balanced and the battles are a challenge for both sides.
So far no ctd's have been experienced.
We fix little errors when we encounter them. On the whole it is playable. But the remaining 5% still requires some time. We will continue to test h2h, moving on to Operations.

[tripwire]

Outstanding!!!  Thanks for the update, Pete.

[Tejszd]

Thanks for the update Pete, looking forward to the mod....

[Buck_Compton]

First off all we'd like to wish you guys all the best for 2012!

It has been quiet for some time concerning updates in the last few weeks. None the less we have been quite busy for the last few days:

Pete has been busy on fine tuning the data mainly the forcepools. He also has been busy trying to find sources on German dispositions during the battle in and around Ortona but it seem to be a rather tough job to find any decent info on that matter!

I have been working together with Pete on a couple of height maps of La Tore, San Leonardo, strada adriatica, Casa Berardi, Sterlin Castle and cider crossroads. I've also checked all the graphs concerned with the battle-groups and updated a couple of them. I've also been doing something about the tune you get to hear upon entering the actual battle. Something quite nice if I may add.

Cheers,

Buck

[Pete]

That's right, this ordeal is nearly over. After the next graphics update it will be a matter of updating the ops and gc. Last month I spent a lot of time filling in the forcepools, especially the Allies. However, today I came across an issue that is new to me. It seems that CC5 automatically reduces some forcepool quantities at the start of a battle or OP (full supply enabled) so that the quantities that I had wanted to start the OP or GC with are not available. This reduction does not occur regularly so I am in the dark as to what to expect and when. Can anyone shed some light on what may cause this?

[pagskier]

Nice to hear!!

[Tejszd]

Hey Pete,

I believe CC5 uses 2/3 of the FP quantity for the BG, date and difficulty that an Operation or Campaign starts on. Single battles use the full FP for the BG, date and difficulty the battle starts on.

In the re-releases TLD/WAR, LSA probably too but points also be a limiting factor, it was changed to;

Campaign = full team quantities from the FP file for that date/difficulty.
Operation = 2/3 of the above quantity.
Battle = 1/3 of the above quantity.

[Buck_Compton]

Ok a couple of weeks have gone by again:

Pete Has been working on the forcepools trying to fine tune the last details. An Allied BG only has enough experienced troops to fill the first 15 slots. All other will be replaced with green troops.

I have repaired a couple of maps which had element or image issues.

We have this weekend played some h2h games which got us to conclude that there are some minor issues to be solved in the LOS it is sometimes possible for a tank to shoot another tank whilst the opposing tank is unable to do the same. Other than that it's going great. The battle's are very very intense.

CHeers Buck

[ste]

Hi guys!!

when his mod are ready?

je n'en peux plus d'attendre, ça sera un super mod d'autant que cette partie du front en 1944 n'a pas été encore abordé par CC5!!

bon boulot pete (d'ailleur es tu italien?)