Seven Years War: Releases End of October

[keppelmueller]

Hi bobarossa,
The game is also available at greenmangaming, bundlestars and indiegala. Have not a setup at gog yet. But nevertheless it is DRM free so you need not to run steam for it. But as I update the game nearly every week it is the best way to keep updated!

[Asid]

Update to version 1.104(2)
2 April

Game enhancements:
- native clans now "spend" fireweapons and horses if they attack enemy trains (1.1034)
- added native range if a clan is selected (1.1036)
- reduced information about enemy units in battle if fog of war is active (1.104)

Game balance:
- increased necessary relations for native alliances (1.1036)
- increased damage for naval battles (1.104)
- reduced influence of distance on the goods pickup by merchants to support pickup of low cost products along a larger distance (1.104)
- AI now does not cancel player's trade agreements unless war erupts (1.1041)
- reduced influence of educational buildings on research (1.1041)
- reduced cost/earnings of technology trades (1.1041)

Fixed bugs:
- fixed crashes related to choosing empty forts (1.1031)
- fixed crashes related to multiple start of battles or campaigns in one session (1.1031)
- fixed overlay in campaigns after starting second campaign in same session (1.1031)
- fixed units with no platform which led to hardly attackable enemy units after first campaign battle (1.1031)
- fixed non intentional start of a siege if a unit ends its final waypoint near the city but reaches interim waypoint (1.1031)
- fixed native ally ranking (1.1033)
- fixed traders not delivering fireweapons and horses to natives (1.1033)
- fixed enemy regiments not attackable if they have not moved since the start of the battle (1.1034)
- allied divisions in range can now participate in battles (1.1034)
- improved line of fire in battles (1.1034)
- game gui is now visible if autosave was reloaded which was saved when a menu was open (1.1037)
- fixed starting position of French 9th Division in North America, starting in British terrain in "On the eve of war" scenario (1.1038)
- fixed crash when deleting a division while fort overview is open (1.1039)
- fixed not recognized forts for unit transfers if buildings were earlier deleted (1.1039)

Layout:
- maximum game resolution is now limited by the desktop resolution (max 1920x1080), this led to larger menus (1.1032)

Others:
- implemented ok button to quit final battle statistics of campaign battles to prevent quitting due to accidental clicks (1.1031)
- keyboard scrolls in campaign now also possible if armies and fleets are selected (1.104)
- rivers are now (very slowly) passable (1.1041)
- updated manual to 1.104 (more details on natives)

[Asid]

Update to version 1.105(3)
17 April

Game enhancements:
- added new mountain models for campaign mode
- added fallback of skirmishers

Fixed bugs:
- fixed crashes related to high casualty animations in battles
- fixed disappearing unit sprites in battles
- units search their retreat path better now, preventing rush into enemy units
- improved aiming at enemy units in battles, sometimes enemies in range could not be fired at
- fixed cavalry units moving constantly with uncoordinated orders on
- advance/fallback orders now stop barricade building
- ammo range is now used correctly depending on the chosen ammunition type
- fixed freezing of dying sprites
- Louisbourg loam resource has been replaced to gain access
- fleets now move back to resupply correctly

Balance:
- improvement of performance of battles
- rebalanced uncoordinated orders for sudden artillery morale drop if enemy advances
- reduced experience growth in battles by approx. 30%
- barricade building is now stopped if unit is under musket fire or in melee
- increased losses of artillery units in close combat
- formations cannot be changed if unit is in close combat
- increased realism of square formations: forming squares take more time, if cavalry reaches before finished -> square is broken up, cavalry retreats automatically if hitting a square
- reduced native village growth
- reduced starting quantities of products depending on the city size

Others:
- melee unit scattering is reduced
- improved regimental unit selection -> move mouse over flag to watch mouseover-information, click on each sprite and flag to select
- both first divisions (own and enemy) now reach the battlefield at the same time, no waiting for the own troops or opponent
- if clicked on a news entry, mentioned units are now selected
- barricade building can now be stopped by pressing the barricade button again
- AI uses skirmish and column formation more often
- when war is declared victory points are starting with -15 to prevent immediate peace negotiations
- increased population contrast of the bigger nations to the smaller ones for more historical accuracy
- armies of Austria, France and Russia have been increased at the start of a new campaign
- experience of Prussian units has been increased at the start of a new campaign
- added minimum levels for diplomatic actions (technology transfer)
- AI behavior of natives is used more against the player

Layout:
- replaced shrapnel and bullet animation in battles
- reduced casualty sprites in battles
- reduced size of battle provincial buildings

[Asid]

Update 1.106 - MAJOR BATTLE IMPROVEMENTS
24 April

Game enhancements:
- adopted new fatigue balancing system

    added fatigue for different terrains
    standard formations now cost only 10% fatigue
    marching column reduces fatigue
    building barricades increases fatigue
    increased fatigue effects when running
    implemented fatigue for close combat and firing
    if fatigue is high then melee casualties are also higher
    high fatigue now leads to loss of morale

Fixed bugs:
- fleets attacking trading fleets got stuck in a "naval battle" and could not disengage
- conquered trading fleets were reappearing but were invisible
- recruiting mercenaries from neighbouring provinces caused too high negative relations
- attaching regiments to mother regiment now works
- fixed wrong sprite appearance after cannons are captured
- removed duplicated regiments in hierarchy which were detached earlier
- fixed crash related to detached regiments after battle ends
- unit marks now move when attacking enemy regiments (targets, waypoint destinations)
- improved regiment to object facing (barricades, captured cannons)
- artillery targets could not be set manually
- sensitivity and numbers of close combat information windows improved
- barricade building timer was shown on top of GUI

Balance:
- naval combat experience gain reduced and limited
- new morale balance in general, heavy salves lead to high morale loss, small casualties from the distance have low effect
- removed AI fastmarch for artillery
- improved retreat behavior due to routs
- melee now stops regiments movements to prevent better combat lines, fallback orders units in melee to retreat

Others:
- improved click sensitivity on enemy units
- when ordering a new target for close combat action a sabre sound is played
- repressing the barricade button stops barricade building or renews building if nearby
- brigade and division flags now change size with the zoom mode

[Asid]

Update 1.107 released
30 April

Game enhancements:
- implemented automanage tax-option in city menu (lmc for single management, rmc for all of your cities)
- added drum signals for brigade and division movements (if infantry regiments attached)

Balancing:
- general improvements of FPS in battles
- improved unit selections (now switching when units are overlapping) and attacking (stick to target)
- improved routing and retreat behavior of units

Fixed Bugs:
- solved issues with detaching/attaching regiments (brigade selections and crashes at the end of battles)
- new mountain models disappeared after seasonal change or battles
- fixed fallback order moving into wrong directions
- fixed stuck regiments in battles
- fixed non producing (AI) companies at campaign start

Others:
- allies now automatically have and grant wayrights
- the speed of autorally now depends on the unit experience

[Asid]

Update 1.108
16 May - keppelmueller

Balancing:
- improved AI switching from line to skirmish formation
- forming squares and unlimber/limber delays now go slower
- melee adjusted for better lethality (except artillery reduced a bit)
- routing and morale gain readjusted to make units flee for longer time
- reduced demand of cities with higher population
- readjusted population of nations for better balancing
- better working economy progression when starting later campaigns
- improved waypoint accuracy (e.g. reduced stuck armies near foreign borders)
- capped diplomatic relationship with 100 when earning points through ally meeting points
- increased diplomatic cost for subsidy payments
- diplomatic costs of claming non occupied provinces increased
- diplomatic costs and minimum requirements adjusted (alliances, wayrights)

Bug fixings:
- regimental flags are now centered properly for all unit formations
- fixed influence of fatigue errors in different game speeds
- regiments may now not shoot through own units in front, but may shoot over if terrain behind is slightly higher or artillery shots on high distance due to higher fire angle
- fixed bug where units sometimes moved off from their given waypoints and sometimes crossed impassable terrain
- removed footprints of embarked troops in the embarking region (sometimes enemy divisions could engage there already embarked troops)

Others:
- sea terrain may now not be moved on, new terrain coast added
- routed units may now not be given orders or moved (buttons greyed out)
- added historical event of Prussian invasion of Saxony 1756 for Austria and Russia for more historical accuracy

Note: huge download volume (~1 GB) due to redrawing of battlefield skins to add coast terrain.

[Philippe]

To ask the $64,000 question, is this game worth buying in its current state, or should I wait another year?

Does the economic game work ?

Does the strategic game work?

Does the tactical game work?

How well does the tactical game mesh with the strategic game?

I don't care so much if the graphics aren't what Creative Labs would produce as long as the game delivers a convincing mid-eighteenth century experience.

Content over eye candy.

So how's the content shaping up?

(And I find it a little scary that this game has a frighteningly small team developing it, but then the team behind DC:Barbarossa isn't that much bigger).

[Pete Dero]

Small sale (-15%) on Steam for the next week.

[sandman2575]

Even at the non-sale price of $20 Seven Years War was very reasonably priced -- (and, hard to resist saying -- were it a Matrix/Slitherine product it would likely be priced at twice that).

At $17 it's pretty much a no-risk proposition for anyone interested. Philippe, why not give it a try and decide for yourself?

[Grim.Reaper]

Even at the non-sale price of $20 Seven Years War was very reasonably priced -- (and, hard to resist saying -- were it a Matrix/Slitherine product it would likely be priced at twice that).

At $17 it's pretty much a no-risk proposition for anyone interested. Philippe, why not give it a try and decide for yourself?

Plus, Steam allows refunds so very little risk to try....

[Hofstadter]

The economics are ok. But it's really hard to feel any affect due to its complexity. Half the time your income just feels random.

Strategically it works very well. Due to no turns it feels much more dynamic with how you move your armies. But the supply system is a bit to be desired since you can only set priorities and not directly control supply wagons. And the diplomacy is a bit confusing, I almost never use it.

Tactically I think it's superb since its really easy to lose focus on certain fronts of the battle. Since its so big it really feels like you're fighting on multiple fronts

[sandman2575]

I really want to make a concerted effort to learn this game. I'm incredibly impressed by Keppelmuller's constant updating and improvement of this game, and his responsiveness to player suggestions / criticisms.

Have to admit I haven't really touched Seven Years War since the early days of its release. My sense then was that it was a very deep and complex -- but also opaque as to how certain mechanics worked, especially economy -- and this complexity was not helped by a fiddly and hard-to-read (with *tiny* buttons!) UI. Very possibly many of these problems have been corrected through updates -- at least, that's my hope if I'm going to devote serious time to learning it.

Seems quite apparent that K. has poured his heart and soul into creating this game -- and hard to imagine just how much time and work have gone into producing it. All this just to say that I want to support him in that effort by actually giving his creation the time it deserves. Just not sure how much positive feedback he has gotten and sure seems like he deserves some recognition and applause.   

Bravo, Keppelmuller!
O0

[Swatter]

Here is an except from an unfinished review I have written:

"Without a doubt this game is a curious creation, it's a labor of love and bears all the hallmarks of such games. Its highly detailed, but rough around the edges. In this case, though, its rough around more than just the edges. I found myself wanting to enjoy it, but simply unable to. It has some really good points and credit is due in those places. Yet, its bad points are far more numerous and damning."

This has been a tough review to write because I have so many bad things to say and the developer poured his heart and soul into its development. To sum it up simply, the game very poorly interacts with the player. The economic part of the game is detailed, but highly flawed for a couple of reasons. The first is that there are a lot of things going on and the player is simply left to guess what is happening. There are too many pieces of data that are not labeled and you are left to deduce what it happening by the look of the icon over the stat. There are no useful tool tips in the game and the directions are not nearly detailed enough. Second, you can muddle your way through it and your economy won't collapse because you can borrow money and the duration of the game is short. This makes the entire system almost pointless.

I am also extremely unhappy with how the player interacts with his forces and assigns leaders. The user interface simply is not up to the task and is woefully inadequate in certain areas. Just attempting to click on map objects can be a pain. You can assign leaders down to individual regiments, yet the interface will do you no favors and it will battle you at every step.

When you finally make it to the ground battles, you will be rewarded with a tactical battle that grognards will appreciate. It reminds me of Sid Meir's Gettysburg. This is where the game shines, but unfortunately it is not enough to overlook the other fabulous flaws in the game. This game was clearly inspired by Empire Total War, but with the idea of adding a more realistic representation of battle. Yet, when the developer attempted to add a Victoria like economic system to the mix, he failed. He no doubt spend countless hours getting the economic system to work, but that time would have been better spent implementing something much simpler and focusing on making the user interface experience smoother.

At the end of the day, I think most people's game collection is too extensive to justify putting up with the game's faults. There are simply too many games out there with solid designs and efficient user interfaces to justify spending much time with SYW. Unless your obsessed with the Sever Years War as a historical topic, I doubt many people will get much mileage from this game.

Writing a review has been a tough process for me, I am thinking of doing it on YouTube with a written summary.

[sandman2575]

Swatter, are you at all encouraged by the direction of all the patching and updating? That is, do you think K's changes are tackling some of the bigger issues you describe?

[Swatter]

I just checked on the game and I noticed he put more "tool tips" in there. The tool tips need to be more organic and on everything still. There is progress on that front, though.

At the same time, I still really don't understand what is going on as far as economics. There is too much going and not enough feedback. The game has what in essence are "factories" and I don't understand how they really work. Due to the fact that you have different levels of the economy (local, regional, and national) and you have traders physically traversing trade routes, it is very hard to gauge what your actions are actually doing. It is far too complicated without a much better way of informing the players what is going on. Plus your income levels fluctuate wildly and most times I have no idea which way is up.