Seven Years War: Releases End of October

[bbmike]

I don't know. He puts so much effort into it I'm starting to feel guilty for not playing it.  :-[

[Swatter]

It's understandable, games of this scope are not usually made by one guy and he is trying to improve it. I don't think the economic part of the game is broken or anything, its just that the user interface is woefully inadequate. The player really needs a lot more feedback in order to understand what is happening. Otherwise the economic game becomes pointless because you don't understand what is going on anyway.

[Philippe]

I love what he's trying to do.

I especially liked the concept of his siege routine.

But the game doesn't seem ready for prime time at the moment.

I never thought I'd say this, but the UI gets in the way of figuring out what's going on as well as giving orders.

I hope it improves over time.

The game is in serious need of an overhaul, and it's not something that a few patches can fix.

[keppelmueller]

thanks folks for your feedback! would you think an additional economy report would close the gap? e. g.: what is exported/imported by each province and the whole nation, what are possible problems (supply of pre goods etc),...

if yes, what would you like to see as additional info?

[Asid]

Update 1.109
17 JUNE - KEPPELMUELLER

Game enhancements:
- implemented zoom mode for campaign mode
- added optional historical features (historical units, artillery ammo and formations only)
- added additional 18th century background music for campaign
- city overview implemented in statistics bar on top of campaign page; army and fleet statistics now combined in the right army & fleet statistics button
- Added UI enhancements access via tooltip (top right "i"): information about city macro economic troubles, information about supply shortages
- detailed trade reports for each province and the whole nation -> can be accessed via the goods overview menu
- new research functionality: the more nations a tech have researched, the faster it goes for the remaining nations
- information about new construction possibilities for sieges shown in the side information (hammer)
- added F-key support for statistics menus in campaign mode

Balancing:
- Research speed increased
- improved AI forming of battle lines in micro combat to reduce overlapping when firing
- enemy cavalry units now not attack headless the enemy lines but wait for opportunities or flank movements
- improved retreat paths to avoid retreating through enemy lines
- improvement of fatigue influences
- improved economy progression model for later scenarios
- corruption now depending on the city size -> larger cities have more base corruption
- increased negative effect of unemployment
- reduced available supplies for defending towns
- improved diplomatic tech trading
- balanced garrison and defense building settings
- reduced fort damage during sieges
- rebalanced naval battle damages
- improved scroll (decrease) speed in campaign map so that time for scroll-finishing is reduced

Others:
- now distinguishing between conquering and occupying provinces in the campaign goals (depending on the scenario length)
- units do not rally if suffering more than 50% casualties (automatic or manual rally)
- increased update cycle of melees
- reduced melee scattering to prevent better front lines
- improved corruption information
- empty fleets are now returning to harbor automatically and have to stay there or be disbanded
- building upgrades: level 2 farm now not requiring 1 artillery any more
- setting Russia as ally of Saxony in the 1756 campaign
- next/previous town buttons now "loop"
- normal size cursor in battle preview screen
- fixed several typos in English version
- in battle start screen (campaign battle), OK button is enabled after loading (similar to battle results) so accidentally clicking somewhere will not take you to battlefield
- sieges: weapon symbol next to unit symbol in hierarchy menu now indicates it is placed in a trench

Bugs fixed:
- ships that go back to harbor are automatically getting new crews
- fixed: sieges of towns near the sea start if fleet is moved close to the enemy town, although division is still on board
- fixed: battles start if enemy divisions are on the coast and a fleet with carrying divisions is moved close by
- officer recruiting and recruits growth now work properly
- fixed: when loading a game or fighting a battle, sometimes the units taking part in sieges are forgotten (and moved out of trenches)
- fixed time cycles at the start of a new game (not updating charts, not updating sieges)
- fixed: unit stopping in range of enemy town starts a siege still sometimes
- fixed: sometimes if battles happen during sieges, player loses control of the defending units in siege
- fixed: AI divisions not engaging in combat sometimes
- fixed: sometimes border colours are not updated promptly
- fixed: order buttons (double time, advance, fall back) sometimes remain looking like they were pressed down after use
- fixed: death animations are slow on normal speed: the animation frames are shown a few seconds each
- fixed: build industry menu: clicking industry, if something under it, it's selected instead
- fixed: when saving a game, Pressing "P" when writing the name of the save, functions as PAUSE
- fixed: when a unit is selected in campaign and player RMC left side info icon (to make it go away) instead a movement order is given to the unit.
- fixed: battle ground textures near buildings are sometimes drawn in the air
- native firewater actions now have the shown amount as relations effect
- fixed: 25 OCT 1760 - a message about Hannover (crown icon) appears, but it has no text.

[Asid]

Update 1.220
25 JULY   - KEPPELMUELLER

Update 1.220 balancing updates & fixing smaller issues:

- added information in the terrain info: if unit has advantage from barricades
- added information in the terrain info: terrain elevation
- added information about coming DLC features
- fixed: if player constructs buildings the jobless rate rises instead of falling
- correcting wrong experience effect on loading speed (only to be seen in
- rebalanced fog of war distances & terrain influences

[Freyland]

It's only $13.99 at Green Man Gaming during their VIP sale. Maybe another 24 hours?

[Asid]

Announcing: The Battle Pack DLC
28 JULY - KEPPELMUELLER
Heading for release in September 2016:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/485840/?snr=1_5_1100__1100



The Seven Years War (1756-1763) Battle Pack
- 6 Additional historic battles
- Build your own custom battles
- Weather effects with influence on the troops' conditions
- Order your commanders to take initiative on the battlefield
- New unit: horse artillery
- Additional unit statistics during and at the end of battles
- New quick attack and retreat orders
- Polished battle goals

Based on the community votes, the new historic battles include:
- Abraham Plains (1757)
- Sainte Foy (1760)
- Zorndorf (1758)
- Carillon (1758)
- Prague (1757)
- Lovositz (1756)

[Asid]

Update 1.224 released
Community Announcements - keppelmueller

Balancing
- increased battle time scale
- added higher speed for cavalry when in fastmarch
- adjusted artillery unit speed
- renewed melee actions (better sticking, more updates)
- readjusted melee casualties when fatigue is high
- AI retreating units do not start barricade building if on retreat
- increased aggressiveness of AI cavalry
- improved AI wheeling to concentrate more on one target
- improved fallback of skirmishers
- increased speed of land traders
- land traders now return immediately to their hometown if no cargo was loaded for way back
- automatic trigger of historic AI events
- improved financial behavior of AI to prevent bancruptcy of AI

Others:
- improved FPS in battles
- increased RMC sensitivity in battles to trigger better fastmarch orders and exact attack orders
- added additional campaign battle tooltips (english version)
- greater distances for single regiment movements to allow better wheeling
- garrisons in occupied provinces are now dispersed

Bugs:
- fixed sometimes flickering campaign map (green, white, red)
- fixed: campaign fog of war: if an alliance is cancelled by player, the fog of war does not return to cover ex-ally lands
- town fires now fit to terrain level
- fixed huge mountain in baltics map
- unit states and routes from former (historical) battles fixed
- fixed: when buying/selling provinces via diplomacy, they are not fully given, but only half and need to be annexed via town menu
- fixed: if player has units inside another country and cancels alliance, the wayrights automatically are lost, but the units in foreign lands remain and cannot be moved (no wayrights).

[Father Ted]

I really, really must play this properly.  I'm one who admired kepplemueller's efforts from pretty early on and have the game bought and installed.  To my shame, all I've done with it so far is try out a single battle - which I'd summarise as a groggy TW affair* - so now I feel I should launch into the full game.

*a good thing, in my book

[sandman2575]

Has *anyone* managed to get a handle on the main campaign?  I'm am completely befuddled by this game, to a degree that few games have ever confused me (probably Ageod's first WW1 La Grande Guerre game comes closest on the sheer confusion scale -- and yet I eventually made headway even there -- with Seven Years' War, I'm just baffled).

My main problem is that I have no idea what to prioritize when I start a campaign. No idea what's crucial to do, and what's of secondary importance. None. The economic system is very detailed (good!) but gives almost no hint of how its many intricate components mesh together (bad!). Production chains are completely mysterious. What should I be building? Why?

If anyone has figured out a way into this labyrinth, I'd love to hear it. I have no doubt there's a real gem buried in here somewhere. But I increasingly despair of ever being able to get access to it...

[Hofstadter]

Has *anyone* managed to get a handle on the main campaign?  I'm am completely befuddled by this game, to a degree that few games have ever confused me (probably Ageod's first WW1 La Grande Guerre game comes closest on the sheer confusion scale -- and yet I eventually made headway even there -- with Seven Years' War, I'm just baffled).

My main problem is that I have no idea what to prioritize when I start a campaign. No idea what's crucial to do, and what's of secondary importance. None. The economic system is very detailed (good!) but gives almost no hint of how its many intricate components mesh together (bad!). Production chains are completely mysterious. What should I be building? Why?

If anyone has figured out a way into this labyrinth, I'd love to hear it. I have no doubt there's a real gem buried in here somewhere. But I increasingly despair of ever being able to get access to it...

This is a beat guess, but what I would do first is to figure out what is selling at what price. You can see your companies selling their goods at the specified price, and the world market price at the bottom, if the company selling price is higher than the market value, its not going to sell. I usually sell the good at two notches below market.

Then youd want to see if you can build anything, do you have flour nearby do make bread, do you have ore deposits. Then you want to want to pretend you know what you actually did, then cry for 20 minutes because you think youre a dumb tool

[panzerde]

This is a beat guess, but what I would do first is to figure out what is selling at what price. You can see your companies selling their goods at the specified price, and the world market price at the bottom, if the company selling price is higher than the market value, its not going to sell. I usually sell the good at two notches below market.

Then youd want to see if you can build anything, do you have flour nearby do make bread, do you have ore deposits. Then you want to want to pretend you know what you actually did, then cry for 20 minutes because you think youre a dumb tool

This is sadly why I know that this game is not for me. Dealing with complex economic simulations is just far too much like work for me. It bums me out because I'm really interested in this period, but I know I would just bounce right off of this.


That's not a criticism of the game, that's a realization on my part of what I like and don't like to play. All credit to the developer, who has clearly poured his heart and soul into this one.

[RyanE]

Can you just fight the battles without the economics or campaign?  I would just like a tactical game from the era.  I am deciding between this and Pike & Shot.

[Grim.Reaper]

Can you just fight the battles without the economics or campaign?  I would just like a tactical game from the era.  I am deciding between this and Pike & Shot.

Comes with (6) Historical battles....Kolin, Rossbach, Leuthen, Minden, Kunersdorf and Torgau

Also this upcoming DLC will add more historical battles and custom battles......

Heading for release in September 2016:

The Seven Years War (1756-1763) Battle Pack

- 6 Additional historic battles
- Build your own custom battles
- Weather effects with influence on the troops' conditions
- Order your commanders to take initiative on the battlefield
- New unit: horse artillery
- Additional unit statistics during and at the end of battles
- New quick attack and retreat orders
- Polished battle goals

Based on the community votes, the new historic battles include:

- Abraham Plains (1757)
- Sainte Foy (1760)
- Zorndorf (1758)
- Carillon (1758)
- Prague (1757)
- Lovositz (1756)