North & South: American Civil War 2.0 New Maps, New Units, Bug Fixes, and MORE!!!!

[ecompany]

Absolutely beautiful!

[Gen. Ulysses S. Grant]

Absolutely beautiful!

Agreed

[Slyk]

Jeez, relax brother. When it's done it's done. Most of us are just as excited for the release, but cut him some slack. He's pretty much alone on this one.

If I wasn't such a moron when it comes to computer stuff I'd help him in a heartbeat.

I'm sure we'll all enjoy the final product when it's completed, and not a minute sooner.

Thank you! I understand the frustration with only so much info at the moment and I do realize this and do want to get more media stuff done. However, every hour spent on hyping this an hour less working on it. I keep trying to update the first post once a week with progress. In addition, I will add this:

- Maps: progressing. See the first page, initial post for updated lists and status.
- Units: the 'Historical database' of units for those battles is now...... 3,500. Exactly. That is a ton of units to manage. That will enable support for the original scenarios plus: Seven Days (5 maps), Cedar Mountain, Second Manassas, Champion Hill, Perryville and the new maps for South Mountain (coming from the Antietam units). SOooooooo.... that's Gettysburg (4), Antietam (3), Shiloh, Chickamauga, First Manassas, and Stones River. That is 21+ Historical Scenarios.
- Scenarios: Update here... my only assistant is making headway on creating coded battles like "Napoleons Battles" from the standard game. If he can do what we think is possible, you will be looking at Single-player campaigns for "Campaigns of the Confederacy" and "Campaigns of the Union". These will cross all the major campaigns of the war and "could" be expanded into more.
- Other stuff: LOTS. I will reveal far more as we make progress. Some tidbits include: UI upgrades, tutorials, added fire modes for artillery/more diverse loads and far more.

So, please be patient, find me LUA coders and artists and XML code junkies that want to build battle XML for scenarios. ANY help makes this move faster.

Thanks to all for your interest!!!!

[Slyk]

Some development screenshots: Various stuff that I take while mapping or play testing.... most of these are from "Wilson's Creek" and the "Cedar Creek" maps. More coming soon.

[ztrain909]

Slyk,

Do you have any intention or have you thought of increasing the time limit's on the historical battles? Say, increasing it from 90min to 180 min?

I only ask because most people play this mod, or any other TW game, as just that, a video game. They play it very quickly, running troops everywhere at all times. So the 90 min time limit has very little affect on them.

However, there is a VERY SMALL group of us who try and play these battles in a little more historically accurate way(no running of inf, no moving units thru other units, etc). The additional time would help to facilitate a nice battle for us.

It's not necessary for the expansion of time, but just a question.

Thanks for doing this project , btw.

[Slyk]

Ztrain: Thanks for that idea. When I first did the scenarios, the time was an issue we looked at from both short and longer duration. I went with 90 minutes because we figured that due to the memory leaks and other quirks of the NTW engine, getting even to 90 was an accomplishment. Normally I would tell you to just change the scripts and issue variations, but that's not good. So...

I really like that you mentioned this concept because the guys that help with this and that I play with always talk about being able to force a more tactical and time/space oriented game play vs the rush and melee model. Some of that is mitigated with rules table changes. But, overall, yes, we can set longer battle times. If you want and think you can run for 180 minutes, then I'm cool with giving you that.

Concept: How about battle timings from 90 to 180 based on the number of overall units? If I do some smaller battles with 20-30 per side, you don't need more than 90, generally. You tell me what you and your guys think and I'll work out a plan that makes you happiest. We seldom play the scenarios unless it's smaller ones. And for scenario testing later this Spring, would you be interested in doing that for me?

Thanks!

[Slyk]

Another set of development and play test screenshots. Also, your current, as of today, map list....

I'll be posting the colour_map_0 images from the new maps soon and maybe the 'overhead' tactical maps as well for each new battlefield.

[ztrain909]

because the guys that help with this and that I play with always talk about being able to force a more tactical and time/space oriented game play vs the rush and melee model.!

I have to admit I'm shocked. I didn't realize there was anyone else who didn't want to play a TW game the " run n gun " way.

Concept: How about battle timings from 90 to 180 based on the number of overall units? If I do some smaller battles with 20-30 per side, you don't need more than 90, generally. You tell me what you and your guys think and I'll work out a plan that makes you happiest.!

My way of looking at this is the " run n gun/mad rush melee types" are going to play that way no matter what the amount of time on the clock is. If the time is expanded originally, it only saves those few of us that wish to have a slower type battle from having to manually change the time with Pack File Manager. So, it's up to you brother. Your the one doing the work, and it's your project. I'm only here to enjoy the fruits of your labor.

And for scenario testing later this Spring, would you be interested in doing that for me?

I would be delighted. It's unfortunate that I pretty much only get 1 day a week(Sunday,and that's if my wife allows it) to enjoy a Total War game, but I will be more than happy to test this updated version while destroying Ecompany101's and Lepic's advancing hordes!

On a side note. I know, have experienced, and have heard the horror stories with the NTW crashes. NTW3 and N&S are by far my favorite mods. I have played both with expanded time limits(180 min). I have to say imo the crash issue really has to do with player location, internet speed and rig type. I have played NTW3 Historical Battles for up to 6 hours straight(my wife wanted to strangle me) with 3 other players in France, Netherlands and East coast US with absolutely no lag and no crashes. I have also experienced crashes in the first 5 min with an assortment of players in many different countries. It is a source of major frustration for all players. It is what it is and there's nothing we can do until some brilliant modder totally revamps a newer TW game or CA puts out another Napoleonic or even a specific US Civil War game.

Thanks for all your doing Slyk, we really appreciate it.

[Gen. Ulysses S. Grant]

i really want to see freddricksburgg and how thats gonna go as a map

[Gen. Ulysses S. Grant]

i really want to see fredricksburg and how thats gonna go as a map

[Gen. Ulysses S. Grant]

srrry for the double post it glitched out

[Slyk]

Fredericksburg, is perhaps, the ugliest map ever made. Snowy, muddy, bare tree, mess. The 'colour_map_0' and a random screenshot I happened to find from when I was placing the buildings.


and just added a third screenshot from "Franklin", which I am currently working on.

[Slyk]

Some development screenshots from "Franklin". I am currently working on getting breastworks/trench heights to the correct heights. The red lines you see are the terrain manipulations based on the source map I am using. A lot more work to do, then adding more details models and buildings. The colour_map is also in a test phase, so it looks blocky and ugly, but that is because I keep multiple copies, this one is the "non-blur" version which I keep tweaking and then you eventually get the smoother, blended version to play.

The AI, after some additional tweaks, is pretty smart here as I was surprised when two regiments popped out of the woods on my left. Then one regiment charged my forward position and shattered my right regiment there. That was time to pull out and two vastly reduced units retreated and reformed... I thought for sure they would break while being shot in the back. The AI is much more selective about when they melee. I survived another multi-unit charge to my right-center by throwing a US Regulars unit into the melee. More to come....

[Gen. Ulysses S. Grant]

Nice work man

[Gen. Ulysses S. Grant]

Will there be more regiments then brigades or something like reg brigade corp type the like this 8thOH 1stbrig 2ndcorp

[Slyk]

Will there be more regiments then brigades or something like reg brigade corp type the like this 8thOH 1stbrig 2ndcorp

For the Multi-player Land Battles "build your own army" game play, Yes. I have overhauled the entire unit system. New units, new costs, and new "Corps" to choose from. There are screenshots back on Page 1 and/or 2. In addition to the new army corps for both the Union and Confederacy, there are new units specific to those new corps and I have broken out the artillery into 2, 4 and in some cases, 6 gun batteries. This new artillery menu gives you more flexibility in building an army and if you want to use two slots, say for two 2-gun sections to have more control over targeting or infantry support, you can do that as a fraction of the cost of the standard 4-gun battery. There are a lot of changes that I have been dropping info about and I will be putting together a larger summary as soon as I am set on the builds.

[Slyk]

Some additional shots from another test battle on "Franklin". You can see the Locust tree thicket, which the Union defenders cut down, tree tops pointed toward the attacking forces. This area and the Osage Orange trees to the Union left, near the river are both represented and the ground type there slows the units down substantially.

In some other shots, you see the Confederates break my right center and try to exploit the break. Additional items, using wagons and barrels to form the barricade to the west of the Carter house. Still finishing this one up, it's been one of the most time consuming of the new maps. Plotting a few more buildings in town and trying to polish up the look. One more map nearly complete. Then on to..... ???

[Gen. Ulysses S. Grant]

how long does it take to make the maps

[Slyk]

10-40 hours each depending on the terrain features, number of buildings, complexity of roads, water, tweaking, etc. Each is unique. Making the height map, painting the topographical map in gray-scale is the most frustrating part. I now use colors, then apply the gray-scale, just easier to trace out and paint in my opinion. That part alone can be 2-5 hours, depending on the map and the complexity of the terrain. Making "Franklin", for instance, took far more time than most maps due to having earthworks on it and the original map I chose to use was not a topo line map but a 'hatch line' map. All the buildings added a couple hours. It is one of the most time consuming of the newest maps.

[Gen. Ulysses S. Grant]

Cool that sounds fun