Scourge of War Waterloo

http://www.matrixgames.com/store/574/Scourge.of.War:.Waterloo

It's here!

downloading as we speak.... let's keep the fingers crossed and hope for the best

Would like to hear someone like Kevin or Digby's thoughts on its pluses and negatives and how easy it will be to port our campaign over to it. Any bugs? How many maps? And the big question does the new UI block the view in our HITS games at the view distance we currently use?

I've got it running. It runs very smoothly but plays super-fast! It needs slowing down

A 2yds HITS view is available in the game. All the distance view options for everything are now on sliders so the options are very flexible. I found it very hard to move my commander in this view, but it was easier with a 10 yards HITS view, I don't know why - I just couldn't get the commander context menu up in the 2 yds view.

The context pop-up menu will take some getting used to and the buttons in the main toolbar are tiny. Had real trouble seeing them and clicking them. There's a lot of new GUI to get used to so for now I'm struggling to control even a brigade - as well as my own horse!

I'm sure we can port things like old sprites and flags over though it could be some work, the way a unit flag changes when you select it is different, so the old flag sheets may not work.

I found the infantry combat very quick and violent, I guess I'm used to the Sow Nap mod.

I'm hopeful we can get a very good KS game out of this.

The KS SoW Nap mod group also gets a mention from Norb in the credits.

With the game come the following maps:

Waterloo AM (dull and muddy)
Waterloo PM (dryer and brighter)
Grand Ville
Petite Ville
Nord-Sud
Ost-Ouest
Les Plaines
Die Huegel

These last 6 are fictional maps used in the sandbox campaign. They're all 5 mile maps and though much more basic than the Waterloo maps are quite nice.

Try WASD for moving your commander around in hits.
Did you load the grog toolbar mod? That might be why the buttons are small. They should cover the whole bar at the bottom without that mod on.

I played a sandbox game in normal mode, (please forgive my sins), so I could see what's going on. For the time being, we should probably stick to the old game for the campaign since. Once we are able to add our sprites and make some fundamental changes we can switch.

Pluses:
Infantry forms squares when cavalry approaches, but not always.
AI seems to know that placing the cavalry right behind an infantry line that is engaged forces the enemy infantry into square. It is then shot apart.
AI mostly uses assault columns for battlefield maneuver when some distance away from the enemy.
Pathing improved. Not as much bumping and moving through another unit as there was. The battalions tend to stop and wait for an open space. It's not perfect, of course, but better than before.

Minuses:
UI was not designed with HITS in mind. We will likely want to modify this. It makes a very poor use of space IMO. Mikes commander pictures are relegated to a sub-menu. Unacceptable.
Corps is spread over a very large area with no discernible pattern.
Artillery is ineffective compared to what we have. Canister range is unhistoric at 200yd.
Arty rotates around and fires through friendly troops. This appears to be worse than the old game.
Arty capture is still in effect. 30 men/gun.
Cavalry tends to be very aggressive. It will have to be kept on a short lease.
Musket ranges are set to 150 yd.
Skirmishers exist, but I think they are just for show. I don't think they have any bonus for being in open order or for being better shots. I'm not certain about this, but it's the impression I have.

Except for the LOS issue, I think we can mod everything else. After one whole game, I'd say this game is a big improvement over the the last, for our purposes. Once we begin to change some of the features it will be very good.

Steve - WASD was the first thing I tried and it didn't function. Yes, I had the Grog portraits toolbar on. Grog needs to mod his mod to 'biggify' the buttons!

Thanks for those notes Kevin.

I had a small toolbar that was fixed mid-screen. It had different buttons on for infantry/cavalry/artillery. I could not dismiss the damn thing!

The small mid screen with 3 options is the grog toolbar mod

Turn that off on the mods screen page and you will see a difference

I see it now. Why is it sitting mid-screen?

You can grab the top bar and drag it but don't drag it to bottom bar it will disappear behind it. Try turning off the mod to make it go away completely

If you turn the mid off the stock controls should fill the bottom bar and be much larger

Thanks. I got it now. Just a case of getting used to the new bits.

my preferred way to play HITS with the Waterloo release:
- activate the WASD movement (in the in-game Options). Left Shift to run fast. Spacebar to Stop. You can also set the movement steps to higher values in the ini file if needed.
- set camera distance to 10 yards
- use the context menu
- optional: use the grog toolbar mod

I requested the camera distance for lower values down to 2 yards, but it doesn't work yet with the context menu activated. With 10 yards or higher it is ok, though.

Kind Regards
Stefan

10 yards is a bit loose for my liking. I also wonder if couriers are improved or the same? Thanks for the answers so far!

I've installed the game and it looks excellent.

I managed to play an infantry brigade scenario and that was fun.  At one point a neighbouring friendly cavalry squadron intervened to help me out when my flank was threatened.  That seemed authentic and was certainly much appreciated.
 
The only problem I've found is that I cannot turn my head to look around by right-clicking and moving the mouse either left or right, as in G/burg.  No-one else has mentioned this as an issue, so no doubt I'm doing something wrong as usual.

Can one of you please help a damsel in distress   .

Martin (J)

I seem to remember skirmishing companies being detached from regiments, then reattached in one of the videos.

I can't for the life of me work out how to do this - were my eyes deceiving me?

Tom

I cannot turn my head to look around by right-clicking

Press Ctrl and move the mouse or the center mouse wheel and move the mouse or right click when the mouse is over the toolbar.

Yes Tom it is possible to detach skirmishers.

Where is the menu command?

Tom

Contextual.

Kevin and I just played a brief division vs division sandbox game with us as Allied on the defence.

Some issues listed so as to provide a "to do" list for modding:

1) New GUI not very useful and no use at all in HITS. No way to face a unit from a low-level view since no large increment turn buttons are provided.
2) SK sub-units not understood by replay viewer; it fails to display them correctly.
3) Wrong flags for Hanoverian units and some Allied generals. Wrong flags for British artillery too I think.
4) No way to turn a brigade without repositioning it.
5) Artillery largely ineffective, canister range too short and roundshot not powerful enough.
6) Skirmishers useless (stock GB values so they are killed as easily as close order lines).
7) Parent btn holds fire when skirmishers rejoin it.
8 ) SK units are detached from the brigade so don't form up with it when it moves. This makes skirmisher units pretty hopeless as they need constant micromanaging.
9) No minimap in courier screen.
10) No game results when battle ends - only the newspaper.
11) Units still change formation on the move. They need to halt to change formation.
12) No way to change a units formation WITHOUT moving it.
13) Can't dismiss AI messages using the ESC key, need to now click X in the top right corner.
14) No way to toggle off AI messages.
15) New toolbar not very clear and lacks easy information like unit morale status and fatigue.
16) AI lacks "initiative" and no longer sends units to test the flanks. Brigades seen to halt and fight with the front btn only while others wait.

We can amend these and add more as needed.

We do need to play several games though before we can make a solid assessment of what needs to be modded.

Good news is Kevin's replay viewer works.

So strange, I thought Norb was a HITS and couriers guy? Looks like he's gone "mainstream".

HITS using couriers is back to SOWGB 1.0. It's not as bad as it sounds though, as I'm sure I can add all the necessary stuff needed to use couriers. The longer term problem is that the GUI is not really designed to play HITS. Martin and I were using 50 foot camera distance and it was barely usable. At ground level I don't think it will be possible to properly control the battalions.

"Press Ctrl and move the mouse or the center mouse wheel and move the mouse or right click when the mouse is over the toolbar."

Thanks Pepe. That did the trick.

Martin (J)