Chancellorsville

[Mayonaise]

Just played my first scenario on the Chancellorsville expansion!!!

So happy to see this franchise continuing to evolve.

First reactions:

- Terrain graphics are much improved, looks great
- Scenario design seemed well done. Not sure if it was AI or script, but it was very refreshing to see the enemy approach, deploy into line, and then engage.
- overview map looks great
- Same great game

The bad:
Disappointed in the replay feature. Was hoping for an overview map showing lines (a la Sid Meier). The round icon's on the mini map need to go the way of the dodo bird. Feature seems very Alpha with neon colored boxes jumping around.

[Davinci]

The bad:
Disappointed in the replay feature. Was hoping for an overview map showing lines (a la Sid Meier). The round icon's on the mini map need to go the way of the dodo bird. Feature seems very Alpha with neon colored boxes jumping around.

Hmm, I don't have the new map or any knowledge of how the icons look, but they should be moddable, just as the default map-icons are moddable.

davinci

[Mayonaise]

I could be mistaken, but this is limited to putting a rectangle there instead of a circle. It wouldn't show the facing of the regiment, formation, etc.

Again, a small nitpick on an otherwise very enjoyable game.

[norb]

I appreciate your feedback. We were going for a mix and it was a hard decision to make. Many wanted replay to look exactly like the game, some wanted it with just the minimap like Sid. So we settled on a mix of both. You have the minimap and you have the map. By not showing the individual men we were able to make it run faster than the game, so playing and rewinding would work better and we were able to keep the file size smaller. Lots of decisions went into this and hopefully there's something there everyone can enjoy, but I realize that it's hard to meet everyone's expectations.

[Tacloban]

The replay feature adds a lot to the game for me, especially for sandbox battles. I watch almost exclusively on the mini-map (with the GCM icons) so I can see the whole battlefield. It's a great addition.

[Mazikainen]

Btw, is it just a distribution deal with Matrix or do you get to lend some technical expertise from them as well?

[norb]

It's more than just distribution, as they help us in any way they can. But the game creation is solely on us. Although I'm sure they would help in any way they could if we asked.

[Mazikainen]

Played the Confederate May 1 scenarios. The pacing seems solid and I was biting my nails in the divisional scenario whether Rodes would come in time to support or not. Excellent stuff. I ended up getting a 8900+ score from CV03 even though my losses equaled those inflicted. If you tweak the scenario you may want to tone down the score from the victory locations or up the major victory threshold (3000 I think). As far as pacing and challenge goes, Cv01 and CV03 were great. The enemy troop movement seemed smart and I was surprised to see an enemy brigade I thought was going by the line on an errand to nowhere turn and flank my position.