Age of Rifles, Version 1.3 This document describes the changes in Age of Rifles since version 1.01. FIXES Fixed: A bug which could turn control of an enemy unit over to a player at the beginning of a turn. Part of this fix is special code to terminate the game if 1) player 0 is not capable of moving any units in the current turn and 2) pbem is in effect. This will prevent confusion in file swaps at some cost of playability in some scenarios. Fixed: A bug which could cause a crash if certain unit information was accessed after selecting an empty hex during the scenario post mortem. I have also re-enabled cursors during the post mortem. Fixed: A VCR data handling bug which could cause memory related crashes has been corrected. Fixed: Crash in the Load File Manager selecting the down scroll arrow if the only save present is AUTO.sav. Fixed: Crash in the Game Options screen before the scenario if selecting the simple/rich graphics in the Game Play Options menu and then OK. Fixed: Crash (mostly) at the end of scenario play if one side has no units left on the map and the swap sides function is selected. Fixed: In the Game Options screen if the Commander and Automatic Formations toggles in the Game Rules Options menu are off, then the scenario will end before it can be played. Fixed: A bug in commander action reporting which could result in the following strings "prevents a rout!" or "watches helplessly!", has been fixed. Small map miniature uniform graphics have been fixed. The microview is now properly updated at the beginning of a turn, and has been extended to improve functionality during computer player turns. Memory use has been "fortified" to reduce the chance of page faults on some machines. The unit info panel is now properly updated when tactical formation is changed by hotkey. Inconsistencies in defensive order selection logic have been corrected. Problems with the 100 yard / 10 minute scale clock have been corrected. Deployment related errors in the OOB editor copy unit and delete unit routines have been corrected. Fixed: A logic error which could cause the program to lock if a computer controlled enemy exits the map. Fixed: A logic error which could interfere with an undercrewed artillery unit's ability to change facing. Environmental effects are now turned off (clear weather, firm ground and calm conditions are assumed) properly when the "Full environment effects" game rules option is turned off. Fixed: A bug which had the potential to crash the game if more than one assaulting unit succesfully advanced into a hex previously occupied by an enemy artillery unit which left weapons behind, and the _second_ unit attempted to salvage the weapons. Mounted units may no longer enter defensive order. IMPROVEMENTS Reports+ command line switch has been extended to replace additional verbal descriptions with numerical equivalents. Units with attached leaders show up in the microview as blinking red lights rather than blinking yellow lights. In the overview, units with leaders are hilighted with a blinking red cursor. There is an additional menu item listing the status of all game options. (This display can also be called up by use of the "?" hotkey.) Ship fire animations have been improved. Ships are now easier to sink. Towns, villages, walled compounds etc now rubble more frequently. Random Orders of Battle may now be created in the OOB editor. Click on the small "random" button at lower right and follow the prompts. Random Scenarios may now be created. Click on the "random scenario" button in the main screen and follow the prompts. The randomly created scenario is saved with the name random.sce, and any previous random.sce will be overwritten. If you wish to save a random scenario permanently, load it into the editor to rename it there. DO NOT RENAME THE SCENARIO FILE OUTSIDE OF THE EDITOR, if you do: the game will not properly update high scores, loads and saves may act strangely, and the scenario will be useless for campaigns. The only "safe" renaming which can be done outside of the editor is *.sce to *.sci or *.sci to *.sce. Quality and movement indicators no longer show up on enemy units during game play (advanced intel rules). Fire cursor colors are now modified to reflect time of fire effects on lethality of fire. Variable wallop bar: Whenever the mouse cursor is passed over a valid target for the active unit, the current effective fire strength of the active unit vs. the target is displayed under the target unit. If the active unit has less than the full 4 pulses of fire available, a minus sign is displayed next to the strength number. There is additional feedback now regarding wallop bar display option selection. VCR playback has been slowed down a bit. Melee and fire losses have been adjusted. Advanced interactions have been added between mounted cavalry units and infantry in square formation. Units in march column now suffer significant morale penalties. There have been several minor graphics improvements. Prize crews now train by a random amount from 1% to 10% per turn until they reach their national average. Prize crews are also now able to receive stragglers as replacements. A new VCR replay button has been added. The new button resets the VCR to the start of the other player's previous turn. Map place names are now available when fields of view are being shown. Unit experience gains between battles in campaigns are now tied to the unit's participation in combat during the scenario. Units not significantly participating in a battle (no participation in melee or fire combat) will not gain experience. Quality indicators ("condition icons") in the active unit panel now show up only if you have full info on the unit being displayed. Experimental Command Line Switch: "oldrules". oldrules+: Decreases killed and wounded and replaces them with stragglers and unit cohesion losses. Turns on long reaction ranges and advanced reporting options. Increases severity of fire combat, but additional losses are channeled as stragglers and loss of unit cohesion. Morale rules are strengthened. Artillery units tend to abandon their guns if overrun rather retreating from melee. Units are eligible for frantic fire in response to fire attacks by adjacent enemy units. Note: It is extremely difficult to move units in the face of enemy fire when this switch is on. Assaults are much more difficult to launch, and due to the stronger morale rules overall casualties for battles are significantly reduced. If you set oldrules+ and wish to return to the default rules, set "oldrules-" on your command line.