>>>Feedback for Ultimate General: Gettysburg v0.9+<<< (Update 15/10/2014)

[Nick Thomadis]

New patch 0.9 is out. Read the news:

http://steamcommunity.com/games/306660/announcements/detail/130924979554201538

We would appreciate your feedback for everything, especially gameplay and multiplayer.

We tried some things that would affect positively the performance but we are not sure how it could affect the gameplay speed. Please notify us if you are satisfied with current combat pace, if you would like it faster or slower or is it just right, so we optimise in our release version.

Multiplayer has got many improvements and bug fixes along with Mac support. Your playtesting and participation will help us to improve further and expand its functionality. I will personally be there as frequently as I can to battle with you all!

We hope that you will like all the changes. Let us know, it helps!

Enjoy,

Game-Labs

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Patch history

15/10/2014

Ultimate General: Gettysburg is scheduled for release tomorrow and we are offering you one last patch for testing. A big thanks to everyone for helping us launch this product.

You can read the patchnotes in our blog (Includes important images):

http://www.ultimategeneral.com/blog/ultimate-general-pre-release-patch-7

or below

http://steamcommunity.com/games/306660/announcements/detail/130928148939672911

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14/10/2014

There were some changes needed in gameplay according to your latest feedback. We did these changes and await your new opinions. We want to release the game in the best state possible by acknowledging all your reports.

Patch notes: http://www.ultimategeneral.com/blog/ultimate-general-pre-release-patch-6

11/10/2014

Revision update available for PC, in a few hours also for Mac users: - Fixed AI not moving in some Custom Multiplayer Maps and adjusted it better as per first feedback. - Rank reset bug for Multiplayer fixed.

10/10/2014

Preparing for the full release, we cleaned up the code, fixed some multiplayer errors and updated the AI mechanics so that AI opponents are much more resilient and careful in defense.

Patch notes: http://www.ultimategeneral.com/blog/ultimate-general-pre-release-patch-5

08/10/2014

Hotfix of patch 0.95. Fixes black screen bug.

07/10/2014

Only a few things remain to be checked before we finish the Early-Access stage and move on to full release. More bug fixes and AI & Gameplay tweaks are included in this patch. The full release will include any essential balancing and repairs that you report to us.

Patch notes: http://www.ultimategeneral.com/blog/ultimate-general-pre-release-patch-4

02/10/2014

In our first promotional screenshots, we promised a special filter that would make the battlefield look like a tilt-shift photo image. As the final release of the game approaches, we now offer the first version of this unique visual feature and more! The gameplay and AI received more improvements as per your feedback.

Patch notes: http://www.ultimategeneral.com/blog/ultimate-general-pre-release-patch-3

24/9/2014

The new patch has some major AI improvements to show. The AI will be much better in defense and more effective overall. The Mac version has finally been updated to the latest revision and some "cunning" bugs were fixed.

Patch notes: http://www.ultimategeneral.com/blog/ultimate-general-pre-release-patch-2

19/9/2014

Minor hotfix was uploaded that polishes the previous fixes. AI is also benefited.

Mac update will delay until Monday.

18/9/2014

The new update includes various AI & Gameplay improvements and bug fixes. Furthermore, we have integrated an advanced log report functionality which will assist us to find any remaining bug.

Patch notes: http://www.ultimategeneral.com/blog/ultimate-general-pre-release-patch-hotfix2

15/9/2014

We have uploaded the urgent hotfix version 0.91. It is first available for PC users. Mac users will get it tomorrow as soon as possible.

Patch notes: http://steamcommunity.com/games/306660/announcements/detail/130924979910587526

12/9/2014

Our next update leads Ultimate General: Gettysburg closer to final release. Multi-saves capability, Multiplayer fixes and new maps, AI & Gameplay enhances, the 4th day of the battle and other new features and improvements enrich the game experience!

Patch notes: http://www.ultimategeneral.com/blog/ultimate-general-pre-release-patch

14/8/2014

We introduce Order of Battle and Statistics to the game along with Decision Maps… and finally we offer the first Multiplayer version! Present multiplayer server supports only 100 players. We are going to extend the number on Friday.

Patch notes: http://www.ultimategeneral.com/blog//ultimate-general-released-7thpatch-hotfix

31/7/2014

The 6th patch brings AI and gameplay mechanics improvements that provide enhanced realism and challenge. Furthermore, we have refactored the rendering code that previously caused freezes and CTD.

Patch notes: http://www.ultimategeneral.com/blog/ultimate-general-released-6thpatch-hotfix

19/7/2014

We finalise the weekly 5th patch with various polishes to AI and gameplay, some bug fixes and the first version of 3D animated menu.

Patch notes: http://www.ultimategeneral.com/blog/ultimate-general-released-5thpatch-hotfix.

17/7/2014

We provide an urgent hotfix patch 0.84 which includes some major targeting bug fixes that affected very negatively the AI, better Mac stability, more battle flow fixes and important polishes to the gameplay mechanics. Patch notes: http://www.ultimategeneral.com/blog/ultimate-general-released-5thpatch

12/7/2014

Patch 0.83 is dedicated to major battle flow fixes. You will be able to play the battle of Gettysburg in all possible sequences, up to 6 phases, without the previous annoying premature battle ends. AI & Gameplay improvements are included as well. Patch notes: http://www.ultimategeneral.com/blog/ultimate-general-released-4thpatch

5/7/2014

0.82 patch brings Mac support (Very soon it will be enabled) and focuses on major AI & Gameplay improvements that were needed according to user feedback. Of course there were many essential bug fixes that make the game much more stable and we have addressed the annoying save bugs that could prevent you to continue your battle campaign normally. Patch notes: http://www.ultimategeneral.com/blog/ultimate-general-released-3rdpatch.

27/6/2014

Many things you have asked to improve or fix are now available in our newest patch. Important new features are the elevation map layer and the revamped, more realistic combat pace accompanied by an enhanced AI. Have a look at the patch notes: http://www.ultimategeneral.com/blog/ultimate-general-released-2ndpatch

18/6/2014

First patch is live now. It offers Group formations, AI & Gameplay improvements and many important bug fixes. You can read the full list of changes at this link: http://www.ultimategeneral.com/blog/ultimate-general-released-1stpatch

Enjoy!

Game-Labs

[RichardMcCor]

Nick, Whats your stream id so we can hunt you down for a battle of fan vs dev

[Nick Thomadis]

My Steam id is DARTIS. You can add me and invite me all!

[Paul_KT]

You can now place single brigades in the same way you can place groups.  Ctrl + right click then move the mouse to select the facing.

 

Thanks guys!  This is a great addition

 

 

[EDIT]

After playing the second phase of day one (Flank the union left) I was soundly beaten but a much improved AI.

My only complaint so far is the new artillery AI is much more likely to fire at targets closely engaged, causing friendly fire.  Otherwise the artillery targeting is much better and 8.6

[Billy Sole]

I bought the game just after update 0.86 and toyed a little. However, there were lot of freezes and I preferred to wait for 0.9, which I hoped would fix stuff.

Unfortunately, the game freezes even more now and is unplayable (3s freezes every 5s). I could not identify the cause of the problem...

 

Also, the "report bug" button just darkens the screen and freezes the game totally (ie I have to kill the process via task manager).

 

I am on win8, Radeon HD5670, please tell me if other information would be relevant...

[Nick Thomadis]

I bought the game just after update 0.86 and toyed a little. However, there were lot of freezes and I preferred to wait for 0.9, which I hoped would fix stuff.

Unfortunately, the game freezes even more now and is unplayable (3s freezes every 5s). I could not identify the cause of the problem...

 

Also, the "report bug" button just darkens the screen and freezes the game totally (ie I have to kill the process via task manager).

 

I am on win8, Radeon HD5670, please tell me if other information would be relevant...

Hi Billy, can you pls pm me your system specs please. I am sorry that you anticipate these issues, we will try to find what may be the cause.

[Kelte]

Hi all, I've bought the game a month ago but I'm new here, I've briefly tested the new 0.9 version in the first battle at Heer's Ridge as Confederate and I've found difficulties with artilleries (the most difficult weapons to handle in this game).

 

In this version artilleries tend not to concentrate fire on real menaces, like enemy brigades or other artilleries, instead they choose to attack Videttes who sneak into my rearguard, then begin a dance between my artilleries shooting Videttes, then my artilleries retreat because they are under fire from Videttes, then they reposition themselves in a new place and the dance begin again, frustrating....

 

I've seen that Videttes and Skirmisher can occupy VP locations as before, don't know, but this seem a bit gamey (at least to me).

 

As a suggestion, for optimizing artilleries fire, it would be a good idea, instead of darkening the map, to highlight in green or red those enemy units who are effectively in visual range to artilleries, sometimes an enemy brigade seem in visual range but my artilleries don't shoot because they can't see the enemy from where they are placed.

 

It would be a cool thing if artilleries could place themselves when I order them to shoot at an enemy target, I choose the target and they place themselves in a point from which they can see the enemy brigade/artillery.

[CSA Watkins]

Multiplayer:

Map: Battle of Devil's Den- I was playing as CSA. On the Northern part of the Map. There were 2 units that just stopped responding to any command(half way thru game),

Union would attack n they wouldn't move(CSA brigades) nor fire, do nothing.

The union soldiers, would just fire at them n run thru them. I could see that this happend to union units also as I would do the same with 1-2 of there units.

I could draw a march path even rotate them but that is all. They just stay put, doing nothing.

 

Also there was 1 brigade that wouldn't follow my march path it would just march North or South but wouldn't March East to attack Union.

Even the march arrow/Path would stop when trying to drag it east on Battle Field to attack.

 

When fighting for round top It was heavily engaged with 1-3 brigades for each fighting it out, back n forth across top of Hill..

Near the end of battle there was a Union Birgade thet stopped fighting n was stuck in 1 place(north side round top down in Devel's Den) in a full run animation.

 

Also it looked like in heavy battle(on round top) that the animations/birgades, were not following orders just a mass of soldiers.

not falling back when ordered too. A mass of confusion.Some units should of run off/routed(Morale and/or Condition was 0).

 

Single Player:

Also Just like Billy Sole..... I Have had a complete freeze also when I tried to report bug via the report button,darken screen,

had to Ctrl-alt-delete to Task manager to quit game. I wanted to report a unit freezing on the edge of map in full run animation(Bottom Left of Map)

Near School House.(reported this on Steam Forums) 

[RichardMcCor]

Just did my first round of no click AI combat. I'll report on that later but won as union with minor victory against cautious, balance and determined CS. I had hoped determined CS would beat me on scenario 1 with no clicks but it did not.

 

Then played multiplayer on mcpherson ridge. I won but the final screen confused me. Both had pictures of the union guy (me as CS and him). Can we have a profile picture using our stream profile. As the image is so large it dominated the screen and both of us had the same picture so it looked very odd.

 

Tried to cut/paste the screen shot but for some reason i failed.

[long5hot]

I like the AI improvements but will need to play a lot more to be able to comment further (so far only one game on the 1st phase as Confederate versus Dynamic, was far more of a challenge than previously).

 

I noted that brigades seem to lose morale extremely quickly if outflanked, outnumbered or fighting on terrain with low cover, which is fine, but also recover it quickly once pulled back. 

 

I did see one odd thing in my battle.  I had an opportunity to capture Seminary which was undefended except for one skirmisher unit and a couple of artillery, so I marched Davis around behind the lines from McPherson Ridge to Seminary.  Halfway there its morale had fallen from 80% to 10% and its Condition from 90% to 0, so the brigade routed.  Which would be fine if it was actually engaged in combat during that time, but it was simply marching in column formation with the occasional distant solid shot artillery round falling nearby.  Needless to say this ended my hopes of capturing Seminary, but I hadn't seen this happen in 0.8.5 and wondered how and why it happened. 

 

Screenshot below with Davis halfway through his march with values rapidly falling (sorry the stats shown are from Rice's artillery, but you can see Davis's icon is white indicating its already in serious trouble).

 

 

I'd also question why the AI left Seminary so apparently exposed, but I guess its not a problem seeing I was unable to capitalize.

[JamesL]

Paul & Cutler are in view which means Wadsworth & Robinson's divisions have come up. So the Iron Brigade & Baxter, also of those divisions, are somewhere hidden in fow - probably behind Seminary Ridge!

[dagdriver]

Some things still isn't quite right with artillery: We need possibility to give precise instructions like : "Target and concentrate fire on THIS target", and give clear feedback if it is possible or not, AND why it isnt.

I'm getting really annoyed with the current state that it seems like orders are just ignored.

If I order ALL CSA batteries to concentrate fire on a specific union battery, I should at least get some feedback on why they insist on spreading their fire on 2 different videttes far away, and some skirmishers resting in a forest. 

[long5hot]

Paul & Cutler are in view which means Wadsworth & Robinson's divisions have come up. So the Iron Brigade & Baxter, also of those divisions, are somewhere hidden in fow - probably behind Seminary Ridge!

 

Unfortunately no, they'd been routed and were cowering behind Oak Ridge.  The AI clustered all its brigades assaulting my left wing.

[Aldemar]

owwwwwwww yeah!

[Zelekendel]

I tried, but couldn't muster the enthusiasm for another slaughter against the AI anymore...sorry, I'll wait a bit more on the AI department or the multiplayer full battle.

 

What is the Cunning AI doing here, and why? It's supposed to be on the defensive, yet it constantly ran to this killing zone. The Iron Brigade eventually routed off the field and heavy casualties were sustained elsewhere, especially after Pettigrew joined in on the turkey shoot.

 

[Nick Thomadis]

I tried, but couldn't muster the enthusiasm for another slaughter against the AI anymore...sorry, I'll wait a bit more on the AI department or the multiplayer full battle.

 

What is the Cunning AI doing here, and why? It's supposed to be on the defensive, yet it constantly ran to this killing zone. The Iron Brigade eventually routed off the field and heavy casualties were sustained elsewhere, especially after Pettigrew joined in on the turkey shoot.

 

Did Cunning just try to hold you from taking Seminary ridge until reinforcements come? I see the time and probably because of delayed reinforcements, he is alone with Cutler and the Cavalry.

[Zelekendel]

Well in a sense he Cunning did delay it by sending brigades to the slaughter, disincentivizing me from taking Seminary. In the end, it did hold it as I saw no real need to attack, as my troops racking up the kills instead, but Seminary was lost anyway after the battle ended (perhaps because of the difference in casualties?).

[CSA Watkins]

Just had 2 games 1 CS -  1 Union:

Map: Armies Approch Gettysburg.

 

When CS army would take a VP that VP didn't change to Red.

All 3 VP stayed Blue even when CS was the only Bergade(s) there.

 

Also had Birgade(s) stuck in a couple maps in Marching animation.

But u are aware of that Bug.

 

Was going to report Via Bug report ingame but decided against it. 

I was reluctent to click,for fear of crashing/Lockup my MP Game,

giving my opponent the win....

[RichardMcCor]

Just played REB on the Devils Den map. He was the CS and won and I was union. I had 4 brigades get stuck soon after entering the map.

I recall Candy and Kane getting stuck but early on the brigade that enters with McCandless getting stuck really early on which scuppered my northern flanking attack.

 

I did not report bug in game as i was not sure if the game would lock when i did. I tried a screen shot with PRTSCRN but nothing interesting was in the buffer at the end.

[Don't Escrow Taxes]

running into the frozen unit thing frequently here too.  I just figure it's there to make my job a little harder!

[long5hot]

Continuing from my earlier post, after only taking Oak Hill on the 1st phase against Dynamic, I started the 2nd phase which was "Confederates Capture Oak Hill".

 

The Union threw everything it had at my initial units defending along McPhersons, ignoring the fact that I was going to have reinforcements arriving at Oak Hill and later along the Harrisburg Rd.  I was able to halt the Union advance with careful defence once the first reinforcements arrived, and the Harrisburg troops were able to march totally unopposed all the way to attack Oak Ridge and the Seminary from behind.  The Union army was totally surrounded and massacred, fleeing in rout through my lines and retreating through the township.  I pursued with most of my brigades in good condition and morale, never giving the Union a pause to catch its breath.  The AI continued to try to rally low morale/condition units to attack me which only made its situation worse.

 

In the end the vast bulk of the Union army was forced off the map, with only a small remainder left around Culp's Hill.  I'd taken the Cemetery with ease and fortified my position there for the remainder of the battle which ended soon thereafter.

 

Once again the AI seems reactive and lacking an understanding of the overall battle, its like it can't see the forest for the trees.  It marched headlong into a trap that was child's play to spring, basically handing me a comprehensive victory on a platter.  I didn't even need to charge in attack at any point.

 

Here's some pics to demonstrate what happened:-

early stages

end game

conclusion

[Tommy_Cooker]

I think this is an excellent game and until now it's been constantly improving, and I'd hate for that good work to be ruined, so I feel that I have to express my opinion that this latest patch has produced an inferior game. The battles used to feel intuitive, challenging and satisying--now they're confusing and filled with frustrating micromanagement. The AI and the unit behaviours seem smarter than ever, and I like how the artillery seems more powerful but also more vulnerable, but there are certain things which have got worse. 

 

The most important of these is the morale system.Morale is simply far too fragile. I like how units recover morale more quickly, because this theoretically allows you to let units rest and rejoin the battle later rather than being spent in their first combat, but the fact that morale drops just as quickly as it recovers means that this doesn't have any effect. You can rest a unit, but by the time it's back in the action its morale is in the 10-20% range. It used to be the case that two balanced units could engage one another for quite a while before either even considered retreating; I am now expecting my units to run quickly whether they are winning or not. I have seen units rout which were just holding the line and not under any attack; which had just repelled an enemy assault and were no longer threatened; after just a couple of volleys of fire from an equal-strength enemy unit attacking directly from the front. I've seen units run because the routing enemy has retreated round their flank, and units pursuing a retreating enemy rout as soon as the enemy reforms; and I've even seen units well behind the lines decide to retreat with no enemy units even in sight. I'm not sure whether this has been implemented already, but a system of morale boosts in certain cases could go some way to stopping units running at odd times, such as when they've just beaten off an enemy attack or just captured an objective. Units used to have staying power, but not any more, so it is much harder to form proper battle lines and you spend most of your time trying to persuade your troops to stand and fight rather than arranging tactical maneouvres to break the enemy line. There's no need for such tactics because the enemy run just as quickly as your men do--it's better to attack head on in a kind of attritional slogging match and hope the enemy break before your men do. There's no point trying any tactical ploys because the troops will be ready to rout by the time they are in position for their flank attack or whatever it might be. Generals seem to be vital for maintaining your troops' morale--the flip side of this is that any units that don't have a general nearby are next to useless, and these situations are inevitable because a general physically can't supervise all his troops at once, and rarely stays where you ordered him to go. When troops retreated they used to withdraw just out of the line of fire and reform--now they often run halfway across the battlefield before stopping. At times it feels like you're commanding a rabble who run at the first sign of the enemy rather than battle-hardened troops.

 

Battle speed is now a little too fast, but more important is the amount of unnecessary micromanagement which the changes in this patch have produced. At times it feels as if the game is punishing players who aren't able to micromanage everything at once. I liked how up to this point success seemed to depend more on the quality of my tactics rather than on my ability to micromanage. Aside from the aforementioned greatly increased frequency of units routing, troops now edge out of position in a way which they didn't used to, threatening the integrity of your line and requiring constant babysitting and judicious use of the 'hold' command to ensure they stay in position. Troops move faster, so there's much less time to react to enemy moves even when you spot them in (what used to be) plenty of time. Command units run to the rear at the first sign of trouble and constantly have to be ordered back into command range of the troops. It used to be possible to order units to move on a position and rely on them to fire or advance as the situation demanded--now they usually march right into and through enemy troops in column formation making no attempt to fight them unless you tell them to stop and open fire, which means every little advance has to be supervised. In general the amount of unnecessary micromanagement is greatly increased. When troops DO stop and start firing of their own accord, it's on those occasions where you need them to move up to capture an objective or plug a gap in the line rather than take pot-shots at the enemy from maximum range. Your troops can no longer look after themselves, so it's much harder to think about the progress of the whole battle.

 

Charges are more lethal, which is good, but they're made completely indecisive by the morale system. Even if troops get into contact with the enemy, which is unlikely because they usually rout long before that point, then they rarely succeed. Charging way always risky, as it should be, but could lead to great success if done correctly; now it is simply a good way to throw away an effective unit. Due to the way the troops now deploy charges are also less precise--the attackers and defenders charge in all directions which draws in nearby units and produces a big nebulous melee which is impossible to control. It used to be possible to mass a few brigades, carry out a charge, create a breach in the enemy line and send in units to exploit. Now that kind of tactic is worthless, since if your troops do not rout before they reach the enemy, they definitely will once you charge them in, and you will have nothing too show for it.

 

A couple of other annoyances: what is the point of the 'battle delayed' feature? I thought it was meant to extend the timer if victory objectives were contested, but it happens every time, even when there is no fighting over any of the objectives. I've never played a battle which hasn't been delayed. It's frustrating to take an objective, be told the battle is about to end, then watch as the timer keeps going and gives the enemy time to prepare a counterattack and retake it. I'm also missing the option to have troops conduct a fighting retreat along a route of my choosing--at the moment I can make them 'fallback' a short distance in a direction I have no control over, or have them march to the rear with their backs to the enemy which always causes a rout.

 

The game is not necessarily any harder than it was--I'm doing just as well as I usually do--but it's now much more frustrating to play. My honest opinion is that this last patch has been a major miss-step, which is a great shame because I thought the core mechanics were pretty much perfected already.

[Lancier]

Vey nice game thanks to UGG team

3 issues:

- Is it only me; game freeze mp or sp for 2-3 sec then i find my screen at the top or bottom of the map.

- Is it possible to use hotkey to group/ungroup units like g and u for example ?

- is it possible to have a key to see where units end like we had 'space' in ntw ? i mean ctrl+right click is good to give orders but i meant not to give an order but to see where all moving units on the map end their move.

[long5hot]

My Confederate campaign against Dynamic is over in 3 phases with a comprehensive victory. The below images spell out the sequence of events in the final battle...

early stages, north

early stages, south

mid battle, decisive objectives captured uncontested

sudden end for no reason with last objective in the balance

Yet another battle where the AI blundered badly. Its tactics are reminiscent of Napoleon's uninspired showing at Waterloo - no subtlety, just pound straight for the objective with concentrated brute force attacks despite strong enfilading defenses. I don't recall it being this easy to beat in 0.8.5, and if Dynamic is this poor I don't expect much from Determined or the lower difficulties. I'll try Cunning next.

Not meaning to criticize, simply providing my feedback for what its worth. I know that AI development is very difficult and have confidence you guys will get there.

[R.E.B.Blunt]

Just played REB on the Devils Den map. He was the CS and won and I was union. I had 4 brigades get stuck soon after entering the map.

I recall Candy and Kane getting stuck but early on the brigade that enters with McCandless getting stuck really early on which scuppered my northern flanking attack.

 

I did not report bug in game as i was not sure if the game would lock when i did. I tried a screen shot with PRTSCRN but nothing interesting was in the buffer at the end.

 

Ya I had two Brigades get stuck soon after they entered the map as well. It was still a good game. I swept south with my entire army. Hit the round top from the south and pushed north. Richard threw back my men a couple times but when Rhodes arrived two of his brigades froze on edge of map Richard did not know this and he put couple of his Brigades out to defend against my frozen units diverting needed attention away from the battle. The remaining Rhodes Brigades hit Richards left flank and rolled up his army I pushed north with 1st Corps and captured the Round Tops. He counterattacked and routed most my army but the damage was done and He could not take back the Round Tops before time ran out. Right at the end of the game it ended abruptly no Victory or Lose screen just went straight back to Main Menu. But I obviously had won the day.