WinSPWW2 V12 ( 2019 ) Upgrade

[DRG]

Z-fire LOS is not much different than regular LOS when it comes to clear flat terrain

This is LOS around as building with the 2018 EXE




This is LOS with the 2019 EXE



and YES as I said Z-fire has been tightened up. in the past you could Z-fire into areas you clearly should not have been able to Z fire into-----like 1 hex on the other side of a house that blocked LOS the game use to allow Z fire into..... now it does not and we consider that an advancement for the game not a step back or a bug.


Up to this release the game allowed Z-Fire from the unit with the red hex into the hex with the yellow X


Now you cannot fire over a house and hit the hex on the other side with Z-fire. That makes the game better not worse and if that changes gameplay for some players that's what it's going to do

[Mobhack]

Plus, if the shot scatters into really out of LOS places, since the target is cleared, you cannot then press "F" again to beat up that way hex deep in the woods.

You now need to fire Z-fire at something you would have had LOS to if the visibility was good enough, and any scatter is limited to the one scatter roll - which you cannot then use as the target hex.

[zovs66]

Some screen shots for the day...

This first one is interesting, as you can see I got three tanks stacked in that hex and if you look to the right you can see how easy it now is to select a particular unit with a click!



In the next few screen shots is a scenario I have in testing.

Start of turn 2 zoom level Z4 (note this was before I 'fixed' the German reaction so they would stay put...):


Same screen shot but at zoom level Z5:


Zoomed in a sector at level Z6 (I think), notice how it helps to zoom in to 'avoid' the mud:


Another zoomed in level:

[chris h]

Wheat fields do not block fire, only hinder sight. Clear tracks do not block fire either.

[DRG]

Originally Posted by chris h

Wheat fields do not block fire, only hinder sight. Clear tracks do not block fire either.

They do block LOS if they aren't as clear as you think they are.

The game ONLY reads LOS from the centre of one hex to the centre of another and if anything at all breaks that line you don't have LOS. If a hex has trees then the entire hex has trees even if the graphic doesn't cover the entire hex



That is why the lighter hexes are in LOS from that unit in the direction it is facing and the darker hexes are not. If the hex with the Matilda did not have trees in it you would for sure have LOS into the Blue X hex but it's iffy if you would have into the Yellow X hex

Don

[PantherCub]

I always thought Z fire was too generous, something of a gamey exploit, especially as infantry ammo is effectively unlimited in the game, and I never used it much. I think it is a good thing that Z-fire seems to have been nerfed.

[jivemi]

Ach, this discussion has been going on for years, if not decades. For a relatively recent thread (2016) on this topic check the link below.

Yes, the new rule will make it more difficult to attack, and without arty preparation it's possible to burn out a whole platoon in order to get one squad to "stick" after coming adjacent to an enemy. Yet it is more realistic (how can you z-fire through buildings and trees to the hex beyond if direct fire can't?) and it removes a significant exploit.

It does seem stricter than Weasel's optional rule, which IIRC allowed it to one hex beyond LOS. In which case it presents a challenge to players (like me) who got in the habit of using z-fire with tanks to prepare advances in close terrain or limited visibility.

Regardless of this controversy the new patch promises to be a cornucopia of added pleasure with new scenarios galore. Thanks guys!

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showt...ghlight=z-fire

[MarkSheppard]

Random thing I noticed while flipping through the SHP list:

{9423, 2159}, // 2223 Mk V (Male)
{9424, 2159}, // 2224 Mk V (Female)
{9425, 2159}, // 2225 Mk V (Hybrid)
{5477, -1}, // 3077 A7V
{5478, -1}, // 3078 Saint-Chamond
{5479, -1}, // 3079 Mark A Whippet



It's now possible to basically, if you're judiciously careful, have SPWW1 battles with stock SPWW2 within constraints of the engine (i.e. earliest battles in 1930) with no extra modding (SHP files) needed; since you can then use other icons already in game for what limited air support existed in 1917-1918, i.e.

Westland Wapiti (UK Slot 798 - Icon 7967) for Royal Flying Corps Support

Curtiss P-6 (USA Slot 360 -- Icon 856) for United States Army Air Service

Potez 39 (France Slot 565 -- Icon 8261) for Armee d'lair (France)

He 51 (Germany Slot 340 -- Icon 545) for Imperial German Flying Corps

Plus, many of the guns of WW1 were recycled into WW2 -- and some exist in other sections:

BLUE OOB has Unit 328 -- 105mm mle 1913, etc

[DRG]

POST 27 of this thread would have been your first clue

Then there is Scenario 774

and as well....

8213 Breguet 14.B2 France used until 1930

but one restriction is to get the Imperial German flag you need to have the date set to between April 1933 and Aug 1935.

[DRG]

Not nerfed......it HAD BEEN nerfed up until this release and the reason it stayed that way so long is neither Andy nor I use it much, if at all, and never to the extreme players had been complaining some PMEM opponents used it and certainly not as SOP gameplay to the extent it would appear it had been used by some players. The most I have ever used it was playing a scenario where I had no arty and a horde of attackers to deal with and I only played that scenario AFTER we had made the change to the code to bring Z-Fire back to what it was intended to do.

Once we started digging into the complaint that it was being used as a short-cut cheat to circumvent the arty countdown that's when Andy realized, and I confirmed, it could reach into places beyond the original intent of Z-fire which was to lay down a fire to the limit of your range but NOT through objects or terrain that would normally block fire so now if the visibility is 1 but your MMG has a range of 24 you can Z-fire out to 24 hexes IF there is nothing blocking those 24 hexes so not though/over terrain that would have blocked LOS if the visibility had been 24 which was the original intent of the feature so this change corrected a problem that had existed for a number of years.