Kris

Thanks for the feedback. First, I just want to let you know that the Gallipoli map has had a reduction in turns in the last update. I do hear what you're saying about the long scenarios. I have had a fair few requests to make the battles larger with more turns in the past, but I realise there are some, like yourself, that prefer the smaller scale scenarios. With The Great War I tried to have a mix of larger scenarios with smaller ones. Perhaps the big battles are too big? Too many units or too large of a map? I would love to hear from others what they think about this too. I'll also try to find ways to make the large scenarios more appealing to those who want to fight smaller, quicker engagements.

Thanks for your support and critical reviews.

I don't want to describe these as bugs, but I had some questions about whether certain functionality was intended or not.

1) On the Somme map, the Central Powers infantry units along the right-hand side of the map have 500 men instead of the customary 600. Is this intentional? I didn't notice any other 500-men units on any other maps. It makes it very easy to punch a hole in the line over there.

2) If an infantry or cavalry unit is disrupted (flashing red), you can move it and then – even if you click away from it – you can click back to it and press the Recover button. However, this doesn't work for artillery units or machine guns. I presume it's because they cannot fire after moving, but I would appreciate it if I could go back and click Recover after-the-fact. This is not a common problem, but there have been two or three times when I accidentally clicked away from the disrupted unit after moving it without clicking Recover. I attribute this to fat fingers and a small screen.

3) Units getting disrupted while moving at night is an interesting mechanic and, overall, I like it. However, it is possible to “heal” units by intentionally moving them at night and hoping that they get disrupted so that you can recover them. At the risk of sabotaging a viable strategy, I'll ask if this was the intended functionality.
3a) If not, it could be interesting mechanic to allow any unit – not just the disrupted ones – to “recover” during a night turn rather than move or attack. The downside is that if the unit is attacked it is automatically disrupted, even if it wasn't disrupted before it opted to recover. This could produce some interesting risk/reward scenarios for units at the front, while allowing units behind the front to rest and recover a bit.

4) On the Gallipoli map, reinforcements show up until the very last turn. This contributes to unit spam, slowing down turns for both the player and the AI. I would ask that there be a cut-off point for reinforcements. Maybe do the math and figure out how many turns it would take a reinforcement to reach an objective (either a diamond or a star). If the unit doesn't have enough turns to walk or sail that far before the end of the scenario (or far enough to shoot someone at the objective), don't populate that unit.

5) As a possible AI improvement, the AI is far too willing to leave an entrenched position (either a town or a trench) in order to attack an enemy. I can usually bait an enemy unit holed up in a town by placing a weak unit in front of it. The enemy will invariably Charge, kindly vacating the town or trench for me.

6) The Entente town at the top-center of the Verdun map seems to be some sort of super-town. Visually, it seems to combine a town with a trench, and it certainly fights as such. While defending it, I would frequently kill 100+ attacking infantry soldiers while only suffering losses of 2-10 men. Is this actually happening and/or intended?

7) The update clarified how much each level of trench defense is worth (8%) but this value still isn't showing up when you click on terrain with a trench on it. For example it will still say:
Defence: 0%
Trench: 6 (MAX)
Could we have the terrain description give the proper defence rating, please?

8) I would love it if there were some sort of “Sleep” or “Standby” command that I could issue to units so that when cycling through available units (via the > button at the top-right) I wouldn't return to the same ones over and over.

This is all constructive criticism. I like the game. I'll post as much on another thread when I get the time.

Great! Thanks for this! Very helpful comments here.

1. The Somme has some German units set as 500 instead of 600 because it was originally too difficult to break through their lines. In the latest update most of the 500 units were switched back to 600. If you or anyone else still think the German lines are too weak then please let me know.

2. Thanks for raising this problem because I don't think I've ran into it before. Yes, if a unit has used up its attack then it can't recover. And since an artillery piece uses up its attack if it moves, that's why you can't return to the unit and recover it after it has completed its move. I'll need to think of a way around this problem.

3. Thanks for the night healing idea. I'll keep this in mind. I might be making a few changes to the way morale and recovery works in the future.

4. Yes, I can make it so that reinforcements won't appear late in the battle.

5. I'll look into fixing this.

6. I didn't spot this! I must have accidentally given that unit a trench late in development. The trench for that specific unit will be removed in the next update.

7. Good idea. I'll look into that.

8. I'll need to think about this one. I've always tried to keep the interface as clean and simple as possible, and only show buttons and text blocks when they are relevant and necessary.

If you have any other thoughts then let me know.

The Sharpe series is brilliant! The books and the show! The Anglo-Maratha Wars is something I've not thought about. Could be interesting. Ancient battles I think will also work really well as a Pixel Soldiers game.