Genre: Real Time Strategy (RTS), Simulator, Strategy
Grand Tactician: The Civil War (1861-1865)
Whiskey & Lemons
We wish you all a Happy New Year 2023!
...a year during which the DLC "Whiskey and Lemons" will be released, bringing to the game:
Regiment level game play on a new campaign map covering the eastern theater,
Career mode: start as a regiment commander, earn prestige and promotions, and become the greatest Civil War general.
More details about the DLC and the new features will be revealed as the development continues.
Thank You all for this year, the feedback and ideas you have provided, and of course for playing our game. The march continues!
Most Respy, The Grand Tactician Team
PS. Patch 1.11 is in the final leg of testing, and will be released very shortly.
Patch 1.10: Fixes, Community Wishes & AI
Gen'l,
We are happy to report, that the most recent Update to Grand Tactician: The Civil War (1861-1865), Patch 1.10, has been released to the wider audience! This shipment contains a hefty load of fixes and improvements, big and small, as well as a few notable changes, of which we feel obligated to list to You the following:
Bases of Supply: when operating in enemy territory, if low on readiness, armies can now fall back to any city, depot, fort within the state. Near a base of supply readiness improves faster. The bases can be seen on the map, in enemy terriotory nearby the selected army, when map information setting "Supplies" is selected.
Weapon Production: the orders are now delivered in linear fashion, improving standardization and number of available weapons throughout the production.
Terrain, Weather & Supplies: IIPs now show supply information in the icon. Rugged terrain, such as mountains, now has low transport capacity, making operations with large armies more difficult. Depot fill ratio target can be changed to improve control over storage of supplies. Weather has bigger effect on supplies, through condition of the supply routes worsening. Precipitation map filter added.
UI: Added "update" button in the production panel for buildings.
Battle game speed 10x changed to 20x.
To review the full content of the patch, please refer to: LINK TO PATCH NOTES
Most Respy, Engineer Corps
Patch 1.09: AI, Rebalancing & Fixes
Gen'l,
Patch 1.09 has just been released! The focus this time is on the AI, once again. The campaign AI will coordinate its forces more carefully, especially in defensive situations. In battles the AI will redeploy during the night also when attacking, and will react better in situations where it finds itself under long range fire.
The patch also contains a long list of bug fixes and other improvements, see the full list of changes here: Patch Notes 1.09
Cheers, The Grand Tactician Team
Patch 1.08 - Commander Avatar & Co.
Gen'l,
Patch 1.08 is out! The main new feature is the ability to add new commanders, along with custom portraits, to the campaign game. When starting a new campaign, you may choose which of the custom commanders will be activated, and they will appear in the pool of available commanders. After that you can manage them like any of the game's historical commanders. Add a historical commander who is missing from the game, or maybe even the greatest general the Civil War saw - Yourself?
In addition to the usual bug fixing, AI improvements and further balancing, the patch also allows further modding possibilities, like creating your own custom battle flags for your elite units.
Patch 1.08 is the last patch to add completely new features to the game. We will of course continue improving the game with further bug fixing, AI & other improvements. But alongside that we have already started developing a DLC to the game - further information & details regarding this will be announced once we are ready to do so.
Cheers, The Grand Tactician Team
Patch 1.07 - Weapons, Projects & AI
Gen'l,
Patch 1.07 is out! The main changes include new weapons, projects, AI updates, an updated manual and a modding tool:
Gatling and Coffee Mill (or Agar) guns for the Union, and 1-pdr Williams gun for the CSA, are rapid-firing short-range weapons with also a considerable impact on morale on the receiving end.
Machineguns (Union) and Confederate Guns (CSA) projects allow production of these weapons and the 12-pdr Iron Napoleon.
Four new military reform projects for both sides, that simulate the gradual development of tactics during the early war: Artillery Reform, Cavalry Reform I-II, Supply Reform.
The released modding tool (Excel) is found in the game's install folder, under \ModdingTool\, and allows players to modify and export many of the game's data files, and even create their own custom scenarios.
For the full list of changes, see the patch notes here: Patch Notes 1.07
The game’s manual has also been updated to include instructions for all the new or changed features.
Please note, that old saves will work with this patch, but due to the new projects, you will experience some changes. Starting a new campaign after installing this patch is recommended.
Cheers, The Grand Tactician Team
Economy Overhaul - Version 1.06 Released!
Gen'l,
The biggest Grand Tactician update so far has been released. Version 1.06 brings not only a long list of bug fixes and minor improvements, but overhauls the game’s economy system completely. The patch introduced also new game mechanics, like government funded projects and a new weapon procurement system (including a few new weapon types), as well as ability for the player to construct a wide range of buildings with unique effects on the campaign map.
For the full list of changes, see the patch notes here: Patch Notes 1.06
The game’s manual has also been updated to include instructions for all the new or changed features.
Cheers, The Grand Tactician Team
Patch 1.05: Community Requests
Gen'l,
A new patch is out! Version 1.05 is focused on community requests and all-around improvements to enhance game play:
Battle AI improvements, including deployment, defensive behavior.
Army and fleet management improvements, including shipyard capacity, quick construction of ships, reinforcement options for units and armies, detaching a corps from an army, creation of an independent corps after Military II policy, ability to change uniform & colors after recruitment.
Fixed fame system, including redeeming lost fame ("defamed") through time or battle honors, and positive morale effects from famous commanders.
Supply depots can be abandoned by player and the AI.
Commander and unit histories are updated during the campaign.
Further game option to decrease/increase the number of 3D models shown per unit, and optional VSync.
Locking map rotation only affects mouse controls, not hotkeys.
Bug fixes & balance improvements.
Read the full patch notes here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/654890/discussions/0/3185737967876412344/
Cheers, The Grand Tactician Team
Patch 1.04: A Wagonload of AI
The new Grand Tactician update focuses heavily on improving the game's AI opponent, both in campaign and battle layers.
The campaign AI now recruits more intelligently, and transfers units to threatened theaters actively. It is more active in construction and management of its fleets, and will also consider naval invasions against poorly protected shores. Capital city defense behavior, defensive operations, weapons production and distribution among the troops, replacing commanders with better ones, and organizing early armies into grand armies with corps organization are also among the upgrades.
The battle AI handles its troops better. In attack, it will bombard enemy positions with its artillery while waiting for more troops to arrive, before moving in to close combat, if required. It is more active in defensive battles to counter player's flanking and encirclement movements with timely withdrawals, while also considering keeping a reserve to counter player's maneuvers. All in all, there will be less confusion in the AI's ranks during battles.
Along comes also a long list of bug fixes, balancing, UI and other improvements, including orderly withdrawal from campaign battles if the losing army is not broken.
While continuing to improve the game with the usual bug fixes and other minor improvements, the next patch 1.05 will have its focus in campaign economy, and player's controls in influencing it.
While we originally planned to have 3D troops in our game, during the early development phase the experiments with 3D models were unsuccessful. At that point, years ago, we decided to switch to 2D sprites, which allowed improved performance, and a working solution for the time being. After the game’s release in September, we ran another round of experiments with 3D troops, as we had planned to do post-release. This time we succeeded, and with patch 1.03 the sprite troops finally rest in peace, as our civil war soldiers enter the third dimension.
Smoother, and Better Looking.
The sprites did have many limitations. As we kept the number of different animations quite high, the number of frames per animation was limited. Also, customization options were limited, as each large sprite sheet reserved a chunk of VRAM. We did try to overcome the lack of customization by allowing custom coloring of the uniforms, but when creating variation within a single unit using color variation, the end result was not optimal. While functional, the sprite engine also had some side effects, like certain abrupt movements, which was quite apparent especially with courier movements.
Our artist has been working hard on the 3D models and animations since the release of the game. With the new 3D troop engine, the game’s visuals take a leap forward. Animations are much smoother in general, and the 3D soldiers allowed us some more variety in the soldiers’ looks. Now we can have different uniforms and equipment even within a single unit, with little to no negative effect in performance.
The 3D troop engine also allows further improvements in the future. The changes in patch 1.03 are the first step, more improvements will follow.
Other Visual Improvements.
While the main focus in the visual improvements was in the troops, the battle field has also received some other visual improvements. With the 3D troops being less sensitive to certain camera angles, the improved camera controls allow more varied visuals. Updates in the particle effects department and fog rendering also have made the battle field a bit more pleasing to watch, especially in combination with the weather effects. As the 3D troops are no longer “detached” from the environment, like the sprites were, the end result is a much more coherent look.
Other Changes.
While patch 1.03 was mainly focused on the introduction of the 3D troops, there are also some other nice, and highly requested changes:
3D Troops: new 3D models, with improved, smoother animations & uniform variation.
New Battles: battle of Stones River and Champion Hill added to the list of historical battles. Also a new regiment level version of 1st Manassas added.
Saves: a new load/save panel to manage all saves, loading possible also during a game.
Options: realism options moved from game options to scenario start up screen, and saved per game.
Further game options added, including "lock battle camera rotation".
Occupied States: if all cities within a hostile state are captured, the state is considered occupied, even if it will not change sides due to low support. Armies with low readiness can operate in occupied states normally.
Updated Manual: manual and Field Book are adjusted to portray the recent changes.
Bug fixes and minor AI adjustments.
Most Respy,
Gen’l. Ilja Varha, Chief Designer, &c., The Grand Tactician -Team
Hotfix 1.0212
Hotfixes 1.0211 & 1.0212 uploaded November 10 & 11, 2021:
fixed: reloading saves clears stock of newly constructed supply depots
refix: sea raiders perk does not blockade neutral IIP’s and may lead to inability to save the game
supply depots now reduce their stock if they have not supplied troops for a longer time
