Now that most bugs have been fixed in the new game, I can come back to HoS and change a few things around
ADDED
Possibility to upgrade ships. Ships need to be next to a friendly harbour tile to be upgraded. The upgrade is possible only between ships of a same class (Submarine -> Submarine). When upgrading a ship, it will be sent to the reserve for a certain amount of turns. You will be able to deploy upgraded ships once they are finished upgrading.
Possibility to change the camera's background's color. The option can be found in the settings in the main menu, it is the very last entry. It is an inputfield where you can write the color of your choice in hexadecimal (https://www.color-hex.com).
Small widget about our new game in the main menu.
Black faded bar to the left to have more visible buttons in the main menu.
CHANGED
Stronger penalty for units proceeding to land to make a more significant different with marines which have no penalty at all.
Text when a player sends you funds.
Changed wallpaper to summer one.
Updated Steamworks API.
FIXED
Iraq had an ideology of 'Null'.
Our new game: Beasts of Steel
Hello everyone!
That's it, we've done it, we're finally there, the steam page for our new game is out!
After 2 years of hard work, we finally have enough ready to show the game
I have been ON and OFF working on HoS due to the ongoing/active development of this new game, so I hope you forgive me.
I am still not done with HoS, I have a pretty long list of things to add/change, and I will go through it, slowly, but surely
We currently are running a private beta test for this new game, if you are interested, join our discord server and request a key to get access to the beta (on steam)
The game is a mix of strategy with a hex map like HoS, but also a first person shooter side.
If you want to learn more, I invite you to use the link I shared in the beginning of this post and read the description of this new game directly on its page :)
Have a good day everyone!
6.8.1
Hello everyone!
I hope you all are happy with the recent events overhaul ! :) It really opens up a new world of possibilities...
Anyway, since I recently finally found a way to open modding to iOS, people on all platforms can now enjoy modded games!
One thing that got back to me a lot (and that I was aware of for a long time) was that mods crashed the game on phones/tablets. I really didn't understand what was going on and decided to... ignore this issue... Until recently, when iOS users got back to me with the same 'mods crashing the game' issue. This was the drop in the bucket and I decided to do some serious research. (All this time I was sorta helpless because I am in an Apple environment and the game being only available on Android, I was not able to perform any debugging).
Turns out... This whole time, it was a memory issue. Loading mods taking several GBs of memory. Now that's good, because I learned what was causing the crash. Only thing that was left was to solve this excessive memory use. TURNS OUT, when loading images into the game, those images remain uncompressed, so they take a LOT of space.
All I had to do all this time was add an extra line of code saying 'downloadedTexture.Compress()' . And voila! By doing this, I cut the RAM usage by 50%.... Now, this is not ideal, but it's a good step in the right direction! And many mods now work on phones/tablets.
For this compression fix to work though, images need to have a specific resolution. Only multiples of 4 can be compressed. Currently, in the game, almost all textures are multiples of 4, at the exception of all round ones (Round counters, all ships, and heroes images).
So, I have resized all textures from the base game to be properly sized (So that the remainder of the resolution divided by 4 never is a decimal: 1024 / 4 = 256) but mods remain largely unchanged. I am calling all modders to update their mod and make sure the images they are using are all multiple of 4. Without that, there will be no formatting, and excessive memory usage when loading them.
I have updated the modding doc, and the base files that you can use for making mods.
For modders, flags must be 200x100. Tiles must be 2000x2000. Units must be 1024x1024. All counters must also be 1024x1024 EXCEPT for ships or planes (or any round counter), they must be 1260x1260. Heroes must be 212 x 308. Please, double check your files and update your mods :)
ADDED:
Nothing for now.
CHANGED:
RAM usage when loading mods. Has been cut by 2, I am planning on reducing this even more.
FIXED:
Nothing for now.
6.8.0
WARNING: This update comes with a multiplayer version update. You will only be able to play in multiplayer with other players that have updated to 6.8.0 and onward.
Hello fellow wargamers!
Something that I wanted to do for a long time was to change the way events worked.
I don't know why I had implemented it as I did in the first place, but it clearly was not optimal and not versatile.
With this update, events are more modular than ever! And they will work the way people would think they should work (onTrigger -> doAction(s)).
Events now consists of a trigger, and a list of actions. You can have an unlimited amount of actions per event.
So far there are only 3 triggers:
onDateReached
onTurnCount
onVPcaptured
An event can only have one trigger at a time.
Actions available are the following:
Show message
Add money
Add HQ points
Change faction
Declare War
Make peace
Set VP ownership
Capitulation
Add unit to reserve
Spawn unit
More actions/triggers will/can be added later... Feel free to suggest some in the comments, I'll read through and eventually implement them if doable/relevant.
If you made custom maps and are worried about what will happen with this update, fear not, I have made a automatic conversion tool that will automatically convert old events into new ones. All you have to do, is open your map in the map editor, and hit save! Events will be converted.
Events from your current playthrough will also be converted upon loading of any save.
ADDED
New event system. Clearer and more modular!
New event actions (Add HQ points, set VP ownership...)
CHANGED
FIXED
Corsica and Sardinia should not have been under Italian control in Europe 1944.
AI buying garrisons that were not within the good timeframe.
Missiles (V1s, V2s... or modded ones) would have an encirclement penalty apply to them, which makes no sense.
One freeze instance in the store when trying to toggle ON then toggle OFF the veteran option.
Encirclement modifier was off.
6.7.2
Hello everyone :)
I just came home, and I am already pushing out an update!
Here's the changelog:
ADDED
Europe 44 scenario.
Light inf. 43 for Australia.
Light inf. 43 for New Zealand.
M3 Grant for Great Britain.
Type 3 ka chi for Japan (Amphibious).
CHANGES
You can now deploy units while all units are hidden. No need to keep toggling ON and OFF.
Turkish light infantry graphics.
Improved Overlord 44 balance / realism.
Improved Europe 41 balance.
Improved Europe 42 balance.
Improved Europe 43 balance.
Mods loading code improvements.
Mods can now support any resolution for units / tiles. They will be upscaled automatically to the game’s standards. For example, base game units are 1024x1024, they roughly are 300kb, a 256x256 weighs about 70kb, which is more than 3 times less. This allows you to make lighter mods that should also increase loading speed. Visual difference is minimal.
Encirclement modifier now is a % instead of a fixed value. It used to be -5 to final damage from 2 units and above (per unit). It is now changed to -15% damage per unit from 2 units and above.
Finnish winter damage bonus also gets changed from +5 to +15%.
Hills do not add a fixed +5 to the damage, but a +15% damage.
Recon attack bonus is no longer a fixed 5 damage but a +15% damage.
Landing penalty is no longer a fixed -5 but a -15% damage.
Many changes and improvements to the damage calculation system.
Updated the manual.
FIXES
Multiplayer not working when joining (PBEM or Real Time).
Random scenarios generation black screen.
Damage breakdown inconsistencies (total not adding up to final damage).
AI not properly buying ships.
AI not properly buying planes.
AI was landing on mountain tiles.
Summer sale for Hex of Steel
Hello there!
Well, well, well... It's already summer, folks! Time flies by so fast!
I hope all of my players are doing well and having a blast playing the game (or any other games, it's totally okay :p).
I've got some exciting news for you all! In celebration of the summer season, I'm thrilled to announce a fantastic -50% discount on Hex of Steel! If you've been eyeing the game but were on a tight budget, now is the perfect opportunity to grab it and dive into an epic gaming experience. And hey, if you're feeling generous and have friends who are interested, why not gift them a copy too?
But wait, there's more! For those who want to get a taste of the action before committing, we've got a FREE demo available with 100% of the content! The only limitation is a 20-turn restriction on all scenarios.
To get your hands on the demo, simply locate the demo button conveniently placed right above the purchase option.
Alright, that's all for today, folks. I wish everyone a delightful and warm (but not scorching hot) holiday season, safe travels, and a friendly reminder to take some time off screens and appreciate the wonders of the real world too. ;)
See you on the battlefield gentlemen!
PS: Little reminder to let you know that the game also is available on iOS and android for the price of a coffee (with whipped cream)
PS2: You can join our discord to chat with interesting people here invitation link
6.7.1
ADDED
New unit editor toggle: IsAmphibious. Units marked as IsAmphibious will be able to cross rivers.
CHANGED
LVT-1 Alligator, T-37, Ka-mi were turned into amphibious tanks. These tanks are now able to move across river tiles.
FIXED
AI commanders cost didn't cost HQ points when playing with Policies setting turned ON.
6.7.0
Hello there :)
I have been hard at work today and finally got the motivation to cover the Spanish Civil War... So here it is :)
ADDED
Spanish Civil War 1936 standalone scenario.
Spanish Republic new country.
34 new units for Spanish Republic.
20 new units to Nationalist Spain.
Madsen 20mm M33 to Denmark.
New setting: Disable vanilla soundtracks. If this toggle is ON, no musics from the base game + DLC will be played. Should be used if you want to play with modded musics only.
Carro Veloce 33cc to Italy.
2 new achievements (Winning Spanish Civil War as Axis / Allies).
CHANGED
Several units graphics.
CV-33 and CV-35 graphics.
Several units start use year and month.
Changed Nationalist Spain counters color (Yellow).
Various stats rebalance.
Multiplayer version: 6.6.11 -> 6.7.0.
FIXED
Nothing! :)
6.6.12
ADDED
Placeable Czech Hedgehogs. Static unit (type=building) that will prevent any armoured vehicle to move through the tile. Any other unit type can still move.
Placeable dragon's teeth. Static unit (type=building) that will prevent any armoured vehicle to move through the tile. Any other unit type can still move. Has more armour than hedgehogs. AI will buy and placed those defensive buildings, with some limitations. They will place them only on roads / plains tiles. They will buy them only if they are losing. Engineers have a 100% damage bonus against these obstacles.
Engineers and Partisans to Croatia.
Panzer IV F2 for Germany. Very long debate. On Discord. ITS COMPLICATED.
CHANGED
Bridges and buffs/debuffs associated to them. Bridge tiles now have a +15 defense modifier. Defending a bridge is actually not standing on the bridge but keeping an entire side of the river and shooting at anything that tries to cross it. So it makes sense to have a defensive bonus while being on the tile. Before, you had a debuff to be on the tile.
AT guns and AT units (SPGs) as well as AA units will now have the possibility to make enemy units retreat when making a successful attack. It was an oversight from my end, it should have been there since the beginning, it's now 'fixed'.
Brought Volkssturm HP on the same base as everyone else (from 50 HP to 100 HP). If conscripts have 100 HP, so should the Volkssturm. They still have very low stats, and lower stats than regular light infantry.
Added back 1 visibility to pontoon bridges unit in order to fix a stacking issue.
FIXED
Stacking occurence due to pontoon bridge and FOW visibility.
6.6.11
ADDED
3 new soviet commanders: Pavel Belov, Pavel Rotmistrov and Mikhail Katukov.
Possibility to mod any unit's turn production. Base value is 0, which means the game automatically calculates it. If you want to edit that, just write your own value in the inputfield. Feel free to make mods that are simply overhaul of the current unit's production values (For ships, let's say, I know some people wanted longer production times ... so here you go).
