Release Notes - 2019-11-27

Hello all,

The new units look pretty ok and acceptable for me. What I dislike is the colour theme of game. They look really weird. Does this apply in your games?

I guess that I can adapt to that 'weird' off white ... As I said before: 'The visuals were a but odd at the beginning, but I got used to them by the second time I got on the keyboard- particularly the off white for my provinces, but I recall I could barely see my fighters a game or two ago in the old system ... Glad to see the red of enemy countries lightened p a bit- now I can see the roads better!' ...

Can there be a button to change it back to normal visual?

vonlettowvorbeck wrote:

CzarHelllios wrote:

Really, I can't stand the Enhanced Graphics and always immediately switch back to the cool game, which plays smoother and provides clearer and cleaner looks. That is all a question of taste and it is great that one can adjust the game to one's liking, but that all comes AFTER having learned to like the game.

A few more suggestions. From what is see, when I stack units, the music only portrays the unit that is shown as the general unit picture. For example, when I put 6 medium tanks and an infantry, it only shows the sound of medium tank because the picture of the stack is medium tank. So I suggest that you add all the sounds of unit marching. Also, is this one song? Or is it multiple ones, because it seems to repeat. I like that when you zoom in, there is auto fighting sounds IF they are fighting. I also like the new unit model. Good Job Bytro, to me, this is the best update you ever had.

Ryan04px2025 wrote:

Good Job Bytro, to me, this is the best update you ever had.

Speaking of desktop version:

@C88 is right the red dot now is gone even more often than it was before this update. Is it difficult to display the red dot always for both the selected unit as well as the highlighted unit (mouseover)? If not, then that has to be done. The way it is now, you have to switch off the enhanced graphics too often to be able to operate your units properly.

P.S.: I read in another thread about the idea to change the colour of the red dot to the colour of the respective nation. Why that?? That definitely wouldn't work well in terms of visibility. And really would add virtually nothing to aesthetics/looks. After all it's just a dot - with essential importance for steering, but neglectable impact on looks. Please keep that one clear and simple. The red dot is fine as it now - only it always has to be shown at least for both selected and highlighted unit.

P.P.S.: There's still a broad white fringe around the units displayed with flag as background after selecting a stack - as usually happens after cutting out an image very uncleanly before pasting it on a background.

Example:

But I'm sure the frontend devs are aware of that and will improve that soon.

gusv wrote:

Considering the controversial 1.5 and the previous upgrade that added taxes and killed trade, this upgrade is like mana falling out of heaven

Anyhow, my first impression is that this update actually is an improvement:

* Quite sure the changes on popularity calculation are positive.

* Sound I don't care. As long as it doesn't harm download speed if being switched off, that's fine.

* New graphics I expect to become a clear improvement after a few small tweaks, especially for mobile. What I like most about them is that now almost all units have their own graphical representation on the map for each faction. But agree with @vonlettowvorbeck that priority of fumbling with the graphics must be low compared to the two fundamental problems as mentioned by @gusv.

Example for the army positioning system not working that well yet:

Enhanced graphics:

The middle railraoad gun is selected. But where is it located? Might be somewhere on the plains, bu might also be 30 kilometers further to the east, in the city.

And where are the commandos? You can spend a good time guessing (resolution: They're in the city centre.)...

Precisely same scene with enhanced graphics switched off - there you know where things are:

Love the new upgrades and an awesome job on the music and battle sounds..

SShawk1 wrote:

Love the new upgrades and an awesome job on the music and battle sounds..

I dont know if its cuz they are new but I am having a hard time destinguishing the different new icons. They seem over complicated and really busy for how small the icons are.

Hi, to answer on some comments:

Alydar wrote:

the new graphics make the icons for ground troops too hard to distinguish. especially on the phone. I believe the comment about people leaving on the Spanish serve,r because I have a couple of players on the English server who have said they can no longer play because they can't see anymore. not everyone who plays this game has perfect eyesight. I have trouble myself when using the phone. when on my PC I have to enlarge screen.

Why can't it be like the graphics for the terrain and give us an option? one option has all the fancy graphics and the other doesn't, just looks like it did before this new update?

What we won't do though is reverting the icons to the old ones or making them an on/off switch. Instead we will polish them further so that they look good and are usable.

Gazzlar28 wrote:

Let's be honest, the new tank skins while more detailed are entirely not playable on mobile. It's impossible to distinguish between heavy and medium tanks now, without staring at them for ages. The old skins worked perfectly so I don't understand why they changed them.

I think after the match I'm currently playing I might have to pack it in.

C88 wrote:

been not able to see the right place of your units , duo to bug on graphic or a bad work, is something people will not get used.. I was a guy that hated the old graphic now im forced to switch to that bad graphic because i need to know where exactly my units are placed because in the new graphics most of the times the red dots are not visible.. you should not try to defend them since they did a bad graphic work and licking their a** , by saying its all ok or "guys u will get used to it" is not going to help the game and the developers.We got an objective problem and not a soggettive issue here

P.S To be more accurate once we put the mouse on any unit the red dot ( the dot that says the exact place of the unit ) disapear and sometimes, depending the position of the units, the dots are gone even without having the mouse on the units.. this is the Desktop version im not sure how is on mobile version since i dont use that much.

Nevertheless we will probably make some adjustments to make the new pictures stand out more.

The red dot and the line disappearing is a bug. It is not intended and will get fixed soon.

Ryan04px2025 wrote:

Can there be a button to change it back to normal visual?

Ryan04px2025 wrote:

A few more suggestions. From what is see, when I stack units, the music only portrays the unit that is shown as the general unit picture. For example, when I put 6 medium tanks and an infantry, it only shows the sound of medium tank because the picture of the stack is medium tank. So I suggest that you add all the sounds of unit marching. Also, is this one song? Or is it multiple ones, because it seems to repeat. I like that when you zoom in, there is auto fighting sounds IF they are fighting. I also like the new unit model. Good Job Bytro, to me, this is the best update you ever had.

The music consists of several normal lengths songs and several shorter songs. Of course it will loop at some point, though the track order is randomized. The total music runtime is no more than 15min, because having a really long soundtrack is also not feasible (would result in higher memory usage, higher download sizes and of course high production costs to make it). But the runtime is actually quite good for a browser game, most other browser games I know at most have 1 track.

Hans A. Pils wrote:

Speaking of desktop version:

@C88 is right the red dot now is gone even more often than it was before this update. Is it difficult to display the red dot always for both the selected unit as well as the highlighted unit (mouseover)? If not, then that has to be done. The way it is now, you have to switch off the enhanced graphics too often to be able to operate your units properly.

P.S.: I read in another thread about the idea to change the colour of the red dot to the colour of the respective nation. Why that?? That definitely wouldn't work well in terms of visibility. And really would add virtually nothing to aesthetics/looks. After all it's just a dot - with essential importance for steering, but neglectable impact on looks. Please keep that one clear and simple. The red dot is fine as it now - only it always has to be shown at least for both selected and highlighted unit.

P.P.S.: There's still a broad white fringe around the units displayed with flag as background after selecting a stack - as usually happens after cutting out an image very uncleanly before pasting it on a background.

Example:

But I'm sure the frontend devs are aware of that and will improve that soon.

making the red dot have the country color was just an idea to help distignuish armies of multiple players standing in the same spot. Imagine 4 armies standing in a line directly next to eachother, having dot 1 as blue, dot 2 as red, dot 3 as blue and dot 4 as red would be helpful into assessing their positions.

The white outlines in the army bar image is intentional, it's like a small glow.

Hans A. Pils wrote:

Example for the army positioning system not working that well yet:

Enhanced graphics:

The middle railraoad gun is selected. But where is it located? Might be somewhere on the plains, bu might also be 30 kilometers further to the east, in the city.

And where are the commandos? You can spend a good time guessing (resolution: They're in the city centre.)...

Precisely same scene with enhanced graphics switched off - there you know where things are:

Akulla3D wrote:

I dont know if its cuz they are new but I am having a hard time destinguishing the different new icons. They seem over complicated and really busy for how small the icons are.

Hans A. Pils wrote:

Example for the army positioning system not working that well yet:

Enhanced graphics:

The middle railraoad gun is selected. But where is it located? Might be somewhere on the plains, bu might also be 30 kilometers further to the east, in the city.

And where are the commandos? You can spend a good time guessing (resolution: They're in the city centre.)...

Precisely same scene with enhanced graphics switched off - there you know where things are:

https://forum.supremacy1914.com/forum/index.php?thread/317-critical-issues-about-the-frontline-map-when-compared-with-legacy/&postID=1605#post1605

Nobody don't resolution it

vonlettowvorbeck wrote:

Lennfys wrote:

wait, i'm in a new game with the sound ect... but there isn't the new constructs to produce army

Test version 1.5 of COW - which is a different game than the regular COW 1.0 we are all playing (also in France) - is the game version with the new constructions (like the specialized Tank Factory). COW 1.5 test games were only available for a short period of time during the Test Event.

Since the test event is over (except for maps that have not ended yet), one can't join new test games until the next test event. Until then, you can only join maps of the regular game COW 1.0.

All maps one can join now are therefor regular maps of COW 1.0, albeit with new graphics and music, since the update of COW 1.0.

Just to be explicit and clear - even though it could impossibly be a mystery to anyone who paid a tiny bit of attention - regular COW 1.0 games are not COW 1.5 test games and therefor don't have the test features of COW 1.5, including specialized weapons factories.

OK freezy, thanks; agree with everything you wrote.

Except that I don't like the white outlines in the army bar images. They don't look like a glow. But well, maybe that nevertheless is a matter of taste.

Hans A. Pils wrote:

OK freezy, thanks; agree with everything you wrote.

Except that I don't like the white outlines in the army bar images. They don't look like a glow. But well, maybe that nevertheless is a matter of taste.

So I won my match and could see all units, including the American units (or at least the 3 tanks and the Tank Destroyers, I don't see any of the other vehicles)

- It is very easy to distinguish between the units on the map,

- The unit image with the white outline looks very good...

… but good luck to everyone to make the difference between Light Tank, Medium Tank and Tank Destroyer from the small unit icon. They all look the same.

In addition the heavy tank (Pershing) looks a bit like a Chaffee (Light Tank) but it is not as bad.

I even agree to get used to the new looks, but even so, these white outlines really spoil the look of the units, you can make them look like the small contour of the infantry. Seriously, try to narrow this contour, many people are already dissatisfied with it.

I can see every single unit clearly and i can tell what every unit is even sitting across my room idk how ya'll cant see doesn't make any sense but i sure as hell want the rest of these units get the update it looks yum yum

Can we have clean and clear picture as that: