- Flashpoint Campaigns: Southern Storm v2.1.1.7018 Update
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- 1 What’s New in Version 2.1.1
- This document describes the changes found in the March 8th Update prepared for Flashpoint Campaigns: Southern Storm, which was released on 17 November 2022. New Build Number is 2.1.1.7018.
- 1.1 Official Update Release
- This official update follows the Public Betas of January and February. The changes are described in The following Sections.
- The notable changes from the Betas are the following:
- • Beta #1 had a text scaling issue in several areas of the game due to a missing Manifest setting. This was found and fixed and all fonts sizes behave as they did in the original release again. Thanks to everyone who helped us troubleshoot this one.
- • The Main Map has a Flyout Panel that shows all the individual units and map markers in a hex in a side-by-side format. Beta 1 was changed to show a little hint message over the various map markers to identify what they were. These hints have been made to operate more reliably in Beta 2
- • Sometimes friendly and enemy units in the same hex would stop fighting unexpectedly. The combat weights to keep them engaged have been increased. We are still working on this area, so please post any odd cases with save games for us to review. Thanks.
- • Thermal Sights appeared not to be seeing through smoke as expected. In fact, they were, but the LOS overlay itself was not showing the correct numbers. The overlay has been fixed for single-unit LOS, multi-unit LOS, and single-unit SOP ranges to show the correct numbers from all sensors.
- • The US and Soviet national data files have been updated with small user-suggested tweaks to names and capabilities. Thanks for the information!
- • A recent change to the scenario editor resulted in new forces showing as “on-map off-map†instead of waiting to be “Deployedâ€. This was very confusing and has been fixed.
- • When firing FASCAM artillery rounds, the threshold for creating a new minefield was announced as 40 rounds but was 41 rounds internally. It is now 40 rounds internally.
- 2 New Content and Features
- 2.1 New Scenario
- • One new standalone scenario by Mike Johnstone called “Cross Checkingâ€. It has Canadians facing Soviet forces.
- 2.2 New Campaign
- • A new campaign: “Canadian Campaign – Opportunity Knocks†by Mike Johnstone. This is a four-scenario campaign featuring the Canadians.
- 2.3 New UI Features
- • Hex Grid Overlay. There is a new menu item under “Options, Show Hex Grid†for players who prefer to see a hex grid over the main map. This preference is remembered from game to game.
- • Mission Graphics Transparency. There is another new menu under the Options, Mission Graphics Transparency Option, that allows you to reduce the default 50% transparency used on the mission graphics that can be imported from the Staff Menu. The other options are 25 or 10%.
- 2.4 Updated Documentation
- • Revision 2 of the Game Operations FM
- • Revision 2 of the Tutorial Operations FM
- • Update of FPC Hotkeys – 26Jan23
- • Revision 2 of the SITREP: Southern Storm operational area guide
- 3 Bug Fixes and Enhancements
- 3.1 Data and Scenarios
- • An updated campaign. “Big Red One†by Alex Schwarz (American forces facing Soviet and Czech forces) with multiple tweaks to enhance gameplay.
- • Updated weather files. We have extended our spotting model to use starlight on moonless nights as some sensors of the era were able to take advantage of it. This will render the Warsaw Pact units (and some NATO units) somewhat less blind in scenarios like Regulars Forward.
- • Data Files and Unit Images. Miscellaneous tweaks were made to data files for spelling and formation corrections and subunit silhouettes (better upscaled unit images for many units).
- 3.2 User Interface
- • Subunit Inspector. Formerly it showed only unique subunits, and this made it impossible to see the details of subunits that had different ammo packages. We have adjusted the display so that all the ammo package variations for a specific subunit can be browsed.
- • User Mission Graphics.
- • Both the Mission Briefing and Threat Assessment overlays can now be loaded over the main map at any time from the Staff Menu.
- • The old system to limit each side to just one user-created overlay per scenario has been scrapped and now each side can have as many different user-created overlays as desired. Each one is saved under a name the user specifies. Be advised, nothing is stopping the other side from browsing your custom overlays!
- • TOC Scenario Info Report. The game allows asymmetrical victory point values to increase the variety of outcomes. In
- particular, a hex may be very valuable to one side and worth nothing to the other should the scenario author so desire. A VP location worth zero is not drawn on the map for that side - it is meant to be a surprise – but they were listed on the Victory Status & Condition screen and this gave away the surprise. This has now been suppressed but note that the player for whom it does have value will still see it in this report IF the player secures it. Once the game is over then that 0 VP location will show in the final report for both sides.
- • Unit Counter Spotting Dots. To assist the newer players, a small white dot was drawn on the bottom edge of the counter towards the right when a unit was spotted. Very often this information was either redundant or gave away too much information. The new rule is:
- • If the Difficulty Settings for a side has "Enemy Units are Always Visible" enabled then the spotting dots will be shown as before. This is intended to help new players distinguish between spotted and unspotted enemy units in the introductory settings. It will tip them off when their own units are spotted, which is potentially unrealistic, but worthwhile if this setting is enabled.
- • If that visibility option is NOT checked then the spotting dots will NOT be drawn. With this setting disabled then any enemy units being drawn must be spotted by definition, and the player is left guessing as to the status of his own units, as the player should be.
- • “Show All Friendly Movement Paths During Turn Resolution†This user preference was broken and did not work. It has now been fixed.
- denied by the author of the scenario. If the scenario author has not disallowed a certain unit from receiving resubordinated units during game setup then it is allowed. Approximately ten of the standalone scenarios have had this new option used in them. In most cases, recon units are stopped from receiving cross-attachments so that tanks and mech infantry from other units cannot be dropped in unrealistically.
- 3.4 Miscellaneous Fixes and Improvements
- • Helicopter crash animations were not playing before, but does now.
- • QoL Suggestion: Show the name of the marker in the main map flyout panel as the mouse is rolled over it. For example, "Improved Position", "Minefield", "Nuclear Contamination", etc.
- • The MCOO Legend dialog has a bit more explanatory text added to it.
- • Map scrolling: Improved game edge scrolling by not requiring the mouse to be inside the game window.
- • Rename “User†speed button on the bottom toolbar to “Mission†to be consistent with menu captions under Staff using “Mission Graphicsâ€.
- • Map zoom behavior with scroll wheel: when using scroll wheel and map expanded beyond window: zoom around mouse position, not hex cursor.
- • Default map zoom: when restoring saved zoom setting, restore the zoom setting as soon as possible
- • When a unit is killed its Ammo, Morale and Readiness will drop to zero, zero and one respectively in any reports.