Matrix confirme The Operational Art of War IV

On savait bien que le quatrième volet de la série The Operational Art of War était en chantier, mais jusqu’à présent c’était néanmoins le silence radio quasi complet. Bonne nouvelle, Matrix confirme aujourd’hui par un rapide communiqué que le jeu va bientôt faire son retour. Et préalablement à une prochaine série de captures d’écrans offre en guise d’avant-goût un aperçu de la jaquette du jeu et surtout une page produit décrivant ses principales caractéristiques.

Qui en résumé consistent en un jeu qui marquera une nouvelle génération de wargames à l’échelle opérationnelle, plus flexible qu’avant grâce à une nouvelle palette de fonctionnalités.

Ainsi au menu on aura plus de 200 scénarios sur les grandes batailles du 20ème siècle (ex : Marne, Diên Biên Phu, Arnhem, Malouines), un nouveau système de guerre navale, une meilleure simulation de la logistique, ou encore un système dit Battlefield Time Stamp, c’est à dire une manière spéciale de découper le temps en termes de résolution de tours de jeu, cela afin de faciliter la planification des combats pour les joueurs.

Ce à quoi viendra s’ajouter un mode PBEM++, et bien entendu une nouvelle carte et interface de jeu. Vivement les premiers screenshots, qui ne devraient désormais plus trop tarder, espérons.

D’ici là, pour quelques précisions supplémentaires, voyez le communiqué suivant ou cette page chez l’éditeur.

Communiqué

The Operational Art of War IV – The legend is back!

First, a big thank to all the community for the patience regarding the long development time for The Operational Art of War IV. Despite some bumps along the way, the TOAW Development Team is working very hard to deliver the great wargame everyone is awaiting.

Today, we are very proud to announce that this project is in its final stages!

Check out its official product page for more information!

Stay tuned for further updates!

Features

New naval warfare features

  • The modeling of ships has been improved. Instead of treating ships as a single piece of equipment, like a gun or a squad, they are now treated as complex systems that incur damage in combat. Ships have new armor, durability, accuracy, speed, and agility parameters.
  • Embarked units no longer employ their own strengths in defense. Naval combat now evaluates attackers’ Anti-Naval strengths as individual shots/planes – employing their shell weights to determine armor penetration and resulting damage.
  • Sea Interdiction can now be employed by aircraft, ships, and coastal guns. Ships subjected to sea interdiction fire counterbattery back (or, in the case of carriers, counterstrikes).

New Supply system

  • There is now an intermediate supply state that falls between “Supplied” and “Unsupplied”. It’s called “Overextended”. A new parameter called the Overextended Supply Threshold has been implemented. That is the location supply value below which locations are overextended. Units in such hexes will function somewhat between how supplied and unsupplied units function. The result will be that it will be much more difficult for units to press on at red-lined unit conditions from such locations.
  • Motorized unit movement over improved roads can be set by the designer to be less than one MP per improved road hex (for example, ½ MP per hex). If optioned, this affects supply in that supply lines traced over improved roads will extend proportionately further than over other terrain, like regular roads. Note how this would especially affect desert scenarios.
  • The limit of 50% unit supply recovery per turn has been lifted.

Other game features

  • Range Limits: Ranged units can have their nominal ranges player limited. This can be used to tailor bomber ranges to match fighter cover ranges or to make units with multiple range equipment operate within the range of the shortest-ranged equipment. The DBR will reflect the modified range.
  • Deployment Recovery: Ranged units retain their deployment states after combat and ground assaulters can recover theirs if a planned combat is canceled.
  • New Bridge Destruction Rules: There is an option to limit bridge hexes (for destruction purposes) to locations where the road feature graphically crosses the river feature.
  • Combat Report Review. Combat reports are saved in the pbl/sal files for review by both players during their player turns.
  • Adaptation of Matrix’s PBEM++ system.

New Map and Interface artwork

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