Release Notes for Ultimate General: Gettysburg

Patch 1.8 hotfix (19 January 2018)

minor multiplayer fixes

Patch 1.8 (17 May 2017)

Resolved Multiplayer connectivity problems.
Balanced ranged damage to be not so overpowered as before. Casualties will be much more realistic and the game should be more enjoyable by playing either side (Union or Confederates) in Single Player or Multiplayer mode. This damage balance affects positively morale and condition, that previously could drop too fast, making units almost unmanageable in many cases.
Improvements for AI to keep better safe distance from the player and attack more efficiently.
Improvements for player's units auto-targeting and self-awareness.

Patch 1.7 (25 July 2016)

GENERAL GAMEPLAY

Improved targeting. Units will pick best target without micromanagement, especially artillery.
Various melee fixes/improvements. Infantry will no longer auto-fall back and annoyingly lose its position.
Improved auto AI lines. No longer too much shifting around. Units will be sufficiently intelligent to handle their lines.
Artillery less resilient in melee.
Cavalry more useful, not so vulnerable as before.
Balances in Ranged combat (toned down artillery effectiveness from High/Medium range and overall more realistic casualty rate).
Morale fixes (not so fast retreat, overall more manageable condition for tougher/epic battles).
Increased significantly the damage bonus in flanks/rear for even more tactical battles. Units that stand and shoot have increased condition endurance, so their defensive capabilities are more resilient.
Finalized brigade/terrain visual improvement. Movements, formation appearance, 3D perception of terrain are greatly improved. You feel the battle more realistic now.
Balanced combat damage/pace to realistic level. You now understand the importance of terrain. You lose badly until you gain the high ground and then it becomes your turn to punish your enemy.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Much improved AI attack. AI will press and concentrate on weak spots of player army with efficiency and persistence.
Enhanced AI defense. AI will be more active in covering weaknesses in formation and defending the high ground.
AI now understands much better the territory it fights. AI opponents are active and respond to whatever threat you pose to them, in a realistic and challenging manner. The way that each opponent fights is really interesting to explore, in order to unlock multiple different speculative scenarios that probably you had never met.
AI now will very often attempt to flank. It will make tactical maneuvers to place artillery on high ground and shoot at your flanks.
AI will fall back if overwhelmed in a much more efficient manner (according to personality). It will prefer to leave ground in order to reform and counter-attack, in order to cause you more casualties.
AI now plays out the MP scenarios better. You can play vs an AI to really test and improve yourself in multiplayer.
Fixed AI boost mode that could work the opposite in many aspects. Now it is far more challenging.

SCENARIOS & TEXT

In multiplayer map "Fight for two hills" the CSA have one more battery for better balance.
In multiplayer map "What if Buford had not held McPherson Hill" the Union reinforcements delay much less, to make both sides fight quite evenly.
Union reinforcements have reduced possible delays in many battle moments of 1st and 2nd day (Slocum appearance, multiple 2nd Day Union counter-attack scenarios). So the Union will be a much bigger threat in case CSA over-attacks.
Various text fixes.

TECHNICAL

Mac version got a fix in supported resolutions which could result in unstable playing environment for various Mac systems. Maximum resolution for Retina display cannot be utilized anymore but game can alt-tab without previous issues and controls' accuracy is increased 2x.

Patch 1.6 (25 November 2015)

GAMEPLAY & OTHER

Stronger charge. It should be more powerful now so that the cost vs benefit of a charge is balanced especially against artillery defensive positions.
Stronger melee.
Canister damage reduced slightly. It will help brigades to take down artillery batteries more easily and discourage players to bring cannons too much in front.
Increased damage of some large artillery battalions (It was too low).
Fine tuned morale so that units retreat not so often as before.
Units retreat less far behind.
Balanced Calef (It was an overpowered unit).
Balanced CSA Artillery to be a little more effective overall.
Fixes in targeting and LOS. Units now should make auto-lines, spot and target nearest threat without excessive micromanagement.
Better visual appearance of brigades as soldiers scale and bend formations on the terrain.
In both Multiplayer and Single player mode, units will shutter out of the map after more losses (previously maximum losses were 66% now are 80%).

SCENARIOS

Fixed artillery units positions that were too in front in some scenarios.
VP balances in "Conquer the Map" so that the Confederates can win by acquiring more locations excluding Cemetery Hill and Culp's Hill.
In "Union attacks Benner's Hill" scenario CSA got one extra battalion of artillery and Smith starts closer to Wolf's Hill. Additionally Benner's Hill is valued more so that the Union is forced to take it in order to win.
Balances of reinforcement arrival times in the multiplayer scenario "The Battle of Devil's Den". Now the CSA get early their units so that if Union overstretches too much is in danger to be flanked and crashed early on.
"Pickett's Charge" Scenario has more duration so that the Confederates have enough time to efficiently bombard the Union.
Reinforcement time tweaks for the first battle.
CSA reinforcements may arrive sooner so that forces fight with each other with a way closer to history but also without large pauses of action.

AI

AI improvements so that it is better overall. Especially when it attacks it should concentrate forces more and be more decisive.
AI units should leave better distance from player and make effective fire lines that player will have difficulty to withstand.
AI should desire to flank and execute pressure on weak points more successfully.
AI will play more cautiously and engage its forces only at weak points of player's formations so that it has enough army throughout the whole battle campaign.

Patch 1.55 (15 September 2015)

Better synchronization, more realistic movement of sprites.
Improvement of Brigade movement and visual mechanics.
Formation, collision detection improvements (affects targeting, retreat directions, melee).
Targeting improvements (affects AI positively, units block each other more realistically, hills become more important).
Intensified importance of hills in defense. Some positions like Cemetery Hill and Culp's Hill will feel like fortresses now.
New better melee balance.
Better visual representation of pseudo 3D terrain. You will be able to perceive hill obstructions more accurately as unit formation bend and scale on terrain.
AI overhaul. AI should attack and defend much more efficiently with all personalities.
Some scene fixes including big error in "What if Buford had not held McPherson ridge" which resulted in a broken scenario.
Various fixes and balances for MP battles that were unbalanced.
CSA in "Pickett's charge" has now also Pettigrew and 3 other brigades at their disposal making things really challenging for the Union which get a few more artillery for compensation.
In "Union on the Offensive", CSA have 2 more brigades, and Union has less artillery.
In "Ewell advances" the CSA get 2 more brigades as reinforcements.
In "Devil's Den" reinforcement times for Union have been balanced.
In "Meeting at Cemetery Ridge" Union have one less brigade and CSA a few more artillery pieces.
Various balances and improvements in combat. Balance is carried to Multiplayer version of the game and provides equal opportunities for both sides.
Skirmishers less lethal in ranged combat.
Altered the arrival time of 1st day/1st battle units to fit more the historical facts.
Fixed occasional super damage bug when units were in melee that destabilised combat balance.
Fixed many overpowered artillery batteries for both sides.
Fixed several bugs that made AI to fight at disadvantage since almost always its altitude parameters were lower than the player's and there were also other multiple issues. Now the AI will fight to its full potential, as never seen before.
Fixed bugs that unbalanced multiplayer according to who was hosting.

Patch 1.5

Single Player

Radical gameplay improvements to make the game more realistic. Combat actions will have a "clear loop" meaning that each one of your decisions, to charge, assault an area will have devastating results with one clear winner.... melee and volley shots lethality as well as condition's better balance will not allow the very frequent fall back, charges and rapid change of decisions to correct your tactical mistakes. You will now be able to organise "Pickett's charge" style of attacks but beware, the cost shall be heavy, if you decide wrongly.
AI optimizations. AI should be more effective in attack and defend overall and is more active (mobilizes units to reinforce areas promptly).
AI improvement to concentrate more the forces in important areas.
AI deploys artillery more efficiently, and tries to keep it safe.
AI will protect flanks better.
AI will not choose hazardous maneuver paths as before.
AI will now make better continuous lines.
AI will decide to charge much more efficiently.
AI personalities are now more diverse and distinct. It is more evident in bigger battles in which tactics can differ much according to offensive or defensive nature of the AI opponent.
AI now withdraws and awaits for organised attacks if necessary much more carefully. Melee fixes to inflict more casualties. Previously the damage was too low. Artillery damage tuned better. Previously it could be too powerful. Now artillery does modest, more sensible damage from long and medium range and is devastating as it should be from close range.
Artillery more vulnerable to projectile fire. Now you will think twice to risk your arty on the frontline,
Several balances to Union and CSA combat effectiveness.
Slight rebalance of CSA/USA infantry rifle accuracy (previously it was favouring too much the Union).
Pettigrew and Brockenbrough and Pender Division will delay less to arrive so that Union is pressed more in defense at the first stages of the battle. Improved how unit auto-react and make lines (snap to each other). Improved retreat direction of units. Now the only case that a unit will seek to head towards your lines is when it has no escape rout and so it heads to the army rally points.
Balances in some Multiplayer/Custom Battles: "Chance to change history" map got VP increase of Cemetery Hill and Culp's Hill so it is possible for the Union player to win after a successful delaying tactic.
In "Battle of McPherson Ridge" the CSA get precious cavalry support.
In "Meeting at Cemetery Ridge" starting positions have been balanced so CSA can arrive faster to the ridges while 2nd Division of Sickles army has been removed, because Union had too many troops.
Vincent, Reserve artillery, Slocum and Stannard arrive sooner at "Battle of Devil's Den".
In "What if Buford had not held McPherson" the CSA get more reinforcements but tired. In the same scene it was fixed bug that did not show event message when Union arty arrived.
In "Union attack's Benner hill;" the objective's value is balanced to force Union for more offensive actions. Additionally Union receives more reinforcements and CSA cavalry will always arrive as reinforcements. (previously it could not arrive at all).
"Fight for two hills" central objective placed in the center for more equal battle. New objective added on Benner's Hill to balance the tactics needed for both sides.
Fix of melee collisions issues after loading a save.
Fix of invisible units after loading a save.
Fix of units stuck at edges of map.
Fix of "eternal" melee collision bug that was especially frequent in multiplayer.
Fix of units not firing to nearby enemies (or it can be now a very rare bug).
Fix of melee mechanics problems showing soldiers fighting too frequently without an opponent. Now melee should look much smoother.
Fix of unit collision issues that affected negatively the shape of units on the battlefield, melee mechanics, LoS visibility, targeting and AI.
Other minor fixes in scenarios.

Multiplayer

All the Single Player improvements.
Melee balance is better so as to inflict casualties but will not be overpowered.
Fix of artillery limbering animation that was not visible for opponent.
The Multiplayer maps balances mentioned above.
New Multiplayer maps that are also available in Single Player version as custom battles:
Union on the offensive: "The Confederates are entrenched along Cemetery Hill heights and the Union assembles with superior forces to attack. Stuart's cavalry rushes to aid the defense!"
Defensive line along Warfield Ridge: "The Union has fortified a long line of defense across Warfield ridge. The Confederates need to find a breach and take Cemetery ridge which is lightly defended!"
Night battle on the Round Tops: "The two armies are facing each other at Devil's Den area and night approaches. The Confederates assemble for a large scale assault to take the ridges from the Yankees!"
Corner your opponent: "In this battle there are no objectives. Inflict 350 more casualties than your opponent to claim victory!"

NOTE: Old saves will work in compatibility mode. Battles will be restarted but the campaign progress is kept.