Game Admin page AKA The War Department

Hi everyone,
I thought Id take a few minuets today to update you all on what we have been working on for The Campaign of 1863 over the last few weeks, the new "War Department" page. This new page will be accessible from the My Games page and will display helpful game data along with some key new game features.

The game data listed will include: current game date/turn, current objective held by status (Harrisburg - USA for example), casualty totals for each side. There will also be a listing of player/commander data for each player in the game which will include: current turn orders issued? (yes/no), number of consecutive turns missed, and the total number of turns missed.

The new game features will include:
Quit - This will allow players to abandon the listed game.
Pause - This will allow players to vote to pause the listed game. The game will only be paused if all active players vote to pause the game (with a specified resume date)
Holiday - This will allow players to voluntarily transfer command of their units to their Army Commander (with a specified date at which units will be automatically transferred back to the player)
After Action report (Evaluations) - This will allow players to evaluate their fellow players in a variety of categories.
AWOL commanders - This will not appear as an option for players. It will function as an automatic assumption of the missing commanders units by the Army Commander and will be triggered when a commander has missed a certain number of consecutive turns.

The new War Department page will be made available as soon as possible, however the new game features will come online and be made available on a case by case basis.

Demo Now Available

We are very happy to announce that a Demo version of The Campaign of 1863 is now available. The Demo game lets you preview the look and feel of C63 while dropping you straight into the action. Taking place on the Day (or a.m.) game turn of June 29th you play as commander A.P. Hill. You will be able to read correspondence, view your staff reports (combat, unit, and intelligence reports) and plan orders for your units however the Demo game will not process an actual turn, meaning you will be unable to "issue" your orders or send out any correspondence.

Situation Report for commander A.P. Hill:
Previously having taken heavy losses around Fredrick City General Lee has requested you to pull back. You now find yourself under heavy Union assault in Haggerstown while the rest of your forces are scattered. General Lee has now decided to make a last stand around Gettysburg and has ordered you to join him if possible. Can you push through the Federal brigades standing in your way?

New Games Available Now!

Mutant Entertainment Studios is very happy to announce that we have a new set of Beta Testing games available for The Campaign of 1863. There are two "Full" 5 vs 5 games as well as several of the new "Duel" one on one games. Please feel free to jump into any available game you would like. Registration is free and gives you 1 game "slot". When your free game ends you are more than welcome to jump into another free game. Premium accounts are available to those wishing to play in more than 1 game.

Thanks
Jeff - Mutant Entertainment Studios

New 2 Player Game and Command Acceptance

Funny thing about team player games is that they require a team of players.

This became very apparent over the last month as we had many people sign up to play but fail to show up for the actual game. Frustrating for the players that actually try to play and frustrating for us as we try and build up enough of a player base to fill a few 5 vs 5 team games. So in the next few days we are very happy to announce a new 2 player version of C63: Lee vs Meade will be made available. This new version of the game will feature all of the strategic elements of The Campaign of 1863 while placing each player in charge of the entire Army of Northern Virgina or Army of the Potomac respectively.

A second feature we are happy to announce is the new Command Acceptance phase of a game. Now when a game is full (10 players for The Campaign of 1863 or 2 players for C63: Lee vs Meade) all players will be prompted to "accept their command". When all players have accepted the game is launched and we will send out notifications automatically that the game is ready and waiting. If other players fail to respond by the deadline (1 week after the game is full for daily games and 2 weeks after for weekly games) the MIA players are removed from the game and other players are free to take their place.

We have several other exciting new features planned, so stay tuned

Open Beta Announcement:

Beginning Monday October 11th, gamers will be able to experience the tense, strategic, team vs team gameplay that only Campaign of 1863 can deliver.

The Campaign of 1863 features one of the most important campaigns of the U.S. Civil War. With over 150,000 troops and the fate of a nation hanging in the balance, players will assume the role and responsibilities of one of ten historic military commanders. For each game turn, players will plan their actions, dispatch their orders and await the results.

Can you maneuver your forces to victory or will you suffer an inglorious defeat?

Enlist today!

New Features and Enhancements List

As we are busy gearing up for Open Beta Testing (check back for an official announcement soon) this post is just a quick run down of the new features and improvements that will be added to Campaign of 1863 in the near future.
(In no particular order):

• Player save system
  
• Entrench markers
  
• "On Holiday" command (transfer control to Leading General)
• Abandon command (promote units to Leading General. Note this will carry a penalty)
• Mail System enhancements (reply, send to all, map, fwd action reports, sent mail listing, sent mail read by recipient indicator)
• Explanation of orders on roll over
• Leading General option to surrender (Note this will carry a penalty)
• Automatic turn due reminder
• Automatic missed turn email
• Attach/Detach units
• Transfer units
• No orders yet graphic indicator for units

Please remember that while we are in Open Beta, all game features are subject to change and or removal.

New features for Beta 2

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to give you all a quick update on the new features currently being added to C63:

1. Save system. Allows you to temporarily save a set of orders.
2. Friendly/Enemy unit info. You may now mouse over friendly/enemy units and receive some info about them.
3. Staff report page. You will now receive more detailed info on your leader status. It will include a summary of wins, loses, draws for each combat type; A summary of casualties inflicted and incurred for both the last turn and the campaign; And a list of maps that you currently have intelligence on.
4. Basic Fog of War. Maps will now appear slightly grey-ed out to indicate that you have no info on them.
5. Enhanced Lee/Meade leader view. The Lee/Meade roles now receive intelligence on all subordinate commander units. All Friendly and 'sighted' enemy units appear on maps, unit reports, and combat reports.
6. Mail In fixes. You will now be able to receive unlimited messages. Letter displays now open and close.
7. Various User Interface fixes/enhancements