I've added links to preview or play the alpha map. Remember, the game is in development, so things may change or break at any time! Playing the alpha map would be more about exploring the new game, helping test, and providing feedback.

Looking forward to this. It’s been a long time coming.

Thanks for getting this project going again. I’ll pass the word. 

Finally I can return to the place of my greatest victories. And my most embarrassing defeats..

I look forward to a glorious Alpha world campaign

Amazing! Glad to see this project being revived. The Golden Horde will march across the land (and sea) once again! 

Few notes but mostly assuming these are features that have not been implemented yet since this is Alpha after all: (1) From muscle memory, found myself attempting to combine units already but did not find an option to do so. (2) Sea base buildings do not appear as available to build but units have a board transport button. (3) My unit orders are in the log but I no longer see them on the map after closing the window and coming back. (4) The layout, map zoom, and the new tile set is really cool. 

Kadath, yes, there are features that will be built out over the next few weeks. (I'll do a separate thread on that.) The attack lines should be showing, though. To confirm, could you have clicked the "Preview Alpha Map" when you didn't see the attack lines? Or is it definitely when you click "Play Alpha"? If it's in the game, I'll have to debug.

Also, regarding unit merges, I think I may just have build and sell. I think I like the idea of the strength of a unit being reflective of a given unit's power rather than the number of them (which can them split and merge). And side note, sell is still to come.

Another change I made it scale. The alpha map is the medium size world, and I'm thinking of sectors more like provinces. Movement isn't quite as intense as the old game, so not quite as many pieces to gobble up. But, if you look at the feature list on the GT home page, you'll notice that more strategy will be needed on expansion as I build the rest out!

Johnny that worked! Attack lines are back and no console errors. Will let you know if we encounter any more! 

I tried to cancel an airplane build and it still shows, then I cancelled an infantry build and that seems to not work either I will update, after the update if it actually canceled.

Another thing I realized that I missed was that I have a 3m "freeze" on orders before the cycle, but it accidentally defaulted to 60 minutes. So, if you were trying to make changes after 3AM, they would have failed. I fixed that.

I was definitely trying to delete the jet and the soldier in that window (I’m on mountain time) but I also only clicked one jet to order and one missile I was trying to check price and range, so I decided to buy one of each and figure it out later. 

1) Done!

2) Done! Though, I made the next cycle's movement be solid white and the remainder be dashed white. (I used yellow for boarding/disembarking and green for air attacks.)

3) The "Advantage" game mode is a percent of occupied territory, once at least 50% of the map is occupied. But, I just changed the value to 90% for Alpha.

Also, FYI, after tonight's cycle, Bridges and Fog of War will be active!

Let's gooo!!!

(is there a restriction on new players? my 14 yo son- who wasn't even born yet when we started with round 1!!! signed up, but can't get started on the map)

1) Amazing! 

2) This is good. The only other feedback here is perhaps the Attack Path option should also draw in the solid white line for moves within the movement range (and dashed beyond that) before the confirmation of the order. It shows up fine after confirmation but would help with decision making. Not huge, just QOL and probably good for my brain to do some simple math either way. 

I do like that different terrain has different movement cost which requires some more strategic thought compared to the old days. Will be interesting when we have some of the first engagements. Is there some sort of terrain type/elevation defense bonus implemented or planned?

3) Got it! 

It's awesome seeing these old faces pop up in the forum. 

Railhound try clicking the Preview Map, then selecting a capital there.

Sorry, since I'm still building out the game, I haven't put much into the whole world list, joining, etc., yet!

And that's amazing to hear about your son not being born for the first game and hopping it now!

Kadath I'll look into the path during set option!

There is both a "hunker down" and a terrain advantage to defending units, yes! This will also be put into documentation when the game is built out, but the details are:

- +2% defender damage per cycle held
- capped at +30%

- Hills: +15% defender damage
- Mountains: +25% defender damage
- Forest: +10% defender damage
- Plains/grass: no bonus

And agreed, love seeing old faces back on here!

Johnny is there an order to how ground units move, or is it the order I set it up?

R005T3R_D your units move in the order you set the attacks, correct!

Kadath I updated the "Attack Path" to calculate the route with each click, allowing me to highlight the next cycle's movement as solid and then dashed beyond. Also has the benefit of seeing what each click will do instead of seeing it at the end!

So I thought we could load 2 things on a transport, but in retrospect it might have been axis and allies… was that here or there lol

Hah, it must have been the other! But, it's my fault for not checking for a double boarding command. This is the kind of stuff I need to clean up in the Alpha map!

I'll be building out the rest of my ideas for the roadmap thread, then I'm going to start a Bravo map that has everything enabled from the start. The Alpha map is the medium size, so I may try the large size for the Bravo. I think the Research tab will be the most interesting, seeing what path people take for unlocking objects!

This is perfect! 

Some minor comments/questions/suggestions for today: 

(1) Is there meant to an air base transfer order for air units? I can't seem to find and if not would be helpful! To include the ability to sell air units.

(2) I'm digging the new economy system.  Still trying to figure out some of the nuances  but that's part of the fun. That said, it would be nice to see the projected 3 radius when building a new refinery - have to eyeball it right now. 

A few notes so far.

1) This is not the same game. You can see its bones but it is much more complicated

2)The early game is the most important. Missing three out of the first five days is your doom.

3)I don't really understand the point of refineries.  Sectors have value. I earn that value. 

4)Pay attention to your income. Otherwise you are going to find yourself in a battle you can't win

Thanks for bringing the game back. 

Totally agree. That old game had some good bones so I am really enjoying this revival so far. 

Early game was always important. It remains to be determined but I have a suspicion it will be less important in Second Strike than it was in the old days. 

A lot of the old tricks for fast/exponential growth are muted or non-existent now: (1) New bases and units take a full turn to build -  these were instant gratification in the old days  (2) no more splitting units as you expand to capture more territory (3) No more instant movement with construction trucks (4) no more coast hopping, you could expand ridiculously far with the right mix of units and transports. Boarding now takes a full turn and doesn't allow ship movement in the same turn. Kills that old strategy. (5) Heartland - there's a cap on how much resources/income you can have without building refineries. (6) I see some hints at other mechanics that benefit smaller players (insurgency, defense bonuses). 

In all, I think the first engagements will be really telling but I'm going to guess that the big guys who had an earlier or more efficient start won't be able to steam roll as effectively as they could in the old game. 

Agreed, same bones, but a lot more layers now! This is the vision I've had for the game in the back of my mind. When I first built the game, I pictured people having a lot more protracted battles before a victor emerged. The original game was a bit too much of just a simple race for sectors. I want more balance and strategy.

With this game, rapid expansion can come back to bite you. You have to get trucks out to build refineries to earn income from sectors beyond your heartland. (You can see this in the Economy map view.) You also can't leave your inner land too exposed, with paratroopers now being an option. And, defending units have an advantage, so being the aggressor has more challenge.

And, I added rebels so countries being overrun have a real chance at stopping an incursion from a bigger country. They have a fighting advantage in their heartland, and they are free. The more land you lose, the more rebels you get (since more people are motivated to join the fight to save their country). So, if you're going to try to take a country out, you have to work for it!

Lots of new dynamics, so I'll definitely appreciate all your feedback. If it's still too easy to steamroll, I'll make more adjustments. I'll also be looking for feedback on the new Research component. I'm not sure if it'll be too quick to unlock objects.

I'm happy to bring it back, and I really appreciate you guys coming back to play!

Also, now that I think I'm mostly caught up on the GT features I wanted to build out, I'm going to flesh out some of the TMS site (like adding Notes back in, so players can communicate) and the GT page (world list, etc.). Then I'll start dabbling in some promotions to see if we can draw in more players.

Plus, I think I mentioned before that it might be interesting to add a single player mode, where you play on a smaller map, choose the other country difficulty levels, and "cycle" any time you want. That way people who enjoy the game can play as much as they want.

And that brings another idea to mind. If the player base is low, it might be interesting to assign AI control to unclaimed capitals in public worlds. Let me know what you guys think!

Johnny    Good luck! Would love to see this game thrive.

Have my own very small web game project and have found sub-reddits are good place to get some free traffic and feedback when you're ready. Would suggest r/PBBG or r/WebGames to start.

Edit: Adding a shameless link plug but thought you might enjoy the share. Much dfferent type of game but you may notice some subtle GT influence...

Edit 2: The forum link feature doesn't seem to work or maybe is being blocked. https://playpush.net/

This looks really slick with the elevation relief and 3d. Still stuck on mobile now but it was fun to explore and was fairly intuitive to navigate with touch controls. Assuming you plan to allow a similar view during play?

I don't think capital locations of other players should be a secret by default (but still might be a fun mode option if you intend for custom games). 

From a practical or even "role-play" stand point all of these nations at this tech level shoulf have some idea of where other nations are.

I do feel a bit bad about steaming over Bagel last round, not sure if they knew I had troops that close when they started yesterday... might be worth considering giving late players a view of the area to the extant of the heartland range so they are aware of immediate dangers...

Question about Jets and air attacks in general.
Air attacks are based on attacking a sector. Which is great for attacking building since they cant move. 

If I send a jet after a jeep and the jeep moves first, I attack an empty sector.

Also I cannot send multiple jets to attack the same sector. I get an message stating that an attack has already been scheduled for that target.

My jeeps are just faster than your jets! 

Agree here, seem to recall legacy GT had a target tile and a target unit option for air units?

Hanibel ah, I complete forgot about setting air attacks on units! It's in place now. I split "Launch Attack" into "Attack Sector" and "Attack Unit."

As for same sector attacks, I made that change with the switch from strength to health/skill. Since units aren't built at level 1-9 anymore, it didn't seem fair to be able to so easily send 9 air units to attack it at once. If you have the resources and want to strike it multiple time, it will require the expense and time to set attacks from multiple air bases in range. I figured that would help balance the game more.

Opinion! Should treaties between countries be public (thumbs up) or private (thumbs down)?

Private but make it something these spy units can uncover via espionage??

Can we make it an option, a secret treaty has advantages, but showing a treaty publicly also can be a strategic move.

I love this idea! I had thought that it might be interesting to get intel when getting a spy into a land base, but I had just thought maybe something like the amount of cash, or a reveal of their full fog of war range. Treaties is a really good one!