Attention everyone,

the time has come, the Beta for Strategic Command WWII: War in the Pacific has officially commenced.

We've sent the first waves of invitations and more are coming, keep and eye on your inbox.

Six campaigns are ready to test, if you haven't already, please send your request to join the Beta here[www.matrixgames.com] and don't forget to wishlist the game.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2740080/Strategic_Command_WWII_War_in_the_Pacific/

We are proud to announce our new Home of Wargamers live event, which will take place on September 12th at 5 pm UK time.

Join us on our Twitch channel to know more about our biggest franchises. You can set a reminder here[www.twitch.tv].

We will talk about a lot of important updates for some of our Matrix Games best sellers and coming soon games, such as:

• Modern Naval Warfare
  
• Nuclear War Simulator
  
• Command Modern Operations
  
• Flashpoint Campaigns
  
• Rule the Waves 3
  
• Strategic Command
  
• Combat Mission
  
• Valor & Victory

"It is February 1904 and Russia and Japan are at war!

This is a conflict in which neither side can afford delay. A long war for Japan means not only overwhelming numbers of Russian reinforcements, including the prestigious Baltic Fleet, but also the threat of financial collapse. The Tsar, meanwhile, has been promised an easy victory over the scorned Japanese, and failure to defeat them quickly risks not only humiliation but perhaps even revolution.

A grand battle for the control of East Asia is about to begin. Are you ready to take sides?"

We are proud to announce the release of 1904 Imperial Sunrise, a free campaign for all the owners of Strategic Command: American Civil War.

Alongside the free campaign we also release the update 1.08.00

Here is the full changelog:

GAME ENGINE
- Fixed an upgrade tool error that would sometimes allow you to upgrade resources beyond available MPPs (Jkap).
- Fixed an issue where towns would sometimes change control, despite not entering or formally gaining control of the town, after being attacked by a unit that moved first before attacking (Chernobyl).
- Land units will now be surprised by an enemy naval unit that is located on a Land + Sea hex (Tanaka).
- Coastal Guns will now fire back at attacking naval units (archmache).

EDITOR
- Units set to a default of zero action points in the Editor can no longer transport.
- Enemy ZoC movement penalty values can now be separately set for land and naval units in the Movement Costs screen.

CAMPAIGNS
1866
- Fixed naval zone error making hex 34,41 impassable
- Fixed weather zones around map boundaries
- Hexes 17,54 and 17,58 now sea hexes instead of land+sea
- Hex 26,38 now a land/Carrizal hex instead of land+sea, allows the fortress there to fire correctly (Edprem)
- Corrected name of the Neembucu River

1870
- Campaign now grouped with ACW release campaigns in the selection menu to make clearer the distinction between DLC and non-DLC campaigns

1879
- DE 1 (Chile Declare Major Victory) will only fire if Peru still controls Lima
- DE 2 (Peru Declare Major Victory) will only fire if Chile still controls Santiago

1898
- Fixed minor translation error (xavi_san_lla)

1904
- Added '1904 Imperial Sunrise' campaign

All CW Campaigns
- Fixed location error for the Union Capture of Shreveport FS event (Mithrilotter)
- Mobility research will no longer show as an upgrade for Siege Artillery (Mithrilotter)
- Fixed the location of Valley Forge (jimpyle)
- Corrected route of the Appomattox River (jimpyle)
- Union War Weariness increased to 400 FS points per turn (was 200) (Scum)
- Each border/Southern state capital, marked with blue stars, now provides 25 FS points to its owner each turn (Scum)
- Railroad at Dover TN now connected to the line immediately south of the town (Tanaka)

OTHER
- Updated Strategy Guides

On June 29th, we will be releasing the 1.08 patch for Strategic Command: American Civil War. In addition to the usual fixes and improvements, and as a way of celebrating the first anniversary of the game’s launch, this update also includes a brand new campaign, available for free to everyone who owns the game!

In this developer diary, we introduce 1904 Imperial Sunrise, covering the Russo-Japanese War.

Humbly reporting to YOUR IMPERIAL MAJESTY. Around midnight [February 8-9th], Japanese torpedo boats undertook a sudden attack on our squadron at Port Arthur base. The battleships Retvizan and Tsarevich and the cruiser Pallada have been ruptured; the degree of damage is being determined.
- Telegram from Viceroy Alekseyev to Tsar Nicholas II, on the first day of the war.

The story of the Russo-Japanese War began with Japan’s victory over China in 1895. In a war lasting a mere eight months, Japan had destroyed the Chinese Navy, asserted Japanese influence over Korea, conquered Formosa and captured Port Arthur, perhaps the finest harbour in the region. Yet the ink on the resultant Treaty of Shimonoseki had scarcely dried before Russia, with the support of France and Germany, pressured Japan to return Port Arthur to China in exchange for an enlarged war indemnity.

The Tsar, whose contempt for the Japanese dated back to an attempted assassination during an 1891 state visit to the country, had his own ambitions in the Far East. Within a few short years, Russia had deployed thousands of soldiers in Manchuria, established and fortified the naval base at Port Arthur, and was making moves to gain influence in Korea, causing alarm in Tokyo. When negotiations with St Petersburg stalled, the Japanese felt the only option left to them was war.

The Sun Rises

The campaign begins on the morning of February 9, 1904, and the Japanese player is immediately faced with decisions that will shape the outcome of the war.

In the Yellow Sea, Admiral Togo is stationed with the bulk of the Combined Fleet outside Port Arthur. The previous night, Japanese torpedo boats launched a surprise attack against the Russian Pacific Fleet, damaging several ships but sinking none, and the decision must now be made regarding a second strike: the Russian defences at Port Arthur are not yet fully prepared, and the damage suffered the previous night renders them vulnerable.

However, a more cautious approach may be worth considering instead. Port Arthur, located at the tip of the Liaodong Peninsula, is vulnerable to blockade by both land and sea. A sustained naval presence in the Yellow Sea, supported by naval mines, may be able to trap the Russian Navy in port without the need for an immediate, and costly, battle. Of course, this also risks the Russians attempting to fight their way out…

Japan’s greatest advantage lays in the preparations it has made before declaring war. Lessons learned from the war against China, and extensive training since, have provided Japanese units with a significant advantage in experience, while generous recruitment of local civilians in China and Korea will provide Japan with a generally favourable supply situation and regular intelligence updates.

Challenges of Deployment

With Tokyo having realised that further negotiations with the Tsar’s government would be fruitless by the end of 1903, the Imperial Army was mobilised and ready for battle. At the same time that Togo struck the Russian Fleet at Port Arthur, detachments of the IJA First Army were disembarking at Chemulpo, repeating a manoeuvre that had served them so well ten years prior.

These units, the 2nd and 12th Divisions, as well as General Kuroki’s headquarters, while sufficient to ensure the capitulation of the Korean government, represent merely the forward detachments for the Japanese land campaign. The rest of the Imperial Army begins the campaign still stationed on the Home Islands, and it will be up to you to manage their deployment in Korea and Manchuria, a task that will require you to navigate shortages of transport ships, frozen harbours (at least until the ice melts), and the constant threat of Russian cruisers.

Playing as Russia, you will need to plan the deployment of your forces carefully. While the Tsar’s army boasts more than a million soldiers (albeit lacking the quality of the Japanese army), these are deployed primarily in Europe and Central Asia, far from the likely battlefields of Manchuria. Russia’s industrial power dwarfs that of the Japanese, but the capacity of the Trans-Siberian Railroad limits the number of men that can be sent to the Far East.

Unlike Japan, Russia’s army (excepting the 100,000 men scattered across various small garrisons in the region) does not begin deployed on the map. Taking the place of Viceroy Alekseyev, you will need to request which units to send to the Far East via the Unit Purchase Screen. Sending these units will take time, forcing you to plan your battles several months in advance to ensure you have sufficient men on hand when the time comes.

A Race Against Time

No matter which side you choose to command, the calendar will be your enemy.

For Japan, the reasons for this are obvious. Going to war at all was a huge gamble by the leadership in Tokyo, as while Russia could count on nearly unlimited reserves of manpower, Japan meanwhile had virtually no reserves, and with less access to foreign markets than the Russians, it also risks financial collapse if the war drags on too long.

However, thanks to its pre-war preparations, Japan – provided the Imperial Navy can keep the supply routes to Korea open – can deploy its forces to the battlefield much more quickly than the Russians, providing them with a short-lived quantitative advantage. Japan therefore faces a dilemma: a rapid advance offers the best chance to deal a devastating blow to the Russian military before their numbers become too overwhelming, but this will result in heavier casualties that Japan can ill afford and will erode the quality of their units: quality that may well prove the difference in battles to come.

Russia too can scarcely afford delay. While in the long run the strength of the Russian Army in the Far East will grow to eclipse that of the Japanese, initially the Manchurian garrisons under Generals Zasulich and Kuropatkin will face an overwhelming advance, and merely 200 miles separate the Yalu River from Port Arthur, a distance the Japanese covered in just two months in 1894.

Furthermore, the prestige and reputation of the Tsar himself have been staked on the outcome of this war. No Asian nation has ever defeated a European power in a major conflict, placing enormous pressure on Russia to win a swift and decisive victory or risk great humiliation. With discontent growing against the Tsar’s autocratic regime, perhaps the Tsar’s interior minister said it best: “In order to prevent revolution, we need a little victorious war.”

Do You See the Torpedo Boats?

Success in this campaign will ultimately depend on your ability to achieve mastery both on land and at sea. With expectations of victory set so high by leaders in both Tokyo and St Petersburg, your nation’s Fighting Spirit will be rapidly eroded by even small reverses – the sinking of a battleship or the capture of a mere provincial city could be the difference between triumph and disaster.

Should the Imperial Navy fail to contain the Russian fleets in Port Arthur and Vladivostok, the Russians may be able to strike at Japan’s Fighting Spirit more directly, by imposing a blockade of Japan. By moving their warships, even for only a brief time, on or adjacent to any of the marked locations around the Japanese and Korean coastlines, Russia can disrupt Japanese trade and humiliate the Japanese Navy in a way that China never managed to in 1894. A sustained blockade may even doom the Japanese overland campaigns, as Russian warships cut the sea routes between the Home Islands and Korea, preventing the Imperial Army from receiving reinforcements.

Or will it be the greatest reinforcement of all that determines the outcome of the war?

The Russian Baltic Fleet is perhaps this conflict’s most remarkable chapter. Historically, the Baltic Fleet, or Second Pacific Squadron as it was officially called from mid-1904, embarked on an epic eight-month voyage halfway around the world (a journey both audacious and absurd), only to be destroyed in the Battle of Tsushima mere days before reaching their destination of Vladivostok. In the campaign, players will be provided notifications of the Baltic Fleet’s travels around the coasts of Europe and Africa, before the ships themselves deploy on the map in May 1905. Plan for it carefully, and the arrival of Rozhestvensky’s “miserable fleet” could be the decisive moment of the war!

“The Empire’s fate depends upon the outcome of this battle. Let everyone do his best”
- Admiral Togo, before the Battle of Tsushima.

Hi everyone,

we have a new build for ACW, please see the changelog here:

GAME ENGINE
- Fixed an issue with HQ attachments and the associated HQ ratings and experiences that could be lost under rare circumstances (Chernobyl).
- Fixed a FREE UNIT error that led to unattackable units if they formed on surrendered and occupied territory and assigned to a Major that was not yet fully mobilized and belligerent (klschult).
- Fixed a rare pathfinding error that led to an in game freeze (Von Hugo).
- Fixed an AI turn sub diving error that did not properly hide player control subs from the AI after a dive (Mithrilotter).
- Pathfinding routine optimized with a 3X improvement for some of the worst long distance A to B pathfinding cases.
- Defender units that are destroyed before they can retreat will now output a 'Shattered' message to better indicate halved losses for the attacker (Taxman66).
- Balloons should now fully move/operate as (non air) land units where previously there was still some outstanding air unit movement considerations in play.

CAMPAIGNS
1846
- Improved US Amphibious AI behaviour

1870
- Adjusted FS value of Settlements to 0 (was 2); Towns to 2 (was 5); Cities to 30 (was 25); Major Fortresses to 30 (was 0); Mines to 0 (was 10) (OldCrowBalthazor)
- Added DE 215, allowing the French player to choose between four Defenses units or two Brigades to deploy at Metz.

1879
- Initial land unit spawns will now arrive by 1879/07/01 at the latest (was 1879/09/01)

1898
- Yellow Fever will now strike every hex in Cuba (Unfortunate Son)
- Fixed an error causing Yellow Fever to be more severe for the US AI
- Spanish ship Carlos V now a Cruiser with 2 experience stars (was a Battleship with 1 experience star)

All Campaigns
- Field Artillery naval attack reduced to 0 (was 1)

OTHER
- Fixed translation errors (HindenburgDesaster, Pavia)
- Updated Strategy Guides

Hi everyone,

today we are releasing the first patch after the launch of Wars in the Americas.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2259440/Strategic_Command_American_Civil_War__Wars_in_the_Americas/

Here is the changelog:

GAME ENGINE
- Fixed an issue that allowed some newly deployed Naval units that are not river units, to deploy in a river hex.
- Fixed a surprised hidden enemy unit error that allowed some units to move through hidden units.
- Fixed a DLC campaign loading issue that would in some cases load incorrect customized text in game (Louie Kaboom).

EDITOR
- Placing a < symbol at the end of the #MAP_POSITION in STRENGTH scripts will allow for targeted units to be destroyed.

CAMPAIGNS
1846
- Set control of eastern Chihuahua and northern Coahuila to Comanche
- Added a second port to New Orleans LA
- Improved US AI exclsuions (Tanaka)
- Improved US AI garrison behaviour
- Improved US offensive AI behaviour (Tanaka)
- Added the settlement of Anton Lizardo VE

1870
- Added French Major Victory if France controls Coblenz (Xsillione)
- French 1st Cavalry Division will now deploy on 1870/08/03 at Nancy (was 1870/08/05 at Strasbourg) (OldCrowBalthazor)
- Chasseurs des Vosges Franc-Tireurs will now spawn in St Die if a German unit is within 7 hexes of St Die, or the date is 1870/08/28
- Added additional Franc-Tireurs locations (OldCrowBalthazor)
- Improved German AI garrison behaviour

1898
- Extended map south by 4 hexes (Edprem)
- Added a port and Spanish fort unit at Manzanillo CB
- DE 501 will now correctly appear at the end of the first US turn
- Forts now begin the campaign fully entrenched

OTHER
- Updated Strategy Guides

Strategic Command: American Civil War – Wars in the Americas is out now.

For the first time in the history of the series we are proud to announce the release of the first DLC for Strategic Command.

Strategic Command: Wars in the Americas gives you the opportunity to fight five new campaigns covering some of the greatest conflicts of the mid/late 19th century. Including battlefields ranging from the deserts of Peru to the jungles of Cuba, these campaigns will provide countless hours of entertainment while challenging your strategic skills to the utmost!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2259440/Strategic_Command_American_Civil_War__Wars_in_the_Americas/

This DLC contains five major wars, new unit types, new historical leaders, new events and so much more.
Don’t miss out: Strategic Command: American Civil War will be at a discount of 10% off for a few days, but this offer won’t last. Grab your copy now to take advantage of this release offer.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1966130/Strategic_Command_American_Civil_War/
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/30320/Strategic_Command_American_Civil_War_Complete/