fixed desert hostage mission not loading
-some performance fixes
-fixed duplicate items in stores
-fixed issues with pausing and UI
-possibly some fixes to issues where units/research disappear or aren't persistent

Regarding the last one, I still haven't been able to track down what causes this because I just can't seem to replicate this bug, but many people have reported this bug so I've taken a few guesses at what might be causing it.

I'm not too confident the changes I made fixed it (though it might have), but in any case, I've put some error statements in various parts of the code so that it's easier for me to find out where the problem is. However, since I can't replicate this bug, it would be helpful if any of you guys who encounter this bug could send me the player.log, or just exit the game immediately once that bug happens and just tell me what the last few lines say.

Where is the player log? You can find it in the following:

Go to your main drive, for most people it would be C: but go to whichever drive you installed ur OS on. In that drive, look for the folder Users, and then go to the user that you use. If you don't have separate users on your computer, just go to whichever folder is there. You may have to check "Show Hidden" to see the folders. You can do that by clicking the view button at the top, going to show, and checking the show hidden


In that folder, look for the AppData folder. I think this is hidden by default, so you definitely have to check the Show Hidden as shown above at this point. Within AppData, look for LocalLow, then ApplesauceDev, then SPECWARTactics. Inside you can find your saves, characters, and most importantly, the player.log which basically outputs error messages that your latest game session had. If you don't have that, the player-prev.log might be there instead, although that should actually be the game session prior to the latest.



You can just open a new thread in the discussion or contact me however you want and either send me the file itself, or if you quit the game immediately after the bug happened, you can just copy paste the stuff at the bottom and I can just look through that since that would be the relevant part anyway.

Thanks for the help, and lemme know if you encounter any new bugs, or old bugs as well.

fixed resolution issue where certain resolutions and refresh rates don't save (is now a dropdown menu instead of a selector)
-added delete button on importing characters
-added small repeatable hostage mission

I've been pretty quiet lately, so I just meant to be sort of a notification so that if anyone still follows this game, they can know what's going on and whether the game is dead or not.

SO bug fixes are always a priority, they've seemed to lessen recently so I haven't been doing as many bug fixes now but a few still pop up here and there so if you find any, lemme know and I'll still be working to fix those bugs.

In terms of further development, I've taken a look at the game as a whole, and I found that the whole campaign mission thing was not as fun as I wanted it to be, and often got in the way of just simply doing the mission stuff.

I thought about maybe improving it, but because my resources are limited and things take a long time for be to develop, it might not be the best use of my time to essentially try to make a better grand strategy game within a game that's clearly focused on tactical shenanigans.

I might still go back and rework the campaign stuff later down the line, but right now, this is the description of what I'm currently working on.

CURRENT DEVELOPMENT GOAL

The new game mode will be a Rogue-like gamemode, where you import up to 12 characters with permadeath and stripped of the campaign elements. Instead of a campaign map, you'll simply do missions and gain score at try to get as far as you can.

The idea is to incorporate some of that custom character/team management stuff into a quicker and more "active" gameplay loop, where you just do the missions themselves instead of all the fluff around it.

Things aren't quite set in stone and the details are subject to change, but essentially, it will act as sort of a NG+ where you can play thru a game with ur characters from the campaign and just do mission after mission to see how far you can get. I'll also probably add more missions on top of reusing the ones currently in the game.

MODE DETAILS

Permadeath and Rogue-Like Elements

As mentioned before, there will be permadeath, no new characters, and also no healing. For healing, you'll have to spend lots of money to buy one time use healing, and the idea will be that it'll be harder and harder to keep everyone at max HP. The goal would be to get as high of a score as possible in a run until u either "retire" or lose everyone. You'll probably be able to export these characters at the end again if you wanna try another run.

Streamlined Management

There won't be any training management gameplay, where you upgrade lanes and train soldiers over time. You'll still be able to level up, but you'll just use points to instantly upgrade stats.
I'll also probably remove the research aspect, and you'll simply have everything unlocked, though you'd still purchase it. Idea is to streamline the management->combat aspect of the game, and balancing it thru high maintenance costs from deaths, injuries, equipment, etc.

Possible Stealth Emphasis

This game was originally supposed to be a stealth game, but it kinda fell apart because everyone had machine guns and assault rifles (why sneak when you can blap).
However, I have an idea of adding more stealthy mission types, where it'll either have trigger happy hostage takers, or making certain missions be "solo" missions, with enemy reinforcements on alert (to increase danger of going loud, make stealth more appealing). Lots of interesting possibilities there.


As mentioned before, none of this is set in stone and if you have any suggestions or ideas regarding this game mode, feel free to pop in and lemme know. I don't know if I'd be able to incorporate any super crazy cool ideas, but I've received some pretty good ideas in the past from you guys so it's always helpful to receive feedback and suggestions. Some ideas I've received I haven't mentioned on here but are definitely floating around in my head, trying to see how it can be incorporated into this new mode.

Thanks for playing my game, and I hope you'll enjoy the new mode when it comes out

P.S. If anyone has any cool screenshots, I would appreciate if you could send them to me. I've been using the same pictures for all the announcements/cover images

fixed issue on some maps where not all enemies spawn, preventing mission completion.

Fixed some small Issues
-fixed some ai behavior so some will investigate noises
-fixed pause screen toggle on campaign scene

-added spetsnaz mission
-added foundations for other things (currently no effect on the game)

Accidentally left cheatmode on in one of the updates.

Fixed city quests labeling issue
- Fixed issue where main quest wasn't tracking properly
- Fixed some minor graphics issue causing error

fixed issue where game freezes when exiting certain menus (like mission panels).
-fixed issue where recruiting new characters was free

fixed error with waypoint rework

Fixed SAS mission so it properly unlocks. You should be able to trigger it again, and get it to properly complete after doing the mission.

-Modified pathfinding markers to improve performance

-fixed error in menu when having no troops at all

-Added Spanish Special Forces, Army Rangers

Fixed some building variants allowing you to walk through walls
- Changed the Special Forces mission to improve performance and hopefully prevent crashing (not 100% sure whether this caused the crashing, but seemed likely)

Fixed problem where mission doesn't end

ok NOW they should spawn friendly soldiers

There was an issue where friendly soldiers wouldn't spawn (they would instead spawn as enemies) in missions involving objective control. Should be resolved.

Another issue addressed was when finishing said mission types, where it would be stuck in a glitched endless loading screen.

fixed bug where saves with grenades in inventory weren't able to be loaded
-added toughness stat effects

forgot to change some icons for some items

Fixed SF unlock mission where enemy waves wouldn't spawn
-Polished up JTF and SEAL unlock missions
-temporarily added KCT as a variant of JTF (will change to be its own thing at a later time)

-Fixed bug where uniform pants wouldn't save
-Added a few labels and text to make unit unlocking mechanic easier
-Changed loading menu scrollbar sensitivity

small UI fix

Fixed major bug where on some maps, enemies wouldn't spawn properly making mission unfinishable
-minor tweaks to tutorial to make it somewhat more informative
-minor tweaks to settings

Resolution fix (not all refresh rates appearing)
-Group movement fix, where some units cant pathfind to their destination and just stand there in place

Fixed some resolution issues with widescreen where some UI elements are warped/not appear correctly
-Fixed hospital issue where dead soldiers would remain in the hospital and break it
-Fixed ability to get free XP when entering and exiting mission immediately
-Lowered cost of cosmetics

Minor bug fixes

SPECWAR Tactics is out, and on sale for 35% off!

If you have any feedback, bugs, or comments, be sure to post them on the community forums or in the discord!

Discord

I would really appreciate if you guys offered feedback/bug reports. Being only one person, it's been very hard to test and try to find all bugs and issues, and I've been working hard to make sure all bugs were squashed, but I'm sure as soon as you play it, more will start popping up at the worst moments.

Anyway, while I avoided using the early access tag, there are a few things I planned on adding but had to cut. I'm planning on adding them over time, here are a few things that will be coming the soonest:

-Character Portraits (right now they use unit icons)
-More items, cosmetics, etc
-QOL additions and tweaking of controls
-Potentially more units



Anyway, hope you enjoy the game, let me know if you guys have any questions or comments!