Making History: The First World War will be released as an Early Access title in the near future. Visit the The First World War Steam page to get updated game information and participate in the Community Hub here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/959150/Making_History_The_First_World_War/

Factus Games announces the release of a new content expansion for Making History: The Second World War featuring many of the foremost vessels of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Among the models you get are Fubuki-class destroyers, Fus-class dreadnoughts and the largest battleship ever constructed, the Yamato, plus many more.
This is a free DLC enhancement that includes some minor system changes and bug fixes. All current and new owners of Making History: The Second World War will see the Japanese fleet models on Full or Medium Model Set options with the latest update, version 1.0.61701.46. Weve also added in a newly built British Dreadnought model that was constructed for the upcoming Making History: The Great War Gold Edition. Factus Games intends to provide more models, events and scenarios for The Second World War in the near future. Release Notes: - Added new Japanese & British ship models into game - Fixed error in Japanese Northern Route Event to provide Japanese Mech Infantry instead of German - Added region control checks for German Unit expansion events - Put in fix for Japanese Puppet Mengjiang triggering Sino-Japan war - Communist and Fascist governments will not form an alliance unless they are both at war with the same great power - Fixed paging issue on sub group selection panel - Removed some duplicate code that code prevent some events from firing.

Factus Games proudly announces the official release of Making History: The Second World War. We wish to extend a special thanks to all the players who assisted the development team through the Early Access period. The feedback and bug reports were extremely helpful to our efforts. We also received many great suggestions and some we were able to add to the game. Going forward we will continue to support Making History: The Second World War with updates, improvements and any necessary bug fixes.

Making History: The Second World War is scheduled to release on April 27 2018.

A new version of the Second World War is now available. Update #10 is intended to be our final Early Access Update. The plan is to have the game ready for an official release sometime next month. Many of the previous updates were focused on the AI. In this release we begin to turn our attention again towards features and UI clean up. Submarine detection behavior has been significantly improved. Now ships and aircraft with sub detection capability only have a % chance to see a sub on a given turn. This allows us to give higher level units improved sub sighting ability and expand the stealth gameplay of the submarine units. Enemy subs can more easily sneak up on a fleet, engage and retreat. The naval AI received some further attention. Nations will no longer send their fleets to bombard land forces while ignoring Coastal Defense attacks against it. This was leading to some unwise shipping losses in the English Channel. The AI will now prioritize target coastal batteries but generally avoid dangerous sea regions - except when enemy transports appear. We also made changes to encourage naval AI to provide escorts for their capital ships. A couple of features suggested by a Steam Forum user were added. Aircraft, Missiles and Artillery units can now directly target enemy Artillery groups. Before the attack order applied damages to all land units in a region. And the Strafing Order was changed from only running a single turn to being continuous until canceled. Both these ideas seemed good enough to squeeze in, even though were not really in an add new features phase. The UI has been getting small fixes, mostly tasks like adding missing properties in the Encyclopedia and improving labeling consistency. The Encyclopedia is still missing a lot of description information, as is the lobby. Many of these items have been written but not yet put into the game. They will all be filled in for the final release. In version 10 we have introduced an in-game, light tutorial for new users. This will mostly present information about the UI and also be some introductory gameplay hints. We are looking at adding a Glossary to the Encyclopedia that will also include more howto information. The Second World War is almost complete. And while there is a lot of work ahead, the remaining items on our must-have list are dwindling fast. Its been a long haul getting the game to this point - much longer than we planned for. Im going to save the excuses for the post release recap. In the meantime, thank you to all the current users out there who have offered us feedback and bug reports. This process would have taking us even longer without your support.

Release Notes for Early Access Update #10

A new version of the Second World War is now available. Update #10 is intended to be our final Early Access Update. The plan is to have the game ready for an official release sometime next month. Many of the previous updates were focused on the AI. In this release we begin to turn our attention again towards features and UI clean up. Submarine detection behavior has been significantly improved. Now ships and aircraft with sub detection capability only have a % chance to see a sub on a given turn. This allows us to give higher level units improved sub sighting ability and expand the stealth gameplay of the submarine units. Enemy subs can more easily sneak up on a fleet, engage and retreat. The naval AI received some further attention. Nations will no longer send their fleets to bombard land forces while ignoring Coastal Defense attacks against it. This was leading to some unwise shipping losses in the English Channel. The AI will now prioritize target coastal batteries but generally avoid dangerous sea regions - except when enemy transports appear. We also made changes to encourage naval AI to provide escorts for their capital ships. A couple of features suggested by a Steam Forum user were added. Aircraft, Missiles and Artillery units can now directly target enemy Artillery groups. Before the attack order applied damages to all land units in a region. And the Strafing Order was changed from only running a single turn to being continuous until canceled. Both these ideas seemed good enough to squeeze in, even though we’re not really in an add new features phase. The UI has been getting small fixes, mostly tasks like adding missing properties in the Encyclopedia and improving labeling consistency. The Encyclopedia is still missing a lot of description information, as is the lobby. Many of these items have been written but not yet put into the game. They will all be filled in for the final release. In version 10 we have introduced an in-game, light tutorial for new users. This will mostly present information about the UI and also be some introductory gameplay hints. We are looking at adding a Glossary to the Encyclopedia that will also include more howto information. The Second World War is almost complete. And while there is a lot of work ahead, the remaining items on our must-have list are dwindling fast. It’s been a long haul getting the game to this point - much longer than we planned for. I’m going to save the excuses for the post release recap. In the meantime, thank you to all the current users out there who have offered us feedback and bug reports. This process would have taking us even longer without your support.

Release Notes for Early Access Update #10

A newly updated version of The Second World War is now available. The team lost a week or so to the holidays and there were a few sick days to overcome. Even with those obstacles, we executed a long list of improvements to the game. Again, most of our efforts have been AI related but we are continuing to add new content, events, feature improvements and of course bug fixes. In this release we are introducing a new scenario called Last Days of Peace. It begins a few weeks before the Invasion of Poland. This allows players to skip the buildup years and get right into the war. Neither scenario is 100% complete so expect to see further balancing and content as we work towards release. A new big addition to the AI has been to give it motivation to create and maintain contiguous fronts against enemies and potential threats. The implementation for this system took us through several variations. Initially the AI tended to become too narrowly focused on specific regions due to strength evaluations. Rather than spreading the units out along a front, we ended up with big stacks that led to gaps in front. Eventually the big stacks became pockets, often surrounded by Heavy Artillery that pounded them to extinction. It was kind of fun to see but not the gameplay we were looking for. There were many factors to consider beside just having an enemy on the border. There is the opposing nations strength to consider but also the relationship status. We do not want Canada to think they need troops on the US border and vice versa. Some nations like the Soviet Union are so large that their defensive needs are always greater than what they have available. So the defense priority evaluations are especially challenging for the Soviet AI. They became our ultimate test case while we worked out the rough edges. The AI is also considering potential invasion threats by sea or through bordering buffer states. Support Allies improvements allows the AI to better defend on Allied fronts and fill the fronts throughout their empire. Additionally, weve introduced the concept of Secondary Fronts so the AI will now try to create lines of reserves. All the Major nations now have unique Unit Icon images. So you no longer will see a British soldier or Tank in a Japanese unit panel. Well soon have all the images in to match the unit you see on the map. Thanks again to all the current users out there that take the time to post messages about issues and ideas. This process would be taking us even longer to get through without your support.

Notes for Early Access Update #7

A newly updated version of The Second World War is now available. The team lost a week or so to the holidays and there were a few sick days to overcome. Even with those obstacles, we executed a long list of improvements to the game. Again, most of our efforts have been AI related but we are continuing to add new content, events, feature improvements and of course bug fixes. In this release we are introducing a new scenario called Last Days of Peace. It begins a few weeks before the Invasion of Poland. This allows players to skip the buildup years and get right into the war. Neither scenario is 100% complete so expect to see further balancing and content as we work towards release. A new big addition to the AI has been to give it motivation to create and maintain contiguous fronts against enemies and potential threats. The implementation for this system took us through several variations. Initially the AI tended to become too narrowly focused on specific regions due to strength evaluations. Rather than spreading the units out along a front, we ended up with big stacks that led to gaps in front. Eventually the big stacks became pockets, often surrounded by Heavy Artillery that pounded them to extinction. It was kind of fun to see but not the gameplay we were looking for. There were many factors to consider beside just having an enemy on the border. There is the opposing nation’s strength to consider but also the relationship status. We do not want Canada to think they need troops on the US border and vice versa. Some nations like the Soviet Union are so large that their defensive needs are always greater than what they have available. So the defense priority evaluations are especially challenging for the Soviet AI. They became our ultimate test case while we worked out the rough edges. The AI is also considering potential invasion threats by sea or through bordering buffer states. Support Allies improvements allows the AI to better defend on Allied fronts and fill the fronts throughout their empire. Additionally, we’ve introduced the concept of Secondary Fronts so the AI will now try to create lines of reserves. All the Major nations now have unique Unit Icon images. So you no longer will see a British soldier or Tank in a Japanese unit panel. We’ll soon have all the images in to match the unit you see on the map. Thanks again to all the current users out there that take the time to post messages about issues and ideas. This process would be taking us even longer to get through without your support.

Notes for Early Access Update #7

The latest version of The Second World War is now live. There's a lot of new AI improvements, fixes and some new content additions. To begin with, weve about finished our comprehensive rewrite of the Land Offensive/Defensive AI. For the most part, the changes may not be very noticable. But over the course of a full game, players should experience an AI making wiser large and small scale decisions that will alter outcomes of battles and ultimately wars. A major effort has gone into making the AI significantly more aware of its defensive needs both at home and abroad. They will also now attempt to gather reserves so front line collapses should not always lead to a total collapse. To get the AI to this level of functionality, new logic was required for how they move, split, reinforce unit groups and when to join a battle or consider it a lost cause. We have a few more elements to complete in the Land Offensive/Defensive AI, including Improving Empire Defense, even better Allied support evaluations and ensuring the US is properly focused on defeating the Axis. The later issue encompasses bolder amphibious attacks and island to island campaigns. The last update we introduced the new unit hitpoints. This had a fundamental impact on all systems related to the military. Some combat properties became overly powerful like Air to Sea attacks. These have been rebalanced along with other game areas like production times for all ships and the shipping capacity resource. We felt that although in reality a carrier can take a long time to build, reality does not always translate into entertaining. Well remain open minded about how best to balance the game and try to settle on a consensus position where possible. Further adjustments to the overall game have been made to bring the systems in line with the new unit hitpoint mechanics. This is an area we intend to expand on, especially in the UI as we discover better ways to present new combat information. In general, if there something in the UI you feel needs attention, please let us know. Community feedback on this would be appreciated. There are many new historical and some alternative history events in this update. We are close to finishing the required minimum events specd for release on the first scenario, but I keep adding to the wishlist and expect to go well beyond the minimum. The new Ottoman and Turkestan Revival for Turkey fall into that category. They are both in game now and we plan to later incorporate them into the Steam Achievement system. Other events are to be added for most nations that will function in a similar fashion. As some may have noticed, weve shifted from an every week scheduled update to one every 2 weeks. This is primarily due to the type of changes weve been working on. AI improvements can take quite a bit of time and results often require additional refinement passes. A week does not give us enough time to properly implement, test and rebalance. Even with a second week, the changes in this update are so comprehensive that some issues are still lingering. The next update is planned for after the December Holidays and New Year. Well be looking to refine and polish Air & Naval AI and begin checking off items from our large but manageable list of smaller tasks that will take us to release. And theres still Tutorial, Encyclopedia, Achievements and a new scenario to finish. Ill be starting a 1939 pre-Poland Invasion scenario over the holidays. If things go as planned, it might make the next update. Please feel free to inquire about changes, offer ideas and provide feedback. If you have a crash, think youve found a bug or maybe just noticed one of my spelling errors, post a note on Steam or email us at techsupport@factusgames.com. Visit our website to read how to get us debugging information: https://factusgames.com/pages/support. Notes for Early Access Update #6 AI Changes: - Major rewrite of Land Defense AI - Reworked defense requirement calculations - Improved AI ability to identify regions that need defending - Revised AI group splitting for better unit to region allocations - AI defends against units belonging to non-enemy but unfriendly nations - Moved defensive AI balance numbers to the xml for modding - Revised defense AI to distribute groups to defense regions while at war - Incentivize AI to hold reserve troops adjacent to defense regions and engagements - Reworked Offensive AI land targeting evaluations - Changed definition of Obvious target to be undefended Artillery/Air units or undefended City - Don't consider defense when Obvious target is in range - Fixed overseas AI from constantly picking the same overseas target - Reworked engagement AI to avoid piling on or sending troops to a "lost cause" - Fixed bug in AI evaluation of enemy coastal defenses in opportunity attack - Revised offensive AI to consider defense needs when moving troops - Reworked Support Allies AI to consider allied defense during peacetime - Improved power calculation in Support Allies AI - Fix for rare bug in offensive AI searching for region that a group is already in - AI turn processing now processes independent nations first - Reordered AI processing to prioritize military plans and ensure specific order - Turned on Subordinate Nation recruitment AI Game System Changes: - Changed rule on Military Access agreements to be Empire wide - Fixed bug so AI no longer considers landlocked Gulf of Ob a Coastal Region - Units stuck behind in peace deals can now get supplies to exit - Tanks no longer limited to moving 1 region a turn - Movement table now shows MAX movement for transportation level 0 - Updated Movement Table - Added strict pathfinding rules to Convoy targets and Artillery units - Fixed calculations on Ranged attack hits to use Power instead of rolling to hit Content Changes: - Added more Soviet forces on the Siberian front - Fixed Decal on British Light Tank II - Fixed Animation Glitch in Railway Gun shoot - Swapped Democratic and Fascist flag - Swapped Nuclear Labs and Jet Labs levels - Lowered Power of Coastal Defense - Reduced time for producing Shipping and Airlift Capacity - Reduced Production Time for all Ships - Increased Defensive Power of Militia - Modified Multiple Unit Properties For Combat Balancing - Significantly Reduced Air to Sea Attack Power - New City Added in Caroline Islands call Moen for Truk naval base - Changed China and Japan nation colors - Added German Unit Icon Images - Updated HP tooltips: Replaced Health with Strength & Casualties with Reinforcements - Relabeled UI Auto Trade Title from Trade Amount to Stockpile Target - Fixed land engagement UI popup showing the same unit multiple times - Implemented Annex Nation and All Subordinates function for Event scripts - Implemented Neutrality Pact function for Event scripts - Increased AI desire to go after regions referenced as target regions in Events - An Event failure no longer stops execution of all subsequent Events. - New Events for American takeover of Greenland and Iceland - New German Atlantic Wall Events - New Neutrality Pact Events (Keeps USSR & Japan from fighting & Phoney War) - New Soviet Factory Relocation Events - New Thailand Events (Franco-Thai War, Alliance with Japan) - New Turkish Events (Axis or Allies, Hatay, Ottoman or Turkestan Revival) - New Vichy French Colonial Revolts Events - New Japan Events (Vietnam, Thailand Invasion) - New USA Events: Pacific and North African Campaigns - New Irish Events (Axis or Allies, Blueshirts) - New Spain Events (Join Axis, Italy, Germany Attack Republican Spain) - New Italy Event for Invasion of Malta

The latest version of The Second World War is now live. There's a lot of new AI improvements, fixes and some new content additions. To begin with, we’ve about finished our comprehensive rewrite of the Land Offensive/Defensive AI. For the most part, the changes may not be very noticable. But over the course of a full game, players should experience an AI making wiser large and small scale decisions that will alter outcomes of battles and ultimately wars. A major effort has gone into making the AI significantly more aware of it’s defensive needs both at home and abroad. They will also now attempt to gather reserves so front line collapses should not always lead to a total collapse. To get the AI to this level of functionality, new logic was required for how they move, split, reinforce unit groups and when to join a battle or consider it a lost cause. We have a few more elements to complete in the Land Offensive/Defensive AI, including Improving Empire Defense, even better Allied support evaluations and ensuring the US is properly focused on defeating the Axis. The later issue encompasses bolder amphibious attacks and island to island campaigns. The last update we introduced the new unit hitpoints. This had a fundamental impact on all systems related to the military. Some combat properties became overly powerful like Air to Sea attacks. These have been rebalanced along with other game areas like production times for all ships and the shipping capacity resource. We felt that although in reality a carrier can take a long time to build, reality does not always translate into entertaining. We’ll remain open minded about how best to balance the game and try to settle on a consensus position where possible. Further adjustments to the overall game have been made to bring the systems in line with the new unit hitpoint mechanics. This is an area we intend to expand on, especially in the UI as we discover better ways to present new combat information. In general, if there something in the UI you feel needs attention, please let us know. Community feedback on this would be appreciated. There are many new historical and some alternative history events in this update. We are close to finishing the required minimum events spec’d for release on the first scenario, but I keep adding to the wishlist and expect to go well beyond the minimum. The new Ottoman and Turkestan Revival for Turkey fall into that category. They are both in game now and we plan to later incorporate them into the Steam Achievement system. Other events are to be added for most nations that will function in a similar fashion. As some may have noticed, we’ve shifted from an every week scheduled update to one every 2 weeks. This is primarily due to the type of changes we’ve been working on. AI improvements can take quite a bit of time and results often require additional refinement passes. A week does not give us enough time to properly implement, test and rebalance. Even with a second week, the changes in this update are so comprehensive that some issues are still lingering. The next update is planned for after the December Holidays and New Year. We’ll be looking to refine and polish Air & Naval AI and begin checking off items from our large but manageable list of smaller tasks that will take us to release. And there’s still Tutorial, Encyclopedia, Achievements and a new scenario to finish. I’ll be starting a 1939 pre-Poland Invasion scenario over the holidays. If things go as planned, it might make the next update. Please feel free to inquire about changes, offer ideas and provide feedback. If you have a crash, think you’ve found a bug or maybe just noticed one of my spelling errors, post a note on Steam or email us at techsupport@factusgames.com. Visit our website to read how to get us debugging information: https://factusgames.com/pages/support. Notes for Early Access Update #6 AI Changes: - Major rewrite of Land Defense AI - Reworked defense requirement calculations - Improved AI ability to identify regions that need defending - Revised AI group splitting for better unit to region allocations - AI defends against units belonging to non-enemy but unfriendly nations - Moved defensive AI balance numbers to the xml for modding - Revised defense AI to distribute groups to defense regions while at war - Incentivize AI to hold reserve troops adjacent to defense regions and engagements - Reworked Offensive AI land targeting evaluations - Changed definition of Obvious target to be undefended Artillery/Air units or undefended City - Don't consider defense when Obvious target is in range - Fixed overseas AI from constantly picking the same overseas target - Reworked engagement AI to avoid “piling on” or sending troops to a "lost cause" - Fixed bug in AI evaluation of enemy coastal defenses in opportunity attack - Revised offensive AI to consider defense needs when moving troops - Reworked Support Allies AI to consider allied defense during peacetime - Improved power calculation in Support Allies AI - Fix for rare bug in offensive AI searching for region that a group is already in - AI turn processing now processes independent nations first - Reordered AI processing to prioritize military plans and ensure specific order - Turned on Subordinate Nation recruitment AI Game System Changes: - Changed rule on Military Access agreements to be Empire wide - Fixed bug so AI no longer considers landlocked Gulf of Ob a Coastal Region - Units stuck behind in peace deals can now get supplies to exit - Tanks no longer limited to moving 1 region a turn - Movement table now shows MAX movement for transportation level 0 - Updated Movement Table - Added strict pathfinding rules to Convoy targets and Artillery units - Fixed calculations on Ranged attack hits to use Power instead of rolling to hit Content Changes: - Added more Soviet forces on the Siberian front - Fixed Decal on British Light Tank II - Fixed Animation Glitch in Railway Gun shoot - Swapped Democratic and Fascist flag - Swapped Nuclear Labs and Jet Labs levels - Lowered Power of Coastal Defense - Reduced time for producing Shipping and Airlift Capacity - Reduced Production Time for all Ships - Increased Defensive Power of Militia - Modified Multiple Unit Properties For Combat Balancing - Significantly Reduced Air to Sea Attack Power - New City Added in Caroline Islands call Moen for Truk naval base - Changed China and Japan nation colors - Added German Unit Icon Images - Updated HP tooltips: Replaced Health with Strength & Casualties with Reinforcements - Relabeled UI Auto Trade Title from Trade Amount to Stockpile Target - Fixed land engagement UI popup showing the same unit multiple times - Implemented Annex Nation and All Subordinates function for Event scripts - Implemented Neutrality Pact function for Event scripts - Increased AI desire to go after regions referenced as target regions in Events - An Event failure no longer stops execution of all subsequent Events. - New Events for American takeover of Greenland and Iceland - New German Atlantic Wall Events - New Neutrality Pact Events (Keeps USSR & Japan from fighting & Phoney War) - New Soviet Factory Relocation Events - New Thailand Events (Franco-Thai War, Alliance with Japan) - New Turkish Events (Axis or Allies, Hatay, Ottoman or Turkestan Revival) - New Vichy French Colonial Revolts Events - New Japan Events (Vietnam, Thailand Invasion) - New USA Events: Pacific and North African Campaigns - New Irish Events (Axis or Allies, Blueshirts) - New Spain Events (Join Axis, Italy, Germany Attack Republican Spain) - New Italy Event for Invasion of Malta

Making History: The Second World War is officially for sale on Steam as an Early Access title. The game is mostly feature complete and stable. The Early Access process allows us to finish the game with input from the community. For a small independent company like Factus Games, this has many advantages. We do not have the staff for intensive testing so the community does help us find issues that might take longer to find in house. More importantly, the end phase is typically dominated by AI and game balancing. These are areas where players can provide valuable feedback and influence the final product. Theres still a lot of work ahead for some areas of the game and still more we want to improve before the final release. We plan to get new game updates to the community on a weekly basis. During the pre-release period its possible saved games could become incompatible after an update. However, we will try hard to avoid that from happening. Its difficult to say exactly how long the pre-release period will last. We expect it to be no more than 2 months. This is the first of what we hope to be many games developed at Factus Games. Thanks for your support.

Making History: The Second World War is officially for sale on Steam as an Early Access title. The game is mostly feature complete and stable. The Early Access process allows us to finish the game with input from the community. For a small independent company like Factus Games, this has many advantages. We do not have the staff for intensive testing so the community does help us find issues that might take longer to find in house. More importantly, the end phase is typically dominated by AI and game balancing. These are areas where players can provide valuable feedback and influence the final product. There’s still a lot of work ahead for some areas of the game and still more we want to improve before the final release. We plan to get new game updates to the community on a weekly basis. During the pre-release period it’s possible saved games could become incompatible after an update. However, we will try hard to avoid that from happening. It’s difficult to say exactly how long the pre-release period will last. We expect it to be no more than 2 months. This is the first of what we hope to be many games developed at Factus Games. Thanks for your support.

The following interview of Ralph Gerth (RG), founder of Factus Games was conducted by Patrick Flynn (PF) (PF) What is your personal background in the industry? (RG) I started working in the games industry at LucasArts back in 1993. They hired me to create 3D art for games which at the time, were still all 2D. I stayed 6 years, learned a ton and made contributions to some classic Star Wars and adventure games. Then in 2000 I moved to Europe to work for a Swedish developer UDS. There I led a team of talented artist making a Futurama console game. Unfortunately the company went out of business after 3 years. I returned to the US to take a position as the Art Director of Muzzy Lane Software, the original developers of the Making History series. My role eventually evolved and I became the designer on all the Making History commercial games. (PF) How did you go about acquiring Factus Games? (RG) I founded Factus Games in 2017 when Muzzy Lane became interested in selling the publishing and development rights to the Making History games. As an educational focused business, Muzzy Lane was never fully committed to commercial gaming and that’s what I wanted to return to. It was an amicable split. (PF) Compared to contemporary World-War-era, Grand Strategy games, what sets Making History: The Second World War apart? (RG) The original Making History game began as an educational product designed for classroom use. In that environment, the game needed to deliver a true historical experience for a wide range of users - most with no strategy gaming background. From that initial effort we created the commercial version of Making History. As the lead designer, my goal was to retain the simplicity of the original gameplay while adding systems to increase the entertainment value. Namely, I wanted the game to be unrestrained by strict historical paths and allow users to carve out their own narratives. History is the theme and the setting. Players navigate the world and change outcomes based on how they behave against a collection of AI nations that also react to the varying activity. Two games will never be the same. As long as the AI makes believable choices, the diversion away from actual history is accepted by the player. With Making History: The Second World War we’ve added many historical events but at each juncture, the player can choose an alternative historical option. (PF) How does Making History: The Second World War differ from Making History: The Great War? (RG) The Second World War was built on the same engine as The Great War so the game will feel familiar to TGW users. We retained the basic structure and gameplay style but most of the AI and systems code was either rewritten or improved. There are also some key strategic and political differences between the two wars that we needed to differentiate in the AI and game systems. For instance in SWW, ideology has greater influence on AI decisions and the combat is more offensive minded. On the graphics side, we’ve doubled the detail level for the hundreds of new WW2 era unit models. Our aesthetic aim is still to present a simple, uncluttered gameboard experience. The game map has been regenerated and improved over the TGW version. There are a lot of new features and loads of historical and alternative historical events. (PF) What do Factus Games have planned following its third World War 2 game? (RG) Our main focus will be on creating a new engine for our future Strategy Games. It’s possible we'll produce a DLC for The Second World War focused on the Korean War, but that has not been officially decided. I’ve also been thinking about ways to make Multiplayer more accessible and easier to play. We'd like to produce some scenarios dedicated to MP play. And after release the game will continue to receive updates and new free content. (PF) What effort is given to exploring alternate history in Making History: The Second World War? (RG) Alternative history as gameplay is a core element to the Making history game design. Not only do we allow players to diverge from the path, we encourage it and craft the content and AI to expect it. In The Second World War, Germany left alone will usually go about their business attacking their neighbors as the Germans did in WW2. But the results will never be the same. (PF) What support for the modding community can we expect going forward? (RG) Making History: The Second World War will launch with Steam Workshop and a full-featured editor. Beyond that I feel it will be up to the community to let us know what they need. Modding is obviously a good way to extend the viability of a product and expand the user base. So it will be in our interests to continue supporting the modding and the game itself long after release.

The following interview of Ralph Gerth (RG), founder of Factus Games was conducted by Patrick Flynn (PF) (PF) What is your personal background in the industry? (RG) I started working in the games industry at LucasArts back in 1993. They hired me to create 3D art for games which at the time, were still all 2D. I stayed 6 years, learned a ton and made contributions to some classic Star Wars and adventure games. Then in 2000 I moved to Europe to work for a Swedish developer UDS. There I led a team of talented artist making a Futurama console game. Unfortunately the company went out of business after 3 years. I returned to the US to take a position as the Art Director of Muzzy Lane Software, the original developers of the Making History series. My role eventually evolved and I became the designer on all the Making History commercial games. (PF) How did you go about acquiring Factus Games? (RG) I founded Factus Games in 2017 when Muzzy Lane became interested in selling the publishing and development rights to the Making History games. As an educational focused business, Muzzy Lane was never fully committed to commercial gaming and thats what I wanted to return to. It was an amicable split. (PF) Compared to contemporary World-War-era, Grand Strategy games, what sets Making History: The Second World War apart? (RG) The original Making History game began as an educational product designed for classroom use. In that environment, the game needed to deliver a true historical experience for a wide range of users - most with no strategy gaming background. From that initial effort we created the commercial version of Making History. As the lead designer, my goal was to retain the simplicity of the original gameplay while adding systems to increase the entertainment value. Namely, I wanted the game to be unrestrained by strict historical paths and allow users to carve out their own narratives. History is the theme and the setting. Players navigate the world and change outcomes based on how they behave against a collection of AI nations that also react to the varying activity. Two games will never be the same. As long as the AI makes believable choices, the diversion away from actual history is accepted by the player. With Making History: The Second World War weve added many historical events but at each juncture, the player can choose an alternative historical option. (PF) How does Making History: The Second World War differ from Making History: The Great War? (RG) The Second World War was built on the same engine as The Great War so the game will feel familiar to TGW users. We retained the basic structure and gameplay style but most of the AI and systems code was either rewritten or improved. There are also some key strategic and political differences between the two wars that we needed to differentiate in the AI and game systems. For instance in SWW, ideology has greater influence on AI decisions and the combat is more offensive minded. On the graphics side, weve doubled the detail level for the hundreds of new WW2 era unit models. Our aesthetic aim is still to present a simple, uncluttered gameboard experience. The game map has been regenerated and improved over the TGW version. There are a lot of new features and loads of historical and alternative historical events. (PF) What do Factus Games have planned following its third World War 2 game? (RG) Our main focus will be on creating a new engine for our future Strategy Games. Its possible we'll produce a DLC for The Second World War focused on the Korean War, but that has not been officially decided. Ive also been thinking about ways to make Multiplayer more accessible and easier to play. We'd like to produce some scenarios dedicated to MP play. And after release the game will continue to receive updates and new free content. (PF) What effort is given to exploring alternate history in Making History: The Second World War? (RG) Alternative history as gameplay is a core element to the Making history game design. Not only do we allow players to diverge from the path, we encourage it and craft the content and AI to expect it. In The Second World War, Germany left alone will usually go about their business attacking their neighbors as the Germans did in WW2. But the results will never be the same. (PF) What support for the modding community can we expect going forward? (RG) Making History: The Second World War will launch with Steam Workshop and a full-featured editor. Beyond that I feel it will be up to the community to let us know what they need. Modding is obviously a good way to extend the viability of a product and expand the user base. So it will be in our interests to continue supporting the modding and the game itself long after release.

Making History: The Second World War is preparing to release as an Early Access title. This offers many advantages to both our development team and the SWW community. For us it's an opportunity to get the game in front of a wider sample of users and systems. The feedback we receive during this phase will help us identify potential issues. This is also a chance for the community to offer ideas on existing features and make requests for additional ones. At present, the game is feature complete. There's still some content to add and game balancing to complete. We believe an Early Access version should be ready sometime in the next few weeks. I'll post announcements once we have a reliable target date.

Making History: The Second World War is preparing to release as an Early Access title. This offers many advantages to both our development team and the SWW community. For us it's an opportunity to get the game in front of a wider sample of users and systems. The feedback we receive during this phase will help us identify potential issues. This is also a chance for the community to offer ideas on existing features and make requests for additional ones. At present, the game is feature complete. There's still some content to add and game balancing to complete. We believe an Early Access version should be ready sometime in the next few weeks. I'll post announcements once we have a reliable target date.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/462940/Making_History_The_Second_World_War/

http://store.steampowered.com/app/462940/Making_History_The_Second_World_War/

New blog post on the Factus Games website. The topic is focused on the game timelines, how events are affected and the use of post war weapons to extend and alter the experience. Read about it here: www.factusgames.com

New blog post on the Factus Games website. The topic is focused on the game timelines, how events are affected and the use of post war weapons to extend and alter the experience. Read about it here: www.factusgames.com

We've just recently begun the Alpha testing phase for Making History: The Second World War. The game is feature complete but we still have content to add, UI to polish and some models to import into the game. As we test, we'll be making AI improvements and evaluating the feedback we receive from our qualified testers. We hope to announce the Beta version by the end of August leading to an early Fall release. We have release a teaser video on Youtube here: https://youtu.be/Dhzd2iymN-I

We've fixed a few issues that affected the performance for some Linux users. Includes change to population number for Galicia.

New post on the Factus Games website about air units, features and strategy. More screenshots too. http://www.factusgames.com/blog/second-world-war-air-power/

While implementing Linux for The Second World War, we found some hidden issues that can cause trouble for Linux Multiplayer's. The problems were traced to the initial MH2 implementation. When this code was ported to TGW the issue was partially transferred to that product. Most of the fixes were performance related. However in one case, if a human player left a game, the AI would not take over the country and it would basically become dormant. This was only ever bugged for Linux users and it has now been resolved.

Latest news on Making History: The Second World War includes new in-game screenshots and units. Also, description of Naval gameplay and features. Read about here: http://www.factusgames.com/blog/second-world-war-naval-gameplay-carriers/

New information about the upcoming Making History release and a list of some features can be viewed on the Factus Games website here: http://www.factusgames.com/blog/update-second-world-war/

Factus Games is pleased to announce a new home for our company and the Making History series. Our new website is here to provide our community with up-to-date news on Making History and other current and future development. As original members of the Making History development team, Factus Games recognizes the special environment formed by a dedicated community on the old MH Gaming Headquarters site. With that in mind, factusgames.com will include a community Forum. We hope this will grow into a useful and entertaining location where users can share gaming and historical commentary. For the near future, this site will not serve as a repository for Scenarios, nor will it offer a MP server. These features are currently available through Steam. Factus Games is a new and small independent developer. We feel it’s best to keep our attention as much as possible on making our games. Of course, things do change so we will remain open to adjustments and the addition of new features as trends demand.

We fixed a few issues that might have caused memory crashes in the Steam version of Making History II. This update will not resolve every out of memory problem but we hope this improves the game for most users.

The Multiplayer Beta for MH2 is now live for all users. This integrates the Steam Matchmaking service which should improve connection reliability for players. Our latest update adds console feedback to the Lobby so players can easily see who joins the game and the nations they select. We've also fixed several bugs and shortcomings associated with the former multiplayer system. For players who want to try MP using a Mod, please note that each player needs to have the Mod installed. If you have trouble joining a game, try closing programs that might be conflicting with your network connection. Also, restart the Steam App. As many of our users will testify, Making History games can provide great multiplayer gameplay. Factus Games is interested in cultivating this mode of play and we want to hear from the community on how to make it better.

We did a small feature improvement to the MP lobby. Players no longer have to type in the Host name to join a game. Just select the game from the list and press Next. See previous post for directions: http://steamcommunity.com/games/46770/announcements/detail/539707191172176800

As promised, we've now added Multiplayer using the Steam matchmaking system to MH2. This feature should make MP games easy to setup and maintain. This system was first implemented for TGW and will be extended to the upcoming release, Making History: The Second World War. For players who want to try it, you must go into the game properties to opt into the Beta. Right click on the game to bring up the properties menu, select the BETAS tab, from the pull-down menu, select “edge - Bleeding Edge”, enter the beta access code: Edge, then press Check Code. Steam will then update your files to give you access to the beta. When it’s ready you can Host or Join a game. All players must be using the Edge version for this to work. Once the Beta period is over, the features will be added to the default game.

We had several requests to fix the declining supply of transported units so these will now receive fuel as they travel. The splash screen was also enlarged so it covers 1920 x 1200 res.

Release: Bug fixes for steam workshop Edge: Fix for a rare end turn stall.

Get Making History II and Making History Gold Edition for a discounted price! Only $19.99 for both games.* *Note Making History Gold Edition is for Windows only.

Minor text fix. editor exit button now says what it does (Exit to Menu)

Bring your authoring skills and show us what you can do! We'd also love feedback on ways to hep make modding easier, quicker, and more flexible.

A few bug fixes but the big news is Steam Workshop support! Now you can bring your mods from making-history.com over to Steam or create new ones to share with the community. To access the update right click on the game in your Library, select Properties and then Betas. The branch is "edge" and the code is "Edge". We are very exited to be adding this support and plan to release next week!

You can also get a significant discount buying the game as part of The World Wars package, which includes MHII and our epic WWI game Making History: The Great War.

We know you've been asking for them, now they are here! Start collecting your MHII trading cards, backgrounds and emoticons right now!

We have posted an update to the game. Primary change is a fix to the Linux verison to work with some graphics cards/drivers that were causng the game to crash. Please let us know if you are still seeing any issues on Linux. We also fixed a crash that some mods were seeing and added a keybinding (based on user input) so the key will bring up the in game Main Menu. As always thanks for your support and keep the suggestions coming!

We have released a small update to Making History II. The update adds the ability to create new colonies from the Nationalities tab of the Government panel (a much requested feature), cleans up some UI elements, and fixes a bug that could cause multiplayer games to hang. Enjoy!

We have posted a small update to Making History II to address some reported issues. Full release notes: Launcher Version: 1.30.57842.37 Game Version: 1.30.57835.23 Bug Fixes - Fixed issue moving units in Spanish version - Fixed users receiving Decision Points in MP when they aren't connected when the turn ends - Fixed some install path issues on non-English operating systems - Fixed a number of Linux issues

Spread the word, and let us know if there are any Spanish language game media outlets you know of that we can contact. And thank you for all your support!

The 1.30 update brings Spanish language support, and updated game engine, numerous fixes to multiplayer brought out by the recent large multiplayer tournaments, and some content fixes. Enjoy! Release Notes: Release Date: 10/28/14 Launcher Version: 1.30.56226.20 Game Version: 1.30.56223.14 New Features - Added Spanish as a supported language for the game - Updated to new game engine version Bug Fixes - Fix rounding error on MPU growth - Fixed issue in MP where the game was waiting for players who had been eliminated - Fixed issue in MP when Decision Points are delivered to players who are not connected - Fixed issue in MP that would cause pending treaty requests to get deleted when the game loads - Fixed issue in MP that caused Region Surveillance not to save correctly Content - Fix for models sometimes showing the “T” pose - Fix name of Italian battleship "Conte di Cavour"

Changing the course of history is what the Making History series is all about. If you enjoy grand strategy in the WWII period, you'll love the interesting and quite different era surrounding the first world war as well. Check out "Making History: The Great War" right here on Steam! http://store.steampowered.com/app/279140/

An updated map, improved AI, easier multiplayer and the new scenario "The Grand Finale" lead the list of new additions in this update. Thanks to everyone who participated in the pre-release!

Updates to Making History II have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

Making History II 1.21 Release Notes

New Features

• Change MPU growth system to take more factors into account
  
  • Now looks at Region Stability, Transportation Infrastructure, and Colony/Occupied Status in addition to population
    
• Added mipmap support for textures and improved quality
  
• Improved support for player mods
  
  • Created a folder for them to live in
    
  • Game updates will no longer delete mods
    
  • Launcher will look for mods in the mods folder and load them
    

• Exclude occupied regions from national stability calculation
  
• Remove restriction that transports need to be in port to load/unload air units
  
• Fix bug that allowed air units to rebase from a carrier to a region without an airbase
  
• MPUs are now returned to a nations stockpiles when units are disbanded
  
• Fixed a number of UI errors with National Programs
  
• Fixed bug where moving units would sometimes face the wrong direction
  
• Fix bug that allowed units to upgrade when out of supply (such as ships at sea)
  
• Fix sorting by turns remaining in research project list (was sorting by % complete)
  
• Fixed bug that prevented units from repairing/resupplying/upgrading when they were on a carrier or transport
  
• Fix bug that allowed region stability to go over 100
  
• Fixed bug that prevented naval units from retreating
  
• Fixed game stalling bug that occurred when a revolting region tried to join a human controlled nation
  
• Fix bug that sometimes caused surface ship vs. submarine battles to end prematurely
  
• Destroy air units at airbases that get dismantled
  
• Change so that troops recruited in occupied territory retain their native nationality
  
• Fix rare crash related to Interdiction
  
• Fixed bug in reloading decision points from saved games
  
• Allow nations to be liberated even if there is no city
  
• Fix population calculation for nationalities
  
• Fixed bug where units in regions when war is declared sometimes didn't capture the region
  
• Fixed bug that allowed carrier air units to continue their missions even if the carrier moved out of range
  
• Fixed bug that prevented stolen research points from being applied
  
• Fixed bug that allowed one per region projects to be queued more than once
  
• Filter out build options for region projects that are lower level than what already exists in the region
  
• Fixed game stall when AI was using units in allied territory
  
• Fixed bug that allowed invading units to fully resupply when in multi-turn combat
  
• Fix bug that sometimes caused newly created nations to have white borders
  
• Remove decision points when nation is destroyed (fixes save fail bug)
  
• Fix bug that prevented historic capital data being used for newly created nations
  
• Fixed bug that would sometimes cause nations to be at war with each other multiple times after alliance merges
  
• Fixed bug that would sometimes cause AI units to get stuck in puppets
  
• Fixed bug that prevented other planes from escorting Air Transports on paratrooper drops
  

• Revised tooltips on group unit icons on tab
  
• Revised some icons & buttons
  
• Some initial modifications to the Treaty Panels
  
• Fixed icons for Government programs
  
• Fix display of combat powers in city unit panel
  
• Improved notifications for National Programs to improve feedback
  
• Cleaned up National Programs panel
  
• Add missing Missile icon
  
• Format Employed MPUs number on Gov panel tooltip
  
• Swap the Up and Down sorting textures in list panels
  
• Round turns remaining for research projects up rather than truncating
  
• Added Region Stability to Region panel
  
• Update Military Status panel to work with new flag icons
  
• Fix display of Labor Efficiency in city panel
  
• Added tool tips to Region Food Demand
  
• Added National food demand to the food infobar icon
  
• Changed Region Food Demand number to include Factory & Research MPUs
  
• Showing Food Production Surplus on RegionTabInfo Panel
  
• Added tool tips to Region Revolt risk on RegionTabData
  
• "Fund Political Opposition" no longer lets you choose the ruling ideology
  
• Added Ideology Balance numbers to Liberation & Fund Opposition
  
• Fix label on Region Stability in Region panel
  
• Treaty panel cleanup
  
• Updated sea region panel
  
• Small clean-up to Territory transfer panel
  
• Clean-up on Production Queue bubbles, added time remaining to active projects and % complete to paused projects
  
• Corrected problem preventing tool tips on Group bubbles during Merge order
  
• Updated Region Project Queue bubbles to be consistent with style & operation of the city version
  
• Added National Population number to Diplomatic Panel
  
• Fixed issue where text in some popups didn't fit
  
• Add name of Air group to Patrol RC menu option
  
• Increase the width of the map RC menu items
  
• Cleaned up orders UI on unit selection panel
  
• Added tooltips to orders on unit selection panel
  
• Fix arrow not updating when a unit has a "Load" order and the fleet is repositioned
  
• Added list of nations embargoing selected nation to nation UI panel
  
• Change to display the modified output of resource producers
  
• Fixed sorting for nationality icons on Region & city list panels
  
• Fixed clipping of 4 digit defense tool tip
  

• Improve naval threat detection
  
• Fixed bug in AI detecting where units were destroyed
  
• Improved AI for trade interdiction
  
• Improved AI for submarine detection
  
• Improved invasion targeting
  
• Improved sea unit refueling
  
• Improved handling of enemy air unit situations
  
• Improved Shore Bombardment behavior
  
• Improved use of air units for defense
  
• Improved build choices, especially arms and units
  
• Fixed bug in computing market price of resources
  
• Improved choice of aggression target nations
  
• Improved alliance behavior
  

• Added "The Brewing Storm" scenario
  
  • Played on a map of Europe and the Mediterranean
    
  • Starts 9/1/39
    
• Added missing region claims for Ovamboland which prevented it's establishment
  
• Remove the ability for BiPlane Fighters to upgrade to non-carrier fighters
  
• Increase the arms and oil carrying capacity of units
  
• Fix combat properties for BattleCruisers and Heavy Cruisers
  
• Fix spelling of Main Battle Tank
  
• Gave Japan the ability to make Early Tanks and Submarines in TGQ
  
• When creating a new nation use the base nation display name if it is not in use
  
• Fixed Pre-req error for National Laboratories
  
• Added missing region claim for Azwadi Nationality
  
• Tuned costs of city buildings
  
• Tune costs of region projects
  
• Increased initial arms stockpiles
  
• Add starting research for dormant nations to all scenarios
  

• Preserve the settings for Fogging and AI Difficulty across save and load
  
• Added support for specifying a mods directory to installer
  
• Added support for loading player mods
  
• Added option to launch client and server in separate processes
  
  • Should reduce lag on most machines
    
  • Should eliminate "out of virtual memory" crashes
    
• Added default flag icon for nation list
  
• Improve display of long nation names in nation list
  

Updates to Making History II have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

New Features

• Modified setting the display unit for unit groups to be persistent across saving and loading a game
  
• Switch debt stability modifier system over to use percent of annual revenue instead of absolute values
  
• Updated and modified Difficulty Levels
  
• Modified UnitOrderLoadOnCarrier so it would load as many of the specified units as it could onto the carrier. If no units were specified, it tries to load all the units that will fit.
  
• Added decision point when a region wants to revolt and join another nation
  
• Added logic to create a small militia when a region secedes and forms a new nation
  

• Fixed crash caused by Units moving between being fogged and not fogged
  
• Fixed bug that could cause loaded games to stall at end of turn processing
  
• Improved handling of military access agreements
  
• Fixed bug in display of move arrows
  
• Fixed bug creating access tickets after loading a save game
  
• Fixed bug in HandleNationAnnexedEvent where engagements were removed without updating UnitGroup eStatus
  
• Take fuel consumption into account when computing turns to destination
  
• Fixed crash that occurred when a unit was destroyed during rebasing
  
• Fix a bug where a new engagement wouldn't start if there was a 3rd party in a region when a battle ends
  
• Fixed some transient errors when client units were moving
  

• Add notifications for diplomatic relations changes
  
• Fix displaying modified IPUs and Combat Strength
  
• Fixed some Army names in LDOP
  
• Updated graphics on notification pop-up
  
• Updated graphics on main menu notification options
  
• Set new defaults for notification pop-ups
  
• Created close button for Research Tree rather than minimize
  
• Changed Summary Icon for Government Programs to use hat rather than binoculars
  
• Add Canned Goods and Fish Products into Last Turn Income total on Last Turn Summary panel
  
• Format City Maintenance Costs in city panel
  
• Conformed a few tool tips on Government & Region panels
  
• Fixed some Tool tips and text on the Production & Military list panels
  
• Resized Appliance icon to fit
  
• Added national debt/surplus to tooltip on government panel
  
• Fixed Colony/Puppet tooltip on Nation Subordinates panel
  
• Reduced height of Right Click menus to lessen their overall size
  
• Revised basic unit bubble
  
• Fix text clipping on unit range property
  
• Using Speed icon rather than Range for ships on Group panel
  
• Refinements to Group Panel to end property clipping
  
• Added new Weight icon for showing group transport requirements
  
• More refinements to Group & Unit Panels including Merge, Split & Combat Report versions
  
• Flipped selected state color from white to beige on queues & units
  
• Fixed some errors on the Combat Engagement panel and improved icons
  
• Fixed some Nation Decals
  
• Improved icon usage on some panels
  
• Continued work on Military Lists, conforming data/visual elements and adding tool tips
  
• Political map gets region color from Nation instead of NationTemplate
  
• Fixed text clipping issue for Unit Properties display on production queue bubbles
  
• Added Speed & Range to Unit Properties display on production queue bubble
  
• Fixed text clipping issue for Nationality string on Government & Diplomacy panel
  
• Fixed textbox size for project labels on City selection panel
  
• Fixed string clipping of project Upgrades on Region Assets panel
  
• Fix spelling of Delaware River
  
• Fix overflow error in the display of trade value
  
• Create and use text for leaving an alliance rather than using the text for joining an alliance
  
• Added Nationality Icons to Region list
  

• Update Diplomatic Relations effects from embargos, trade, treaties, and nation status changes
  
• Tone down routes considered when asking for military access
  
• Fix rare crash bug when loading onto almost full transport
  
• Fixed puppet AI so it will consider military access requests
  
• Fix script error when negotiating trade agreement with a puppet nation
  
• Fix bug with puppet treaty consideration logic
  
• AI no longer checks for embargos when considering receiving aid
  
• AI ignores embargos imposed by nations it is at war with when considering trade agreements
  
• Changed diplomatic effects of declaring war to not affect relationship between master nation and puppets
  
• Fixed bug where Militia would not be used to take undefended regions
  
• Added ProductionMode, allows emergency military buildup mode in addition to economic buildup mode
  
• Fixed bug with AI thinking it was done with city development too soon
  
• Fix for bug where AI could ask for military access to attack the nation it is asking military access from
  
• Added logic to handle decision point requests from seceding regions to join nation (accepts when at war, declines otherwise)
  
• Fixed bug in Production AI where prerequisite for a military unit was incorrectly disallowed in the situation where it was coincidentally the same as the next city development building
  
• Added ArmsCenter to city development templates
  
• Improved production of air units
  

• Improve military unit content across all scenarios
  
• Increase speed of TorpedoBoatDestroyer
  
• Changed Build pre-req Requirements for Escort & Light Carrier to eliminate the ability to get initial carrier without Carrier Operations
  
• Increased Range for ICBMs & Jet Bombers
  
• Edited inconsistent data item for AdvancedBattleship
• display name was set to "FastBattleship"
  
• Edited inconsistent data item for SuperCarrier
• display name was set to "FleetCarrier"
  
• Fixed missing Russian Historic Region claims
  
• Limited Ethiopian region claims to historic territories rather than the entire horn of Africa
  
• Fix Light Glider description
  
• Updated units for all scenarios
  
• Updated military access treaties for all scenarios
  
• Added positive diplomatic effect for political support of another nation
  
• Tuned behavior of revolt risk system
  
• Added missing region claims for Sudan in Red Sea Hills
  
• Added namer for Air Transport units
  
• Added missing UnitCapBombRegion to BasicCarrierFighters
  
• Improved balance of air, artillery, and armor units
  

Updates to Making History II have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:


New Features

• Major changes to unit stacking
  
  • Land and sea units can now be moved around in regions by right clicking in the region
    
  • Right clicking on another controlled unit in a region will create a stack
    
  • Selecting a unit in a stack and right clicking elsewhere in the region will remove it rom the stack and move it
    
  • Air units will continue to stack on the airbase in a region
    
• Add new "Repair All" nation property
  
  • When set to true on the Military Status panel all damaged units will attempt to repair each turn
    
  • Default behavior is "On"
    
  • Newly created units will now default to repair "On"
    
• Add ability to upgrade units from the unit list panels (land, air, sea, sub)
  
• Added ability for player to set which model will be displayed for Unit Groups on the map
  
  • Clicking on a unit in the expanded unit group panel will set the display model
    
• Improved startup time
  
• Improved performance
  
• Shrink memory footprint
  
• Change to put saves separate from the game install so a reinstall of the game won't blow away save games
  
• Updated Game Manual
  

• Fix crash if game was started and waiting for an avatar with no nation
  
• Fix rare crash bug when interacting with UI
  
• Fixed an issue with reporting negative money from annexing
  
• Fix annex booty bug
• game was giving annexer their own stockpiles, not those of the annexed nation
  
• Fix unit models not changing when they upgrade
  
• Cancel AccessTicket if war is declared between the group and ticket nation
  
• Cancel AccessTicket if group nation joins alliance at war with ticket nation and vice versa
  
• Fix rare game stall when AccessTicket units are trying to go home
  
• Fixed bug where if a human player didn't join when a multiplayer game was reloaded the AI didn't do anything for that nation
  
• Fixed bug in mouse wheel handling that sometimes made it not seem to work
  
• Added requirement that a unit be in supply to be able to upgrade
  
• Fix bug in computing amount of collateral damage to do from engagements
  
• Add non-zero weights for collateral damage to region improvements so damage will actually happen
  
• When running a no turn timer multiplayer game on the web only suspend when no humans are connected
  
• Scale down shots for units based on current health
  
• Allow air units to rebase across enemy regions
  
• Fixed bug with air unit combat values when they are on the defending side of an engagement
  
• Fixed bug that would cause autosaves to reload with the turn ended but not ending
  
• Fix for nation getting referenced and not going away after rebelling and getting conquered during a single end turn
  

• Improved texturing on map
  
• Lowered transparency of mapview layers for Supply
  
• Fix issue with units being placed too near the borders of regions
  
• Improve unit positions in mountains
  
• Fixed a number of places where units and region improvements were overlapping cities
  
• Add missing land defense column in Unit list page
  
• Improved quality of decal and flag textures on the map
  
• Adjusted text sizes in Financial panels
  
• Fix display names for rivers
  
• Adding sorting to the military report panels for air units, army units, naval units, sub units and world nations
  
• Fix missing border between Jaghbub and Farafra
  
• Suppress the display of the "Exit to Desktop" Main Menu option when started from web
  
• Resized text on Region & City Selection Panels
  
• Override ESCAPE key handling and only go to windowed mode if the game was launched from the web
  
• Fixed sea regions not using all positions for unit groups
  
• Fixed RC menu to only give set merge order option if unit groups are of the same branch and have the same controller
  
• Don't offer RC option to bombard your own or your allies cities
  
• Fixed bug that sometimes resulted in blank tooltips on units
  
• Don't send a "unit destroyed" notification when a 1 use missile is used
  
• Fix error in unit lists when displaying units on transports
  
• Fix error in unit lists when displaying air units on carriers
  
• Added notifications for city and research building damage from missile attacks
  
• Added smoke animation to cities with damaged buildings
  
• Add ability to decide whether newly produced units in a region will join existing unit groups or create new ones
  
• Ocean shader tweak to fix decal and move arrow glitch at coast
  
• Made all default build displays look like a normal goods order is queued
  
• Changed region projects list to prevent icon from overlapping project name
  
• Defaulted research tree zoom level to fullscreen
  
• Stop sending collateral damage notifications to all nations
  
• Make field for trade balance amount in Nation panel wider so it fits
  

• Tune behavior of difficulty levels
  
• Update relations behavior when nations declare war
  
• Improve sea invasion behavior
  
• Added more detail to trade responses, including check for embargoes by third party
  
• Added AI reaction to ships it sent to interdict trade being sunk
  
• Improved use of World Market to obtain resources needed for build orders
  
• Fixed bug that caused AI not to build Textiles/Appliances/Autos as much as it should
  
• Improve logic for sending air units to support engagements
  
• Improve logic for sending air units to defend against bombing
  
• Improved logic for deciding to build air units
  
• Increased priority for building AA defenses
  
• Improve logic for when to build specialty units (like Airborne Infantry, Carrier Planes)
  
• Added a couple of strings for AI canceling an import agreement
  
• Added TradeAI check for AI to cancel or reduce an import agreement if it has too much
  
• Fix for research AI not always choosing best composition element to research
  
• Add PathFind filter for navy to avoid enemies
  
• Fix for AIPlanSeaInvasion switching compositions after a fleet was already in route (cause of AI Stall)
  

• Added missing Historical Region claims for Libya
  
• Modified some terrain types
  
• Added upgrade tracks for most units
  
• Balanced upgrade costs data
  
• Fixed some research errors
  
• Balanced artillery combat values
  
• Fixed a number of incorrect unit display names
  
• Fixed a number of duplicate unit display names
  
• Tune IPU costs of submarines
  
• Increased attack power of ShortRangeSubmarines
  
• Removed DeepDefense from USSR completed research in LDOP
  
• Updated initial completed research for LDOP
  
• Added new model for Nuked city
  
• Tuned escort ship properties to more clearly define their roles
  
• Lots of cleanup in the Encyclopedia -
• added maintenance cost to city and research buildings, added IPU cost to Units, reordered data to be consistent across categories
  
• Gave Germany a VehiclePlant and an AircraftPlant in BFW
  
• Gave Japan research for Early Tanks in LDOP
  
• Gave Germany an AircraftPlant in TGQ
  
• Add research to bring Germany/Italy/US/USSR up to BiPlanes in TGQ
  
• Gave WarIndustries research to Germany and Japan in BFW
  
• Gave InfantryWeapons3 research to Italy in LDOP
  
• Changed Tripoli region location to Tripolitania
  
• Fixed content to generally not give nations units they have not researched yet
  
• Fixed data error that made Fish Products unprofitable (was not suppose to use oil, just food)
  
• Tweak costs of carrier planes a little higher to separate from non-carrier planes
  
• Fixes/balancing to air unit properties to more clearly distinguish roles
  
• BFW
• added research for Italy to produce EarlyFighter/Bomber
  
• LDOP
• backed up air units to not exceed starting research
  
• Fixed default nation descriptions for BFW and LDOP (they were reversed)
  
• Fix swapped properties for Light Carrier and Escort Carrier
  

• Fixed display of nation names for nation lists
  
• Allow user to choose location for saved games
  
• Added beta testers to credits
  

Making History II: The War of the World is now available on Steam and 20% off until 9/3/2010.

Prepare for the ultimate grand strategy experience.

International trade, religious and cultural strife, military campaigns, diplomatic negotiations... here, you control it all. MAKING HISTORY II: The War of the World gives players the power to take full control of any world nation, colonies, regions, cities, and military units during the time leading up to and during the Second World War. Armchair generals and fans of grand strategy can take their turns building great empires or protecting the world from tyranny during these pivotal moments in world history.