And now ? (WinSP dreams)

[Charles22]

Yes, well it's somehwat a bit silly to always assume that the weapon of choice can reach into the next hex, but that is how the game is designed it seems. It seems a stronger case could be made that the unit isn't always on the edge of two different hexes, and thereby shouldn't always be abel to pull that off. Also, since you don't throw smokepots in particular, even if you can reachinto the next hex with them, then the next turn should see them in that same hex, since they had to enter it to lay it down.

Figure this one out. Apparently the game plays to where the unit is on all six edges at the same time. How do I know that? Because the unit can use the range 1 weapon on any of those 6 bordering hexes. Apparently, the unit is in all six places at once but is never in the middle, which of course if it were would dis-allow the use of smokepots into other hexes, assuming there were smokepots. Foe some reason I always believed the unit was in the middle, and since some of the range 1 weapons are thrown beyond the mid-point of a hex, then they made it range 1 for that reason, but at the same time I knew they made it range 1 also for the sake of saying the unit was at the edge possibly. In reality, the only way it plays that makes any sense, is you have all the guys in the unit spread out throughout the hex, with at least all six edges covered. With that in mind if they went down to less than six men then apparently they shouldn't be able to use range 1 weapons on all 6 hexes therefore, but then I'm sure the game didn't get that technical about it. I guess that's roughly handled by units losing so many men that a point comes where all weapons aren't useable (unless a specific weapon is selected by the user for an attack).

I think I hurt my brain with all that thinking

[serg3d]

I'd like to see "fast shooting" option, the same as "fast artillery" which alraedy in game. With dozens of units on the screen, each shooting two or three weapons several times and some rounds ricochetting turn takes forever.

[PatG]

serg3d said:
I'd like to see "fast shooting" option, the same as "fast artillery" which alraedy in game. With dozens of units on the screen, each shooting two or three weapons several times and some rounds ricochetting turn takes forever.

Turning animations down in the preferences panel can help speed things up.

[vic]

a few long-time wishes...
1. smoke...
a.limit smoke "altitude"...e.g. smoke fired into a valley should not block visibility across the valley from hilltop to hilltop.
b. i agree with previous posters that the "infantry smoke" is way over the top. it should be used as e.g. a same-hex "break contact" tool

2. some kind of logical/reasonable retreat algorithm; the berserker "home-side dash" really inhibits maneuver particularly for para units, recce types etc. this would help the AI enormously too.
a. away from fire
b. into cover

3. a USABLE user-friendly waypoint system (maybe a "human only" version?) that permits reasonable/logical control and removes the necessity of moving every cotton pickin' unit "by hand". One can spend hours doing approach movement on large scenarios:

a. waypoints STAY where placed until reached
b. waypoints can be moved (to remove the necessity of deleting all waypoints and then redefining them)
c. no interaction with objective hexes; just move where ordered

a lot of other nifty stuff could be added (formation maintainance, road march specification etc.) but just the three points above would make life a lot simpler and gameplay faster.

4. my habitual complaints about artillery (indirect) fire:
a. the "scatter" is goofy; doesn't appear to have any relationship to distance from firing unit, doesn't appear to vary by weapon type (e.g. 50mm mortars with a 10 hex range should be able to pound a selected/registered hex AT WILL with MINIMAL deviation.), fire called reasonably close (5 or so hexes?) to the "spotting" unit should NOT have accuracy penalized for no LOS...one can HEAR where the stuff is falling...especially the "shorts"...lol.

>>>>in the short term why not have (in addition to the "artillery effectiveness" preference) an artillery ACCURACY preference so the user can tighten up scatter/drift if desired?<<<<<

my guess is artillery is the way it is to "protect" the AI from "human advantage".

5. a reasonable "extra ammo" purchase/resupply routine. these ammo units with infinite supplies of every caliber/type of ammo are the pits, maybe:

a. purchase ammo "containers" with fixed number of rounds for warhead size and type (e.g. 50 rounds, size 3, HE). these "containers" would be transportable and could be "dropped off" where required. separate "types" would cure the problem e.g. of tanks having to fill up on HE before getting any AP rounds. "no sir, i know those T-34's are rolling down on us but i can't give you any AP until you have the HE ammo topped off first."

b. reload fexibility by weapon slot. 2 tube mortar units (with both tubes obviously within less than 50yds/m of each other) must have tube 1 completely reloaded before tube 2 gets any ammo?

c. units should reload faster BUT can't fire and reload simultaneously. (if the crew is humping ammo from a truck/container who is firing the weapon?)

there is a big difference bewteen dropping off cases of ammo for say mortar crews as opposed to stowing ammo aboard a tank. reload speed should be also dependant on unit class. faster for infantry/arty and slower for vehicles.

one selects a "reload" option (costs you all your "shots") for your unit and then specify (if ammo resupply is close enough) size, type, number of rounds (maybe in increments defined by warhead size? the larger the WH the smaller the number of rounds) and weapon slot to be reloaded. [might be more workable codewise to require the selection of the "ammo container" unit first and then "direct" resupply to the appropriate (warhead size/type) adjacent firing unit. whatever.]

6. air units; specify target area and target type (leg, emplacement/structure, vehicle) and let the pilots do their thing.

7. lastly (but definitely not least)...lethality. the "infantry toughness" preference helps some but it's still way out of hand. the casualties inflicted by rifle fire (especially bolt-action types) are ludicrous. the big casualty producers were by far fragmentation and automatic weapons fire. infantry moves slowly, in cover and moves adjacent to an enemy unit and suffers 40% casualties before it can get off a shot? (it plays like the squad is advancing line abreast a la the napoleonic era rather than short rushes by individuals/small groups using benefit of cover.) the "infantry toughness" preference (as far as i can tell) makes infantry "tougher" against everything. infantry needs to be much more susceptible to frag (especially in the open) and much LESS vulnerable to small arms fire. historically the way infantry units got shot to pieces was to get pinned in the open and then mortared/shelled.

it seems to me the "tank" portion (vehicle vs. vehicle) of the game is pretty good. i think it's fairly clear that's what the original design was aimed at and the rest of the stuff (infantry, arty etc.) was kind of shoe-horned in as an extra. the camo guys have done marvellously well given what they had to start with and an uncompensated, volunteer force. (princes among men!) if not a single change is made ever again it's still a damn fine effort and only the "continuous improvement" addicts like me out there would push for more.

the AI is a whole different subject. significant improvement there would likely entail a ground-up redesign and changes to much more than just the AI portion of the code.

best,
vic

[Irinami]

Infantry smoke should only put out a thin cloud on the first turn, and a thick(er) one the second. Then thin, then gone. And yeah, a smoke height would be nice. Then again...

Real height. Level 1, 5, 20, etc... I now it's aggregate, but if AP loses Pen from distance, and all these angles are taken into account, can't hex height and slope be standardized? This would allow for tree/building height, more accurate movement uphill (Want to go from level 0 to level 50 in 2 hexes? Too steep, try another path.), etc. etc.

Units' placement, like everything, is an aggregate. The unit could be anywhere in the hex. If you need to pin down exactly where it is, try Combat Mission. I guess I should say that to myself on the above.

And yes, planes need a crapload of work. At least the option to target area or unit, and if it can't find a unit then don't fire.