Wish List
Things that have annoyed me in a couple of weeks of play:
- Status indicators for tanks, so I can see when a tank gets into its weird will-never-move-again suppressed state. Or at least some explanation for this state (is the tank somehow immobilized? It still seems to be able to turn... if the tank is immobilized, under fire, shouldn't the crew have bailed?)
- Finer control over HMGs, so I don't have to hide them behind hills to prevent them from wasting ammo. A 'no fire' toggle or, better, a maximum firing range control would do nicely.
- Close-quarters light anti-tank options for ordinary infantry -- a light tank in the middle of an infantry-ridden town should be in trouble rather than vice versa. This would also decrease the last-tank-standing-wins nature of mixed tank/infantry fights.
- Maybe make the field guns a little less psychotically accurate? I swear, those guys could shoot a fly off of a target's crotch without singing his pants, while the ordinary rifleman takes a dozen shots to hit a standing target at 20 meters. But this might just be a misperception on my part.
- The AI should be more willing to bring mobile anti-tank weapons (AT rifles, flamethrowers) on infantry campaigns. Attacking with tanks is too easy once you get the hang of it, because having the last tank standing is such a huge advantage.
- Improved short-range vision. Perhaps let infantry automatically see everything within two meters of them or something similar. The ability of two squads to sit next to each other on a hilltop without seeing each other is just spooky. At just a few meters, sitting there for ten minutes, these guys should be able to _smell_ each other. This will become even more important if it ever becomes possible to tell a unit not to fire as aggressively, as drawing fire seems to be the major way to detect units.
- More rational objective selection. Here's a low hill objective surrounded by high hills. What on earth operational goal could be served by taking it?
- Show the deployment areas on the map before purchasing. I want to know if that field gun I buy can be positioned from the start on the hill I've picked for it.
- More obvious help for things like keyboard commands. There are lots of controls I'd like to see, but for all I know half of them already exist. Or are the commands all documented somewhere that I missed?
- Status indicators for tanks, so I can see when a tank gets into its weird will-never-move-again suppressed state. Or at least some explanation for this state (is the tank somehow immobilized? It still seems to be able to turn... if the tank is immobilized, under fire, shouldn't the crew have bailed?)
- Finer control over HMGs, so I don't have to hide them behind hills to prevent them from wasting ammo. A 'no fire' toggle or, better, a maximum firing range control would do nicely.
- Close-quarters light anti-tank options for ordinary infantry -- a light tank in the middle of an infantry-ridden town should be in trouble rather than vice versa. This would also decrease the last-tank-standing-wins nature of mixed tank/infantry fights.
- Maybe make the field guns a little less psychotically accurate? I swear, those guys could shoot a fly off of a target's crotch without singing his pants, while the ordinary rifleman takes a dozen shots to hit a standing target at 20 meters. But this might just be a misperception on my part.
- The AI should be more willing to bring mobile anti-tank weapons (AT rifles, flamethrowers) on infantry campaigns. Attacking with tanks is too easy once you get the hang of it, because having the last tank standing is such a huge advantage.
- Improved short-range vision. Perhaps let infantry automatically see everything within two meters of them or something similar. The ability of two squads to sit next to each other on a hilltop without seeing each other is just spooky. At just a few meters, sitting there for ten minutes, these guys should be able to _smell_ each other. This will become even more important if it ever becomes possible to tell a unit not to fire as aggressively, as drawing fire seems to be the major way to detect units.
- More rational objective selection. Here's a low hill objective surrounded by high hills. What on earth operational goal could be served by taking it?
- Show the deployment areas on the map before purchasing. I want to know if that field gun I buy can be positioned from the start on the hill I've picked for it.
- More obvious help for things like keyboard commands. There are lots of controls I'd like to see, but for all I know half of them already exist. Or are the commands all documented somewhere that I missed?
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Andy Brown
- Posts: 262
- Joined: Wed Dec 08, 2004 9:30 am
- Location: Christchurch, New Zealand
HMGs: There's no way to stop them blazing away at early targets (other than keeping them out of LoS, of course) but I've found that modding them by giving them an extra loader and increasing the ammo loadout of the loaders encourages them to perform a little more effectively.
I tend to give the gunner and the two loaders 200 rounds each although I have experimented with giving the loaders 400 rounds each (a credible load - two 200 round belts) for a total of 1000 rounds which works very well.
The only constraint is that the purchase points cost increases with the size of the ammo loadout so anything more than 1000 rounds makes an HMG team overly expensive.
Giving most of the ammo to the loaders also sidesteps the "conservation of ammo" subroutines which tend to prevent HMGs from engaging targets at long range once the gunner himself starts getting low on ammo.
Cheers,
Andy
I tend to give the gunner and the two loaders 200 rounds each although I have experimented with giving the loaders 400 rounds each (a credible load - two 200 round belts) for a total of 1000 rounds which works very well.
The only constraint is that the purchase points cost increases with the size of the ammo loadout so anything more than 1000 rounds makes an HMG team overly expensive.
Giving most of the ammo to the loaders also sidesteps the "conservation of ammo" subroutines which tend to prevent HMGs from engaging targets at long range once the gunner himself starts getting low on ammo.
Cheers,
Andy
Another annoyance I encountered today -- guns whose crews have been killed should not continue to freeze your AFVs. I've been using recon squads to massacre the crews of unsupported anti-tank guns, and discovering that my half-track in the area covered by the newly-crewless gun sticks frozen in position.
(In general, AFVs seem to stick in place if they can see a gun, even if they have no weapon useful against it. A flame tank will stick in place and stare at a tank 500m away, even though it has no weapon it could possibly use from its position.)
(In general, AFVs seem to stick in place if they can see a gun, even if they have no weapon useful against it. A flame tank will stick in place and stare at a tank 500m away, even though it has no weapon it could possibly use from its position.)
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Andy Brown
- Posts: 262
- Joined: Wed Dec 08, 2004 9:30 am
- Location: Christchurch, New Zealand
I'm not sure I've seen this. AFVs do tend to freeze in place if the battle is fast and furious around them but they will (eventually) start obeying orders again if things quieten down in their area (but it does take a while - usually several minutes). I've always thought of it as a morale issue, perhaps one that does need a bit of adjustment.
Tanks do have an annoying tendency to stop in the open and duel enemy ATGs/AFVs when it would make more sense for them to sprint into cover.
Andy
Tanks do have an annoying tendency to stop in the open and duel enemy ATGs/AFVs when it would make more sense for them to sprint into cover.
Andy
Three suggestions (but understand, they are only humble suggestions; I am in awe of this game as it stands today. Very well done, sir!)
#1
I would like to be able to discern which casualties were caused by friendly-fire (and who did it), when it occurs. For example, I had some infantry moving out ahead of several tanks, and a lone enemy soldier popped up in the midst of the infantry. All hell broke loose, my 4 Shermans started to lay down fire in earnest, and they ended up smoking several friendlies.
When a battle is over, I like to do a bit of an after-action debrief, and I go through the View/Troop Status windows to see each unit's tally. There is no indication as to which tank greased the infantry. It might be nice to have the tanks be a bit more discriminating in their fire, as well...
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#2
Also, it is difficult to even know that enemy arty has fallen, when it occurs outside your immediate perview. Similar to the reports of "contact" from each company when they view enemy units, it would be useful to receive a report of "incoming" or "artillery" or something similar, when your units receive inbound shelling. Too often, I only recognize that an artillery barrage has zeroed in on my units when they fire for effect and I take casualties. I'd like to be able to disperse units during the ranging shots phase, but in a busy scenario, it's hard to know if the gun sounds are friendly or enemy. Maybe even using a different sound file for friend/foe arty would help.
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#3
I too, would love to be able to hold fire conditionally (ex: wait for friendly fire before firing, or wait for a "free fire" signal), especially on defensive scenarios. It is difficult to set up a killing zone with enfilading fire when your units furthest forward start firing before the trap is to be sprung.
#1
I would like to be able to discern which casualties were caused by friendly-fire (and who did it), when it occurs. For example, I had some infantry moving out ahead of several tanks, and a lone enemy soldier popped up in the midst of the infantry. All hell broke loose, my 4 Shermans started to lay down fire in earnest, and they ended up smoking several friendlies.
When a battle is over, I like to do a bit of an after-action debrief, and I go through the View/Troop Status windows to see each unit's tally. There is no indication as to which tank greased the infantry. It might be nice to have the tanks be a bit more discriminating in their fire, as well...
----
#2
Also, it is difficult to even know that enemy arty has fallen, when it occurs outside your immediate perview. Similar to the reports of "contact" from each company when they view enemy units, it would be useful to receive a report of "incoming" or "artillery" or something similar, when your units receive inbound shelling. Too often, I only recognize that an artillery barrage has zeroed in on my units when they fire for effect and I take casualties. I'd like to be able to disperse units during the ranging shots phase, but in a busy scenario, it's hard to know if the gun sounds are friendly or enemy. Maybe even using a different sound file for friend/foe arty would help.
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#3
I too, would love to be able to hold fire conditionally (ex: wait for friendly fire before firing, or wait for a "free fire" signal), especially on defensive scenarios. It is difficult to set up a killing zone with enfilading fire when your units furthest forward start firing before the trap is to be sprung.
#1, so far as i remember (havent played in a while due to discovery of battlefield 1942 + vietnam, that and uni, apparently), you cant get friendly fire except by arty, think i got bored and stacked 5 or 6 full squads ontop of each other, firing all sorts of weapons at them, and only the arty would have an affect
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vaporizer review
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vaporizer review
Last edited by Andy on Sat Feb 05, 2011 1:51 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Andy Brown
- Posts: 262
- Joined: Wed Dec 08, 2004 9:30 am
- Location: Christchurch, New Zealand
Yes, this was definitely a tank main gun. Also, I believe bazookas/panzeraust/PIATs can cause friendly fire.
On another note, it would be nice to be able to select a variable size for the artillery grouping. In other words, it would be good to be able to drop shells across a larger area. The trade-off would be less likelihood of a hit, but the advantage would be a larger area of affect for infantry suppression.
Also, it would be nice if the "kills" graphics on the unit status screen didn't lump on top of each other. I had a field gun with a tremendous tally (at least 5 inf and 2 tanks), but I could barely make out the graphics, as they stacked atop each other such that I couldn't even see what types of tanks they were.
These suggestions are only offered with the understanding that this is just a great game as it is already. My hat is off to you, sir.
On another note, it would be nice to be able to select a variable size for the artillery grouping. In other words, it would be good to be able to drop shells across a larger area. The trade-off would be less likelihood of a hit, but the advantage would be a larger area of affect for infantry suppression.
Also, it would be nice if the "kills" graphics on the unit status screen didn't lump on top of each other. I had a field gun with a tremendous tally (at least 5 inf and 2 tanks), but I could barely make out the graphics, as they stacked atop each other such that I couldn't even see what types of tanks they were.
These suggestions are only offered with the understanding that this is just a great game as it is already. My hat is off to you, sir.
Re: Wish List Items
I would like to be able to board vehicles. On purchase, I took it for granted that it would be possible. The troops would board in their placement phase, which is before the firefight starts, and be carried across the fire zone to a close assault distance. Daring blitzkrieg stuff. The tradeoff would be that on occasion, a troop carrier would be hit by a shell/shot/flame/hollowcharge and I would lose the whole squad at one blow!daehttub_2000 wrote:Great idea for a central wish list.
Keep it simple. While some of the suggestions are very interesting, they would really change the scope of this small unit action game. Troops generally don't board transport in a firefight. Transport is typically kept well behind the front line positions. In battle, troops learn to stay off armored vehicles as they become "bullet magnets" in a firefight.
One reads often that WW2 Soviet inf rode on tanks at great speed, some falling off in the process.
Voila du boudin!
Re: More arty options...
I would go further and have preplanned fire for defense too. The mil term is DF tasks, defensive fire tasks, of which a number can be pre-planned and ranged, and one DF(SOS) task, where the guns of a battery are left laid on (=aimed at) the target, so if you have guessed right and a number of enemy move onto that area, the fire can be called down quite quickly. This method dates from WW1, the forward troops used signal flares to call in the fire, which was arapid response.Fenris wrote:* Ability to purchase target reference point.
* Preplanned barrages purchased during purchasing phase with pre-specified approximate delay, placed during deployment phase; offense only.
* Infantry should probably instinctively scatter when a spotting round lands near them, given that they have no fortifications in which to take cover and arty is quite lethal.
Voila du boudin!
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Andy Brown
- Posts: 262
- Joined: Wed Dec 08, 2004 9:30 am
- Location: Christchurch, New Zealand
If you look closely whenever an artillery "salvo"(?) lands, although casualties seem to be limited to an area quite close to the shell bursts, the suppressive effects extend much further out. I have seen men 100 metres away from the shellbursts (half a screen at 1024 x 768 resolution) becoming suppressed as a result of an artillery strike.Dunkirk wrote:On another note, it would be nice to be able to select a variable size for the artillery grouping. In other words, it would be good to be able to drop shells across a larger area. The trade-off would be less likelihood of a hit, but the advantage would be a larger area of affect for infantry suppression.
I'm not saying there's anything wrong with your request. I just wondered if you'd noticed
Andy Brown
I really want to see somekind of Modern Warfare mod, maybe I even do it myself... now it's kinda limited... Oh and rifle-grenades!Easy deployment Method please.
Defence is OK, there are usually fewer units and the spots picked make some sense to me.
When attacking, There are usually more units. I find the default layout is a pain, my finger gets tired dragging units all over the map.
If I have say 9 inf squads, I put them in clusters of 3 in numeric order, so during the game I can cycle thru them with at least a rough idea where they will be. I like to start with 1,2, and 3rd on the left, and so on. The game starts with 1 on the far left and 2 on the far right.
suggestion. deploy by clicking the squad on the table, and then clicking on the map where u want them to be.
Defence is OK, there are usually fewer units and the spots picked make some sense to me.
When attacking, There are usually more units. I find the default layout is a pain, my finger gets tired dragging units all over the map.
If I have say 9 inf squads, I put them in clusters of 3 in numeric order, so during the game I can cycle thru them with at least a rough idea where they will be. I like to start with 1,2, and 3rd on the left, and so on. The game starts with 1 on the far left and 2 on the far right.
suggestion. deploy by clicking the squad on the table, and then clicking on the map where u want them to be.
Voila du boudin!