Suggestions for improvement

[Mobhack]

If abandoned things were still considered active targets then the AI would as likely expend valuable ordnance killing them off rather than moving on to "live" targets.

[wulfir]

Originally Posted by Larry2017

Unless you want to run your cursor over every individual hex and look up in the corner of the game window, there's no way to know if that hex 5 hexes away from where you'd like to place your unit has a slight difference in height that's going to block visibility.

I think not knowing 100% before you have troops on the ground is great.

IMHO a human player can make a decent enough estimate just by looking at a game map. If the player should sometimes find upon arriving that what looked like an ideal spot isn't all that ideal because LOS is partially or fully blocked I'm all for it.

If the player has a full info picture at all times of the juiciest spots over the entire map where to deploy for maximum AI spanking they will just roll there and the chance for friction/lost time/taking losses for unclear gain goes down.

I don't see the problem with using scouts to scout the terrain?

[lansoar]

Originally Posted by Mobhack

If abandoned things were still considered active targets then the AI would as likely expend valuable ordnance killing them off rather than moving on to "live" targets.

This is an important point. a feature enhancement such as described needs to take into account the limitations of the AI routines of which I would offer are the majority of the situations players face with this game. (maybe I'm wrong, but I've rarely had the time to schedule a human vs human play by email battle)

A lot of work has gone into making the AI a "decent" opponent in a variety of situations from attack to defense. Artillery remains a problematic issue as even in the latest versions of WinSP the AI often seems to "be a step behind" the actions of the human opponent. I should know.....I've often been thankful that a massive Soviet BM-XX bombardment was 500-1000 meters behind where my units are in the current turn. A human opponent would not be so forgiving.

I agree with Mobhack that this enhancement might result in further making the AI focus on non essential targets.

[DRG]

In SP, guns are not the target, the crew is and that is baked into the basic code and we don't see the need, or have the desire to change that. Once abandoned guns cease to function and are no longer "targets" for the AI or the human player but a crew that has been forced to retreat from the gun can rally and recrew it which re-activates the gun to target status but until they recrew the gun THEY are the legitimate targets.

Vehicles are targets until destroyed and then maybe a crew bails out and then the surviving crew becomes a legitimate target but a gun crew is not inside a gun, it crews from outside and that's the way it is.

[Crazy_Dutch]

To increase the number of weapons slots from 4 to 6 or 8

[DRG]

Originally Posted by Crazy_Dutch

To increase the number of weapons slots from 4 to 6 or 8

Been suggested many times in the past 2 decades both inside and outside the development team and it could be done with a total re-write of the code which is why it hasn't and won't be done

[Mobhack]

Not just a total rewrite of the code, each and every scenario would need to be reengineered, including those buried inside the campaign games. Also every save game on everyone's own hard drive would need an updater run manually by them at thier end. Any PBEM games in progress would be toasted (normal for any update).

Needless to say umpteen end users then would completely ignore any message on the installer (even if in red text and a pop-up alert was displayed to that effect) and then they would write in with "my save game exploded!" type messages...

So, not going to happen. A change to the basic game data structures so fundemental would really require a brand new game from the ground up, with all new scenarios and campaigns being written just for it as a rewrite is likely to miss bits leaving "gotchas". And it would sold separately of course!.

Likelyhood of that happening is vanishingly small.

[georgesedlak]

Item#3
Absolutely correct, It's the only logical way for LOS to work. And in other peoples games like "John Tiller" it works the same way, if you enable it in advanced rules.

[ctcharger]

New to the party but #3 would be really nice. I understand the fog of war argument but with current state of graphics relative to what the soldiers would have available, giving us at least the option is warranted imho.