Suggestions for improvement

[Larry2017]

I believe these apply to both SPMBT and SPWW2

1) Add text "cover" or similar in lower left corner for units that are in cover. In the same way that units that are dug in have "Dug in" as a status.

2) Units that are moved off the board before the end of the game (and out of play) are still displayed as you cycle thru the unit list (the Next button). I'd like to not see them anymore after they leave the board. Similar to destroyed units (although they are clearly not destroyed). Also these off-board units suffer suppression and can be rallied even though they are not in play. They also show the number of units that are visible to them. Not sure what that number represents but it should be 0.

3) Determining visibility is difficult. Would be nice if you could select any random hex (no need for a unit to be in the hex) and display surrounding visibility. Several other games have this feature and considering how hard it can be to accurately predict visibility from a hex because of the flat nature of the map, this would be a great help for intelligently placing units.

4) Artillery pieces that are abandoned can no longer be fired at. That prevents them from being destroyed. Would be nice if they could still be fired at so they can be destroyed. That would prevent them from being re-crewed if the crew returns.

[FASTBOAT TOUGH]

I hope I don't regret this but, I'll address #4. That is not quite true, I've SO MANY times have targeted the AI field artillery/or mortars that was "discovered" either visually or by seeing smoke in a units LOS.

You shouldn't rely on 1 or 2 attacks. It's been my experience that you haven't taken them all out and as the field of battle allows I will probably we revisit the location before the "suppression" wears off for any other units undamaged or as you point out, any crews that might want to reman their guns in that area.

I will further expand my bombardment OUTWARDS and CONTRACT at some point back to center again.

I also will try to slip a couple of mounted APC/IFV's around what I believe is the weak side (And hopefully supported by a tank or two.) to "sweep" the area to further uncover additional hidden units in my search while also looking for the enemies HQ.

I myself will try to reman any abandoned artillery etc. and if possible, recover it and tow it to another location and get it back into the fight.

Too many buttons or shift "F" key whatever's can be just as hard to remember as to "what does what, where; when and how". If you haven't seen it, last time I looked it's a pretty long list.

As the "commander" it's my job to come up with the fix, plan it and execute it until the problem is resolved one way or another.

I rely on only 1 button/key and that's the one in my head.

But that's just me.

Besides, I believe the "lights are out at the office" unless someone uncovers a "BUG".

Regards,
Pat

[wulfir]

Originally Posted by Larry2017

Would be nice if you could select any random hex (no need for a unit to be in the hex) and display surrounding visibility.

I don't know about this one...

I think I prefer the human player to not quite know 100% the LOS conditions before scouts or other troops are physically on the actual ground.

The scouts might be ambushed, and it will possibly add a little friction to the human players battle plan if he needs to burn time to recon the ground instead of instantly knowing the best places to position the troops...

[DRG]

3) (Determining visibility in a hex not occupied ) is DELIBERATELY coded so this cannot be done so you only know what you can see when you are actually in that hex.

How exactly would you know what you could see from any particular spot when you are (for example) 400m from it until you get there?

4)In this game, a unit like artillery is destroyed when the crew is destroyed. The physical artillery piece is not a "target"...... the crew is the target

[Mobhack]

1) "cover"? - what is that? - there is no such game status. There is dug-in, and that is already shown.

2) Is irrelevant

3) Just like in real life, examining a map gives you a hint of LOS from a spot, but actually going there needs to be done to find out the true LOS at that point. (SP maps are perfect, and show all fords etc, already)

4) In the game if a crew separates, then it is the active unit. Destroying the crew destroys the abandoned unit (at end of game).
Exception - if you occupy the same hex as an abandoned unit, you destroy it.

[Larry2017]

Let me preface my comments by saying that playability has to have a role in these games. These are great games but... if, in search of realism, you make the game onerous you aren't doing anybody any favor.


Units moved off the board:
This is not irrelevant. I play campaign games and moving units off the board is sometimes the only way to rescue them for the next scenario. It's a pain having to ignore them as you cycle thru your units. Modifying the Next and Previous buttons to ignore these units can't be that hard.

This is a playability issue.

Visibility:
SP maps are perfect :-) Humm.... maybe not exactly...

If I had a topographical map or if the map had contour lines or some better method of displaying relative height, I might agree that there is no need to provide an aid for determining visibility. But the map is flat and relative height is mostly not visually determinable. 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.

Perhaps my idea is overkill but there's got to be a middle ground somewhere short of inspecting every hex with the cursor or moving a unit back and forth to every hex you want to know about. Most scenarios aren't long enough to allow that anyway.

This is a playability issue.

BTW, I don't agree that a unit has to be physically on a hex in order to determine visibility from that hex. Sometimes just being in the general vicinity of a spot of ground can give a general idea of it's visibility.


Abandoned Artillery:
The physical artillery piece should be a target. The gun emplacement can still be destroyed even if the crew is absent, or at least it ought to. Can't tell you how many times I've hit an artillery unit with indirect fire only to have the crew abandon it and disappear. Now I can't destroy the artillery piece and two or three turns later the crew is back and I have to start all over again. I should be able to continue shooting at the artillery piece until I destroy it.

[Mobhack]

In SP series games an abandoned unit is now a map decoration. It can be destroyed by a unit of yours camping out on the same hex for a turn, but that is the only way you can destroy the decoration. It's built into the basic code that way, and to redo that would mean writing a new game from scratch, where guns and vehicles came as 2 separate conjoined units at the start, infantry as 1 unit.

A decoration has no crew so it is inactive. That is how SP works - the active unit of the decoration is its crew. So if you make an arty unit split and retreat then you do have to pound the ground around the decoration to try to eliminate any fleeing crew.

[DRG]

Auto rally does a general job of rallying units, It's up to the player to check and rally any unit he uses in the course of playing the game while moving from unit to unit. It is the way it is.

If you need to check LOS move a scout unit slowly into place and look around. It is the way it is and the way it's going to stay.

[Larry2017]

I've been a programmer for many years. I have personally experienced the joys of maintaining legacy applications written by other people many years ago.

When people make suggestions, they almost certainly are trying to be helpful. Telling them "that's just the way it is and that's the way it's going to stay" isn't a good way to encourage more input from your customers. If something isn't practical because it would break lots of code and require a major code rewrite, just say so. Your customers will understand.

Speaking of which:

>> In SP series games an abandoned unit is now a map decoration. It can be destroyed by a unit of yours camping out on the same hex for a turn, but that is the only way you can destroy the decoration. It's built into the basic code that way, and to redo that would mean writing a new game from scratch, where guns and vehicles came as 2 separate conjoined units at the start, infantry as 1 unit.

I understand now... major rewrite. But maybe not totally from scratch :-) Thank you for the explanation.

But let me put a bug in your ear for sometime when you're bored :-)
You already have a game mechanism for this: trucks with loaded infantry. So why not artillery with loaded crews. I know it's not the "same" but it's a starting point.

[DRG]

If people make suggestions, we consider them and if we agree it gets implemented which has happened many, many times over the 2 decades we've been doing this and if we don't then it doesn't and that's just the way it is.