How to prevent a unit from assaulting?

[Anton]

If keeping a nice and tidy manual is so serious a labor, why not let experienced players contribute small paragraphs, corrections, and other small and manageable changes that you would review, edit, and include into the manual?

For example, in this thread I have learned new things about assaults which might be included in a single place in the manual rather than distributed all over. MP's for an assault are specified in the change log, whereas the definition of it is simply missing. In the natural order of narration, you first define a thing and then describe it.

[jp10]

Originally Posted by Anton

...why not let experienced players contribute small paragraphs, corrections, and other small and manageable changes that you would review, edit, and include into the manual?

Like Wikipedia and their reputation for accuracy? Two names,one old and one current, ChuckForth and Kiwikikwik. Good intentions I am sure they always intended/intend but I would expect rarely "small paragraphs, corrections, and other small and manageable changes" would be added by many. A 24/7 mod would be needed to keep up with it.

[Anton]

Originally Posted by jp10

Like Wikipedia and their reputation for accuracy?

The reference to Wikipedia is irrelevant because the amount of its users exceeds those of WinSPWW2 by a factor of millions. We shan't have anthing like the Wikipedia traffic.

Originally Posted by jp10

Two names,one old and one current, ChuckForth and Kiwikikwik.

Haven't heard about them.

Originally Posted by jp10

Good intentions I am sure they always intended/intend but I would expect rarely "small paragraphs, corrections, and other small and manageable changes" would be added by many. A 24/7 mod would be needed to keep up with it.

I disagree. There are not so many users that care about pointing flaws in the manual, let alone those who are willing to put in effort in proposing revisions and corrections. There will be very few you will find the time and motivation to write even several coherent and well-pondered paragraphs accurately representing the behavior of the game.

Whenever anything comes up on the forum to which RTFM is not an aswer (or not a good answer), it is a case for correction of the manual. It is, after all, intended for the inexperienced users.

[DRG]

There is a half decent chance that at some point in the next 12 months there may be another update to both games......maybe.

The chance I will re-write or supervise a re-write of the game manual is zero if for no other reason than no matter how it gets re-written the chance that re-write will make everyone "happy" is slim to none. The info is there. Lot's of people have figured out how to find what they need and the format we have used is not going to change and if you think you can organize a player mod that can make it better then be my guest and when it's done you can post it to the Mods forum for all to admire..or criticize as the case may be.

Don

[Imp]

Be thankful this game has an extensive game manual which covers how everything works. I have had enough of modern games which come with a supposed manual, it’s normally full of pictures and a backstory with a couple of pages dedicated to how things actually work. Game industry is pants now all graphics and sequels dumb down the gameplay rather than improve it WTF we must be getting thicker. Buck the trend by games made by small independent I have noticed I now have more games by them than the big houses.

[chris h]

What it needs is a second person to write the manual. I've just done this for War in the East and it suffered from exactly the same problem. When I say 'just done it', it's not finished yet and I've been working on since Sept last year but what's left is minor stuff like a decent index. It did require more than me, I just wrote the stuff but as it progressed and was made available on the forum other's chipped in with correction and stuff I did not know.

If you take the whole thing where I've been at it on average 4 hours a day for 5-6 days a week you can see how big the job is. I can see why DRG is more than reluctant to take it on but there again it is only that big because the changes were never intergrated properly in the first place. That is not DRG fault but the original companies.

Decent manuals and updating them is a common failing on the part of the industry in general. No point having a good product if you don't know how it works.

[anlubue]

A fantastic idea Chris!

Perhaps you could collect all of these additional connections, which the player does not immediately reveal, and get it closer to us new players? Maybe through one or more self-created scenarios? Or maybe an extensive and illustrated after action report?

A whole series of youtube videos would be wonderful. If the account in question had enough followers, it would also have the advantage of increasing the level of awareness of the game.

[sigeena]

I did consider doing more illustrated AARs. But the forum can only accept a very small size of jpg uploads. So it makes it very difficult to show up the scale. I'm interested in the Bn level of operations so my playing map is usually 80~100(H) x 120~160(L).

[anlubue]

You could realize it as a PDF file then? An uploaded PDF is allowed to be bigger. That would also have the advantage, that your viewers could consider it independent of this forum or without having to be online. It would not distract them so much from what you provide?

[DRG]

Use Imgur. Upload to Imgur then link to the post at Shrapnel