[DRG]

snake said:
1. On the first mission of a campaign, almost all my units had smoke. On the second and all subsequent missions none of my units have had any smoke and I've been in a defend, delay, assault, advance and river cross battles. Is this some sort of campaign bug that smoke never gets reloaded between missions?

******* I'll look into this. I know this had been brought up before and I'm certain it's been fixed at least once before

snake said:
2. In the river cross battle, I could not find any barges to buy and none of my vehicles could even try to cross the river. Didn't I read in the manual that barges were provided free in river crossings? You should at least be able to buy them.

*****They are called Barge Carriers and they are found in the MISC section. It would be helpful when dealing with issues like this to know what nation you are playing.

snake said:
3. Why do my units gets supression when they fire at units at '0' range? Are they really shooting themselves? I understand if a 'outside unit' fires in but do all gunners blow their toes off shooting at 50 meters? 50 meters is still lots bigger than a tank. I can accept SOME supression for friendly fire near fellow squad members spread over 50 meters but single armor vehicles?

******Becasue they are very close to the enemy and that's stressful. A saved example would be nice as you are the first to mention this as an issue

snake said:
4. BTW, how does an armor vehicle overrun infantry? Infantry in the same hex seem to be make a close assault after direct fire (and hence get suppression but never a casualty - both sides should take losses - their bayonets don't work?) but the tanks don't do anything but suppress themselves and sometimes kill a guy with direct fire.

*****You "overrun" infantry the way it was really done....by getting close and opening fire with all your weapons and creating a panic. We have "tank panic" in the code applied ( in some cases, not all. You cannot assume it will happen ) to the infantry being overrun. What we do not have ( and some other games do have ) is a separate "tank overrun" bit of code that gives the tank mystical powers to shock and awe when it's close.

snake said:
5. Speaking of the ground pounders, infantry seem to close assualt infantry almost all the time at range '0.' Shouldn't there be an option to engage in close assault like hitting a button? And shouldn't both sides take some casualties or prisoners? (which is why you should be careful of getting too close.....unless you mean it!)

**** There is code for a melee where both sides battle it out but if you enter a hex with a highly surpressed enemy that's not a melee and will tend to be one sided

snake said:
6. Back to tanks......My armor seems very ineffectual against infantry. Rifle fire from supporting troops do a great deal of damage but I've had my tanks blaze away with main guns and machine guns at all ranges from '0' to 'long range' without much effect. Also, the infantry is rarely frightened by the tanks rumbling near them. Only when the 'enemy side' infantry is routing away do the tanks do any real damage.

********* We've playtested this for months and nobody mentioned it. Everyone has their own ideas about what is "right". That's what the preferences screen is for.

snake said:
7. I got a few commanders with a '0' rally rating who are platoon cmdrs - nobody should be a zero in a regular, veteran or elite unit. Maybe a militia unit.....

***A save game would be useful. I've never seen it and it's never been mentioned in playtesting. This is not to say it doesn't exist. Just that you are the first to mention it. I assume this is in a campaign? Are these replacements?

snake said:
8. I've never had the AI buy any mines, traps, trenches, etc. in any defend/delay mission. But man, does the AI buy artillery! 15-20 75mms is not unusual in a 2500 point buy.

********* How big a map, how many points, what nations were you playing..... ( I need info...) I just fired up a standard battle with German vs Russia with Russia defending against an assault with the Russians as Player 2 ( the traditional "AI" side ) and with purchase set to computer ( 9000 points for Germany and XXX for Russia on a 80 x 80 map )and deploy set to HUMAN you can see what the AI bought for the Russians and if you AUTO DEPLOY when given the option of manual or automatic deployment you will see what the AI bought and where it would typically be deployed ( pressing the = key while in the deployment screen will give you more versions of an typical AI deployement in defence ) It will also show mines..lots of mines and some barbed wire as well.

So who were you playing and who where you playing against and what year?

snake said:
9. Great game and great work, don't get me wrong - I love it. I just think the armor is getting blown up way too much from artillery and don't seem to work very well against infantry.

*****We are looking into the arty vs tank issue and running futher tests. It looks as if the code that handles damage to from shrapnel etc is affecting the wrong armour but that may or may not be the real problem. The code is not simple and requires more testing

Don