Feature requests for 2019

[jp10]

Originally Posted by DRG

...we are discussing ( discussing....not committing to ) adding further damage affects to targeting and RF subsystems...

Is this supposing direct hits only or to simulate near hit because the tests quoted in the article seems to envision a caliber and rounds per fire mission count that only a few game units would qualify for...


"The first test was conducted in 1988... An M109 155-mm howitzer battery...The test was fired three times using 56 HE rounds..."

"...The third test was against a simulated US mechanized infantry team in defensive positions. The target area consisted of a forward defense area with a tank ditch 250 meters long...For this test, a 24-gun 155-mm battalion ...achieve the Soviet criteria of 50 percent destruction...three iterations of the test required 2,600 HE rounds ..."

Such levels of fire concentration require a target not leaving the beaten zone. Armor's traditional reaction to arty is to move, a reaction the AI does not seem to emulate well when in a defense game. Defensive tank positions are usually open in the rear so a unit can simply pull back a few 100 meters before returning to their firing positions when the barrage ends.

Several of the pics in the article seem to be from the tests, not actual on the battlefield occurrence.
Also, in my humble opinion articles published in Branch orientated journals are written my mid-grade officers to get academic credit for their career development and usually envision their chosen specialty as the primary force upon the battlefield.

[PantherCub]

Originally Posted by DRG

...we are discussing ( discussing....not committing to ) adding further damage affects to targeting and RF subsystems along with bringing back running gear ( tracks, wheels ) damage . "Track" hits were allowed in the original game but the code for it created odd situations and if ( IF ! ) we do summon the enthusiasm required to make this work it will in the next update...and if not...not. The first focus would be arty effects..if that works out maybe it might be expanded. If your billion dollar hi tech tank catches a full burst of 30mm autocannon there should be a chance that million dollar RF might be shredded... but as I said this is only at the " to discuss" phase for Andy and I when we work up the interest to start code work again.

This sounds like a great addition. Thanks for the info!

Maybe a stupid question. Tanks can already be immobilized by artillery. What will the difference be?

[DRG]

As I said this is at the " on the list to discuss". Yes tanks can be immobilized and occasionally lose their main weapon to damage. The idea that will be discussed involves damage / degradation to FC and RF systems IF a way can be found to simulate that damage so that it is something that happens occasionally, not regularly and it would be by necessity, an abstraction and something that could occur along with immobilisation and main weapon damage OR as individual events unrelated to immobilisation or main weapon loss.

Those articles were presented to illustrate that tanks ARE vulnerable to artillery as already simulated in the game NOT as a template to further changes but the idea is to make some of these other subsystems vulnerable that are not now and probably should be.

[zovs66]

I know it was posted somewhere but I can't find it now. We were discussing the Allied/Axis type of Victory Hex markers as a possible thing.

I just wanted to throw that here so it was not lost.

I have an upcoming scenario set in North Africa where it looks like:

Axis [Germany/Italy] (Advance) vs. Allies [ANZAC/Great Britain] (Delay)

If we did have split icon's that would be really cool for this scenario. (just cosmetics)

[scorpio_rocks]

Originally Posted by zovs66

I know it was posted somewhere but I can't find it now. We were discussing the Allied/Axis type of Victory Hex markers as a possible thing.

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=52027

[Imp]

Originally Posted by DRG

As I said this is at the " on the list to discuss". Yes tanks can be immobilized and occasionally lose their main weapon to damage. The idea that will be discussed involves damage / degradation to FC and RF systems IF a way can be found to simulate that damage so that it is something that happens occasionally, not regularly and it would be by necessity, an abstraction and something that could occur along with immobilisation and main weapon damage OR as individual events unrelated to immobilisation or main weapon loss.

Those articles were presented to illustrate that tanks ARE vulnerable to artillery as already simulated in the game NOT as a template to further changes but the idea is to make some of these other subsystems vulnerable that are not now and probably should be.

If possible this would be a great addition with modern equipment.

[DRG]

If anyone has experience with the robustness/ fragility of some of these systems let us know what you know so we can fine-tune it ( IF we decide it's feasible ). I'd be especially interested in knowing if with these high-end systems that something like FC or RF degrades .....or just quits

[zovs66]

So been editing scenarios a lot and here is a useful (at least for me) feature I'd like to suggest.

In the Set OBJ screen
When you click move cursor to next victory objective (or using the 'n' (hot key) same functionality with previous victory objective), could we get it so that the red hex outline automatically indicates/surrounds the just selected next or previous objective hex?

Note that the Move Cursor to Victory Objective Location does have a hotkey ('o') but it's not displayed on the bitmap icon like the n, p, v, a and s are. Just discovered mr. 'o', after 100 scenario edits...lol

[DRG]

Yes but when you mouse over it , it does tell you...



Yes, doing the N+O as one press probably would save some time and make more sense. I'll put that on the code list

However, now that you've learned the N - O "trick" is it really necessary? I learned to N+O and just do it as a natter of course when I move around V hexes

That said also consider that you have done more of that in the last few months than most do in a lifetime

[zovs66]

I'd say fry the bigger fish and if it easy to pop in then yeah, if not, I (now lol) know the N/P + O trick and am happy camper.

Hopefully I'll have more lifetime to create/build more