Wishlist: Drawing and writing tool.

[Hviid]

Hi.
Whenever i plan a operation, I like to make a intelligence-overlay to draw expected enemy position, and a operation-overlay in order to sketch and remember my plan.
As of now, I take numerous screen dumps and paste them together in MS Powerpoint in order to have my overlays.

Will it be possible in the future to make a drawing and writing tool available in the game, thus saving a lot of time?

Best regards
Hviid

[Rosollia]

There is information on saving the entire map as an image file here:
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=48487

[Cross]

I sometimes use a zoomed-out BMP screen shot for my battle plan, and may use zoomed-in screen shots of a few select areas.

Then I open the bmp images in a graphics editor (like Gimp or Paint.net) which allows layers for writing and drawing. As SP is in Windows it's easy to keep both open and switch back and forth.

Cross

[Imp]

Ohh how well does that work for you, more often than not my plan goes out of the window by about turn 5

[RightDeve]

Originally Posted by Imp

Ohh how well does that work for you, more often than not my plan goes out of the window by about turn 5

Hahahaha!

Well, indeed sir. What works most of the time for SP scale is not that fancy encirclement movement, flanking, or double pincer blah blah blah but simple tactical consideration like put the javelins on this open ground, tanks must be accompanied by leggies when in woods, fire superiority, point-blank flank hit, suppression fire, etc etc..

Or maybe, those fancy movements are so out of the direct gameplay that I didn't think or feel they worked while actually they did work and helped me win the battle. Who knows. Some folks say, "it works so well that you don't notice it".

But anyway, those lines and arrows sure look great with an AAR, the times when you cherishingly ponder those past battles again.

[Cross]

Originally Posted by Imp

Ohh how well does that work for you, more often than not my plan goes out of the window by about turn 5

I sometimes have to throw my plan out, more typically it has to adjusted against a competent and aggressive human opponent. I think a good plan should be simple with built-in flexibility.

I do think sound tactics are more important than good strategy, but you can't dismiss strategy in this game. A good strategic game can beat an opponent who employs better tactics. I know this is true because I learned this game playing a Dutch guy who was a better tactician than me, but I could sometimes beat him through creative strategy.

Do you spread out your platoons along the front line, or mass some to punch through at a strategic point?

Do you play a mostly defensive game with 'U' shaped tank traps, or go on the offensive, if so where?

What are the objectives for each company, and for each platoon?

Do you try to capture a particular village or hill, if so when?

Where's the best place to defend?

Do you feign weakness somewhere, to try to draw the enemy into a trap?

How large is your reserve and where and when is it employed?

Where can smoke be used to assist an attack, or to help a bluff?

Force choices:
Mobile or static?
Armour to infantry ratio?
Type of weapons (longer range HMGs and Hvy ATk guns for high vis conditions, shorter range weapons for low vis)
How much artillery and AA, and where is it employed?

I think larger maps make stategy even more important.


Cross