Ideas that could make CM titles any better!

[Pike]

I have thought alot about it in a long time.

What I think CM series are currently lacking is the defence and in the terrain. I think it's a great idea worth considering. Here goes;

Why could you not save a QB after a battle as in CMx1? All destruction and troops moved over to a save file and you could countine fight with what you had with same destruction on the map and even start a new QB with same old troops plus new ones.

Why can't some fortifications be terrain tiles? It would be nice if BF could do that. And I also would like come camouflage that could be applied to fortifications to make them alot harder to spot. Right now foxholes and trenches are some kind of "Here I am!" "Bombard the hell out of me please!" decoration.

And add some fire from "fire" as in CMx1 that will spread and make smoke...

Thanks for a great game BF. If you can't put it in the game engine please try in the next!

 

Cheers

Pike

[Ts4EVER]

I don't know about those features, but imo what CM needs above all is better accessibility. By that I don't mean "dumbing down" features, but streamlining the game so that those complex features can be enjoyed more readily. Playing a simulation game like this should be a fight against the enemy, not against the UI or the controls!

1: Camera controls as they are right now: atrocious. Best thing to do would be add fps type controls to the camera, with an additional optional rts only mode (God's eye view). The player should be able to switch between these during gameplay.

2: Streamlined controls: while the hotkeys are nice, they are also clunky and hard to learn. Not a big deal for turnbased, but for RTS mode something more streamlined is necessary. Something like: Rightclick tells a unit to walk somewhere, double right click tells them to run, rightclick + shift tells them to crawl etc. I'm sure a control scheme like that could be implemented.

3: More use for the unit icons: ATM these tell you two things, if the unit just took a casualty and if it is routed. IMO this could be expanded. I'm picturing a yellow border that gets more saturated the more a unit gets suppressed. Another idea: Once a unit spots a new enemy, an exclamation mark flashes over the icon for a few seconds to draw the player's attention.

[Baneman]

1: Camera controls as they are right now: atrocious. Best thing to do would be add fps type controls to the camera, with an additional optional rts only mode (God's eye view). The player should be able to switch between these during gameplay..

Er ... there are fps camera controls.

Whether they are the same as what you are looking for, I don't know ( I don't actually use them myself ). Look under Options -> Controls in the main menu.

[Melchior]

The game should utilize some kind of controllable reinforcement system. Like one that allows for storage and use of reserve troops and formations. 

[MikeyD]

Why can't some fortifications be terrain tiles?

In a word, FOW-killer. Back in CMSF trenches were terrain tiles and you knew exactly where they were placed at setup. Plus, breaking the terrain mesh, they were a monster resource hog and slowed down the game. Current trenches and foxholes are the opposite of 'here I am'. If you don't have eyes on them you simply don't know they're there.

[MikeyD]

About camera controls being 'atrocious', That's like claiming a sportscar's stick shift is 'undriveable' because you were taught on automatic transmission. There's plenty of people who drive stick and have no problems at all. All you gotta do is learn how to drive it.

[RockinHarry]

I´d tend to vote for using the "experience" soft factor for making a trench or foxhole a better or worse camouflaged version, adapting purchase points (for QB) accordingly. IIRC trenches and FH get more or less automatically detected at ranges between 3-400m (assuming unobstructed LOS), so a possible "elite" trench could i.e be detected only at ranges of say...50-100m. Off course that needs to go hand in hand with unit detection and that´s probabaly the point where the whole idea gets more complicated. An "Elite" trench and a "Green" unit in there and shooting at a target 500m away gets what spotting probabilities for the (various) opponent units? Hm....

[Cobetco]

a dynamic numbering decal system for vehicles would make my day.

[hobo]

In a word, FOW-killer. Back in CMSF trenches were terrain tiles and you knew exactly where they were placed at setup. Plus, breaking the terrain mesh, they were a monster resource hog and slowed down the game. Current trenches and foxholes are the opposite of 'here I am'. If you don't have eyes on them you simply don't know they're there.

I think they should simply be cheaper to procure allowing you to sprinkle them around more freely thus better hiding where you are really at.

My major issue is that troops frequently dont get in foxholes and stand in front of the fortifications.  If this is simply a visual thing and doesnt impact game play OK but it does drive me crazy.

[hobo]

The game should utilize some kind of controllable reinforcement system. Like one that allows for storage and use of reserve troops and formations. 

Careful, you are getting dangerously close to an Operation or Campaign Layer with that heresy.

[Macisle]

... Camera controls as they are right now: atrocious. Best thing to do would be add fps type controls to the camera, with an additional optional rts only mode (God's eye view). The player should be able to switch between these during gameplay...

Like Baneman said, there is an FPS-style camera control option already.

I actually love the stock camera controls (I only use the mouse to control general camera movement). These days, I get annoyed when I have to use FPS-style controls in other games that aren't strictly FPS.

I find the UI pretty easy to work with. I use a lot of hot keys. If I  need anything on the Combat panel, I hit "T" to bring that panel up and then a different key, if needed (usually "J" for Target Briefly). To bring the Movement panel up, I hit "B" and then another key (usually "I" for Quick). For the Special panel, I hit "H" and then whatever else I need, making sure to undo the Hide command I initiated by using the H key. It all goes pretty fast and easy.

On things to make the game better, I agree that a dynamic numbering system for vehicles would be great (but is not a high priority for me).

My current short list:

Front end:

• For the long term, make infantry animations smoother and more varied.
• For the short/medium term, make Vein's Effects and Juju's UI graphics stock.
• For the long term, add a Follow command that would cause units chosen as part of the group to line up behind and duplicate all of the selected lead unit's movement orders, including waypoint pauses (not a must have, but could be a big time-saver in some situations).

Scenario Editor:

• Allow copy-pasting of map sections into new maps, with a rotate feature.
• Allow copy-pasting of buildings and flavor objects in 3D Preview mode, along with free rotation and a dropdown menu to select new building/FO items while in 3D Preview.
• Allow 3 force mixes in one scenario file to facilitate different force mixes for Allied vs. AI, Axis vs. AI, and H2H. That way, you could say, give the AI a much stronger force than in the H2H setup.

There are more things, of course, but these are currently at the top of my list.

[BLSTK]

I'm sorry, I thought this thread was about coming up with better titles for CM games...

[Pike]

Thank you guys!

In a word, FOW-killer. Back in CMSF trenches were terrain tiles and you knew exactly where they were placed at setup. Plus, breaking the terrain mesh, they were a monster resource hog and slowed down the game. Current trenches and foxholes are the opposite of 'here I am'. If you don't have eyes on them you simply don't know they're there.

Aha. The engine can't handle it now? I got a solution:

This would solve the terrain mesh thing: A future engine where you can place fortifications on a QB map when you make it in the scenario editor and it will act as the player have bought them. And the player could buy more and add them to the existing ones! Then you would not break the terrain mesh and you could have a real premade QB WWI trenchline! 

Why differ on QB and scenario maps? I also want destroyed vehincles placeable so you get the feeling it's been a fight bf on a QB map. What BF nees to do is to make QB more like the scenario maps.

 

[Pike]

I´d tend to vote for using the "experience" soft factor for making a trench or foxhole a better or worse camouflaged version, adapting purchase points (for QB) accordingly. IIRC trenches and FH get more or less automatically detected at ranges between 3-400m (assuming unobstructed LOS), so a possible "elite" trench could i.e be detected only at ranges of say...50-100m. Off course that needs to go hand in hand with unit detection and that´s probabaly the point where the whole idea gets more complicated. An "Elite" trench and a "Green" unit in there and shooting at a target 500m away gets what spotting probabilities for the (various) opponent units? Hm....

This would be awesome + the QB map idea: 

 

This would solve the terrain mesh thing: A future engine where you can place fortifications on a QB map when you make it in the scenario editor and it will act as the player have bought them. And the player could buy more and add them to the existing ones! Then you would not break the terrain mesh and you could have a real premade QB WWI trenchline! 

Cheers

[Pike]

Careful, you are getting dangerously close to an Operation or Campaign Layer with that heresy.

Haha! They are close to get another title on the way that could be a new CMC. They could earn millions $ on it by just tweak alittle so it turns Campagins.

[c3k]

FOW and Defensive Works: already covered as to how it was and how it is, upstream. How it could be? Yeah, that'd be great. I will say that there have been plenty of situations when foxholes have stayed hidden in some of my games. If there is a lot foliage, they hide better. One of my techniques is to buy extra fortifications and place them in likely locations...which can be spotted. I leave 'em empty. They do a great job of absorbing my oppos' artillery.

 

Persistent map damage: yeah, long sought after and requested.

Saved OOB and import troops: again, long sought after and requested.

It'd make "on the fly" campaigns possible. Persistent map damage would be fantastic. 

 

 

[womble]

Playing a simulation game like this should be a fight against the enemy, not against the UI or the controls!

Very true. However:

1: Camera controls as they are right now: atrocious. Best thing to do would be add fps type controls to the camera, with an additional optional rts only mode (God's eye view). The player should be able to switch between these during gameplay.

As has been said, there are 3 different camera modes. And it's possible to make the default camera pretty useful, especially with a multi-button mouse. Maybe it's possible to make the default-out-the-download setup a bit more intuitive, but they're having to accommodate everything from a scrolless  trackpad to my G700, so whatever they did is going to fail some of their demographic.

2: Streamlined controls: while the hotkeys are nice, they are also clunky and hard to learn. Not a big deal for turnbased, but for RTS mode something more streamlined is necessary. Something like: Rightclick tells a unit to walk somewhere, double right click tells them to run, rightclick + shift tells them to crawl etc. I'm sure a control scheme like that could be implemented.

I do believe that a "left click selects, right click commands" control paradigm (?option?) would be more intuitive to learn than the current system, but again, you're having to provide for a wide range of input devices. Hotkeys are only hard to learn if you leave them as default. Change them to a schema that makes sense for you, with Mnemonic significance, and there are only a very few (compared to, say, playing a stancedancing PvP Druid in WoW) buttons that you have to have at the top of your fingers/front of your mind. Use your left hand to play the game and your worries about what mouseclick to use largely disappear.

3: More use for the unit icons: ATM these tell you two things, if the unit just took a casualty and if it is routed. IMO this could be expanded. I'm picturing a yellow border that gets more saturated the more a unit gets suppressed. Another idea: Once a unit spots a new enemy, an exclamation mark flashes over the icon for a few seconds to draw the player's attention.

The other thing the unit icons show you is ToO and command span. There's no need whatsoever for a notification that a new enemy has been spotted. Just click on the newly spotted enemy and the unit(s) on your side that can see them will highlight. So there's another thing the icons will tell you. One more and I could have written it as a "nobody expects the icons to show you..." sketch. Technically, the icons take up a massive amount of processing power. Steve has said, I believe, in the past that getting the icons to move right was one of the most challenging tasks Charles faced in the early days of CMx2 development. And it's still imperfect/inconsistent. Personally, I feel they're given too much priority, but I don't play RealTime. But adding stuff to them would be entirely non-trivial; even adding more types of non-dynamic icon (markers for squad/team for e.g.) has been characterised as too much of a resource drain.

[Fizou]

Currently its possible to get intel for one side before a battle (axis or allies), it would be cool if both sides could get intel on each other (in some cases its appropriate).   

[RockinHarry]

Currently its possible to get intel for one side before a battle (axis or allies), it would be cool if both sides could get intel on each other (in some cases its appropriate).   

+1

and maybe the ability to declare just selected units to be viable for pre game intel or selecting them individually.

[SlowLarry]

I can handle the game quite good, but it took me a lot of time to get there. I m using a 11-button mouse and dont need the keyboard at all and i love the cameracontrol. I got so used to it that i try to use similar settings in different games.

More automation, so i dont need to paint every single move path, especially for long road marches. When on a large map and with huge forces i usually doubleclick on a formation, paint the path for a single unit and then drag the waypoints for the others to fit to the roadnet, but its still quite a lot of work. So, a "follow this road" command would be outstanding. I know its been asked a thousand times though...

It would be pretty cool if i were able to designate some units to have a kind of permanent picture in picture camera, possible in the now oh so dark corners of the ui, like you always sees what a certain tank sees while you are looking around the battlefield.

Infantry animations, lots of them, new ones and variations, so there is more, well, variance in them, and some cool graphic effects like tilt-shift( not sure if those are available though). Tanks visibly breaking down trees, vehicles leaving trails, all those bells and whistles...

I actually liked TS4evers idea with some kind of notice on the units icon as soon as it spots something.

Hand to hand combat... if you see one going on, you can press start on your controller and a beat em up minigame starts...

And of course, totally yes to permanent map damage, exportable.

[A Canadian Cat]

It would be pretty cool if i were able to designate some units to have a kind of permanent picture in picture camera, possible in the now oh so dark corners of the ui, like you always sees what a certain tank sees while you are looking around the battlefield.

Picture in picture - oh that would be brilliant.  I love that idea.  I am not sure how high I would put that but cool idea man.

[Pak40]

 

Scenario Editor:

• Allow copy-pasting of map sections into new maps, with a rotate feature.
• Allow copy-pasting of buildings and flavor objects in 3D Preview mode, along with free rotation and a dropdown menu to select new building/FO items while in 3D Preview.
• Allow 3 force mixes in one scenario file to facilitate different force mixes for Allied vs. AI, Axis vs. AI, and H2H. That way, you could say, give the AI a much stronger force than in the H2H setup.

There are more things, of course, but these are currently at the top of my list.

And for God's sake, add an undo button.

[Glubokii Boy]

 

and maybe the ability to declare just selected units to be viable for pre game intel or selecting them individually.

This would be a nice feature.

If it atleast could be the same consistantly for a specific scenario. Right now it seems to be completally random and can result in very different units showing up

for the same battle each time you start it. Often as a designer you want to make sure that some units remain hidden from the player.

 

A few other things...

- A REVERSE move-order in the AI-planning to allow for some shoot-and-scoot AI armour.

- If BFC could find a way to have bailed out tank crews abandon their current AI-move and instead withdraw towards the friendly map-edge or altleast hide in place...

Right now these bailed out tank crews can still achive the objectives the designer had intended for AI armour to try and reach. 

- A total remake of the AI artillery programming. Right now it is...well...Bad ! i'm sorry to say.

As it is now the designer is limited to turn one bombardments and have very little controll even of those. Being able to program an AI counter attack mid-game supported

by an artillery barrage or smokescreen for example would be a nice thing to have...

[simon21]

I think when ask for things we should mention our primary play styles.  I mostly play online asynchronously.

Ideas : 

• The camera could really use some attention.  
• Instead of just local trunks I would like it to be all only trunks.  That would maybe halt some LOS complaints.  
• Contour lines could be really cool.  I'm pretty sure I've seen that before and I think I heard good reasons why it would be very hard.  Failing at that, Maybe an overlay at a set controllable height.  I've sort of seen that with the target arcs.  I would ideally like to screen a lot of action points from position at once as opposed to having to scroll around.
• I really love the grid mod-ed squares.  If there was a way to do with with an overlay so I could turn it on and off at will and not have to install stuff that would be awesome.

Edited February 2, 2016 by simon21

[Cobetco]

little umbrellas for our pixeltruppen