Improvement suggestions

[Bulletpoint]

1 hour ago, Warts 'n' all said:

5 hours ago, Bulletpoint said:

If you mean making a long string of waypoints along the wall, yes it keeps them on the right side. But it also slows them down immensely, because they have to stop and regroup at each waypoint.

No, the End or Destination Point is linear. Three AS for a full squad. Two AS for a squad that has detached a Scout or AT Team. And there are NO intervening way points.

Ok, interesting. I rarely move full squads around, and when I do, it's so far behind the lines that I don't mind if they jump over the fence a couple of times. I am hoping they'll fix it for moving single teams.

[Glubokii Boy]

An easy-to-use way of adding a 'checkbox' that could be ticked when placing any kind movement order wich would instruct the selected unit to NOT halt at the waypoint but rather move straight through to the next one would perhaps be a nice option...

No regrouping, no waiting for stragglers...everybody simply moves through without stopping when they reach that waypoint.

Such a thing would also be useful in streetfighting for example if you would like to specify a specific point of entry into a building and not have your troops pause in the middle of the street before entering.

Previously vehicles used to have this anying 'capability'...to stop and pause at every waypoint for the rest of the turn (atleast AI vehicles)...It made plotting movements along a curcing road...somewhat frustrating. This was thankfully removed a few years ago. Maybe infantry could get a simular treatment but with an OPTION to remove the pause/waiting for each individual waypoint...

 

 

[Kaunitz]

Interesting thing! I can clearly see how usefull it would be in urban environments ("Use that front door but please don't stop - or moonwalk  - for 5 seconds out in the open!!"). But if anything like this is to be implemented, I think it would need to stay as simple as possible, without "checkboxes" that is. What about making infantry behave like vehicles by default, so that they move "through" waypoints without stopping. We already have a means to stop them temporarily or permanently (pause-order/pause-button/delete movement orders). - - 

 

Edited November 8, 2018 by Kaunitz

[Glubokii Boy]

8 hours ago, Kaunitz said:

What about making infantry behave like vehicles by default, so that they move "through" waypoints without stopping. 

 

I'm not so sure that such a change should be made to be - default -

Many times it is actually a good thing that the troops makes short pauses ( at the waypoints ) to regain cohesion.

The risk being that if you plot longer movements with no pausing feature the squad might get way more separated then desired...the slowest guys might even 'get lost'...if they fall to far behind.

Having an option to toggle the - no pause - function on though when desired would be good imo...for those SHORT, MULTIPLE, CONECTED orders when precise movment is neccesary and the AI pathfinding is suspected to be...not ideal.

Or when speed of movement is the primary concern.

One way i could think of to add such a - no pause - function would be to add an additional togglestep to the existing pausefunction that you can place at each seperate waypoint now...

The first press would add a - no pause - order to the waypoint. The second a 5 sec pause, the third a 10 sec pause the forth a 15 sec pause etc, etc...and the last toggle would re-add a 0 sec pause...as it is now...

Something like this could work pretty well i belive...no more difficult then adding a 5 sec pause at the dedired waypoint...

[Kaunitz]

15 hours ago, RepsolCBR said:

Many times it is actually a good thing that the troops makes short pauses ( at the waypoints ) to regain cohesion.

 

As I've mentioned you can make use of the already exisiting pause-feature to give your units time to rally. I suggested it because it would be the easiest way to get the desired results (letting players decide if they want to move fast or deliberately with stops AND giving them close control over the path of movement) without adding new switches and buttons and whatnot to the game. 

[Michael Emrys]

On 11/8/2018 at 10:19 AM, RepsolCBR said:

Many times it is actually a good thing that the troops makes short pauses ( at the waypoints ) to regain cohesion.

In fact, sometimes I will give a team a pause order before entering a building in case they should need to toss in a grenade or spray a few bullets before going in.

Michael

[BornGinger]

Would be great if we could see the elevation of the map by the click of a key (maybe the O-key as in the map editor) in the AI-screen when we decide how the AI-groups will move around.

[MOS:96B2P]

1 hour ago, BornGinger said:

Would be great if we could see the elevation of the map by the click of a key (maybe the O-key as in the map editor) in the AI-screen when we decide how the AI-groups will move around.

SHIFT   E.   Will display the elevations, both in the Map and when in AI orders.  

[Combatintman]

26 minutes ago, MOS:96B2P said:

SHIFT   E.   Will display the elevations, both in the Map and when in AI orders.  

I think you can do it simply by hitting 'E'. The only problem with having the elevation displayed is that it may slow your scrolling down a lot. It does it on big maps on my machine.

[MOS:96B2P]

3 minutes ago, Combatintman said:

I think you can do it simply by hitting 'E'. 

Ahh, correct.  Just hit E.   No shifting needed . 

[Combatintman]

On ‎1‎/‎3‎/‎2019 at 3:26 PM, MOS:96B2P said:

Ahh, correct.  Just hit E.   No shifting needed . 

No worries - didn't know about elevations in the AI plans screen though so we've both taught each other something.

[JoMac]

I don't think this is the case now (for all CM Titles), but when Units start to loose Ammo it will start to slow down its firing...

Example; Units will fire normally when Ammo is Full, then when it looses half its Ammo it will start to slow down its ROF a bit, and when it looses three quarters of its Ammo, then it will slow down its ROF even more so (maybe ROF reduced in half)...Anyways, something along those lines.

Edited January 7, 2019 by JoMc67

[JoMac]

I know BF increased Troop distances a bit in previous Upgrade due to Players demands...However, I still think Squads should stay within say 3x Action Spots max (1x Action-Spot per Team), and not spread out half-dozen Action Spots when moving (not to mention that some troops stay behind until next turn before finally moving again...If at all).

For me, at least, It also just seems Troops have a greater risk of becoming a casualty when Spread-out too far (as it takes longer to reach it's destination when under fire).

 

Edited January 7, 2019 by JoMc67

[Combatintman]

37 minutes ago, JoMc67 said:

I know BF increased Troop distances a bit in previous Upgrade due to Players demands...However, I still think Squads should stay within say 3x Action Spots max (1x Action-Spot per Team), and not spread out half-dozen Action Spots when moving (not to mention that some troops stay behind until next turn before finally moving again...If at all).

For me, at least, It also just seems Troops have a greater risk of becoming a casualty when Spread-out too far (as it takes longer to reach it's destination when under fire).

 

Not really disagreeing with you for the purposes of game play because I'm happy with 3 action spots per section/squad, but in real life standard spacing between individuals when moving tactically should be a minimum of 10 metres which, depending on the size of the section/squad, would be a frontage of 80-100m or 10-13 action spots.

[JoMac]

3 hours ago, Combatintman said:

Not really disagreeing with you for the purposes of game play because I'm happy with 3 action spots per section/squad, but in real life standard spacing between individuals when moving tactically should be a minimum of 10 metres which, depending on the size of the section/squad, would be a frontage of 80-100m or 10-13 action spots.

Yeah, my Gaming Miniatures on Bases came to mind on this one...But, as you say, the spacing between individuals is more spread out.

[Michael Emrys]

8 hours ago, Combatintman said:

...in real life standard spacing between individuals when moving tactically should be a minimum of 10 metres which, depending on the size of the section/squad, would be a frontage of 80-100m or 10-13 action spots.

Er, you sure about that? See, what I am thinking is that the men are spread out not only laterally, but depth wise as well, which acts like folding a piece of paper. So a full strength squad might have a depth of 20 meters or so, but a frontage of only 30 or 40 meters, just to pluck numbers out of the air. That's still four or five AS, which is more than the game currently allows, but not so much as you are suggesting.

Michael

[Combatintman]

1 minute ago, Michael Emrys said:

Er, you sure about that? See, what I am thinking is that the men are spread out not only laterally, but depth wise as well, which acts like folding a piece of paper. So a full strength squad might have a depth of 20 meters or so, but a frontage of only 30 or 40 meters, just to pluck numbers out of the air. That's still four or five AS, which is more than the game currently allows, but not so much as you are suggesting.

Michael

You're probably right - I stopped doing all of that infantry stuff in 1985 but I did rummage around and find some US pamphlet to check my memory before I posted my original comment:

https://www13.shu.edu/offices/rotc/upload/FM-7-8.pdf

Paragraph 2-7 said this in relation to the wedge formation:

"The wedge is the basic formation for the fire team. The interval between soldiers in the wedge formation is normally 10 meters."

[Michael Emrys]

9 hours ago, Combatintman said:

You're probably right - I stopped doing all of that infantry stuff in 1985 but I did rummage around and find some US pamphlet to check my memory before I posted my original comment:

https://www13.shu.edu/offices/rotc/upload/FM-7-8.pdf

Paragraph 2-7 said this in relation to the wedge formation:

"The wedge is the basic formation for the fire team. The interval between soldiers in the wedge formation is normally 10 meters."

Yeah, I wasn't questioning the ten meters, although given human nature it would not greatly surprise me if that distance tended to shrink under fire. But it didn't seem likely that they would be arranged in a skirmish line with no depth. A wedge formation sounds better since it would also provide some protection to the flanks.

Michael

Edited January 8, 2019 by Michael Emrys

[user1000]

For battles and campaigns a way to determine if you beat it or not a check mark or dot and for which side. I had a tough time and used notepad to keep track of different ones I had played and beat versus the ones I needed to beat. So some mark showing this would help make it more distinguishable

 

Also there is something messed up when you want to select multiple units an old unit is still highlighted and you have to click off the unit so you can then select another.

 

Edited January 9, 2019 by user1000

[A Canadian Cat]

16 hours ago, user1000 said:

For battles and campaigns a way to determine if you beat it or not a check mark or dot and for which side. I had a tough time and used notepad to keep track of different ones I had played and beat versus the ones I needed to beat. So some mark showing this would help make it more distinguishable

Might be nice. In the mean time you can use this: http://cmmodsiii.greenasjade.net/?p=3847

I really like it as it also offers some useful status.

 

16 hours ago, user1000 said:

Also there is something messed up when you want to select multiple units an old unit is still highlighted and you have to click off the unit so you can then select another.

Ah - what? That is typical UI behaviour. How else would the program know you wanted to start a new selection?

[Frenchy56]

3 hours ago, IanL said:

Ah - what? That is typical UI behaviour. How else would the program know you wanted to start a new selection?

Err... Shift + click on Windows makes it so you can select multiple things at once though? CM does it too.

Edited January 10, 2019 by Frenchy56

[A Canadian Cat]

1 hour ago, Frenchy56 said:

Err... Shift + click on Windows makes it so you can select multiple things at once though? CM does it too.

Correct. That is also typical of the way UI's work. The point I am making is that clicking on nothing or on a new object to clear the old selection and begin a new one is normal. Just like using shift to make multiple selections.

Combat Mission uses normal standard gestures to control selections. Just as one would expect.

[BornGinger]

Thanks to both MOS:96B2P and Combatintman for the info on how to see elevations in the AI-map. It's a bit strange that the manual doesn't mention anything about it. If the manual do mention it I must have missed that part.

 

Edited January 24, 2019 by BornGinger

[Combatintman]

48 minutes ago, BornGinger said:

Thanks to both MOS:96B2P and Combatintman for the info on how to see elevations in the AI-map. It's a bit strange that the manual doesn't mention anything about it. If the manual do mention it I must have missed that part.

 

It is there but easy to miss, use of the 'E' key is described on Page 91 - 2nd to last paragraph of the Game Engine Manual.

[RockinHarry]

Would like having an additional feature for iron (or additional) mode. Locking the cam to friendlies in first person view, as well as an automatic zoom (6x) for units having a binoc with just one key press. Maybe adding a special view for AFV gunners would be equally nice. This is to enable seeing of what you´d see in real life, without having a free flight cam or any the view modes above 1 to your avail in the game. To ease movement plotting in such a mode I´d add the same time sort of bitmap map layer (similar or equal to the one loadable in map editor) covering the real 3D terrain, but let you use any the view modes (1-9), inluding free flight.

Beside beeing an extra challenge it could also possibly be a first step solving various FOW issues when it comes to certain terrain mesh alterations like the ones caused by moulding trenches and forts into ditch locked AS´s.

Would be nice if such a mode could be enforced by a scenario maker, maybe with the addition of a bonus to victory points.