BloodyBucket
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Posts posted by BloodyBucket
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Hubert,
I wish I had the knowledge to be more helpful, hearing suggestions from someone as ignorant as myself in these matters might be annoying!
The only thing I can think of is copy-protecting the file, in conjunction with what you suggest above. Perhaps an encrypted log that shows if the file is opened more than once? Or sending the "seed" that generates the random numbers for battles in the file, encrypted?
The problem is that if you make it harder to cheat, a real cheater will just try harder.
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I'm afraid the answer is no. See this thread for the answer from Da Man.
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Encrypted passwords, and not being able to see the results of your moves before sending, are the basics of the CM PBEM system (I think). Perhaps this is an instance where previous Battlefront expertise might pay off for SC.
Simply relying on the complexity of replaying turns won't do, I'm afraid, because there are going to be obvious key turns, like invasions of Gibraltar or Malta, that would be worth doing over and over for the desired result. The option of having a "secure mode" for ladder play, or use by agreement of both sides, would be good to have.
Since I'm not savvy enough to know how difficult that is to program, I can only guess that it is fairly difficult, or it would be seen in almost all games.
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Looks better all the time...hats off to MD.
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How are units damaged in combat brought back up to full strength? Will you have the option of "disbanding" bady damaged units, thereby returning them to the force pool (might be a gamey way to rapidly redeploy to the homeland).
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1) Move an engineer very close to the mines, and they will clear it. They might use a demo charge to do it faster, if available. Blowing up wooden bridges is fairly easy, using cannon, arty, etc. Stone bridges take a lot of damage to destroy.
2) I think that your infantry will use the AT weapons (Panzerfaust, rifle grenades, demo charges) more effectively and faster if they are better quality in good morale order, not being shot at and have an angle that permits a flank or rear shot at the vehicle. They won't waste AT stuff on an impossible shot (I think).
3) Most likely your dad's mortar has no line of sight to the target, or the target is too close, as most mortars have a minimum range. Get direct line of sight (or be in command of a leader with LOS) get further away, or use target reference points if you are defending. Your on map mortars can shoot close to TRPs even out of LOS, but if they move they lose this ability. Of course, your dad's mortars could just be out of ammo, too!
4) Read this list of useful posts, it is a good guide.
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Too bad, I have the feeling I'm going to be taking lots of screenshots as games progress, and a visual change to show what the weather is would be nice touch.
Perhaps a few ornaments in the trees that represent the forest hexes?
Or bitmaps that are seasonal, leavig the actual work to the modders in the gaming community? -
Simply parking all those panzers on the East Coast ought to cost the Germans an enormous amount of MPPs.
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Scuttlebutt has it that SC2 will include the Pacific and European theaters, and there will be an option to resolve all battles by using Combat Mission operations, auto generated by the game to fit the strategic situation. A special classified version for use by the US military will require all moves to be presented for approval in PowerPoint presentations.
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Outstanding. Thanks for including this feature.
While the level of sustainment that England gets via convoy might be debatable, and replicating the actual level might have play balance issues that we who have not seen SC can only guess at, this feature will add a welcome dimension to the game, and also quite a bit of historical flavor.
It should make the research options for subs and sonar more popular.
Thanks for taking the suggestions from the great unwashed with such an open mind.
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Playing the Allies in most WWII strat level games requires more finesse than the "Smash, grab and hold" Axis situation.
I imagine that I will be playing against the AI mostly as the Allies for that reason, and will play either side poorly in PBEM.
As to Titan's generous offer, I will give you a qualified "Yes!", the qualification being that when the game is released I might be overseas in a situation that would limit my ability to send turns in a timely fashion. If situation allows, I would be glad to be your first victim.
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SuperTed,
Excellent AAR. You should have been a war correspondent.
In the screenshot that "Northern Flank" links to, you show a tank unit moving through three hexes that are next to the Polish infantry. I assume this is because the Polish unit is now revealed by the actions of the other tank unit, and that you can move through friendly occupied hexes?
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Too bad that you can't tag the file that gets sent for pbem with something is altered once it is "used" that would prevent it from being used again. Anyone asking for a file to be sent again would raise suspicions. Of course, a real cheat would just copy the file in the first place. Perhaps a little code that would count the number of times turns have been loaded in a particular game?Originally posted by Hubert Cater:One thing you won't be able to do is save your turn during a PBEM game. Your turn is automatically saved only when you finish. I guess at that point you could always reload your turn and play again so this does open the option of cheating somewhat... while early on this may seem attractive, but later in the war as you've got everybody involved that would be a lot of replaying to do.
I know that it is not a perfect system, and it seemed reasonable considering the style of play, but as always I am open to suggestions if I've overlooked something.
Hubert
Alas, the best ways to prevent this sort of thing require exchanges with passwords, and more than one transmission per turn.
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The Russian Winter tweaks and the shorter turn seem to cover things pretty well. Will there be any seasonal changes to the way the map looks? Strictly eye candy, but it would be a nice touch.
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I'm curious, what side will you want to play first, and most often, in SC?
A lot of the posts so far seem to indicate that the Axis side generates the most interest. That's understandable, as they will almost certainly be the most active early on, and the Allies will be reacting to Axis moves for at least the first part of most games.
Are the choices the Allies have, assuming they survive long enough to strike back, as interesting to you as the early Axis expansion?
I am very interested in seeing what an Allied Med strategy has to offer, as well as the options for D-Day. Main landing in Southern France or Northern Germany? Knock out Italy first? Pound Germany with strategic air and surface fleets while Russia does the ground fighting?
When the (happy) day comes when it's time to look for PBEM opponents, do you think it will be more difficult to find people volunteering to play the Allies?
As a side note, if you are getting the manure knocked out of you, when do you think it would be proper to offer to surrender? I know CM has the Cease Fire and Surrender options in the game system, but assuming that SC doesn't have that, what will the rule of thumb be?
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Pbem will be the way to go on SC for some time, since TCP/IP is off in a patch down the road.
How many exchanges will it take to play out a turn?
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SAVARD,
IIRC, at this point the game does not go past 1946. Hubert would be the authority on that, but that is my understanding as of now.
I agree, the research options look good. Welcome, and spread the word on SC to any of your gaming buddies who might enjoy it.
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In the screenshot from the FAQ at the SC page, they show an armor unit with five action points (no idea if this is at the start of a turn or after movement) and a headquarters unit with two. This means that you should see some mobility with armor that will allow you to exploit holes in the enemy line.
SC shares the same basic scale as 3R, but my take on it is that it will be slightly more abstract and a lot faster playing. I will miss spending BRPs (Burps) ala 3R as opposed to MPPs (Mips?) in SC. Something about buying tanks with burps was kinda fun...
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That is very good news. The ability to degrade ports will add another dimension to the game. Will you be able to damage ports and coastal cities with surface naval units?
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Hey, you're right. I was thinking more about Germany, Russia and England.
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I reckon that means if you want to a lot of speed bumps, you buy corps. That will work just fine.
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Well, the Germans might have had a better shot at a sea battle off England had the Norway operation not damaged her fleet, but probably the only way they could have pulled it off was through air power.
The window of opportunity for SEA LION was small, and blasting ports hoping to attrit the fleet would not bring the quick results needed.
At the time, the idea of airplanes sinking capitol ships was still something of a novelty, and proper AA defenses on board were lacking. SEA LION was really up to the Luftwaffe. Any German who hopes to slug it out with the RN in a surface action is going to be dissapointed.
Wait too long, as you build up your fleet, and the reception committee in England only gets larger...
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When I read the title of this thread I thought it was going to be about including the A-bomb in the game (don't do it).
If the German side gets in to a position where it can build a big bomber fleet, I think damage to port facilities would be the least of the allies worries.
I don't know if ports can be reduced in effectiveness by air attack, nor if that would change the ability of the country owning the port to build ships.
Send the Bombers against the sub pens? How about mandatory missions against V-weapon facilities due to pressure at home? Speaking of the homefront, what if FDR doesn't get re-elected? The options seem endless...
Or bitmaps that are seasonal, leavig the actual work to the modders in the gaming community?
Seasonal Effects
in Strategic Command 1
Posted
To make individual city graphics, there would have to be individual BMPs for each city, and the same goes for seasonal BMPs for the map. In CM, for instance, all vehicles of the same type must be clones, even if you have several different mods available. If SC had seperate BMPs for each city on the map, and came with the same graphic for each one, then modders could change individual cities. The seasonal issue would be more complex, as the game would have to recognize what the weather was and sub the BMP. My idea is to make the individual BMPs, leave the art as it is, and leave it to mod makers to do the work of changing the graphics. The seasonal effects could be limited to the tree and mountain graphics.
Of course, that's easy for me to say 'cause I don't have to program the rascal, and the aim is a simple game at a reasonable price, every little change takes a lot of time, effort, and testing and keeps SC that much further away from release.