Exel

Then why do I constantly see my units fire at something I can only see when I click on that unit?

So was playing Jisrash Shughur or something like that, managing my Strykers (argh!), looking down on the battle from near cloud level, when a strangely straight line formation of one of my squads caught my eye. I zoom closer to inspect, and see this: What on Earth is going on? I had placed the squad on the rooftop a few turns earlier with no further orders, there was some sporadic firing on their part, no casualties. The last action I'm aware of was the squad merging two previously split teams back into one. I notice the squad is tired, so maybe this is just them having a break from all the fighting and stretching out a bit?

And I wish I could turn it off for Veteran settings. Yeah, it sounds good on paper, realism and all that, but in practice all it means is that I have to constantly keep clicking through all my units to get a picture of what's happening on the battlefield. And realism? You aren't denied any information, all of it is still there, you just need to waste more time getting it. Not really good gameplay. I can understand the units not automatically sharing all information with each other (hence, relative spotting) but that information should not be denied from ME.

I'd actually like to play in RT. It's.. interesting. But unfortunately atm it's just that and no more. The camera controls and command interface makes RT too much a fight against the interface instead of the enemy. At least in WeGo I can cope with the limitations of the UI better since it's not as time-critical. I was a big fan of the Close Combat series, and am hoping to get to play more RT once the problems with the controls are dealt with.

Still needs some work in that department, even though it is a great improvement over previous versions. It's still quite difficult to make out the small (but all the more important!) terrain height differences from altitude. You have to zoom in really close, or keep the camera uncomfortably close to ground, to make out those small slopes and berms adequately.

Can I reassign it somehow? I really don't fancy using a key combo when I can use dedicated hotkeys (P being another command risks that being activated instead if my Alt keypress does not register for whatever reason).

The 1.03 readme says it has added a new "Show All Move Paths" to the hotkeys menu. I looked into the hotkeys.txt and it isn't there. It also doesn't have any of the new default hotkeys mapped, but instead has the default command tab keys assigned, so I can't edit the direct hotkeys there without adding all the rest of them manually too. Why don't the game hotkeys match with the ones assigned in hotkeys.txt? What have I gotten wrong? :confused:

So now that you have the third patch out, and most of the serious immediate bugs sorted out (though granted, it'll probably be a couple more before you can really move on from the 'fixing phase' to the 'improvements phase'), what plans do you have for improving the game's command interface? I give kudos to you for the new hotkey system, which for many is a huge improvement over the original tabbed system. But I still don't see that as the end of the line, given that you still can't access all the commands from the same pane. IOW the command system itself is now sorted out (unique hotkeys) but the visual interface is still sub-par (not showing all available commands at once). So, have you considered or decided upon any alternatives to it, like a return to a CMx1 style mouse context menu? Moreover, have you acknowledged that there indeed is a need for further improvements of this sort?

What does any of this have to do with encirclement and morale in SC2? :confused:

I've done it even with 1:1 odds, although that was in the Middle East where there is space to maneuver. Against a more contiguous front it's harder, but still possible. In such a case you need to both to outnumber and outrun the enemy - and that's the way it should be. Attacks on prepared enemy positions have commonly required 3:1 odds to be pulled of successfully, so it's not unreasonable. Moreover, if you don't outnumber the enemy, how do you expect to keep them encircled even in real life?

Pardon me but I don't see a problem with the original topic. Want more armor/subs/bombers that the queue gives you? Use soft build limits and just pay some more to get them.

I have to agree with OP. The smoke we see in CMSF - or at least its visual effect - is an abysmal reflection of its real-life counterpart. The smoke modern (Western) tanks fire pops up 15 meters in the air and lands a curtain of dense smoke 50 meters in front of the tank. It's essentially a giant wall of smoke, not a few small puffs here and there.

The turret configuration of Western tanks is such that from a frontal 30° angle the turret side armor is as thick as the turret front armor. From a higher angle however the side armor is considerably weaker, protecting mostly against smaller caliber weapons.

The turret configuration of Western tanks is such that from a frontal 30° angle the turret side armor is as thick as the turret front armor. From a higher angle however the side armor is considerably weaker, protecting mostly against smaller caliber weapons.

The turret configuration of Western tanks is such that from a frontal 30° angle the turret side armor is as thick as the turret front armor. From a higher angle however the side armor is considerably weaker, protecting mostly against smaller caliber weapons.

BMP-2 definitely has a stabilized gun, and a pretty good one at that - having seen it 'perform live' it can lay down accurate fire even on the move. Just a glitch in the manual or is it really unstabilized in the game?

Yeah and it's still 4 clicks as opposed to 1...

You don't have a unique hotkey for every command. Which means that to access any given command, I must first select the correct command tab. And I can't even select that directly, I must cycle *shrugs* through them. It increases the number of clicks by up to 3 clicks per order, whereas with a context menu (CMx1 style) you could access any command always with just two clicks. The difference doesn't sound that big for one individual command, but when you start adding up that for every command you give, you get pretty phenomenal differences (Move & Face from 2 clicks to 8 clicks). And it's not just the number of clicks that makes it slow. Having to watch down to the UI every time to make sure you got the right command tab selected in the first place makes your reactions slower as well. As I said, I can give you a detailed alternate command interface for you to look at, but I don't want to waste my time if you are dead-set on insisting that the current system is perfect and wont even consider changing it.

And how many less clicks do you want? I can do the same thing in 3 clicks: Click on Unit Hit Command Hotkey Right-click to deselect unit That's three clicks. How many less can it be?</font>

Do the cover arcs still only cover the actual area 'lit up' or is it now a designation of just the angles of the arc covered (so that everything between the edges of the arc will be covered, regardless of range)?

Seriously, re-read that statement and think again. If you still don't spot the flaw in there, read again. 3 days of playing to get the hang of some RTS controls? More? We aren't talking about the learning curve of a flight simulator here. RTS games also weren't invented yesterday. If you don't get proficient with the controls of an RTS in 3 hours there's something seriously wrong with the game mechanics. That said, the issue is not about learning the controls. You can memorize the controls by heart and it still isn't as fast as your standard set of RTS controls, or the controls of CMx1 for that matter. It's about efficiency, pure and simple. In a turn-based strategy you have all the time in the world to work your way around giving the commands, so even a slower UI will do. In a real-time game being slow in giving commands loses you the game. If the controls are slow to use, the deciding factor for winning matches becomes the players' ability in handling those controls - not the tactics. And I for one want CMSF to be a game about tactics, not a game of the most clicks in a minute. With a poor UI you also dumb down the game. With slow controls you simply don't have time to execute intricate tactical maneuvers. All the strategic depth in the world wont help if you don't have time to exploit it. But I'm sure this has registered with BFC already - the only question is what action will they take to fix it. I'm willing to help make it better, if that's what's required.

So Steve, do you need help in designing a new control interface for the game?

BFC really needs to work quick to improve the game, or CMSF will get chewed up just like that in all the upcoming reviews as well. Even if they do fix the game later on, most of the damage has already been done... I understand that you can't make big changes in short time, but maybe it'd help to release intentions of planned improvements, so the gamers (and reviewers) would at least know which aspects of the game are going to be fixed.

And in another situation those T-72s could decimate your entire platoon armed with Javelins. The game is about tactics.

Unit selection is critical for QBs. Especially when the way the computer selects units for you now is FUBAR. They don't have to do it with points though, but a preset Force Pool to choose units from would do a lot to the (re)playability of the QBs while keeping in line with the realistic TO&E and intact C2 policy.