Sneaksie
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Posts posted by Sneaksie
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As real thing, Archer have an advantage - he can shoot and then go away fast because he don't need to reverse or turn around:)Originally posted by Stimo:I knew about the Archer built "upside down", but simply didn't tried reverse
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One important thing about TOW is that your units have an exactly same unit AI as enemy's. If we change it so they will not turn towards and engage enemy they don't see, but other friendly units see, then AI units will behave in the same way. You would slaughter one part of enemy army while other will just stand where they don't see you and be happy:) Because of this you, player, have 'hold position' order instead.Originally posted by Stimo:Last question then : why do those units we left at the rear without orders allways go to the frontline ?
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Prisoners are in wishlist, nothing more specific for now.
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Because archer in the game is always in battle position, moving actually backwards:) If you order him to go back, it will be faster. Driver is on the opposite side from the gun.Originally posted by Stimo:Sneaksie, thanks again !
It's now clear that I didn't understood everything I saw in game.
I allways refused to let my tanks go forward to engage an ennemy it saw but couldn't fire at.
I'll sure try this, and specially observe if it comes back to previous position.
I prefer to order directly too, because situations where there is only one target are rare. When tank goes to attack one target he may be wasted by another from flank for example, so hold order is usually useful. On other hand, tank must do something when it have no LOF and left alone by player (because enemy can have LOF at him), so it tries to do something.
With "don't move" assigned to my panzer, it stood looking at east, but simply refused to fire when another ennemy tank group came in my ambush zone, because none were exactly in front of him.
With it's freedom to move, my panzer left his place to engage the first ennemy group, and was instantely destroyed by flanking tank group.
I don't know exactly why it didn't fire, but i think he couldn't see them from his position even after they entered ambush area. In such situation i would order him directly to attack one of the tanks from the second group when they are close, so it will start moving towards them and fire as soon it have LOF.
When it left his ambush to engage first group did he see them or not?
I stop the archer and issue a "don't move" order.
When ennemy finally comes, the first that can be shooted is at 10 o'clock from the archer, but it doesn't turn... and would surely have died if my other tanks hadn't broke ennemy's gun.
Do you understang why I talked about SPG to be able to rotate when ordered not to move ?
Yes, but in other situation, if SPG could turn in hold stance, it would ruin your ambush for example. It's one of the things that are difficult to program to behave correctly in all situations, so it must be decided by player in each situation. I think rotating SPG when ordered to stand still would be much more frustrating:)
BTW : why is the archer so slow in game ?
It's speed is set at 5 km/h, but I saw that it's cross-country speed was almost 12km/h (8mph).
sources :
http://www.wwiivehicles.com/unitedkingdom/tanks-destroyer/archer.asp
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When tank is ordered to attack another tank and got gun disabled, it will go forward, firing bow MG, and eventually will bump right into target. It is a bug and it can be fixed, but there is a big catch.
If it's target is halftrack or AT gun or MG nest, then such decision is valid - sometimes even tank with no main gun can devastate defence line, crushing the target under tracks.
So, simply put, programmers said they can program tank do not go anywhere in such situation, just stand and fire MG at it's target, regardless of its type. But would you like such a fix, as after that tanks with disabled main guns would not try to crush AT guns if their target was AT gun?
So it's your choice what they should do after gun failure - mad ramming with possibility of crushing the target under tracks (if it is crushable), or passive staying and firing MG at the target you've set. Tanks can not disregard your direct order, because they can't determine whether they can damage target with what is left from their weaponry (they are not very smart, you know:)). There are early tankettes which can be damaged by MG fire from close distance; there are tanks with more than one cannon.
Dialog box is in the wishlist, can't say now about probability of it's realization. Rifle grenades and mortars will be in addon, but maybe mortars will be stationery like heavy MGs (many animations requred). Also there will be smoke weaponry, but not for everyone (for example, Soviet army didn't have smoke grenades and shells until '44, only mortar mines). Sadly, there will be molotov cocktails in addon, but no flamethrowers or spreading flames. Programmers don't want to make a fake fire system, they plan accurate as i-dont-know-what fire system, which delays it. I hope it will be done, but probably serious work on this matter will start after addon release. There is much to be done in other tasks for now.
Infantry too shouldn't wander off. If one soldier goes forward then he saw enemy but didn't have LOF and advanced. This behavior will be tuned in addon along with major other changes in infantry AI, infantry squads will act as a whole, click will select entire squad (CC fans rejoice!), but selecting one soldier will be also possible.
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SPGs and tanks actually have different behaviors. Tanks are more dynamic fighters, they can switch ttargets quickly. SPG always attack from maximum distance, it moves slowly even when ordered to assault. Of course SPGs are very different, for example Jagdpanzer and Wespe, but each unit in the game has unique 'threat presets', determined by special table. In that table each distance have a threat rating, one for armored targets and one for infantry. In short and very short distances infantry is more dangerous than tanks, especially for light armored or even open-topped SPGs, thus if infantry comes closer and closer at some point SPG will be forced to turn even if it sees tanks, infantry at 50m will be considered as higher threat than tank at 300m (for example). If infantry is far away and SPG sees tank it will engage tank, even if it's primarily anti-personnel and has low AP or HEAT rounds (SU-122s have only 4).
Thus tanks can decide to rotate to face one enemy (another tank), while engaging other from opposite direction (close infantry). SPGs can't turn a turret to engage pesky infantry which came close, so it turns to engage with usually only weapon it has. In such grim situation you can order one of the crew to bail out, while setting SPG to 'don't move', for example in Ferdinand one crewman has MG specially for such unlucky cases, first select him and then order bail out.
Armor shouldn't wander off if bored to wait, it may go forward if it saw enemy but couldn't target him for some time; then after enemy is destroyed and no new targets are visible it should back up to original place. If you are sure that armor wandered off without seeing anything, tell us when it happened, we'll see into it.
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It depends on mission design, some missions are made more small and some large. Current maximum area is 2048x2048m.
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No, it's just cruel. You can ignore the column, but then they'll arrive into village you are ordered to capture and hold...
This mission is one of the hardest in the game.
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Stimo
Two your requests are somewhat confilcting with each other, you want SPG to not turn and to turn. In second case you should order it to hold position so it will cover that sector and don't worry about infantry, and in first just leave it as is so it will be able to turn freely. It will go forward only if it sees enemy and can't target it after one minute.
Request about more tight vehicle formations was passed to lead designer, we'll think about it.
Gun entrenchment positions are planned, but they will be in addon probably.
Thank you very much for French translation!
pad152
Thanks for pointing that out, it is a bug introduced after correcting soldier's behavior in trenches. It is fixed now and fix will be included in nearest patch.
Repair and ammo carriers is against game concept, but we'll think about your suggestions.
Flypatcher
I've added Retreat function request into our internal wiki wishlist along with most other suggestions.
In new campaign i didn't see units respawn in close proximity, they are arriving from map borders, so you'll probably be content. It was not used much before because of player would be bored waiting for them to arrive. Maps are large and infantry moves slowly.
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There was a number of complaints concerning “too scripted” missions or facing impossible odds in most of them. They were addressed, and you’ll see whether or not coming campaign of Panzer Lehr division in Normandy is better than previous campaigns. In that campaign enemy outnumbers you historically and have total air superiority, but you’ll have the power of an elite panzer division to deal with that numerical superiority. There is no more somewhat unrealistic reinforcements after you lose certain amount of units, victory conditions checks are tuned to iron out dead-ends. I cannot say how and when it will be available to you because it is Battlefront decision, but it will be ready in September.
Difficulty problems are addressed in tuning other aspects of game system, one of them are difficulty levels. Now on normal difficulty setting enemy accuracy is tuned down, which should made situations where enemy AT kills your best tank by first shot from 500+ m less likely, in other aspects normal difficulty currently is identical to veteran, but there is some testing to be made. Most likely these changes will made it to nearest patch.
Even more sophisticated damage system with various types of armor hardiness (for example, as you know, Russian and German armor molding and rolling technologies were quite different) is being developed. Our new historical consultant wrote a number of books specifically about pre-war and ww2 tanks and artillery pieces, including their production techniques.
Also in addon will be another most demanded feature – house combat. It is work in progress now, but I can give you some details. Unlike in CC, CM and similar games, infantry won’t run into building right through the walls – soldiers must use doors. Inside there will be a number of positions soldiers will occupy, some near windows. Soldiers which are not directly near window can fire too if they see the enemy through any of the openings. It cannot be said now how house-to-house will be similar to other your favorites CC and CM, but please keep in mind that in these games most aspects of such combat are abstract, such as passing and shooting through walls, while in TOW all is physically modeled and thus much more complex (and requires tons more processor power than old humble CC). In CC you didn’t care how many windows faced in needed direction that house had, you just sent squad there, while in TOW you must take into account such minor and previously overlooked features in every aspect of the game to be efficient and successful. As soon as we’ll have working indoor combat I’ll show you screenshots and short videos.
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Visibility system is being tuned, but there is much testing to be done, because it dramatically affects all missions in all campaigns and major changes could make them too easy or unwinnable. Concerning your suggestions, we are increased LOS degradation due to foliage, trees and bushes. These changes will be included in second patch after MP one after thorough testing, while new complex tank visibility system, where every crewmember will have personal observation devices and looking at two separate directions simultaneously will be impossible, is planned for stand-alone addon.
Smoke and smoke weapons are planned in addon.
There was a report by rofl about Daimler being too big. It was checked – yes, it’s roughly 1.3 times bigger
Thanks for pointing that out, it is now being corrected (all the animations after model rescaling must be redone).Replay recording like in IL2 is not possible, it is much more complicated. First of all, IL2 engine, while used in development of TOW, now is so completely reworked that they have little in common. In addition typical IL2 fights consist of no more than 10 or so aircraft, while present TOW battles have up to 255 separately moving and shooting entities (vehicles and soldiers not in vehicles), which have complex damage models and trajectory of their shots are determined by a number of factors, some of them are random. Thus, to record a battle means record every trajectory of each bullet, movement of each soldier at least several times per second, etc. Such record system must be written completely from scratch and it is unlikely it will be planned for near future, because it requires vast amounts of time and resources which are needed in other aspects of the game. It’s a pity because we would like to see replays of our great victories as much as you are
Work on the LOS tool is almost finished and it definitely will be in addon, in current game it will be in a patch after MP one. It works now as you’ve requested, line which indicates visibility by color.
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First of all, friends, don't worry about developers suspending support for TOW or being indifferent to your questions and suggestions. All your complaints, wishes and suggestions are noted, in fact all topics of this forum which were active in last two months were examined thoroughly page by page to make sure no good thought will go unnoticed. Some of your suggestions were already planned, but some were not, and it is very important for us to know what community needs most.
The most popular demand was about quick mission generator. There is a number of technical difficulties concerning that and because of current game structure it is hard to implement. In short, every mission in TOW has complex structure and mission generator capable of tasks normally done by designer must be even more complex. Maps are made by hand in 3D editor so generating map from tiles on the fly like in CM is not possible, AI must have general direction of attack set if it is offensive, etc. Thus, mission generator most likely would be some form of wizard in current editor which will automatize most necessary actions, making creation of a simple engagement possible quickly, but probably will still require some hand work like adjusting unit’s placement on the map. For complex missions using full editor capabilities would be still required. There will be new triggers available for mission designers.
Multiplayer stability is being improved now. 8-player engagements were successfully tested, even with clients with low quality internet connection. Connecting over Internet should be more easy and stable. The MP game system in TOW is completely different from singleplayer, so implementing unit selection for battle just like in single missions (obvious decision) is in fact quite complex task demanding rewriting of entire MP system (in single missions unit selection is limited by designer while in MP you may choose any unit in the game, there is many other aspects too). All available units in mission must be stated in mission file, making possibility of choosing any unit in the game for a given battle a tricky task. Because of this, player will probably have a choice of 20+, maybe more, army compositions, for example USA tank platoon ’44 or Russian infantry ’42, etc., which you and your opponent will choose. Loading times of MP missions are sped up considerably (in test 8-player battle all players with different configurations loaded and began to play within 6 minutes, while previously 2-player battle loading could took even 10 minutes). Gamemodes (assault, defence, more complex tasks) are dependant on MP mission designer. These improvements will be in nearest MP patch in September. More fundamental changes in MP structure will be possible only in stand-alone addon.
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Difficulty levels where tuned to adress this 'overaccuracy'. Now normal difficulty differs from veteran difficulty only by lower enemy accuracy, without reduction in damage, etc. Thus normal is recommended now for most players who've found that ai is too accurate, but want to keep real armor ratings (on easy, enemy is less likely to achieve penetration and you have more chances to penetrate his units armor). The patch with this change (and some others) is on the way.
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I've told dev team that the custom battle generator is #1 in wishlist, at least in opinion of this forum.
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Addon will have enterable buildings, probably smoke, new level of model detail, enhanced graphics, new visibility system (no more 360 degrees tank view, etc.), revamped MP, and more. Estimated time of completion is several months.
When and how it will be available to english audience will be BF decision.
The mainly MP-oriented patch and new german campaign in Normandy for present version are almost ready.
What is can be said for sure - 1C doesn't plan to drop the game.
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German campaign in Normandy and multiplayer patch should be released shortly, addon with enterable buildings is in the works it seems.
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Nazi designer?
)) You'll think otherwise when you'll try German campaign and would be crushed like a bug by enemy hordes:) -
Well, as i said before release, don't have a very high hopes and you wouldn't be disappointed:) I don't think we'll get completely redone MP; i'll say some enhancements, maybe new maps, maybe force selection before battle, and some form of lobby.
MP would be redone completely along with enterable buildings i think, in a new version. It is in the works but i doubt it will be a free patch, more likely a stand-alone addon.
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There is a new testing coming. Upcoming patch will focus on enhancing MP part. No details are available yet.
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The new campaign is coming, Panzer Lehr division in Normandy.
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Frustrating amount of Save/Load. Set your tanks to hold fire, strangely enough convoy doesn't attack you first. Position your forces to get flank/rear shots but don't expose yourself to fire from the village, then fire, T-34-85 and SU at one Tiger, while 2 others T-34-85 fire at 2 Pz3-Ms. If they did not kill Pz3s and at least disable the Tiger's fire capability, reload, and reload, and reload, then save and proceed with others. This mission gets crappy till the end, insane and unrealistic (nobody would expect you to win such a fight in real life) difficulty, though you'll get some reinforcements after convoy is dead or immobilized.
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BTW there would be no LOS issues in desert:) No bushes, no cry:) (No houses, no trees...)
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It must be in the game options. In russian version there is an option called something like 'allow defeat'.
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Battle for Moscow would be playable only from Russian side i suppose.Originally posted by Charlie901:Battle for Moscow Campaign will hopefully have about 5 battles for each side
Thanks for pointing that out, it is now being corrected (all the animations after model rescaling must be redone).
Semi-official 'work in progress' report
in Theatre of War
Posted
Remove "ready sir"-like saying when unit is selected
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Lead designer said no, because it contradicts with game design.
Make 'hold' default command, keep hold after other orders
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Probably no. Considered as part of unit's initiative. Remember CC, when units sometimes decide to attack by themselves? It's somewhat similar. Btw, in TOW they can't ignore your hold order, while in CC they could.
Formation spacing
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I think that tanks are too far away from each other too by default, but this is strongly based
on army regulations of that time. Tanks are 50-60m far from each other because an infantry section of 7-10 soldiers should be able to find a room between them, with spacing between individual soldiers being 5-6m.
But in addon there will be new formation system, allowing you to modify formation spacing on-the-fly (probably by holding Ctrl key or such).
Keeping previous formation by default
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Imagine an infantry squad of 10 men. You can select all of them, or first 5, or 3,5,7,9, or 1,2, and 10, and the game can't keep track of all possible combinations and remember their last formation.
Use group system instead. If you have assigned group by selecting needed units with Ctrl+number, the group will remember it's formation even after deselcting or even after death of some units in the group. It's easy:)
Full map editor with elevation tool
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It will be in addon. Keep in mind, however, that it still needs map drawn in graphics editor. Grass color will be determined by texture pixel in it's place, there is maximum number of statics, etc. Limitations are not critical, but they are.
Proper animation for auto rifles
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Because there are very few rifles of this type in the game, problem is considered as 2nd priority. It will be fixed if animators would have time.
Retreat functions, surrendering soldiers
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Maybe, not clear at the moment.
When mission wizard for editor will be ready
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In a patch before addon release.
Wounded soldiers die, dont't move
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Already done in addon. Critically hit soldiers don't move and shoot and die after some time. Severely wounded can move very slowly and shoot with large penalty, etc.
Hopping over fences
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Already in addon.
Hand-to-hand
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Already in addon.
Direct control similar to games soldiers-heroes of ww2 1&2
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Probably never, considered as completely different type of game.
Improving sounds
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Being done constantly.
Use of captured equipment in next missions
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In addon.
Infantry distinguishable only from close distance (officer - MG gunner - AT soldier, etc.)
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Maybe, not clear at the moment.