New features/feature ideas for CM for the next few years thread

[Michael Emrys]

I can readily understand that players of the game would desire this feature. But keep in mind, that if you had it and used it regularly you would be stepping outside the bounds of realism. Real-life commanders rarely had the advantage of precisely tailoring a combat unit to fit its mission. It was mostly a come-as-you-are and grab-what-you-got proposition. You would be in charge of a battalion of infantry, say, and higher headquarters might send you a platoon of some kind of armor...or they might not. Or you might get a platoon of engineers...or not. But you would not be able to pick and choose from all the division's assets.

It's only a game and we are free to depart from realism if we choose, but this post is intended to function as a signpost to indicate when we have left one realm and entered another.

Michael

[Erwin]

It is still a valid point that since CM2 has ambitions to be a sort of "simulator" it would be useful if CM2 had a toggle that enabled you to "buy blind" per "realism" but also to cherry pick with full knowledge of what you are getting (for training purposes at least).

[poesel]

A indication somewhere what UI features are currently on or off. Obvious for most but useful for smoke and to a lesser extent for trees.

These settings are game wide and span over battles. So if you turn something off in one battle it will be off (and forgotten) in the next battle tomorrow, too.

[Buzz]

It is still a valid point that since CM2 has ambitions to be a sort of "simulator" it would be useful if CM2 had a toggle that enabled you to "buy blind" per "realism" but also to cherry pick with full knowledge of what you are getting (for training purposes at least).

I like the toggle idea for CM2 Erwin

Heck every now and then some of us like to match up whatever one against whatever two and see how it rolls.... just plain fun & ..."for training purposes.." of course

[womble]

...if you had it and used it regularly you would be stepping outside the bounds of realism. Real-life commanders rarely had the advantage of precisely tailoring a combat unit to fit its mission...

Frankly, that's irrelevant. All that providing the information does is make it unnecessary to retain the precise composition of each infantry formation/equipment type in some sort of personal retrieval style (whether that's some scratch notes, or a "parade" scenario or memory or whatever). It applies in scenario design, as well as in the already far-from-realistic QB force-picking process, and is simply a matter of convenience and not having to repick your forces from scratch when you realise there aren't as many LMGs as you thought (being used to late war Germans and picking in Sicily, say) or the tank you've picked won't do the job you intended it to take on.

It's another hurdle for newbs to clamber over, as well. I know it's a niche game, but it's a good game at its core and there are people who would play it who don't necessarily have encyclopedic knowledge of WW2 militaria. They're probably not numerous enough to be the sole reason to do the change, but the added convenience for the extant user base might be.

[Whiterider]

More ideas:

1-Troops of mixed nations in the same army for quick battles. I tend to play hotseat with three friends, we were dreaming about playing Germans+italians vs Americans+british.

2-Autosave option for every turn (really useful for training or power outages). Sadly we had a power cut yesterday after 20 turns of gameplay .

[Mr.X]

What I have never read during the discussion about new features is the aspect, that vehicles in CM (since CMBO) never have left tracks behind. I think, this would improve the graphics very much. It is the same with destroyed walls and fences, when these are over rolled by tanks.

[Childress]

In order to follow the enemy's movements by observing the tracks of his AFVs and the fences they knocked over? FOW? Think about what you wrote.

[Mr.X]

Of course not tracks of enemy vehicles had to be handled like the vehicles theirselves. One could not spot them by overlooking the map - only, when these vehicles were identified. Ok, that´s not an easy task for a graphics designer

[Baneman]

Of course not tracks of enemy vehicles had to be handled like the vehicles theirselves. One could not spot them by overlooking the map - only, when these vehicles were identified. Ok, that´s not an easy task for a graphics designer

It would be an insane amount of processing. After all, irl you would be able to see tracks for vehicles you can't see if you have los to the area where the tracks are. Should they be shown then ?

Or should the tracks "pop up" only when the vehicle has been spotted - which would also look weird/strange/silly.

Then also every single LoS check to an AS would have to determine whether there are tracks that should or shouldn't be shown. Should they disappear when you no longer have los to that AS ?

Wouldn't it look strange if tracks were only visible in one AS, but not neighbouring ones because you don't have LoS to those ?

It would be a nightmare to code :eek:

[Michael Emrys]

Yeah, let's leave that one aside until we can all afford Crays.

Michael

[Erwin]

BUZZ made a list of features for CMSF2, but many are equally pertinent to the WW2 versions of CM2. So here are my top picks:

GAMEPLAY SPEED/EFFICIENCY:

1) Ability to click on any waypoint or line and immediately select that units as well as move that waypoint. (Would speed up play enormously!)

2) When you click on a unit you immediately see a LOS map of everything it can see (a bit like the (hated) covered arc color). But, see item 4).

3) Color code platoons and squads to more easily see where all their components are located.

4) Change covered arc color or make it simply a line. The current color obscures the terrain.

5) Font scaling for higher resolution monitors.

6) In-game volume and brightness controls.

7) Improved AI is always a good goal.

8) Ability to load different Z folders at game set-up for different theatres.

9) Autosave option

10) More info about weapons systems and how they operate in the game like we had in CM1 - we need more helpful manuals rather than pages of RL weapons info that are of little use in the actual game.

GAME FEATURES THAT WOULD GREATLY IMPROVE THE GAMEPLAY EXPERIENCE:

1) Improve targeting LOS issues. There is no point in the third ammo carrier being able to see the target but the MG or gunner cannot. We need to see LOS from the MG or gun, and/or the MG/Gun should automatically move those few inches so that it can get LOS and shoot at the target. Currently, the targeting/LOS system is frustrating and wastes time trying to maneuver to that "sweet spot" just to get target acquisition (and often it's impossible for no reason).

2) Ability to ACQUIRE "reasonable" amounts of ammo (and grenades etc) from adjacent units whether inf or vehicular (with no need to embark and disembark). When you are trying to resupply several squads from a small vehicle that can only hold one or two teams, it currently takes a ridiculous amount of micromanaging and time in WEGO.

3) Assault building option so that efficient assaults can take place without all the manual micromanaging. (Would speed up gameplay.)

4) Movement to Contact (like in CM1) as an alternative to the more exhausting HUNT.

6) Optimize game system so our systems can handle larger maps with more units.

7) Ability to dismount at any waypoint. (Needed for WEGO.)

8) Formation commands including a "follow convoy" system for road movement.

9) Damage modeling/decals on vehicles.

10) Flamethrowers...

[Whiterider]

What about mounting infantry on tanks?

[Buzz]

"BUZZ made a list of features for CMSF2, but many are equally pertinent to the WW2 versions of CM2. So here are my top picks:.....

GAMEPLAY SPEED/EFFICIENCY:

GAME FEATURES THAT WOULD GREATLY IMPROVE THE GAMEPLAY EXPERIENCE:

10) Flamethrowers...

Toggle my intro video, War Movie Mode ON and...

Sorry... Friday afternoon... I could not resist

Impressive selection Erwin. Good idea. Thanks for posting.

[poesel]

Yeah, let's leave that one aside until we can all afford Crays.

Why do you think that such a feature would cost huge amounts of processing power?

Tracks have a height of 0 - so a LOS check would be just the same as what the targeting tools does right now.

Lets assume that tracks are computed on a 'per AS' basis so that if you can see the AS and you spotted the track the part of the track that is on that AS becomes visible. That means that for every AS a vehicle crosses a new spottable entity is created. That sounds bad but: its easy to create lookup tables which hold the data on what AS can be seen at all from a specific AS (I would bet on it that CM already has these tables - that saves tons of LOS checks). So many checks won't have to be done in first place.

Then its reasonable to assume that there is a distance where you have no chance to see tracks and it would be pretty close. So again many checks which won't have to be done.

Last but not least these checks are not terrible important so the time interval could be big so that the checks happen seldom.

What I guess is difficult is the graphical display. Because a track is not a 3D object and it is not a tile - its a drawing on a tile and all these drawing are different so you can't just replace the tile.

Then how to display it when only parts of the track are spotted? Tricky to make it look right.

Lots of work for a nice effect which in the end only has minor implications on the actual game. Doubt we will ever see it.

Hmm in hindsight I could have saved the time to write this and just agreed on 'needs too much processor time'

OTOH: it would be pretty cool if AS none of our troops can see would go 'black' for iron man mode.

[para]

"BUZZ made a list of features for CMSF2, but many are equally pertinent to the WW2 versions of CM2. So here are my top picks:.....

GAMEPLAY SPEED/EFFICIENCY:

GAME FEATURES THAT WOULD GREATLY IMPROVE THE GAMEPLAY EXPERIENCE:

10) Flamethrowers...

Toggle my intro video, War Movie Mode ON and...

Sorry... Friday afternoon... I could not resist

Impressive selection Erwin. Good idea. Thanks for posting.

That video was uploaded by Peter Sutcliffe

[womble]

That means that for every AS a vehicle crosses a new spottable entity is created. That sounds bad...

That's because it is bad. You're multiplying the number of spotting checks by the number of AS the vehicles move through. It will hugely increase the load for that feature.

...its easy to create lookup tables which hold the data on what AS can be seen at all from a specific AS (I would bet on it that CM already has these tables -

You're right, it does. They're created at game start, I gather.

...saves tons of LOS checks). So many checks won't have to be done in first place...

But you'll still be adding tens or hundreds more checks that will have to be done. Especially in Iron mode where you'd expect the friendlies to be more likely to have a spot chance on their own vehicles' tracks.

[fabiovir]

Currently, the targeting/LOS system is frustrating and wastes time trying to maneuver to that "sweet spot" just to get target acquisition (and often it's impossible for no reason).(From Erwin)

Please improve this point....after many quick battles where my stug can see a single man in the smoke about 150 mt but CANT SEEEEE a sherman at 12 oclok about 120 mt...the rest is history RIP my dear stug....

[poesel]

That's because it is bad. You're multiplying the number of spotting checks by the number of AS the vehicles move through. It will hugely increase the load for that feature.

Tracks are only spottable but don't spot themselves. So they count only half as much as an ordinary soldier. They don't move or change position which probably allows for more optimisations.

Then the number of visible tracks tiles per vehicle could be limited. The last 10 or 20 AS would provide the most useful information. Anything older could just vanish.

But again - I don't think we will ever see that feature.

[Whiterider]

It would be nice if antitank mines could be distinguished from antipersonal ones. It´s a nightmare to put them initially. Perhaps a different image or graphic.

PS: Maybe it is caused by a mod I have installed?

[Buzz]

Erwin - "BUZZ made a list of features for CMSF2, but many are equally pertinent to the WW2 versions of CM2. So here are my top picks:"

Thanks again Erwin.The listing was from many months of many CM players suggestions. I just tried to put them all on one page.

http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=108943&page=29

Your combining & organizing the extensive listing from CMSF-2 to CMX2 WWII is much appreciated.

Here are my change order top picks for CMBN/CW/MG

GAMEPLAY SPEED/EFFICIENCY:

1) Ability to click on any waypoint or line and immediately select that units as well as move that waypoint. (Would speed up play enormously!)

8) Ability to load different Z folders at game set-up for different theatres. I do this plenty in CMSF as the theater mod options are numerous and interesting.

4) Change covered arc color or make it simply a line. The current color obscures the terrain.

Maybe a toggle option?

5) Font scaling for higher resolution monitors.

I don't want to haul out my use an Aimpoint magnifier to read the breifing.

GAME FEATURES THAT WOULD GREATLY IMPROVE THE GAMEPLAY EXPERIENCE:

1) Improve targeting LOS issues… for all the reasons many have noted.

2) Ability to ACQUIRE "reasonable" amounts of ammo (and grenades etc) from adjacent units whether inf or vehicular (with no need to embark and disembark).

6) Optimize game system so our systems can handle larger maps with more units. This will be especially necessary of Black Sea and CMSF-2

10) Flamethrowers... …. cue…."I am the god of hell fire!"

[poesel]

A very common activity is to plot way points and then add commands to the last waypoint. Now it works like this:

1) set waypoint

2) right click to deselect movement order

3) left click on last waypoint (white point)

4) issue waypoint order

This could be reduced to:

1) set waypoint

infantry:

2) left click again on AS with last waypoint

vehicles:

2) left click on last waypoint (white point)

-> this would automatically activate the waypoint

3) issue waypoint order

2) is different for vehicles because there is no 'AS select mode' for vehicles. This makes it also easier to hit the waypoint at least for infantry because hitting an AS is easier than hitting the waypoint.

[lordhedgwich]

How about a normal server browser.

[A Canadian Cat]

^^^^^^

? can you elaborate on that ?

[LukeFF]

How about a normal server browser.

Yes, because thousands upon thousands of people are queuing up daily to play a MP match with someone.

(No offense intended at all to the game or BF, but multiplayer is not going to be one of those massively popular things here that really require a server browser).