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

[GJR144]

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

A step further would be if scenarios/campaigns can contain a name of a dedicated (unique) mod-folder belonging to the scenario (the scenario designer can decide, if he wants to supply the battle with additional mods).

If this info is present in the scenario data, then the game tries to load mods from that folder.

[GJR144]

Thinking about it, this could become confusing for users and a mess to keep organized well.

A different solution without the need to change the scenario-format and to keep things organized well for the user:

Dedicated scenario/campaign mods are simply placed in the scenario/campaign folder in a subfolder, sharing the filename of the scenario/campaign.

When loading a scenario, the game simply looks, if there exists a subfolder with the scenario's/campaign's name and loads the content of this folder as the very last mod folder. Savefiles therefore need to include the name and location of the original scenario file.

This method IMO has two big advantages:

1. Not only designers, but players could create their own scenario-dependent mods, with ease.

2. The naming of the mod-folders is standardized and therefore keeping things organized well is extremely easy.

[Buzz]

Fighting Seabee made a CMSF Mod Manager years ago. I don't remember all the specifics but it was a good start to making swapping mods easier for users. I am hoping BF can incorporate some UI that makes tagging (this group goes with this game or save file) and swapping mods to a scenario/campaign/theatre easier than the current z-folder system. It works for sure just not as fast as it could be. Thanks for your suggestions GJR144.

[mjkerner]

Buzz, Zee Bee's CMSF mod manager apparently works fine for CMBN/FI/GL (read that on here a few days ago). I will try it out today and let you know.

[Whiterider]

Possibility to rename units during the battle. Specially useful if you wish to share troops with another player in hotseat mode. Another option could be to change icons color instead.

[nachinus]

I don't think this has been suggested before:

Slow-mo toggle in RT. Making things like 1/2 speed, similarly to Close Combat's slowest speed. It would really help in big RT battles, and would definitely make RT H2H more viable.

Currently I'm used to pause the game a huge lot (as surely most of RTers do) to manage things properly and don't miss a thing. I don't like it, but it's a must if I want to keep track of everything happening and a big battle in issue orders effectively. I'm sure that a slo-mo toggle will make things easier and I may be able to play a H2H game eventualy.

[Buzz]

"Buzz, Zee Bee's CMSF mod manager apparently works fine for CMBN/FI/GL (read that on here a few days ago). I will try it out today and let you know."

Thanks mjkerner. I have the CMSF Mac Bundle now. I think Zee Bee's CMSF mod manager is PC only.

Slow-mo toggle in RT. Making things like 1/2 speed, similarly to Close Combat's slowest speed. It would really help in big RT battles, and would definitely make RT H2H more viable.

I would use the heck out of a feature like this nachinus. I prefer RT but it does get to be chaos really quick with lots of units.

[Whiterider]

1-To get ammnuniton from enemy vehicles and body corpses (obviously similar caliber). Also weapons (ie machine guns) from them.

2-Possibilty to drive and use empty enemy vehicles (tanks, halftracks, etc.). It was not uncommon to use them during the war.

[Michael Emrys]

Possibilty to drive and use empty enemy vehicles (tanks, halftracks, etc.). It was not uncommon to use them during the war.

I think it was more uncommon than you might be thinking. Certainly it was not as common as would be occurring on the CM battlefield should this feature be included. By far, the majority of incidents of abandoned enemy vehicles being driven off occurred after the fighting had move on. On an active battlefield, the soldiers were too busy avoiding being shot and possibly shooting at enemy soldiers to be thinking about jumping in a possibly booby trapped and out of fuel vehicle and turning the key. Coding this to function in anything like a realistic fashion would take time away from coding other features that are of greater and wider interest. I see this as something BFC might consider getting around to in 10-15 years when engaged in putting the final polish on the game system.

Michael

[poesel]

If a unit has an armoured cover arc and is set to hunt the hunt should only be cancelled by an enemy armour contact and not by any contact.

You don't want to stop the Tiger hunting by encountering a lone driver, do you?

[womble]

I think it was more uncommon than you might be thinking. Certainly it was not as common as would be occurring on the CM battlefield should this feature be included. By far, the majority of incidents of abandoned enemy vehicles being driven off occurred after the fighting had move on. On an active battlefield, the soldiers were too busy avoiding being shot and possibly shooting at enemy soldiers to be thinking about jumping in a possibly booby trapped and out of fuel vehicle and turning the key. Coding this to function in anything like a realistic fashion would take time away from coding other features that are of greater and wider interest. I see this as something BFC might consider getting around to in 10-15 years when engaged in putting the final polish on the game system.

Michael

Much the same applies to ligging weapons and ammo off dead enemy. And both carry the very real risk of attracting "friendly" fire: if you didn't know 1/A had stolen that Opel Blitz, and you saw it heading towards your start line, you'd shoot it up. If you hear MG42 buzzsawing off to your right, you might well send some rounds its way; troops were trained to recognise the sound of enemy weapons, and even if they didn't fire blind, they might well waste time avoiding or maneuvering on an element armed with that weapon, rather than trying to coordinate with them.

[Whiterider]

Of course you may die attracting friendly fire but IMO it is easier to die if you don´t have any ammo or weapon in the middle of an offensive. I Suppose in real life soldiers ligged enemy ammunition if neccesary. They would take the risk, specially in tiny battles where soldiers were just a few or other circumstances (germans in Stalingrad). Am I wrong?

Another idea: Possibility to introduce vehicles in buildings blasted by engineers.

[poesel]

For WEGO: the behaviour of freshly split units should be the same as during setup.

When you split a unit during setup and you didn't give a move orders to either and have them unselected they will join again after a few seconds. When you do that in a normal turn the units stay split and you would have to wait a minute to re-join them. That's a bit annoying if the split isn't what you expected.

[Michael Emrys]

When you split a unit during setup and you didn't give a move orders to either and have them unselected they will join again after a few seconds. When you do that in a normal turn the units stay split and you would have to wait a minute to re-join them. That's a bit annoying if the split isn't what you expected.

That's funny because I see it from the opposite angle. I find it quite annoying in the setup phase that teams will rejoin if I leave them sitting adjacently or in a vehicle while I do something else on the map.

Michael

[poesel]

So if you split them and then do nothing with the parts then why split them in first place?

[womble]

It's not that you're not going to do anything with them, just that it might take longer to plot their order than the time-out on the merging.

I think it might be better to have the ability to actively merge eligible selected elements. An additional "Administrative" command which is only active when two or more elements from the same squad are in the same (or adjacent, would be possible to arrange, I'm sure) AS are multi-selected. Then you could perform squad-splitting evolutions at your own speed. Sometimes, getting the split you want takes a split-split-merge-resplit kind of sequence, which can be tedious to wait for even during setup.

[poesel]

It's not that you're not going to do anything with them, just that it might take longer to plot their order than the time-out on the merging.

As long as one of the splitees(?) is selected they won't rejoin. They won't also not join if one of them has a move order.

This is IMHO a very nice and thought out behaviour. Thus I would like to see it on normal turns, too.

[A Canadian Cat]

As long as one of the splitees(?) is selected they won't rejoin. They won't also not join if one of them has a move order.

This is IMHO a very nice and thought out behaviour. Thus I would like to see it on normal turns, too.

Here is what happens to me often during setup: split a three team squad, start working with one and setting its orders, go back to select one of the other teams - its not there any more. Grrr. Split again repeat.

I would like @womble's explicit combine command too. Having said that this is pretty low priority - for me.

[Whiterider]

Orders delay is one of the features I really miss of CMX1. Essential for any wargame with a bit of realism. Distance from HQ was the key to be fast following orders.

[womble]

Orders delay is one of the features I really miss of CMX1. Essential for any wargame with a bit of realism. Distance from HQ was the key to be fast following orders.

It makes sense for a "high level" command (you, the Coy CO telling 1Plt to take that building, say) to take a little time to reach 1Plt, especially if they're Italians and reliant on (abstracted) runners/flares/field telephony to transmit orders beyond LOS/DOH. But 90% (that's a completely accurate statistic, obviously ) of the orders you issue to a squad or team are the kind of thing that the you, the Sergeant tell them to do, or they do in reaction to something another team in sight (but not chain of command) has done: bounding overwatch by team, for example, or just plain getting the flock out of dodge when Bad Things show up on the horizon or start falling out the sky.

How is the game system to differentiate between orders that "should" have a command delay, and orders that "shouldn't"? They're just fire or movement orders. Imposing command delay on the latter is just as bad, if not worse, than not imposing it on the former.

[Vanir Ausf B]

As long as one of the splitees(?) is selected they won't rejoin. They won't also not join if one of them has a move order.

This is IMHO a very nice and thought out behaviour. Thus I would like to see it on normal turns, too.

They also only rejoin if located in the same action spot.

[womble]

As long as one of the splitees(?) is selected they won't rejoin.

That's not true in the versions of the game I have. (BN 1.11, FI up to last patch before GL).

[poesel]

I stand corrected - the teams do rejoin even if you have one selected. One team needs to have an actual move order to prevent the join. I had the impression they wouldn't because I usually split teams in half and the parts usually end up in two different AS and then they won't rejoin. If you split off a scout team then they are still in the same AS and will rejoin after a few seconds.

So I correct my wish: I would like teams to rejoin in Wego (and setup) after a while but NOT if you still have one part selected. No matter if the parts end up in one or two AS.

Another one: could SHIFT+<arrow key> speed up the turn rate while looking around?

[Oddball_E8]

I stand corrected - the teams do rejoin even if you have one selected. One team needs to have an actual move order to prevent the join. I had the impression they wouldn't because I usually split teams in half and the parts usually end up in two different AS and then they won't rejoin. If you split off a scout team then they are still in the same AS and will rejoin after a few seconds.

So I correct my wish: I would like teams to rejoin in Wego (and setup) after a while but NOT if you still have one part selected. No matter if the parts end up in one or two AS.

Another one: could SHIFT+<arrow key> speed up the turn rate while looking around?

I have a split-off AT-team that is in the same building as its squad(section in this case) but they have not rejoined for three turns.

Only explenation i can see is that i have them on a cover armour arc whilst the rest of the squad is not on that order.

Might be a decent way to keep teams split if you can give them a regular cover arc to prevent them from rejoining.

[mjkerner]

I have a split-off AT-team that is in the same building as its squad(section in this case) but they have not rejoined for three turns.

Only explenation i can see is that i have them on a cover armour arc whilst the rest of the squad is not on that order.

Might be a decent way to keep teams split if you can give them a regular cover arc to prevent them from rejoining.

As fas as I know, any order on a team will prevent them rejoining.