Wish for modified Vehicle Hit text

[Big Boss]

Hi!

 

Are there anybody else than me that would like to have a selective side specific Vehicle Hit text function as an option before you start a H2H game?

 

IMO I would like to have the Vehicle Hit text appears on my own vehicles but not on the enemy. That way you should be left a little in the dark of the effectiveness of your hits. Today, even on Iron difficult level you know exactly if it's a spalling, partial or penetration hit. Without the text message, burning and opened up vehicles can tell you a lot but other than that you may want to fire an couple of extra round just to be sure. This I think would add to the fog of war and immersion.

 

This should encompass all combat mission titles and not just cmbn and if this has been requested/discussed  in the forum before I'm sorry.

 

[sburke]

Yeah! I'd say I'd even like less info about the status of a vehicle, but then the TAC AI would waste all it's ammo on hulks.

[LukeFF]

This is something I'd also like, especially that now we have hit decals and can thus visually judge pretty well how much damage a target has taken.

[Vergeltungswaffe]

Hi!

 

Are there anybody else than me that would like to have a selective side specific Vehicle Hit text function as an option before you start a H2H game?

 

IMO I would like to have the Vehicle Hit text appears on my own vehicles but not on the enemy. That way you should be left a little in the dark of the effectiveness of your hits. Today, even on Iron difficult level you know exactly if it's a spalling, partial or penetration hit. Without the text message, burning and opened up vehicles can tell you a lot but other than that you may want to fire an couple of extra round just to be sure. This I think would add to the fog of war and immersion.

 

This should encompass all combat mission titles and not just cmbn and if this has been requested/discussed  in the forum before I'm sorry.

 

It's been asked for before, but it's still something a lot of us would like to have.

[Big Boss]

It's been asked for before, but it's still something a lot of us would like to have.

 

I expected that but I couldn't find the thread. Its probably one of those things that sounds easy to wish for but´s harder to implement by BF. As LukeFF also said, with the new hit decals its would still give some information on the status of the hit object.

[A Canadian Cat]

Yeah! I'd say I'd even like less info about the status of a vehicle, but then the TAC AI would waste all it's ammo on hulks.

 

That sometimes happens in game now.  I don't think the AI crew read those hit texts. 

 

I recall asking if it was a bug that my Sherman was unable to kill a PzIV with 7 hits from close range. In the end I discovered that they third hit KO'ed the German tank but because of the heavy woods my crew had no idea and pumped four more rounds on target before finally figuring it out.

[A Canadian Cat]

IMO I would like to have the Vehicle Hit text appears on my own vehicles but not on the enemy. That way you should be left a little in the dark of the effectiveness of your hits. Today, even on Iron difficult level you know exactly if it's a spalling, partial or penetration hit.

 

I think that is a great idea.  Add that to the difficulty level and just have "Hit" available for enemy vehicles.  If that were on iron I would probably grit my teeth and play iron.  So, I would prefer to see it as a part of Elite

[MikeyD]

CM has had what they call the 'death clock' in the game for awhile. The opponent doesn't know for a few moment if the vehicle is quite dead and keeps firing at it. The player's first indication of certain death is often the hatches being thrown open by the bailing crew, though the opponent saw you put three additional rounds into the tank after he got the red 'death' base. This is VERY pronounced with airpower. Planes seem to prefer shooting up dead vehicles over live! 

[Big Boss]

CM has had what they call the 'death clock' in the game for awhile...

 

I noticed the "death clock" effect but didn't know if it was intentional or just a delay from the computer side. This gives the computer (and often you) something to think about. But as a human player if you see some penetrating (hit text) hits on a armored target you, IMO, more often than not turn your gun to another targets, calculating that even if the target is not fully destroyed it should probably be severely damaged.

 

As for airplanes attacking destroyed vehicles I noticed when playing  CW Colossal Cracks recently the side bonus effect on two occasions that MY airplanes attacked my own destroyed tanks.    

[CPC922]

Is there not a hotkey to turn off vehicle hit text? 

[A Canadian Cat]

Yes, there is <alt>H but it turns them either all off or all on. What is being suggested here is that the hit text information be reduced for the higher skill levels, so that for your vehicles you see what you see now and for enemy vehicles you only see Hit but no details on penetration / effects.

[J Bennett]

That sometimes happens in game now.  I don't think the AI crew read those hit texts. 

 

I recall asking if it was a bug that my Sherman was unable to kill a PzIV with 7 hits from close range. In the end I discovered that they third hit KO'ed the German tank but because of the heavy woods my crew had no idea and pumped four more rounds on target before finally figuring it out.

 

 In my experience playing the game I often see tanks continue to shoot at other tanks even after they are knocked out or abandoned.  This is a realistic feature because the same thing happened in the war. As far as the hit text goes I agree. No way the shooter can really know about armor spalling, crew casualties or some other damage although they migh have clues as to where the round hit and possible damage or destruction

[Big Boss]

... No way the shooter can really know about armor spalling, crew casualties or some other damage although they migh have clues as to where the round hit and possible damage or destruction

 

This is my opinion exactly. As the game is played out now, either you have the hit text for both player or none. If you turn the txt of you still have some clues on the effect. Dark or bright hit decal, fire and smoke, hatches open. What I would like, is to still have text hit message on my own vehicles just to be able to quickly get an appreciation during a sometimes stressful turn.

[Thewood1]

When it comes right down to it, if you have an issue with text on enemy AFVs, you should have the same issue with your own.  To me, it should be either all on as you sandbox something, or all off if you are actually playing.

[womble]

When it comes right down to it, if you have an issue with text on enemy AFVs, you should have the same issue with your own.  To me, it should be either all on as you sandbox something, or all off if you are actually playing.

So the guys in the tank, who're operating it, shouldn't know that they now have the nose of a 75mm penetrator poking through the armour next to the driver, or that they just got showered by spalls of metal? Really? You're forgetting that, as CM player, you're taking on the role of every squad and vehicle commander as well as the Platoon and higher command roles. It's reasonable to say the shooter shouldn't receive as much feedback on the results of their hit, but being on the receiving end is different.

[Thewood1]

They might know, but you might not know.  There is some stuff you just don't need to know.  Look at the status of the tank or the penetration mark.

[Big Boss]

They might know, but you might not know.  There is some stuff you just don't need to know. 

 

Do I get you right? You don´t want to know the status regarding your own vehicles? If that's your preferred playing style just turn the Vehicle Hit text off as its already availably ingame. What I and some of the other commentators wish for is the possibility to alter the game even more for a more personal preference playing style.

[Thewood1]

I am saying, in my opinion, BFC should n't wast time on it...marginal value for the effort.

[Thewood1]

I am also pointing out that the hit text provides way more info than any commander or crewman would ever know.  If you like all that information, turn them on.  If you don't, turn them off.  But thinking that having them on for only one side and not the other provides some kind of realism bonus seems odd.  And the reasoning of a crewman knowing exactly where every hit on his vehicle happens and its immediate effect is kind of strange to me.

[A Canadian Cat]

I think of them differently. 

 

Hit text notices are a visual indication that stuff happened to one a vehicle.  If the red lines shows up then the stuff that happened is likely much worse than if there was no red text.  What that means is that when you are watching part of the battle you can still monitor what is happening elsewhere.  Then you know which vehicles to have a closer look at or, if you are playing WEGO, you can re-watch what happened to them.  That is how I use them for my vehicles.  Without them I would have to scroll through all vehicles every turn to see if any new damage showed and then spend time looking at what happened.

 

For the enemy vehicles it is nice to know when your guys finally score the hit (I said finally because I am currently playing "The Passage" and the long range shots my opponent and I are taking are not hitting first time :-).  Again it saves time by letting me not watch places where stuff is not happening.  But as the shooter I really do not have any right to know if I am doing any damage to the enemy vehicle - until its burning anyway.

 

So summary:

Detailed hit text for your side is fair because I can find that out the same info by manually scanning the damage screen for all my vehicles every turn, while the hit text greatly shortens the process.  So on your side it is a game play-ability aid that does not tell me anything I cannot find out another way.  It just makes things easier.

 

Detailed hit text for the enemy vehicles is not fair because I really would not be able to tell when damage is being done but the hit text tells me too much.  It tells me stuff that I cannot find out any other way.  So, on enemy vehicles it is giving my gamey information that I should not really have.

 

Having said that I also agree that it is not a super high priority problem either - after all my top three feature requests is right in my sig line.  The thing is, sometimes features that might not be a huge effort are worth looking at even if you cannot get to the higher priority items because they take longer.  When that happens it is nice to do a few smaller scale things that help make the game better.  Note: I am not making any comment on how easy or hard or what is above or below this in priority I leave that totally up the BFC dev team. 

[Big Boss]

Very good summary IanL. As you also said it's not my highest wish either, but as you said even small changes could improve the gameplay experience. 

[LukeFF]

I am also pointing out that the hit text provides way more info than any commander or crewman would ever know.  If you like all that information, turn them on.  If you don't, turn them off.  But thinking that having them on for only one side and not the other provides some kind of realism bonus seems odd.  And the reasoning of a crewman knowing exactly where every hit on his vehicle happens and its immediate effect is kind of strange to me.

 

A similar argument could / was made for the player knowing detailed formation information about enemy units, but BFC found it fit to tweak that. This is the same sort of request for being made for the hit text. 

Edited May 2, 2015 by LukeFF