Why not Order based Movement?

[sand digger]

Probably been suggested before but I'm sure I'm not the only one who finds what's available in the present Movement menu often to be inappropriate for what is trying to be achieved. More appropriate to civilian movement than to military personnel.

 

The entire present Movement menu could be replaced with order type commands eg Move to Sighting, Move to Contact, Move to Engage which respectively would mean stop moving when enemy sighted, stop when enemy contacted and engage him, and, engage the enemy while continuing to move. These sorts of orders would reduce the amount of micromanaging and intense supervision presently necessary and allow the player to better concentrate on tactics and strategy which to me would greatly enhance the playing experience. 

 

Not that Battlefront are going to rush around changing stuff but this subject may be appropriate in the future. What do you think?

[womble]

It's a different way of setting priorities, or at least a different set of priorities to assign to various movement speeds.

 

The first thing I think it lacks is any sense of urgency or speed: would Move to Contact be faster or slower than Move to Sighting? Speed of movement is a pivotal tactical choice for the player to make, because there's only so much Fast and Hunt and Slow that pTruppen can do, and using those modes at the right time is important.

 

The second problem I see with it is that it puts all the decisions about where to end up in the AI's hands. At the moment, each speed has an associated "determination to get to the waypoint" (e.g.Fast implies you want them to get there no matter what, Quick less so, and Hunt prioritises "engagement" over movement).

 

For me, if anything were to change, it would be to have "intent" separate from movement mode, so you could advance "Quick, but determined" or "Fast but tentative". Most of the time, though, I think people would end up using the combinations currently offered.

[W1ndy]

In an ideal world we could be able to toggle between both modes, but things just aren't that way.

 

Playing lately as the soviets I would like some more broad brush strokes movement  order capabilities  for infantry.

 

 I'd favour more an order set that brought a company together once it has been scattered ,like a "form up on me command"

 

It's all just wishful thinking  because I don't see them changing anything  drastically - and I'm happy with that.

 

CMx2 in wego mode is by far the best and most immersive play style that I have to choose from.

 

Another title by the same guys might go in that direction sand digger

  Edited April 25, 2015 by W1ndy

[sand digger]

Yeh, variations of speed of movement would have to factored in and I agree that the AI would be more involved which I guess is part of the idea eg for that minute in WEGO when you sit back and curse your idiots for acting dumb. Or when you are concentrating on watching the left flank while those on the unsupervised right take continuous fire until they panic and run when your intention was merely to move them safely as far as that was possible..

 

Academic discussion I suppose but one that I find interesting.

[kevinkin]

The way I have seen it over the years changes need to be "cool", fairly easy to implement code wise, enhance gameplay, and are overlooked features.

BTW the MadMinute Civil War games had a "form up on me" command that was great. In these real time sims you could concentrate attacking in one sector, hold in the others, hit "form up" and then fight in the areas holding. When you go back and look the units are formed and skirmishing. Ready for human commands again.

 

Kevin  

 

PS Any single thread related to community ideas re: improvements? 

[womble]

While the "form up on me" command sounds good, and I could see it working in some game environments, it would be bound to cause wailing and gnashing of teeth in the CM environment, as the stupid pTruppen scuttled out into the open because it was the "easiest way back to the standard"... Given the time and troops scales of CM, I'd think you'd want first to rally the dispersed elements of each platoon to their various HQs (or to the HQ to which you have nomimally assigned them, if you're trying to maintain a 'custom' force arrangement), and then "group move" (double-click the HQs to select) the platoons back to the Company command element.

[Apocal]

Probably been suggested before but I'm sure I'm not the only one who finds what's available in the present Movement menu often to be inappropriate for what is trying to be achieved. More appropriate to civilian movement than to military personnel.

 

The entire present Movement menu could be replaced with order type commands eg Move to Sighting, Move to Contact, Move to Engage which respectively would mean stop moving when enemy sighted, stop when enemy contacted and engage him, and, engage the enemy while continuing to move. These sorts of orders would reduce the amount of micromanaging and intense supervision presently necessary and allow the player to better concentrate on tactics and strategy which to me would greatly enhance the playing experience. 

 

Not that Battlefront are going to rush around changing stuff but this subject may be appropriate in the future. What do you think?

 

I think it is easier to work in terms of "move slow," "move normally," and "move fast" with the behavior currently held in the "Hunt" command being a toggle-switch. People would inevitably trip themselves up using the "Move to Sighting" command;stumbling into a short-range shootout that their troops don't respond effectively to, similar to the complaints with Hunt now. Moreso with the Move to Engage command running you into something like a tank or pair of dug-in MGs and you really, really want your troops to stop but they don't.

[kevinkin]

Womble. The player did have to be careful when forming up and make sure their troops stayed in cover. MadMinute was only real time so the command was important to use. But the distances and automatic weapons make disengagements nasty in CM. Not to mention command and control over more spread out units compared to say Gettysburg et.al.