What have been the most frequently requested features / tweaks

[sttp]

I love this combat simulator. Adore it. So I'm wondering what the most requested possible tweaks/features for CMBN have been over these last four years? Things to go in the next big engine upgrade. I'm gonna list some of my ideas/requests, and many of these have been mentioned before, but others... maybe not? So what the heck, maybe it's time to initiate some constructive discussion on how these ideas can be expanded or modified? It seems like a lot of new players are showing up in the last year (including me), so it might be productive... as long as people don't turn it into something that sounds more like bug reports.

 

------------------------- MAJOR FEATURES / ADDITIONS (I guess they'd be major?) ------------------------------------

These first two could be great for videos / screenshots. Video AAR's would require a ton less editing, and all would look better too.

1) --- adding the option for a truly fullscreen video? Maybe another ALT-[whatever] toggle which hides the bottom UI and top Nav/Info Bar, and expands the scene vertically? Definitely mentioned here before.

2) --- a way to instantly toggle off everything on the screen that's not part of the battle scene... i.e., no green soldier bases even when a unit is selected, and no red crosses popping up for new casualties... no nothing, except the battle. Maybe a single new hotkey (like ALT-V, for "video") could work? One press, all off; second press, it reverts back to the show/hide (trees / icons / paths / objectives / landmarks / vehicle hit text / command link) combo you just left. Alternatively, even just a couple more ALT-[whatever] shortcuts to individually toggle off the artificial elements we still must always see?

 

3) -- At least the ability to save a few "favorite" unit formations/combos. If we really wanted to splurge, maybe edit and save their relative positions, too, for quick and easy deployment and organization. Hugely useful for big QB's. (Discussed here recently, but it'd be such a useful feature that I couldn't possibly neglect mentioning it.)

 

4) --- (Something tells me this might be more difficult to program than it seems?) After the battle, the option to "review" even the units that have been destroyed or removed from the map. Or just any additional feature that could indicate or summarize the fate of every soldier you commanded. To me, the more stats the better. By squads and platoon, too... though at some point too much data in a 'game' really can start to turn people off. But maybe a slightly more detailed after action report screen? Percent of soldiers who are broken at the end of the battle? Good to know! (BTW, it'd be useful for video and screenshot purposes if the AAR displayed the QB map name on it.)

 

***I wouldn't dare put this one on a list like this, since I'm talking about things that are hopefully practical and reasonable. Still, it seems like it's the #1 CMBN feature request.(???) I'm referring to the ability to combine all 1-minute replay files into a single, huge replay of the entire battle. I'd probably pay an extra $100+ for that feature alone, frankly, but I do get where Battlefront's coming from on this. Not just the cost/benefit part, but that they're not even sure the CMBN core code could allow it.)

 

------------------------- 'MINOR' TWEAKS / FEATURES ------------------------------------

(Maybe minor, maybe not? For all we know the addition of some seemingly "minor" feature would be an unimaginable nightmare for the programmers.)

5) --- Please please please, an option to disable the "camera scrolls when mouse at edge of screen" behavior. ("When were those reinforcements coming? I'd better go read the mission briefing again... " [mouse cursor moves a millimeter below the Menus button] "WHOOPS, I guess instead I'll have to put my camera back into that perfect position it just darted away from....." If I could choose one single thing from this list, it'd probably be this. 

6) --- Fixed cameras, customizable, which maintain their position and orientation with respect to the map. So, stuck looking down an important alleyway or terrain area. Maybe something like CTRL-SHIFT-[0-9] to set a fixed map camera, and ALT-SHIFT to switch your view back to it?

7) --- maybe an additional "Toggle Floating Icons" option that gets rid off all enemy contacts except those that are currently known, identified and in sight? As it stands now, ALT-I (at least when playing in Veteran mode) toggles between displaying ALL contacts (whether they're known or just suspected contacts)... vs. displaying only POSSIBLE contacts... vs. displaying NO CONTACTS at all -- all icons off. The 4th logical option there would be to display KNOWN and certain contacts only. With big battles, especially when you split squads into teams, all those floating question mark icons can really clutter up the screen. Displaying ALL contacts would remain the default though.

8) --- a command & control link option where, for example, if you clicked on a squad, you'd get the same type of red command link lines we currently get, but maybe also something that shows the quality of each element in an entire comms chain all at once... i.e., a line from the squad to the platoon HQ, then another line from platoon HQ over to company HQ, and so on right on up. There are a lot of situations during the chaos of battle where this could be useful, especially in real time mode.

9) --- In the editor, it'd be really nice to have the prices of units displayed, just like they're displayed when you purchase units for a QB.

10) -- A way to instantly draw 180-degree target arcs. (And a way to make them visually less intrusive -- see #11.) So here's the kind of thing I have in mind: just as always, you could still click and drag to draw your arc manually... and you could still SHIFT-click to cover the whole 360 degrees.... but maybe also there could be an ALT-click option, which gives you an instant half-circle that's centered on and extends out to wherever your next mouse click is. Similar to and as easy as a quick FACE command, but still with all the important differences. These 180-degree, wide-as-possible arcs are needed so often. Again, especially useful in real time mode.

11) ---- a way to tone down the visual display of the target arcs? Sometimes you need to keep a unit selected, and its arcs get in the way of other important things. Say your squad is traveling a curved path and you need to change the arc's orientation at a bunch of different waypoints, so now you've got 3 or more arcs on screen, with the entire map drowning in a sea of yellow or purple. Could there maybe be an option to display only the arcs' outline? Or even just temporarily toggle them off completely?  (Another ALT-[whatever] display option.)

12) -- same thing with setup zones. Some way to soften or toggle them. Yeah, really minor. But that bright red or blue can be pretty intrusive during setup, right when I most need to see all the 'pure' terrain, and boy can it be an immersion killer. Maybe we could at least be allowed to softened/lighten the colors via mod?

13) --- a TARGET HEAVY ARMOR ONLY command,  as discussed a few weeks ago. Say you want to ambush a Panzer with your last Sherman, and then your Sherman blows its cover just so that it can fire at a non-threat... like maybe a halftrack that has only a 30cal, but which is still considered 'armor' by the TARGET ARMOR ARC command.

14) --- almost forgot... could there be a new movement command, something with a speed in between MOVE and QUICK? Maybe call it HUSTLE or something like that? QUICK seems to be  ~80% the speed of FAST, and the troops get tired quickly. Same thing with HUNT. And sure, MOVE has no stamina penalty, but it seems so... very... slow in comparison. Like there's too big of a gap between MOVE and QUICK? Probably discussed before....

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm pretty sure that mentioning 14 possible feature requests is enough. And they are just that, nothing more -- feature requests. None of those things involve bugs or any serious shortcomings, and I hope any comments wouldn't devolve into that. I don't want this all to sound like I'm dissatisfied with CMBN in any significant way. Quite the opposite -- this is an astounding piece of software, IMO. Still, there are a thousand things that players and even Battlefront staff themselves would love to see added or tweaked.... yet we all know that development resources are finite. I just wanted to see if there's ever been any kind of forum unanimity on these kinds of feature requests, and to also float some ideas. Seems like we all share the common goal of trying to help turn what's already a great combat simulator into an even better one.

Thanks.

 

Edited October 8, 2015 by sttp
I really should proofread gooder than I currently does

[womble]

More toggles:

• precipitation effects. Just for the visuals, obviously, but I find rain and especially snow to be intrusive. Snowfall sometimes makes me feel motion-sick (especially in "wide angle" view.
• automatic remerge of teams. When I split teams, I mean for them to stay the heck split unless I want, once in a blue moon, to recombine them in order to change (say pulling in the Scout team and switching to Assault/Fire split) but constantly having to ensure that I never ever ever accidentally end up with 2-A and 2-B in the same building is a ballache I could readily do without, and the encumberance of having to remember to turn the automerge back on in the 1-in-a-thousand times I want teams to recombine into squads would be entirely acceptable. Some split orders and their consequences require that you start with a full squad and make two splits.

Some UI:

• An indicator for buttoned/unbuttoned. The only way to see whether an element is buttoned or not in replay is to zoom in to it. Having to go to the "Special" tab and look at the state of the "Open up" command is suboptimal.
• Longer list of ammo types so you can see all the ammo that an element is carrying.
• Squad indicator on split teams so you can see which elements need to be proximate to re-merge.
• Text manipulation in text entry fields (next word, highlight word, arrow back without deleting).
• Doubleclick functionality in menus.

Features:

• Full-on inventory system. Including ways to have your doggies carry an extra 60mm for the M7, or your Landser an extra couple of grenades or bombs for the Shreck.
• A "super-fit" soft setting: some of the Special Forces we see in some of the titles are a cut above the common soldier in terms of endurance.
• More "aim-at-spots" on buildings. Preferably one per window.

Tweaks:

• A reduction in the willingness of troops to waste precious limited resources (rifle grenades, Panzerfaust) in area fire or on targets at extreme range or in hand to hand combat (mostly a problem with PF, that last).
• Permit all MGs to be used "semi-deployed", with larger accuracy penalties for non-bipodded models.

 

[Nelson 1812]

1) --- adding the option for a truly fullscreen video? Maybe another ALT-[whatever] toggle which hides the bottom UI and top Nav/Info Bar, and expands the scene vertically? Definitely mentioned here before.

 

Thanks for reminding me of this button... which ALT- ... was that?

[Harry Speakup]

An ALT-[key] hide GUI option would be nice

An ALT-[key] to show/hide the terrain grid would be useful at times also.

[Erwin]

1)   Bring back the CM1 system of being able to click on ANY waypoint or line and that action instantly selects that unit.  I still play some CM1, and it is such a useful and efficient feature - especially when you are playing large scenarios.

2)  Bring back the instant 180 degree arc of CM1 - if you move many turreted vehicles around one is constantly having to change the direction of the arc - and the CM2 system is far less efficient and quite irritating after a while.

3)  Allow ACQUIRE between adjacent units - with a time delay to simulate the time it takes.

 

[Bulletpoint]

My number one wish: Adding something to help the player estimate landscape contours. Doesn't need to be a grid or contour lines, could be as simple as a shader system where lower terrain is rendered a bit darker. 

[RockinHarry]

Did I mention pillbox and fortification overhaul anytime?  ...seriously....

I´d like to see terrain gradients/slopes finally have a distinctive effect on units in CMX2. Not considering a particular terrain "type" effect, any CMX2 unit can go climb anywhere if it´s not a "cliff" gradient (height change between adjacent AS >= 5 meters) and without loosing speed, or getting fatigued quicker. Things get more out of place when roads are placed on gradients. Generally roads negate cliff effects and you can move up roads straightly, even when steepness is above 45-60° (height between single AS > 8 meters).

OTOH the auto generated cliffs are at the 30° steepness mark, which is anything but no go, for any infantry units.

 

[sttp]

My number one wish: Adding something to help the player estimate landscape contours. Doesn't need to be a grid or contour lines, could be as simple as a shader system where lower terrain is rendered a bit darker. 

Awesome idea. I use the gridded terrain to get a better sense of slopes, terrain cover, etc., but it does have its disadvantages. So I've often wished for some kind of "auto-generated topographical map" function. Even if just in the editor.

Now that I think about it... seems like something maybe an ambitious modder/programmer could tackle? Not sure. I'd take a crack at it if I had the skills. I can envision something where you go to the map editor, pull up the elevation page, take a screenshot which shows each tile's elevation, stitch those all together (if needed, like for larger maps), and then assign different shades to those different heights. Great way to show slope and cover. It'd be so much easier to do if we could just pull all the map's elevation values out directly though -- like as a 2-dimensional array, I guess -- but I don't see any way that'd be possible?

You've stimulated some interesting thought here. Precisely the point of these kinds of threads.

Edited October 8, 2015 by sttp

[sttp]

An ALT-[key] hide GUI option would be nice

An ALT-[key] to show/hide the terrain grid would be useful at times also.

The show/hide terrain grid thing would be nice. If that were an insta-toggle, the graphic could even be made to be less subtle than with the grid mods, and therefore maybe make the land contours even more apparent. I feel like I read somewhere, though, that they've tried to implement that feature but that it was a huge resource hog? So... if not in CMx2.4 (seems unlikely it would be), maybe it could go on the CMx3.0 list instead.

 

Edited October 8, 2015 by sttp

[A Canadian Cat]

I love this combat simulator. Adore it. So I'm wondering what the most requested possible tweaks/features for CMBN have been over these last four years? Things to go in the next big engine upgrade. I'm gonna list some of my ideas/requests, and many of these have been mentioned before, but others... maybe not? So what the heck, maybe it's time to initiate some constructive discussion on how these ideas can be expanded or modified? It seems like a lot of new players are showing up in the last year (including me), so it might be productive... as long as people don't turn it into something that sounds more like bug reports.

Oh we love doing this type of thing.  So not a bad thing to start a wish list again

So here are mine (top three are always in my sig line when one gets done I remove it and replace it with another):

1) Head to Head Campaigns via PBEM,

2) Command line support (here is my proposal),

3) Add "Custom" Quick Battle size so users can specify points

You have a bunch I agree comments later.

4) Persist the camera shot cut keys so that I can use them when playing PBEM.  This actually has the potential to be the single most useful feature in the game Many many times I have a battle with two ro three distinct combat groups that often, once in contact means I have multiple view of the battle that are important.  Having the ability to swap between an important unit in those groups would really help with watching the play back.

5) support for coop play 2v2, 3v3, 2vAI, 3vAI etc. via PBEM  So for me that means a way that there is a turn file for all to watch and give orders to their assigned units and produce a part of a turn file that are then merged together once all player have played and then that creates the turn file for the opposing side. Or something equivalent that lets players view and command their troops without manually sharing / managing a single turn file.

------------------------- MAJOR FEATURES / ADDITIONS (I guess they'd be major?) ------------------------------------

These first two could be great for videos / screenshots. Video AAR's would require a ton less editing, and all would look better too.

1) --- adding the option for a truly fullscreen video? Maybe another ALT-[whatever] toggle which hides the bottom UI and top Nav/Info Bar, and expands the scene vertically? Definitely mentioned here before.

I like it.

2) --- a way to instantly toggle off everything on the screen that's not part of the battle scene... i.e., no green soldier bases even when a unit is selected, and no red crosses popping up for new casualties... no nothing, except the battle. Maybe a single new hotkey (like ALT-V, for "video") could work? One press, all off; second press, it reverts back to the show/hide (trees / icons / paths / objectives / landmarks / vehicle hit text / command link) combo you just left. Alternatively, even just a couple more ALT-[whatever] shortcuts to individually toggle off the artificial elements we still must always see?

 

Yes, nice. 

6) Also a way to turn off building transparency.  Nothing kills the immersion of a screen shot like xray vision on buildings.

 

 

3) -- At least the ability to save a few "favorite" unit formations/combos. If we really wanted to splurge, maybe edit and save their relative positions, too, for quick and easy deployment and organization. Hugely useful for big QB's. (Discussed here recently, but it'd be such a useful feature that I couldn't possibly neglect mentioning it.)

Not sure what you are actually getting at here.

 4) --- (Something tells me this might be more difficult to program than it seems?) After the battle, the option to "review" even the units that have been destroyed or removed from the map. Or just any additional feature that could indicate or summarize the fate of every soldier you commanded. To me, the more stats the better. By squads and platoon, too... though at some point too much data in a 'game' really can start to turn people off. But maybe a slightly more detailed after action report screen? Percent of soldiers who are broken at the end of the battle? Good to know! (BTW, it'd be useful for video and screenshot purposes if the AAR displayed the QB map name on it.)

 

Oh yes, exportable statistics for after the battle would be really nice. +1

 

 

5) --- Please please please, an option to disable the "camera scrolls when mouse at edge of screen" behavior. ("When were those reinforcements coming? I'd better go read the mission briefing again... " [mouse cursor moves a millimeter below the Menus button] "WHOOPS, I guess instead I'll have to put my camera back into that perfect position it just darted away from....." If I could choose one single thing from this list, it'd probably be this. 

LOL.  I have been asking for that for a while.  My first pitch was to just get rid of it but Steve him self says he uses that way all the time.  So toggle if off please.  +10

6) --- Fixed cameras, customizable, which maintain their position and orientation with respect to the map. So, stuck looking down an important alleyway or terrain area. Maybe something like CTRL-SHIFT-[0-9] to set a fixed map camera, and ALT-SHIFT to switch your view back to it?

Cool but persisting what is in game now would be enough for me.

7) --- maybe an additional "Toggle Floating Icons" option that gets rid off all enemy contacts except those that are currently known, identified and in sight? As it stands now, ALT-I (at least when playing in Veteran mode) toggles between displaying ALL contacts (whether they're known or just suspected contacts)... vs. displaying only POSSIBLE contacts... vs. displaying NO CONTACTS at all -- all icons off. The 4th logical option there would be to display KNOWN and certain contacts only. With big battles, especially when you split squads into teams, all those floating question mark icons can really clutter up the screen. Displaying ALL contacts would remain the default though.

meh

8) --- a command & control link option where, for example, if you clicked on a squad, you'd get the same type of red command link lines we currently get, but maybe also something that shows the quality of each element in an entire comms chain all at once... i.e., a line from the squad to the platoon HQ, then another line from platoon HQ over to company HQ, and so on right on up. There are a lot of situations during the chaos of battle where this could be useful, especially in real time mode.

meh

9) --- In the editor, it'd be really nice to have the prices of units displayed, just like they're displayed when you purchase units for a QB.

+1 there.  Been discussed before and you and I plus a handful of others seem to be the only ones that want this.

10) -- A way to instantly draw 180-degree target arcs. (And a way to make them visually less intrusive -- see #11.) So here's the kind of thing I have in mind: just as always, you could still click and drag to draw your arc manually... and you could still SHIFT-click to cover the whole 360 degrees.... but maybe also there could be an ALT-click option, which gives you an instant half-circle that's centered on and extends out to wherever your next mouse click is. Similar to and as easy as a quick FACE command, but still with all the important differences. These 180-degree, wide-as-possible arcs are needed so often. Again, especially useful in real time mode.

Might be nice

11) ---- a way to tone down the visual display of the target arcs? Sometimes you need to keep a unit selected, and its arcs get in the way of other important things. Say your squad is traveling a curved path and you need to change the arc's orientation at a bunch of different waypoints, so now you've got 3 or more arcs on screen, with the entire map drowning in a sea of yellow or purple. Could there maybe be an option to display only the arcs' outline? Or even just temporarily toggle them off completely?  (Another ALT-[whatever] display option.)

12) -- same thing with setup zones. Some way to soften or toggle them. Yeah, really minor. But that bright red or blue can be pretty intrusive during setup, right when I most need to see all the 'pure' terrain, and boy can it be an immersion killer. Maybe we could at least be allowed to softened/lighten the colors via mod?

Yeah that would be nice +1

13) --- a TARGET HEAVY ARMOR ONLY command,  as discussed a few weeks ago. Say you want to ambush a Panzer with your last Sherman, and then your Sherman blows its cover just so that it can fire at a non-threat... like maybe a halftrack that has only a 30cal, but which is still considered 'armor' by the TARGET ARMOR ARC command.

I think something should be looked at here but not sure that what you are proposing is the right way.

14) --- almost forgot... could there be a new movement command, something with a speed in between MOVE and QUICK? Maybe call it HUSTLE or something like that? QUICK seems to be  ~80% the speed of FAST, and the troops get tired quickly. Same thing with HUNT. And sure, MOVE has no stamina penalty, but it seems so... very... slow in comparison. Like there's too big of a gap between MOVE and QUICK? Probably discussed before....

Meh

I'm pretty sure that mentioning 14 possible feature requests is enough. And they are just that, nothing more -- feature requests. None of those things involve bugs or any serious shortcomings, and I hope any comments wouldn't devolve into that. I don't want this all to sound like I'm dissatisfied with CMBN in any significant way. Quite the opposite -- this is an astounding piece of software, IMO. Still, there are a thousand things that players and even Battlefront staff themselves would love to see added or tweaked.... yet we all know that development resources are finite. I just wanted to see if there's ever been any kind of forum unanimity on these kinds of feature requests, and to also float some ideas. Seems like we all share the common goal of trying to help turn what's already a great combat simulator into an even better one

Indeed - perhaps a pole after we have all argued about this list for a while...

[Bulletpoint]

Awesome idea. I use the gridded terrain to get a better sense of slopes, terrain cover, etc., but it does have its disadvantages. So I've often wished for some kind of "auto-generated topographical map" function. Even if just in the editor.

Now that I think about it... seems like something maybe an ambitious modder/programmer could tackle? Not sure. I'd take a crack at it if I had the skills. I can envision something where you go to the map editor, pull up the elevation page, take a screenshot which shows each tile's elevation, stitch those all together (if needed, like for larger maps), and then assign different shades to those different heights. Great way to show slope and cover. It'd be so much easier to do if we could just pull all the map's elevation values out directly though -- like as a 2-dimensional array, I guess -- but I don't see any way that'd be possible?

You've stimulated some interesting thought here. Precisely the point of these kinds of threads.

My idea was actually even more simple; the game itself should render the graphics better to give the player an idea of bumps in the terrain.

There's already a shading system in the game, but you only see it at dawn and dusk. Most battles that are fought around noon have flat-looking terrain that's difficult to get an overview of, because the game's artificial sun light source is straight above, so there's a lack of shadows. This happens in real life too, of course, but we can then use our stereoscopic vision to immediately "read" terrain, which is impossible in the game.

So, my idea was to make the game engine itself automatically render lower elevations in a bit darker shade, providing a gentle embossing effect. I think it wouldn't even need to tweak the "sunlight" rendering, it could be done by pixel shader effects, with each pixel's Z value (vertical height) being used as a parameter for the rendering.

[mirekm61]

1. The possibility of playing the campaign through PBEM.
2. Burning buildings and grounds
3. Detailed report after the battle, how many dead, wounded on each team, ammo, etc.
4. Copy the "Move" command, we set the route for one unit and others may be exactly on the move

[A Canadian Cat]

1)   <snip> able to click on ANY waypoint or line and that action instantly selects that unit.  I still play some CM1, and it is such a useful and efficient feature - especially when you are playing large scenarios.

I know we have had this discussion before but I am still not convinced that this would be good.  If I have spaghetti set of paths from vehicles in convoy I do not really want to be changing which vehicle I am working with just because I clicked slightly away from the current set of way points.  I fear that will be more annoying than what we have now.

3)  Allow ACQUIRE between adjacent units - with a time delay to simulate the time it takes.

Inventory management improvements would be nice - including returning stuff to vehicles.

[A Canadian Cat]

My number one wish: Adding something to help the player estimate landscape contours. Doesn't need to be a grid or contour lines, could be as simple as a shader system where lower terrain is rendered a bit darker. 

Contour lines would get my vote that or a separate topo map view.  Grid lines actually do not really help and strange shading would be just well strange.

[A Canadian Cat]

I´d like to see terrain gradients/slopes finally have a distinctive effect on units in CMX2. Not considering a particular terrain "type" effect, any CMX2 unit can go climb anywhere if it´s not a "cliff" gradient (height change between adjacent AS >= 5 meters) and without loosing speed, or getting fatigued quicker.

Are you sure that is not in the game already? My impression is that troops move slower and get tired faster moving up slopes.  I have not tested it directly because it always felt like it was working.

[womble]

4. Copy the "Move" command, we set the route for one unit and others may be exactly on the move

Oh yeah, baby: Follow... That's probably the winner in the "most asked for improvement" stakes.

[sburke]

ToE export from a finished scenario to be used for import to a new - would be really useful to create campaigns using an op layer instead of trying to figure losses etc

[sttp]

IanL, I think you said you weren't sure what I meant by #3 on my list.

What I meant by that is the ability to save the troop combos you tend to gravitate towards most often. For example, there's a certain "general purpose" troop + light armor +AT asset combo I seem to always put together in particular QB situations. (Like when I'm playing against the AI and have no idea what kinds of troops and machinery it'll be bringing to the battle, so I've gotta cover all bases.) I just tend to buy the same old stuff, QB after QB, with only minor changes here and there. Same thing with other QB battle types, like "Armor Only" or "Mechanized Infantry." So it'd be nice to be able to save a favorite troop / formation combo and somehow quickly load it into the "Activated Troops" screen during unit purchase.

The second component of this -- and again, other members have mentioned the idea before -- is less important, but would still be nice: some way to control the troops order and organization when first deployed to the setup zone. In setup phase, the first thing I usually do is move all the units into their chain of command hierarchy. Like this:

 

 

Am I the only geek here who does that?!? I had assumed many players do it? But if not... yeah, no use implementing it. But I find that laying my troops out like that really helps organize thoughts, develop a plan, and mentally inventory every single piece of equipment my troops have... basically just helps avoid overlooking anything important.

So, part B of the idea is this: adding some feature that allows us to have to do that setup phase troop organizing only once. Once for each troop/equipment combo you've saved. And then, during setup, those troops could be dumped into the setup zone organized like so, instead of as a jumbled mess.

Heck, maybe Battlefront could even create 10 or 20 preset combos themselves. ones that are easily selectable, and that use up exactly the number of points allowed for the various Quick Battle sizes. It might make CMBN less intimidating for first time users? The CMBN learning curve really is pretty steep, so every little added feature like this is a big help.

 

Edited October 9, 2015 by sttp

[womble]

The ability to save force picks and mid-game states has also been frequently requested. Being able to save a preferred "core" QB selection backbone for various situations would  be a Godsend. 

[Erwin]

IanL and others re "convoy command".  In CM1 the ability to click on waypoints or lines anywhere on the map in order to select the unit makes changing the routes of large numbers of units easier and MUCH more efficient - and hence simplifies convoys.  (Although I agree not having a convoy system is frustrating with large numbers of units.)

On large CM1 maps with large numbers of units one can focus on an area of the map and simply click on waypoints and lines to make adjustments.  In the current CM2 system you have to a: leave the area of interest and go back to where the units may be located - often quite a distance away, then b: you have to select the units, then c: go back to where the "action" is and again adjust waypoints.

The current method is time-consuming.  In a complex game system like the CM series one needs the UI to be as efficient and quick as possible so that we spend the max amount of time doing fun things like tactics etc and not fighting the UI.  (Hence the request for "one-click" 180 degree arcs.)

[Baneman]

...

The second component of this -- and again, other members have mentioned the idea before -- is less important, but would still be nice: some way to control the troops order and organization when first deployed to the setup zone. In setup phase, the first thing I usually do is move all the units into their chain of command hierarchy. Like this:

Am I the only geek here who does that ?!?

...

Nope, I do exactly that too  

[RockinHarry]

Are you sure that is not in the game already? My impression is that troops move slower and get tired faster moving up slopes.  I have not tested it directly because it always felt like it was working.

From all my past observations and doing related tests, slopes do not have any noticable effect. Tiring only comes from amount of time spent in a particular movement mode. But as said, there´s other "problems" as well (vehicles don´t slow down on slopes and every vehicle can go anywhere, unless it hits a cliff, which at ~30° is a no go for all units), when a map is not mostly flat. Wondering how it works in CMFI (I don´t have it yet) and how it is about to work in the Bulge game, particularly with regard to the rough Ardennes terrain. Here´s a small test map with various differently steep slopes (ramps) and a couple of units ready to move uphill: https://www.dropbox.com/s/j9tbv864e95fupq/!0_Slope_Test2.btt?dl=0

 

 

[A Canadian Cat]

Thanks @RockinHarry someday I'll have to have a closer look at that and now I have a starting point...

[MOS:96B2P]

<Snip>  Being able to save a preferred "core" QB selection backbone for various situations would  be a Godsend. 

This would be very helpful.  

[A Canadian Cat]

IanL, I think you said you weren't sure what I meant by #3 on my list.

OK got it thanks.

 

Am I the only geek here who does that?!? I had assumed many players do it? But if not... yeah, no use implementing it. But I find that laying my troops out like that really helps organize thoughts, develop a plan, and mentally inventory every single piece of equipment my troops have... basically just helps avoid overlooking anything important.

I do a similar - sometimes.  If the scenario designer has mixed units up too much or in a QB where it is some what a hodge poge I do that.  But if the setup has clear areas of responsibility for platoons / companies then I will probably not do what you have pictured and instead explore the formation as it is and make my adjustments from there.

So, part B of the idea is this: adding some feature that allows us to have to do that setup phase troop organizing only once. Once for each troop/equipment combo you've saved. And then, during setup, those troops could be dumped into the setup zone organized like so, instead of as a jumbled mess.

Yeah tricky stuff there.  Setup zones are not universally sized or shaped.  I think writing code to sort that out would be challenging.  I would prefer to have an algorithm that lets me pick an HQ and then click a form up around command that would pull every subordinate unit around it.  To keep things simple I would make it do one level and one level only  (i.e. no selecting the battalion commander and expecting ever single unit to be organized).  Instead what you could do was select the battalion CO and have all the company HQs organized around him.  Then with a little manual spacing of those company HQs request the platoon HQs get organized around each company and then a little more manual spacing and then call the squads to the platoon HQs.  That way you could massage the organization to meet the setup zone and situation.  The computer would just have a fixed pattern for subordinate units and any units that cannot move into a legal location would do as now - just stay where they were.