Engine 5 Wishlist

[chuckdyke]

3 minutes ago, Pelican Pal said:

Although the tac ai reactions still leave something to be desired.

They go by the combat stress level pyramid. +2 is not affected as -2 is. The AI got an IQ of 0.00000000000001 % so to expect human behaviors is a tat unrealistic. Only with H&H we can avoid the worst of this. 

[Pelican Pal]

From a scenario design perspective what would be fantastic is a brush that would copy all the ground clutter from one section and then allow you to paint that elsewhere. Doing woodlands with mixed trees, bushes, etc... is a huge pain if its of any significant size.

[RMM]

> This might have already been mentioned, but I think it bears worth repeating - a convoy command. Yes, one can micro-manage the movements of each individual vehicle, but quite apart from that being quite time consuming, it's still not guaranteed to work and can still end up with vehicles taking off in all manner of bizarre directions as faster vehicles (even with slower movement commands) try to get around or overtake slower ones!

> The manual needs to be updated with some terrain descriptions to help people better identify and understand the effects of say light v's darker muddy tiles, snow, etc. Does regular snow carry a chance of bog? I have no idea! In real life...well, it would depend on how deep it is. So, that's not an engine update per se, but would greatly help game play!

[Erwin]

2 hours ago, RMM said:

a convoy command.

Yes, that would be a huge time saver.  For example, Mission 3 of CMFB's otherwise xnt campaign "RollbahnD" requires one to travel a convoy from one side of the map along twisting roads to the other.  No combat, maybe some mines...  The amount of waypoint creation is wrist-damaging.  If one could just have every unit follow the lead vehicle along the same route...

[Ultradave]

On 12/21/2021 at 1:25 PM, RMM said:

> This might have already been mentioned, but I think it bears worth repeating - a convoy command. Yes, one can micro-manage the movements of each individual vehicle, but quite apart from that being quite time consuming, it's still not guaranteed to work and can still end up with vehicles taking off in all manner of bizarre directions as faster vehicles (even with slower movement commands) try to get around or overtake slower ones!

> The manual needs to be updated with some terrain descriptions to help people better identify and understand the effects of say light v's darker muddy tiles, snow, etc. Does regular snow carry a chance of bog? I have no idea! In real life...well, it would depend on how deep it is. So, that's not an engine update per se, but would greatly help game play!

Yes, it would be lovely. It was tried, and there were too many oddities with it that the consensus was it wasn't ready for primetime. But it sure would be nice to revisit it for the future (it's on the list of requests - guess we'll just have to see).

Dave

[RMM]

41 minutes ago, Ultradave said:

Yes, it would be lovely. It was tried, and there were too many oddities with it that the consensus was it wasn't ready for primetime. But it sure would be nice to revisit it for the future (it's on the list of requests - guess we'll just have to see).

Dave

I can imagine it would be a programming nightmare, constantly having to get all the vehicles to match and change each other's speed, but it certainly would be a huge contribution to gameplay!

[BeondTheGrave]

Two small QOL things, maybe both of them have already been mentioned:

1) The 'acquire' command should become something like 'give/take.' I just played a mission today where I accidentally acquired 7.62 ammo for a squad which I dont think actually has any 7.62 weapons. Would be nice to just place it back into the M2. It would also be nice if infantry could pass ammo along to other squads, like ammo bearers. Could make truck drivers more useful as guys who can bring ammo out to an MG squad or rockets to a bazooka team or something. edit: Passing around ammo could lead to some gamey micromanagey situations (and was annoying AF in Men of War lol) so an easy solution could be for vehicles to 'acquire' ammo back from their carried infantry squads. That would let you put away kit you accidentally grabbed or decided you dont need and dont want to risk. 

2) It would be nice to be able to see basic weapons stats for infantry in game somehow. Maybe by clicking on the infantryman you can see the stats for his carried weapon? Im not a dev, so someone smarter than me could that out. But I'm playing CMBS today and while I think I'm mostly well versed in modern weapons, some things are a little unknown to my Cold War-era brain. Like the M110 CSASS, I assume thats a DMR. But what kind of ammo does it take? Probably thats where all that 7.62 in my squads is going. I could go to Wikipedia and look it up of course, but it would be nice for the game to just tell me that without having to alt tab. 

Edited January 6, 2022 by BeondTheGrave

[purpheart23]

26 minutes ago, BeondTheGrave said:

 

1) The 'acquire' command should become something like 'give/take.'  That would let you put away kit you accidentally grabbed or decided you dont need and dont want to risk. 

 

+1 I can't tell you how many times I've fat fingered the wrong ammunition or wanted to put AT weapons back in a vehicle.

[Commanderski]

An update on the progress of Engine 5 would be nice.

[Erwin]

Yes, we've been requesting a revamp of the ACQUIRE routine for years so that any unit can exchange ammo and weapons with an adjacent unit - up to reasonable limits and possibly with a time penalty of course.  

[RMM]

5 hours ago, BeondTheGrave said:

Two small QOL things, maybe both of them have already been mentioned:

1) The 'acquire' command should become something like 'give/take.' I just played a mission today where I accidentally acquired 7.62 ammo for a squad which I dont think actually has any 7.62 weapons. Would be nice to just place it back into the M2. It would also be nice if infantry could pass ammo along to other squads, like ammo bearers. Could make truck drivers more useful as guys who can bring ammo out to an MG squad or rockets to a bazooka team or something. edit: Passing around ammo could lead to some gamey micromanagey situations (and was annoying AF in Men of War lol) so an easy solution could be for vehicles to 'acquire' ammo back from their carried infantry squads. That would let you put away kit you accidentally grabbed or decided you dont need and dont want to risk. 

2) It would be nice to be able to see basic weapons stats for infantry in game somehow. Maybe by clicking on the infantryman you can see the stats for his carried weapon? Im not a dev, so someone smarter than me could that out. But I'm playing CMBS today and while I think I'm mostly well versed in modern weapons, some things are a little unknown to my Cold War-era brain. Like the M110 CSASS, I assume thats a DMR. But what kind of ammo does it take? Probably thats where all that 7.62 in my squads is going. I could go to Wikipedia and look it up of course, but it would be nice for the game to just tell me that without having to alt tab. 

Amen and amen!

[Codreanu]

A very small request would be the ability to sort scenarios chronologically.

[Centurian52]

6 hours ago, Codreanu said:

A very small request would be the ability to sort scenarios chronologically.

Yessss!!! I've actually done this manually for most of my CM games. I went into my scenarios folder and renamed all of the scenarios with the date as a prefix in YYYY/MM/DD format, and then sorted the scenarios in alphabetical order to get them in chronological order. But it would have saved me so much time if there was a way to do this automatically.

 

On 12/21/2021 at 10:25 AM, RMM said:

a convoy command

This would be very helpful, but they've already explained multiple times why a convoy command isn't coming. Basically it's just too technically challenging to implement. I'm sure if you could come up with an implementation that could work, wouldn't take too much time and money, and wouldn't require a complete redesign of the engine then you would be a hero of the CM community. Maybe there is some hope for a convoy command in CM3?

 

12 hours ago, BeondTheGrave said:

It would be nice to be able to see basic weapons stats for infantry in game somehow. 

I know one infantry stat I would like to see would be some indication of how encumbered they are. I'm never sure how much ammo to take out of the back of vehicles. What I want to do is take as much equipment and ammo with my squads when they leave their vehicles as possible (I usually can't be sure that they'll have a chance to return for more later), while still retaining an acceptable degree of mobility. And some indicator of the average weight being carried by each man would be really helpful for that. Of course this isn't a top priority since I've found I can usually get away with just grabbing everything and they can still move well enough, but it would be nice to have more information to optimize my approach. And, for the same reasons, it would also be nice to be able to return unneeded ammo and equipment to the vehicle.

 

All that being said, I seem to recall that they are focusing on performance rather than features for Engine 5 anyway, which seems like a good idea. So I won't be the least bit disappointed if I don't see a single one of the features I or anyone else has entered on this thread, just so long as the game can make greater use of my system's resources to run big scenarios a little more smoothly.

[Erwin]

11 hours ago, Centurian52 said:

I know one infantry stat I would like to see would be some indication of how encumbered they are. I'm never sure how much ammo to take out of the back of vehicles. What I want to do is take as much equipment and ammo with my squads when they leave their vehicles as possible (I usually can't be sure that they'll have a chance to return for more later), while still retaining an acceptable degree of mobility.

Common wisdom confirmed by some vets here is that they would carry about 400-500 rounds max when about to enter combat.  But, yes, once one also adds on all the extra stuff, it feels like most inf in CM can be overloaded - but with little discernible movement penalties. 

In the modern titles if a squad carries too many Javelins they may no longer be able to move FAST.  And an WW2 HMG team reduced to one or two guys loaded with a couple thousand rounds may only move MOVE.

[AlexUK]

Throw grenades command

Improved draw distance (not playing cold War at the moment as big maps are not showing trees etc at distance). 

Acquire with option to specify amount (I don't think I would use a put back command much and disadvantage of extra complexity may outweigh benefit). 

Colour all teams of same squad - if I have terminology right (I know colour blind people won't benefit but majority will). 

More options for road angles. 

Hotkey to select last way point of currently selected unit - would greatly speed up issuing orders. 

Better handling of sounds. When I am playing, I am pretty sure some sounds cut out, and with sound mods it becomes unplayable due to delays in sound (on both old Macbook Pro and current Macbook Air). 

M1 native version.

More flexibility in uniforms mixing. 

Better building targeting. 

I am hoping 2022 announcement delayed because Engine 5 to ve released with all the above imminently

[chuckdyke]

30 minutes ago, AlexUK said:

Throw grenades command

Grenades become the primary weapon inside two action squares. This was pointed out by a scenario designer. M203 grenade launchers  Like to specify the distance once they toss them all over the place it is a waste. 

[AlexUK]

6 minutes ago, chuckdyke said:

Grenades become the primary weapon inside two action squares. This was pointed out by a scenario designer. M203 grenade launchers  Like to specify the distance once they toss them all over the place it is a waste. 

I wouldn't call them the primary weapon. Rather some random amount are chucked together with the smgs/rifles. 

Problems:

SMG fires almost all clip off, when they attack they stop to relaod at critical moment. 

Never sure how many, if any, grenades will get chucked. 

What I would like is what you see in military training, where several squad members throw grenades before assaulting, without firing their weapons. 

 

And I forgot in the list, better modelled smoke grenades/rounds. More instant smoke coverage. 

[chuckdyke]

17 minutes ago, AlexUK said:

I wouldn't call them the primary weapon. Rather some random amount are chucked together with the smgs/rifles

It has been tested if you select an assault team they have on the average 15 grenades spread over 3 men. Once inside 16 meters they throw them and don't use their longarms. Don't take my word for it find out for your self. 

 

22 minutes ago, AlexUK said:

where several squad members throw grenades before assaulting, without firing their weapons. 

You can do that too, some throw their grenades it depends how you split. 

[AlexUK]

Qué? They sure do use their long weapons. 

Also, I split into an assault squad to have the smg for close assault and the grenades. That makes sense, no? 

What I want with the throw grenades command is, say, all team members with a grenade and in range of target specified prepare and throw a grenade each as a priority. From timing point of view, throw grenades action takes first, say, 15 seconds of the turn, then issue commands subsequently. If for whatever reason the team member hasn't chucked a grenade in that 15 seconds, once 15 seconds are over that specific grenade chuck is cancelled for that team member. 

[chuckdyke]

8 minutes ago, AlexUK said:

What I want with the throw grenades command is, say, all team members with a grenade and in range of target specified prepare and throw a grenade each as a priority.

Yes the assault troops will use the grenades they need the troops with the longarms to protect them. This is what you see here. Bolt rifles are not suitable at close range, the engine let them use their grenades. Here is another example a wall. The only weapon with which you can plot a LOF in this case is a grenade. You use grenades by deduction in a situation. If there is a command it must take into account combat stress. 

[LukeFF]

17 hours ago, chuckdyke said:

It has been tested if you select an assault team they have on the average 15 grenades spread over 3 men. Once inside 16 meters they throw them and don't use their longarms. Don't take my word for it find out for your self. 

That is patently false, and I don't need to find out for myself, because I've been playing the CM2 titles long before you started showing up here. 

[purpheart23]

On 1/6/2022 at 1:27 PM, Erwin said:

Yes, we've been requesting a revamp of the ACQUIRE routine for years so that any unit can exchange ammo and weapons with an adjacent unit - up to reasonable limits and possibly with a time penalty of course.  

Cool, we're doing it again.

[chuckdyke]

1 hour ago, LukeFF said:

That is patently false, and I don't need to find out for myself,

I played CM since Beyond Overlord besides the throwing grenades tip doesn't come from me but from one of the designers here. I would suggest cool it and test it for yourself. I lost count of how many screenshots I saved to prove it. 

Edited January 9, 2022 by chuckdyke

[chuckdyke]

Throwing grenades at least according to a man who knows how to design a game. Experiment and develop your own techniques. What we know we know from somebody else.

 

https://battledrill.blogspot.com/2017/05/battle-technique-throw-grenades-over.html

Edited January 9, 2022 by chuckdyke

[Sgt.Squarehead]

In my experience, opposing units within two tiles (16m) massively favour grenades over their rifles, even against units only briefly passing through that zone.