Suggestions for Future Patch

[Samhain]

BTS, I imagine these have all been mentioned in some fashion before, but I'd like to add my vote in support of these suggestions and requests for a future patch or for CM2, particularly to the first one, which would be an easy but wonderful addition:

1) Add a hotkey that calls up the detailed unit info screen on the QB unit purchase screen. For battalions, companies, and platoons, the info could refer to just one of the included squads for say, a simple rifle battalion. For more complex ones, like heavy weapons companies, perhaps you could right-click on each type of unit included in the existing short listing down at the bottom of the screen. (This would require a single click to select the unit from the top listing in order to keep the info down at the bottom, and a double-click to purchase it, unlike the current system.) This would make informed unit purchasing far easier, particularly for the German forces with their vast number of unit types. (Yes, I know there's a third-party Excel spreadsheet with this info but I don't have Excel, it doesn't work properly/fully with the free viewer, and it would be much easier to have the info directly in the game.)

2) Eliminate the dancing waypoints. Often when you try to adjust a preexisting waypoint in or near the edge of a building, it will rapidly jump in and out of the building, forcing you to reset it. Also, near flags (unless you want to turn them off, which isn't a great solution), you often have to rotate the camera around substantially to select a unit that's in plain sight, and trying to set/alter waypoints near a flag will often cause them to jump to unexpected locations.

3) Allow weapons teams to abandon their weapons and ammo and run under very specific circumstances: they are out of or "LOW" on ammo and/or they are panicked/broken/routed. These situations usually occur, in my experience, when they're about to be overrun by the enemy. Perhaps also add the proviso that there be X enemy units/soldiers/purchase points worth of units within X meters. I know the Germans went out of their way to scuttle, so to speak, immobilized tanks that couldn't be towed away before the enemy arrived, but surely they'd be willing to loose an HMG or mortar to preserve five or six troops. I'm definitely not proposing that these teams be able to run any old time, and I know BTS has repeatedly said that won't happen anyway. Too many times, though, I've had these teams massacred when logic and self-preservation would dictate dropping the gun and heading for the hills

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I rode a tank, held a general's rank

When the blitzkrieg raged, and the bodies stank.

--Rolling Stones

[This message has been edited by Samhain (edited 12-21-2000).]

[deanco]

1) is an excellent idea. As an advocate of "non-wargamers rights" it would be cool if we could get access to that detailed data while picking our troops. I second the motion.

2), I get rid of by switching to top-down mode. Just the angled views have that problem if I'm not mistaken. This is really a "no biggie" for me. This 'bug' usually causes me to place my guys correctly in the building instead of being lazy.

3) sounds cool too. My whole thing with CM is keeping my men alive so anything that helps me do that, I'm for.

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DeanCo--

CM interface mods: http://mapage.cybercable.fr/deanco/

[Samhain]

Thanks for the tip on #2! I never use the top-down views for anything, staying at level four much of the time. I'll try that out now.

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I rode a tank, held a general's rank

When the blitzkrieg raged, and the bodies stank.

--Rolling Stones

[Samhain]

Here's another suggestion:

In a QB where you have pure infantry force, alter the TacAI targeting prioritization so AT squads are near the bottom of the list instead of the top, since they're not a significant threat in such a situation. It's very frustrating to order, for instance, a mortar team to area fire at a group of conveniently bunched up squads, only to have it shift to a schreck, zook, or PIAT team.

The same holds for flamethrower teams in general.

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I rode a tank, held a general's rank

When the blitzkrieg raged, and the bodies stank.

--Rolling Stones

[Samhain]

Here's another one:

Don't allow the TacAI to override a manual targeting decision unless a direct threat to the targeting unit appears (or perhaps also a unit that's a threat to a friendly unit of greater point value that the targeter). When I decide to manually target something, it's (usually ) for a good reason, and I don't want the targeting unit constantly and ineffectively switching between targets the way the enemy AI often will. If I should make a poor decision, I can live with it.

I had a field howitzer between two widely separated flanks of advancing enemy infantry, for instance, and it kept slowly rotating back and forth to fire at weapons teams on either flank (including a totally inconsequential and easily killed flamethrower team hundreds of meters away). In the process of sluggishly swiveling and then losing LOS by the time the gun was turned, it didn't get a shot off for a number of turns, whereas if it followed my orders, it could have done some good. None of the targets was an immediate threat to the howitzer, only to my infantry. The howitzer could have protected them better if it followed my orders.

I realize the TacAI generally makes excellent decisions when left to its own devices, but there are definitely times like the above instance, where it's not doing me any good and needs to be overridden.

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I rode a tank, held a general's rank

When the blitzkrieg raged, and the bodies stank.

--Rolling Stones

[This message has been edited by Samhain (edited 12-21-2000).]