Doug Beman Posted January 9, 2000 Share Posted January 9, 2000 I did a search on the word "ignore" (because that's what my topic deals with) and couldn't see anything like what I'm going to discuss. First, let me set the scene: Riesberg, commanding Germans vs AI. I have an 88mm gun targeted on an ambush marker some 350m distant. The Americans advance, infantry first, tanks behind. An infantry squad crosses the ambush marker, and the 88 cuts loose. It hits pretty close a couple times, and the squad hits the dirt. Shortly thereafter, one of my infantry units discerns that this enemy squad has suffered 8 casualties. In my opinion this squad no longer offers any threat to the 88. As the armor is nearing the same area, but cannot yet be seen by the 88, I give the 88 a TARGET order on the Sherman that I think will be visible first. In the next movie, the 88 holds my order for about 10 seconds, then the TacAI takes over, and the 88 retargets that infantry squad. At almost precisely the same instant (and I KNEW this was coming before it happened) that closest tank starts forward, crests a small hill, and whacks the 88 with 3 shots and some MG fire. In light of the specific situation described above, as well as the many other situations like it in general, I would like to put an "IGNORE TARGET" order on the wish list. The command will pretty much do what its name implies. Now, I know the TacAI has been tweaked to give player-specified target orders on almost-visible enemy units higher priority, but I don't think this will be enough, unless the TacAI will hold said target orders for many dozens of seconds. In that case it might well be holding TOO closely to specified target orders, with appropriate results. An "IGNORE TARGET" order would allow the TacAI to do its job while not completely violating the player's wishes. I'm not positioning this new order to violate FoW. In other words (relating to the situation described above) if an enemy infantry squad has suffered many casualties but this does not show up on the status window, the 88 would not magically know that "hey, those guys have suffered 8 casualties. Let's ignore them." Rather, it would be up to the player to act on the info he has to decide whether or not to ignore a target. If the status window shows the enemy squad has taken many losses, then he can go ahead and give the order in good confidence. If there is no casualty status, it will be up to his intuition to say "hhmm..they've been shelled for 3 minutes, and are hugging the ground, and aren't returning fire. I want to ignore them." Lastly, I think it is entirely within the power of a real commander to tell a unit, especially an AT gun, to ignore certain specific targets, especially badly-hurt infantry units. I know CM is feature-frozen (except for the Transwhatever Walls) and I'm not demanding a stop to the presses to get this in. I would like to get it into consideration for either CM 1.X, or perhaps CM2. DjB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoolColJ Posted January 10, 2000 Share Posted January 10, 2000 I second this notion! *thumbs up* ------------------ ------------------ CCJ BLITZ_Force My HomePage -----> www.geocities.com/coolcolj/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berlichtingen Posted January 10, 2000 Share Posted January 10, 2000 I've found that giving the 88's the hide command works better than ambush. I've managed to keep them hidden until all the shermans are in the open and then cutting loose... 4 smokin' shermans and 2 88's allowed to kill infantry at their will Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fionn Posted January 10, 2000 Share Posted January 10, 2000 In the full version of the game the HIDE command would do what you want. The 88s wouldn't fire at infantry but would open up a world of hurt on enemy tanks that appeared. Proper use of ambush markers and hide works wonders ------------------ ___________ Fionn Kelly Manager of Historical Research, The Gamers Net - Gaming for Gamers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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