Erik Nilsson* Posted August 16, 2003 Share Posted August 16, 2003 Hi all ! Due to a low-level school assignment on usability, I'd like to introduce a small questionnaire on the topic of TacOps to you. The details of the assignment are available at http://www.ida.his.se/~a02erini/MDIassignment.html . You probably don't want to know them, but for the sake of transparency they are included. The questionnaire is a private effort and in no way connected to Major Holdridge or Battlefront.com. Except in the sense that had Major Holdridge not created TacOps, there would not have been any questionnaire. Any attempts at statistics or conclusions from any answers to this questionnaire included in the assignment report will be posted at the bottom of this thread whenever the report is finished. Thank you for your attention ! The questionnaire: 1 Which feature would you instantly add to TacOps given the opportunity ? 2 What aspect of TacOps do you find the most rewarding ? 3 What aspect of TacOps do you find the most problematic ? 4 What area of TacOps do you feel future efforts should be aimed at improving ? 5 In what way does playing TacOps improve your life ? Any other question you feel this questionnaire should have asked ? Please share it, and give us your answer to it. The default TacOps version for this questionnaire is TacOps 4. If your answers relates to another version of TacOps than v 4, please state which version: Again, thanks for your time ! Best regards, Erik Nilsson 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwolf Posted August 16, 2003 Share Posted August 16, 2003 > 1 Which feature would you instantly add to TacOps given the opportunity ? > 4 What area of TacOps do you feel future efforts should be aimed at improving ? My pet feature for any decent wargame would be to provide a programming interface so that I could plug in my own computed opponent (like Quake clones have). I have been trying to find a wargame developer to do so, but results were either from not neccessarily reliable developers, unsuitable games (realtime) or I encountered something between sceptism and scorched earth from previous attempts of these developers to work with outside coders (can't blame the developers). Besides a free AI I would like to see area fire for direct fire units, that would be my pet combat item. > 2 What aspect of TacOps do you find the most rewarding ? There are lots of reasons, but the most important factor for my continued TacOps fun is that it is a very efficient wargame. Of all wargames it offers the best rate of learning and playing complete scenarios for the time spent on it. The lack of nonsense features, a very good interface with no combat delays, 2 turns per email and other things contribute. > 3 What aspect of TacOps do you find the most problematic ? Lack of features I don't find nonsensic The lack of free AI is high on the list. Multiplayer-wise I would like to see the technical TCP server and the umpire display seperated from each other, that means the umpire joins a server over the internet. > 5 In what way does playing TacOps improve your life ? Quick, efficient learning with a way to measure it. And a recreational game with few annoyances in it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SJJ Posted August 17, 2003 Share Posted August 17, 2003 Originally posted by Erik Nilsson*: 1 Which feature would you instantly add to TacOps given the opportunity ? scn editor 2 What aspect of TacOps do you find the most rewarding ? The civilian inclusion - makes it possible to model MOOTW at a believable level. No other wargame does this. 3 What aspect of TacOps do you find the most problematic ? non-zoomable map. Don't expect the major to chnage this, but differing zoom levels would be good - running at 1280x1024 and the default unit markers are tiny. 4 What area of TacOps do you feel future efforts should be aimed at improving ? scn editor, or even scriptable AI; Ie not using a GUI to mark out the AI tracks, but even just knowing the coding to make our scns with AI would be good 5 In what way does playing TacOps improve your life ? allows me to simulate operations that no other game or simulation can that is commercially available Any other question you feel this questionnaire should have asked ? Please share it, and give us your answer to it. Qn: Why Did You buy TacOps? Ans: because I wanted to model modern LICs and MOOTW, and this is the best platform for it atm Also when I was humming and harring about getting it, the MajorH proved most helpful in solving a technical difficulty - that sort of developer interaction is rare to find, and guarantees a sale no matter what in my book 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dej2 Posted August 17, 2003 Share Posted August 17, 2003 1 Which feature would you instantly add to TacOps given the opportunity? Being able to join online games through the internet. Though playing against people is good, I would also like to play coop games against the computer with a friend. 2 What aspect of TacOps do you find the most rewarding? I like the aspect of creating real world tactical situations. In traditional "games balancing" removes any real world situations in the name of making the game fare. I rather enjoy having to deal with real world situations. Weather I play the underdog or the champion. Life isn't fare, neither should be simulated battle field conditions. 3 What aspect of TacOps do you find the most problematic ? Hmmm... I would like to see more than 2 ground elevations, may be the "LOS" (line of sight) could be an updated to shadow areas of the map that the unit can’t see and leave light where the unit can observe. 4 What area of TacOps do you feel future efforts should be aimed at improving ? I would like to see bridges, tunnels and roads that can be made into rough terrain or impassible terrain if they are bombarded with artillery. Maybe add a dense forest to the map where vehicles cannot pass but infantry can. 5 In what way does playing TacOps improve your life ? It keeps my mind sharp and relieves stress. [ August 20, 2003, 06:02 PM: Message edited by: dej2 ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coyote Posted August 17, 2003 Share Posted August 17, 2003 Originally posted by Erik Nilsson*: . . . 1 Which feature would you instantly add to TacOps given the opportunity? A - Scenario Editor for Solitaire Games. 2 What aspect of TacOps do you find the most rewarding? A - The ability to set up and test real world scenarios is very educational for me. 3 What aspect of TacOps do you find the most problematic? A - Only having two terrain heights. Some situations can't be properly tested with only two alititudes. 4 What area of TacOps do you feel future efforts should be aimed at improving? A - Since we seem to be moving into a period small-unit LIC operations, more options for small infantry units will probably needed. 5 In what way does playing TacOps improve your life? A - I can run a hard simulation to challenge myself, or an easy game to relax whenever I please. Any other question you feel this questionnaire should have asked ? Please share it, and give us your answer to it. Hope this helps, Coyote 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveWilson Posted August 18, 2003 Share Posted August 18, 2003 1)I would like to see the effectiveness of the troops be based on Moral, Training, Experience, Fatigue and Leadership. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MajorH TacOps Developer Posted August 18, 2003 Share Posted August 18, 2003 It already is. The troops in TacOps are experienced, have good morale, have good training, are not exhausted, and have adequate small unit leadership. So, I presume that what you really want is for the troops to not have one or more of these attributes. If that is so then why do you want that at the scale portrayed in TacOps? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hellfish Posted August 18, 2003 Share Posted August 18, 2003 Originally posted by Erik Nilsson*: 1 Which feature would you instantly add to TacOps given the opportunity ? Scenario editor. I've had TacOps since December of '94 (IIRC), and there haven't been a whole lot of new single player scenarios since then. I can only play Gallagher so many hundreds of times before I get tired with it. And I'm not a fan of multiplayer, so TacOps' current replayability is almost nil. 2 What aspect of TacOps do you find the most rewarding ? Tactical problem solving. 3 What aspect of TacOps do you find the most problematic ? Lack of dynamic AI in that once you've played a scenario enough times (see above) you have a very good idea of what the AI is going to do. It stops being a challenge. 4 What area of TacOps do you feel future efforts should be aimed at improving ? Ideally, I'd like to have TacOps in 3D (I'm an eyecandy slut and would love to see a modern battlefield ala TacOps portrayed in 3D - not necessarily high detail or anything, but as something more than a map exercise), with a scenario editor and/or a dynamic scenario generator, multiple elevations, optional user-editable database(s), scriptable AI, and the ability to combine dissimilar units - like model a platoon of HMMWVs with Mk19s and .50cals together. 5 In what way does playing TacOps improve your life ? It has always been a form of entertainment for me, but I did use it as a training tool when I was in uniform. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rattler Posted August 18, 2003 Share Posted August 18, 2003 I ***hate*** forums, much prefer lists: After one hour of carefully phrasing my responses to this very interesting and informative questionaire I tried to add a smiley and got rewarded with the message "Thanks for logging in, sit tight...etc". and was brought to an empty reply window again. No trace of my posting anywhere... I wont spend another hour on this, sorry. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwolf Posted August 18, 2003 Share Posted August 18, 2003 I write long postings in an editor and then cut'n'paste them. Also needed to get spellchecking. Or you can use a browser that uses a real editor for text field input, which you would then save to disk while you are eidting, such as lynx. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John F Monahan Posted August 18, 2003 Share Posted August 18, 2003 1 Which feature would you instantly add to TacOps given the opportunity ? Scenario Editor 2 What aspect of TacOps do you find the most rewarding ? Ease of play 3 What aspect of TacOps do you find the most problematic ? OOB editing 4 What area of TacOps do you feel future efforts should be aimed at improving ? Scenario editor 5 In what way does playing TacOps improve your life ? None 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveWilson Posted August 19, 2003 Share Posted August 19, 2003 "It already is. The troops in TacOps are experienced, have good morale, have good training, are not exhausted, and have adequate small unit leadership." Never mind. Carry on... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pzgndr Posted August 21, 2003 Share Posted August 21, 2003 1 Which feature would you instantly add to TacOps given the opportunity? Additional terrain elevations. 5-6 levels would be great. 2 What aspect of TacOps do you find the most rewarding? Doctrinally correct OPFOR AI based on old Soviet norms. Excellent AI. 3 What aspect of TacOps do you find the most problematic? Lack of editor for changing AI scripts and creating new solitaire scenarios. 4 What area of TacOps do you feel future efforts should be aimed at improving? Some sort of command and control limits. GDW Assualt series had operations points which worked very well, and something similar could be considered. 5 In what way does playing TacOps improve your life? Closest thing to Hohenfels, without the mud. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kammak Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 1 Which feature would you instantly add to TacOps given the opportunity ? *Scenario editor for increased solitaire play options. 2 What aspect of TacOps do you find the most rewarding ? *Ease of play/use. Best interface of any wargame I've encountered. 3 What aspect of TacOps do you find the most problematic ? *Zoomable map and lack of persistant waypoint lines when plotting movements. 4 What area of TacOps do you feel future efforts should be aimed at improving ? *Scenario editor, more map elevations 5 In what way does playing TacOps improve your life ? *It is enjoyable, entertaining, and informative. Additional Comments: None of the above would be important if the game didn't already do an outstanding job of modelling modern combat. The software is extremely well made, and its ease of use allows the user to really concentrate on the tactical situation presented, not the interface. As one of the previous posters noted - I would also love to see a 3d version of TacOps, similar to Combat Command, just for the eye candy of it. Or like Steel Beasts, where I can move into the 3d world and then go back to the map for planning purposes. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dej2 Posted August 25, 2003 Share Posted August 25, 2003 How about the ability to draw plans on the tactical map and pass those plans to other members of your team. This would help coordinate troop movements among team members? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwolf Posted August 26, 2003 Share Posted August 26, 2003 dej2, in the CPXes we use the "Overlay" function in TacOps. The TacOps engine doessn't allow you to draw a plan, but it does allow you to put a plan you created in Photoshop or GIMP over the map. This external picture has the same dimensions as the map and it is mmostly transparent, except for your lines and text, which can have several colors. In the planning phases of a CPX the commander will usually draw an overlay, naming important routes of travel, intended or suspected strongpoints, designating zones of control for the various players and making silly jokes. The umpire will often create an overlay showing objectives for the game, limits of setup zones and no-go zones. And sometimes more or less precise information about the enemy position, simulating intelligence or pre-battle reconnaissance. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Nilsson* Posted September 6, 2003 Author Share Posted September 6, 2003 Rattler, I'm sorry for your inconvenience. Thanks for your efforts in any event. I would have expected your take on the issues to be informed and well-considered. Would also have suggested a summary of your reply in a few words for each answer, although I suppose that would fall somewhat short of the depth you might have been aiming for. Re: the downsides of forums they do seem to shut down unexpectedly too often. I'd second redwolf's proposal on using an editor and pasting the text. I copy and paste whenever I can remember and also keep a copy saved on the harddrive. Not being a proliferous poster, I like being able to keep some tabs on what I've said. Regards, Erik Nilsson 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rattler Posted September 6, 2003 Share Posted September 6, 2003 Hi, Erik! Sorry for that post´s tone, I get easily mad at computers if or when they refuse to execute what I think is a sensible command...:-> Why not post your Questionaire to the TacOps list, might be interesting to hear what ppl there have to say and I might be tempted to invest another hour...:-> Sorry for any inconvinience caused, Rattler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Nilsson* Posted September 11, 2003 Author Share Posted September 11, 2003 Hi Rattler, Not to worry, it seemed to be as you say. Although not every BBS do you the favor of placing the "clear" icon beside the identical "send message" icon, rage against the machine is the hallmark of any seasoned W98 user and seen as quite a natural occurence. I chose to post the questionnaire to this forum for a number of reasons, including the following: - It would be easy to bring order to the replies. Essentially they would bring order to themselves, all available at the same page as given by the respondents. - It would be easy to compare replies because of the way they were brought to order. - It woud be easy to refer to the questionnaire. To show the results of the questionnaire to those which gave me the assignment referring to a link would suffice. And instead of just having to sift trough material compiled by me, they could go out "into the wild" and see for themselves. A rich, real life context as compared to a more arid lab report context. Seemed to me this richer context might be more likely to engage and involve any would be evaluator. Think safari vs. zoo, docusoap vs. soap. - Posting the questionnaire to the list would likely have generated a greater number of replies. And greater number of replies means greater responsibility. I don't know that I'm that big on responsibility. Sheesh... it sounds almost like committment, and the key to be able to honor committment is to avoid it like plague you know... - Posting it to the forum offered lower social stakes. This forum has a smaller audience than the list. Not a big difference, but marginally lower stakes than in case of the list. - This is clearly a public forum and it would be obvious to all that everybody could see what everyone wrote. Therefore the need for removal of details from any replies in order to anonymize them would not likely arise. The list to me has a somewhat semi-private feel to it. Greater numbers of replies would I guess make the study more valid, so maybe it would not be very scientific to not post the questionnaire to the list as well. However, inertia and risk speaks against posting the questionnaire to the list. What can I say, countless dangers lurk there, and if you don't see them it's just because you have not spent the necessary countless hours to make them come real. Tough choice, and that's when it's time to decisively decide to wait and see. Regards, Erik Nilsson 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattman2000 Posted September 11, 2003 Share Posted September 11, 2003 1. Scenario editor. Absolutely. More elevation levels. Maybe an attempt to represent varying speeds of vehicles (I read they all move at the same rates and that seems to hold up). 2. Ease of Use (incredibly user-friendly game). The extent of control offered through target priorities and unit SOP. Plus it's just a blast. 3. This is nitpicking, but with the small scenarios I'm limited to this teeny lil' window. Can we get a full screen option, or am I missing something? My perscription hasn't changed for 8 years. Don't want to get stronger glasses over a game. 4. Think I hit this. 5. I'm addicted to a wargame besides CMBB. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.