Editing in Future Releases?

[pad152]

Will future releases of CM allow more editing of units?

Seeing what the user community have come up with by just changing the color/textures just think would be done with additional levels of editing and customization.

Custom Infantry

I know BTS's won't open up the unit database, but how about the ability to create your own Infantry units, with the existing editor opened up a little more to allow creation of custom infantry units where you select the number of men, and weapons from the pull down boxes. Yes, I know that keeping the unit database the same for custom missions and multiplayer can be a pain.

[dunc]

I really like your idea. It would be great for specific scenarios, such as a commando raid, or for making ready-made POWs by creating unarmed squads.

I have a feeling that its not very likely to happen, but I can always hope.

[Pak40]

I am personally against this. This has been done before in games like Close Combat and Panzer Elite and the end result is total chaotic mess where nobody is fully compatible with anyone else because they all have different mods. It's much better to have ONE version with the OFFICIAL units that are available. Maybe it can be programmed so that people with different mods will be compatable somehow but this is rarely the case with games.

Also, this may breed a new form of online cheating: People that 'make' their own units suddenly have 'rifle squads' with nothing but mg42s in it or elite 'Stuarts' with 90mm cannons that cost only 40 points. Custom unit editing in Combat Mission would be a train wreck waiting to happen if BTS were to allow it.

Besides, BTS does a great job modeling most infantry units. The only thing lacking are rare units such as US Rangers, British Commandos and German Brummbars. Whenever Combat Mission 3 comes out (2003 hopefully), you will see a major number of units to choose from and hopefully there wont be a need to have 'home created' units.

[dunc]

I meant to add in my other post, that it would only work for single player, as of course there are the compatibility issues for multiplayer.

As i play a lot of my games against the AI, I think it would be good, just to experiment, and see how weapons would compare against each other.

Obviously, the possibility of cheating would exclude its use from multiplayer. Then again, thinking about it, wouldn't it just work the same way as mods? i.e. If you apply a mod, it only appears like that on your computer. So the same would apply for modded units. They would only work on your computer unless you exchanged files with the other player.

Have i confused you enough?

[ 10-29-2001: Message edited by: dunc ]</p>

[Mud]

A/V mods are easier, because they have zero gameplay effect. Allowing unit statistic mods could lead to unfair settings unless changes were *very* visibly highlighted by CM:BO itself -- e.g. somebody could change an obscure squad or vehicle, one that's rarely used, and massively increase its power -- e.g. massively-armored, 128mm-armed Lynx tanks. Or subtly decrease the firepower of the opponent's units. You'd want not only to guarantee that the two players had versions in sync with each other, but also that they were both very aware of the changes by, say, having the program explicitly list them ('Lynx main gun was changed from ... to ...').

[pad152]

The custom/editing would only work for Infantry, changing weapons on vechicles is bad idea.

Just like you can edit the number of special weapons (Rifle Grenades, etc.) you would select

the valid weapon types from a pull-down box.

Each weapon could have a point value, where you

would need the minium number of men for each weapon.

Example:

M1 Grand 1 point 2 Men could have 2 Grands

30 Cal MG 3 point 3 Men could have 1 30 Cal MG

6 Men Squad could have 1 30 Cal MG & 3 M1 Grands

Speed of the squad could be based on the largest/slowest weapon, if you created a 6 men squad with 1 30 Cal MG and 3 M1 Grands it move at the speed of a typical 30 Cal MG squad.

Keeping the Unit database in Sync for multiplayer

could be a problem. I don't know the data format for the weapons and units in the CAB files but,I'm not asking to change any existing unit, just add new ones. If the unit database has 200 infantry units, a new one would have an ID/number beyond 200 and tied to a specific battle or operation so anyone who has the *.cmb/cmc file would also have the new unit(s). Tying the new units to the battle or operation files would make the files

larger but eliminate the database issues.