Tweaks that would add Fun?

[SFJaykey]

OK, in my post to the "bring back the fun" thread I said certain tweaks could be made to make the friendly TacAI more of a help to the player, rather than a source of frustration. Thought I'd start a new thread with the specifics. Please weigh in with comments and other suggestions...as long as they are "tweaks" that could be realistically hoped for in CMBB1.03 and/or CMAK, and not major changes more appropriate for a CMX2 thread.

Adjust the "Advance" and "Assault" orders. Right now they are too much alike. I'd like to see an "Advance" order that was useful for advancing troops some distance (perhaps 100-200 meters) while under light, long range fire. The current "Advance" is too tiring for that situation. We have Move to Contact, but most often I don't want my units to stop upon contact, but rather pick up speed and use available cover en route to their destination. The new "Advance" would include a small morale boost and be faster and less tiring than the current one (but still slower and more tiring than "Move"). An adjusted "Advance" would help counter the paralyzing effects of defensive MGs, which some feel are over-modeled. It would allow players to bring up reserves by setting a single waypoint, rather than several as the player tries to use cover while not tiring his units excessively.

Also, or perhaps alternately, change what happens when "Move to Contact" is not the last waypoint in a unit's order sequence. Right now, if I order "M2C," then "Advance," if my infantry make contact before reaching the first waypoint they stop. Changing this so that the contact triggered the "Advance" would also help in bringing troops forward under light fire. These two changes would be especially useful in open country like the steppe, or desert.

Tweak "Assault" to be somewhere in between where "Advance" and "Assault" are now, in terms of speed, fatigue, and outgoing fire.

Change the name of "Move" for infantry to "March;" isn't that a little more descriptive of what the units are doing?

In "Shoot&Scoot," insert a pause at the firing position long enough to fire one round before reversing. Make units that are executing "Seek Hulldown" travel Fast, or at some intermediate speed, rather than at the "Move" rate. They are seeking cover, right? Wouldn't they want to get into that cover ASAP?

An automatic "Follow Road" addition to the vehicle pathfinding routine. If a vehicle starts on a road, or a waypoint is placed on a road, and the next waypoint is also on a road, it follows the most direct all-road route to the waypoint. Another nice addition which might go beyond a "tweak" would be a "Follow Vehicle" order to keep convoys organized; given to each vehicle after the lead unit, it would link the convoy together like a chain and prevent much micro-management of traffic jams.

Change the AFV "Cowering" and infantry "Cover Panic" routines, to give the player more control....JasonC has posted heavily on these and for the most part I agree with his suggestions. One point I would add re: the AFV cower SOP is that facing of both AFVs should be considered. This would simulate the TC's judgement of who is likely to get the first shot.

BTW, I'm starting to feel a little guilty about generating so much traffic on similar topics...my excuse is that with the "final" version of CMBB looming I feel this may be our last chance as players to have input on these matters for quite a while, and want to make the most of it. I'll be quiet now. For a while.

[ May 14, 2003, 02:47 PM: Message edited by: SFJaykey ]