CMX2 Wishlist

[FFE]

When the battle ends, a "Historical Result" screen pops up with information concerning the actual results.

[Panzer_Meyer]

I don't know if this has been said, but here I go anyway.

I want to see tank ramming and tanks being able to run over guns. It has been documanted and I've read it in several books, that at times tanks would just run over AT or INF guns and crush them or damage them.

There also have been times when a tank would ram another tank intentionally.

I hope to see this.

[PeterX]

The NEW CMII engine possible new features like:

* NO more Borg Spotting (Relative Spotting somehow in some GOOD/REAL way implimented )

This is a much requested feature, and, IIRC, promised by Steve for the rewrite.

But, for the life of me, I can't see how they're going to do without removing the player from the game. It'll most interesting to see how BFC resolves this.

[General Tacticus]

Reinforcements : more options in random arrival times.

(1) As it is now : Starting on turn X, there is a Y% chance of arrival per turn (therefor, a chance they won't arrive)

(2) On turn X there is a Y% chance, on turn X+1 there is a (Y*2)% chance, on turn X+2 there is a (Y*3)% chance etc.

(3) The reinforcemnts arrive on a random turn between X and (X+x).

[ April 12, 2003, 08:35 PM: Message edited by: General Tacticus ]

[Boris Balaban]

How about the ability to scale down (if you want) to a platoon size game. This would mean a whole new bmp files to fit the scale.

The tiles would be smaller.

Each figure would have more detail.

Terrain and buildings would have more detail. You would see open or closed doors, windows and stairs.

[Brent Pollock]

Some more random thoughts:

- voluntary bail outs from vehicles and pillboxes/bunkers (for when you know they are in BIG trouble...like when an infantry support tank pulls up in front of your wooden MG bunker and you're fresh out of AT assets);

- voluntary unit surrender(why - just because);

- squad splitting either restricted to certain unit quality (e.g. regular or better) or tied to being in command of a HQ unit...or a HQ unit of a certain minimum quality;

- in Operations, receive a notice during set up along the lines of "Enemy Tank noises heard" if it seems likely that the opponents reinforcing AFVs would've been heard.

Brain dump ends.

[Soddball]

I'd like to see the inclusion of blinding effects from the sun.

If you're launching a dawn attack against an opponent to your west (assuming you're north of the equator) the sun will rise in your opponent's eyes. This will reduce their ability to spot you and would be a most groovy thing to be included in the new engine.

Increased/reduced visibility according to whether it's a moonlit/moonless night, cloudy etc would also be good.

[markl]

I would like to see really different terrain types.

Like the mountains in Papua New Guinea, and real European Mountains. Some of these landscapes would not be suitable for vehicles but that is ok.

Really all the landscapes are the basically same now, with very minor overall details. I am talking about a couple of thousand feet elevation, like the kokoda Trail. A couple of maps like that would be very nice.

Also when pressing tab to lock onto a unit and selecting "1" as the viewpoint I would like to see the action like the first person view in Ghost Recon. No gun or anything just run with the unit etc, see through its eyes.

A campaign would be good as well, it is one thing missing from the game. As long as all the missions were available separately as well. None of the win one to unlock one bit. Being a person who only plays the AI I hope the game does not go the way others are these days and focus on multi player at the expense of single player.

The turn-based idea suits me very well, with a lot of family commitments I can walk away and come back later with no problems.

I would also like a bigger time scale to include some modern warfare, and I like the idea of combining the old games with improved graphics in the new one for historical games that way the old models could be used.

A degree of destructible landscapes may be good, i.e. blow up certain bridges, tanks knock down trees.

Pipe dreams most of this, but who knows.

One last thing scalable AI response for beginners or people who will only ever play every so often.

[Bruce70]

[bump]

Could we have a separate forum for CMX2. Now is the time to discuss the new engine, not after most of the design decisions have been made. I realise many people have had their say already in other forums but I think it would be best to get all the ideas together in one place.

I do not think that BFC should bow to our every wish with regard to CMX2, rather I think they should be true to their own vision for the new engine. A good community debate, however, could uncover new ideas that BFC have not thought of or old ideas could be seen in a new light.

[Boris Balaban]

Also for CMAF

[nevermind]

Make the following statement no longer applicable to CMX2:

"What you see on the screen is not an exact graphical representation of what is actually there".

Even if it only applys to certain elements of the game.I am soooo sick of getting burned because i dont know exactly where something is/isnt.

Want an example of what i mean?

I had a tank on a road on a map completely covered in woods.An enemy infantry squad 30m away in a trench in the woods is targeting my tank.I have squads off both rear corners of my tank,no more that 10m from it.The graphical representaion shows the enemy squad throw a grenade bundle out of the trench,thru the woods,and score a knock out hit on my tanks that is 30m away.Now,is that what really happened?I doubt it...the squad or elements of it probably ran out of the trench and close assualted my tank.However,why werent they spotted by the squad that was right behind/beside the tank no more than 10m away?The enemy squad or elements of it,would have had to run past my squad in full LOS to do what they did,yet the game showed all of them still in the trench.Seconds after they threw the grenade,two demo charges went off in the trench suppressing the squad,thus proving that they were still in the trench.Well,that is if the trench was really even there.

I would love to see improvements made on this.

[ April 17, 2003, 04:37 AM: Message edited by: nevermind ]

[Ace Pilot]

Among the ideas already mentioned, these to me are the most important:

- Vehicles block LOS

- Relative spotting modeled

- Full game movie replay, with options to adjust FOW

- More flexible victory conditions

- More flexible reinforcement options

- Buildings with more than 2 levels

These are some things I like to see implemented that I don’t think have been mentioned:

- Improve LOS model. Refine the LOS model so tanks can be in the open, hull down, turret down, or not exposed. Ideally, the model will allow a tank to be anywhere from 1% hull down to 100% hull down, not the binary function that it is now.

- Improve spotting markers. Have spotting markers (the German swastika, US star, etc.) disappear after a preset amount of time, NOT when the unit is spotted again. It makes no sense for me to know that the tank in front of me is the same one I saw 5 minutes ago in a completely different location. Ideally, allow the player to determine how much time elapses before the spotting marker disappears. This will also allow a small force to attempt to mimic a bigger one by moving in and out of LOS, shifting from one location to another. Presently, you can’t do this because every time your unit moves back into LOS, its old spotting marker disappears.

- Staircases. Model staircases in multistory buildings. I figure if Squad Leader can model building staircases at a scale twice that of CM, then CM should model it at its more detailed level. It would add a significant tactical dimension to street fighting by making certain portions of buildings more important because of staircase location.

- Interior walls. Model interior walls, especially in larger buildings. Again, this will add some tactical depth to fights in buildings.

- Player's aid staging area. Establish an off-map staging area. This would be a place where units could be organized during set up, as well as an area that exited units would be placed after exiting. This is needed so you can check the performance of exited units. Currently, I struggle with whether to exit units (e.g., an artillery spotter), to keep them safe, or keep them on the map so I can see how effective they are at the end of the game.

[Aragorn2002]

Just a thought. Wouldn't it be great when the future Combat Mission (improved engine etc.) would also include more complicated buildings like the Kremlin and large house blocks and factories (Stalingrad, Charkow and so on) to be able to fight fierce house-to-house fighting? Of course we already do have factories, but I mean buildings with lots of stores and rooms. Like I said, just a thought.

[Meach]

Lets have the sewer shoot-out. If troops move underground, put them underground and have a seperate fight raging in the underworld as they try to sneak up on the objective. Might be tricky to implement but could be a lot of fun trying to slice through a blocking squad before planting demo charges under the enemy..or am i being over ambitious now?

[Volker]

I dont think you are, we are in the very early stages of the next game, Battlefront has a host of new tech they can use to build this game.

Im hoping to SEE that Stuka or Fighter-Bomber as it drops its payload in CMX2.

[Cpl Steiner]

Here's a nice easy one that I'm sure would make a lot of games more enjoyable and realistic.

1. Have a "Use Roads" order for vehicles that can be toggled on or off. When on, the vehicle will calculate extra waypoints to use any roads that take it in the right direction.

2. Have a "form column" order for vehicles that tells the vehicle to follow another friendly vehicle as closely as possible. This would allow vehicles to be chained together in a convoy that moves at the speed of the slowest vehicle and maintains regular gaps between vehicles.

[86smopuim]

full movie replay

observer mode

matrix finer than 20m/square

Extreme EFOW: selected unit reveals only enemy units visible to it that it "knows" about.

Extreme Extreme EFOW: the above with enforced "Iron Man" Rules

Mod-able TOE/OOB

[Sergei]

Originally posted by 86smopuim:

observer mode

matrix finer than 20m/square

I'd like an observer mode, well at least for pitting AI against AI => helps in scenario design.

From a designer point of view, having too fine a grid just makes it more labourious to produce a map, with very little tactical effect.

[General Bolt]

LOS blocked by tanks. I lost more then a squad or two trying to sneak/follow behind one of my tanks before I realized that they weren't getting any blocked LOS enhancements.

[Volker]

Thats a great idea, AI vs AI and you get to watch, very cool, I like that alot. It would be fun to have your coke and pizza eatting away as you watch the battle of Kursk WOOT!!

[Snowbart]

A nice feature would be once you give an armor/vehicle unit a specific targeting order, once that target is destroyed and a cover arc has been issued, for that unit to look for other targets instead of just sitting back b/c their assigned target is no more.

[Brent Pollock]

Oh yah - I like these. Perhaps this would also be a way to give infantry a Follow Trenchline order.

Originally posted by Cpl Steiner:

Here's a nice easy one that I'm sure would make a lot of games more enjoyable and realistic.

1. Have a "Use Roads" order for vehicles that can [snipped by Brent]

2. Have a "form column" order for vehicles that [snipped by Brent]

[Nippy]

Might as well throw in my two cents:

- Dynaic lighting. Two words on this. Muzzle Flash. Night combat is just bleh without the abilaty to target light sources.

- Co-Op. I second this. I would love to be able to play 2 vs 2 or 4 vs an AI Battle.

- Operations. Missions makers need more control over what happens. Weather, placment of AI troops, and even battle type. I'd love to see something like:

Battle 1 - 15 turns Soviet Probe

Battle 2 - 30 turns Soviet Assault

Battle 3 - 20 turns German Counter-Attack

- Ammo loadout. Why can't I tweek my tanks ammo loads? If I know I'm going up against lots of infantry, why would I wants lots of AP rounds. I remember that "Across the Rhine" (spit!) had three setting for tank ammo loadout: Anit-Inf Anti-Armor and Mixed.

- Tank damage. Lets get grogish. How about more detailed damage to a tank. I always hate how "Gun damage" knocks out the Main Gun, hull gun, and Coax. And don't forget non vital hits that could damage optics or radios.

Speaking of Co-Op games. What about a Squad level CM game where you control a squad of riflemen. The only WEGO style game I know to do it at the squad level is "UFO-Aftermath" but it's a Sci-Fi game (nothing wrong with that ) and has no Multiplayer support.

(Someone help me here, didn't Steel beasts have Co-Op mode?)

[Brent Pollock]

...and the ability to purchase heavy weapons in plattons, just like you may with Vehicles/Armor. I know you get platoons of ATGs and IGs with a HQ unit when purchasing higher level infantry units (usually battalion) but it'd be nice to have the option of getting the battalion gun section without having to buy the whole enchilada.

[Bruceov]

Magic, invisability with a proper spell, lightning

bolts from god like figures.