scenario editor commentary

[manchildstein (ii)]

for cm2:

ok... first, the things i've mentioned before:

-the scenario editor should have more keystroke control (more accelerator keys). the designer should be able to 'tab' through the fields in the unit purchase screen, for instance.

-the designer should be able to set ammo for the units before purchasing them, instead of having to go through and change the ammo for each individual unit.

-pzfs, demo charges, rifle grenades... they should all have a point value... same with small arms ammo.

-on hq units, the 4 leadership qualities should also have point values.

-it would be good to have point values for he, 'c', ap, tungsten, etc. ammo on the vehicles and guns as well.

charging for various ammo is not a biggie; charging for hq leadership qualities would be more important, in my opinion.

when setting ammo values for individual units - FOs in particular - it would be good if the designer could type in a value instead of having to click on those tiny little scroll buttons. at the very least the little buttons should be a lot bigger. also, if nothing else the FO ammo should increment/decrement by the amount of each salvo (is it always 4?). has anyone else ever spent the time to max out an 81mm mortar FO? you can put a paperweight on the mouse button and go get a cup of coffee while it increments.

ok... now for the new idea:

i think it would be fairly easy to code in a way for the scenario designer to help the AI out with specific instructions for the units of either or both sides.

to start with, i think that the current flag system should be scrapped and replaced with a new, generic flag (no large or small). instead, these new flags would have point values entered in by the designer.

so the designer could make say - a 5,000 point flag and then give the ai some rudimentary instructions ('go for flag #1') to the units.

the designer should be able to tell the AI how to 'operate' the units ('use covered, leapfrogging movement to flag,' 'charge the flag,' 'lead with armor,' 'lead with infantry,' 'rush armor with mounted infantry,' etc.)

if the scenario designer were to be able to give the intended AI-controlled units in a given scenario some rudimentary pre-defined instructions, it could make the ai a lot better without a ton of heavy coding on charles' part.

thanks for your consideration,

andy

[manchildstein (ii)]

i enjoy designing larger sized battles.

as the ai is, it cannot attack very well so when designing for play against the ai the computer player is the usually the defender - or it's a meeting action.

in a meeting action it seems that the ai as it is will just as soon put substantial forces around one small flag, even if there are other spots on the map - spots i'm attacking as the human player - with multiple large flags.

i've played through some attacks against the ai and after the cease-fire, i notice units the ai could have used to crush me, yet they're garrisoning spots out of los/lof to where the fighting was occurring during the game.

so my suggestion to let the scenario designer plant generic flags and give them custom point values; that along with allowing the designer to give the ai troops rudimentary orders regarding these flags; it seems like this would be a fairly easy way - codewise - of solving the ai problem.

if you went one further you could even have 'personalities' built into the game; that is if you increased the kinds of orders you could give troops. then the game could come with a bunch of different 'company commanders' and in quick battles against the ai the human player could pick the 'personality' of the opponent.

with this, you could have scenario designers creating their own ai 'personalities' for given battles.

even with the 'rudimentary' change in the flag system and the addition of just a few orders telling the ai how to play, it seems like that could help the ai in making basic decisions.

now having said all of that, i want to remind everyone that cmbo as it is is brilliant.

i'm just trying to open up a dialogue on what the scenario designers are looking for in the future releases of the cm series.

one other thing that would be cool would be the ability to see the map from further away in the map editor proper. at 1024x768 it's tough to scroll around on a 2k x 2k map. being able to see the whole map from that view would be great.

that would really help out in designing 'operational level' battles for cmbb.

andy