Chrome for Patch 2?

[Edwin P.]

Ideas for consideration:

1. Photos (jpg) for Event Popups

I would like to see an option for the initial pop-up event( not the summary at turn's end) to include a jpg photo image.

Imagine the pearl harbor event including a photo of the naval base under attack.

2. Audio for Event Popups

I would like to see an option for the initial popup event (not the summary at turn end) to be accompanied by sound files of a selected format.

3. HQ units - a screen where you can see the portaits/photos (jpg files) of a nation's activated (i.e. purchased) generals and below that their medals, date of activation and date of death (if any). Select USA flag and you see all of the Active USA Generals' portraits, Select the Germany Flag and you see all of the active German general's portraits (at least those you have spotted this turn or prior).Those that have been killed in action have a red X over their portrait.

[ June 04, 2006, 03:10 PM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

[Madmatt]

I know that we have often played around with option #2 but the problem is that a lot of people really want to blast right through those announcements and don't really care to hear anything played with them. If there is enough demand for more sound effects though, we may look into adding some new ones.

I really like your other two suggestions by the way, especially #1!

Madmatt

[Major Spinello]

Battlefront itself does not need to add pics/sounds in a patch, BUT an option for modders to integrate pics and sounds into events would be really great.

[Edwin P.]

4. Diplomacy Screen Chrome

When a player selects a minor country (not a major power), have a picture of the country's leader appear along with his name, office, and term in office.

Example:

Enhancements:

1. Seperate Leader Portraits for Neutral Nation, Allied Controlled Nation and Axis Controlled Nation.

Example:

Norway Neutral: Johan Nygaardsvold (Labour Party)

Norway Axis Controlled: Vidkun Quisling

Norway Allied Controlled: Johan Nygaardsvold

2. Date Specific Portraits

To account for the historical change of presidents or prime ministers.

UK 28 May 1937: Neville Chamberlain

UK 10 May 1940: Winston Churchill

UK 27 July 1945: Clement Attlee

3. Add photos of USA (Roosevelt/Truman), UK (Chamberlin/Churchill) and Russian (Stalin) leaders but omit German and Italian leadership photos.

4. Add Below Name of Leader:

Country Name - United Kingdom

Population (in 1940) - 48,216,000

Type of Government - Constitutional Monarchy

Coat of Arms (or the flag)

Example 01:

Winston Churchill

Prime Minister

1940-1945

United Kingdom

Constitutional Monarchy

Capital: London

Population: 48 Million

Example 02: France

France

Republic

Capital: Paris

Population: 41 Million

[ June 06, 2006, 08:24 AM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

[Hubert Cater]

Very nice chrome ideas Edwin... we'll see what kind of time I'll have to include some of these

[Edwin P.]

Hubert and Madmatt, many thanks for the feedback.

[Edwin P.]

5. Quotes from Generals

There is a 4% per turn (1 in 20 turns) a player sees a popup with a quote from one of his active generals along with the General's picture. Allied nations (not Axis) may also see a quote from one of their nation's leders.

Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way.

- General George Patton Jr

Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men.

- General George Patton Jr

In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.

- Dwight D. Eisenhower

Don't fight a battle if you don't gain anything by winning.

- Erwin Rommel

History shows that there are no invincible armies.

- Joseph Stalin

In the Soviet army it takes more courage to retreat than advance.

- Joseph Stalin

Never, never, never give up.

- Winston Churchill

The quotes a player sees are dependent upon which HQ units you have purchased and are still active.

[ June 04, 2006, 01:34 PM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

[Qyusson]

@Edwin P: very interesting ideas.. sounds great.. it would add some flavour to the game!

But why omit German and Italian leadership fotos? Because they lost the war? I dont see the difference between lets say Stalin and Hitler.. Both dictators to me.

[Franky-Boy]

Yes, this would be great, especially the historical pictures of generals and leaders. For the German version of the game, you may of course add a "censored" picture of Hitler.

Some examples of pictures you may add:

This would really add MUCH flavor to the game.

Ciao Frank

[Edwin P.]

In some European countries including photos of the Axis leaders may not be good or acceptable business practice.

[Franky-Boy]

Originally posted by Edwin P.:

In some European countries including photos of the Axis leaders may not be good or acceptable business practice.

Yes, thus you may "censor" them, perhaps like this:

Thus, you don't come in conflict with national law. This, of course, does not count for axis generals.

Ciao Frank

[Qyusson]

stupid laws, pple should be able to confront their past instead of fleeing from it.. anyway i wont turn this topic into a political discussion

[Edwin P.]

Franky-Boy;

Just what I was thinking, use blank portraits as place holders for pictures you don't have or can't use.

[Franky-Boy]

Originally posted by Edwin P.:

Franky-Boy;

Just what I was thinking, use blank portraits as place holders for pictures you don't have or can't use.

Yes, and if a user wants to use the real Axis Leader pictures, he can implement them easily on his own by replacing the placeholder pictures (just like the "Historical Flag mod").

Ciao Frank

[Rolend]

I just love that Stalin quote. I think Stalin may have killed more Russians then The German army

One note, I don't think Churchill being out in July of 45 would happen had the war not ended by then. I think Churchill was in as war time PM tell the end.

[Edwin P.]

An initial concept for the Generals Page. Ideally this page would be enlarged to support panels for eight generals - 4 across x 2 wide. It would show only activated HQ units. Destroyed HQ unts would have a red bar across the general's panel, until they were rebuilt. Players would see all Generals (by Country) who were spotted in the current or previous turns (even if their location is currently unknown).

The Axis player would see UK, American and Russian generals (by selecting the appropiate country flag at the top of the page) who were spotted in previous turns in addition to German and Italian Generals.

Format:

General's Name

Known As

Year of Birth - Year of Death

SC2 Ranking

SC2 Medals

SC2 Activation Month and Year

Note: Red Bar appears when a HQ unit is destroyed. This bar shows month and year destroyed, along with the country where unit was destroyed.

Note: Red Bar Text is:

"Destroyed" if HQ can be rebuilt

"Killed" if HQ cannot be rebuilt

[ June 07, 2006, 11:28 AM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

[Franky-Boy]

@Edwin P.

Wow, that's really cool!

Interesting is the fact that you call Kesselring "Smiling Albert". There's no German source of this nickname, thus the Allied soldiers must have given it tho him.

Ciao Frank

[Edwin P.]

Thank You.

Correct, it was an Allied nickname. I know not why.

I updated the Generals panel to show when and where a HQ unit was destroyed in battle.

[Rolend]

Edwin I like it I know it is only fluff but heck fluff is what turns a good game into a classic. Nice to see positive iedeas.

[Lars]

How about a bullet hole in the forehead instead of the red bar?

Well, depending on front I suppose...

[Edwin P.]

Why not a convoy report to give you a summary of merchant shipping and convoy interdictions to date?

The shipped and arrived for the UK to USSR and USA to UK are unknown to the Axis as these are not predictable. The convoy MPPs sent via the other routes are fixed. Visibility would be set via a parameter in the covoy event scripts.

I would consider allowing the Axis and Allies to see actual MPPs for all routes if they have reached Intel Level 3.

NOTE: This screen, with all values showing should be visible after game end.

[ June 18, 2006, 12:07 PM: Message edited by: Edwin P. ]

[Major Spinello]

Edwin, this last idea is a winner. I would love to have statistics on convoys throughout the game!

[Timskorn]

Edwin, good stuff! I was just thinking about this topic recently. These things go a long way in enhancing the feel of the game. Take a few things out of SC2, such as HQ names and historical events, and it'll just feel like a generic strategy game.

Another feature that I'd love to see are Newspaper reports. A simpler version, or maybe for Patch 5 or SC3, a more dynamic version.

Basic: Major events only, with a general headline. Whenever a Capital is captured, country surrendered, General killed, etc. This could also be used for the script events that happen. Instead of a generic, "UK Garrison Iceland" or "Pro-Axis Coup in Iraq", we could get a headline with corresponding picture. These could also display major leanings of minor countries towards majors from diplo actions, like if Axis sway Spain or Sweden, etc.

Advanced: This would include the above, but also involve an algorythm to detect major battles, stagnated lines, etc. Say over a period of 15 turns there was fighting around Stalingrad, then the Germans are finally pushed away from it. The headline could say something about a Russian victory at Stalingrad, x # of men lost (based on units destroyed, or even better # of times units were reinforced within a 3-4 tile radius from the city).

It could also report devastating losses, such as a certain country losing over x # of units in a single turn. Report the launch of an invasion, such as Husky, Torch, D-Day, Barbarossa, etc and the subsequent failure/successes of those.

Anyway, these kinds of things may seem like polish (which they are compared to pure gameplay stuff), but they can go a long way to making a game like this feel more like a more authentic representation of WW2.

[Edwin P.]

Timskorn, I like your ideas.

New York Times - General (Patton) blames leadership for failure of (Torch) Campaign.

New York Times - General (Eisenhower) blames leadership for failure of (D-Day) Campaign.

Pravda - (Russia) losses (100,000) men at Stalingrad. (Stalin) orders (execution) of responsible Generals.

London Times - (Britain) losses (100,000) men at Alexandria. (Churchill) orders (retirement) of responsible Generals.

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Why not the option to assign a HQ a goal before any units are within 10 tiles of the Goal tile. If that goal is not achieved within 10 turns the HQ unit may be retired (Allied response to failure) or Shot (Soviert response to failure). If the Goal is achieved the HQ unit automatically receives a medal.

Goals include: Paris, Moscow, Stalingrad, Cairo, Tripoli, Madrid, Bari

Example:

General (Patton) Retired after failure of (Bari) Campaign.

General (Lebb) Retired after failure of (Moscow) Campaign.

[Kelly's Heroes]

Edwin P:

Love your ideas here.

The photos and timelines are a great idea.