Turn off Fog of War?

[Webwing]

This is a feature that exists in the TOW editor and is fantastic for debbuging your mission.

In CMSF the only way to see if the AI is doing what it's supposed to do is to place a spy on a high building or something. But that's far from ideal since even a spy can't see everything all the time.

Does anybody know of a better way to do this? Am I missing something?

Thanks.

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[MarkEzra]

No great way but I always Test in "Basic Training" first. By the way Veteran and Elite both may have timing difference that could effect your scen...especially if you are very precise in your AI pathing timing or arty needs. You should do final testing in all three.

[Webwing]

Thanks MarkEzra,

Basic training might help a bit.

Testing in all modes is extremely tedious. To be thorough you would have to test also RealTime WEGO...

Very hard to have a balenced battle that would play the same in all modes.

It might be better just to specify in your scenario: to be played as Blue, RT, Veteran.

I don't know...

[MarkEzra]

Testing is a chore, no doubt. Having a "view all units" will make it far more easy. I tend to design with all options/all plans full. So it takes me longer to produce. But I actually enjoy the process of defining movement with terrain...so it's a labor of love. When I upload to CMMODS it's like I just sent my son on his first day a school...with great pride mixed with a little fear and trepidation....LOL

I generally design with WEGO first in mind. It is the most restrictive time/movement play style. RT generally falls in place when I do that. H2H is always the trick. The Blue 21st century vs the Red late 20th century needs careful thought. I'd like to see designer Notes more completely used so that players know what balance issue are in play and how they are effected or dealt with in scoring.

[MarkEzra]

I forgot to mention: check set up by starting game and call a cease fire. You can now review the entire map and all setup position...By timing the cease fire call you can see where AL forces are in a given time

[Webwing]

Originally posted by MarkEzra:

But I actually enjoy the process of defining movement with terrain...so it's a labor of love.

And it shows!

For me the editor IS the game, since I spend 90% of the time in the editor. Tweaking the forces, finding the right balance, adding a building here to block LOS, etc. All that is very enjoyable.

Apparently you have been a lot more successful than me with the 'active' AI. In the defence it is quite convincing and does some clever stuff. But I have the feeling that no matter what you do, when the AI is attacking it always feels a bit fake. It's like that in all games, it's not only with CMSF. It's just extremely complex stuff going on I guess. There are a few simple features that if added to the editor would make a huge difference though. Turning off the fog of war is just one of them. I can't imagine it would be hard to implement but it would be a big help.

[Webwing]

Originally posted by MarkEzra:

I forgot to mention: check set up by starting game and call a cease fire. You can now review the entire map and all setup position...By timing the cease fire call you can see where AL forces are in a given time

That's a good one. I have used it a lot. But then there is the restarting of the game to capture another snapshot of the action...

[MarkEzra]

Yep...Goofy...I hope they'll re-vist the editor in the next module. When the dust is settles on V.105 I plan to post a editor wish list. I hope others will do the same.

[Webwing]

Great.

What about a tread that you would update the first post with the suggestions that follow on the other posts, most common ones at least.

I'll start taking notes.

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