c3k Posted December 17, 2008 Share Posted December 17, 2008 Gents, I've just tripped across something I don't understand. (Yeah, I know...) A USMC support squad equipped with SMAWs has 4 men. The icon for the unit is the typical man silhouette icon, the same as a normal rifle squad. The title of the unit is "Assault" (in the upper right corner of the unit info screen). Yet, as soon as I split the squad down to its two, 2 man, teams, the icon and the title change. The icon becomes the Javelin (?) missile silhouette, and the title becomes "SMAW". Idle curiosity forces me to ask "why?" Why the change? Why one, not the other? As for gameplay, it's a pain to try to find the SMAW guys when they have the rifleman silhouette, since a lot of other units have that icon. The missile icon is SO much easier to locate. (Of course, they NEVER have a Javelin CLU...) My druthers would be to have a SMAW icon at all times for these guys. Kind of like how the machinegunners get a machinegun icon. Thoughts? Ken 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apocal Posted December 17, 2008 Share Posted December 17, 2008 Gents, I've just tripped across something I don't understand. (Yeah, I know...) A USMC support squad equipped with SMAWs has 4 men. The icon for the unit is the typical man silhouette icon, the same as a normal rifle squad. The title of the unit is "Assault" (in the upper right corner of the unit info screen). Yet, as soon as I split the squad down to its two, 2 man, teams, the icon and the title change. The icon becomes the Javelin (?) missile silhouette, and the title becomes "SMAW". Idle curiosity forces me to ask "why?" Why the change? Why one, not the other? Because when you split the team, the assaultman moves "up" the chain, so it displays an AT icon. Recombine them, and the 0351s drop back down, so their icon becomes a rifleman again. As for gameplay, it's a pain to try to find the SMAW guys when they have the rifleman silhouette, since a lot of other units have that icon. The missile icon is SO much easier to locate. Quoted for truth. (Of course, they NEVER have a Javelin CLU...) 1) Battalion-level asset, chopped out to individual companies in-game. 2) Assaultmen (0351s) are a different MOS than antitank missilemen (0352s). My druthers would be to have a SMAW icon at all times for these guys. Kind of like how the machinegunners get a machinegun icon. Thoughts? Ken 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergei Posted December 17, 2008 Share Posted December 17, 2008 In v1.11 the SMAW/Assault section-thing uses the rocket icon like the teams when split. As to why it is called 'assault', I have no faintest idea but maybe it has to do with those breach charges they carry. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apocal Posted December 18, 2008 Share Posted December 18, 2008 In v1.11 the SMAW/Assault section-thing uses the rocket icon like the teams when split. As to why it is called 'assault', I have no faintest idea but maybe it has to do with those breach charges they carry. Officially, the SMAW chuckers/breach monkeys are known as 0351, Assaultmen, in the USMC. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c3k Posted December 18, 2008 Author Share Posted December 18, 2008 Apocal, Thanks for the insight on the 0351's. I have not noticed a change in manpower distribution in the squad/team split. Regards, Ken 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c3k Posted December 18, 2008 Author Share Posted December 18, 2008 Apocal, I've tested your thesis regarding 0351's moving up or down: the game does not reflect this. In all cases, the 4 man squad shows the SMAW gunners as the first man in each team. When broken down into the 2 man teams, the SMAW gunner is still the first man. I assume the first man indicates the primary weapon user. If it's a SMAW, well, it's a SMAW. So, no manpower change in the user interface. Still, always having a proper SMAW silhouette would make it MUCH easier to find these guys (whether or not they're going to use the demo charge or SMAW). Thanks, Ken 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apocal Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 Do any other AT iconed units have more than three men in them? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergei Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 I tried to say above that in 1.11 the SMAW team, when unsplit, uses the same rocket icon as the split components do, but I see that my sentence was too confusing... to put it simply, it's taken care of. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Battlefront.com Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 Yeah, simple oversight as to why the Squad icon was Infantry instead of AT. As for the lack of subtlety in the icons, that's just the way it has to be. One could probably make a rational case for about 2 or 3 dozen unique icons for each side, based mostly on weaponry but also intended purpose. There are some code reasons why this isn't a good idea, but also some game reasons as well. We feel that in this case less is better (for the most part) in terms of playability. The icons obviously depict real equipment, but they are generic regarding their purpose. A tank icon represents all tanks for that side, regardless of what types they are. Steve 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c3k Posted December 22, 2008 Author Share Posted December 22, 2008 Sergei and Steve, Thanks for info on the v1.11 fix for the icons! Err, any chance for a post describing the reasoning behind the name change from "Assault" to "SMAW" based on whether the unit is a SMAW _squad_ or SMAW _team_? Thanks, Ken 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dietrich Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 Do any other AT iconed units have more than three men in them? Don't infantry ATGM units have three men? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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