Proposal: Auto Resupply Button

[MikeGER]

I was playtesting the new 1.11 behavior with Webwings nice infantry heavy Red Pepper Scenario (i really liked that map already from the Crossroads-Campaign, so i used that very familiar map to notice the differences best)

I found it difficulty to handle all the 'resupply' micromanagement of my units and a distraction from the real task fighting the battle ...its very demanding (at least for me) with 1.11 ...so i came up with this proposal.

Auto Resupply Button

If the 'Auto Resupply Button' of a unit in the organization menu is highlighted and the unit runs out of standard ammunition and is not heavy suppressed, the unit dispatch 1-3 guys, depending on the size of the unit, to trace a path using quick movement to the nearest unsuppressed vehicle which 'may have' appropriate ammunition stored. The vehicle should not be more then 250m ? (t.b.d, lets hear what the vets have to say) away.

The ammo-carriers enter the vehicle. If they find the vehicle already looted, they trace a path to the nearest vehicle from the position of the empty one, but only over a distance that make sense. (lets assume 3 trucks parked with a spacing of 50m in a yard , they went from one to another to fullfill their duty but don't run over half the map from empty truck to empty truck) Then they trace a path back to reunite with their unit.

What do you guys think about it?

[panzermartin]

Not a bad idea. Less micromanagement means more actual game time. I dont find it rational for a whole squad to abandon a good fighting position and go hunting for extra ammo. 2-3 guys should be enough. For the syrians for instance splitting is not even possible. I would even suggest auto ressuplying if the vehicle is close to the squad and things are relatively calm, with an auto detach of a small team to bring the desired ammunition. The job of the player should be just to ensure vehicle and supply routes are safe enough.

[C'Rogers]

I had a little bit of a different idea when I first saw this. I think it would be nice if the resupply just worked automatically. Soldiers pick up the appropriate ammo for weapons they have. This might cause problems though when the wrong squad takes the Javelin.

As for your suggestion, it would be very nice, if doable. I think it would be very hard to code the AI for this. How far in city vs countryside? What if the detached unit runs into an ambush? What if the main unit moves? What if the target supply vehicle moves?

I think there is a reason we give units direct orders and not missions. We have enough problems getting the path finding right to go from A to B. I don't think they want to tackle giving missions to units. But I'd like to hear I am wrong because I have been frustrated by the resupply issue as well.

[Drusus]

A good approach would be a resupply order which works like this:

The user gives a squad a command to resupply: Select squad, select "resupply" command and click the vehicle you want to resupply from.

The squad will automatically enter the vehicle, try to resupply itself to full ammo level (perhaps to the ammo level it started the scenario with) and then return to the same location it started from. If there would be an easy to use interface for selecting the wanted supplies it would be great. The current user interface for acquiring ammo requires too much clicking and too much searching for the correct entry.

A method like this should be relatively simple to implement and it would remove much micromanagement from the resupply loop.

[PSY]

A good approach would be a resupply order which works like this:

The user gives a squad a command to resupply: Select squad, select "resupply" command and click the vehicle you want to resupply from.

The squad will automatically enter the vehicle, try to resupply itself to full ammo level (perhaps to the ammo level it started the scenario with) and then return to the same location it started from. If there would be an easy to use interface for selecting the wanted supplies it would be great. The current user interface for acquiring ammo requires too much clicking and too much searching for the correct entry.

A method like this should be relatively simple to implement and it would remove much micromanagement from the resupply loop.

I like that. That also has the benefit that non-grogs/non-military people won't have to scurry over to the manual to figure out if the squad's weapons use 5.56 or 7.62.

[Drusus]

I really do think that having a separate interface for selecting preferred ammo level is the correct solution here. After this it would be trivial to implement a resupply command.

I would go even further: for each different kind of a unit in the scenario make a preferred ammo level template for that kind of a unit. For example you could set the ammo level for all the regular squads in one go. Then you might alter the ammo levels of individual units after that, of course.

This would be a great addition IMHO. It is too often that I need to go through my 9 squads and for each one of them: click acquire, 1000x5.56mm. And then click on that 3 man MG team and click acquire, 1000x5.56mm. Oops. Well, to tell the truth this doesn't happen too often to me. But this is only because I usually don't bother with tampering with the ammo levels at all because it is too time consuming to do so... Last example: Pooh and AT weapons for the marines squads.

The interface itself could be really simple. Just list the ammo types the squad uses and for each of them have a numeric input field for the ammo level, and maybe also how much ammo per weapon using that type of ammo you have. Include total weight in there, too. Add a button "make template". Ask for confirmation if there is already a template set up. Maybe have a toggle which turns the icons of those units that don't have a template set up already to yellow so that it would not be too easy to forget some squads. The only real problem I can see is how to deal with split squads.

And a quick bug report fitting in the theme... Pick a US AT team (split from a squad) during the setup. Acquire 2xJavelin missiles from a Stryker. You can't acquire the CLU from the Stryker any more (not during the setup, at least). This is in WEGO.

[Combatintman]

I agree there could be some tweaking here - I don't know how it works in the US Army but in the British Army the Coy HQ is probably the logical port of call for resupply. The way it would work would be that the HQ does the resupplying so the tweak for me would be to have an element of the Coy HQ move to the unit that is low on ammunition rather than the other way around. I also have been caught out in the acquire menu - loading squads up with 7.62 vice 5.56 in the heat of the moment so I would like to see this changed as well.