Wire and mine obstacles and other assorted fun

[zmoney]

I have a few questions for the BFC team regarding wire obstacles and detectable mine fields.

1. Why are wire obstacles not available in game? I’m sure it’s harder to implement than in CMx1 but I think it would really add to the game immensely.

To defeat wire obstacles you could simulate infantry cutting and tying off to create a gap through the obstacle or by engineers using their charges to blow through them. To make it easier the obstacle color could just change from light to dark to simulate that part of the wire being breeched.

2. Mine detection to me and the clearing of mines is a must. You could add in some sort of mine clearing vehicle or have the pixel men do it.

I think infantry slow crawling should be able to simulate manually looking for mines, like poking the sand with their knives and all that goofy stuff they were taught in basic. Then once the mine was found they should have the mark mine option since they are probably not going to have the training to defuse the mine. So they could successfully mark a clear path through the mine field for follow on forces. Of course for infantry this would be dangerous and every once in a while they would detonate a mine accidentally.

But engineers on the other hand should be equipped with some sort of mine detection gear and be able find, then clear a path through a mine field more easily than their infantry counterparts.

This brings me to a third point about charges. I believe that both infantry and engineers should carry them. Infantry could carry small ones for breeching doors, walls and pillboxes etc… I’m not sure about now but when I was in the army 01-05 each squad depending on the mission carried little door busters that could blow open most doors and some walls.

The engineers on the other hand could carry large multi purpose charges for clearing mine fields, defeating wire obstacles or blowing up buildings (or just a hole in them either way is fine in my opinion).

Just some of my ideas, if you guys decide to implement any of these ideas you can get with me later for royalty payments.

[Smaragdadler]

That kind of stuff should get important in WW2 Hürtgen Forest / Bulge stand-alone after Normandy + modules. Maybe we have to wait till then...

[Sequoia]

I have a few questions for the BFC team regarding wire obstacles and detectable mine fields.

1. Why are wire obstacles not available in game? I’m sure it’s harder to implement than in CMx1 but I think it would really add to the game immensely.

BFC has not made any new terrain types or flavor objects that might affect the map to this point, possibly because it would effect so many other things. I suppose there's hope as they get things done for WWII we might see wire making it into the game, if not for everyone, at least for those buying the NATO module, but I don't recall any hints about it so far.

[afreu]

Wouldn't it be possible to just modify a wall-object as a wire obstacle? They have the same properties. Infantry can't cross it and engineers can blow a hole into it.

[Starlight]

I would have thought that with the new CM-Normandy having deformable hedgerows that barbedwire defences which can either be passed through by armoured vehicles or a path cleared by Engineers was just a graphical modification of the same basic code?

Both have the same basic movement obstruction, although light vehicles could pass through barbedwire I guess, the main difference is line of sight being easier through barbedwire.

[GSX]

I suspect that wire enduces problems for programming that never happened in CM-1. namely that everything your 1-1 infantry do now has to be accompanied by an animation. It wont look good for your troops to simply slow down and ghost through wire as they did in CM-1 games. Now we will have to have an animation for it. Take the wall jumping and how the animation for this has evolved from Kangaroo jumping into something more realistic.

There must be a lot of animations to accompany CM Normandesque that we can think about. Flamethrowers, Mortar crews and gun crews moving their guns etc, Pupchens running around on their little wheels. I can think of hundreds right now.

[Sequoia]

If I understand things correctly, once they have the animations done for CMx2 Normandy, they can easily bring them into CMSF and slap modern skins on them. Maybe they have so much going on for the Normandy game trying to make it to a 2009 release they don't want to take the time to add a whole major feature in CMSF. Hopefully strong sales for the British module will encourage BFC to add new stuff to the next module and maybe even do another module after that. Have I become a sucker for this new module approach?

[Alan8325]

I wouldn't mind the animation not being there at first, as long as the simulated effect of barbed wire is there. Ghosting through it like in CMx1 is fine for me, as long as infantry are significantly slowed and there could also be a small chance for troops moving though it to become a "yellow" casualty from wire injuries.

[GSX]

I wouldn't mind the animation not being there at first, as long as the simulated effect of barbed wire is there. Ghosting through it like in CMx1 is fine for me, as long as infantry are significantly slowed and there could also be a small chance for troops moving though it to become a "yellow" casualty from wire injuries.

Point taken, but I dont think we will be seeing a retrograde in function anytime soon.