A new order type I'd like to see

[noxnoctum]

Unless there's some way to do it already... pretty sure there isn't.

But... a way to set a cover arc that has PRIORITY over a given fire order. Example, you give your t34 an area fire order to pummel some infantry in a building and also assign a "priority armor cover arc" over a wide expanse, so that, in case an enemy tank shows up to shoot at your t34, your t34 will change targets automatically (as long as the the enemy tank is in the cover arc of course) and shoot at the bigger threat.

So many times I'm scared to give an area fire to a tank because I'm afraid enemy armor will show up and my tank will be defenseless. Likewise, it would be such as important for infantry... example, you want your SMG squad to cover a certain building and make absolutely sure NO ONE GETS IN THERE. So you set a priority cover arc over the building and surrounding area in question, but you still want to be free to fire at this other enemy infantry squad in the opposite direction. This would help with that too.

I think this is pretty damn important, since it's core game mechanics. If this is added in, it will be a huge improvement. I can't think it would take too much work to program either since the AI already has "priority" type routines (since if a tank is shooting at infantry without a fire order and a tank shows up, it will automatically switch targets)

[Michael Emrys]

Yes, it might be possible to program such a feature. My objection would be that it would provide the gamer with a flexibility and speed of response not normally available in the real world. Troops in vehicles especially are slow to recognize a new threat and respond to it. If you are playing in WEGO you will be able to give a new order in no more than a minute and probably less anyway. If you are playing in real time, it is my understanding that you can immediately pause the game and give a fresh order. If that is the case, then you already have more control over your troops than a real life commander would.

Michael

[c3k]

Agreed. Sometimes I want to area fire on a SUSPECTED position, but if a KNOWN enemy shows up, I'd rather light him up instead.

Now, I must doff my cap - once again - to BF.C. In the VAST majority of cases, the TacAI does an excellent job of breaking off pre-ordered area fire to strike at newly discovered enemies. I have no idea how difficult it must've been to create that algorithm and balance it, but it works very well. Most of the time.

There are cases like noxnoctum described. I'd like to shoot at an area, but only because I've got ammo to burn off and feel the need to dump it there. What I do now is set an AREA TARGET, a pause of some length, then a move with a COVERED ARC. That way the area fire does not take the entire minute, and my unit can then move into an overwatch.

A variation on that is COVERED ARC, short delay, HUNT, target, MOVE, COVERED ARC. That is useful because the HUNT command will stop the move if any enemy is present. The area target fire won't happen if there's a known enemy unit.

Ken

[noxnoctum]

Agreed. Sometimes I want to area fire on a SUSPECTED position, but if a KNOWN enemy shows up, I'd rather light him up instead.

Now, I must doff my cap - once again - to BF.C. In the VAST majority of cases, the TacAI does an excellent job of breaking off pre-ordered area fire to strike at newly discovered enemies. I have no idea how difficult it must've been to create that algorithm and balance it, but it works very well. Most of the time.

There are cases like noxnoctum described. I'd like to shoot at an area, but only because I've got ammo to burn off and feel the need to dump it there. What I do now is set an AREA TARGET, a pause of some length, then a move with a COVERED ARC. That way the area fire does not take the entire minute, and my unit can then move into an overwatch.

A variation on that is COVERED ARC, short delay, HUNT, target, MOVE, COVERED ARC. That is useful because the HUNT command will stop the move if any enemy is present. The area target fire won't happen if there's a known enemy unit.

Ken

Yes you're right kudos must definitely be given for the tacai, in general, it's really good.

The "pause" thing can be used to artificially simulate this. But even then, what if you want the whole turn to be spent dumping HE UNLESS enemy armor is spotted? Also in CM:N there will be units that you will not want to move... i.e. MGs that have setup time. Plus sometimes you just don't want to move your tanks or whatever because you don't want to draw attention to them. It's a decent workaround, but it'd be nice if it wasn't required. It certainly is not appropriate for MGs, AT guns, etc..

@Michael, I never play RT or singleplayer so I don't really count those. To me, the core of the game is wego tcpip (or pbem for many I know). RT just turns into too much to handle. I prefer having 60 second turns too, because in RL a commander couldn't instantly change his orders. I also enjoy watching the action several times from different angles .

[Elmar Bijlsma]

Nope. I think there's no real need for this suggestion to be implemented given the satisfactory job that is currently done by the TacAI in this regard.

It'd lead to unnecessary UI bloat and takes programming time from other, more deserving items. Like for instance, oh I don't know, let's choose something totally at random... proper campaigns.