Idea for RT gameplay

[Tank Hunter]

I have viewed few of the threads discussing WEGO and RT and most users agree that both systems have its positives and negatives. I have tried both and personally I prefer RT on small battles with few units and WEGO on larger scale.

One thing that has been mentioned and discussed is the lack of replay feature in RT and that one minute replay might appear in RT in future iterations of CMx2.

I would however also prefer a system where you as a commander are notified by your units of what is happening. Let’s say you are commanding a two flanking groups in RT on a fairly large map.

Your Task Force A on the left side comes in contact with the enemy and one of your AFVs gets knocked out without spotting the enemy. Meanwhile your focus is on the right side with your Task Force B. When your focus switches back to the left side you realize that one of your AFVs is knocked out and you have taken 2 casualties without actually knowing where it came from. With a small replay feature you could go back in time and see what happened but I would also like to know in RT when units get in contact so I can quickly switch focus.

This could be accomplished with a text box in UI that lists messages like radio chatter. As soon as a unit gets under fire a text line could appear saying 1st Plt 2nd Sqd under small arms fire. By clicking on the message you are automatically transferred to that unit and can take direct command if desired.

Messages can be about spotting units and coming under fire. This can also be incorporated into C3 so messages could only appear from units that are in touch with HQ. Everything else is not noted so you get a penalty for not having units in touch with HQ. (This should however be an option in preferences)

[LJFHutch]

Sounds interesting, the only problem I can see is I wouldn't be interested in seeing what happened, I'd be more interested in trying to stop it happening to the rest of my guys.

Another way would be to have radio messages when things happen:

* "1st platoon taking fire from RPG's!!"

* "3rd platoon taking casualties!"

But I'd imagine that would become distracting and kind of annoying. A mini map could be nice, with messages maybe? I'm not really sure.

[Boche]

I like the message idea, i wouldnt find it anoying but very helpful...the ammount of time units in RT have been dying with my atention elsewhere jaja

[Tank Hunter]

I agree that some people would maybe find it annoying to see text messages but that could easily be fixed by allowing it to be an option that can be switched on and off. What I however mostly miss now is a way to know when your units are under attack.

You can of course play in a birds eye view but that takes away a lot from general immersion of being part of the battle. Not to talk about how ugly thing look like from above..

[MeatEtr]

Or heck simplify it even more with just a casualty button on the UI somewhere. When you take a casualty it blinks or flashes with maybe a radio chatter of "Man down" or something. Click on it and go to that unit.

Something like this would greatly help RT players, at least until we get a one minute rolling replay feature. But sadly I'd say the earliest we would see this would be the East Front family games.

[akd]

I agree that some people would maybe find it annoying to see text messages but that could easily be fixed by allowing it to be an option that can be switched on and off. What I however mostly miss now is a way to know when your units are under attack.

You can of course play in a birds eye view but that takes away a lot from general immersion of being part of the battle. Not to talk about how ugly thing look like from above..

Simply dedicate an area of the lower AI for streaming text messages, preferably with time stamps (e.g. 13:46 - 1-3-Bravo is taking casualties.) You could even make it a tab of the orders hotkeys box (which I personally never use anyway). That way you can choose to pay attention if you want, and would also be able to scroll down to see events you may have missed. If it was super slick, clicking on the unit in the text message would jump you directly to that unit.

[meade95]

Or heck simplify it even more with just a casualty button on the UI somewhere. When you take a casualty it blinks or flashes with maybe a radio chatter of "Man down" or something. Click on it and go to that unit.

This would be fantastic -

[Wodin]

just taking fire is another time you could do with being informed....even in WEGO as it would save constant replay checking to see if anyone is taking fire..esp in big scenarios...

The flashing icon already tells me that a man is down....

[HintJ]

Fascinating subject!

An idea for important radio messages coming in only from units with a radio capability, or visual contact, etc. is sort of necessary to know when to pause. Simply pausing every so often (w/out the all-important replay) doesn't work right now.

Any 3d RTS with a pause mode I try to play this way:

While the game is rolling, I'm zoomed into view the Command unit (or any unit I consider my personal respresentative.) I try my best to get a first person view for immersion, and while the game's rolling issue orders to that unit only.

Then, if I need to give orders out, I pause the game and zoom out to either a top-down view only (simulating a map view), or I lock and zoom in only into units I have contact with to see what's going on and to issue orders. But before I let the game start rolling again, I must zoom back into the command unit.

In other words, while the game is rolling, I'm seeing only a very narrow scope. This actually forces me to use the command unit to lead near the front of the action.

This system doesn't work too well right now in CMSF.

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By the way, if anyone's interested, I first tried this technique sucessfully w/a bizarro sceince fiction RTS called Earth 2160: There's even a First Person View where you can (somewhat) control any unit. Wherever I hear "There they are!" or "I'm taking damage!" I love to pause the game, hit the spacebar to goto the location of the last message, figure out what's going onand issue orders, then return to my commanders view, un-pause the game, and run his ass up to the action.

[snake_eye]

That seems very interesting. But that increase in radio chatter (or text box), could clogged the net like in real ops and distract us from more important action, than the one reported ?

However, it could bring us more toward reality and the many instances when one squad and or company could not report to higher through the radio net at crucial times.

Is it worth modelling (if it can be) in the game I really don't know.

Cheers