Any way to prevent weapon icons for KIA units from disappearing?

[ClarkWGriswold]

I have a question concerning the weapon icons in a squad. By default, if a squad member is alive and in good health their weapon icon is shown in green, if they're injured their weapon icon is yellow, and if they are KIA their weapon icon disappears completely. Is there an option to show KIA soldiers' weapons as red or greyed out while keeping them visible in the UI? The reason I ask is because it would seem to make it much easier to keep an eye on how many casualties you've sustained, and tell at a glance the condition of a unit compared to "full strength".

[Vinnart]

You mean like this:

This suggestion has been made before, and makes sense to have. Another great thing about this is one could see at a GLANCE what weapon is down. To do this in CMSF one must take time to either remember the exact make up of that squad, or zoom in to the ground to see what weapon the casualty had. Depending on the weapon will depend on whom you want to give aid and pick up that weapon up. Wouldn't want the Company Commander to accidentally pick up a BAR if you want him to avoid getting engaged. I hope BF considers this logical enhancement for improved player situational awareness.

[ClarkWGriswold]

that's exactly what I'm talking about. Once a guy goes down there's no way to see what weapon he had or even that he was part of the squad. It's like he never existed. If I start a game with depleted squads (something I often do now in CMBB), I'll never know how many guys are wounded/KIA because they simply disappear from the UI. Showing the weapons in red would be immensely helpful.

I was hoping this was a toggle or something that could be set in the game preferences, but it sounds like it's not.

[Bradley]

That would a fantastic addition IMO.

[MikeyD]

Things would get complicated as buddy aid (looting) occurs and downed soldiers' weapons get picked up.

[ClarkWGriswold]

Things would get complicated as buddy aid (looting) occurs and downed soldiers' weapons get picked up.

Possible solution:

Soldier A has an MG

Soldier B has a Garand

Soldier A gets killed. His MG icon turns red to indicate his KIA status.

Soldier B happens upon Solder A's MG and picks it up. Soldier A's weapon icon changes from a green Garand to a green MG.

Soldier A, who is dead, doesn't get Soldier B's Garand, so his weapon icon turns to "Looted" or "Weapon Retrieved" or something similar.

Now, not only can I see, at a glance, that Soldier A is KIA, but I can also see that his weapon has been picked up by someone else. Heck, even just red text showing "KIA" or "Wounded" is better than simply having his status disappear completely!

[scottie]

i agree something is needed, doesnt need to be weapon icons just some indication of how big a unit was and is now.

[Elmar Bijlsma]

Would be nice, I agree.

[WineCape]

Good suggestion. It will all depend on the ease, or not, of implementing such a change and for the code to track the looting swop around of weapons, as well as other possible issues Charles & Co might have as higher in priority on their bucket list, wish list, to-do list & dream list.

[Cameroon]

I the lower left corner it shows the casualties list when you click on a unit. It's kind of hard to read since it's light green, but it is there at least.

[Vinnart]

IMO red icon would remain with what weapon that soldier was carrying. Once medic aid is done, the weapon is picked up, and the casualty disappears from the map his red weapon could disappear as it is now. Perhaps a small box with red plus symbol ala CMx1 could be placed in the lower right hand corner of the squad weapon box with an integer to keep count of the total casualties that squad has lost. From the size of the weapon box, which looks like it would hold a max of 18 infantry, it looks like there would be room there as the box never seems to be filled. Just some brainstorming.

[womble]

Having dusted off the CMSF demo in anticipation of CMBN, and only being able to play it sporadically, I would certainly, as a newcomer to the envrionment, like to be able to see the status of squad members in the squad's interface: Wounded, dead, still on-map, weapon retrieved etc. It would help get a handle on how many troops I've lost. The casualty report bottom left does have some of this info, but it'd be nice to have it combined with the 'central' panel.

[Andross]

Possible solution:

Soldier A has an MG

Soldier B has a Garand

Soldier A gets killed. His MG icon turns red to indicate his KIA status.

Soldier B happens upon Solder A's MG and picks it up. Soldier A's weapon icon changes from a green Garand to a green MG.

Soldier A, who is dead, doesn't get Soldier B's Garand, so his weapon icon turns to "Looted" or "Weapon Retrieved" or something similar.

Now, not only can I see, at a glance, that Soldier A is KIA, but I can also see that his weapon has been picked up by someone else. Heck, even just red text showing "KIA" or "Wounded" is better than simply having his status disappear completely!

Problem:

If you Squad dies (or some Soldier) you will see that there are enemies (where they died) because they have picked up the weapons!!!

My opinion is to use it that way it is ^^

[Erik Springelkamp]

There is also the complication that soldiers can be moved around between teams, so, in which team will the casualty be shown?

Probably solvable, but it shows that nothing is simple.

[Praetori]

"I support this thread and or product".

I once had a soldier die while being transported inside a AFV. I guess they got hit by something somewhere along the road but it wasn't until I dismounted them some minutes, and several hundred meters later that I realized that they didn't have a machinegunner anymore.

The AFV had a slight track damage but that was it, freak troop casualties are not easy to spot on the fly even though the information can be critical.

[Wodin]

Not sure how this aids gameplay???

it's not something thats ever crossed my mind in CMSF anyway...

[Praetori]

Not sure how this aids gameplay???

it's not something thats ever crossed my mind in CMSF anyway...

Read my post above.

Seeing a unit "at a glance" doesn't give you its story. Is it a three man detachment or a unit which got hit by a mortar round a minute past and lost the rest of the guys.

Actually seeing the machinegunner "missing" would help give the player a heads up about the squads status.

[Battlefront.com]

It's something we've kicked around since before CM:SF release. There are problems with this BUT we do have an elegant solution we're going to explore for the next major release. It requires some other UI changes to happen first, and those are dependent on other changes.

Steve

[Mord]

I have no access to CMSf right now an can't remember, but do the little green soldier status alerts on the left of the screen tell you if a squad member is a casualty? You know the part where it says like Leader: Hiding, Soldier: Cowering...

And as far as vehicle casualties, be nice if the red circles would stay red (not gray out) in the vehicle tab even when the vehicle has been abandoned...let you know that guys were killed or severely messed up inside so you don't have to try and remember what happened.

Mord.

[TheVulture]

I have no access to CMSf right now an can't remember, but do the little green soldier status alerts on the left of the screen tell you if a squad member is a casualty? You know the part where it says like Leader: Hiding, Soldier: Cowering...

Yes, if the casualty is still on the battlefield, he is listed as 'casualty' in the bottom left. Once he has been buddy-aided into the void, he vanishes from that list too.

[Erik Springelkamp]

I have no access to CMSf right now an can't remember, but do the little green soldier status alerts on the left of the screen tell you if a squad member is a casualty? You know the part where it says like Leader: Hiding, Soldier: Cowering...

Yes, they will show the casualties during the whole game.

[Wodin]

Just never thought about ti to be honest..can see how it may be good info..but playing Wego I normally have a good track on what squad it is and how many where in the original squad..plus as someone said I'm sure it says on the left who is a casualty...

[womble]

I think it would (like lots of UI things - tooltips etc) be of most use to people coming to something for the first time. Once you've got your head around how a given army is organised, it's easy to see where casualties are, but as a newcomer, it can be confusing. And there are a lot of different T.s of O. in Normandy, let alone Commonwealth and later, to get used to.