A question and an idea

[ricroma]

Hi,

i have a quick question. How i can set a pause order for shooting? eg. When i want to shoot some smoke shells from a tank no matter how much second of pause i set, the tank start shooting from the very beginning of the turn. That's particularly annoying since usually tanks don't have many smoke shells and one or two would be enough most of the times.

Then i have an idea/suggestion. What about adding a feature to allow the payer to set some personal path settings? let me explain. Me, as some other players, as a standard like to give "complex" orders: like "set a round 20 meters target arch" + "quick advance for 30 meters" + "pause for 10 seconds" + whatever. It would be nice to be able to save our favorite orders (maybe three: scout, advance, assault), that can really help some tedious moments of the game where you need to give complex orders to a bunch of units... Just my two cent. Please excuse me for my terrible english.

[DaddyO]

If practical from a programming standpoint it sounds like a great idea.

[Michael Emrys]

How i can set a pause order for shooting?

SFAIK, you can't. At least not directly. Pauses, I believe, only effect movement-type orders. What you might try is have your tank begin the turn faced away from your intended target. Give it a pause order of however many seconds you choose, and target the area where you want the shells to fall. If this works the way I hope, it will just sit there for some seconds, then turn to the target and open fire. You might want to experiment with this before using it in a serious game, just to get all the timing right. I haven't tried this one myself, so I can't guarantee it will work as advertised. But it's an idea.

Michael

[stoex]

Another way of achieving what I understand you want (if applicable in the situation) is to give the tank a pause order and a short move or reverse order (as short as you can or want to make it). Then set a target order from the end of that move order. This way the tank will wait for as long as you set the pause for, then move the short distance and start firing. Again it takes some practice to get the timing right, but at least you don't have to expose your flanks or rear that way.

[womble]

i have a quick question. How i can set a pause order for shooting? eg. When i want to shoot some smoke shells from a tank no matter how much second of pause i set, the tank start shooting from the very beginning of the turn. That's particularly annoying since usually tanks don't have many smoke shells and one or two would be enough most of the times.

Pause orders only affect movement. A Pause order will delay the commencement of movement away from the waypoint at which those Pause orders are issued. The current location of the unit counts as a waypoint.

Combat orders are in force until they are changed. They can be changed at any waypoint. Note that 'Clear Target' only clears any orders at the waypoint at which it is issued.

So to limit how many rounds something fires, starting at the beginning of the turn, you have to first plot a pause, for however long you think it wioll take to fire the mission you intend, then plot a movement order, with a different fire order at the waypoint to which you want to move. Usually, this is a short cover arc. Sometimes it's unnecessary because the move order will take the unit out of LOS from its target anyway.

So in your specific example, ignoring the possibility of terrain complications:

1. plot a 20s pause.
   
2. issue the Target Smoke
   
3. plot a short Fast movement order
   
4. click out of waypoint placement mode
   
5. click on the end waypoint of the Fast move (or on the associated movement line)
   
6. set a cover arc, or area target or smoke on a different target.
   

Note that vehicles will often fire while moving (perhaps a bit less now in 1.01; not really seen enough to be sure) and so if they can still see their initial target, they will continue to fire on it while they are executing the movement order. Not often critical, but you might want to make the pause 5s shorter if the target will still be visible, or you may use more smoke than you wanted,

Then i have an idea/suggestion. What about adding a feature to allow the payer to set some personal path settings? let me explain. Me, as some other players, as a standard like to give "complex" orders: like "set a round 20 meters target arch" + "quick advance for 30 meters" + "pause for 10 seconds" + whatever. It would be nice to be able to save our favorite orders (maybe three: scout, advance, assault), that can really help some tedious moments of the game where you need to give complex orders to a bunch of units... Just my two cent. Please excuse me for my terrible english.

Your Englosh is pretty good. Better than my version of your language

I can't see your idea actually being very much practical use. Standardised distances like that will only be useful occasionally, and even less frequently will they work for mass order issues.

[stikkypixie]

Hi,

i have a quick question. How i can set a pause order for shooting? eg. When i want to shoot some smoke shells from a tank no matter how much second of pause i set, the tank start shooting from the very beginning of the turn. That's particularly annoying since usually tanks don't have many smoke shells and one or two would be enough most of the times.

What you should do is the following (although the timing might be a bit tricky). Move your tank to the location from where it has to shoot smoke. Click that waypoint and highlight it and give a short pause order (e.g. 15 seconds) + give a smoke order. Then add another waypoint (e.g. reverse 5m) then highlight this waypoint again and give a FACE order. The tank will then first go the first waypoint, shoot the smoke rounds (the number depending on the number of seconds) then reverse, the face order will then cancel the smoke command.