Suggestion: show unit weapons for non-friendlies

[Rongor]

We all know the difference between non-friendly (left) and friendly (right) units' info bars as shown below.
(non-friendly and friendly addressing the posture setting here, not the symbol colors)


I would like to have the "Unit weapons" section also appearing on non-friendly sided units.
Reasons:
Of course I could simply click the unit's type link and thus open up the DB page telling me about standard armament of this vessel. But exactly as we can draw information from there, why not display it conveniently right below the unit status? Probably the numbers of weapon amounts shouldn't update there, so only giving a guess how much is stored on that unit by standards.

This would enable the player to quickly get aware of the opponent's threat.

Also, if scenario designer somehow added non standard weaponry to an opponent, this would be the place where to display it. Currently there is no way the GUI can tell the player about non-standard armament of a non-friendly unit.


Could be worth to consider this for sensors too.

[thewood1]

Might want to put it this thread where there is discussion about new features or changes to the game. Might end up in the poll.

tm.asp?m=3437496

There would be some FOW issues with this feature I would think. There are a few larger missiles where you could see what weapons are aboard through surveillance, but I don't think the player should know the details of weapons and warloads. If you really want play the game like that, you can play the game through the editor.

Using the db viewer maintains some FOW, because it lists all potential loads, not actual.

[Rongor]

I am talking of nothing else, potential loads.

[thewood1]

But then you wouldn't display custom loadouts there, would you? How would someone know that in FOW. There are a few limited instances, but any VLS won't allow an opposing commander to look into what is loaded.

Even for your own ships, it only lists what is actually onboard. That means you would have to list every potential loadout/weapon in that list and it might get so long that you would be better off just looking at the db.

[thewood1]

I'm wondering if you could have the weapons button on the contact info screen. When you click on it you could get a list of all the potential mounts and weapons. Although at that point, you could just open the db.

What I would rather see on that info screen is a list of who has had a contact on that unit and how (senor). Maybe who still has the active contact or has had a contact with it in the last 30 minutes or so.

[Rongor]

You must think a step ahead. There are situations when custom loadout gets revealed.

And to your other worry, I don't think the list would get that long. Listing the mounts would totally do the job. In my example above, that would mean listing 6 lines and in most cases it won't go much further, it is just as long as the "unit weapon" list you have with your own units.
Your concern about the FoW isn't valid here, as I already explained we would only see standard data from the DB. We wouldn't get info about actual weapon counts. We could see only the standard mounts, optionally mentioning the capacity.

[thewood1]

What about custom loads the designer puts in...

This is your comment I guess I don't understand:

"Also, if scenario designer somehow added non standard weaponry to an opponent, this would be the place where to display it. Currently there is no way the GUI can tell the player about non-standard armament of a non-friendly unit. "

It sounds like you would want to show these loadouts, yet an opposing commander shouldn't be able to see them.

[Rongor]

ORIGINAL: thewood1

What about custom loads the designer puts in...

That is the other idea behind my suggestion. Of course they should only be listed if your side discovered the enemy unit bearing these loads. Currently there is no place where this could be displayed. Having a "unit weapons" panel would also come in handy for this purpose, but not in the first place.

As I came about in this thread here, currently disguised neutral units carrying custom loads aboard civilians are easily uncovered by showing treacherous weapon range rings around them. So the FoW doesn't work really good in this cases or it has been cleared up but without telling us, which weapon is responsible for that range ring.

[Rongor]

ORIGINAL: thewood1

I'm wondering if you could have the weapons button on the contact info screen. When you click on it you could get a list of all the potential mounts and weapons. Although at that point, you could just open the db.

What I would rather see on that info screen is a list of who has had a contact on that unit and how (senor). Maybe who still has the active contact or has had a contact with it in the last 30 minutes or so.

I could agree on that. I also find the contact report a bit lean at some times. Sometimes there in fact is stated which of your sides sensors received the last signal. But then sometimes (rule unknown to me) the window is empty, although the contact still appears on the map. I guess this feature could deserve some attention.

[thewood1]

I currently used the filed message log to track contacts, but is a little tedious.

I would keep either of these very low on my priority list, but that is why this should be posted in the game features thread where people and devs will get involved in seeing how much demand there is and a what priority it should have.

[Rongor]

Thanks for the advice, will put a link there.

[Primarchx]

I kind of like the fact that I have to look at the DB (and the contact his hot linked to do so). Sort of like looking in Janes at sea, don't you know. I agree with others that a similar "commander's view" for non-player units is intel you wouldn't normally have.

[ExNusquam]

The problem I see with this is the way aircraft loadouts would be listed. You can't list the actual loadout for FoW reasons, but the alternatives are even worse. You could list the mount, which would be "Loadout" and wouldn't help the player at all; or you could list every possible loadout combo, which would be painfully long.

I honestly feel that non-friendly range-rings on the map give you enough "at-a-glance" info about a non-friendly platform. If you need additional info on their capabilities, the hotlinks make database reference easy enough.

[Rongor]

I can't agree how this is intel you wouldn't normally have. Of course do you have this. In real life the skipper will have good idea what to expect when ID'ing a Slava class cruiser. So do we by looking it up in the DB. You prefer to klick on the link to the DB viewer and I would prefer to have a collapsing Unit weapons section in the info panel. That is the only difference.

But yes, it probably wouldn't work with airborne units though.

[mikmykWS]

Suggestion added to our features to look at list.

There are other ways to do this now so priority is low.

Mike

[ComDev]

What about aircraft? Would have to list 50+ weapons?

Dunno if it makes a lot of sense to be honest?