Kudos and a Wish for next Version

[jpkeenan]

I have owned and played all the Steel Panthers versions....Until now I felt something was lacking, can't really put my finger on it, but whaterver it was it is GONE NOW! V4.0 is fantastic. I played a couple of quick scenarios, now playing Cherborge and I have never enjoyed wargaming like this! Thank you Matrix for all the hard work and thought you have put into this.

I especially like the fact that aircraft provide only limited intelligence, but here goes a suggestion (probably can't be done), but here goes anyhow. How about recon missions for some types of aircraft, in which they "take pictures" of their targets. These "pictures" could then be viewed before the next turn. The units would again disapear from the map, but could screen shots somehow be incorporated into the game to view the intelligence info.?

Thanks again for taking war gaming to a new high.

JP Keenan

[Schrullenhaft]

Historically I think the problem with this request is that aerial photo recon was done for higher commands than you would normally see in SPWAW. But more than that is the time to return, develop and analyze the pictures.

Aerial photo recon is a bit beyond the time scope for SPWAW. However, along the same lines, I know that the Americans had L5 (???) spotter aircraft flying above the Normandy (and other) battlefield directing artillery and possibly (can't remember) close air support (though I believe that the latter was quite rare - not the same radio net, etc.). I'm not sure what the Germans did along these lines in Russia, North Africa, etc.

There could be a way of incorporating your request though. On the very first turn (and only the first) of the battle an aerial recon mission could be purchased and it could perform a couple of fly-bys on the battlefield before the action starts. However this info could be inaccurate or change by the time the battle actually commences. It would take quite a bit of coding to do this so it is balanced and somewhat historical. I don't know if Matrix would care to spend that much more time to add a feature to this already free game.

[This message has been edited by Schrullenhaft (edited September 16, 2000).]

[Reg]

Every good suggestion should be backed up with a historical reference. Try entering the following negative number into the Australian War Memorial photograph database at http://www.awm.gov.au/database/photo.asp?searchtype=complex

Negative Number: OG2781
Caption: BOUGAINVILLE ISLAND, SOLOMON ISLANDS. 1945-06-04. JAPANESE TROOPS (POSITIONS MARKED WITH FOUR CIRCLES) IN THEIR TRENCHES TAKING SHELTER FROM A STRAFING ATTACK BY BOOMERANG AIRCRAFT OF NO. 5 (TACTICAL RECONNAISSANCE) SQUADRON RAAF, DURING THE BOUGAINVILLE CAMPAIGN. THE PHOTOGRAPH WAS TAKEN FROM A FEW FEET ABOVE TREE-TOP LEVEL. (SEE ALSO OG2782).
Photographer: Flight Lieutenant John T. Harrison
Conflict: 1939-1945
Photo Colour: black & white
Subject: Photograph; Strafing, Boomerang aircraft; 1939-1945; Bougainville; 5 Squadron RAAF

(Unfortunately I cannot post the photo for copyright reasons).

For those that are interested, the Australian War Memorial's award winning site is well worth a visit and contains resources such as a 200,000 item online photographic database.

It's URL is http://www.awm.gov.au

Reg.

[This message has been edited by Reg (edited September 16, 2000).]