Wish List

[Arjuna]

ORIGINAL: JallaTryne

Nice ideas, marc420. In addition I would like multiple orders for a unit. Ala 'Attack A first, and then defend B upon attack completion.' I would assume developing those 2 orders at the same time would cost less time than doing it seperately.

Yes in general this could save some time. As MadScot comments the initial orders delay would have to be longer to cater for the added complexity, but their would essentially be no additional delay inbetween orders. This feature is best to wait until we have implemented Triggers - ie specified conditions under which an order will be implemented - eg. if X ( Move ) is completed and force strength is > 80% of atStart strength, then do Y ( Attack ), else do Z ( Defend ). That is a way off just yet.

Also I would like a button on top named 'Ubermensh'. Clicking it would max out all unit parameters. [:D]

Ah, in your dreams.[;)]

[marc420]

Triggers? [:D][:D][&o][:D][&o]

[marc420]

ORIGINAL: marc420

BTW, on orders delay, I'm assuming the HQ has a rough idea of how long its going to take for the orders to get there and get going. And probably the orders have a start time included. So I expect not to know exactly to the minute when a force will start to execute my orders, but I'd expect a commander would have a rought idea.

That is exactly how it is.

[/quote]

Hmmm, I'm new to this game, so let me ask .... can you see this somewhere in HTTR?

What usually happens to me is that I give orders to a unit. Then I look at some other problem on the battlefield. I'm probably paused at times and running slow at other times, so eventually I go back to the unit I gave the orders to and see they aren't doing anything yet. This is when I'd like some indicator of how close they are to doing something. Did I give this unit 45 minutes ago, so give them just a bit more and they'll get going? Or have I had the game paused and only 3 min of game time have gone by and I either need to be patient or come up with another bright idea?

This could be a number down on the cmnd pane of the unit. Seems like I'll only look at occaisionally when I'm confused. Or maybe you could do something graphical like have the pink shading on the task be full when the order is first given, then drop to 3/4ers, then to a 1/2, then to 1/4. Probably shouldn't be exact and probably shouldn't always be accurate. If some subordinate gets the orders, but then takes awhile getting his own units going, maybe that should surprise the higher command. Ie, higher command would see the task icon go completely white, expect that execution should be beginning, but the lower command is still fiddling around for awhile.

I know, just an idea from a newbie, so take it for what its worth.

Triggers sound like a really cool way of dealing with what to do before a start time for an op. Suddenly you could start seeing stuff like ...

Defend (default)
Rest if Fat > some number
ReOrg if Coh < some number
Defend if enemy close
Attack if time = 0500

Can't wait!!!

BTW, really, REAALLLY nice game you've got in HTTR. For the life of me, I can't imagie why I waited this long to buy it. Probably saw the words "real time" and went away screaming into the night. But this is a very sweet game. THANKS!

[Arjuna]

Marc420,

I like your idea of adjusting the pink background to indicate the amount of time remaining for orders to be processed. It would have to be relative, though, to the original estimate that appears on the Commander Tab view. It would be im possible to do this a fixed amount of time given the disparity between a highly efficient motorised company ( taking say 15 minutes ) and a ponderous Corps taking 6 hours. But I like it nonetheless. Thanks, [:)]

[marc420]

yeah, on the delays I'm really just looking for the equivalent of a staff officer telling me "Sir, you just issued those orders, give them time." or "they really should have gotten those orders and be moving by now". So something generic like 25%, 50%,75%,100% of delay time elapsed would be fine. I don't really expect as a commander to get an exact countdown of time to order execution. And I think it would even add to the game if sometimes the display went to 100% and the formation still wasn't moving.

Now for something completely different. As a newbie player, it seems to me that the symbols on the map for enemy units don't always match their reported equipment lists. Ie, I'll see a symbol for say a mortar unit, but go and check the equipment and see its just some guys with Mausers. I understand the need for fog-of-war, but it would help if the symbol shown matched the equipment list. Right now I feel I can't really go by the symbol on the map but instead need to check the equipment list to see what I'm dealing with. Or am I missing something with these unit symbols and equipment lists?

[Golf33]

ORIGINAL: marc420

As a newbie player, it seems to me that the symbols on the map for enemy units don't always match their reported equipment lists. Ie, I'll see a symbol for say a mortar unit, but go and check the equipment and see its just some guys with Mausers. I understand the need for fog-of-war, but it would help if the symbol shown matched the equipment list. Right now I feel I can't really go by the symbol on the map but instead need to check the equipment list to see what I'm dealing with. Or am I missing something with these unit symbols and equipment lists?

They can both be wrong [:)]. Sometimes the counter symbol will be closer, and sometimes the equipment list will be closer, but until you get an actual designation it's impossible to say which is more accurate.

Regards
33

[RedDevil]

My first post!

As I am not an expert in wargames, it took me a while to gather the courage to write! [:)] The fact is that and I took a very good bashing from the HTTR AI and although the strategy guide helped making me a better player I understood that it was time to call for help.

Anyway, I apologise in advance if these items have already been wished for by people more competent than me and for the inadequate language. That said here we go:

RedDevil's wish list, part 1
a) Air recon
I would definitely trade it for an air strike. Doesn't need to be accurate, actually, a message rather than a graphical representation would be sufficient. How nice would it be to know that a column of tanks has been spotted travelling down Deelen airport or that infantry forces are gathering 2 Km South of Son Bridge.
I wish for this in particular for the sake of the D squadron 2nd Household Cavallery that I regularly throw in the middle of the enemy lines to be disintegrated.

b) non-circular victory locations
I guess that whoever experienced the frustration of discovering a huge artillery battery materialising at the edge of the victory location area 3 minutes before the end of the scenario would share this wish with me. I particularly hate the Velperberg location which extends outside the woods particularly to the North so that every time you try to venture a poor unit to check out what is going on the Germany arty hits it big time.
Would it be possible to ask to secure victory locations of a shape which is relevant to the geographical characteristics? I don't know... on the highway they could be rectangular. If not possible, at least it should be possible to set up an "all round defence" that covers a circular area?

c) waypoint by waipoint recommended movement parameters
I think I already read something about it somewhere else. Again the D squadron 2n Household Cavallery would show eternal gratitude for this feature. Particulary with painfully realistic order delays ordering a forced march in road column up until the front line and then an avoidance to the final destination is a no-no.

d) break down of enemy's victory points
I know that this is a bit of a spoiler, but sometimes I just wonder what I should have done to transform a marginal defeat in a draw, a draw in a margina victory and so on...

I think I will stop here for today!

Cheers,

RD [:)]

[Arjuna]

RedDevil,

Thanks for your suggestions.

Re Air Recon. The problem for Arnhem, in particular, was that the Br 1st Abn Div had no radio link to air units operating in or near its area of operations. Their only link was destroyed during the initial drop - bad luck hey! The other think too is that in WW2 the speed of response from sighting to intel report would be pretty damm useless for anything tactical like enemy units moving within ten km. Air recon was generally OK for longer range stuff. The US Armoured Divs did, however, have a light plane recon unit as part of the Division. So we should do something about this for the Bulge.

Re Non-circular victory areas. Well I think the issue here is that you need to deploy far enough out from your objective and stay there. Just because the perimeter is only 500m radius doesn't mean you are restricted to keeping your forces within it. But having said that I take your point. It would be nice to have a freeform polygon area that could be shaped to whatever the scenario designer desires. This would require us implementing a freeform polygon tool in the ScenMaker. We'd also need to write a more sophisticated and hence more processor hungry algorythm to test for the precence of friendly and enemy units. These are certainly do-able. I'll add it to the list but don't count on seeing it real soon.

[Grognard]

1) When changing orders for an individual unit (or HQ) in a formation we need to re-attach its immediate boss before we can flip that unit - right? Well, in the heat of battle how many of us have watched in horror as an entire battalion/brigade vacated their positions because we forgot to re-do the in-situ thing with the boss? I think I've seen comments about this before but has there been discussion of making the process a little more foolproof? (a condition I freely admit to [>:])

2) It's very difficult to see elevation contours under dense woods.

3) As friendly unit filters are toggled on the Battle Map - mirror that info on the Stratmap.
And when friendly HQ's are toggled; color code them on the Strat Map as to their attached/unattached status.

4) When will we be able to create/alter Estabs?

[El Savior]

1) Like Grognard's fourth wish, I hope we can alter Estabs. Giving freedom for modding is never bad. [:'(]

2) Some air strikes could be handled by AI. It seems air support is too precise.

3) Full list of support units: medical, mp's, etc.

[RedDevil]

Thanks for the reply.
A couple of comments and a new item

ORIGINAL: Arjuna

Re Air Recon. The problem for Arnhem, in particular, was that the Br 1st Abn Div had no radio link to air units operating in or near its area of operations. Their only link was destroyed during the initial drop - bad luck hey! The other think too is that in WW2 the speed of response from sighting to intel report would be pretty damm useless for anything tactical like enemy units moving within ten km. Air recon was generally OK for longer range stuff. The US Armoured Divs did, however, have a light plane recon unit as part of the Division. So we should do something about this for the Bulge.

Point taken... I will have to break the news to the mothers of the poor soldiers of the D squadron... [:)]. You mention the Bulge: as I am new to this forum could you tell me where I can find more info?

ORIGINAL: Arjuna
Re Non-circular victory areas. Well I think the issue here is that you need to deploy far enough out from your objective and stay there. Just because the perimeter is only 500m radius doesn't mean you are restricted to keeping your forces within it. But having said that I take your point. It would be nice to have a freeform polygon area that could be shaped to whatever the scenario designer desires. This would require us implementing a freeform polygon tool in the ScenMaker. We'd also need to write a more sophisticated and hence more processor hungry algorythm to test for the precence of friendly and enemy units. These are certainly do-able. I'll add it to the list but don't count on seeing it real soon.

Great! As I was trying to explain the reason behind this request is that sometimes you have to depoly your units in open terrain instead of keeping them all neatly lined up at the edge of a nice geographical feature, or worse having to use some of my forces to patrol areas of little tactical interest instead of devoting them to defend where I think the enemy is coming from.
At present what I tend to do is to re-deploying a 600 strong arty unit at the victory location in an attempt to achieve the required 10:1 ratio.
I appreciate that checking if an enemy unit is within a circumference is by far easier than to check if it is inside a freeform polygon, but I am sure that a modern CPU can take it.

More on the victory location:
Objective contested marker
I don't like the fact that the player knows when a victory location is held (green border) because it kind of gives away information on the enemy. But then I don't like the victory meter either (it is such a depressing view during my battles)
I guess it is very much related to the issue I have with the victory location shape. The problem is that I had several times pre-warnings of a strong force entering the perimeter just by observing the victory location marker disappear. But since this feature is implemented and I make use of it, then we could go an extra mile and indicate whether an objective is contested or held by the enemy. Again, several times I am surprised to discover that the enemy has scored more victory points than I was expecting and that it would have been sufficient to move a couple of units by 100 meters to deny those points. Cheating? I would say so, but after all it's a war! [:D]

Cheers,

RD

[marc420]

Thanks for the reminder about how WWII radios weren't very durable. Just been reading a D-Day book, and almost none of the radios in the early waves survived.

Hmmm, I guess a "wish" could be to make radios and field telephones equipment that appears in the game. The availability of these would effect what information a player gets (if radio survives at HQ, then maybe you get those recon updates), or which units can do fire control on which artillery. That way that last man in left in a company can only do fire control (for artillery other than the battalion mortars) if they also happen to have a working radio left.

Also, its probably already in this thread, but a scenario option that lets the player pick drop points might be interesting. Say for example an Arnhem scenario where the Allied player sets all of his drop/landing zones before the game, but gets to make the choices of whether to drop near the bridge or out of town. At the same time, the German player gets to position flak and other units to try to defend certain areas. Could make a fun guessing game to start a scenario.

Thanks yet again for a neat game. Went back to HPS' Normandy game, to try to ease my "I want to play BIN (by SSG/Matrix)" blues. That game is about the same scale as HTTR, with companies and support units on the map. But HTTR now has me so completely spoiled I had a hard time playing that game. HTTR really does a nice job of making me feel like a division commander instead of someone pushing cardboard around. Very, VERY nice game. Thanks!

[Custer1961]

Not sure if these suggestions have been brought up before:


The graphs that show morale, fatigue, cohesiveness, etc. should have numbers. Numbers are easier to compare and remember.

Dead area in lower left corner on 1280 x 1024 resolution. Maybe this space could be filled with some useful info.

Better LOS tool. A LOS fan would be better. One that is like POA2. The LOS from one spot on the map is detailed all over the map. May take up huge computer power so I am not sure of feasibility.

Better explanation of how points were awarded at end of game. Particularly for the enemy. One side has 80 points.............how did they get them? Objectives? Casualties? Also, all info available on enemy at end of game.

End of games list of casualties inflicted by a unit. Points received for those kills. In effect, more detail of a units contribution to victory or defeat.

Gary Grigsby like list of units-- easy to check all the stats at once. Displays the OOB too.

Reinforcements-- should be able to examine them before game start......should be able to check leadership abilities, equipment.....etc.
This would help greatly in planning before the scenario starts.

Grave markers (dead units) at end of game should be able to examine the entire data of the unit. Should be able to see the same data for a dead unit as for the surviving units.

Scenario historical dates and info. It would be great if more info for the historical dates was provided. Even better, if books and sources of info were provided. Easier to look up in books and understand the specific scenario.

Parachute landing casualties. Glider landing casualties. Currently, units automatically land without suffering any operational casualties as a result of parachute or glider landings.
Ambush as an order. You set unit up along a road and order it to ambush anything coming down that road. Recently, I gambled that some enemy armor would be moving down a road. I moved my unit to cover the roads from a forest. My unit moved their, the enemy armor came down the road, but my AI commander had put the anti-tank guns so far into the woods that the guns could not see the armor. The tanks went right by my unit down the road. Frustrating. It would be nice to some how be able to tell the AI commanders, “hey, I want to cover this particular area”.

Lastly, I am an old time paper wargamer that moved to computers. I loved hexes and discriminated against hexless wargames. I was prepared to hate this game. I am amazed to find a real gem. It has changed the way I have looked, liked and played wargames. I never thought and planned so much before a scenario even started. This game has exposed me to a fresh, fun perspective. And to my complete surprise.......I really like this game. It is fun and realistic too. I hope more scenarios come out and I look forward to more games like this. Maybe old dogs can learn new tricks.

[El Savior]

I'm not sure if this has been already wished (this thread is BIG)...

While testing my own scenario I began to miss 'Fog of War off' option. This option shows all true AI units & movement. It would be great option for scenario makers to optimize AI moves (victory points). I'm sure you guys from Panther Games don't need this feature, because you know how AI works. For us little people it would be great benefit to observe when AI makes her moves.

[Grognard]

Ability to attach units permanently thru an OOB or HQ display function ala World at War. As it is now, when you give any orders to a (detatched) unit it automatically re-attaches to it's organic superior (pain in the butt).

[Smirfy]

Hi still really enjoying the game, Now my favourite WWII computer wargame.



Had a great game Eindhoven scenario as Axis, made the hinge of my reposte on Best cleared the 327th and when the 107 arrived took Son, Niensel, and st oedenrode and dug in. The British attacked each head on, losing 13,000 odd troops 566 afv's and 271 guns. (22 units destroyed 11 surrendered and still they attack)

Could something not be done to make communications more important or another method found so that the AI can shift you other than direct assault.

Edit just seen your reply in other thread great stuff!

[tetj]

A few things that might be simple to do:

1) A drawing overlay layer on the map would be neat. Nothing special, just the ability to draw in a single color and the ability to erase, toggle display by hotkey. Being able to draw lines of attack, notes, etc. on the map would help someone like me who has a hard time remembering what my plan was at the beginning! Sure, I could get a pen and paper, but I can't find a pen and I don't have space on my desk for it. It's sad really.

2) Ability to display a picture (just a single bmp or jpg would be fine) in the briefing. You'd probably need to change the briefing tab to a pop up window like the AAR, but I think it would be a great resource for scenario designers to throw in a little atmosphere, maybe a WWII style map with arrows for possible lines of attack, whatever the scenario designer wants really.

3) At least the option of displaying a unit's full name. As a newbie wargamer something like "3rd PG Coy 2nd BN 107th PZ Bde" is frankly incomprehensible. I realize that the terms are explained in the manual (and thanks for that, other games tend to leave stuff like that out of the manual), but it really sucks me out of the game when I have to look it up. In a perfect world I'd like to see it so that if I selected a unit and pressed enter a dialog would pop up with the full unit name and maybe a general overview of the unit type and what it was used for, that's probably a big job though.

Keep up the good work! ( and do a game on the Eastern Front! Next week would be good, my schedule is fairly light! )

[El Savior]

I like your wishes Tetj, specially number 2 sounds great.

It would be nice feature to add briefing picture. Also debriefing could be moddable. More freedoms for scenario makers.

[El Savior]

I have another wish for Scenario maker. It popped up in my mind after I read loyalcitizen's post.

When you create OOB's, you can choose level of cohesion, freshness, morale, etc. One button/menu would be welcome help. If you could change those levels same as edited unit by one click for all subordinate units. You can do this in Excel, but if it could be done in Scenario maker it would save time.

[Spartan07]

Having now played 3 games MP online I feel that game at normal speed is much too slow. At the next speed up it is useless if in combat. IMO we need someting between these two or at least increase the base speed by a factor of two.