Unit Depictions on Screen

[Zorachus99]

There are a few air units which have the same designation and different combat power.

You see this with Italian lend-lease as well in the german force pool. (the one I've inspected most closely

So you see planes with designations of 5's and 6's with the same model. The factor that you may not be taking into consideration is that not all air formations performed up to their full effectiveness. Some wings overperformed, some underperformed - consistently.

The first 2 Fw-190's that germany can build are a 6 and a 7 pt ftr both with a range of 6 (exceptional for german aircraft). These planes come so early they become pivotal over your usual russian campaign. A 7 pt ftr is VERY powerful in 1942, particularly when the majority of ftrs backing it up are mostly 6 with some 5 pointers. The Russians get shredded unless they do one or both of two things.
1) get lucky on air-to-air combat (insane russian comrades with their 4 pt leading fighter)
2) withdraw out of enemy ftr coverage and toward your own.

With luck some air-to-air parity will occur in '42 for the russians. Otherwise completely outclassed.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

User friendly? No.[:D]

But not right user hostile either. Here is a sample.

627,51,76,Spitfire I,Spitfire+I,1938,0,5,0,0,0,0,3,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1890,0,1890,0,2,
628,51,76,Spitfire I,Spitfire+I,1938,0,5,0,0,0,0,3,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1890,0,1890,0,2,
629,51,76,Spitfire II,Spitfire+II,1940,0,6,0,0,0,0,3,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1890,0,1890,0,2,
630,51,76,Spitfire IX,Spitfire+IX,1942,0,7,0,0,2,0,5,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1890,0,1890,0,2,
631,51,76,Spitfire IX,Spitfire+IX,1943,0,8,0,0,2,0,5,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1890,0,1890,0,2,
632,51,76,Spitfire IX,Spitfire+IX,1943,0,8,0,0,1,0,5,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1890,0,1890,0,2,
633,51,76,Spitfire VB,Spitfire+VB,1941,0,6,0,0,2,0,5,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1890,0,1890,0,2,
634,51,76,Spitfire VB,Spitfire+VB,1941,0,6,0,0,1,0,5,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1890,0,1890,0,2,
635,51,76,Spitfire VC,Spitfire+VC,1942,0,7,0,0,1,0,5,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1890,0,1890,0,2,
636,51,76,Spitfire VIII,Spitfire+VIII,1943,0,7,0,0,3,0,5,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1890,0,1890,0,2,
637,51,76,Spitfire XIV,Spitfire+XIV,1944,0,9,0,0,2,0,5,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1890,0,1890,0,2,
638,51,76,Spitfire XIV,Spitfire+XIV,1944,0,9,0,0,1,0,5,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1890,0,1890,0,2,
639,51,76,Spitfire XVI,Spitfire+XVI,1945,0,8,0,0,3,0,5,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1890,0,1890,0,2,

Unit #
51 is the code for fighters
76 is the code for United Kingdom
2nd name is for how it should be fragmented for display on the counter
Year available
Obscure binary variable
The numbers are want you want to change:
- air-to-air strength,
- air-to-sea strength,
- air-to-sea type (normal, pink, or red),
- tactical strength,
- strategic strength,
- range,

More obscure binary variables: extended range, twin engine, night, tank buster, etc.

[Neilster]

ORIGINAL: tigercub

The mk5 spit was the most produced spit of all models,but was slower {369 mph most mk5s } and had a lower climb rate than the luftwaffe pair both could dive away from the spit allmost at will. FW190a,BF109f/g in just about every war game ever made this over rated plane gets a pat on the back hey but they did fix the carby so they could dive and not stall.

But the winners write history and the loses get lost in it.

there is a hurricane x11 with a 6 rating when they came out they were no longer used in front line sevice as a fighter. rating night mare
spit mk5 rates 6 more like 5 use a mk8 for a 6 rating if you must at least i can keep my lunch down.

BF109f rates 5/6 fine
BF109g1 rates 5 dreaming try 6 or change model to the bomber attack type g6
fw190a rates 6 7 would be more like it was the best fighter in the world for more than 2 years.

The germans lost the control of the air because they were out numbered 10 to 1 not because
of better allied types for the most part.
there is a list of planes with ratings that suck a bit.
D520S 5 to high 4
PZL p24 4 to high 3
good to see that i can change the ratings my self hope it is user friendly.

Mate, try using punctuation. I can't work out WTF you are on about half the time. And it's "too" when something is "too high", not "to high".

Cheers, Neilster

[Neilster]

ORIGINAL: Zorachus99

There are a few air units which have the same designation and different combat power.

You see this with Italian lend-lease as well in the german force pool. (the one I've inspected most closely

So you see planes with designations of 5's and 6's with the same model. The factor that you may not be taking into consideration is that not all air formations performed up to their full effectiveness. Some wings overperformed, some underperformed - consistently.

The first 2 Fw-190's that germany can build are a 6 and a 7 pt ftr both with a range of 6 (exceptional for german aircraft). These planes come so early they become pivotal over your usual russian campaign. A 7 pt ftr is VERY powerful in 1942, particularly when the majority of ftrs backing it up are mostly 6 with some 5 pointers. The Russians get shredded unless they do one or both of two things.
1) get lucky on air-to-air combat (insane russian comrades with their 4 pt leading fighter)
2) withdraw out of enemy ftr coverage and toward your own.

With luck some air-to-air parity will occur in '42 for the russians. Otherwise completely outclassed.

Also, the aircraft on the counter is only that most dominant in the mix of aircraft the counter represents.

Cheers, Neilster

[Neilster]

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

User friendly? No.[:D]

But not right user hostile either. Here is a sample.

627,51,76,Spitfire I,Spitfire+I,1938,0,5,0,0,0,0,3,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1890,0,1890,0,2,
628,51,76,Spitfire I,Spitfire+I,1938,0,5,0,0,0,0,3,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1890,0,1890,0,2,
629,51,76,Spitfire II,Spitfire+II,1940,0,6,0,0,0,0,3,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1890,0,1890,0,2,
630,51,76,Spitfire IX,Spitfire+IX,1942,0,7,0,0,2,0,5,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1890,0,1890,0,2,
631,51,76,Spitfire IX,Spitfire+IX,1943,0,8,0,0,2,0,5,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1890,0,1890,0,2,
632,51,76,Spitfire IX,Spitfire+IX,1943,0,8,0,0,1,0,5,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1890,0,1890,0,2,
633,51,76,Spitfire VB,Spitfire+VB,1941,0,6,0,0,2,0,5,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1890,0,1890,0,2,
634,51,76,Spitfire VB,Spitfire+VB,1941,0,6,0,0,1,0,5,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1890,0,1890,0,2,
635,51,76,Spitfire VC,Spitfire+VC,1942,0,7,0,0,1,0,5,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1890,0,1890,0,2,
636,51,76,Spitfire VIII,Spitfire+VIII,1943,0,7,0,0,3,0,5,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1890,0,1890,0,2,
637,51,76,Spitfire XIV,Spitfire+XIV,1944,0,9,0,0,2,0,5,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1890,0,1890,0,2,
638,51,76,Spitfire XIV,Spitfire+XIV,1944,0,9,0,0,1,0,5,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1890,0,1890,0,2,
639,51,76,Spitfire XVI,Spitfire+XVI,1945,0,8,0,0,3,0,5,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1890,0,1890,0,2,

Unit #
51 is the code for fighters
76 is the code for United Kingdom
2nd name is for how it should be fragmented for display on the counter
Year available
Obscure binary variable
The numbers are want you want to change:
- air-to-air strength,
- air-to-sea strength,
- air-to-sea type (normal, pink, or red),
- tactical strength,
- strategic strength,
- range,

More obscure binary variables: extended range, twin engine, night, tank buster, etc.

Piece of piss! Looks like the Luftwaffe's going to get those jets in 1942 after all. [:D] Ho Ho Ho Ho.
Or maybe the RAF will get that Centaurus engined Tempest like they should have. [:@] Don't get me started. [:-]

Cheers, Neilster

[Shannon V. OKeets]

Here is where I am on rounding corners, shadowing, and status indicators.

1 - I have increase the shadow effect slightly.

2 - The air and naval unit bitmaps are now rounded.

3 - I tweaked the positioning of the naval bitmaps down when there is a single line of text for the name.

4 - I changed the color for HQ's supply status from dark green to teal, but it is still too hard to see.

5 - Here is a transport unit with its label underneath. I guess I'll shift the bitmap image to the left and up a bit. The same bitmap will be used for all naval transports.

6 - All these units have a light green outline (are selectable) because it is the setup phase of the Global War scenario.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

Someone asked what this loked like at different levels of zoom.

The first screen shot was at level 8. This is level 6.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

And here is level 4.

I believe the game is still quite playable at this level. Level 3 should be oktoo, if I come up with reasonable medium resolutions for the different unit types. Note that all units shown here include air, land, and naval units.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

4th in a series of 5 screen shots.

Here are the Commonwealth member nations. I have added the country abbreviations to teh air units and changed those of the land units so the colors match. The naval units are yet to be done, but that will be easy.

1 - The Indians are a problem. When I used green for their 3 letter abbreviation, it was really hard to see. The red is different - it is hard to look at. I don't want to go to white since I am using that for the Australians and the New Zealanders already. I might try making the background for the letters white. Then I could go back to green.

2 - I am still unhappy with the green and red icon for the Indians too. I have some possibilities in mind for how to improve that too.

3 - Note the different placement of the country code for the fighters and the naval air. The next screen shot shows how it looks for land based bombers.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

Last in the series.

1 - Here are theother 3 Commonwealth member nations.

2 - The HQ names aren't quite centered correctly. I'll investigate.

3 - Most of these units have no status indicators showing, only the Brits (and 1 NZ ?). I am using a debugging tool to just dump these units in the middle of Canada so the routines for determining status are struggling to make sense of things.

[Zorachus99]

I'm coming to think those status indicators were pure genius.

Shading on the top for status indicators is also an excellent by-product for knowing the status of a stack at a glance (if they all have the same status). Disrupted units show, OOS units show above or below. I love it.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: Zorachus99

I'm coming to think those status indicators were pure genius.

Shading on the top for status indicators is also an excellent by-product for knowing the status of a stack at a glance (if they all have the same status). Disrupted units show, OOS units show above or below. I love it.

Chris Marinacci originally put the status indicators into 5 (later 6) compartments. A need for more space for the bitmaps forced me to move them outside the unit's counter proper. A suggestion from a forum member got me to think of breaking the indicators into separate pieces. The shadows were at the insistence of several (many?) forum members - I really dragged my heels on that issue. Moving the shadows to the top and left was forced by limited space. Some defective code while I was developing the display showed the effect of having indicators for the units lower in the stack partially visible. Net result genius?[:D] Evolution, with the help of many people.

[Froonp]

1 - The Indians are a problem. When I used green for their 3 letter abbreviation, it was really hard to see. The red is different - it is hard to look at. I don't want to go to white since I am using that for the Australians and the New Zealanders already. I might try making the background for the letters white. Then I could go back to green.

2 - I am still unhappy with the green and red icon for the Indians too. I have some possibilities in mind for how to improve that too.

Really you should not worry here.
Indians are marvelous, they are as in the WiF FE game ! This red on blue is completely readable, and even if it is less readable somehow, remember that it is not something you need to read, it is something you need to recognize. So please leave them as they are on this shot, they are fine !

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: Froonp

1 - The Indians are a problem. When I used green for their 3 letter abbreviation, it was really hard to see. The red is different - it is hard to look at. I don't want to go to white since I am using that for the Australians and the New Zealanders already. I might try making the background for the letters white. Then I could go back to green.

2 - I am still unhappy with the green and red icon for the Indians too. I have some possibilities in mind for how to improve that too.

Really you should not worry here.
Indians are marvelous, they are as in the WiF FE game ! This red on blue is completely readable, and even if it is less readable somehow, remember that it is not something you need to read, it is something you need to recognize. So please leave them as they are on this shot, they are fine !

Ok I'll ig it. (ignore)

[Froonp]

Here is where I am on rounding corners, shadowing, and status indicators.
1 - I have increase the shadow effect slightly.
2 - The air and naval unit bitmaps are now rounded.

I am pleased with the rounding effect, it is really good for me.
The rounding and the shadow are a real step forward for me for the look & feel of the game.

3 - I tweaked the positioning of the naval bitmaps down when there is a single line of text for the name.
4 - I changed the color for HQ's supply status from dark green to teal, but it is still too hard to see.
5 - Here is a transport unit with its label underneath. I guess I'll shift the bitmap image to the left and up a bit. The same bitmap will be used for all naval transports.

About the full names (Transport, Submarine, Amphibious) on the generic counters in place of the short names (TRS, SUB, AMPH), I think that the full name is too hard to read on lower level of zooms, particulary in the setup / scrap screen where you can't change the level of zoom. This make those generic units hard to tell and a pain to choose. Maybe it will improve with the graphic, but without the graphic it is a real pain.

I think that reverting back to the shorts abreviated terms would be better.
Once again, the important thing here is to recognize things, not to read them.
TRS, AMPH, SUB, it's easy to be accustomed to these, and to recognize them instantly.

Just my opinion on this.

Also.
Maybe you can offer the option of seeing generic graphics (for the people with computers with low performances, or those with poor OS who can load a small number of bitmaps [X(]) for the ships & planes. A graphic similar to the graphics that we can find on the back of the real counters would be good.

Cheers !
Patrice

[Shannon V. OKeets]

"A graphic similar to the graphics that we can find on the back of the real counters would be good. "

Excellent idea. I'll have the graphics artist lift some of them off the counter sheets and I'll use them for medium resolution for the air and naval units.

[qgaliana]

Wonderful looking stuff!

Just one quibble - the inidcators are tough to pick out as a solid colour, especially at lower zoom (I do have some colour blindness issues btw). If they're just a bitmap can you see if some shading/highliting can make them more lamp like so they stick out more?

Oops -saw someone working on that on the other thread - carry on[:'(]

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: qgaliana

Wonderful looking stuff!

Just one quibble - the inidcators are tough to pick out as a solid colour, especially at lower zoom (I do have some colour blindness issues btw). If they're just a bitmap can you see if some shading/highliting can make them more lamp like so they stick out more?

Oops -saw someone working on that on the other thread - carry on[:'(]

It's far better for me to hear it twice than not at all. I am especially interested in the comments of players with "color blindness issues". You see, I can't see the colors they way you do, so I am blind to the color blind differences - so to speak.

[oldtimer]

I am "Color-Blind" and I can see most of the colors you have (I assume), but I have found it difficult to see the green dot in the upper left of a counter against certain terrain.

Example the transport counter, PBY-5, the 3-4 division, 1-5 engineer, and the 2-3 Infantry.
(Shannon's Post # 567 in case the pic fails to embed)

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: oldtimer
I am "Color-Blind" and I can see most of the colors you have (I assume), but I have found it difficult to see the green dot in the upper left of a counter against certain terrain.

Example the transport counter, PBY-5, the 3-4 division, 1-5 engineer, and the 2-3 Infantry.
(Shannon's Post # 567 in case the pic fails to embed)

Thanks.

I intend to replace the uniform color status indicators with a highlighted version. Hopefully adding a little bright spot and some blending around it will them easier for everybody to see.

Once I post the improved versions (which will not be for a while), please let me know yeah or nay on them - from your point of view.