Just curious about the desert

[Plodder]

Just out of curiosity, what features are you thinking of adding for the Desert Campaigns?We'll already have mines by then so what will be the major feature? Dust?

[Grouchy]

Naah. Eddy is pushing for special rules for the italians. Something to do with extra watersupplies and pasta.

[GoodGuy]

Or what about the "typical" south-European easy-going attitude towards orders from superiors? hehe [;)]

[Plodder]

Naah. Eddy is pushing for special rules for the italians. Something to do with extra watersupplies and pasta.

LOL, shades of CNA there,[:D]

[JeffroK]

Dont forget the Chianti & Bottled Mineral Water.

[Arjuna]

Don't believe a word of it. There will definitely not be any special pasta rules.[:)]

The big feature for Desert Crusade ( DC ) will be Vehicle Breakdown & Recovery. At the moment we don't model this. DC will. It was a very real factor in the desert with more losses to breakdowns than to combat. Recovering them quickly became critical. Recovery will also extend to vehicles lost in battle thus making it important to secure the objective - only the victor will get the opportunity to recover a percentage of its losses.

[Plodder]

Cool[8D] Will you be modelling the capabilities of both sides or will it be fairly generic?The Eighth Army was fairly average at it for the first couple of years,if I recall.

[GoodGuy]

Well, there are interesting WW2 pictures of Afrika Korps troops using captured Matildas, Panzer Coys in Russia using abandoned T-34s, after painting huge Wehrmacht insignias or swastikas on the turrets. In turn, Russian troops liked Panzer IVs and loved Panthers, the latter for the punch delivered by their muzzles.
What about that ? Would be fun.

[Arjuna]

What we'll do is add extra data to the vehicle estabs to model their probability of breaking down and add extra data to Bases to handle their ability to recover and repair.

[GoodGuy]

"Sir, I regret to inform you that Welsh Guards A Coy abandoned 1 Sherman tank"

Now, THAT would be lovely

[Arjuna]

No it would be like "Sorry Gov, scratch another runner."[;)]

[GoodGuy]

Aww I wanna steal tanks![&o]

[CriticalMass]

I think, it was not the fact that the 8th Army (or the Commonwealth) troops were any less efficient at recovering vehicles, it was that the SOP was to surrender the battlefied in the evenings to move to a "safe" leaguer. This left the Germans/Axis free reign over the "bounty".

Perhaps we have another case for a new doctrine?

In fact, the British have been famous over the centuries for "acquiring" other nations belongings [;)] (hence the commonwealth).

ORIGINAL: The Plodder

Cool[8D] Will you be modelling the capabilities of both sides or will it be fairly generic?The Eighth Army was fairly average at it for the first couple of years,if I recall.

[Arjuna]

ORIGINAL: CriticalMass
In fact, the British have been famous over the centuries for "acquiring" other nations belongings [;)] (hence the commonwealth).

 
But as you say they then retired into a leager ( read EU ) and we "colonials" got to recover the goodies. [;)]

[Tommi]

Desert campaigns? Desert Crusade?! What's all this then? I thought the next game was going to be Battles From The Bulge. There's been talk of Normandy and even East Front (yess!), but this is the first time I hear of desert campaigns mentioned with HTTR series.
 
What's the current plan, where's Panther Games going to take us next (and next after that)?
 

[Trigger Happy]

Each major theater will have its games, that's what it means. But the next one is the Battle of the Bulge (after Cota that is)...

[Arjuna]

As Trigger Happy said we have five data design teams ( DDTs ) beavering away on developing the data content for future titles - East Front, West Front, Mediterranean/North Afrika, Pacific and Modern. Next cab off the rank will be Battles from the Bulge ( BFTB )( West Front ) followed by Desert Crusade ( DC ) ( Med ). After that will depend on progress by the teams. Our aim is to put one new title every six months.
 
Each title will have one new BIG feature. The new feature for BFTB will be Dynamic Map Terrain. This will allow us to simulate minefields and road blocks and also to better simulate crossings. We will also be rewriting our force group class so we can enhance the display of command structures during the game plus a few other minor items on our wish list. But we will be very focused. We want to release BFTB around Xmas.
 
For DC the new feature will be vehicle breakdown and recovery. This had a major impact on the north african battles due to the harsh wear and tear on vehicles and the high proportion of breakdowns to KOs.

[Plodder]

Are dust clouds going to be modelled at all?

[Arjuna]

No not at this stage.

[Plodder]

Probably not that relevant at this level anyway,I suppose.