Getting worried!

[RSGodfrey]

I play the current version of BtR and DtR.
Following the development of EDtBtR I get the impression that micromanagement and work-load of the player is going to be increased. One of the reasons I have reluctantly avoided WitP is for this very reason, that having a busy professional life I just dont have the time to spend hours in front of a screen playing games at a single sitting.

Its ok having this level of detail if it also accommodates players like myself who need the facility to take shortcuts. For example, I dont want to have to peruse every pilot and squadron when forming raids. Some players will rightly want this micromanagement but the game architecture and gui should be flexible enough to cater for grognards and beer and pretzel players.

Is this, or will this be possible?

cheers

Richard

[Hard Sarge]

LOL, you got me on DtR, not sure which one that is

if you have played BTR before and can handle it, then there is nothing HARDer in our verison that you would have to learn or do

you still plot missions the same way, only you can use more waypoints if you want, or not

you still add units to the raid the same way

Recon is still set up the same way, only you get a chance to take around 5 pictures in the general area, instead of just one, so in the long run, Recon should be easier to manage

there may be more pilot and plane types and units, but if you don't want to look at pilots, you don't have to, the game handles them just fine

I would say there is more detail to the game, but not to how you have to play it ?

I been trying to show some of the stuff that is there, you don't have to open those screens every raid or every turn, LOL, I found out a screen that I had never seen before, and it has been in the game since it came out, and I have been a HARD core fan since day one

if you have more questions or concerns, please post/ask, and I will try and see if I can explain how it works, or works different then in the old BTR game

[harley]

ORIGINAL: RSGodfrey

For example, I dont want to have to peruse every pilot and squadron when forming raids.

Is this, or will this be possible?

cheers

Richard

It always has been in the game - the AI can plot induhvidual raids to one target and auto-assign Fighters, Bombers, Alt, TOT and route. You could also plot a raid group to set multiple raids to one city, or just leave one or more commands on Computer control - you can manage the VIII AF, but leave 2TAC or the IXAF to the AI to manage...

[jjjanos]

I been trying to show some of the stuff that is there, you don't have to open those screens every raid or every turn, LOL, I found out a screen that I had never seen before, and it has been in the game since it came out, and I have been a HARD core fan since day one

Hey! Which one is that and how do I get to it?

What would be VERY helpful when selecting squadrons to include would be the average pilot fatigue.

At the moment, AFAIK, you get experience and morale, but it's fatigue that determines how likely it is that the pilot will auger into the ground on landing. I've seen 65+ morale units with fatigue of 20+ and 40- morale units with no fatiuge at all.

[Fred98]

I played Uncommon Valour for 4 years by PBEM and thoroughly enjoyed it! I only retired it recently.
 
I bought WitP  but have not played it. Too much micromanagement.
 
I have seen screen shots of these games and have the same concern about micromanagement  - and thats why i started the thread about Defending the reich.
 
 
 
 

[Justascratch]

I think Matrix does a wonderful job rating their games on a complexity scale. For me, micromanagement is a pleasurable part of the playing experience. To really understand the unit database & terrain effects, supply chains etc. and then be provided with the tools that allow me to translate that understanding into powerful strategies draws me to a game.

Even so, I still purchase less complex for those times when I just don't feel like dealing with all the facts and figures and just want the game to move quickly.

I think Matrix has struck a good balance init's line of games with the bulk of them falling into the beginner & Intermediate catagory and a few "gems" available for those of us that look for glory in the details.

Still, it does make one wonder why with all the machine cycles and memory availabe in modern PC's games still have so little "setup level" controls designed to control micromanagement issues. This area of game development is improving, but think how cool it would be to setup WITP to play as the artfully programmed master strategy game it is or as a beer and pretzel romp!

[Hard Sarge]

Interesting idea, only we are stuck with the engine we got, so while we are able to change and make the engine do more of what we want it to do, we are still using the same engine

Forge of Freedom, may be a game you will want to look at, it has all kinds of player controlled settings for how you want to play it

[Fred98]

Ultimately an example of a turn routiune would be usefull.  All I know about the game to date is how to spell it.
 
Take mouse in hand.
Clich here and check this
Click there and check that
etc etc
Make decision......
 
 

[Hard Sarge]

we could try to do that

I not sure if it would really help, or hunt

I mean, back in the day, I could play pacwar in my sleep, but don't think I could explain how to set up a turn, with out totally confusing someone who had never played the game, it made sense to you, but it was totally confusing to them

okay for BTR, you start the game and decide to be the Allies

the game starts and the map shows up (map is the basic game view)

on top of screen (used to be on the side) are a set of buttons, with different things you can do, or screens you can go to

lets plot a raid

click BOMBING MISSION

the top will change a little bit to only have the bottons needed

click on primary target botton, and then click on the target you want to bomb (one of the extra bottons is list targets, and you can also plot from this screen if you want)

so say, Paris RR is going to be your target, a line will show up from the nearest base to the target, showing the path the raid will take

you then have a choice of what to do next, you can set the way points, change your alt or pick who will lead the raid

the way I normally do it, I pick the raid leader, click that botton pick lead unit, and a screen comes up showing what units can lead a raid to that target (most can, some can not) lets pick a PF unit (a small highly trained unit) then click on done, more bottons now show up on the top

add bombers units is the botton we want

it will list all the bombers that can fly with the lead unit, and is sortable, if you want to sort it
you can click on each unit on the list or only as many as you want to send, a running tally will show up, showing how many bombers are in the raid, so lets click on 3 BG's to add them to the raid, that would give you around 100 bombers, click done

now click on add fighters

a screen will come up with all the fighters that can escourt this mission

default is Close Escourt, or you can click on High Escourt, with will put them at lest 2000 ft above the raid, you can change this to higher if you want, or you can leave it alone

you can also, set a delay for when the fighters should take off compared to the bombers (helpful for deep raids)

(you can also set the time while on the map, you right click on the path line and the fighter will show up there instead, how far the fighter can fly with combat gas will show up as a green line, to help you judge how the raid is covered)

when you added enough fighters to make you happy, hit done

you can set the alt of the raid if you want, default is 20000, good alt, a little high if flying Med bombers, but heavy bombers can go higher

you can set a 2ndary target, or you can set your way points

again, we have bottons for each way point, or you can right click and drag on the map (that is how I do it)

you also can set the time the raid should take off

when done, click either next mission, or finish

plot as many missions as you want, or you have units able to fly and then you can either check your missions, they are also sortable, you can see what time they should be reaching the targets, what alt, what time they are taking off

close that, and hit end plotting and go to the turn

as the Allies you click on start, and then pretty much sit back and watch what happens, if you playing as the GE, now you are active

the Allied player plots his turn and then has no more control over his turn, the GE player reacts to what the Allied player plotted

(BoB is the other way around)

you can also set each command or any command under computer control, or you also have a staff that you can tell the basics to and it will plot what you want it to, you can tell it to plot one mission, or tell it to plot all missions, you can set the range it will target up to, you can set the target type

really, it is much simpler then it may sound

did that help ?

need more ??

[SMK-at-work]

Pretty much the same as USAAF and Fighter Command from the early 1980's then!! [:D][:D][:D]

[Hard Sarge]

once you are used to it, it is 2nd nature and you don't even think about it anymore

LOL, I had to keep going back to the game to write what to do, as I just know it

plus, it can be pretty painless, or as detailed as you want it to get