REnames

[robot]

Need some help here in changing names of Co. and squads. Playing marines in 1942 pacific. I have 3 Cos of foot stompers. Each platoon has 3squads of grunts incuding a bar sq and a heavy machine gun squad. Also included is a platoon of four squads of engineers. Want to desingnate each platoon as say Co A 1St Platton 1st Squad. Any way I can get this in the space allowed for name change. Is there some kind of numerical way to do this and still designate the HQ also The bar and HMG squad. Any help would be appreciated thank you.

[Redleg]

You'll most likely have to come up with some abbreviations and hope the player understands them.

For example, 1st Squad, 1st Platoon, A Company might have to look something like this:
1Sqd 1Plat A Coy (I didn't count the spaces).

A tough problem.

[Orzel Bialy]

1sq/1plt/A-co

or something like this to save even more space ( i think this is right) lol

I/I/A

anyway...just suggestions.

[KG Erwin]

..would be 1/1/A, 2/1/A, etc. where 1/1/A is 1st Squad/1st Platoon/ A Company . When I play as USMC I go somewhat ahistorical and use regiment designations for companies and battalion designations for companies. For example, the 1st company HQ would be designated 1 Marines HQ. The Platoons are A, B and C, and the squads are 1A, 2A , etc. Technically speaking, the Weapons Company in the Battalion is Company D, but I tend to assign HMG and MMG sections to each platoon. The Battalion Weapons Company was abolished in the "E" series of Marine Divisions in 1943 anyway. There are some good websites that go into Marine organizations and their war-time changes. The USMC went through almost as many TOE changes as the German Panzer & PanzerGrenadier Divisions during the course of the war, and if you wanna play a long campaign, I've learned that it's best to start with your "ideal" end of war OOB for your battalion and then work your way backwards to the initial core setup. One of the best sites I've found for USMC OOB info is here: http://www.stormpages.com/garyjkennedy/index.htm Once you get some background info, you can tailor your force as best suits you. Strictly historical designations don't always work, but I have my own preferences in that category. I've always liked using the Chlanda OOB Editor to redesignate units AND commanders when I can find the names of the actual historical people to fill out my command organization.

[Irinami]

Try this:

The first comapany is 1 Co. Let's say it starts with B0.

B0-100 HQ

C0-110 HQ
C1-111 Inf(41)
C2-112 Inf(41)
C3-113 Inf(41)
C4-114 Inf(BAR)

D0-120 HQ
D1-121 Inf(41)
D2-122 Inf(41)
D3-123 Inf(41)
D4-124 Inf(BAR)

E0-130 HQ
E1-131 Inf(41)
E2-132 Inf(41)
E3-133 Inf(41)
E4-134 Inf(BAR)

F0-140 Weap(1917M)
F1-141 Weap(1917M)
F2-142 Weap(1917M)
F3-143 Weap(1917M)

Thus the Company is 1st Company, D-Platoon is 12th Platoon, B0 is 100th HQ Squad, E0 is the 130th HQ Squad, E1 is the 131st Infantry squad, F3 is the 143rd Weapons Squad, etc.

The 41 stands for 1941 infantry (this can help sometimes); the 1917M stands for the 1917Medium MG, and BAR stands obviously for Browning Automatic Rifle.

This really helped reorganizing my units in my long WWII campaign. It helps to separate the 70-xp units from the 90-100xp units.

[KG Erwin]

...but, of course, each time you upgrade your core force you have to save the next scenario in the deploy stage, go back to the Editor, and rename your units. Save that, overwriting the scen info, and then play the scenario with your newly designated units. The Chlanda editor is also a good way to track the experience levels of your core force from one scenario to the next. The Campaign Watcher program was a good feature in previous versions of SPWaW, but I can't get it to work in 7.1, for reasons unknown.

[Irinami]

KG Erwin? Just hit space on the unit during deploy, click on it's name, and you can type in a new unit name. Viola! Took me nary an hour to rename my company, compared to the 2 hours the following battle took me (thanks in no small part to being able to send 2 full SS Platoons of only 90+xp units to exploit the situation my Panzers had created). Normally that battle would've taken 3-5 hours. Of course, being able to keep my units straight when I got excited helped, too.

[KG Erwin]

Yeah, I know you can do that, Iranami, but saving and using the Editor to rename units actually saves some typing. Either way is OK, but I generally like to save the first turn of each battle in case of a game crash.

[challenge]

And I found it to be incredibly annoying. Not just to do, but to keep track of. While it does help keep the formations straight in your eyes, they allow the opposition to keep your formations straight as well. The name of the unit is what the opposition player sees when looking at one of your units. In an formation where it says Platoon Leader, or what ever it might be good to change them; otherwise I think it may be self defeating.

Of course, when I tried it I was just starting in the game and found out I couldn't tell one AVF from another without a scorecard. Now I do better, but I prefer not giving my opponant the advantage of knowing which of my units are the Platoon command, company command, etc.

[Capt. Pixel]

Originally posted by challenge
.... While it does help keep the formations straight in your eyes, they allow the opposition to keep your formations straight as well. ...

"I did thins..." huh?

That is one of my issues about naming and renaming units. Why should my opponent know which unit is my British platoon HQ? Do they wear different helmets or sumpin'? (Of course, it IS the British. Perhaps all the Sergeant Majors wear kilts. :rolleyes: )

Therefore, I prefer to rename some units (like my HQ) so that it's not as readily obvious to my opponent who's in command.

Disclaimer -

This method should NOT be used unless both players are aware of this option and understand the consequences of using it.

This is very tricky and should only be done by professional stunt persons.

Do not try this at home. Your milage may vary.

I have one opponent I do this to on a regular basis. And you know what? He still shoots at my men.

[Irinami]

HQ units will be armed different, have different kit, and a different bearing. In general, YMMV.

[KG Erwin]

I wasn't aware that's what all of this was about--I don't bother with C & C--then again, I don't play PBEM. In this case, there may be an argument for "dummy" units designated as HQs but with no units under command--if the opposing player in a PBEM can view your OOB then this wouldn't be useful--am I on the wrong track here? In you send turns, then it seems apparent that the Chlanda OOB editor can be used to examine all units of both sides. Enlighten me, PBEM players.

[challenge]

Fire up any scenario and when you put the cursor over the enemy unit you get the name; right click, you get the unit type and a brief list of what it's got. The name of a unit -- ie: Pzkw VI B, or GE Engineer Squad, -- is plainly visable. So if you rename the unit by Company and Platoon, you give your enemy intel about where it falls in the chain of command. Of course if you give them tricky names you can confuse the daylights out of them... and yourself.

Using the editor to view stuff isn't just tacky, it's cheating. The trick of finding the command unit and concentrating fire on it, however, does work as well against a human as the AI -- better since the AI tends to keep it's A0 out of the line of fire and some humans don't. This is why I will often change the name of the A0 unit from HQ to something else.

This is a seperate thing from Command and Control. C&C follows the chain of command, and names can help you figure out where the platoon/company command units are. Take out the unit and you disrupt the chain. A squad without a radio, for example, may replace the lead squad or command that has one. At that point the platoon is out of contact with the rest of the chain so it can't get additional C&C points if it uses up its own; can't call Artillery, etc. when out of contact.

The command unit at each level is pretty valuable.

[Capt. Pixel]

Sometimes, I'll rename my Command Post to 'Just a tent' (this really confuses motorcycle squads and Partisans) :p

It's also fun to 'personalize' your armor. Change those Shermans from the sterile M4A3 Sherman to 'Betty's Revenge', 'Wild Wilma' or 'Das Krunchmeister' (Just like in 'The Raiders Ride to Work' scenario)

Used in small doses, renaming can be fun and even helpful (renaming HQs). But used in excess, it can get confusing and even detrimental. Using Btn/Plt/Sqd designations might make it easier for you to organize, but it tells the opponent too much about your force structure.

Try this. In the middle of the game, rename half of your units. That forest full of Airborne you've been battling, has suddenly been 'reinforced' with platoons of 'Rangers'.(nudge:nudge )

(Okay, we've been through this before. I'm a sick puppy with too much time on my hands. But some of this IS pretty funny.)