Couple questions...

The new Cold War turned hot wargame from On Target Simulations, now expanded with the Player's Edition! Choose the NATO or Soviet forces in one of many scenarios or two linked campaigns. No effort was spared to model modern warfare realistically, including armor, infantry, helicopters, air support, artillery, electronic warfare, chemical and nuclear weapons. An innovative new asynchronous turn order means that OODA loops and various effects on C3 are accurately modeled as never before.

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Grim.Reaper
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Couple questions...

Post by Grim.Reaper »

Hello, couple quick questions.

1). When you are giving waypoint move orders to a unit, it appears the right click map move feature is disabled. In some cases not an issue, but when your waypoints you want to set are off screen it makes it a little harder. I can zoom out to make it work but would great if this move method was still enabled. Is this disabled on purpose or a bug?

2). During an operation phase, you get messages that reinforcements have arrived. Let's say they arrive in the first few minutes of the phase, it does not seem you can pause the phase to give orders to those new units. I am assuming that is by design. However, why show reinforcements arriving at a specific time during an active phase if you can't give them orders? Why not just wait until the end of the phase to show them? By showing them it gives me the impression I should be able to use them at that point. I am sure there is a good reason so just curious.

Thanks.
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Mad Russian
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RE: Couple questions...

Post by Mad Russian »

2) And just how long will your orders phase be?

Since the orders phase is set by several different criteria I couldn't make them come in exactly when they will give everybody the ability to give them orders the minute they arrive. Once I figured that out I stopped worrying about when they arrive.

In real life, without fail, a commander is told when he will be reinforced. Also without fail, they don't arrive on time 25 times for every 1 they get right. Seeing your reinforcements can help you to form a plan as you watch the action and help you get a better idea of what you might to do in the coming orders phase.



Good Hunting.

MR
The most expensive thing in the world is free time.

Founder of HSG scenario design group for Combat Mission.
Panzer Command Ostfront Development Team.
Flashpoint Campaigns: Red Storm Development Team.
RockKahn
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RE: Couple questions...

Post by RockKahn »

ORIGINAL: Grim.Reaper

1). When you are giving waypoint move orders to a unit, it appears the right click map move feature is disabled. In some cases not an issue, but when your waypoints you want to set are off screen it makes it a little harder. I can zoom out to make it work but would great if this move method was still enabled. Is this disabled on purpose or a bug?

If you move the cursor close to the edge of the map, the map will scroll while placing waypoints. You can also click on the minimap in the lower right corner.
I don't write Universal Law. I just live by it.
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CapnDarwin
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RE: Couple questions...

Post by CapnDarwin »

Grim,

1. By design. The map is moved by a left click drag and so is placement of waypoints. As stated above, I use the map edge scroll if I need to move the map or zoom out before doing the order.

2. MR hits it dead on. No way to precisely gauge when the forces show up. There has been some thought about pausing for orders, but you can't do this easily in multiplayer. You could also just wait to dump them at the end of the command cycle too. We discussed that as well. The one set of units that can work without you are arty units. If the FSCC is on they can be given missions if in range of targets.
OTS is looking forward to Southern Storm getting released!

Cap'n Darwin aka Jim Snyder
On Target Simulations LTD
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Grim.Reaper
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RE: Couple questions...

Post by Grim.Reaper »

Thanks guys for the answers and completely understand the decisions...not a big deal. Just a bummer when you get reinforcements early in the phase (first part of it) and you have to wait until the next phase to unleash its power:) I think the fact they get announced during the phase just gives the impression of being usable, versus getting them at the end of the phase. On your last part about artillery, are you saying if they arrive in the middle of the phase and FSCC is turned on, they actually will participate in the current phase versus waiting until the next? Although that might be a little disconnected from other units (i.e. the other units have to wait for orders until next phase while artillery can execute in current phase), I guess at least some of the power can be utilized right away:)

As for the scrolling, my scrolling is a little jumpy when I scroll and have to hit the edge just right so that is why I like the drag method better. But again, I am sure I'll get use to the edge scroll for these circumstances.

These are just minor items so no big issue for me...I am not a great micro manager of detailed games so enjoying the fact that is not required with this game. Nice job.
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Mad Russian
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RE: Couple questions...

Post by Mad Russian »

Yes, if you have the FSCC turned on it will assign artillery missions to newly on map artillery.

Good Hunting.

MR
The most expensive thing in the world is free time.

Founder of HSG scenario design group for Combat Mission.
Panzer Command Ostfront Development Team.
Flashpoint Campaigns: Red Storm Development Team.
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cbelva
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RE: Couple questions...

Post by cbelva »

ORIGINAL: Grim.Reaper

Thanks guys for the answers and completely understand the decisions...not a big deal. Just a bummer when you get reinforcements early in the phase (first part of it) and you have to wait until the next phase to unleash its power:) I think the fact they get announced during the phase just gives the impression of being usable, versus getting them at the end of the phase. On your last part about artillery, are you saying if they arrive in the middle of the phase and FSCC is turned on, they actually will participate in the current phase versus waiting until the next? Although that might be a little disconnected from other units (i.e. the other units have to wait for orders until next phase while artillery can execute in current phase), I guess at least some of the power can be utilized right away:)

As for the scrolling, my scrolling is a little jumpy when I scroll and have to hit the edge just right so that is why I like the drag method better. But again, I am sure I'll get use to the edge scroll for these circumstances.

These are just minor items so no big issue for me...I am not a great micro manager of detailed games so enjoying the fact that is not required with this game. Nice job.
What is worst is having your reinforcements arrive at the beginning of the turn resolution and when you are finally able to give them orders having the program impose a movement delay penalty on them. You then have to watch them sit there for another turn or so. In the early testing that was what was happening. I used to scream at my reinforcements just sitting there on the edge of the map for two or three turns before they moved.

You can adjust the scrolling parameter in the player preferences.
Charles Belva
On Target Simulations LLC
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Grim.Reaper
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RE: Couple questions...

Post by Grim.Reaper »

ORIGINAL: cbelva
ORIGINAL: Grim.Reaper

Thanks guys for the answers and completely understand the decisions...not a big deal. Just a bummer when you get reinforcements early in the phase (first part of it) and you have to wait until the next phase to unleash its power:) I think the fact they get announced during the phase just gives the impression of being usable, versus getting them at the end of the phase. On your last part about artillery, are you saying if they arrive in the middle of the phase and FSCC is turned on, they actually will participate in the current phase versus waiting until the next? Although that might be a little disconnected from other units (i.e. the other units have to wait for orders until next phase while artillery can execute in current phase), I guess at least some of the power can be utilized right away:)

As for the scrolling, my scrolling is a little jumpy when I scroll and have to hit the edge just right so that is why I like the drag method better. But again, I am sure I'll get use to the edge scroll for these circumstances.

These are just minor items so no big issue for me...I am not a great micro manager of detailed games so enjoying the fact that is not required with this game. Nice job.
What is worst is having your reinforcements arrive at the beginning of the turn resolution and when you are finally able to give them orders having the program impose a movement delay penalty on them. You then have to watch them sit there for another turn or so. In the early testing that was what was happening. I used to scream at my reinforcements just sitting there on the edge of the map for two or three turns before they moved.

You can adjust the scrolling parameter in the player preferences.

As for the scrolling preferences, can you possibly explain what those options mean? Not sure how to change them in order to improve my scrolling. Looks very customizable, just not sure how to adjust.
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cbelva
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RE: Couple questions...

Post by cbelva »

Ok, maybe this will help or not. I am attaching a pix showing how I understand the scrolling options. Personally, I have never had a problem with the defaults and have seen no need to touch them. I don't know how long a "tick" is.


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Charles Belva
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Grim.Reaper
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RE: Couple questions...

Post by Grim.Reaper »

Thank you...will try playing withe settings to see if I can tweak.
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CapnDarwin
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RE: Couple questions...

Post by CapnDarwin »

That particular dialog is going to get updated for the first update with some more information like Charles just posted to try to make it clearer to the players.
OTS is looking forward to Southern Storm getting released!

Cap'n Darwin aka Jim Snyder
On Target Simulations LTD
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Grim.Reaper
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RE: Couple questions...

Post by Grim.Reaper »

ORIGINAL: Capn Darwin

That particular dialog is going to get updated for the first update with some more information like Charles just posted to try to make it clearer to the players.


Great support...really appreciate it. Seems like it has a lot of customization once you know how to use it. Thanks again.
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Grim.Reaper
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RE: Couple questions...

Post by Grim.Reaper »

Had a quick follow on question about reinforcements....during a number of the scenarios, it appears reinforcements enter the game in the middle of the map, not from the edges.  Just curious what this represents.  Are these units being "dropped" in?  It seems all kinds of units enter this way, so not sure if it does represent being dropped in.  I would have thought most reinforcements would come from the edges so just wasn't sure what this setup represented.  Thanks!
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Mad Russian
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RE: Couple questions...

Post by Mad Russian »

Which scenarios are you referring to? Those were probably done by the Cap'n....surely, I wouldn't have done something like that....

Good Hunting.

MR
The most expensive thing in the world is free time.

Founder of HSG scenario design group for Combat Mission.
Panzer Command Ostfront Development Team.
Flashpoint Campaigns: Red Storm Development Team.
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CapnDarwin
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RE: Couple questions...

Post by CapnDarwin »

Time to Dance does that! [:-] By design as MR can explain I'm sure. Most other reinforcements come in on the map edge.
OTS is looking forward to Southern Storm getting released!

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On Target Simulations LTD
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Grim.Reaper
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RE: Couple questions...

Post by Grim.Reaper »

Now my curiosity it is really peaked as to why done this way:). Time to dance is one I was referring.
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CapnDarwin
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RE: Couple questions...

Post by CapnDarwin »

I'll steal MR's thunder knowing he is still probably at work. [:D]

In a "Time to Dance", the NATO forces are based just north of the city there on the map. They "pop up" as they wake up and get there gear since they were caught basically in party mode.

He can clarify from there. Personally a very cool use of the mechanic in my opinion. [&o]
OTS is looking forward to Southern Storm getting released!

Cap'n Darwin aka Jim Snyder
On Target Simulations LTD
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Grim.Reaper
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RE: Couple questions...

Post by Grim.Reaper »

Gotcha...thanks for the clarification.
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