Invisible Enemy Air Loss Indications

[MJY]

Dear Tech Support/Hubert,

You did such a fine job fixing the last issue I identified, that I thought I would raise another little thing that annoys me. It has to do with enemy air losses and how they are displayed on the screen.

Technically, I have two (related) issues. First, I have noticed that the little sprite that indicates enemy air losses does not always pop-up -- even though the audio file indicating enemy losses (i.e., that little explosion sound) has been triggered. At first I thought that that just meant that the enemy unit only lost a single strength point, but at other times a "1" sprite does appear. It is inconsistent. That leads me uncertain as to how many enemy units my forces actually shot down.

Second, I also find -- especially later in the war when long range tech has been developed -- that the enemy air units can be well "off the screen" when losses occur. Then you have absolutely no idea what losses were inflicted by your units. I try to remember to zoom out the screen before aircraft interceptions occur, but even then (i.e., when interceptions come from extremely long ranges or from areas that you weren't expecting and thus are not centred on the board), it still happens that you have no way of know what's happening to your opponent.

Is this intentional? Is it supposed to create uncertainty (as part of the Fog of War)?

And assuming that this is not intentionally part of the Fog of War setting, I am wondering if there is a way that more accurately could show enemy losses (e.g., a pop-up at the bottom of the screen that would show friendly and enemy losses or a combat review/summary screen).

I look forward to your response.

MJY

[El_Condoro]

+1.

I recall that in prior versions the number of strength lost would appear but now the best we get is an explosion graphic. It would be useful to get a better idea of the damage that was done - I am assuming returning pilots can give that sort of information in RL.

[Hubert Cater]

As far as I could test the animated strength loss will occur when the 'Quick Animation' option is disabled. If it is turned on then it will be skipped during all combat animations including from Hotseat, AI and PBEM++ games.

Although I could see the case to be made that it should still show the animated strength loss on your turn no matter what the 'Quick Animation' setting is and I'll look into making that change if it is not problematically tied into something else that might require me to keep it this way for some reason.

For off screen losses this is potentially tricky as the distances and ranges increase over time during game play. I think at one time the screen would jump around so you could see these losses but I think with all the air units and targets, from interceptors, escorts and attackers, it made some feel "nauseous" (like the screen was glitching all over the map) and thus the current implementation.

[El_Condoro]

Being able to turn off 'Quick Animation' is good enough for me.

[MJY]

Hubert,

No, this issue is definitely not a problem with the Quick Animation setting. I have never had that setting turned on. (I did try one turn to see what it did and I could barely follow what was happening!) It is an issue associated with the normal-speed replay. And I cannot seem to find any patter in the non-appearance of the loss sprite. Sometimes it appears and sometimes it does not. No apparent rhyme or reason.

MJY

[Hubert Cater]

Thanks and I'll see if I can repeat it and keep an eye out for it as I continue to develop/test etc.

[MJY]

Hubert,

I don't know if you can access turns of our games once they are completed. Would it help if I sent you the date or turn number of a game where this has occurred?

MJY

[Hubert Cater]

Unfortunately no, the server only holds the latest turn and I believe the previous turn in case there are issues and a turn needs to be rolled back etc.

[Taifun]

ORIGINAL: El_Condoro

+1.

I recall that in prior versions the number of strength lost would appear but now the best we get is an explosion graphic. It would be useful to get a better idea of the damage that was done - I am assuming returning pilots can give that sort of information in RL.

I have the same problem: no idea of the damage done to the enemy... It is true that the returning pilots made overestimated claims and I like the idea of fog war in the air (could the outcome be made +/-1?)