Leader Descriptions

[fbastos]

Folks,

These descriptions seem to be useless, as they seem to just reflect the leadership values:

01-19: Inexperienced
20-39: Adequate
40-59: Promising
60-79: Very Promising
80-99: Brilliant

Did I get it right? Combat skill and the other stuff don't seem to affect that in anything, so you can have a quite brilliant but land-skill-incompetent land commander.

Thanks,
F.

PS: By useless I mean that they do not add any new information; it's easier to just look at the Leadership rather than trying to imagine if one promising commander is more promising than the other one...

[Mike Wood]

Hello...

No, the leader descriptions are text descriptions of a variety of characteristics. The specific characteristics tested in the descriptions depends on the leader type.

So, for a very aggressive fellow, with a high air skill and at least moderate administrative skills, the text "He is best qualified to command a fighter squadron" will appear. Each type of group, army and task force have different requirements.

A "quite brilliant, but land-skill-incompetent fellow" will be a poor leader. Being brilliant, he will learn and adapt to new situations more quickly.

Having written this bit of the code and much of the leadership code, I know you can trust the written description. It was added to help you choose commanders.

You can choose to select the Leadership or the Inspiration quality above all. It will not always provide the best leader. Leadership and Inspiration can be thought of as reputation. The text describing the leader is an evaluation based on his service record. They are not the same thing.

Hope this Helps...

Michael Wood

ORIGINAL: fbastos

Folks,

These descriptions seem to be useless, as they seem to just reflect the leadership values:

01-19: Inexperienced
20-39: Adequate
40-59: Promising
60-79: Very Promising
80-99: Brilliant

Did I get it right? Combat skill and the other stuff don't seem to affect that in anything, so you can have a quite brilliant but land-skill-incompetent land commander.

Thanks,
F.

PS: By useless I mean that they do not add any new information; it's easier to just look at the Leadership rather than trying to imagine if one promising commander is more promising than the other one...

[Culiacan Mexico]

ORIGINAL: Mike Wood
Hello...

…Having written this bit of the code and much of the leadership code, I know you can trust the written description. It was added to help you choose commanders.

…You can choose to select the Leadership or the Inspiration quality above all. It will not always provide the best leader… Hope this Helps...

It does for me. You can’t get much more definitive that the man who wrote the code. [:)]

[Black Cat]

ORIGINAL: Mike Wood

Hello...

No, the leader descriptions are text descriptions of a variety of characteristics. The specific characteristics tested in the descriptions depends on the leader type.

So, for a very aggressive fellow, with a high air skill and at least moderate administrative skills, the text "He is best qualified to command a fighter squadron" will appear. Each type of group, army and task force have different requirements.

A "quite brilliant, but land-skill-incompetent fellow" will be a poor leader. Being brilliant, he will learn and adapt to new situations more quickly.

Having written this bit of the code and much of the leadership code, I know you can trust the written description. It was added to help you choose commanders.

You can choose to select the Leadership or the Inspiration quality above all. It will not always provide the best leader. Leadership and Inspiration can be thought of as reputation. The text describing the leader is an evaluation based on his service record. They are not the same thing.

Hope this Helps...

Michael Wood

ORIGINAL: fbastos

Folks,

These descriptions seem to be useless, as they seem to just reflect the leadership values:

01-19: Inexperienced
20-39: Adequate
40-59: Promising
60-79: Very Promising
80-99: Brilliant

Did I get it right? Combat skill and the other stuff don't seem to affect that in anything, so you can have a quite brilliant but land-skill-incompetent land commander.

Thanks,
F.

PS: By useless I mean that they do not add any new information; it's easier to just look at the Leadership rather than trying to imagine if one promising commander is more promising than the other one...

Hi Mike.

Is there any way to provide us a downloadable txt. file with all the Commanders and their attributes ?

We could then have at least a hard copy to reference and this would save a huge amount of clicking through the Commanders lists looking at each guy. I really appreciate all the hard work you put into this and like the concept and use it all the time.

I`m sure this would be greatly apprecated by all of us.

[carnifex]

Mike, as long as we got you in this thread, can you provide some insight as to the actual effect of Insipiration?

The manual states it benefits attached leaders. How? Also, what is attached? In the same TF? Same Air Group? Within command range?

Thanks.

[Bradley7735]

Hi Mike,

Sorry to bother you, but since you wrote the code, you might know the answer.

I was choosing commanders for LCU's in the China theatre (for allies). Sometimes the description said that the commander was best suited for an "Assault" unit. And sometimes it said the commander was best suited for a "front line Combat" (not 100% sure it's combat, but I'm sure it's some offensive unit) unit.

What is the difference between an Assault unit and a front line Combat unit? I know that HQ units are different than Assault and Combat, since some leaders say front line HQ or Rear HQ.

Thanks, Brad

[fbastos]

Hello, Mike,

Many thanks! I take back my question...

/bow
F.

PS: Hope you don't mind I asking such things; as I said in other thread, everything in the game seems to have a very well though meaning, so I always ask when things don't seem to make sense (it may indicate that I got it wrong).

PS II: Halleluhjah! Finally a confirmation that Administrative skill is used in the game! Hooray!

PS III: Kinda bad we can't directly see the administrative or combat skills, though..

[DrewMatrix]

Do the leader's qualities change over the course of the game, or do they always remain as in the initial Scenario database.

[fbastos]

I think that rear-area leaders gain weight with time, while combat commanders change in a faster way: first lose the right eye, then the left ear, then a finger, etc...
[X(]

Hail Douglas Bader! [&o]

[byron13]

For the typical line doggie, the description is that he's a promising and careful officer. Some are "very," which I guess is a good thing. I guess careful is supposed to be a good thing, though it borders on cautious in my mind. A few are aggressive or cautious. but 90% are either promising/careful or very promising/careful. Other than a hint that they should be fighter leaders or assault unit leaders or surface fleet commanders, 90% all look the same. If the inspiration and leadership don't mean much, then there's really not a lot separating one from another that we can tell. If someone is best qualified to be a bomber weenie, does that mean he brings positive attributes to a bomber outfit, or is he just not good enough to be a fighter jock?

I guess the best we can do is put the very promising and careful people with the important units (unless aggressive is called for) and try to match assault units to assault leaders.

I would have hoped to have had a little more information for placing unit leaders.

[Mike Wood]

Hello...

No. No downloadable text file. The beginning raw characteristics are listed in the data base. Some kind soul might export them to Excel, for you.

Addition of a filters for leader selection screens is on the feature request list. If we are able to get to it, the filters would help.

Bye...

Michael Wood

ORIGINAL: Black Cat

Hi Mike.

Is there any way to provide us a downloadable txt. file with all the Commanders and their attributes ?

We could then have at least a hard copy to reference and this would save a huge amount of clicking through the Commanders lists looking at each guy. I really appreciate all the hard work you put into this and like the concept and use it all the time.

I`m sure this would be greatly apprecated by all of us.

[Mike Wood]

Hello...

Not much. Inspiration, administration and the other characteristics are used in hundreds of calculations. But, leaders with a high Inspiration characteristic help keep morale high in air groups, help keep task forces together in naval combat and help in agressive attacks, such as Assault.

The leader helps the unit to which he is attached. You can tell what unit that is, because his name is written on the orders screen. In the case of a headquarters unit, he will help out all appropriate units within range of the headquarters unit.

Bye...

Michael Wood

ORIGINAL: carnifex

Mike, as long as we got you in this thread, can you provide some insight as to the actual effect of Insipiration?

The manual states it benefits attached leaders. How? Also, what is attached? In the same TF? Same Air Group? Within command range?

Thanks.

[Mike Wood]

Hello...

An assault unit is one with which you plan on assaulting an enemy unit. The leader will have a very high aggressiveness and a good land based skill. Administration, naval and air skills are not very important, in his case. A leader rated more front line combat or combat units will have a high land combat skill, at least a fair administrative skill and some air skill (for AA placement). A leader rated for HQ units will have a higher Administrative skill and a good land combat skill, with some skill in naval and air, as he may have a variety of units within his command radius.

Bye...

Michael Wood

ORIGINAL: Bradley7735

Hi Mike,

Sorry to bother you, but since you wrote the code, you might know the answer.

I was choosing commanders for LCU's in the China theatre (for allies). Sometimes the description said that the commander was best suited for an "Assault" unit. And sometimes it said the commander was best suited for a "front line Combat" (not 100% sure it's combat, but I'm sure it's some offensive unit) unit.

What is the difference between an Assault unit and a front line Combat unit? I know that HQ units are different than Assault and Combat, since some leaders say front line HQ or Rear HQ.

Thanks, Brad

[Mike Wood]

Hello...

Leader characteristics may slowly change during the campaign. When this happens, the text description will change.

Bye...

Michael Wood

ORIGINAL: Beezle

Do the leader's qualities change over the course of the game, or do they always remain as in the initial Scenario database.

[Mike Wood]

Hello...

We tried to give the player about the same information he would have, were he the theatre commander, so he could role play, instead of number crunch. The values can be viewed by loading the scenario into the data base editor, if he is so inclined.

As far as what type the player might place in command of a unit, I think the purpose and unit orders would influence the players choice.

The "bomber weenie" generally has a lower air skill and aggressiveness than the fighter commander, but a higher land combat skill (knows where in the infantry might hide and can bomb them better). I usually select a "promising" fellow with a good Inspiration (55% to 60%) and at least an average Leadership (50%+). If I plan on using the group for long range or opposed bombing missions, I prefer a bit higher Inspiration (60%-70%) and a "very promising" fellow, if available.


Bye...

Michael Wood

ORIGINAL: byron13

For the typical line doggie, the description is that he's a promising and careful officer. Some are "very," which I guess is a good thing. I guess careful is supposed to be a good thing, though it borders on cautious in my mind. A few are aggressive or cautious. but 90% are either promising/careful or very promising/careful. Other than a hint that they should be fighter leaders or assault unit leaders or surface fleet commanders, 90% all look the same. If the inspiration and leadership don't mean much, then there's really not a lot separating one from another that we can tell. If someone is best qualified to be a bomber weenie, does that mean he brings positive attributes to a bomber outfit, or is he just not good enough to be a fighter jock?

I guess the best we can do is put the very promising and careful people with the important units (unless aggressive is called for) and try to match assault units to assault leaders.

I would have hoped to have had a little more information for placing unit leaders.

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

ORIGINAL: Mike Wood

We tried to give the player about the same information he would have, were he the theatre commander, so he could role play, instead of number crunch. The values can be viewed by loading the scenario into the data base editor, if he is so inclined.

Thanks for all info Mike!

BTW, is there possiblity that numerical values are also visible inside game apart from only textual characteristics explanation (for various "hidden" skills) that exist in current WitP?


Leo "Apollo11"

[Black Cat]

Great Thread !!!

Mike`s answers should be added to the FAQ [&o]

Thanks Mike !! Can any of you programming Guy`s do a Excel file from the DB as Mike suggests ??

[carnifex]

Mike, thank you !

This is the first real information about leadership values we have had and we appreciate it

[Oznoyng]

ORIGINAL: Black Cat

Great Thread !!!

Mike`s answers should be added to the FAQ [&o]

Thanks Mike !! Can any of you programming Guy`s do a Excel file from the DB as Mike suggests ??

I just completed decoding all of the WitP scenario files. I intend to export all of the files to a relational database. From there, I can extract whatever I want for all scenarios. When I am done, I plan to provide those, probably as .csv's, to Spooky for inclusion on his site.

[Captain Cruft]

ORIGINAL: Oznoyng
I just completed decoding all of the WitP scenario files. I intend to export all of the files to a relational database. From there, I can extract whatever I want for all scenarios. When I am done, I plan to provide those, probably as .csv's, to Spooky for inclusion on his site.

Nice work, thanks. Why you should have to reverse engineer it though is beyond me ...