follow, and another question

[Nikademus]

First off, thanks for the quick reply and the compliment WB (on my first post); i'm starting to get a more confident feeling from the armor/pen interactions as i progress in my first campaign. (that and a greater appreciation for having a nice experienced German Kampfgruppe; read: My Italian draftees barely know which way to point the gun barrels!!!)

Managed to repulse a massive greek infantry assault, and recieved as a special bonus gift, two *new* state of the art (wink wink) M-13 tanks armed with more potent 45mm guns.

Needless to say they made an impression , on the very first hit on an L5 head on at 200 yards, KABOOM, scratch one light tank!

My far more mediocre M-11's (when they could hit anything) were getting a few more small penetrations (but little in the way of a knockout) Perhaps i just need to be weened off of 'Panzer Commander' where most single hits (even 37mm) give you a nice image of a burned out tank afterwards

I had another minor suggestion however. I noticed that when a tank is disabled or abandoned that no 'dust' graphic appears around the hull to help give a visual que. A minor quibble i'll admit but i find myself repeatedly having to flick my cursor around the battlefield chking and rechking to see which tanks are active and which are abandoned and/or disabled husks.

2ndly, i noticed that destroyed tanks only display a static graphic of a burning tank. yes, a very minor quibble ....but one of the nice aspects of the SP series was the 'living battlefield' appearance (and seeing those enemy tanks burning always gave me such warm fuzzy thoughts.....ready to get out the marshmellows)

keep up the good work!

[Larry Holt]

Originally posted by Nikademus:
[snip]I had another minor suggestion however. I noticed that when a tank is disabled or abandoned that no 'dust' graphic appears around the hull to help give a visual que. A minor quibble i'll admit but i find myself repeatedly having to flick my cursor around the battlefield chking and rechking to see which tanks are active and which are abandoned and/or disabled husks.

I do see the dust graphic when a tank is first destroyed but I really, really agree that its very hard to discern which tanks are live and which are abandoned as both have the colored cross on them. I'd much prefer that abandoned tanks loose the cross.



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An old soldier but not yet a faded one.

[kliest]

I am sort of on the other side of the fence. I would like to have less clues that a tank is knocked out unless it is a burning wreak. It seems to me it should be quite difficult for a tank crew in the heat of battle to determine that a tank 300 yards away is no longer active if it is not a burning hulk. I would like the game to allow me to waste shots on this tank.

[Larry Holt]

Originally posted by kliest:
I am sort of on the other side of the fence. I would like to have less clues that a tank is knocked out unless it is a burning wreak. ...

Have your tried playing with messages turned off (delay set to 0)? This gives you no information about the status of your shots.


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An old soldier but not yet a faded one.
OK, maybe just a bit faded.

[Charles22]

Besides, rest assured, the computer knows YOUR wrecks and workables.

[Wild Bill]

Good arguments in both directions. Reading some of the history of armored warfare (thanks, Larry!), I find that tankers were always wary of tanks that just "sat there."

On more than one occasion, Russian and German crews sat silently in their tanks as though it had been abandoned. When the enemy was very close or had passed, they would open fire.

This finally led to tankers pumping a round into the tanks to be sure. Kinda like shooting those already dead soldiers for a little insurance.

Remember, as a battlefield commander, you know an awful lot about what is going on. Leave a few things to question

And that is another way to tell. Click on the tank. Try to shoot it. If you can't, you know its abandoned. If you fire, then you know you have a "live one."

I'd like to see some tanks just smoke instead of only burn. But that is a wish.

Good going Nikademus! Keep 'em coming!

Wild Bill


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Wild Bill Wilder
Coordinator, Scenario Design
Matrix Games

[Spartacus!]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Nikademus:


[I had another minor suggestion however. I noticed that when a tank is disabled or abandoned that no 'dust' graphic appears around the hull to help give a visual que. A minor quibble i'll admit but i find myself repeatedly having to flick my cursor around the battlefield chking and rechking to see which tanks are active and which are abandoned and/or disabled husks.

2ndly, i noticed that destroyed tanks only display a static graphic of a burning tank. yes, a very minor quibble ....but one of the nice aspects of the SP series was the 'living battlefield' appearance (and seeing those enemy tanks burning always gave me such warm fuzzy thoughts.....ready to get out the marshmellows)]

I have to agree with Nikademus on both of these observations. Firstly, am I missing something or is the only way to tell if my tank is immobilized, is by trying to move it and it won't budge? I didn't notice the message when it was hit but now, with suppression at zero, the tank shows damage of 4 on the detail screen and won't move but the message received when passing my curser over the unit on the map lists it as "dug in" (and holes, not craters, have appeared around it - yet I'm in an assault scenario). I have C&C turned off and the unit is in radio contact. As far as I can see there is no indication that it is immobilized other than the fact that damage is 4 and it won't move. Secondly, I REALLY miss the animated burning or smoking hulks on the battlefield. Can this be brought back, PLEASE....