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RE: TOAOW IV In-depth Analysis - BATTLEFIELD TIMESTAMPS
Posted: Tue May 09, 2017 11:48 am
by Curtis Lemay
ORIGINAL: X.ray
I would only make it stop at encounter (by "encounter" I mean units actually bump into each other, in adjacent hexes, with the enemy sitting on the path that the friendly units are designated moving through, and neither side is forced to RBC), not at revealing. In the real world troops also won't stop and wait for new orders as soon as they see some enemy soldier shows up on the horizon 20kms away. And often in that case they don't even have much detail of the enemy yet.
As tactical round is the smallest unit of the clock in TOAW, the stop also can only happen at the end of the latest corresponding tactical round. For example, a unit with 100MP bumped into an enemy unit after moving 31MPs, then the clock should stop at the end of round 4, instead of round 3.1, which can't be measured. The friction of a round that is foregone for such particular units during this process, can be considered as C&C delays required to prepare for the new orders.
OK, but note that there can be a bunch of brainless movement post new info between combat rounds. So, we're back to my original criticism.
And the key is the clocks of all units are running simultaneously under this system, which means all units should show 40% of their MPs consumed at this moment. Of course the other units that didn't encounter an enemy would be able to fully utilize their 40% MPs before the stop. So, no time travel will ever happen[8D]
Since this is not WEGO, that means the enemy units are not moving while this is going on. Remember from my posts #72, 75, & 77, that that requires the Force Proficiency check thingy. (Wouldn't be required by WEGO). So this is back to the criticism of that discussion: Units moving in rear areas and just maneuvering would risk not completing their movements. And this slices up the player-turn into the max # of slices - risky for crummy forces.
Well, I forgot you could set the # of tactical rounds in a turn to a very large # (999?). Hmmm.... if a scenario designer is crazy enough to give us 999 rounds to play with in a turn, I guess we will have to be prepared to make good use of it....[:D]
?? Maybe you misunderstood my Improved Road Motorized Movement thing. There are only 10 rounds per player-turn.
Either way is fine as long as it applies to both players. I do think committed battles shouldn't be allowed to change in any case, as committing a battle requires a great deal of efforts and preparation, and you can't easily cancel or change it just because your brother unit has some troubles on the hiking 200KMs away.
No. It's not fine if you have to do your turn plots over and over. This whole thing is completely impractical and doesn't even address a real problem.
RE: TOAOW IV In-depth Analysis - BATTLEFIELD TIMESTAMPS
Posted: Wed May 10, 2017 12:17 pm
by MechFO
Fantastic job. Really looking forward to starting a TOAW game again.
Is that the final UI style/colour? Preferred the classic look but I'm sure there will be mods in due time.
RE: TOAW IV In-depth Analysis - BATTLEFIELD TIMESTAMPS
Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2017 11:58 am
by Curtis Lemay
ORIGINAL: Daniele
In addition, if a defender was prevented from retreating from a combat by non-participating enemy units then the combat’s Battlefield Time Stamp is the greater of the time stamps of the blocking units and the time stamp of the last round of the combat. So, if the combat ended on round five, but there was a blocking unit that prevented the defenders from retreating and it had a time stamp of seven, then the Battlefield Time Stamp would be set to seven (and all participating units would have their time stamps increased to seven). Note that this ends the time-machine effect of blocking units that the game had endured up to this point (This part of the feature is still under development).
Note that this part of the BTS feature has now been implemented (as discussion elsewhere on this board implied).
RE: TOAW IV In-depth Analysis - BATTLEFIELD TIMESTAMPS
Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2017 11:59 am
by Titus
Just tried the new timestamp system, and I'm getting it almost instantly. Old system was never clear to me even in almost ten years, though haven't played long time. Planned combats menu is great help, overall excellent update!
RE: TOAW IV In-depth Analysis - BATTLEFIELD TIMESTAMPS
Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2017 12:02 pm
by larryfulkerson
ORIGINAL: Titus
Just tried the new timestamp system, and I'm getting it almost instantly. Old system was never clear to me even in almost ten years, though haven't played long time. Planned combats menu is great help, overall excellent update!
Wait until you see the combat results chart. It's fabulous.
RE: TOAW IV In-depth Analysis - BATTLEFIELD TIMESTAMPS
Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2017 1:09 pm
by Titus
ORIGINAL: larryfulkerson
Wait until you see the combat results chart. It's fabulous.
You are right, I have gone to data heaven [:)]
RE: TOAW IV In-depth Analysis - BATTLEFIELD TIMESTAMPS
Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2017 9:46 am
by AlbertN
I think it could use an addition of war theathers or zone that use a different timestamps for the larger scenarios. - Unless it's already there.
For a map like Kasserine, no problem.
For a map about PTO or ETO like? Well I'd like to get done my things in France, fully, and then move on to do things in Russia (maybe north russia first and then south russia), and be done entirely. Than to have to move everything at once, do the attack detour and start over to move again.
It's just about player friendlyness. (In a game that I feel needs a lot in that department)
RE: TOAOW IV In-depth Analysis - BATTLEFIELD TIMESTAMPS
Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2017 3:58 pm
by RThorpe
After having TOAOW III sitting on the shelf for years, I finally have time to play when I retired. I just started a couple of weeks ago in conjunction with a course at my college that focuses on WWI. The version III has not been that difficult to learn, just time consuming. But with the detailed course study it really takes on a new dimension.
I am still at a loss to understand how to manage time stamps, even after reading and watching a number of tutorials / explanations. Just too thick a skull. I think that understanding will come only as I play the game and keep an eye on that time ring.
Well, there I was, starting to work on this game and BANG along comes IV. So what's a man to do? Is there enough difference between III and IV to warrant buying it again? So far, I have not seen a conversation thread where the necessity for the upgrade is debated. If anyone can supply a link I would appreciate it.
RE: TOAOW IV In-depth Analysis - BATTLEFIELD TIMESTAMPS
Posted: Sun Feb 25, 2018 8:02 pm
by Gandalf
I know this might be a little thread necromancy, but I got here a little late. Reading thru the Quick Answers thread got me directed here.
In addition to this BattleStamp idea, why not have an in-game player warning box (optionally enabled perhaps), that informs the player that an action he is about to take will exceed a (possibly player set) time impulse limit?