Progress

[Arjuna]

JeF et al,

Don't worry mate. You won't have to get your hands dirty managing supply. the AI will manage that for you. The Depot data is provided so that if you have the inclination or inquisitiveness you can watch the supply status change over time. I fully realise that for many this will not be their main focus. [;)]

However, when a resupply run takes casualties or is destroyed you will get a message and it may be prudent to check the depot for the supplying Base unit to see how many runs have been aborted. This will let you know that the enemy are along your supply routes and it may be good to respond to that before all your supply columns bite the dust.

If the AI knows that there is just too much enemy firepower along the route it will "suspend" - ie delay despatch till its safe - or "abort" - try and return after depatch but before delivery. This may save your "loggies" but it won't get supplies to your units. You'll have to do something about that. Depending on time available ( and we're way out of that already ) we may add in some reasessment code for AI controlled forces to respond to being out of supply. But for the moment that will be your job.

Each Resupply Determination Event ( these occur at 0600 and 1800hrs each day - though only at 1800 if your side's resupply is "restricted" ) every unit determines the Base it will draw on. So if in the course of play a Depot is destroyed ( heaven forbid ) those units drawing from it will have to wait until the next Resupply Determination event before they can draw from another Base. While there is no problem with doing so, remember that a Depot only has so much transport and handling capacity and if this is overloaded it may not cope, deliveries may take ages to despatch and units may not receive emergency resupply. All in all it's BAD news to lose a Base.

[Arjuna]

ORIGINAL: Mr.Frag
Hey Dave, do I get an extra big bang when I call in Arty on the Depot? [:D]

Hadn't thought of that. Thanks. [:)] I'll add it to the wish list. It may have to wait till a later game though.

[Arjuna]

ORIGINAL: oi_you_nutter
will the management of the supply net become a major factor in the game ?

See my comments above. In general, when things are going well you should not even notice resupply. However, once things go wrong then you'll have to do something about it. You may have to devote resources to "line of communications" ( LOC ) security, sending in a "fire-brigade" to clear a supply route or relocating your units/depot.

would the overrunning of a depot cause catasptrophic loss of ability of the units drawing supplies from it ?

See my comments above.

how do they recover from such a loss ?

See my comments above.

can you attach a unit to a different base unit for supply purposes ?

In general units will attempt to use their organic Base unit. However, if unavailable they will draw on the Base supplying their superior and so on up the line until they find one. The player won't be able to specify that unit X draws from Base Y.

[Tzar007]

Hello,

Haven't been around for a while but since I am in vacation, I started playing HTTR again a couple of days ago.

Boy ! Did I miss this game. It's like an old loyal friend, you always come back to it !

On top of that, I come back here to see a lot of drool-dropping news on COTA ! Can't wait for it, and I would like to say thanks to all the staff at Panther and Matrix for their continued efforts on this engine and game.

Keep it up, you will get my money for sure when COTA is out [:)]

[iaidoka2]

Looking great Arjuna.

I am approx half way through Crete: The Battle and the resistance by Beevor and really looking forward to COTA. In fact, the book is so good, I really want COTA to be here now[:)]

[Arjuna]

ORIGINAL: iaidoka2

Looking great Arjuna.

I am approx half way through Crete: The Battle and the resistance by Beevor and really looking forward to COTA. In fact, the book is so good, I really want COTA to be here now[:)]

Well so do we, so do we. It's been quite a journey this time around. We're almost done. But while I've got "road" Supply Entry Points ( SEPs ) working OK ( touch wood ), I still have to write some routines to handle the DZ and Airfield SEPs that were so crucial to the German invasion of Crete and also for our hypothetical invasion of Malta. Unlike the road SEPs where we provide trucks to transport the supplies arriving from off map, we can't do that for DZ and Airfield SEPs. For these we must use the transport capacity of the Bases that draw from them and this requires some special coding.

[PaulWRoberts]

This looks fantastic! I'm really looking forward to COTA.

Can we still expect that these changes to the system will be ported back to HTTR? Having a more realistic supply situation around Arnheim will make it a whole new game.

[oi_you_nutter]

ORIGINAL: Arjuna

ORIGINAL: oi_you_nutter
will the management of the supply net become a major factor in the game ?

See my comments above. In general, when things are going well you should not even notice resupply. However, once things go wrong then you'll have to do something about it. You may have to devote resources to "line of communications" ( LOC ) security, sending in a "fire-brigade" to clear a supply route or relocating your units/depot.

would the overrunning of a depot cause catasptrophic loss of ability of the units drawing supplies from it ?

See my comments above.

how do they recover from such a loss ?

See my comments above.

can you attach a unit to a different base unit for supply purposes ?

In general units will attempt to use their organic Base unit. However, if unavailable they will draw on the Base supplying their superior and so on up the line until they find one. The player won't be able to specify that unit X draws from Base Y.

thanks, good answers


will supply process operate at a lower efficiency while a depot is being relocated or will a depot/base only operate in the "deployed" formation ?

handling out bread and bullets from a moving depot is not easy. also we could keep the depot always moving to make it keep up with the moving frontline

[Arjuna]

ORIGINAL: oi_you_nutter
will supply process operate at a lower efficiency while a depot is being relocated or will a depot/base only operate in the "deployed" formation ?

handling out bread and bullets from a moving depot is not easy. also we could keep the depot always moving to make it keep up with the moving frontline

No a Base/Depot must be deployed to despatch supplies.

[Rooster]

Wow I'm getting psyched! Thanks for the detailed explanations.

[Arjuna]

ORIGINAL: Paul Roberts

This looks fantastic! I'm really looking forward to COTA.

Can we still expect that these changes to the system will be ported back to HTTR? Having a more realistic supply situation around Arnheim will make it a whole new game.

Paul,

Once we get COTA out I plan to take a well earned rest for a few weeks. After that we'll look into getting up a new version of HTTR. While we have endeavoured to structure our development to make this a relatively seemless process, like war and life in general, nothing ever goes exactly according to plan. We'll need to revise the Bases, add in SEPs and supply schedules to all scenarios, upgrade the maps, make adjustments to cater for mixed mode movement and then playtest the scenarios again, making any necessary adjustments. This will take a while.

Any volunteers to assist?[;)]

[PaulWRoberts]

ORIGINAL: Arjuna


Any volunteers to assist?[;)]

Heck, yes! I'll certainly volunteer to playtest. Anything else I can do, I will.

[HercMighty]

I am up for some testing. Heck I'll test and pay for the update.

[RedMike]

I volunteer as well !

[eMonticello]

ORIGINAL: Arjuna
After that we'll look into getting up a new version of HTTR.

Dave,

Are there any plans to revise the Strategy Guide to include the new features from COTA? If so, will it be released with COTA or HTTR 2.0? It might be easier to cross-sell the Guide when the game is released. In any case, I'll budget for both games and the Guide.

Gary

[Banquet]

I loved the strategy guide for HttR, it was one of the best I've read. Unfortunately I don't think they got the returns on it, compared to the time involved in making it, that they were hoping for. So I wouldn't count on a new/amended guide.

Even if it was just amended or had a few pages added to include new features I'd happily buy it again to support Panther Games.

Still, a lot of the aspects will be similar so it'll give me an excuse to re-read it when CotA is released. [:)]

[Arjuna]

Just to keep you informed, we have made good progress this week. A new build is going out to our Panther Prowler beta testers. This will be the first build that they will have seen with the new resupply code. We're right in the middle of revising the Side Bar data displays. Should have something to show by the end of next week.[:)]

[Golf33]

Good work - I'm quite curious to see the new interface changes.

Regards
33

[Arjuna]

Hi Steve,

Well we're half way through the reorg of the Force Data displays on the Side Bar. We're putting in more data, such as Inf, Eng and Recon values, non-AFVs, role in formation, move type, plus displaying icons for the terrain occupied, location grid reference, height, plus hit and move effects of the current location. We're also going to try and see if we can add the "best AFV" and "best Gun" that the unit/force has and display this with a small icon with a rollover tooltip displaying the actual name. But we're yet to implement this.

For the Side Data displays we hope to provide a swish graph showing the fulfillment % for each day - ie how much of your scheduled requirements are liekly to be met from offmap. There will be a bar for each day in the scenario and this will be divided into components for each supply entry point ( SEP ). Hopefully it will look a lot better visually than my text description of it. [:)]

[Arjuna]

For those interested in doing some testing for the HTTR upgrade, can you please email me directly at dave[at]panthergames[dot]com and tell me a little about yourselves, what wargaming, military and beta testing experience you have. I'll then try and start the ball rolling.