Matrix Games Forums

A supply wagon would realistically service only one brigade at a time anyway. This way you get to choose which brigade gets supply, that is, if you can get the wagon there.

Automatic supply would be handy to ensure that the lowest supplied unit within a supply wagon radius gets topped up particularly if there are a lot of units to keep track off. However If one wanted to resupply one unit repeatedly (ahead of others with less supply) then you would need the facility to turn if off.

Have been playing with randon hidden leader stats and finding it a bit below par to be fair.
I was wondering if it would be possible to keep the leader ratings non random but hide both the ratings and the leaders name and portrait until all the ratings become visible.
So all leaders would start as 1 star, all leaders would have a blank or generic photo and either a random name or a blank name with a random number USA01, USA02, CSA01 etc
Those names and photo's would remain in place until all 4 of the main stats are visible on the leader at which point the name and photo would become those linked to the actual general.
I would also randomise the start position of each general similar to the disease trigger, so that each leader would turn up in an area with at least one brigade but would have a better chance of appearing in areas with larger groups of troops.

It seems better to me to generate entirely new leaders, as the game does now. Otherwise, the player is just trying to guess which one is Grant, which one is Lee, etc., and would have a good chance to deduce it from a couple of ratings or teachable skills. That would be less like the real situation of Lincoln and Davis than the current game.

The problem with straight random leaders is that you will very very rarely get a Grant or Lee or Jackson or Sherman etc even a leader with an average of 6 is highly unusual.
Of course a way around that would be to have two level randomness, first one is for an overall level Terrible to Superb and variation 1 to 5. Then a Superb leader with a variation level of 1 would be Grant or Lee effectively only a -1 variation could drop them below 8 average would be 8887 sometimes 8877 as a 0 or +1 variation would leave the leader at 8 while a Superb with a 2 variation could end up say 6788 and a Superb with a 5 variation could end up 3688 you can still end up with a flawed genius or an idiot with one good trait Normal 4 variation 5 could easily give 0181 or 0786.
Would need to tweak the % chances for the different levels and variations but my guess is that a Grant or Lee should turn up on average once a game each side.
As it is I have never seen any random general with a skill even approaching those two the best random I have had was 6756 good but a way off the top guys.

Ah, I see your point, Paper Tiger. I was assuming that the formula for generating random generals was tailored to producing, within each game, a talent distribution similar to historical numbers, but I haven't played enough to know. Who wants to refight the war with no generals of the caliber of Lee and Grant?

Casualties in a seige should be linked more to the level of supply, and the defender should lose supply based on the time and type of seige.
Encirlce should reduce supply by 1 per turn, normal by 2, bombard by 1 plus a chance that the bombardment may destroy some additional supplies etc.
Perhaps level of supply should affect things in a similar way to the artillery bonus for attackers and as a engineer bonus for defenders. For an attacker higher supply means more ammunition to throw at the defender, for the defender medical supplies, food, and ammunition to fire back and try and keep the beseiging gunners quiet.

Army and Battle Reports

It irritates me that, to see the results of battle, I have to look in two places -- the Army Report in the Events Report and the Battle report along the top edge. Battles are the main event of the game, and I want to know what happened. It is important to me to know if I am picking up or losing weapons.

The Battle report would be more useful if it contained the info you get right after a battle, showing unit casualties, quality gain, number of rallies, etc. That way you would have a chance to go back and review that detailed info.

Yes or alternatively I would be happy if one could could go from the battle history report to see the original casualty report. Even as things stand the beta reports are a great improvement and much appreciated.

     Of the things I think about while I'm playing the game, I remember only a couple.  One change I would very much like to see is the ability to access the events page for the entire game you are playing, not just the previous turn.  That would let you see the flow of the game, and show you what had happened, so you could track things, like the surrender of enemy generals and economic and political events.
     Second, there are so many changes that different people have suggested, perhaps it would be advisable to present many of these changes as options, or to allow these changes to be incorporated by the individual gamer to reflect his preferences.
     I like the beta a lot, and wholesale changes are bound to affect the  balance, playability and enjoyment of what would for other games be considered a finished product.  Just my cent-and-a-half.

Let me redo the entire Guns.txt file.  What is the scale of HWs?? i see about a 200-yard/meter per hex scale more or less now. if this is in the manual then I missed it.
 
Chris
 

I'd just rather hide/fire etc. some Leaders and see their stats, rather than the opposite, so i don't use hidden stats.
 
Chris
 

Statistics screen:

When I go to this screen, all the buttons are lit up and the chart is a maze of lines. I always want to look at one thing at a time, so I have to go "turn off" all the buttons but one. It would save considerable clicking if just one report -- such as Strength -- were lit up at the outset.

How about a sliding difficulty bar which shows swing to/from US/CSA based on the scenario and options picked.
So if you choose Southern Steel you get Historical, if you choose Standard scenario you get Even balanced game, you can then adjust things further by tweaking the various other optional settings.
A Red/Blue bar with Historical and Even points marked and a slider moving along as you choose options would be good. You could then calculate a victory level at the end of the game based on the game balance and the end date.
An end screen noting major game points, total casualties, leader casualties and a final score would be great. Better than a simple end screen saying CSA/US victory which is a bit of an anticlimax.

I agree with paper Tiger's request for an end screen that will give you information about the game you just finished.  Matrix Games' War in Russia has it right.  After Stalin surrenders and the game is over you can examine the enemy cities and their forces and see what is there, see how the computer organizes its armies and see the attributes of the units that were most effective against you.  Very satisfying.

Battle Meter:

Some games have some meter or visual representation of how the battle is going. I play only QB at this point, and it would be great to have such an indication.

Oddly, there is a declining number of total troops involved in the combat. If nothing else, it would be good to have two numbers, one for each side.

i haven't bought it yet..... but I promise I will.  I just bought k. pocket, and i want CAW, and i want X-Com..... and I want...[/align] [/align]anyhow.....  [/align] [/align]I noticed in the tactical battle screens you have pictures of miniatures doing battle.  Is there an option (or can it be added) to have counters instead of miniatures?[/align] [/align]more of a board game feel.[/align]

I'd like to have some historical battlefields. For instance, if I got into a battle in Chatanooga, have the actual layout of the town. If I have a battle in southern Ogio, and I have the scounting check advantage, I would like top pick Gettysburg as an option.

Sorry, that's Southern Pennsylvania

I would have sworn it was southern Ogio, or at least somewhere in Ogio.