Matrix Games Forums

Sorry for my reaction over the future of CO2....a kneejerk one at best. If I didn't care so much for the series I wouldn't have such strong feelings about it. Or if I wasn't looking forward to EF and what that was promising again I wouldn't have even commented.

I apologise.

No worries Wodin. [;)]

Dealing with disappointment is one of the hardest, and unfortunately necessary lessons in life. Although I try to learn my kids this, I myself have trouble bringing it into practive on a regular basis...especially if you really want(ed) something.

Very recognizable.

I appreciate that Jason. Please bear this in mind. To realistically model East Front battles you have to model Soviet doctrine. In particular you needed to model what the Soviets referred to as the god war ie their artillery. Because of limitations in comms, training and expertise Soviet arty rarely provided on call support on the offensive. Instead they relied on sequential fire planning, where arty units fired on a series of targets one after the other. We have no means at the moment of enabling the human user to order such a fire plan.

So an essential feature for a realistic East Front game is a user interface that can support sequential tasking. This is probably an even more important prerequisite than realistic mounted operations in that we could get by with what we have at the moment in terms of mech inf but we can't get by with our current arty interface.

At this stage sequential tasking, triggers and control graphics (albeit a very restricted set of control graphics) will probably top the list of new features for CO2. With these the user will be able to place down on the map Named Areas of Interest (NAI) corresponding to where the assault troops will reach at different stages of their approach. Then the user will be able to order a sequence of bombardments triggering the cessation of each based on friendly presense at a linked NAI. Or instead of using NAI, each bombard can be set to run for a specified duration. In this way you will be able to create your fire plan for an attack.

You will also be able to use sequential tasking and NAI to order a force to first defend in a reserve position and then to be triggered automatically when enemy enter an NAI to launch an attack onto loc X. There will a lot of things you can do with this feature that will enrich your experience playing Cmd Ops whether it be on the East Front or elsewhere.

We will also need sequential tasking to model mounted ops. The user will need to be able to order a force to move to loc x, dismount, the leg component to move into the woods and defend while the transport component moves to a reserve position and is triggered to come to the flank to provide fire sup[port when the enemy attack. You will not be able to achieve that without sequential tasking.

Don't go on too much about all that great stuff to come Dave, or you will make me impatient too [:D]