Loving it so far, but some questions.
Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2014 3:55 am
I'm really enjoying the game so far, though I confess I haven't made it past Operation Husky yet. Oh man, I love this new air system. A huge improvement over WiTE. And while it's not as granular as WITP/AE, in some ways it is more powerful: you can set flight paths (to some extent, anyway?), targets, altitudes, larger air force doctrines, etc. The depot and logistics system is really interesting. I find myself digging down into individual ground units to see where they're getting their supply, what's not arriving, etc. (You can get much of this info just by looking at the unit summary, but the details are illuminating too.) I'm also enjoying the weather model: it's cool to see actual low and high pressure systems trundle on by, like in the real world, instead of a die roll for weather zones. It's too early for me to judge the AI, although I can report that I'm in a dead-heat tie in this first training scenario, having bungled some of the offloading of troops in turn 1 and 2.
I do have some questions.
1. I'm not entirely sure I grok how air moves mesh with land moves. I *think* the idea is that the seven days of air execution resolve big-picture things like air superiority, strategic bombing, naval interdiction, etc. Then, during movement, the air execution phase kicks in again, when I'm conducting my land attacks: if I've done a good job of arranging air superiority and ground support, then I'll have better air support for my land attacks. Is that the idea?
2. For some reason, I find it odd that in ground combat, the defender appears on the left and the attacker on the right. For the Allies, who are generally attacking east, it would feel more natural to have attacker on left, defender on right. Any way to change this?
3. Is there a hotkey for changing units from number to name? Honestly, I wish we could have both sets of info on the counter: combat/movement numbers plus a small ID mark or name or symbol. I know the HQ attachments provide some of this info, but for me it would add a lot of flavor to see the CV/MP as well as the designation. Even a brief, 6-point-type designation would make me happier. Is that in the cards?
4. Is there a way to see how many aircraft are at an airbase, at a glance? I know I can use ctl-2 to see a graphical representation, and that's great. But in the airbase screen itself, and in the rollover, I don't see a simple number of total aircraft ready/damaged/reserve. I can sort of see it, by mentally totalling the number listed "Ready", but I don't see one easy-to-read overall figure. Am I missing it? Not a big deal, as the graphical thing is way cool.
5. Do I have to manually move air support and support to air bases? (In WITP, we have to slog naval and air support everywhere.) Or if I move an air unit, will it bring aviation support and ground support with it?
That's all I've got for now. Really enjoying it so far.
I do have some questions.
1. I'm not entirely sure I grok how air moves mesh with land moves. I *think* the idea is that the seven days of air execution resolve big-picture things like air superiority, strategic bombing, naval interdiction, etc. Then, during movement, the air execution phase kicks in again, when I'm conducting my land attacks: if I've done a good job of arranging air superiority and ground support, then I'll have better air support for my land attacks. Is that the idea?
2. For some reason, I find it odd that in ground combat, the defender appears on the left and the attacker on the right. For the Allies, who are generally attacking east, it would feel more natural to have attacker on left, defender on right. Any way to change this?
3. Is there a hotkey for changing units from number to name? Honestly, I wish we could have both sets of info on the counter: combat/movement numbers plus a small ID mark or name or symbol. I know the HQ attachments provide some of this info, but for me it would add a lot of flavor to see the CV/MP as well as the designation. Even a brief, 6-point-type designation would make me happier. Is that in the cards?
4. Is there a way to see how many aircraft are at an airbase, at a glance? I know I can use ctl-2 to see a graphical representation, and that's great. But in the airbase screen itself, and in the rollover, I don't see a simple number of total aircraft ready/damaged/reserve. I can sort of see it, by mentally totalling the number listed "Ready", but I don't see one easy-to-read overall figure. Am I missing it? Not a big deal, as the graphical thing is way cool.
5. Do I have to manually move air support and support to air bases? (In WITP, we have to slog naval and air support everywhere.) Or if I move an air unit, will it bring aviation support and ground support with it?
That's all I've got for now. Really enjoying it so far.