Matrix Games Forums

Matrix,

You have a number of SUs using the same naming-convention (i.e. xxx Pioneer Battalion); however, there is no distinction in their names rather they are motorized or non-motorized.

The motorized SUs seem to have their own organic vehicles assigned, whereas the non-motorized do not.

The impact is that assigning a non-motorized SU to a "mobile formation" comes at the added cost of an allocation of vehicles from the global pool. Whereas this does not occur when assigning a motorized SU.

But trying to find them in the list (which comes up during the assignment of the SU) is near impossible without prior knowledge of the exact name of the SU that is motorized. (i.e. 47th Pioneer Battalion).

Could you please change the naming pattern of motorized SUs? I have previously suggested using the historical monikers (i.e. 47th Pioneer Battalion (mot)) for the Axis.

I realize this would take a little work, but have done it several times locally. Sad thing is I have to re-do it every time the game data changes (which is like, every patch or beta). Also, the local data is flagged as "modified".

Since I have already done the work, multiple-times... I am open to upload and have it incorporated.

It does make identifying motorized vs non-motorized SUs significantly easier.

---

The way I did it, was to basically create a copy of the SU TOE(OB) upgrade chain, with the following modifications:
1. Motorization -> all
2. OB Name Suffix -> "xxxx (mot)"
3. Changed the motorized SUs units to using the new motorized TOEs.

This way, there was no manual renaming of the units, it was all handled by the TOE(OB) Name Suffix settings.

Its basically already been done for months as I did a complete review and update to many units which includes differentiating between motorized and non-motorized units. The OB file has also been completely reorganized by nation, type and size to make it more logically organized with old OBs being removed. The issue is implementing this OB across all scenarios will take a lot of time as every single unit in every scenario has to be reset and many of the units will have to be rebuilt. Its on Joel's radar to implement someday but some editor changes are needed to do this in a way to not render all scenarios unplayable while this work begins as it will take a lot of work to implement.

For GC, I was able to do it for all Axis SUs (artillery, pioneers, ...) in a day.

Granted, it was just generic data & one scenario and targeted to only this particular modification.

Resetting the assigned vehicles is done at same time you reassign the unit to using new TOE(OB). Only extra work would be entering the RESUPPLY data (which would be the same) and hitting the RESUPPLY button to update the vehicles assigned at start of scenario. (otherwise, the vehicles will be grabbed from the global vehicle pool when scenario starts - which is how it is being handled by a lot of the motorized SU units in the current game data...)

Anyways, I had to all of this as well. It is not fun, (more like tedious), but not all that involved or complicated.

The work you have done sounds more global in scope. The way you describe how massive it is, sounds like it will never see the light-of-day.

I think that would do very good to come out asap - it can help alleviate some of the micromanagement ordeals one has to go through.

It would be even better if there was a different categorizing but I suspect that would require deeper effort (like Infantry is a category, Motorized Infantry is another category, Armour is another, etc.).

This OB 2.0 update goes way beyond just identifying Mot. units. It is several years worth of research into updating and creating all new OBs. I have been in discussions with Joel on implementing the update because it is not as simple as just providing it in its current form. The unit OBs are slot based and not name based. With the new re-organization of the OB slots in the OB 2.0, every unit in every scenario will have to have its OB number changed, possibly rebuilt and names updated to be compatible. It will be a massive amount of work to get the released scenarios and the DLC scenarios updated to the new standard. Its on the to-do list when we get the DLC scenarios in good shape sometime in the near future.

OB 2.0 sounds like something very, very good to have.

There seems to be a motorised/non- motorised field. Could this field be included in the SU attachment window?

Agreed, it will be great to have someday. But the work to update all the scenarios is massive. Pavel could make it a bit easier when he has time to put into it. Given the need to complete Steel Inferno, and release the revised editor, the OB changeover had to take a back seat. In my thinking, I have it slated for late this year/early 2023 depending on how things go the rest of this year. It's not something that can be put out quickly. We will try to get it done before we begin work on another DLC, as it will make everyone's life easier, including Trey's, once it's available.