Matrix Games Forums

I know this topic has been beaten to death with everyone coming up with some huge lists asking for everything but the kitchen sink. Here's a few things I would like to see improved in SPWAW. Nothing new here, just some refinements on what already exists.

1. If it can be included with the download, a file with complete stats for weapons and units. I like to keep a printed copy of this king of info around when selecting forces so that I can tell what the diferences are between the 88mm KWK and 88MM PAK or know what the weapons mounted on an IS3 are. It's just a handy thing to have around.

2. Good vehicle pathfinding that dosen't send my tanks and APC's crashing into buildings when a perfectly good road is right next to it. I think I've harped on this one before.

3. A refined to the scenario manager included in the download (or even just refined). I like to reorganize scenarios according to size so that I can pick one that fits the amount of time I have to play. The SPWAW manager is pretty decent, but leaves a lot to be desired. (Like the ability to sort scenarios alphabetically or the ability to move more than 1 at a time.) To quote the movie line, "You're good kid, but not THAT good."

4. AI pilots that are a little less brain dead and go where I point them. I spent time as a FAC in the Marines, and you usually add such details a "Enemy on the hilltop, friendlies are all to the west of the road, do not fire there." I don't know how many times in SPWAW I beat my head against my desk after my aircraft ignored my fire request to kill an utterly huge infantry formation and instead said, "OH LOOK! A BIG TANK! MUST KILL!" I know that friendly fire incidents occur, and I've even been on the receiving end of it (I was with Task Force Papa Bear in Desert Storm and another battalion lit us up), but it should not be with the frequency we see now.

Guess that about wraps it up. Not a long list, but in my mind, an important one.

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USMCGrunt

-When it absolutely, positively, has to be destroyed overnight.

All very good suggestions Grunt! It does not hurt to ask. We are listening. No promises, but I will lobby for them.

Wild Bill

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In Arduis Fidelis
Wild Bill Wilder
Coordinator, Scenario Design
Matrix Games

Originally posted by Wild Bill:
All very good suggestions Grunt! It does not hurt to ask. We are listening. No promises, but I will lobby for them.

Wild Bill

Once again Will Bill, I owe you one. Thanks

why don't you change topics heading to spwaw99.999beta wishing list, as it seems it is living thing with updates

Good thoughts.

mosh

just came in to mind: Is it possible to fix that reinforcement and retreat flag issue? As in the kharans post is discribed, they don't be there where map maker has set them when map is loaded to battle generator.

mosh

oops, forgot:
http://www.matrixgames.com/ubb/Forum2/HTML/004057.html

I have already submitted my suggestions to the makers of the game, but I'd also like to introduce them to you my fellow players.

1. I'd like to have the ability to order my vehicles to move in the reverse. I run my tank over the hill and whoops, I've arrived in hell, AT-s firing into me, those Tigers look pretty scary, I'd like to flee! BUT! I must expose my weak rear armor to do so. Any sane tanker would NEVER expose his flank or rear to a known enemy, even when retreating.
Such movement if ofcourse slower and must be made with a considerable movement penatly, maybe 100-200% movement cost.

2. In night-scenarios I'd like to introduce illumination rounds. Not sure how they would be integrated into the system. I night scenarios, all hexes are darkened, so for the display of IR maybe brightening the effected hexes. Units in such hexes are available to spotting by your units, maybe with a reduced percentage due to the unstable and variable effects of IR. This is a minor request, not a must really, but would'nt it be cool though?

Soft(war)e: The ol' "my Stuart crests a hill only to find Rommel and the entire production line of the King Tigers on the other side" predicament, to the problem of not being able to back up, actually has a solution for some tanks (so those type of tanks are perhaps go candidates for sticking their nose in awkward places). When I play as Gerry, there are quite a few tanks that have the solution to that problem, but I almost never think of using them, and usually only when I hit that key by mistake. What on earth I am talking about? Smoke dischargers. Fire them if the tank is so equipped, and your front three corners are smoked off, which probably assures your getaway.

Larry: I can't see, I can't see!!!
Moe: What the matter?
Larry: I fired my smoke dischargers.




[This message has been edited by Charles22 (edited February 18, 2001).]

That is true, Charles, BUT, when it comes to vehicles, they are not all created equal, at least not in the smoke-discharger-departement. In regard to your exellent reminder on using those smoke-rounds, my point still stands.

Guess it's never too late to ask...

Can you include infantry casualties in the running log of events? Not having alot of time to play, I always use the short delays. The downfall is that I have to look quickly to see the casualties and many times do not catch it.

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"I would have much rather that he had given me one more division" - Rommel after receiving his field marshall baton

Soft(war)e: Though it's not actually what you're wanting, it can fill something of the same role. I can't tell by how you responded, since you said 'smoke-rounds' at one point. Do you know that smoke rounds and smoke dischargers are actually different things (though not all tanks carry either or both)? I wonder if the German armored cars with the 75L24 carry them?

Originally posted by Charles22:
Soft(war)e: The ol' "my Stuart crests a hill only to find Rommel and the entire production line of the King Tigers on the other side" predicament, ... Smoke dischargers....

[This message has been edited by Charles22 (edited February 18, 2001).]

Smoke discharges are a good tactical solution when you get in trouble. I'd like to see them as an opportunity fire option when a unit is fired upon.



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An old soldier but not yet a faded one.
OK, maybe just a bit faded.

Larry Holt: Using them in opfire would be unique.

Hi, I sometimes carry a recon Sqd on my forward tanks just for this, (they get off tank throw smoke get back on tank, tank backs up) Even if the tank had reverse it would still draw fire the smoke stops that anyway. No a perfect solution but it has worked for me a few times. (In every online battle at least once a tank commander says "opps I don't like it here")

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I'm not retreating, I'm attacking in a differant direction!

Originally posted by Charles22:
Soft(war)e: Though it's not actually what you're wanting, it can fill something of the same role. I can't tell by how you responded, since you said 'smoke-rounds' at one point. Do you know that smoke rounds and smoke dischargers are actually different things (though not all tanks carry either or both)? I wonder if the German armored cars with the 75L24 carry them?

Yes they did, they also had a reverse diving position for quicker reverse exits.

pbear: Yes if we had reverse, I'm afraid a lot of us would insist on the dual-drive vehicles being able to reverse at full-speed.

Hi...Oddball(Donald Sutherland) in movie "Kellys Hero's"
"This tank has 5 speeds and a full reverse,
we like to think we can get out of trouble faster then we got into it"

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I'm not retreating, I'm attacking in a differant direction!

Well, here's my (revised) list again .

Bugs left to fix:

-In 4-player games the reinforcement screen doesn't have a Done-button. You can get around this by pressing Escape when you're done buying.
-Reinforcement hexes are randomly left out in random battles with a custom map. Workaround is to load the map once in a hotseat game before starting the real game.
-If you set a lot of spec ops target hexes and then set artillery priority hexes, spec ops targets are reset to your artillery targets. Probably vice versa too. (Hard to reproduce.)
-Exiting online/timed games closes SPWAW altogether.
-Reduce the VCR buffer to 15MB to get rid of the error message. Or maybe it could allocate the memory only when it needs to instead of demanding the 20MB unfragmented chunk right away.
-With C&C on, clicking on each recon unit for the first time does not display the movement range correctly.
-Fix vehicle crews being added automatically to kill score (if you kill them, they are counted twice).
-Prevent the receiving party of an airstrike seeing the opposing player's troops.
-Vehicles immobilized in the editor sometimes get fixed at the start of a scenario.
-All slot 4 weapons except BMG's have a 360 degree firing arc.
-Immobilized turretless tanks have 2-4 times too wide a firing arc.

Modifications:

-Make CBF more powerful.
-Add 1-3 turns randomly at the end.
-Make tanks avoid buildings when retreating.
-Make retreating smarter, away from the enemy first, only then towards the retreat hex.
-Optimize pathfinding for tanks (15-28 moves) instead of halftracks (30-40 moves).
-Having all victory hexes ends the game always. Shouldn't force morale also be low?
-Add a toggle for fast artillery sound.
-Let player fire smoke grenades in op-fire.
-Firing on a routed unit should not make it revert to pinned 98% of the time like it does now.

(Probably not necessary anymore):

-No assaulting for crews. Insert a check in the assault code to see if the unit is a crew.
-If scout vehicles run automatically from tanks, crews should run away from any combat troops. This would also solve the previous issue.

(Probably too hard to do):

-Limited intel shouldn't abstract player's own troop icons.
-Only paratroops should be able to paradrop.
-Use the second digit in the "chance for radio" number to determine rarity, i.e. how often and many times you can buy a certain unit.

Trivial stuff:

-Fix encyclopedia changing to display fort data when the cursor is over a button.
-Planes which don't have or have run out of bombs shouldn't display the bombing message.
-In timed and online play, range (by "y") needs to be entered twice.
-Add scands, a buffer and a word wrap to the log. Also sending messages would be more convenient by using the player's number instead of name.
-Add "D - Fire smoke grenades" in gamehelp.txt.
-Add "more breakdowns" in forests in terrain.txt.
-Set live delay to 0 by default in the preferences.
-Add an option to ignore EXE/OOB check when loading a secure PBEM turn.

[This message has been edited by Kharan (edited February 27, 2001).]

My fix list has only one item but it's a biggie...


In a PBEM game. After player two has deployed, but before player 1 has deployed. If player one enters an incorrect password a bunch of times, eventually the map will appear, and player 2's preplanned artillery will fall. This will show player 1 where NOT to deploy.

I want the AI to play better ...

The AI should be able to properly use towed guns - not just randomly drop them somewhere.

The AI should know to assault a cave from the front.

I would also like to see the AI not waste immense energy assaulting irrelevant units (like a bunker behind it's lines or a crewman) instead of advancing towards its objectives.