Compromised FOW by User Interface

[iberian]

One thing I'd really like to see changed, is how the User Interface gives up all the detail on enemy units that are under Fog of War (even with "All enemy units spotted automatically option turned off").

Once you spot an enemy unit, you just have to select it with the mouse, and the Chain of Command tree will show you the entire enemy order of battle. Within the tree, you can inspect in the Unit Detail window all kind of details on the unknown and unseen enemy units: morale, fatigue, unit composition, ammo level. You know which enemy units are tired, or out of ammo, so you know were to strike.

You can kiss goodbye any other Fog of War measure taken by the program. Right now, the tree gives you all you have to know about the enemy. You can even see their actual orders, sighting range, SOP rules, report frequency. The lot. Also, pressing "I", you can see all the other parameters on the enemy units displayed in their counters. This really has to be changed.

I hope this can be fixed in a future patch: the only thing you should know about spotted enemy units is their composition and posture.

[Tbird3]

I have to concur with Iberian on this one. I noticed it yesterday on one of my PBEM games. I selected one of the spotted enemy units and was able to view the entire enemy order of battle![&:] Wow, my S2 is all over it.

Regards,

Tbird3

[sarjen]

Have seen it today twice. But i have no condition as to when it will always be the case.

[IronManBeta]

Don't forget that this game is supposed to be easy for newcomers to get into. I opened up the interface a lot to give them info that would help them to get going. There was a particular option that I created: the Setup screen / Game Options page / Allow Browsing of Enemy Units checkbox. It sounds like you have it checked right now - the game probably shipped that way come to think of it for a better out-of-box experience for our new friends - and you would not have noticed it otherwise.

(Ahem, this also makes it a lot easier for us to debug the game so it was the default for that reason too.)

For the grognards out there, just turn this feature off by unchecking this option and you will not see anything about the enemy units other than the face of the counter. That is the preferred way to play the game once you are over the initial learning curve.


Cheers, Rob.

[iberian]

ORIGINAL: RobertCrandall
For the grognards out there, just turn this feature off by unchecking this option and you will not see anything about the enemy units other than the face of the counter. That is the preferred way to play the game once you are over the initial learning curve.

First of all, let me thank you for taking the time to answer me. Unfortunately, you are only partially correct. It's true that you can avoid displaying the entire enemy OOB in Chain of Command tree if you uncheck the option you mention, but even if you do it, you can still see all unit details by tapping the "I" key. If you do it, you will see fatigue, morale, ammo level, training, posture, order displayed and report frequency in the enemy counter.

I hope you can fix this, since you should be allowed to know only "number of runners" and "posture" in the enemy counters.

Thanks again.

[Mike_w]

I have to concur with Iberian on this one. I noticed it yesterday on one of my PBEM games. I selected one of the spotted enemy units and was able to view the entire enemy order of battle! Wow, my S2 is all over it.

Regards,

Tbird3

Hmmm, hope it wasn't me![;)][:-]

[IronManBeta]

iberian - I fixed the "I" key problem for patch 1.0.1. You have sharp eyes - no on else ever noticed it.

Salutations! Rob.

[iberian]

Fantastic news! Looking forward to the patch, Rob.

Greetings.