Game development direction.

[Pieper]

First off, I am a new guy, just finished the German OWS Campaign, and I came to see what was happening in the forums and see where the game was headed now that I have had my first real taste of it.

Let me say that OWS left me with a real love/hate feeling overall. I loved the application of the game and feel of it overall. I am going to be somewhat critical but please, as you read my comments, don't forget that I actually enjoyed the experience and only want to see it shine in the areas where it's weakest.

I'll work from the bottom up starting with game play mechanics.

Probably the biggest issue for me was the intense level of micromanagment required in order to keep units in formation or to properly take advantage of terrain. I am in command of roughly a couple of companies and I don't want to drive every vehicle all the time. I would love to see formation controls and waypoints added that will possatively impact movement pathing.

Smoke, I know it's been said, but there is no way to mask movement across danger areas or blind entrenched enemy positions. This really puts a damper on tactics and realism.

A static vs dynamic campaign. Even a simple tree where the outcome of a given scenario in a campaign effects which scenario will be played next would really help the replayability of campaigns. I truely enjoy the feeling of seeing my units gain experience and awards, but the campaigns are too short and too static. I know there is a campaign editor and a longer campaign can be built, but the selection is still a static predetermined list. Just as units "live", so should the campaigns.

Well, that's about it at this point. I am going to go try the Russian Campaign and find out if my battels are defensive in nature with a challenging offensive German AI, or if the game has another shortfall in that scenarios only play properly when the AI is in the defense and a human player must always assume an offensive roll.