Future patches

[soldier]

Considering for future patches: Increasing maximums for weapons, units and formation to 1000 slots, increasing maximum number of weapons per unit from 4 to 6 (or 8), allowing addition and removal of formations during long WWII and random campaigns.

Bye...

Michael Wood

It would be good if some long time bugs could be looked at in the new patches

- When your planes fly bombing missions the location of your entire force is revealed to your enemy on the mini map (a problem when using aircraft in pbem or online games)
- Units that expend their turns shot count can go on firing smoke until that ammo is exhausted. An SP mortar in particular can fire up 20 + rounds of smoke ammo in one turn ! (please fix this).
- If troops are loaded and unloaded multiple times their speed reaches an extraordinary pace ( up to 100 mph ?). A cost in movement points for loading might solve this (Unloading troops near a fire fight should maybe trigger opfire).
- Manual states on page 185 that "smoke is an obscurant (to LOS) not impenetrable armour". In the game however smoke acts like a force field and drifts around for ages. Area fire through smoke would be a more realistic simulation of its true role in warfare.

Adding new features is much appreciated by the gamers here (myself included) but fail to address some other problems the game has had for many years. If the code is being worked on maybe these bugs could be finally laid to rest.

[Mike Wood]

Hello...

- Units that expend their turns shot count can go on firing smoke until that ammo is exhausted. An SP mortar in particular can fire up 20 + rounds of smoke ammo in one turn ! (please fix this). Not a bug (a piece of code that does not do what the programmer intended). A feature added by Tom Proudfoot.

- If troops are loaded and unloaded multiple times their speed reaches an extraordinary pace ( up to 100 mph ?). A cost in movement points for loading might solve this (Unloading troops near a fire fight should maybe trigger opfire). Not a bug. Just the way it works. The opportunity fire option might be a good new rule.

- Manual states on page 185 that "smoke is an obscurant (to LOS) not impenetrable armour". In the game however smoke acts like a force field and drifts around for ages. Area fire through smoke would be a more realistic simulation of its true role in warfare. Manual is wrong. Should read "direct fire may not traverse a hex with smoke in it"

May look at these items.

Thanks for Your input...

Michael Wood

ORIGINAL: soldier

Considering for future patches: Increasing maximums for weapons, units and formation to 1000 slots, increasing maximum number of weapons per unit from 4 to 6 (or 8), allowing addition and removal of formations during long WWII and random campaigns.

Bye...

Michael Wood

It would be good if some long time bugs could be looked at in the new patches

- When your planes fly bombing missions the location of your entire force is revealed to your enemy on the mini map (a problem when using aircraft in pbem or online games)
- Units that expend their turns shot count can go on firing smoke until that ammo is exhausted. An SP mortar in particular can fire up 20 + rounds of smoke ammo in one turn ! (please fix this).
- If troops are loaded and unloaded multiple times their speed reaches an extraordinary pace ( up to 100 mph ?). A cost in movement points for loading might solve this (Unloading troops near a fire fight should maybe trigger opfire).
- Manual states on page 185 that "smoke is an obscurant (to LOS) not impenetrable armour". In the game however smoke acts like a force field and drifts around for ages. Area fire through smoke would be a more realistic simulation of its true role in warfare.

Adding new features is much appreciated by the gamers here (myself included) but fail to address some other problems the game has had for many years. If the code is being worked on maybe these bugs could be finally laid to rest.

[omegaall]

Mike,
Thanks for this consideration:
Considering for future patches: Increasing maximums for weapons, units and formation to 1000 slots, increasing maximum number of weapons per unit from 4 to 6 (or 8), allowing addition and removal of formations during long WWII and random campaigns.

I will try to be quiet for a while on the topic.

[Puukkoo]

Steel Panthers 1 had one good feature I'd like to see in here, though this one is more a cosmetic matter.

Artillery barrages were dramatic in SP1. There was only one text saying 150mm FH firing:::::::::::: while the shot was whisling in the air. Then there was BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM

Then second battery fired. Again whisling and BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM

Steel Panthers 3 made me a FAST ARTILLERY ON -user. With every single shot two texts were displayed: 81mm mortar firing bombardment, with the range of 15 hexes, FLAP, 81mm mortar firing bombardment, with the range of 15 hexes, FLAP.

It's been improved in SPWAW, but the original feeling is not the same.

[Terminus]

Now that you've reminded me of it, that was true. The FLAP noise just isn't the same...[8|]

[Puukkoo]

Joker....[:'(]

[KG Erwin]

These future considerations for increasing OOB slots and allowing more flexibility in long campaigns are things I've been wishing for. I would realistically expect these to be long-term goals. In the short-term, I'll be happy with the changes in 8.5.

The simple fix for smokescreens is to allow fire through them, but with a vastly lowered hit chance. Why would anyone want to do that, anyway? I know that recon by fire into a hex is allowed, but it seems a waste of ammo. To each his own, I suppose.

If we want to get into a wishlist, I have one item to add:

Allow the capability to seal caves, essentially burying the defenders alive -- it's a brutal tactic, but it WAS done. All things considered, I guess it's no worse than incinerating them. A new icon may be necessary for this -- a gravestone overtop the cave, maybe?

[Terminus]

Heh, while they're at it, maybe they could make it impossible to destroy caves with rifle fire!

[Alby]

ORIGINAL: soldier

Considering for future patches: Increasing maximums for weapons, units and formation to 1000 slots, increasing maximum number of weapons per unit from 4 to 6 (or 8), allowing addition and removal of formations during long WWII and random campaigns.

Bye...

Michael Wood

It would be good if some long time bugs could be looked at in the new patches

- When your planes fly bombing missions the location of your entire force is revealed to your enemy on the mini map (a problem when using aircraft in pbem or online games)
- Units that expend their turns shot count can go on firing smoke until that ammo is exhausted. An SP mortar in particular can fire up 20 + rounds of smoke ammo in one turn ! (please fix this).
- If troops are loaded and unloaded multiple times their speed reaches an extraordinary pace ( up to 100 mph ?). A cost in movement points for loading might solve this (Unloading troops near a fire fight should maybe trigger opfire).
- Manual states on page 185 that "smoke is an obscurant (to LOS) not impenetrable armour". In the game however smoke acts like a force field and drifts around for ages. Area fire through smoke would be a more realistic simulation of its true role in warfare.

Adding new features is much appreciated by the gamers here (myself included) but fail to address some other problems the game has had for many years. If the code is being worked on maybe these bugs could be finally laid to rest.

How about when an enemy plane flys over and reveals HIS OWN units...[X(]
I would love to see the scoring revised, you come out with way too many draws the way it is now I think.

[BruceAZ]

Considering for future patches: Increasing maximums for weapons, units and formation to 1000 slots, increasing maximum number of weapons per unit from 4 to 6 (or 8), allowing addition and removal of formations during long WWII and random campaigns.

Bye...

Michael Wood

Hi Mike:

All that have been mentioned here are good suggestions. I generally accept the games imperfections as "this is the way it is" and deal with it. The only thing I would add is allow Engineers to play a more significant role like building or repairing bridges.

However, there has been one major problem people have spoken of since I joined this web site some years ago - SPWAW GAME CRASHES. And the response was always the same - code problem.

All I can say is it happens with frequency after the game has been on for a while (say 30 minutes or more) but there are tell-tale signs that may help you locate the problem in the code:

1. It always happens with tank units when one fires and hits another. Very common when a German tank hit another such as the T-34.
2. Just before #1 happens, the small replay screen on the lower right hand corner goes black.
3. Then the games crashes to the Desktop.

All of this happens in a matter of seconds.

Thanks for considering this. We all appreciate your efforts of taking a look at this.

Recon
Semper Fi

P.S. BTW, thanks for of the cool units you helped design such as the ships. They work great! We all appreciate your efforts to improve.

[soldier]

The simple fix for smokescreens is to allow fire through them, but with a vastly lowered hit chance. Why would anyone want to do that, anyway? I know that recon by fire into a hex is allowed, but it seems a waste of ammo. To each his own, I suppose.

I agree that firing into smoke would be greatly innacurate and not neccessarily a wise tactic but it was definatley used.
I have photos of what appears to be a SIG or some other version SP gun (small photo taken from behind) set up on a city street firing blindly into a wall of smoke from nearby burning buildings. The russians also fired their huge SP guns (through smoke) into buildings in Berlin where resistance was fanatical. Another photo during the Rhine crossing shows troops in an assault boat desperatley keeping low because of enemy fire with the quote " we all tried to crawl under each other cause the lead was flying around like hail" and this during the biggest smokescreen of the war.
My uncle recently started playing and has learned quickly to drive up to enemy lines, drop smoke and remain innvunerable. I have also seen it in many pbems where smoke is dropped as soon as enemy fire starts. Its a security blanket that too many players exploit in a gamey fashion and remain safe, on a battlefield ! If you want force fields go and play starfleet commander
On top of that its a completely unrealistic feature that defies natural law in a game that prides itself on realistic simulation. Area fire would have some limited uses against the above offences but not against troops who have dropped smoke and run. Its just an option really, especially at very close ranges.
I dont know why anyone would want to Banzai charge a MG nest or tank either but that happened a lot too

[KG Erwin]

ORIGINAL: soldier

The simple fix for smokescreens is to allow fire through them, but with a vastly lowered hit chance. Why would anyone want to do that, anyway? I know that recon by fire into a hex is allowed, but it seems a waste of ammo. To each his own, I suppose.

I agree that firing into smoke would be greatly innacurate and not neccessarily a wise tactic but it was definatley used.
I have photos of what appears to be a SIG or some other version SP gun (small photo taken from behind) set up on a city street firing blindly into a wall smoke form nearby burning buildings. The russians also fired their huge SP guns (through smoke) into buildings in Berlin where resistance was fanatical. Another photo during the Rhine crossing shows troops in an assault boat desperatley keeping low because of enemy fire with the quote " we all tried to crawl under each other cause the lead was flying around like hail" and this during the biggest smokescreen of the war.
My uncle recently started playing and has learned quickly to drive up to enemy lines, drop smoke and remain innvunerable. I have also seen it in many pbems where smoke is dropped as soon as enemy fire starts. Its a security blanket that too many players exploit in a gamey fashion and remain safe, on a battlefield ! If you want force fields go and play starfleet commander
On top of that its a completely unrealistic feature that defies natural law in a game that prides itself on realistic simulation. Area fire would have some limited uses against the above offences but not against troops who have dropped smoke and run. Its just an option really, especially at very close ranges.
I dont know why anyone would want to Banzai charge a MG nest or tank either but that happened a lot too

Good points, soldier. I don't play PBEM so this type of "gaminess" isn't an issue for me. I rarely, if ever, use smokescreens. I rely on firepower and mule-headed stubbornness. (I DO think like a Marine sometimes [8|] [:D] )

[RockinHarry]

Other comparably easy fixes:

#1 Setting afire of woods probability tweaked down to realistic levels! Generally there´s way to much fires/smoke produced in the game![X(]

#2 Make adding smoke rounds to infantry optional (or remove entirely). Where currently do those SPWAW infantry units take all that smoke grenades!??[8|]

#3 For those who like to play with Arty. fired smoke rounds more realistically, add the existing "wind direction" data byte to the user interface/windows. The data byte is present in the scenario files, so there just needs to be a routine that translates and writes the value to (part of) the user screen. A "hotkey" might serve the purpose easily (see @ or * toggles).

#4 Decrease and limit supression to AFV´s taken from small arms fire to "buttoned", but apply the "buttoned" status quicker! Would be quite realistic if the buttoned status also would be applied to AFV´s with limited crew number! Maybe if they shoot a particular amount of a game turn (IE commander buttons up to take over gunner role), the "buttoned" status would last for the remainder of the game turn!?

#5 Make entrenched infantry type units less easy to rout from entrenched positions. Normally a considerably amount of certain weapon type fire (example: HMG) at long range should not get infantry to leave their trenches/foxholes, only to get mowed down afterwards! Only accurate direct or indirect HE fire should achieve this effect, but still not as much as it does now (due to the exaggerated SPWAW supression model)!

#6 The mentioned IR spotting abilities of aircraft is a true game killer! Spotting of AFV or fort type units should not be "Automatic" anymore and any concealment modifier of terrain types should be taken into consideration instead, the more if a possible to be targeted unit is immobile (not moving) during the game turn.

Probably more to code as it sounds, but other stuff might only require a change of few variables.

[Puukkoo]

Just one more...

Strafing.

Some nations have airplanes that have only machineguns as weapons. The problem is that these types usually target tanks and leave the infantry alone. Machineguns do not damage tanks but keep firing at them anyway. Much more realistic for the fighter type would be a long strafing run at the infantry positions and leaving immune tanks alone.

[Alby]

Wish list from someone over at the DEPOT

"Some other things I'd love to see, if Mike feels like doing them...


Ability to edit country data that is now hardcoded. (ie: flags, name, national characteristics, ranks, names used for personnel, etc.)

Additional OOB's for more countries (ie: South Africa, etc.)

Ability to "reverse" a unit for retreating, keeping frontal armor facing the threat while you back up behind cover.

Change how campaign upgrades work, to allow upgrading to units availible during the next scenario in a campaign. Currently you can only upgrade to units that were availible as of the date of the battle you just completed, not the one you're going into.

Increase the game timespan. 1901-1959 would be nice.

Larger maps, more formation slots for large scenarios

"Willy Meter" on/off toggle

More random arty patterns, instead of the current four hex vertical pattern

Non-combatant units that cost you points if hit (ie: civillians, medical units, hospitals, etc.)

Extended ammo types, particularly in the AP areas

Expanded selection of crews more specific to the vehicle types (truck drivers and tank crews are not the same, so why use a generic "crew"?)

Slot selectable "auto-save" routine. Whatever slot # you first save a game in becomes the default save slot for that game's auto-save.

Multi-country/player play. (ie: being able to play a 3 or 4 player PBEM with 3-4 countries, or play with/against mixed forces with proper national characteristics such as German & Italian forces, or American & Brits)

Off-board arty ammo resupply option

Target "type" setting for aircraft (ie: be able to specify "infantry" and not have aircraft attack an immobilized truck 30 hexes beyond the 40 squads of infantry you're trying to bomb or strafe)

Target "type" priority setting for op-fires (ie: ignore the two man recon squad ten hexes away and shoot at the T34 three hexes away that's bouncing rounds off your cupola!) Or, fix the routine that's supposed to allow you to "click through" a selection of op-fire targets. This would also be a big help in stopping units from firing at things they have no busines shooting at, or any hope of hurting, like a recon team blasting away at a Tiger fifteen hexes away.

Eliminate casualty reports about units you cannot see. This would stop what I call "recon by arty", where you drop rounds in a likely area and see if you get any casualty reports then plaster the area, even though there's no way you could possibly know what you're hitting. "

[Puukkoo]

Just some highlights.

Increase the game timespan. 1901-1959 would be nice.

The WW1 might require completely another OOB's . There are many conflicts from that period and even earlier that would make interesting gaming. But not American Civil War, hope not.

Non-combatant units that cost you points if hit (ie: civillians, medical units, hospitals, etc.)

Could this work with 'negative score'. Possibly not...

Target "type" priority setting for op-fires (ie: ignore the two man recon squad ten hexes away and shoot at the T34 three hexes away that's bouncing rounds off your cupola!) Or, fix the routine that's supposed to allow you to "click through" a selection of op-fire targets. This would also be a big help in stopping units from firing at things they have no busines shooting at, or any hope of hurting, like a recon team blasting away at a Tiger fifteen hexes away.

Perhaps the most important matter of attention.

[Alby]

"Eliminate casualty reports about units you cannot see. This would stop what I call "recon by arty", where you drop rounds in a likely area and see if you get any casualty reports then plaster the area, even though there's no way you could possibly know what you're hitting. "

This one is my pet peeve! [:D]

[RUPD3658]

Spotter aircraft maybe? I miss these from SP2WW2.

[soldier]

#1 Setting afire of woods probability tweaked down to realistic levels! Generally there´s way to much fires/smoke produced in the game!

#2 Make adding smoke rounds to infantry optional (or remove entirely). Where currently do those SPWAW infantry units take all that smoke grenades!??

#3 For those who like to play with Arty. fired smoke rounds more realistically, add the existing "wind direction" data byte to the user interface/windows. The data byte is present in the scenario files, so there just needs to be a routine that translates and writes the value to (part of) the user screen. A "hotkey" might serve the purpose easily (see @ or * toggles).

#4 Decrease and limit supression to AFV´s taken from small arms fire to "buttoned", but apply the "buttoned" status quicker! Would be quite realistic if the buttoned status also would be applied to AFV´s with limited crew number! Maybe if they shoot a particular amount of a game turn (IE commander buttons up to take over gunner role), the "buttoned" status would last for the remainder of the game turn!?

#5 Make entrenched infantry type units less easy to rout from entrenched positions. Normally a considerably amount of certain weapon type fire (example: HMG) at long range should not get infantry to leave their trenches/foxholes, only to get mowed down afterwards! Only accurate direct or indirect HE fire should achieve this effect, but still not as much as it does now (due to the exaggerated SPWAW supression model)!

#6 The mentioned IR spotting abilities of aircraft is a true game killer! Spotting of AFV or fort type units should not be "Automatic" anymore and any concealment modifier of terrain types should be taken into consideration instead, the more if a possible to be targeted unit is immobile (not moving) during the game turn.

Probably more to code as it sounds, but other stuff might only require a change of few variables.

_____________________________

__________________
"Rockin"Harry
Raiders SP Arsenal Team

These are some excellent suggestions and great "game play" enhancements. I agree with these ideas

[Svennemir]

My suggestions, some of which are already written above:

Considerably lower persistence and possibly availability of smoke, or increase the ability to see through it.

Increase victory point values substantially, or let the player specify the average at start of game.

Lower aircraft accuracy against immobile and dug-in units.

Fix the bug which makes aircraft reveal the entire map! This is probably the most destructive issue in the game, which in my opninion makes aircraft completely unacceptable for use in any battle against humans.