If you could add one feature...

[CapnDarwin]

Multi-national setups is high on our list and we are also planning to take a shot at multiple backgrounds for a force as well. Get the best of both worlds.

[Catgh_MatrixForum]

I really wonder how important music is; especially if you are paying for it. How many folks actually want it. I would vote to cut the music and use that money somewhere else; perhaps a vacation.

[CapnDarwin]

Thankfully it's not that expensive and it does give us a nice bit of shiny chrome to the overall production.[:D]

[SKeeM]

I would like some intelligence on the enemies location and direction of advance to help with deployment.

[CapnDarwin]

Sceem, you don't have to wait long. We have ported over the Intel screens for our Origins game engine into the upcoming 2.0.11 update. It will do some of what you want. That Intel screen will get further refinement in Southern Storm.

[z1812]

I wish the turn sequence resolution was not apparent on the screen during the start of a PBEM turn. It ruins the tension and drama of what is about to happen.

[mb4329]

Given the importance of recon in the game maybe some tweaks to the recon model. Not sure how recon units are handled behind the scenes, but may be some sort of recon movement order (beyond deliberate move) that significantly reduces their rate of advance, halts forward movement on a sighting (but not retrograde movement), and significantly lowers their ability to be seen, but increases their odds of observing enemy units. While the preferred standoff range is useful I find my recon units still close to much with enemy forces and incur commensurate losses (admittedly it could just be poor management of these resources on my part).

Merrick

[CapnDarwin]

@z,I am amazed no one has brought that up until now. That would have been a good option to have now. We'll keep that in mind for Southern Storm.

@Merrick, a lot of those "abilities" already exist in the game. The issues with AI has been finding a balanced stay or go mechanic that fits all cases and player styles. One size does not fit all in this case. Recon can be troops to tanks and players want both speed bumps and ninjas. Southern Storm will put more of the standoff freedom in the players hands and that should help with this area.

[jack54]

Unit Leaders.... Various ranks, with ratings. Some can be cosmetic but other stats could effect order response time or moral [:D]

Think of the immersion that it could add with Gung Ho leaders on either side or an inept superior that screws up the works.

Showing my work below:

"Wars might be fought with weapons, but they are won by men. It is the spirit of the men who leads that gains the victory."

". many, who should know better, think that wars can be decided by soulless machines, rather than by the blood and anguish of
brave men." Gen. George S. Patton

[Jo van der Pluym]

That you in the game and editor can give SOPs independent of the waypoints.

Examples:
If enemy in sight retreat and hide.
If enemy in sight engage and search cover

[HeinzBaby]

Sorry if this has been mentioned before,
Ambush/Hold Fire command.
Rather than firing at units that come into range at say approx, 1500m and destroying 1 or 2 units,
Hold fire till your unit is spotted or fire at will at 500-1000 meters and knockout 2-3 Units.

[CapnDarwin]

Jo and Heinzbaby, we are looking at a couple of new features to address this area. [8D]

[kipanderson]

Hi,

ease of swapping type/mark/date of units in the editor.

So a shipped scenario is dated August '89 with M1A1 tank units. Swap the mark of tanks to M60A3s and have them automaticity deploy into the same locations as the shipped units.

A lot great scenarios that I would love to play set in say '83 or some such dated.

Fantastic wargame/simulation..
All the best,
Kip.

[CapnDarwin]

Kip, that's something I want to be able to do myself and also swap nations. WE have a "tool" in Red Storm but it not to that level of functionality. I would like to get there for Southern Storm, but we need to see where all the other features and plans end up first.

[dwbennett]

As suggested, by Capn Darwin, I've been playing "A Time to Dance" multiple times to get so I at least get a draw most of the time. I'm managing to do way better at protecting my force and even managed a 44% rating with 58% of my force remaining (while almost wiping out the Red forces except the arty units). My one frustration at the start of the scenario is having to order the three recon units to new bridge sites after the orignial bridges are blow from the initial orders. Several times the recon units are destroyed or at least made to abort their new orders because of enemy units attacking them.

I realize that it is probably hard to do but is there a way to have an order in a unit's cue for a move command after a blow bridge command? In other words, at the start of the scenario, a unit will be given two commands: 1) blow bridge XXXX and when that is complete, 2} the unit is given a move to command to Hex XXXX. I would envision that this would be the only time, and probably the only situation, that this kind of double command would occur in a game.

This whole idea comes from, at least in the "Dance" scenario, the 11th ACR knowing the area like the back of their hand. They would have known exactly which bridges needed blowing and, although not positively, which bridges should be blown first and which could have been blown a litte later. The idea that the recon (and engineers) would set around for a ½-hour waiting to be told to go to the next bridge and blow it is a little hard to take. That, somehow, doesn't sound like the elite troops they were nor the type of planning those troops would have done. (I've got a story about the 11th ACR but that can wait for later.)

As a side note, my combat engineer battalion in Darmstadt, besides the four line companies, had an ADM company (Atomic Demolition Company) attached to it. Talk about security around the barracks they occupied. We were told to not even look at that barracks let alone talk about it. I remember being told (by his driver) about our company CO traveling around looking at potential demolition sites for delaying, etc. any attacking force. Yeah, pretty serious stuff.

[CapnDarwin]

Don, we will be adding multi-order waypoints into Southern Storm. That will do the move to, blow bridge, run away much cleaner. Of course we will also be looking at the use of discreet engineering units/ functions too. [8D]

[dwbennett]

Cool! Thanks, Jim.

Later,

[kipanderson]

Capn Darwin,

"Kip, that's something I want to be able to do myself and also swap nations."

Thanks.. yup.. I do understand that time is limited. No problem.. lucky to have Flashpoint Campaigns at all.

All the best,
kip.

[CapnDarwin]

Kip,

There is no doubt that we have a "features" list longer than time to get them all in and there will always be more cool ideas that descend from the combination of new features we do get in. It's pretty much a never-ending cycle, but we are good with that. We want to get the most meaningful things into the new game engine and then pepper in what we can to reach a point of release. After that with updates and DLCs we can continue to grow and add new things in the same way we did for Red Storm. Our hope is to really solidify what core game mechanics, make the game code more adaptive to inserting new features with out breaking things or needing a full up revamp similar to this one for Southern Storm. It should be a wild ride! [:D]

[kipanderson]

Capn Darwin,

fans can be relentlessly demanding.. but you are used to that.. ; ).

All the best,
kip.