How Do You See What the Enemy Does to You?

Time of Fury spans the whole war in Europe and gives players the opportunity to control all types of units, ground, air and naval. Not only that, each player will be able to pick a single country or selection of countries and fight his way against either the AI or in multiplayer in hotseat or Play by E-Mail. This innovative multiplayer feature will give player the chance to fight bigger scenarios against many opponents, giving the game a strategic angle that has no equal in the market. The game uses Slitherine’s revolutionary PBEM++ server system.

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MarkWayneClark
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How Do You See What the Enemy Does to You?

Post by MarkWayneClark »

Hi, I am enjoying the game, mostly.

But I notice that when I end my turn and the AI enemy takes his turn, nearly of all of my counters disappear from the map and I can't see what he's doing on his turn in real time. I understand that I should not be able to see what is happening deep behind his lines because of FoW. But why can't I see what's happening on the front lines to my own units?

Is the only way to know to scroll through the reports window? Because that's kind of a pain, not that much fun and--I think--unrealisting. Shouldn't a player be able to see what is happening as it happens? Not to everything, but to his own units?
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Rasputitsa
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RE: How Do You See What the Enemy Does to You?

Post by Rasputitsa »

ORIGINAL: Mark Clark
Hi, I am enjoying the game, mostly.

But I notice that when I end my turn and the AI enemy takes his turn, nearly of all of my counters disappear from the map and I can't see what he's doing on his turn in real time. I understand that I should not be able to see what is happening deep behind his lines because of FoW. But why can't I see what's happening on the front lines to my own units?

Is the only way to know to scroll through the reports window? Because that's kind of a pain, not that much fun and--I think--unrealisting. Shouldn't a player be able to see what is happening as it happens? Not to everything, but to his own units?

The preference screen allows you to set the length of delay in each operation, if when the turn is being resolved, things are happening too quickly, you may not be able to follow the action. Adjusting the delay period for AI actions in the preference screen may help. [:)]
"In politics stupidity is not a handicap" - Napoleon

“A people which is able to say everything becomes able to do everything” - Napoleon

“Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress" - Napoleon
MarkWayneClark
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RE: How Do You See What the Enemy Does to You?

Post by MarkWayneClark »

Thanks, just tried that.

It didn't address the problem I'm having. It did slow down the AI turn a great deal. However, I still didn't see what the AI is doing.

I've been playing the gotterdamurung scenario. On the first turn, the game clearly shows me what the Germans are doing. It moves from unit to unit, centering each on the screen so that I can see what's happening. But every turn after that, it does not. I hear the sound effects but I have no idea what is being done where and the "camera" never moves. The only way to find out is to wait for my turn and read the reports.
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Jim D Burns
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RE: How Do You See What the Enemy Does to You?

Post by Jim D Burns »

I think it has something to do with FoW. I am having the same issues and turned off FoW and was then able to see things occur all over the map. I then went in and increased FoW from the default of 3 to 4 and was then able to see some but not all actions, most were still not reporting, though I did see floating text on screen telling me units were destroyed/retreated. So my guess is there is a sweet spot in there somewhere that will crank up your detection enough to allow you to see all your stuff but not the rest of the map. I'll be trying a setting of 10 next time I'm in game.

But there is also a bug at work here I think. In my current Fall Gelb game I'm playing as Russia and the Germans attacked me in January. No events or anything popped up announcing the declaration of war, and with my inability to see the battles as they occurred, it wasn't until the second turn of the attack that I finally noticed my front line units had begun to evaporate and discovered the war was hot.

So something is amiss with FoW in game.

Jim
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Rasputitsa
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RE: How Do You See What the Enemy Does to You?

Post by Rasputitsa »

In Preferences under Interface in AI combat result dialog lifetime, I have the time delay set at 4 seconds, as each AI combat takes place, I have 4 seconds to decide whether to 'Pause' each combat report and look more closely, or let it self cancel after the 4 secs.

I use the same setting for Player combat results.

It does not slow the game down too much and I can choose which reports to read and which to let pass. I am using the transparent report box mod, so that I can see the map through the combat report window and decide whether the combat is of interest, or not. I have changed the text colour from black to dark blue, which is easier to see against the Agent S map option I am using, this changes the text colour in all the game windows, but the dark blue colour compliments the other game window colours, which are lighter blues/grey and yellow. I find this combination works very well in keeping up to date with the action, always with the option to review things at any time in the main reports section.

I have FOW ON and set at 2 hexes, I find this game has some of the best reporting preferences/options available and modding the display works well. Where I am not using transparent report windows, as for unit info and purchase boxes, I use a GUI file mod to remove the window border framing and reduce the window to a simple box, this reveals more of the map (I think it looks better anyway), you can always drag the map from under the window with the right mouse button to see the units better[:)]

See discussion on transparent combat box mod.

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3006547



Attachment below shows SS of reduced size box.



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RE: How Do You See What the Enemy Does to You?

Post by Rasputitsa »

Here is a reduced size main events report box, seeing more of the map helps, as you can slide the area of the reported combats into the visible map area above the box and see what's happened to your units as you check the reports. [:)]

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Omnius
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Wait for Click

Post by Omnius »

Under the Interface tab I suggest that you set the AI and Human combat dialgues box lifetimes to "Wait for Click". That way you don't have to play like it's some arcade game to make sure you click before the time limit expires. The combat dialogues stay up until you click them to go away.

You could set the preference for FOW range to zero just before you click to end your turn so you could watch the AI do it's thing, but then you ruin the surprise for use of FoW. It seems like you really don't want to use FoW.

Also, as Rasputitsa pointed out, you can read about all kinds of game actions in the reports menu, especially events reporting where you can see all kinds of combat reports.
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RE: Wait for Click

Post by Rasputitsa »

ORIGINAL: Omnius
Under the Interface tab I suggest that you set the AI and Human combat dialgues box lifetimes to "Wait for Click". That way you don't have to play like it's some arcade game to make sure you click before the time limit expires. The combat dialogues stay up until you click them to go away.

The reason for setting the 4 second delay (or any other delay of choice) is not for the arcade practice, but so that the reports will self cancel after that delay, I only 'Pause' the reports I want to see in detail, otherwise I can let the AI get on with its move with the minimum intervention from me. I don't want to have to click to clear every AI and Player report, as that would reach arcade levels.[:)]
"In politics stupidity is not a handicap" - Napoleon

“A people which is able to say everything becomes able to do everything” - Napoleon

“Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress" - Napoleon
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RE: How Do You See What the Enemy Does to You?

Post by Jim D Burns »

ORIGINAL: Rasputitsa

In Preferences under Interface in AI combat result dialog lifetime, I have the time delay set at 4 seconds, as each AI combat takes place, I have 4 seconds to decide whether to 'Pause' each combat report and look more closely, or let it self cancel after the 4 secs.

I have this setting set to 'wait for click', but I'm not getting any battle report dialogs popping up. Occasionally I get one, but 95% of the battles are not displaying a pop-up dialog. I hear the cracking sound of a battle and if the screen happens to be over that area, floating text rises above the hex where the battle is, but I see no units during turn executions (neither mine or the Germans) and get no dialog boxes for most of the battles that occur. During AI moves I do see many air reports and some naval reports for allied battles even though I'm playing the Soviets.

When I hit end turn, all the units I see on map vanish and I see an empty map with my friendly territory lit up. Then occasionally I see one or a few allied units in a small area of about 6-12 hexes that lights up somewhere (even with FoW set to 1 hex) and the map jumps to them, but there is no rhyme or reason to who or what I see of the allied units as the AI does the moves for those powers. The only time my units ever appear is apparently when the Germans make an attack or do a recon, but 95% of the time even retreated units of mine do not appear during turn execution and all I see are empty hexes.

Something is definitely screwy with FoW I think. I'm using Win 7 if that makes a difference.

Jim
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RE: How Do You See What the Enemy Does to You?

Post by Rasputitsa »

ORIGINAL: Jim D Burns
ORIGINAL: Rasputitsa
In Preferences under Interface in AI combat result dialog lifetime, I have the time delay set at 4 seconds, as each AI combat takes place, I have 4 seconds to decide whether to 'Pause' each combat report and look more closely, or let it self cancel after the 4 secs.

I have this setting set to 'wait for click', but I'm not getting any battle report dialogs popping up. Occasionally I get one, but 95% of the battles are not displaying a pop-up dialog. I hear the cracking sound of a battle and if the screen happens to be over that area, floating text rises above the hex where the battle is, but I see no units during turn executions (neither mine or the Germans) and get no dialog boxes for most of the battles that occur. During AI moves I do see many air reports and some naval reports for allied battles even though I'm playing the Soviets.

When I hit end turn, all the units I see on map vanish and I see an empty map with my friendly territory lit up. Then occasionally I see one or a few allied units in a small area of about 6-12 hexes that lights up somewhere (even with FoW set to 1 hex) and the map jumps to them, but there is no rhyme or reason to who or what I see of the allied units as the AI does the moves for those powers. The only time my units ever appear is apparently when the Germans make an attack or do a recon, but 95% of the time even retreated units of mine do not appear during turn execution and all I see are empty hexes.

Something is definitely screwy with FoW I think. I'm using Win 7 if that makes a difference.
Jim

I am also using Windows 7 (TOF 1.03b v3) and, with the preference configuration noted in the previous post, I am seeing the AI combats and getting the combat report window showing for each event. All units remain visible as for the FOW setting of 2 hexes and I can see the AI moves and combat arrows in the battle hex. I always start my games from the 'Custom' preference, I tried to test the effect starting with 'Quick Start', but got CTD, so the problem may be there.[&:]
"In politics stupidity is not a handicap" - Napoleon

“A people which is able to say everything becomes able to do everything” - Napoleon

“Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress" - Napoleon
MarkWayneClark
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RE: How Do You See What the Enemy Does to You?

Post by MarkWayneClark »

This is a serious flaw in the game for me. I've tried various settings so if I am doing something wrong, I would appreciate being told, but here is the way it happens for me.

On the first turn only, the computer/AI does what it should: the "camera" moves from unit to unit and shows me what the enemy is doing to my lines. After the first turn, it always shows me air combat but only air combat. Land combat is not shown. Also, air combat always brings up a dialog box that explains what just happened and requires a click to make the box disappear; land combat never generates this box.

For a few turns, turns 2 through 3 or four, I could hear the artillery sound effect so I knew somthing was happening on the ground. I could guess where and click to that location but I would be wrong at least as often as right. And, again, there is no explanatory box.

Then, after around turn four, even that stopped. The AI just whizzes through the enemy turns as if the enemy has done nothing but when I go back and check when it's my turn again, I find my lines completely different, units missing (destroyed presumably?) enemy pockets relieved, and so on, with no idea how it all happened.

Is this the way the game was designed?
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RE: How Do You See What the Enemy Does to You?

Post by MarkWayneClark »

Checking the reports, I see that the enemy initiated seven battles on the last turn. I saw none of them, not even an inkling. The settings are for a three second delay after combat, for what that's worth.
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RE: How Do You See What the Enemy Does to You?

Post by Rasputitsa »

Just loaded 'Fall Gelb' in Custom Game, set France to Human and let the AI do everything else. Have run through 6 turns and it all seems to work OK. I am seeing the AI move and upgrade units, initiate combats and the combat reports window comes up.

I am sorry this does not help with what you are seeing, but this is 1.03b v3 in Windows 7 and the display seems to be normal for the preference settings I am using. There are times when the display skips around the map and nothing seems to be happening, but I expect that this is AI movement going on in areas covered by FOW. [&:]
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“A people which is able to say everything becomes able to do everything” - Napoleon

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RE: How Do You See What the Enemy Does to You?

Post by Rasputitsa »

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RE: How Do You See What the Enemy Does to You?

Post by Rasputitsa »

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RE: How Do You See What the Enemy Does to You?

Post by Rasputitsa »

What you are seeing is not the way the game is designed, because it works normally on my system, perhaps others can confirm what they see. It is strange that the effects change from turn to turn, this has to be an error somewhere.

When looking at the preference settings, look also at the tick boxes, these combinations may affect the display.
"In politics stupidity is not a handicap" - Napoleon

“A people which is able to say everything becomes able to do everything” - Napoleon

“Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress" - Napoleon
MarkWayneClark
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RE: How Do You See What the Enemy Does to You?

Post by MarkWayneClark »

Thanks for replying.

I am sorry but your screenshot is too small for me to read the settings. Looks like everything on the left column is set to 1 second and everything on the right is 2 seconds?

Also, I only have patch 1.02 because it's official. Does 1.03 beta fix this? I can install it if people think that would help.

It is a wonderful game, I would like to enjoy it more.
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RE: How Do You See What the Enemy Does to You?

Post by MarkWayneClark »

OK, I am quitting until I can solve this problem. Just had a turn with 13 battles, all of them unseen, my lines are in total disarray and I have no idea what happened. This is a serious flaw.

I have the settings at default so I find it surprising that I am the only one this has ever happened to.

Nice game, in theory, but playing it blindfolded is not fun.
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RE: How Do You See What the Enemy Does to You?

Post by Rasputitsa »

Do you the same problem with the initial game version 1.0 and are you starting your games from 'Quick Start', or 'Custom Game'. Point being, which ever start you use, try the alternative.

"In politics stupidity is not a handicap" - Napoleon

“A people which is able to say everything becomes able to do everything” - Napoleon

“Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress" - Napoleon
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RE: How Do You See What the Enemy Does to You?

Post by Rasputitsa »

Deleted. trying different file sizes.
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“Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress" - Napoleon
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