Wish List Thread

This new Commander's Edition of Harpoon Classic includes land units, neutral and unknown sides, an improved radar and area ECM model and a host of other improvements. Rounding that out are over 200 scenarios and the WestPac Battleset. Try out this great new version of the classic Harpoon!
MarkShot
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RE: Wish List Thread

Post by MarkShot »

When a staff message pops up to be able to scroll, position, and zoom the group and unit maps. Often the pop-up comes at an incovenient configuration such that you cannot really analyze the message which you are getting. Yes, I know about SELECT and SHOW buttons.

Thanks!
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FransKoenz
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RE: Wish List Thread

Post by FransKoenz »

ORIGINAL: MarkShot


I want a staff assistant who fears me and jumps when I shout! Not a nag worthy of causing a divorce or two!

Thanks.

Now I got it!
You are the admiral!!![:D]
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SteveF2006
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RE: Wish List Thread

Post by SteveF2006 »

Here's one thing that I think would add not only enjoyment but realism to the game. When you have dedicated certain aircraft to be on a CAP in your formation editor, it would be great if, when they have expended their primary missiles, the game gave you an option to return them to the ship/base to resupply. What ends up happening, especially in large scenarios (which I prefer ), is that your CAP exhausts it's primary weapons, ( AMRAAM, Sparrow, Phoenix ect. ) leaving only last ditch Sidewinders or just the Cannon Bursts. Then, another threat appears but you have no realistic weapon left and your in TROUBLE!   And at the same time, you have many aircraft left at the base/ship that could have been placed on your CAP in replacement of the planes that have used up their missiles. Make sense?
 
 
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TonyE
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RE: Wish List Thread

Post by TonyE »

Makes sense Steve, I think the implementation always comes into more trouble but wishlists aren't about that, they are about the desire :).  We were just chatting about a similar thing yesterday in terms of how the AI could decide when an attack is stupid (i.e. ASW planes trying to torpedo carrier groups).  Sometimes the AI would want to do such a suicidal thing if those ASW planes was all it had for instance, but usually the AI would be better advised to use a longer ranged weapon.  Anyway, we've got some ideas in making the AI just smart enough to do such things without spending thousands of hours writing a half-way worthy AI.
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JRyan
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RE: Wish List Thread

Post by JRyan »

How about the ability to watch the calculations as in H3....It is sometimes fun to watch just what the POK is....
 
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MarkShot
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RE: Wish List Thread

Post by MarkShot »

I find H3's datablock capability an easy way to see what units/groups are doing. That might be convenient for HCCE instead of having to click on things. Another possible implementation is Sub Command style where if you place your mouse over something you get rollover text in another part of the screen that gives you information about the unit.
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MarkShot
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RE: Wish List Thread

Post by MarkShot »

I think I asked for this before ... maybe.

Some way to make annotations on the map.

At the moment, I am simply taking screenshots of such locations.

For example, I just had a torp fired at me from a sub, I would like to mark that location on the map for future reference. (Now, I understand what the point of an exclusion zone is in each H3.)

Thanks.
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TonyE
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RE: Wish List Thread

Post by TonyE »

You've got a friend in Brad with the marking up the map request.
 http://harpgamer.com/harpforum/index.php?showtopic=2125
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Tony Eischens
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HarpGamer.com Co-Owner
MarkShot
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RE: Wish List Thread

Post by MarkShot »

Agreed because an enemy sub is very bad thing to misplace! :)
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SteveF2006
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RE: Wish List Thread

Post by SteveF2006 »

Here are three areas that could use a little improvement if possible.
 
First, I noticed in the WestPac battle-set (I'm not sure about the other battle-sets) that when I launch aircraft to attack a particular base or ship group, after the planes have launched their weapons, they keep flying at the enemy instead of heading back to base. What would be great is if, after the aircraft have launched their weapons, there would be a pop-up that would ask you if the aircraft should continue on course or return to base. This would be nice because depending on the attacking aircraft, I may want to change their mission. Otherwise, if it is a large and complicated scenario with many things happening at the same time, you may have your planes shot down needlessly! [:o]
 
Second, when I am adding aircraft to a base or ship, each time I add a plane, the computer adds that plane but then shift up. For instance, if I am adding a Seahawk to a destroyer and want to add the same helo to the next one, the program used to keep your selection on the last aircraft added. Now it shifts up one. It is not a big deal but an annoyance when creating scenarios. [:@]
 
Third, it would be nice when adding bases, that the computer puts you back to the last base you added instead of bringing you back to the top of the list. I seem to recall in one of the demo patches that the game had this feature. Often times when you are creating a scenario, you are adding multiple bases for a particular country. Again, not a big deal but just adds ease to creating scenarios! [8D]
 
Of course I am not complaining [:D], just thinking of things to add extra enjoyment to this great game!!
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RE: Wish List Thread

Post by TonyE »

hehe Steve, two of your wishes are already in the patch, and the first one will be tweaked.
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JRyan
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RE: Wish List Thread

Post by JRyan »

One other thing, when attacking with aircraft with lots of ammo, I would like the ability to type in my allocations instead of clicking 200 times to allocate. Example, iron bombs, when a flight of 20+ planes reaches target, it allocates a large number that I would not want to hit just the one target. Another example would be tomahawks, I usually need to go in and deallocate and then allocate what I want where.. H3's method seems to work fine.
 
Ethan
 
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mack2
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RE: Wish List Thread

Post by mack2 »

1. A flag/item/text in the Platform Display - Unit Display for Aircraft which shows if it is VLOW Capable (ie it can fly at VLOW without crashing for pilot error).

2. Not needing to chose the specific battleset before you can load up a user scenario. A list of all the user scenarios listed, then you pick the one you play, it loads the battleset, then proceeds to load the scenario.
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Maromak
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RE: Wish List Thread

Post by Maromak »

I would have to agree with all of the submissions above. I have another often contentious issue - aircraft ready times! At the moment I think that in the few (excellent[&o]) WestPac scenarios I have completed to date the ready times could probably be at least doubled e.g. F/A-18 refit for Intercept takes 60 minutes vice the current 30 minutes. I am not disputing that 30 minutes is not realistic however I think that the average time would not reflect this.

OTOH I appreciate the quick turn-arounds as it makes for a quicker game.

Cheers

S
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RE: Wish List Thread

Post by Shark7 »

ORIGINAL: Maromak

I would have to agree with all of the submissions above. I have another often contentious issue - aircraft ready times! At the moment I think that in the few (excellent[&o]) WestPac scenarios I have completed to date the ready times could probably be at least doubled e.g. F/A-18 refit for Intercept takes 60 minutes vice the current 30 minutes. I am not disputing that 30 minutes is not realistic however I think that the average time would not reflect this.

OTOH I appreciate the quick turn-arounds as it makes for a quicker game.

Cheers

S

60 minutes is only for turn-around times. IE after the plane has landed from a mission. This represents the normal maintainence and repairs that would be required after any flight. The 30 minute ready time is simply for swapping weapons. You will also find that as airbases take damage, the ready time begins to grow longer and longer.
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wolf2776
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RE: Wish List Thread

Post by wolf2776 »

I would love to be able to turn off all or certain types of messages from staff. When things get really busy they can be very disruptive.

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Barry Wolborsky
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RE: Wish List Thread

Post by theCase »

n) Pursuit at a higher (or current) altitude.

I've noticed that when I select an aircraft to pursue enemy aircraft the "assistant" will often recommend setting the speed to military (or afterburner) for the pursuit, but at a non-optimal altitude (in my opinion).

For instance. cruise speed for a F-14 is 405 mph, military speed is 765 mph at high altitude or 708 mph at medium altitude, etc. When I select a target a bit too far/fast, the assistant will ask to increase speed to 650 / 708 mph even though I can catch the target faster (and with less fuel burned) if the altitude is set to high. Any thoughts? Is this a feature where the AI is trying to minimize my radar visibility or a overlooked discrepancy?? I've noticed that the starting altitude has no effect on this, meaning, if the plane is at high, it will increase to military power and descend to Medium. Being the micro-manager that I am I then set the altitude to high for the pursuit as God intended.



n+1) S-3B attack airspeed cannot be set to Military.

I've noticed that when I set an S-3B Viking off to attack a sub, it will fly there at cruise (355 mph) even after I set the speed to Military (450 mph). I can understand that 355 may be a better choice for detecting / attacking a sub, but for the transit (often 100's of miles), I would prefer the higher speed.

I'm thinking the AI is probably in "attack" mode from the time it leaves the decks, but it would be nice to not have that kick in until it reaches some predefined distance from the contact (30 miles maybe?). My workaround is change the course so it's more-or-less in "patrol" mode, then switch to attack when it gets closer (more micro-management, but it works!).
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RE: Wish List Thread

Post by Bigfish »

Don't know if it was posted before but there schould be a new mission type: Refuling! It should be possible to set up a tanker mission to a specified airgroup: join - refuling - split.

Also there could be a new staff option: Refuling: If an airgroup is at an defined value of Bingofuel the staff could ask if you wish to lunch an tanker mission to refuel this airgroup.
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ruixilyy
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RE: Wish List Thread

Post by ruixilyy »

I really think more ship's picture/photo will added to the Westpac/ EC2003 database.  In fact. this is not a very heavy task for the designer. If  we frequently see the "No Picture Available" picture instead of the real photo of the ship, it will greatly reduce the true feeling of gameplay.
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TonyE
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RE: Wish List Thread

Post by TonyE »

ORIGINAL: ruixilyy

I really think more ship's picture/photo will added to the Westpac/ EC2003 database.  In fact. this is not a very heavy task for the designer. If  we frequently see the "No Picture Available" picture instead of the real photo of the ship, it will greatly reduce the true feeling of gameplay.

I'm not disagreeing that it should be done, but it is a horrendously time consuming process. It took four of us an amazing number of hours to get as far as we did and that included me writing a custom application to resize and format the pictures (and to help in selection among the choices). Always looking for volunteers <g>.
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