Article#15.5 Post#1Obsolete wrote:One "nice-to-have" thing is to have a window telling us what new units are available between scenarios.
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1) Please give more information on the differences of the difficulty levels, for example a pop up telling what the advantages/disadvantages of AI will be. Is there a "neutral" setting difficulty ?
2) I cannot distinguish CORE and AUX units. Improve the distinguishability of these units further.
3) Please enlarge the golden bars around the flag icons in victory hexes or make them somehow more "perceptive". Perhaps enlarge all flag icons in size on hexes ? I find them too "tiny" atm.
4) I am definitely missing any kind of "information" bar showing a short summary of the combat events. Currently combat just takes place and you have too look very closely on what really happened. In PG there was a small "notification" bar at the top part of the map where a summary of the combat was posted like "ATT: 5killed 3 supressed - DEF: 0killed 2 suppressed
I learned there is the "L" short key which brings up summary of the last fight - but having a notification bar or something around would IMO be enough and spare me the need to always hit "L" after a fight.
5) Pioniere and similar infantry ignore entrechment - but there seems to be no mention of this special skill anywhere in the game.
I assume other units have "special" skills as well - so these should be shown somewhere definitely.
6) There is no Pz IIIE purchasable ?
Not even in Poland, shouldn't that be purchasable there ? What about (early) Pz IVs - at least in Norway ?
7) Units that have moved+fired are completely unselectable. Is that intended ?
I can't tell what the difference between Tactical Bomber and Strategic Bomber is - apart from different stats values. Is there any difference ? See 5).
9) There are different victory types right ? it would be nice if there was somewhere an information available about the time frame for each victory type. Either on start of every turn or just in the initial briefing.
10) there is no means to call the briefing or mission description after scenario start. I know this was not in the first PG nor in the follow ups but that actually would be an improvement if there was some kind of button to bring up the briefing text again or at least a summarization of victory conditions (maybe + time frames for different victory types ?)
11) The colors are very dark atm...a little fader green/brownish tones on the map, and especially the purchase menu at least for germany is VERY dark overall. See also RobertCLs comment: http://slitherine.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... 568#228568
2) I cannot distinguish CORE and AUX units. Improve the distinguishability of these units further.
3) Please enlarge the golden bars around the flag icons in victory hexes or make them somehow more "perceptive". Perhaps enlarge all flag icons in size on hexes ? I find them too "tiny" atm.
4) I am definitely missing any kind of "information" bar showing a short summary of the combat events. Currently combat just takes place and you have too look very closely on what really happened. In PG there was a small "notification" bar at the top part of the map where a summary of the combat was posted like "ATT: 5killed 3 supressed - DEF: 0killed 2 suppressed
I learned there is the "L" short key which brings up summary of the last fight - but having a notification bar or something around would IMO be enough and spare me the need to always hit "L" after a fight.
5) Pioniere and similar infantry ignore entrechment - but there seems to be no mention of this special skill anywhere in the game.
I assume other units have "special" skills as well - so these should be shown somewhere definitely.
6) There is no Pz IIIE purchasable ?
Not even in Poland, shouldn't that be purchasable there ? What about (early) Pz IVs - at least in Norway ?
7) Units that have moved+fired are completely unselectable. Is that intended ?
I can't tell what the difference between Tactical Bomber and Strategic Bomber is - apart from different stats values. Is there any difference ? See 5).9) There are different victory types right ? it would be nice if there was somewhere an information available about the time frame for each victory type. Either on start of every turn or just in the initial briefing.
10) there is no means to call the briefing or mission description after scenario start. I know this was not in the first PG nor in the follow ups but that actually would be an improvement if there was some kind of button to bring up the briefing text again or at least a summarization of victory conditions (maybe + time frames for different victory types ?)
11) The colors are very dark atm...a little fader green/brownish tones on the map, and especially the purchase menu at least for germany is VERY dark overall. See also RobertCLs comment: http://slitherine.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... 568#228568
OK, after further playing the most critical drawback IMO is
4) A player definitely needs some sort of notification, ESPECIALLY during AI turns on what exact losses his unit under fire just received. Either make the combat log appear after each fight for a certain amount of time (or until closed by player). Or just display a short summary like ATT: 3killed, 2 suppressed, DEF: 1killed, 1 suppressed SOMEWHERE easily spottable visible.
Just having to spot where is an attack going on and then having to calculate the losses by checking the displayed unit numbers is really hard during AI turns. In my own turns it is not such troublesome but still annoying to always do the calculation previous unit strength minus current unit strength for BOTH units.
When there are air units involved where no unit numbers can be seen it is even impossible to realize the unit was totally destroyed or how much damage a certain attack did.
The same goes for bombing or special attacks....it is most annoying to have to use the "L" key every time after a strategic bombing to see its effects.
This is IMO a real drawback at the moment
And also:
6) there is really no Pz III purchasable in Poland, nor a Pz IV ?!? That is by far unhistorical. And the Pz 38(t) should have better hard attack than the IIIE and IIIF models but slighlty lower def values than those.
4) A player definitely needs some sort of notification, ESPECIALLY during AI turns on what exact losses his unit under fire just received. Either make the combat log appear after each fight for a certain amount of time (or until closed by player). Or just display a short summary like ATT: 3killed, 2 suppressed, DEF: 1killed, 1 suppressed SOMEWHERE easily spottable visible.
Just having to spot where is an attack going on and then having to calculate the losses by checking the displayed unit numbers is really hard during AI turns. In my own turns it is not such troublesome but still annoying to always do the calculation previous unit strength minus current unit strength for BOTH units.
When there are air units involved where no unit numbers can be seen it is even impossible to realize the unit was totally destroyed or how much damage a certain attack did.
The same goes for bombing or special attacks....it is most annoying to have to use the "L" key every time after a strategic bombing to see its effects.
This is IMO a real drawback at the moment
And also:
6) there is really no Pz III purchasable in Poland, nor a Pz IV ?!? That is by far unhistorical. And the Pz 38(t) should have better hard attack than the IIIE and IIIF models but slighlty lower def values than those.
"Really? I usually just alt tab during the AI turn."
Yes really, I hate it when I have to search the unit killed because I could not see it killed quickly enough and just see the next turn that I have "Core unit slots 1".
And I really like to know whats going on on the battlefield. Its not that the AI turns take sooo long to watch, 15-30 s maybe at least in the battles I played so far ?!?
Yes really, I hate it when I have to search the unit killed because I could not see it killed quickly enough and just see the next turn that I have "Core unit slots 1".
And I really like to know whats going on on the battlefield. Its not that the AI turns take sooo long to watch, 15-30 s maybe at least in the battles I played so far ?!?
Definitely a major point which should be added before final release. I also like your idea/plan of that.
13.5 Library needs to explain some critical game mechanics. Including:
Terrain information.
Specialty unit markings and explanation.
"My plan is just to show all special abilities at the end of the list of unit stats, in the form of icons which you can hover with the mouse and see a detailed description of each ability. These icons will be shown throughout the UI: in main screen, purchase screen, "new equipment available" screen etc. "
Game rules, such as reinforcement costs and why and when they differ.
17. Combat outcomes notifiation bar.
I think if possible you should think about implementing a combat information bar or something like that.
A proper short feedback on what combat outcomes are, is definitely lacking. Always hitting "L" is not really a solution IMO and especially during AI turns the player has no feedback whatsoever about combat outcomes.
In the PG series there was an "information" bar recording and displaying the result of the battle. This (or something like this) should definitely be added prior to release IMO.
This is actually covered under very 'vague' 16.Iscaran wrote:17. Combat outcomes notifiation bar.
I think if possible you should think about implementing a combat information bar or something like that.
A proper short feedback on what combat outcomes are, is definitely lacking. Always hitting "L" is not really a solution IMO and especially during AI turns the player has no feedback whatsoever about combat outcomes.
In the PG series there was an "information" bar recording and displaying the result of the battle. This (or something like this) should definitely be added prior to release IMO.
16. Rugged defense visualization and notification.
Also visualization for unit surrenders, air ambushes, and artillery/AA defensive fire. Also visualization and feedback for AI attacks.
It should extend to all attacks, not just AI attacks, but as you said yourself, you 'can' always hit L. It's not a pretty solution, but it's at least something. A lot of items higher up simply have no alternative currently. So this is pretty important, but it's at the bottom of the important pile.
OK now after some 0.999 playing:
-the new "rugged Defence" display and evade and similar are OK.
Suggestion:
-Not sure on what your plans on the Also visualization and feedback for AI attacks are but ONE possible idea could be to show the losses / suppressed in numbers just above the units similar to the way "rugged defence" display works.
-the new "rugged Defence" display and evade and similar are OK.
Suggestion:
-Not sure on what your plans on the Also visualization and feedback for AI attacks are but ONE possible idea could be to show the losses / suppressed in numbers just above the units similar to the way "rugged defence" display works.
Nice to have suggestion
Didn't see it and not "needed" but I'd like the ability to move units in pieces of their move, not have the move stop the first place I put the unit even if they could move further. It is unrealistic to me to have to either blindly sacrifice scouting units by possibly running into enemies they don't yet see, or creep everyone along to maintain continuity.
JJ
JJ
Re: Nice to have suggestion
Scout don't have to run into ambushes, their movement is already staged.Terrement wrote:Didn't see it and not "needed" but I'd like the ability to move units in pieces of their move, not have the move stop the first place I put the unit even if they could move further. It is unrealistic to me to have to either blindly sacrifice scouting units by possibly running into enemies they don't yet see, or creep everyone along to maintain continuity.
JJ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A34tcbICzrg
This ability + recon cars excellent visual range makes them invaluable to a player's core, even if their combat stats aren't excellent.
If you don't have recon cars, then yes, your option is to creep your units forward slowly and painstakingly.
That bar used to disappear so damn fast, there were people who had played PG2 for ages and still didn't even know that it was there.In the PG series there was an "information" bar recording and displaying the result of the battle. This (or something like this) should definitely be added prior to release IMO.
Experience Ratio = (def exp level + 2)/(att exp level + 2)
Entrenchment Ratio = (def entr rate + 1) /(att entr rate + 1)
"That bar used to disappear so damn fast, there were people who had played PG2 for ages and still didn't even know that it was there."
You are kidding me right ?
Well when I played PG2 or Panzer General 3D I had but an DX2 or DX4, maybe an early K6 or Athlon CPU....not sure if I therefore had no issues to spot this "fast" notification bar because my overall system performance was so slow.
I did not try running PG2 / PG3d on my current state of the art system - due to issues with starting it up though.
You are kidding me right ?
Well when I played PG2 or Panzer General 3D I had but an DX2 or DX4, maybe an early K6 or Athlon CPU....not sure if I therefore had no issues to spot this "fast" notification bar because my overall system performance was so slow.
I did not try running PG2 / PG3d on my current state of the art system - due to issues with starting it up though.
No joke, maybe it lasted longer on older systems, but it's there for only a fraction of a second. Also, due to the colors & blandness & small size, unless you are looking right at it, you won't see it, furthermore, you had to look I think at the direct top of the screen (or was that bottom) to see it, and people are normally focused on looking at the exact action, not elsewhere.You are kidding me right ? Very Happy
And furthermore, depending whether you were using the FULL-SCREEN or default screen, it wasn't even visible at all (or am I mixed up with the other elements that are not always visible in these screen modes).
So yes, a lot of people didn't even know about it...(and still don't).
Experience Ratio = (def exp level + 2)/(att exp level + 2)
Entrenchment Ratio = (def entr rate + 1) /(att entr rate + 1)
One thing out of habbit... when I am looking at the UNIT INFO panel, one instinctively tries to click on the name-box in order to change the name.
One suggestion is to change the mouse icon to hint (click to re-name) when the cursor is within the bounding-box of that name. Then naturally, if clicked within that region, we can re-name the unit. Anyway, it's just a little aesthetics issue.
Another aesthetics issue would be to add STARS near the experience number count. Yes, I know I can look a these at the small icons to the right side of the screen, but one seems to also expect to also see them inside the Unit Info Panel. Or maybe stick some large stars above the main image in that panel, or something.
One suggestion is to change the mouse icon to hint (click to re-name) when the cursor is within the bounding-box of that name. Then naturally, if clicked within that region, we can re-name the unit. Anyway, it's just a little aesthetics issue.
Another aesthetics issue would be to add STARS near the experience number count. Yes, I know I can look a these at the small icons to the right side of the screen, but one seems to also expect to also see them inside the Unit Info Panel. Or maybe stick some large stars above the main image in that panel, or something.
Experience Ratio = (def exp level + 2)/(att exp level + 2)
Entrenchment Ratio = (def entr rate + 1) /(att entr rate + 1)
I think this may have been mentioned before... but the victory splash-screen for the decisive victory is the exact same one for the marginal victory.
I wonder, is it even the same as the failure screen?
I wonder, is it even the same as the failure screen?
Experience Ratio = (def exp level + 2)/(att exp level + 2)
Entrenchment Ratio = (def entr rate + 1) /(att entr rate + 1)