Tactical Exercise - Brigade Day Attack - Playing as Allies

[Iconoclast]

I certainly didn't what to go where you think I was belittling your view on what you would like to see in game A

No hard feelings. I just wanted to stress that I do not think my "wishes" would be more important than others, which is certainly not the case.

I happen to think that Mounted Ops is the most important thing to have in the game at the moment and was asking if you agreed.

I guess I would put it on the same level of priority personally. Mounted ops will change the way "how" we fight drastically for the better. But a new recon model would change not just how we fight, but also how we understand the battlespace at large in terms of economy of forces, even before proper fighting commences. Currently an absurd amount of resources has to be committed to conduct intel gathering tasks. That is distorting the simulation a lot, at least in my eyes. You see, recon affects the game at its most drastic basic layer: The layer of planning, thinking, and decision making, by improving the "input" that we have available for decision making. Not implying that mounted ops wouldn't have an effect as a new tool on decision making, but I hope you get my drift.

Hope that elaborates my position on this a bit better.

 

[Daz]

You make an excellent point mate.
The problem is how to implement it in a game at this scale?

As you know, and I definitely do, a 5 man section/squad with a radio, hiding in a bush deep behind enemy lines is an excellent source of recon.
Even more effective and very commonly used was aircraft in good weather conditions.
Another method used was flash spotting and sound ranging.
I don't have any idea how this might be implemented into the game however.

A section/squad sized unit is a very small force for a game at this scale and I'm guessing all the extra counters on the map may cause a fair bit of a drain on the system performance of peoples computers, while trying to represent them.
Until mounted ops has been sorted, it would also be possible to plant them in a forest somewhere, which would then require a valuable infantry foot Coy unit to flush them out.
That's not very good economy of force.
At least at the moment it would have to be an entire Coy of enemy infantry in the forest doing the recon, making it worth while expending the manpower and Artillery to neutralize them.

People have tried to use the Command Ops system to represent smaller scale units before, in player made scenarios, with not a lot of success, as the game LOS and terrain is set up for larger size formations.
I think it would require a complete rethink on the scale of the game in order to implement your idea, even though it is a very good one.

 

[Iconoclast]

The problem is how to implement it in a game at this scale?

I would love to theorize with you and others about that for hours. The thing is: I do not know anything about programming. Nothing. Nada. This subject area is like rocket science to me. So if I would come up with a concept it will very likely be very bad, since it is not based on expertise in programming, hence will not be feasible.

Having said that, I would like to point out that other games/simulations have adressed that issue in a more abstract way. I am not saying that I want to have every single patrol being displayed on the map. Decisive Action for example had the option to put a certain numbers of NAIs (Named Areas of Interest) on the map. There was a certain chance for enemies to be spotted around that NAI, simulating different recon assets focusing their efforts in this area.

Or maybe units could have extended LOS in return for reduced Personel available in their footprint, which is very simplified...

Or maybe we can abuse the invisible "supply convoys" that are already in the game. Units could start to toss out some of those that rund around somewhat randonly, and once their footprints overlap with an enemy unit you get some intel. Chances are they bounce off, or are lost, simulating losses among recon.

Or maybe .....see, that's where theorizing leads to.

Cheers,

A