WitP:AE

[Yskonyn]

Well the slower animations are just a partial fix.
Especially in a campaign you get so many of these animations that I wonder wether it is a good idea to make them slower. :S

I once read something about a combat logger tool or such. It creates a logfile with everything the game has thrown at you in the preceding round. Perhaps that is worth looking up?

[Herman Hum]

I quite agree that the flood of information is often overwhelming so much so that I turn off all the animations and only play the game according to the final combat reports. 

I have not tried the 3rd-party combat logger tool.  The only problem with playing the game solely via text reports is that some information only appears in the animations!  This means that I sometimes have to go back and re-run the turn just to see something that I needed to know.  I have not played in awhile, but things like lines of retreat for enemy forces are not found in any combat results report.  :(

[Yskonyn]

It amazes me you have played anything other than H3, Herman! ;)
And seeing you have even tackled 'THE beast' makes you jump up a few notches on my respect ladder, haha! :)

[Yskonyn]

BTW JD, which version are you using?

[undercovergeek]

When I played I just clicked thru the animations..... most of what you need is in the combat report and the ops report

You should be aware of most combat as you will have planned for it to happen

And I couldn't play this game without a pass and paper next to the keyboard

[JudgeDredd]

BTW JD, which version are you using?

Vanilla..as in updated but un-modded.

[Yskonyn]

When I played I just clicked thru the animations..... most of what you need is in the combat report and the ops report

You should be aware of most combat as you will have planned for it to happen

And I couldn't play this game without a pass and paper next to the keyboard

LOL! Yes pen and paper is indeed a must-have! :)

Vanilla..as in updated but un-modded.

Yes me too. But seeing the latest beta dating from this last november I think we might expect a new official patch still.
The latest official one dates from 2009 as far as I can see?

Anyway, I have found the tool I was referring to earlier: Combat Reporter
It's a nifty little program you run alongside AE. It keeps scanning for new logs and then presents that information in a 'Windows Explorer' style layout. I haven't used it yet, but it does seem like it could be very useful. Especially when running the campaign.
I am going to restart my scenario play endeavor after lunch. I'll report my questions, etc.

[Yskonyn]

Been fooling around with the game for the better part of the day and one thing keep giving me problems;
the ability to get the information I want quickly.

It's hard to keep track of which damage was dealt where, how many units are still where, etc...
I can only think you would need to keep track of these things manually on paper or am I missing something?

[Tuna]

There was a program that someone made for the first one, that kept track of all your Damage and such.. think it was called WITP Tracker.. not sure if they made an upgraded version for AE.. but it was pretty cool.. You could see which ships you needed to get to port quickly!

[Yskonyn]

I think I have seen the name of that utility over at the AE forums as well... thanks for the heads up!

[Tuna]

Here ya go!

https://sites.google.com/site/witptracker/

[Yskonyn]

Thanks! Still, I think its pretty annoying that you need to resort to external programs to get some sorted info.

[undercovergeek]

Thanks! Still, I think its pretty annoying that you need to resort to external programs to get some sorted info.

I'm wondering if this is one of those epiphany moments and highlights the difference between those that do and don't enjoy the game - my answer would be to constantly cycle through your combat tfs and cross reference these with the combat reports - it will tell you what action took place where and what damage was dealt, split off the damaged ships and escort them to a repair port - this kind of micro management down to the captain of the ship is what kept me at it for 6 six years - I loved it.

I may posit that if you don't want to sit with a pad and pen, spread sheet and develop a photographic memory then WitP may not actually be for you

[Herman Hum]

I would run consecutive turns and still forget what I did the immediate turn before the current one.  :(

[Yskonyn]

Thanks! Still, I think its pretty annoying that you need to resort to external programs to get some sorted info.

I may posit that if you don't want to sit with a pad and pen, spread sheet and develop a photographic memory then WitP may not actually be for you

You may very well be right about that... As cool as I find the concept of the game, I did not have even 1 minute of fun playing it this past day.