Middle East campaign series releases sep. 24

[Crossroads]

Does it let you do a 'mix' of Nato symbols on the board and vehicle pictures in the Unit Cards? I really like the zoomed 2D option. I've been back in JTCS lately and the 2D zoom there is too far out.

Hello Tuna! Well not with 2D unit icon sheet... You could have the NATO sheet on 2D map while the 3D unit graphics on Unit Cards. A bit like with TOAW:



But yes, been thinking adding an option to select Hex Infobox graphic independently from on-map units to our Wish List myself too, if that's what you meant?

[Bison]

Those are beautiful nato counters.  I'm excited at the possibility of them being implemented in a re-release of western and eastern front.

[Philippe]

As far as NATO counters go, I think I prefer these:

[Crossroads]

As far as NATO counters go, I think I prefer these:

Very nice! That's a PzC title with the Map Mod in place?

We also have an option for NATO counters with white background only:



But with no color at all, just using the counter background color? Had not thought about that!

Give me a few minutes here....  :D

[Philippe]

It's a mod I was working on last year that I never got around to finishing.

[Crossroads]

It's a mod I was working on last year that I never got around to finishing.

Very nice! I really, really like how you've put all the colors in with such a perfect blend (or how do you say it? English is not my language...) so it creates this nice overall harmony  :)

Meanwhile, here's our counters with a NATO sheet with no color in the boxes.



We've overdone the counters a bit for we wanted them to have this little gloss like cardboard counters on a mapboard.

Would be very easy to mod, together with our terrain. Wink wink hint hint!  O:-)

[Crossroads]

Jpg conversion giving me the griefs again  >:(

[Bison]

The issue I have with the new tiller zoom view is that the counters scale in a very pixelated manner.  The tller engine already suffers from an outdated UI and the zoomed in counters do not help relieve that issue.  I think rather it exacerbates this issue of the engine being outdated.   Of course it does help ailing eyes see the board better, but is not bringing a new generation of wargamers to the titles unfortunately.   Yes I think the aestitics of the games look has an effect on gamers even old grognards more then they care to admit.

[Crossroads]

The issue I have with the new tiller zoom view is that the counters scale in a very pixelated manner.  The tller engine already suffers from an outdated UI and the zoomed in counters do not help relieve that issue.  I think rather it exacerbates this issue of the engine being outdated.   Of course it does help ailing eyes see the board better, but is not bringing a new generation of wargamers to the titles unfortunately.   Yes I think the aestitics of the games look has an effect on gamers even old grognards more then they care to admit.

Yep, there's no magic bullet for scaling up with an algorithm. I think TOAW has a zoom level that is an algorithm too, it just does not work out.

Scaling down works reasonably well, but for new zoom-in levels there's no alternative but to create all graphics anew manually. Otherwise it is pixelated and ugly.

[Bison]

It's been awhile since I last played toaw 3, but I don't recall the zoomed in counters being too horrid.  Tbh it's hard to look at games wite, witw, or flashpoint counters and not wonder "what if".  Anyway it looks like you all are going about it in the right manner and doing the painful but hopefully appreciated work of rebuilding the counters from the ground up and not using a short cut that makes them just bigger and ultimately uglier counters.

[Crossroads]

It's been awhile since I last played toaw 3, but I don't recall the zoomed in counters being too horrid.  Tbh it's hard to look at games wite, witw, or flashpoint counters and not wonder "what if".  Anyway it looks like you all are going about it in the right manner and doing the painful but hopefully appreciated work of rebuilding the counters from the ground up and not using a short cut that makes them just bigger and ultimately uglier counters.

With PNG toggled OFF the bitmap counters lack the 2D Huge files and it is scaled up instead iirc. You know you have the right (or wrong rather) setting when you see them... Not that you want to play with them, but a good example that there's no alternative to actual right sized files.

[Cyrano]

I am shockingly grateful for the JTS ultra-zoom.  It really does make my day better.  I also very much appreciate the effort made in CS:ME to offer MANY levels of zoom...even accommodating those who, for reasons that continue to evade me :), like the 3D models.

I will say, I prefer the NATO counters WITHOUT the background.  Is that a future release, or have I just missed it?

[Tuna]

Does it let you do a 'mix' of Nato symbols on the board and vehicle pictures in the Unit Cards? I really like the zoomed 2D option. I've been back in JTCS lately and the 2D zoom there is too far out.

Hello Tuna! Well not with 2D unit icon sheet... You could have the NATO sheet on 2D map while the 3D unit graphics on Unit Cards. A bit like with TOAW:



But yes, been thinking adding an option to select Hex Infobox graphic independently from on-map units to our Wish List myself too, if that's what you meant?

This is exactly what I meant! Very cool, so you can use the NATO symbols, but have the ability to quickly see what model of vehicle it is on the unit card.

[Pinetree]

I am shockingly grateful for the JTS ultra-zoom.  It really does make my day better.  I also very much appreciate the effort made in CS:ME to offer MANY levels of zoom...even accommodating those who, for reasons that continue to evade me :), like the 3D models.

I think of it as the difference between those who prefer miniatures wargaming and those that prefer board wargaming. It's great that the CS gives us the option of both.

[Crossroads]

I will say, I prefer the NATO counters WITHOUT the background.  Is that a future release, or have I just missed it?

Well if you like them I could put them into CS:ME 1.01 as a mod.  Why not.  :)

This is exactly what I meant! Very cool, so you can use the NATO symbols, but have the ability to quickly see what model of vehicle it is on the unit card.

OK. It is supported already. Options -> Infobox Counters places the 2D counter view into Hex Infobox (Unit Card), so if you have NATO icons that's what you will have there too. By making sure it is not selected, these 3D graphics are shown instead.

I think of it as the difference between those who prefer miniatures wargaming and those that prefer board wargaming. It's great that the CS gives us the option of both.

They take a lot of work to create but they are going nowhere. 2D and 3D will both continue to be supported. Each platoon has it's specific 3D sheet with six facings, so it is far easier to do things in 2D. But yeah, both will stay for sure.