Scourge of War: Waterloo! announced

[mikeck]

And where's the HITS option?  Nevermind, it's the view distance setting.

You can leave the camera distance view as is so you can survey the entire battlefield if you want...but still play HITS by hitting the "F" key once to lock on your general and follow him around. Hit it again to be able to spin your view and raise it a bit. I do this so that occasionally I can pop up and get a gods eye view for fun.

I get that it's non-groggy because formations are off and maybe uniforms aren't right...but as a command simulation...a simulation of what it's like to command a large force in a battle, can you get more groggy than this game in HITS mode?

[panzerde]

I get that it's non-groggy because formations are off and maybe uniforms aren't right...but as a command simulation...a simulation of what it's like to command a large force in a battle, can you get more groggy than this game in HITS mode?

All Napoleonic games ever made have the uniforms wrong according to someone. I firmly believe that even (especially?) grogs that paint their own Napoleonic minis go sit in front of the mirror with their soldiers spread out and berate themselves for uniforms being incorrect.  ;)

Yep, there are a few uniforms off, mostly due to memory limits. I expect we'll see uniform mods once the SDK is out.

You are spot on about this as a command simulation. Even without being in HITS, playing by limiting yourself to giving orders to subordinates rather than micromanaging everything is a very groggy experience.

[jomni]

And where's the HITS option?  Nevermind, it's the view distance setting.

You can leave the camera distance view as is so you can survey the entire battlefield if you want...but still play HITS by hitting the "F" key once to lock on your general and follow him around. Hit it again to be able to spin your view and raise it a bit. I do this so that occasionally I can pop up and get a gods eye view for fun.

I get that it's non-groggy because formations are off and maybe uniforms aren't right...but as a command simulation...a simulation of what it's like to command a large force in a battle, can you get more groggy than this game in HITS mode?

You don't even need to watch the action when playing like this so uniforms are irrelevant.

[Nefaro]

I get that it's non-groggy because formations are off and maybe uniforms aren't right...but as a command simulation...a simulation of what it's like to command a large force in a battle, can you get more groggy than this game in HITS mode?

All Napoleonic games ever made have the uniforms wrong according to someone. I firmly believe that even (especially?) grogs that paint their own Napoleonic minis go sit in front of the mirror with their soldiers spread out and berate themselves for uniforms being incorrect.  ;)

LOL.    O0

[fabius]

Absolutely loving the Sandbox campaign.

Especially like how the fatigue, morale and ammo carry over.


Ok the sandbox campaign is pretty basic, but there's enough there to give context to battles that really adds the immersion and fun for me.

Picked this up yesterday having never got past the Civil War demos. Got the hang of it enough to manage 2 divisions. It's a bit rough around the edges that I hop patches and maybe later expansions smooth (one of them is sensitivity of formations wheeling in fire fights).

[panzerde]

Picked this up yesterday having never got past the Civil War demos. Got the hang of it enough to manage 2 divisions. It's a bit rough around the edges that I hop patches and maybe later expansions smooth (one of them is sensitivity of formations wheeling in fire fights).

This, along with the "my general insists on riding into the middle of the enemy" thing are issues that have been around in the SOW engine from the start. I've kind of learned to work around them over the years, but they really, really do need to be fixed.

[RyanE]

I tell ya...after reading the matrix forums I have one of two paths for a conclusion...

SOWW is a broken mess that is a compete misrepresentation of Napoleonic combat...or...Nappy combat fans are whiney bitches that will never be happy unless they can pain their own army's uniforms and roll dice.  They will be the demise of their own passions.

I am heavily leaning towards the latter and buying SOWW to spite them.

[Father Ted]

I tell ya...after reading the matrix forums I have one of two paths for a conclusion...

SOWW is a broken mess that is a compete misrepresentation of Napoleonic combat...or...Nappy combat fans are whiney bitches that will never be happy unless they can pain their own army's uniforms and roll dice.  They will be the demise of their own passions.

I am heavily leaning towards the latter and buying SOWW to spite them.

I've made a conscious decision not to visit those forums.  Lots of people seem to get very agitated about the smallest things in games (especially "groggy" games)and you can come away from the forums with the impression that said game is unplayable mess.

I've now had a chance to have a couple of goes at SoW:W and I like it.  Once I get used to the new orders system (from habit I keep right-clicking to pan my view) I can see myself really getting into it.

[Grim.Reaper]

Once I get used to the new orders system (from habit I keep right-clicking to pan my view) I can see myself really getting into it.

Not sure if you knew, but you can do the right-click pan view thing by right-clicking over the bottom brown information panel and moving the mouse to pan the view....not as good as being able to do right on the map itself, but works OK when you get used to it.

[fabius]

Once I get used to the new orders system (from habit I keep right-clicking to pan my view) I can see myself really getting into it.

Not sure if you knew, but you can do the right-click pan view thing by right-clicking over the bottom brown information panel and moving the mouse to pan the view....not as good as being able to do right on the map itself, but works OK when you get used to it.

just in case= Ctrl right click too.

[Father Ted]

Thanks guys

[Nefaro]

It's a bit rough around the edges that I hop patches and maybe later expansions smooth (one of them is sensitivity of formations wheeling in fire fights).

I don't think the regular AI "wheeling" is ever going to be adjusted. 

Only a small part of the center of an individual line unit is really modelled for LOS, location, etc.  A portion of the line directly underneath it's flag.  Think of it like a miniatures game where all measurements are made to & from a specific point of a mini's base, in the middle.

The kicker is that the extra troops on the ends of the line are just there for visual appeal.  So large brigades with many troops will have this spill-over that is there to keep the 5-to-1 troop to pixel soldier ratio, for retaining scale and look, but the area on the ends where these extras are located don't actually collide with anything.  When the center (where the LOS originates) needs to pivot in order to target a new threat, these ghost ends of the line will whip around (and through), following the center at all times.

So when these lines wheel through other units as if they're not present, that is the reason.  I'm not saying it's ideal.. just how it's always been AFAIK.  I tend to overlook the lines whipping back & forth through others these days, now that I know it's really only a center section of the line that matters and the rest is just to help represent relative troops numbers.  Doesn't really bother me anymore.

[fabius]

It's a bit rough around the edges that I hop patches and maybe later expansions smooth (one of them is sensitivity of formations wheeling in fire fights).

I don't think the regular AI "wheeling" is ever going to be adjusted. 

Only a small part of the center of an individual line unit is really modelled for LOS, location, etc.  A portion of the line directly underneath it's flag.  Think of it like a miniatures game where all measurements are made to & from a specific point of a mini's base, in the middle.

The kicker is that the extra troops on the ends of the line are just there for visual appeal.  So large brigades with many troops will have this spill-over that is there to keep the 5-to-1 troop to pixel soldier ratio, for retaining scale and look, but the area on the ends where these extras are located don't actually collide with anything.  When the center (where the LOS originates) needs to pivot in order to target a new threat, these ghost ends of the line will whip around (and through), following the center at all times.

So when these lines wheel through other units as if they're not present, that is the reason.  I'm not saying it's ideal.. just how it's always been AFAIK.  I tend to overlook the lines whipping back & forth through others these days, now that I know it's really only a center section of the line that matters and the rest is just to help represent relative troops numbers.  Doesn't really bother me anymore.

Very interesting- do you think that includes outgoing and incoming fire calculations then. As in it won't make any difference on the volume of outgoing and incoming hits even if lined up correctly but overlapping at the ends?

[Nefaro]

It's a bit rough around the edges that I hop patches and maybe later expansions smooth (one of them is sensitivity of formations wheeling in fire fights).

I don't think the regular AI "wheeling" is ever going to be adjusted. 

Only a small part of the center of an individual line unit is really modelled for LOS, location, etc.  A portion of the line directly underneath it's flag.  Think of it like a miniatures game where all measurements are made to & from a specific point of a mini's base, in the middle.

The kicker is that the extra troops on the ends of the line are just there for visual appeal.  So large brigades with many troops will have this spill-over that is there to keep the 5-to-1 troop to pixel soldier ratio, for retaining scale and look, but the area on the ends where these extras are located don't actually collide with anything.  When the center (where the LOS originates) needs to pivot in order to target a new threat, these ghost ends of the line will whip around (and through), following the center at all times.

So when these lines wheel through other units as if they're not present, that is the reason.  I'm not saying it's ideal.. just how it's always been AFAIK.  I tend to overlook the lines whipping back & forth through others these days, now that I know it's really only a center section of the line that matters and the rest is just to help represent relative troops numbers.  Doesn't really bother me anymore.

Very interesting- do you think that includes outgoing and incoming fire calculations then. As in it won't make any difference on the volume of outgoing and incoming hits even if lined up correctly but overlapping at the ends?

Only as far as the small section in the center is concerned.  It doesn't make a difference if you have wide line and the troops on the end are behind some others.

You can double check those cases when they are overlapping on the ends (at least in SOW:G) by the absence of the fire obscurement penalty icon. 

I've definitely had ends of my line behind other LOS-blocking units and had no penalty.  So, yes, that can be the case.

[Cyrano]

Remember...always remember...compared to this man, who despite his representations to the contrary, is both obsessive and compulsive, we are all triflers: