Initial Comments and UI Improvemnt Suggestions

[kindablue2]

Some observations after the tutorial and a few scenarios. (note: I am echoing many other thoughts)

1) First the positive:

--Its back! So far it looks to be the real deal.
--Stable and speedy
--Looks great

2) Interface Improvements: (note: some of these features may be available and I have not located them)

A)--Wish there was an ‘Army Screen’

. A button that would bring up a screen where all the units in a scenario
. would be displayed. It would be organized into core units on one side and
. non-core on the other. Then be grouped by similar unit types.

B)--Needs 2 (two) turns of Autosave files.

. I pushed the ‘Next turn’ button buy mistake once. Upon loading the
. Autosave file, the game was reset to the BEGINING of the CURRENT
. turn, not the END of the LAST. Give us late-night, groggy gamers a chance.

C)--Needs to display unit attributes on the right interface panel.

. Whenever a unit is moused over, its attack, defense, movement, range, etc.
. should be displayed to the right. There is ample room for this. So I think
. this may be already intended to happen?

D)--The ‘End Turn’ button should be larger and at the BOTTOM of the interface panel

E) --Most buttons and displays could be a bit bigger.
. My monitor displays at 1900 x 1200 and the game looks great.
. So either create an game resolution setting (meh) or bump up the size of
. the fonts and buttons.

. I would say 10 point text would be a minimum.
. Though 11 looks better.

F)--The ‘Air Unit / Ground Unit’ toggle should be larger and more separate.

. I used this far and away most often and had a difficult time
. picking it out from its neighbors.

G)--A ‘Between Scenarios Screen’ where

. your core army can be viewed in its entirety, reinforced, and new units can
. be purchased. Then go to the ‘Deploy Army’ screen.

H)--Differentiate between core and auxiliary units.

I)--The snap or jump nature of unit movement, particularly enemy movement, seems stilted.

. Many have already commented on this, just reinforcing the thought.

J)--‘Scrolling Commentary’

. Some adventure and builder games have this: A rolling text display of what
. is transpiring in the game. For example:

. 1st 10.5 cm Artillery….bombards 8th Polish Cavalry
. 8th Polish Cavalry……….suffers 1 casualty and 1 suppression
. 1st Panzer…………………..attacks 8th Polish Cavalry
. 7th 75mm Artillery……..provides fire-support
. 1st Panzer suffers……….1 suppression
. 1st Panzer…………………..is crossing a river
. 8th Polish Cavalry ……….is defending woods
. 8th Polish Cavalry ………..is entrenched
. 1st Panzer……………………suffers 2 casualty and 1 suppression
. 8th Polish Cavalry ………suffers 3 casualty and 2 suppression

. Attack result:………………Stalemate

. 1St Pioneer…………………..attacks 8th Polish Cavalry
. Yada…………………………… yada

. For me this helps me follow the game and provides something akin to an
. After Action Report. Also, a timer could be placed on the rate of scroll, allowing
. the game to be slowed down a bit for us not-so-grognards.

3) Possible bug:

--When you move a recon unit but do not expend all of its movement points,
. Then select another unit, the recon unit does not display a green arrow indicating that
. It still has movement points available.

4) Gripes:

--I always felt that once an artillery or air-defense unit was forced to retreat, it should
. not be allowed to provide fire-support

--It seems that friendly artillery provides fire-support to units only if they are adjacent, regardless
. of the range of the artillery unit. Is this the case or am I not viewing the game correctly?


Thank you for your efforts, Slitherine. I really appreciate what you have done.

Thank you also for selecting me as a beta-tester. This is my first time in such a capacity and
it is fun, particularly because the game is stable, polished, and works well.

[lordzimoa]

Great feedback, thanks, we try to cover some of the comments already in the next build.

Cheers,

Tim aka LZ