Requests for features

[Rudankort]

I'm still for the "pop-up" engagement like in the PG version for the playstation. It would need to be on/off capable, but I think it adds a little bit more stress to each conflict. Plus the animations and explosions were all unique and added more sense of accomplishment and realism to the units.

I'd also like to see the info pane on the right with a hide function. Once you have the hotkeys down and are deep in battle, the extra 1/4 screen viewing would be nice.

Finally, and I feel a little dumb for asking, but can there be a explanation section for the whole battle results, roll dice, etc. screen when using “L” after battle? I’ve got the basic concept down for strength, rugged, etc, but what determines how many dice are rolled? Is a 20-sided like D&D? Is this actually based on how PG worked behind the scenes? Trust me, if I didn’t know it was there, I wouldn’t even question it, but you guys brought it up. Before I thought it was just “gypsy magic”…….which the SS tried to eliminate….

Combat animations in PG were very controversal, a lot of people did not like them because they slowed down the game too much. In PzC we tried to integrate animations directly into tactical map, units are actually shooting at each other, and I think we have some cool effects there. At the same time, animations are pretty fast and do not slow the game all that much. I don't think we need to spend time changing anything here.

Side panel can be toggles using F hotkey.

As for battle results, each point of unit's strength which is not killed or suppressed rolls dice. Chances to miss, kill and suppressed are expressed in percent, so I roll 1-100 and interpret the result according to those percents. PG used a similar overall algorithm, but there are many differences in specifics too.

[Kissaki]

I'd like auxilia slots next to core slots. If you lose a core unit you get a core slot freed up. However, if you lose an auxiliary unit, there are no slots made available, and you can't buy auxiliary units as far as I'm aware. This, in a sense, means that your auxiliary units are more precious than your core units, as they cannot be replaced.

Although...

I swear I bought a paratrooper unit in Norway, which didn't carry over to the Low Countries, because as it turns out it was an auxiliary unit! If we are given two paratroopers in Norway, then I did buy one, because in my Norway save I have three of them. All of them auxiliary.

But yeah, auxiliary slots would be nice.

[Rudankort]

The reason why buying auxiliary units was disabled (although it can be reenabled back in the editor) is that we did not want to support all kinds of tricks like "disband all your fleet and buy a huge auxiliary air force" (this is how people played Washington in PG). Also this makes the player care a bit more for aux units, because they are non-replacable. In PG they were often used as cannon fodder.

I'm not sure what happened for you in Norway, it should not be that way.

[Kissaki]

The reason why buying auxiliary units was disabled (although it can be reenabled back in the editor) is that we did not want to support all kinds of tricks like "disband all your fleet and buy a huge auxiliary air force" (this is how people played Washington in PG). Also this makes the player care a bit more for aux units, because they are non-replacable. In PG they were often used as cannon fodder.

I'm not sure what happened for you in Norway, it should not be that way.

Hmm, good point. I never thought of that, really. Not back in PG either, where I certainly wasn't so ungrateful to High Command that I disbanded the auxiliary units they had given me, nosirree! (Although I totally used them as cannon fodder.)

Perhaps I'll resist temptation to turn the feature on. It is so easy to forget that the auxiliary units are real human beings, too, with hopes and dreams like the rest of us

[davouthojo]

Combat animations in PG were very controversal, a lot of people did not like them because they slowed down the game too much. In PzC we tried to integrate animations directly into tactical map, units are actually shooting at each other, and I think we have some cool effects there. At the same time, animations are pretty fast and do not slow the game all that much. I don't think we need to spend time changing anything here.

I have to disagree on this - perhaps because I am playing on a machine with less good specs than you expected. The combat animations slow down play to the point where I get frustrated - and I already have given up watching the enemy move. It needs an option to switch them off, and have combat at the same speed as FOG for me to keep this on my drive for a long time it deserves........hope this can be done in a patch.

Two other requests......but would be happy to see these put into an expansion.........a DAG, so that we can have custom multiplayer battles, and a campaign playable as the Allies.

[TheGrayMouser]

Combat animations in PG were very controversal, a lot of people did not like them because they slowed down the game too much. In PzC we tried to integrate animations directly into tactical map, units are actually shooting at each other, and I think we have some cool effects there. At the same time, animations are pretty fast and do not slow the game all that much. I don't think we need to spend time changing anything here.

I have to disagree on this - perhaps because I am playing on a machine with less good specs than you expected. The combat animations slow down play to the point where I get frustrated - and I already have given up watching the enemy move. It needs an option to switch them off, and have combat at the same speed as FOG for me to keep this on my drive for a long time it deserves........hope this can be done in a patch.

Two other requests......but would be happy to see these put into an expansion.........a DAG, so that we can have custom multiplayer battles, and a campaign playable as the Allies.

I agree wih davathoujo on this. The "lag" to watch the battle graphics, although small ,is enough to distract... When ones needs to watch something that distracts many many times it goes beyond a distraction and becomes annoying and even fatiguing.(this is no joke, fatigue takes away that "one more turn syndrome" and nothing causes more fatigue more than waiting for things to happen, almost as bad as games that have choppy or eratic mouse pointer movement, which, no matter how good , never stay on my hardrive long)
I always felt PG was a fast and furious game, when i click on a unit to attack I am already "reaching" for my next unit i am going to move and attack with regardless of the outcome of the ist , yet I am waiting for animations to complete.... The delay interferes with my tempo... I would love an option to speed up and or halt combat animations altogether.
Hopefully this will be considered, perhaps something like bam an explosion and strentgth points drop, bam and your opponents sp's drop , done, in a fraction of the time of the current animations. Dont get me wrong ,they are very well done, but , The PG combat pics were well done as well, for 1996, yet the vast majority of players shut them off after learning the game. You guys have made everything else in this game moddable , including key game mechanics, as well as easily playing MP with modded files with 100% user beware, so please let this aspect be changeable as well, its a health issue to boot !

Cheers!

[Razz1]

The go to options and turn the movement up.

[Panzer3L]

You guys have made everything else in this game moddable , including key game mechanics, as well as easily playing MP with modded files with 100% user beware, so please let this aspect be changeable as well, its a health issue to boot !

U can mod them alright and also remove them but then if u want to see them again u'll have to drag and drop those old unmodded files back before starting the game.

So a OFF-switch would help at least for those who don't like the animations (not me),but i'm not to sure about the "lag".

Back in version 0.94 those animation were simpler and there was also a small lag.
It's almost like one can "see" the AI think for 1-2seconds before each move of its units.

I don't think it has something to do with the specs of your PC,i have an old 1,6ghz Notebook and a 2,4quad Core Desktop and the
"combat speed" or "combat lag" is just the same for both PC's.

What id'like to have is somthing like "decay curve" for battle and animation.
Atm when you attack with a unit one has to wait until the whole attack is completed before one can select a new unit.
I would like to attack with a unit and while this attack is beeing fought already attack with the my next unit while the first attack is
still in progress.
That would make gameplay more fluently but without turning off those great animations.
I think the AI turn's would be "faster" that way aswell and one could see multiple explosions and combat happening on the
battlefield,kinda like C+C Tank Rush style.

2cents

[TheGrayMouser]

The go to options and turn the movement up.

Movement is fine ( ist thing i did was crank that all the way to the right)
Its the combat Animations

[willgamer]

The go to options and turn the movement up.

Movement is fine ( ist thing i did was crank that all the way to the right)
Its the combat Animations

In my case, I move it all the way to the left and movement is still too fast. So I would like a slower left hand side to this adjustment.

Options for no graphics a fine by me, but I enjoy them and am not experiencing the lag you speak of.

(My machine is a middle of the road 3.4 quad.)

[Rudankort]

In my case, I move it all the way to the left and movement is still too fast. So I would like a slower left hand side to this adjustment.

Strange. How much time, approximately, does it take the unit to travel?

[aleader]

I swear I bought a paratrooper unit in Norway, which didn't carry over to the Low Countries, because as it turns out it was an auxiliary unit! If we are given two paratroopers in Norway, then I did buy one, because in my Norway save I have three of them. All of them auxiliary.

I think the issue you may be having is one that I seem to be having as well, and that is determining what is and isn't a core unit on the map. Several times I find myself squinting and looking very hard at the icon to determine whether it's core or not before I move it. It was much easier to determine this visually in PG if I recall (can't check because I can't get it to run on my machine ). Same goes for the important objective cities. I find the visual effects for this far too subtle. Could this be looked at in a patch? I'm sure I'm not the only one experiencing this...I have 20/20 vision .

[aleader]

The reason why buying auxiliary units was disabled (although it can be reenabled back in the editor) is that we did not want to support all kinds of tricks like "disband all your fleet and buy a huge auxiliary air force" (this is how people played Washington in PG). Also this makes the player care a bit more for aux units, because they are non-replacable. In PG they were often used as cannon fodder.

Wow, you must have been watching me play the Washington scenario back in the day ! Actually, I always used my cannon-fodder...er, auxiliary units responsibly in PG...

[Hammer4000]

I can see that sometime in the furture, whether it be Lordez or fan based, that there will be an Africa Theater, that will be(I hope) intergated into the Grand Campagin. But why no Market Garden? I figured MG would be included. And i feel that you should have the option where to fght next. Such as Go for the Balkcans or fight in Africa, stuff like that

[Argo1950]

Is there any records available for our battle (challenges) 'wins and losses' record

[Razz1]

^ Not yet.

[Kissaki]

I swear I bought a paratrooper unit in Norway, which didn't carry over to the Low Countries, because as it turns out it was an auxiliary unit! If we are given two paratroopers in Norway, then I did buy one, because in my Norway save I have three of them. All of them auxiliary.

I think the issue you may be having is one that I seem to be having as well, and that is determining what is and isn't a core unit on the map. Several times I find myself squinting and looking very hard at the icon to determine whether it's core or not before I move it. It was much easier to determine this visually in PG if I recall (can't check because I can't get it to run on my machine ). Same goes for the important objective cities. I find the visual effects for this far too subtle. Could this be looked at in a patch? I'm sure I'm not the only one experiencing this...I have 20/20 vision .

Have you tried Dosbox for Panzer General? Works perfectly for me.

I don't seem to have any trouble distinguishing core units from auxiliary ones, though - although I didn't see the difference until I was told to look for the golden border around the strength number

[willgamer]

In my case, I move it all the way to the left and movement is still too fast. So I would like a slower left hand side to this adjustment.

Strange. How much time, approximately, does it take the unit to travel?

Somewhere in the range 1/2 to 1 sec.

[aleader]

[/quote]Have you tried Dosbox for Panzer General? Works perfectly for me.

I don't seem to have any trouble distinguishing core units from auxiliary ones, though - although I didn't see the difference until I was told to look for the golden border around the strength number [/quote]

Don't even know if I'd know how to run it in DOS anymore. Always get the '256 colours' error when trying to run it.

And I tried the game on my desktop (1680x1050) instead of my laptop (1366x768) and the core units are much easier to distinguish now.

Getting pounded in Barbarossa now (3rd time through). I don't want to sound like a wimp, but the prestige system now seems incredibly unforgiving (at the default difficulty level). Needs to be some rewarding for killing units, or just give a little more prestige for taking cities. I don't think my strategy skills have gotten this bad.

[AgentX]

Instead of using Dosbox, have you tried Panzer General Forever? It has a remake of Panzer General and Allied General in a playable format for modern OS (works with XP, Vista, Win7). Plus it has two WWI campaigns that were created by the developer. The guys who worked on that project were the designers of Panzer Corps. If you want to play the old Panzer General games without the hassle of DOS emulation, just download PGF and give it a try.

http://panzercentral.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=45039

Looks like it was Rudankort that was the lead designer, but there may have been others as well. Hey, look at the Combat Log from the link. Looks very familar.