Slitherine

Ok ... I came up with a new idea to introduce officer's to the scenario ....

Commander BONUS !

Instead of adding a new officer unit to the CSV, the Commander BONUS is used to "assign" the officer unit manually.

Two types of BONUS'.... TANK COMMANDER, INFANTRY COMMANDER.

Each BONUS can only be used ONCE, then the bonus icon disappears. When the Commander Unit is destroyed, the bonus icon appears again allowing the player to reconstitute the officer.

Basically, you end up with only ONE type of commander on the gaming field at all times.

The commander unit (officer) retains my RALLY and Amaris' passive morale bonus. Note, TANK commanders will only be able to RALLY armored units and boost armored units within 3 tiles (Amaris' code change).

This also allows the Scenario Designer to add officers easily in the Editor (by including the Commander Bonus via the bonus menu).

I'm going to add this to my TrackHit! mod because I'm not using a CSV and it would be a good chance to throw the idea out while it's fresh.


Merr

My PTO campaigns are a typical infantry Battalion + or - with a BN CO, BN HQ, Co CO, and Plt CO for each platoon. (or XO as you use)I found that this simulates other games of this type. It allows me to plan where my COs are going to be, have backup, and have risk. This may be overkill for some people, YMMV.

It sounds like you click the bonus and a soldier is placed at the marker button? Or do you select a squad or tank to add it to?

junk2drive wrote: It sounds like you click the bonus and a soldier is placed at the marker button? Or do you select a squad or tank to add it to?

Select a squad/tank (bonus type checks for unit type under cursor, can't assign TANK to infantry and vise versa).

NOTE : When assigning the commander the UI icon will show "Commander" text overlayed, additionally it will add the GOLDEN STAR above the unit.

You are NOT adding a unit, you are simply assigning the commander to that unit.

Now, in the case of multiply commander RANKS (BN, CO, PLT), I could have an addtional "action button" displayed at selection time that allows the player to make the final decision as to the RANK of the unit.

Now, in the case of multiply commander RANKS (BN, CO, PLT), I could have an addtional "action button" displayed at selection time that allows the player to make the final decision as to the RANK of the unit.

I think that's a little too much. Simple is ok.

Overlay like the track and immobile red text?

junk2drive wrote:I think that's a little too much. Simple is ok.

Correct ... KISS principle .... My mods are based on simply concepts that can grow later on. So, for now, the original concept stays.
Besides, this is totally seperate from my officer units and rally code ... If a player wants more commanders they can add them in their CSV and use the other rally code.

Oh, since I' going to use Amaris' great idea, the new Commanders are going to be limited to 3 tiles for RALLY ... KISS this

Overlay like the track and immobile red text?

Disregard ... it's redundant since the unit will have the GOLDEN STAR.

And, disregard the UI icon change, KISS this too

I like redundant because sometimes things disappear or aren't so obvious.

junk2drive wrote:I like redundant because sometimes things disappear or aren't so obvious.

Well, instead of TEXT overlayed on the units UI ... I can overlay a GOLDEN STAR ... maybe. And yeah, like the immobilized/track display thingy.

Sometimes the overhead icon disappears. I like to mouse over a unit and look at the icon bar to see morale and shots and stuff. Or immobile before I send my repair crew about.

junk2drive wrote:Sometimes the overhead icon disappears.

I'll need to check that ... and fix that ... it does "shrink" like the other icons when you have more than one ... needs checking none-the-less.

Junk,

I solved the problem with the vanishing GOLDEN STAR ... Apparently, when you "turn" a unit it resets the icon mask (internal code?) ... I now forced the GOLDEN STAR on all the time. Thanks for your keen eye's!

Ok ... now back to the Commander Bonus ... it works! ... but still working out the details.

I'm going to change some items ...

1. Allows the player to select a limit of 2 officers for the scenario, can be any type mix (2 tank, 2 Inf, 1 of each). The bonus button will be greyed out after both selections. If a commander is destroyed, it will then start the "cooldown" of 2 turns before the player can reconstitute the officer, to any type... still WIP, if I can get it to work right!
Tank Commanders can only rally and passive boost vehicle types.
Infantry Commanders can only rally and passive boost infantry and artillery types.

2. Rally Range ... Unlimited but with a "Chance To Rally" modifier ... tooltip added to show chance. (color coded text!)
Basic Logic and modifiers to chance to rally ;
Unit within 3 tiles (inclusive) ... 90 % chance.
Within LOS of commander ... + 10 % modifier.
Beyond 3 tiles ... each tile range beyond 3 slowly reduces chance to Rally.
Cover Modifier (radio coverage decrease beyond 3 tiles)... adds the cover modifier of both units, if it exceeds 100, there is a 50% penalty to rally chance.
a. Example ... open terrain = 30. If both unit and commander in open (sum 60), no penalty.
b. Example .... forest terrain = 55. If both in forest (sum 110), 50% penalty applied to final chance.
NOTE --- Tanks have better comm, there chance won't deteriate until range exceeds 10.

3. Rally Attempts ... cost 1/2 AP to rally, allows 2 attempts if commander doesn't move. Can only rally if not suppressed.

4. Transfer Of Command ... allows player to transfer officer to adjacent unit ... cost full Shots/AP for both units. Helps when commander squad near destruction, and AFV's when immobilized. Note, tank commanders can transfer to any vehicle, including a truck! Not a good idea but can help in a pinch! If you had a Jeep in the CSV, well, use your imagination!

That's it so far ...

Ok ... I got the commander bonus working (as advertised)... That was new to me (the whole bonus thing), so it took most of yesterday to understand every tid-bit. It was quite the exercise in global management!

While I was running the test scenario over and over and over ... I thought it a shame that the Tank Commander didn't bailout with his crew ... so, If the Tank has a commander, and they bail, the commander "status" bails with them. This should help when transfering command ... Also, crews will retain last exerience level.

I'm slowly knocking off "things-to-do" ...

Will there be a percent chance that the CO is killed?

junk2drive wrote:Will there be a percent chance that the CO is killed?

... you're thinking like me ... At first, yeah, I want to do this, but I thought ... "geez, lets dive into more detail (more work)" ...

But, since you mentioned it, I can throw that in (and more) ... Listen to this ...

Commanders Survival Chance Modifiers ...
1. Hit Location ... turret hits are bad for the CO.
2. Turret Facing ... most commanders sit on "right-flank/rear" ... I might throw in that conditional.

Now, normal bailout gives each crewman a 50-50 chance to bail ... This doesn't mean they can't get out, but reflects wounds etc.
Generally, the TC has the best chance (own hatch) ... so, if the crew bails it's almost an auto-save for the TC.
Right now I'm looking at a 10% Chance of Death ... modified by turret hit location (right flank and rear hits), +10% more ... total 20% max.

Ok ... with that in mind ... If the entire crew survives ( all 5-men) ... obviously the TC could not have been killed ...

... Otherwise the crew might wonder, "Who was that other guy?"


Merr

Now that we have French tanks and someday Soviets, the TC may be the only man in a small turret. So either a turret hit kills the CO, or a random chance, or tie it to the crew survivability chance. I wouldn't do the location and facing and all of that.

junk2drive wrote:Now that we have French tanks and someday Soviets, the TC may be the only man in a small turret. So either a turret hit kills the CO, or a random chance, or tie it to the crew survivability chance. I wouldn't do the location and facing and all of that.

Yeah ... perhaps that extra detail can be included in the future. At that point in time, I'd probably have to go back to including new (and different) unit crews in the CSV ...

BTW, I changed the "type" of squad that bails out of the vehicles (was using infantry) ... helps a little on the visual stuff ...

1. US crews ... us_airborne
2. Brit ... brit_para (nice red berets!)
3. German ... volkgrenadier

Again, it would be proper to do a complete reskin and stuff (in the CSV), but my theme is "NO CSV".
I'm exploring how BA works from another aspect.


Merr