New Functions within the game...

[GottaLove88s]

Here are some other ideas we are currently looking at for enhancements and additions to BA2. If you have comments or ideas about a specific idea, I would suggest starting a new thread for others to join in on. There are a lot of new ideas that we are looking at, so let us know which are your favourites, or tell us your own!

Pip, this is awesome news. Am really looking forward to it. Where do we sign up for beta testing?
Here are a few first impressions, comments, pleas on your initial new features...
Co-op play, say 1v3 or 2v2, on the same large map is really exciting! Will BA2 be able to escape the 64-unit map limit of BA1? That was a killer!!

Dynamic Terrain
An example would be that cratered terrain created by bombardment or damage would then provide better cover for infantry, or bridges become impassible to vehicles if damaged.

Artillery/bomb craters that become "rough ground"... Excellent idea... Remember to keep some sort of delay on this... So, if we roll in a ground attack immediately (1-2 turns) after Arty/Bombing, the enemy suffer some sort of suppression vulnerability... But if we wait too long, say 3 turns or more, he has had time to reorganise himself into the new rubble... a la Monte Cassino...

Mission Briefing Before Unit Selection
We hear the cries of relief! Rework the screen flow to better enable players to make decisions about the forces they want to take into a battle.

Sensible fix. Will improve flow nicely

Air Strike Logic
Add suppression of air strikes when AA is successful, forcing more careful use. Potentially add another result which is 'suppressed' airstrike which causes less damage and is less accurate.

Could work with a variable for "air force", eg. BA2 counts the number of IL2s that are available and if they're shot down, deducts one. Having an intermediate airstrike model, which is less accurate under heavy AA fire, is clever

Multiple Bonus Instances
Ability to have more than once instance of a given bonus (e.g. P-47). Requires new UI to make sure you can know which bonus is going to happen where, and how to cancel the correct bonus if need be.

Not sure that I understood this, but it sounds good.

Ambush Logic
Assault bonus when assaulting vehicles from a building. Improved ambush logic where entirely unexpected ambushes on "out of combat' units causes higher morale hit.

Would be great to improve ability of units to remain hidden after ambushing too. Usually you only get 1-2 pops before the game tells you where you are... then, it's pretty much goodnight Mockba, lol...

On ambush logic, don't forget that Germans were geniuses at hiding panzers inside houses... Please, please, please make it possible to drive a King Tiger or a KV1 into some of the smaller styles of houses to stay hidden... Obviously, scouts, etc, will see them if they're close enough, but drive an armoured column past and BANG!

Engineer Demolition
Ability for engineers or other units to damage or destroy certain buildings or other terrain features.

And don't forget engineer construction too? Enric has been experimenting with engineers that can lay pontoon bridges. They should be able to place tank traps, sandbags, barbed wire too... Not the whole concrete dragons' teeth, but simple criss-cross traps, sure, why not?

Artillery Spotting
Improved damage or accuracy for artillery and other similar attacks when directed by friendly troops, and even more when directed by specialised spotters.

Please implement for ground attack bombing too... The forward artillery spotter could also be a forward air controller... If we have a spotter/air controller in place, our bonuses could be much more accurate... But, conversely, if the enemy kill him, artillery/air strikes should be more likely off target (and late?)

Terrain Effects
More granular terrain abilities which better allow us to accurately model the effects of terrain on different vehicles. for example, T34’s are exceptional on mud and snow while PZIII’s and IV’s struggle. Panthers and Tigers are good at muddy terrain, but their wheels collected packed snow and frequently immobilised them during winter battles. Churchill tanks are slow and ponderous, but are almost unaffected by any terrain.

Terrain and season effects will be neat. Anything with wheels rather than tracks hates mud or snow. Can you include impacts on infantry as well as armour? Will the walking Wehrmacht soldiers suffer movement penalties during the deep of winter?

Tank Riders
Certain infantry units can mount onto some tanks. Needs both UI and logic to make sure it is clear what is happening.

Add tank crews too? The more I learn, tank crews often bailed out due to track or engine damage, and then proceeded on foot, to rejoin their divisions and get a new tank. Actual tank "kills" were more rare than I realised...

Support Weapon Tweaks
Allow limited movement of support weapons, but no move and fire. Limit some weapons from use in certain terrain (e.g. mortars being fired from inside roofed buildings).

Nice!

Hill and Hedge Logic
The hill and hedge logic tends to be both hard to understand and somewhat unrealistic. We want to redo it entirely to make it simpler to understand to advantages of higher ground, and to gain the advantages of firing from behind hedges and other fixed terrain features.

If you're doing it within a new BA2, please add support for multi-level hills, still keeping it simple but with perhaps up to three levels, +2 hill, +1 higher ground, 0 ground, -1 depression... Hill adds to firing range and LOS, higher ground adds to firing range and LOS but not as much as a hill... Uphill attacks suffer penalties... Any 2-level difference, eg. from a +1 to a -1, creates a steep slope, which is impassable/slows vehicles, while any 3-level difference, eg. from a +2 to a -1, could create a cliff...

[pipfromslitherine]

Nice ideas . I know that we are aiming to make hills both simpler but also more flexible and useful from a map design viewpoint.

Cheers

Pip

[GottaLove88s]

Nice ideas . I know that we are aiming to make hills both simpler but also more flexible and useful from a map design viewpoint.

Cheers

Pip

Excellent news. This would be a huge step upwards strategically... Much more fun too, for players and designers!

[Richcat]

Could there be some sort of Time line or time of day built in, so the game goes through nights and days, might be in real time who knows, together with changing weather fog, rain, snow, whilst playing, or even like chess where is a set amount of time to complete your moves.

[k9mike]

More neat ideas...

[IainMcNeil]

I really like the idea of a dynamic day/night cycle. The game rules can change. Having 3 settings. Day, Dawn/Dusk and night. Lower light levels reduce viewing distances. The gameplay will really change with lower viewing distances. Morale at night should probably also be more brittle, so suppression kicks in at maybe 60 instead of 50 and routing at 20 instead of 0. Basically your elite troops would be more resistant to these effects.

[cupoftea]

I like the idea for multi-hills , with that ,we'll have mountain levels!