Slitherine

Greetings,

I would like to suggest various improvements. Some are only very cosmetic changes, but some are complete reworks. Please consider these suggestions as separate, because they are not necessarily related.

1 - Before each battle in the campaign show geographical map with the location of the conflict. This information is present for scenario maps, but is missing for campaign maps.

2 - "kills" in the unit details window does not show actual kills, but rather total sum of unit strengths it destroyed during attack. The actual kills can be viewed in the unit leaders tab. I suggest to rename "kills" in the unit details window to "hits" and also count suppression, not only decreased strength of enemy units. Currently, units like artillery or strategic bombers are penalized when it comes to gaining leaders for no good reason.

3 - I would suggest to completely redesign the system how leader bonuses are earned. Current system is too random: you can end up with ridiculous units (5 range artillery) or almost useless bonuses (scouting bonus on artillery). My point is to make the system less random and disallow extreme combinations.

-> rules specifying how you get a unit gains a leader remain unchanged
-> when you gain a leader instead of gaining ability, you'll get 5 command points
-> you can purchase ability for command points, here are the prices (cost raises for attributes that can be improved multiple times):

cost | bonuses
-------------------
1/2/3 | attack +1 (max 3)
1/2/3 | defense +1 (max 3)
5 | movement +1 (max 1)
5 | range +1 (max 1, ranged units only)
1/2/3 | initiative +1 (max 3)
1/2 | spotting +1 (max 2)
1/2/3 | ammo +1 (max 3)

4 - Unit transport should be sold separately and it should be possible to attach and detach them from units (only during the deployment phase). Also, when you are forced to abandon transport, you should be able to use it in the next battle. The main idea is to allow greater flexibility for units that use a transport.

5 - Special units such as bridge engineers and paratroopers are rarely used, because it's really not worth to have a slot occupied just for that reason. I would like to have a feature for infantry units to remember their previous training when they switch between infantry classes (light, heavy, paratrooper, bridge eng). So for example if I have a basic infantry and then I change them to paratroopers (which costs me prestige), if I change them back to light infantry and then back to paratrooper I pay the same as they were already paratroopers (which is 0 prestige if it's the same unit, or only upgrade fee if it's a better version of the paratrooper unit). The main idea is to add the ability to efficiently switch some infantry units to specialized roles with the necessity to pay only the initial investment. The goal is to have for example 10 infantry units, of which 3 can be changed to paratroopers and 1 to bridge eng for no or very small cost after the initial investment has been made.

I'm looking forward to your feedback.

EDIT (adding suggestions from feedback):
6 - leader bonuses could be added to unit details window, the display format could look like "attack: 10 (+1)" for example

7 - add an option to view unit details during the deployment phase. Sometimes I need to find a quick tank (that has movement bonuses) during the deployment, so I could place him ahead of other units

All these suggestions are sane and have probably been suggested before. I especially agree on the non random heroes point and that transports should be attached and detached. I hate loosing transports and buying them again in between scenarios. I would also add air heroes that could allow planes to attack in rain and snow (I believe this existed in original Panzer General).

However I believe Panzer Corps is not the main occupation of Slitherine right now, so any improvements of the existing game are pretty unrealistic. That is unless Soviet Corps bring some of this featuers. But even Soviet Corps is TBD. So unfortunately I doubt any of this will be implemented in future...

The ONE SINGLE IMPROVEMENT I have been clamoring for is when you right click on a unit to see characteristics all hero bonuses are incorporated into the numbers seen there. A FAST and SIMPLE way to see the characteristics so that a many 'beheroed' unit appears differently compared to a newbie unit.

wargovichr wrote:The ONE SINGLE IMPROVEMENT I have been clamoring for is when you right click on a unit to see characteristics all hero bonuses are incorporated into the numbers seen there. A FAST and SIMPLE way to see the characteristics so that a many 'beheroed' unit appears differently compared to a newbie unit.

AGREE!

I would really like to see an overhaul of the way hero bonus are awarded. Finally getting a hero bonus on my artillery and then seeing it's a spotting one makes me cry.

I agree to the list.

For P7 I have an own solution:
I rename my units after they get a hero by:
type ability ability...

E.g. a recon with attack+2 and speed+1 is:
Rec a2 v1

My ability codes are:
a=attack
d=defense
i=init
v=speed
s=spotting range
r=range

Peterw's approach is effective and I use a similar approach for most heroes (maybe not for +1 attack or defence).

To add a bit of colour you can add names (select the unit at deployment or on screen and press alt + n). Rudy's Mate is my best escort fighter (usually the hero from Sedan), Spotty for a recon with a spotting hero. I mainly use this for special attributes (+3 or better on Attack or Defence) which make a unit particularly good for some jobs.

And I'd love to have a +1 ammo hero in place of spotting for artillery or strategic bombers.

Another vote for removing 'Spot' heroes as an option for artillery, please. I'm not any kind of computer programmer, but surely if the code can offer 'Range' as an additional hero option for artillery, it could have been possible to have it in place of 'Spot', rather than being added to the list. Unless I'm missing something basic in the Black Arts of coding

I'm less sure about any system that allows a player control over heroes. One of the joys of PC is its replayability, with the random hero choices producing a subtly different core each time and the different approach to scenarios each mix requires. A scenario that's a doddle when your two +3 Attack pioneers charge along backed up by a +1 Mv 88mm becomes a totally different proposition when your best hero is a +3 defence Recon. And then there's the simple pleasure of adjusting and experimenting with your units equipment or roles to make best use of each units hero(es). Should that first +2 defence Panzer hero be in a III or IV? What's the best role for a +1 Mv infantry or +1 range artillery? So many decisions and options to try...

An additional zoom level - roughly equal to 25% or 33% in the editor.

And this should be a simple add.

I have put a thread on the scenario design area of the forum to continue discussing this feature

- BNC

I agree with sauvequipeut that making the best of the heroes is part of the fun but the spotting hero probably comes up too often at 1 in 5.

I like some spotting heroes, mostly because if you have the right mix you can ditch recon units and replace them with combat units or if you get spotting hero on recon they do add an advantage. But you can have too much of a good thing and if you are unlucky enough to get 1 in 3 (recently in 41 East I got that) or worse, close to 1 in 2 (one run through AK) the lack of combat heroes can be a serious problem.

Perhaps rather than A, D, spotting, Move and Initiative/Range, with a further random allocation of 1 to 3 points in A or D, it could be A, D, Move, Other (50/50 Ini or spotting with Range for artillery and AA in place of Initiative and Ammo for artillery and strat bombers (and maybe AT) in place of spotting). There's a few AA where range exceeds spotting ability so I can accept spotting heroes for AA.