Slitherine

There is an error in Unmoved Transports message. Dot was not placed at the end of the sentence but in the middle of it.

Some of your naval transports can still move. this turn

While playing Pacific Allies campaign somewhere early in the campaign I got an option to chose specialization (for the first time). It was somewhere at the end of scenario. I exited the game and started it later trough campaign Auto Save. At the beginning of next scenario I got an option to chose between those two specializations once again.

Repeated specialization choice occurred again. This time I observed it more closely. Campaign is auto saved at the end of scenario. Specialization choice is given after scenario while being in Campaign Map screen. If specialization is chosen and after that I exit game, loading campaign auto save brings me back to specialization choice.

At turn overview in Marshalls-Gilberts Raid there are several secondary objectives listed.

One of those objectives is to "Protect your Carriers from damage" and this one is checked as completed. My carrier sustained some damage during the raid but objective listed stayed checked as completed which confused me. Clicking on it gives further explanation. In short carrier(s) should be at full strength at the end of mission.
This means choice of wording is wrong and objective should not be listed as completed because it was not completed. Alternatively, with altered wording in place, having a full strength carrier during play should mark objective completed but sustaining damage should uncheck this mark until the ship is repaired. From scenario point of view such objective is good as part of teaching game mechanics.

Deployment Phase dialog box is needed as one of tutorial messages to introduce concept of deployment to the new players and refresh memory for the old ones but I do not think it is necessary to call it every time new scenario starts as is the case now. It obscures the view and has one unnecessary OK button confirmation. If some visual indicator telling player he is in deployment phase is considered as needed some blinking transparent deployment arrow symbol would be more elegant solution in this case. Automated indicator that requires no interaction from the players side and disappears after clicking the End Turn button.

Low on Fuel warning is a really nice feature but ...

Let's say I want to enter red hexes deliberately. Because there is some high valuable target for torpedo bomber at the end of scenario worth sacrificing the bomber or because I hope to move carrier closer at later turns to save the aircraft in question.

Two problems appear. I get the warning even if I had just finished the move in the red hexes so I cannot do nothing about it anyway this turn since unit has no movement points left or I get the warning while hovering in red hexes area. This second case is fine but after checking which aircraft is in question and deciding not to move it and hitting end turn instead I get the same message again showing me the same aircraft so I am going into circle being unable to confirm are there any other unwanted low on fuel cases. If I hover and decide to give a sleep to a unit, Zzz, it doesn't help either and the message about the same aircraft goes again and again.

So suggestion would be, do not give this message if unit has no movement points left and if player puts this unit asleep. After the message allow him to circle trough other potential cases of low on fuel aircrafts.

Because this can have consequences on aircraft put on sleep while they were in white hexes area awaking them at turn start if danger appeared on the previous turn and allowing player to put them back to sleep during turn would circumvent this unwanted behavior.

Turn Overview, Turn Splash Screen or however you call it... Is it really necessary to have one?

This thing dates from Panzer General times. Back than it was a simple black screen with some text on it. Completely focused on text you could not miss it or ignore it.
It informed player on the current turn, date, weather and ground conditions and turns remaining. Since different victory types were made around finishing scenario in certain time frame turns remaining were very useful and they provided that clock is ticking moment. Deficiency of Panzer and later Allied General was that specific victory conditions were not part of user interface but one would need to find them in Read Me files. Briefings did provide some general clue but not the specific turn counts for example. Here is how it looked:



Weather and ground conditions affected gameplay considerably and although one could not miss changes of ground conditions because map would visually change any change of weather could easily be missed if Turn Splash Screen would not inform you about it. This is why Allied General improved the screen by adding visual styled image providing info on weather and combining it with text. No improvements on victory conditions though.



Panzer Corps made one step further and finally provided specific Victory Conditions in Turn Splash Screen and in its first incarnation this was the only place to inform yourself about mission objectives. It was not possible back than to access victory conditions during your turn, only at its start. Panzer Corps also made step backwards regarding weather. It did include weather and ground conditions info but it included forecast as well making it less focused on relevant info and on such a big screen weather icon was so small you could easily miss it which brought the question of its usefulness. Info should be clear, straightforward and practically rub the nose of the player so to speak. Here is how it looks for comparison with above images:



Since than several things changed in Panzer Corps. Victory conditions could be accessed during turn trough user interface but also dynamic victory conditions were introduced and the game engine was unable to alter Victory Conditions statements which were than presented trough messages system.

So if we analyze progression of Turn Splash Screen we can see that in some circumstances it had an important role but modern user interface can make this screen outdated.

Providing info on mission objectives at scenario start is very much welcomed but is there a need to pop it up every turn if those conditions are part of game UI. They should get more prominent role in UI, that is for sure. Weather conditions for current turn are also important for the games where it plays significant role in gameplay. So if there is no visual indicator of weather on the map itself info on change of weather should get some prominent role during turn start but this could be as well done without forcing player to make click confirmation every turn. In this game that is heavily based on animation if weather would play role it can be done trough mentioned animation and in 2D styled games some temporarily blinking highlighted part of user interface could made the job. Anyway I think alternative options available trough modern UI completely outgrowth need for Turn Overview dialog box and need for its click/tap confirmation.

It can easily be removed - or made optional - but I think one basic reason is to make it clear when it is your turn again. One or more players (AI and human) may run their turns after the player clicks end turn and the only other visual indicator of the player's next turn is that the bottom UI is now empty.

Also, victory condition states can change during the AI turn so it's probably useful to see this at the start of your next turn. Otherwise the player has to manually open this panel each time just to check what (secondary) objectives are still worth pursuing.


You are right about the deployment phase popup though. There is already a "deployment phase" bar at the top of the screen and the unit list opens automatically ONLY if there is a deployment phase. So that popup is quite obsolete.

Special Event in Guadalcanal scenario, EBB AND FLOW, claims additional naval and air units can be called in but only naval command points are updated.

Secondary objective in Guadalcanal scenario to destroy 2 Japanese battleships has no counter like 0/2 as seen in other cases.

In Philippine Sea scenario one of Primary Objective is not to lose any Transport Ship but actually it points on two Transport Ships and one Supply Ship.