Improvement suggestions

[neonlicht]

I don't agree that 2 and 6 are that straightforward, but agree that the effects Gary outlined are there --- it would apply everywhere on the map.

You can apply some effects that abstract those ideas - and Gary pretty much nailed the impacts in detail. 

#4 can be accomplished but not without use of a map editor - I know Nick Bell has created some maps with no roads/trails running through towns. He did that because (as I recall him telling me), that having visited towns/cities of a size during his time in the Army over in Germany, that it was clear that these places were not suitable for army movement.  Also armies didn't use movement through cities/towns in the course of battles- but rather avoided them ... and I think largely for the reason that you are looking to add that sort of effect ... right now with roads running through towns - you just march right in -and form a line and there is no disruption.

#5 - well I'm all for them releasing a Map editor in public -I imagine at some future point they do that - but who knows... it always tied to how much they plan on expanding a series in the future. It's always been that way with that publisher. As mentioned previously, there are no OOB/PDT editors -they aren't held in secret -they simply don't exist. Not always a bad thing either, as if you take the scenario editor - when adding in the extra sides used per scenario in the Musket and Pike engine --- some coding was missed - with the result that the new amount of total sides were not working in the engine. Programming said they were -- so I had to go in and do some text editing, adding VP flags and sides  -and they showed in the saved scenario ... but you could never access the expanded amount in the editor.

It was fixed prior to release --- but that's more to my point -- OOB/PDT- by being the raw plain text coding- that actually is a bit of safety net.

#7  - I guess this means the strategic choice option found in Panzer Campaigns/First World War Campaigns/Modern Campaigns --- the complication with this one, is when presenting a business case with an engine change proposal it has to be tied to a game -not existing games, but games in development... and it really helps if you can also demonstrate how it could be applied to previous titles... although future ones' impact are way more important.  

The complication that the idea would run into -is you'd have to find someone to argue how they are going to use it within their current project; plus if it is a lot of coding to make work in the engine (and it might well be, because PzC/FWWC/MC are really not that similar to the grand tactical series  -it is not likely to go ahead. That's more the general rule.

#8 - might happen - I think Mr Osterlund added that to the Civil War series, and I wouldn't be surprised if that ended up happening, but it would only happen if a similar situation to CWB/PzC/PzB were to happen ... could, but I was told it wasn't ... multiple times (otoh, that doesn't mean it couldn't change).

Many thanks for this detailed reply--very useful info, and helps me gain an insight into this system. Appreciated. :-)

[neonlicht]

I have one additional question. Why did capture of guns and automated defensive fire ("one turn phased mode" from Civil War) not introduced in Napoleonic titles? Quite strange that such important and interesting mechanics (especially for PBEM) weren't added in NB titles for such a long time...

Can guns be "spiked" in ACW? I've got a vague memory that--once upon a time--guns could be spiked in the NAP series, but I can't find any mention of spiking guns in the NAP docs.

[Nortan]

I have one additional question. Why did capture of guns and automated defensive fire ("one turn phased mode" from Civil War) not introduced in Napoleonic titles? Quite strange that such important and interesting mechanics (especially for PBEM) weren't added in NB titles for such a long time...

Can guns be "spiked" in ACW? I've got a vague memory that--once upon a time--guns could be spiked in the NAP series, but I can't find any mention of spiking guns in the NAP docs.

In ACW. spiked guns - its an option when player can spoil the guns that nobody can use or move them, but after initial capture of battery. 

I mean: when "cannons capture" will be added in Napoleonics as in the Seven Years War or in the Civil War, with the possibility of using the enemy's cannons against him? At the moment, when the cannons are captured, they disappear from the map in NB.

Yes, I myself sometimes noticed that the capture of guns is possible when you attack with the cavalry charge from the rear - then the battery is become "uncrewed". This means that such a mechanic is present. Why it was not offered in full force I do not understand ...

[TheGrayMouser]

I have one additional question. Why did capture of guns and automated defensive fire ("one turn phased mode" from Civil War) not introduced in Napoleonic titles? Quite strange that such important and interesting mechanics (especially for PBEM) weren't added in NB titles for such a long time...

Can guns be "spiked" in ACW? I've got a vague memory that--once upon a time--guns could be spiked in the NAP series, but I can't find any mention of spiking guns in the NAP docs.

In ACW. spiked guns - its an option when player can spoil the guns that nobody can use or move them, but after initial capture of battery. 

I mean: when "cannons capture" will be added in Napoleonics as in the Seven Years War or in the Civil War, with the possibility of using the enemy's cannons against him? At the moment, when the cannons are captured, they disappear from the map in NB.

Yes, I myself sometimes noticed that the capture of guns is possible when you attack with the cavalry charge from the rear - then the battery is become "uncrewed". This means that such a mechanic is present. Why it was not offered in full force I do not understand ...

I'm not sure how often captured guns were used immediately in the Nap period.  Capture and usage is an interesting feature for Ren and 7 YW, but it also has some real annoying things associated with it.  The biggest is, EVERYTIME a unit of yours
enters a hex with a captured artillery piece, a pop up window arrives ( which you must click on to continue the game) telling you you captured it... ( yeah I know, I know!!)   This is extremely painful when the said capture is on a road hex at a bottleneck and you are trying to move sizable forces thru the area haha!.

Anyway, like other have suggested, I would like to see at the least, fatuigue rates go up for artillery in the NAP engine, and a clever way for disruption to be possible  ( although the problem with disprution is then they cant limber and or unlimber and it might not be historical to prevent artillery from skiddaddling when they need to)

[Mowgli]

I think that a smoke system would be really interesting, immersive and beneficial for gameplay.

Totally hypothetical ideas:

1) Every time an infantry unit or artillery unit fires, there is a chance that a smoke cloud is generated (in the hex of the firing unit. The likelihood depends on a scenario parameter (wind/weather on that day).
2) A single smoke cloud acts like a skirmisher unit. You can see through it but fire effectiveness is reduced. This should apply even if you fire at a unit positioned directly in the smoke hex.
3) If there are two (?) or more smoke clouds in a single hex, the smoke is thick enough to block line of sight (smoke terrain height?). When firing at adjacent enemy units the fire effectiveness is still reduced.
4) At the beginning of each turn, there is a chance for a smoke cloud to dissolve or travel 1 hex in the direction of the wind. Again, both of these are linked to scenario parameters.

Admittedly, this system should be highly situational. In some scenarios, there is windy and clear weather, in others, there is no wind and the air is already humid. A smoke feature would strengthen melee oriented units like cavalry and weaken fire oriented units. But I think that this is not entirely unrealistic. Infantry could really get anxious about cavalry lurking around in the thick smoke. But most of all, a smoke would also make recon and intelligence harder once the battle is joined. This is something I'm missing in the current Napoleonic titles. Anything that makes recon harder is very welcome to me. As it is, the lack of information delay (enemy sightings are available for the player almost immediately, orders reach units immediately) hampers the immersion/simulation.

[neonlicht]

Very interesting idea.

As for me, I play these games solo against the AI, and so I started editing the Parameter Data files (PDTs) to gradually reduce visibility over the course of a day, in order to (sort of) simulate accumulating battlefield smoke & haze. Reducing visibility also means I have less info on the AI opponent and have to scout more.

I think the games now ship with a PDF document explaining how the PDT file works and how to edit it.

I tend to modify the PDT file so that I have 15-minute day turns and 30-minute night turns. I then add weather entries for each turn. I edit the visibility so that it gradually increases from Dawn to Noon, to a maximum of 20 hexes, and then gradually diminishes from Noon to Dusk.