F14 - O.O.B. editing/unit colours

[Philippe]

Hi all.

I suppose this question should be predominantly aimed at Ed, however others may have some insight or opinion.

There is no OOB editor within the F14 game, but in other HPS/JTS games the OOB edit feature is quite useful for editing unit names in order to alter the colour of the unit as shown on the game map. (The combination of letters and numbers in the unit title within the OOB apparantly drives the units "divisional" colour as shown on the map)

In other high unit density games, particulary those with many divisions and short command ranges (I am thinking Minsk 44 here in particular) altering the unit name to change the colour makes it easier to keep your units in order as the game progresses.

In the F14 game I have found that due the fact that many of the German and French divisions have similar names the colour pallette derived for the units from the OOB is limited.

In certain situations (.....as an example I am looking at the French 9e & 10e DI in the "Home before the leaves fall" scenario as I write) adjacent divisions are identical in colour, making it a bit of a pain to have to keep using the org highlight function to determine the parent organisation easily, and thus keep within command range which is crucial in this game (especially if you are a French/Allied Player - Sacre Bleu !)

In other areas its not so bad, but there are many areas where it is problematic and hinders game play.

Now its not a game buster by any means, but I think it would help if either an OOB editor was added, or "someone" went back and had a look at the naming conventions used, and slightly altered the OOB so that a bit more of a varied colour pallette was evident within the units.

Any thoughts or insight on the above?

Cheers

Chris

I have a strong suspicion that this is an area that Ed doesn't have much if any control over. Making any changes for this kind of thing would require an expenditure of programer's time, and that's what seems to be in shortest supply in the series.

Having said that, the concept of being able to change the organizational colors of units at will is a fascinating one. I suspect the two units from adjacent divisions with the same colors in them may not have identical colors, just very similar ones (though there are so many divisions in that scenario it doesn't seem impossible for two colors to show up adjacent to each other). But distinguishing between the colors would probably require a really expensive and sensitive monitor/video cart setup, and would also produce a lot of uncomfortable eyestrain. So we're probably stuck with having to use the highlight organization button.

I already use that button a lot to keep the units in my brigades together and in command range. Ok, I'll admit to it -- I'm so obsessive about role playing these things that I use that button to keep my regiments together even though there's no in-game benefit from doing so (wish there were!). In some games I find that using a white rather than a red outline makes it easier to see what you're doing. If you're already using that button a lot to keep your brigades in order, it's not that big a deal to set view to command range, click on the division hq, and highlight org to make sure your division hq is close enough to the right brigade hq's.