New Panzer Campaigns Features & call for Manuals Updates

[Partizanka]

Hi Everyone,

Firstly as part of the push to get Scheldt '44 finished, I am currently working on updating the game manuals.

I have trolled through the threads here and seen Green's update for the revised description for 'man equivalents' for guns/vehicles as well as clarified artillery fire in tandem with dust spotting - does anyone else have anything for me?

Please post in this thread any areas that you have an issue with or require further clarification in the manuals, please.

Secondly, there are a number of code changes coming with Scheldt '44 that will be available for the earlier titles when we do the next patch cycle.

The first two, are new optional rules;

1. Optional Amphibious Rules. As written in the manual: Some units are classified as being Amphibious.  Amphibious units in Travel Mode can cross River and Canal hex sides at the cost of their entire Movement Allowance. If the Optional Amphibious Rule is selected, Amphibious units can enter and exit a full water at the cost of their entire Movement Allowance.  It can only enter and exit the water hex via a non-water hex. Essentially this rule allows a unit to traverse through a single full water hex. Previously amphibious units could only cross hex side rivers and canals. This rule was needed for Walchern Island scenarios and will be useful for other titles.
   
2. Extended Patrolling. Currently, While Patrolling, the unit will negate the ability of any Partisan unit within Deception range of having any Deception effects. If the Option Extended Patrolling Rule is selected, patrolling units will also negate the ability of any deployed Deception unit within Deception range of having any Deception effects. We have quite a number of irregular/resistance fighters in Scheldt and this change allows the German player to counter some of their effects. This is an optional rule as we don't want to mess up Deception units in earlier games.
   

The third change is to Recon Spotting. Recon units tend be weak combat units and rarely able of using their specialized capabilities. Players find that they move these forward to 'bump' into enemy units meaning that they are rarely used as they should be. From the manual; All units can spot enemy units if they are in clear hexes or have moved or fired in visible range. If the optional Recon Spotting rule is selected, units that are concealed or have not performed any action can be spotted by specialist reconnaissance units. By selecting recon spotting, a reconnaissance unit will use one third of its movement points to attempt to reveal concealed enemy units at a range of current visibility plus one hex. Any units revealed may be either fully spotted or marked as an unknown unit. Subsequent recon spotting attempts may reveal more information.   

This is an important change. Currently, all units within visible range are revealed at the start of any turn. Using Recon spotting is useless unless the recon unit moves at least one hex forward and then tries to spot units that would now be in visible range. This rule change allows recon units to spot units at one hex beyond visible range if they complete a successful recon spotting action. For example, if visibility is currently two, then recon spotting could reveal units that are three hexes away. There are some caveats here, unlike patrolling which reveals all units within two hexes, units at the +1 range must be in a hex that would be normally visible if the visibility was at that range. Secondly, spotting the unit at the extended range is not guaranteed. There are three possibilities; a unit is not spotted, a unit is spotted, but it is indicated as an unknown unit, or the unit is fully spotted. If further Recon spotting attempts are made, more units may be revealed or unknown units could become fully spotted units.

The reason this has been added is to take into account that Recon units are trained observers and have better optical and communication equipment. It means that players can use their recon units at the beginning of a turn to spot units that are one hex beyond the current visible range and move units accordingly. There is now less need to use recons to 'bump' into enemy units and there is value to use them as observer type units. We are still testing all the potential variables with this change, but this is expected to be part of the normal recon spotting rules.

Hope these are all welcome changes and again please let me know of any changes that are needed for the manuals.

Thanks!

David

Pardon if I missed where this may have already been discussed, but will we see the same extreme FOW we have in Japan'45 and '46 where disruption is not visible till the following turn? At first I was apprehensive of the rule, but now  I fully embrace it, since I now play a bit differently, appreciating the sim aspect over gaming for victory. I do hope this rule shows up in future releases, updates, and FWWC, as well.