Digging in

[Chromey]

Twas wondering if when we can get some sorta option to have our men dig in like in the old Sid Meiers days

Gettysburg title! Would love to see that come out as a mod or even as an excuse to purchase one of them fancy

map packs Norbs boys keep releasing !

Rabid GCM Fan,
Chromey :silly:

[NY Cavalry]

Games are anywhere from an hour to two hours long. Lets say it takes a minimum four hours to have a basic entrenchment level. Lets also say that (from history) it takes eight hours to achieve a very good level of entrenchment. At either 4 or 8 hours games are now anywhere from 5 to 6 hours or 9 to 10 hours long.


Entrenchment is a strategic option and this is a tactical game.

The only way it would work is if there was a series of battles where there was a continuation; and then you could only entrench between battles.

[jri]

I agree there should be a defensive bonus for standing at a defensive line. I understand that an entrenchment would take many hours, but men did dig in by piling rocks tree limbs for any protection.

If that bonus could be added I think it would be a nice plus.

[con20or]

Interesting ideas.

There are breastworks on numerous maps - you get a strong defense bonus standing at those. You just don't get to choose where to make them.

[Saddletank]

I agree there should be a defensive bonus for standing at a defensive line. I understand that an entrenchment would take many hours, but men did dig in by piling rocks tree limbs for any protection.

If that bonus could be added I think it would be a nice plus.

I still think dismantling fence rails, collecting tree boughs, piling up rocks, etc is going to take a unit around 15 to 30 minutes of work. You just don't get a unit stationary that long in SoW games.

However a "temporary field fortification" would be a very neat object to be able to place on a map as part if the scenario design stage, as would artillery emplacements, intact/blown bridges, untouched/burning buildings, etc. Graphically it'd be something like the objects used on the recent Brandy Station map but the way the game map is used by the software this can't be done on this version of SoW. Something for the future maybe?

I had an idea to allow buildings to be swapped out between American colonial style and European ones if you had 2 or more building models that had identical footprint, basement structure (so it sits on the ground slope to the right depth), origin point and orientation, then with a simple option click you could swap a map between America (say) and Europe - or several different areas of Europe such as Spain/Italy/Mediterranean, Mid-western Europe and Eastern/Poland/Russia). It would need a whole new map design system and how scenery objects were attached to it but it would make maps so much more useful and flexible.

[Chromey]

Realism aside, I think it might add a nice strategic bonus to the game. Perhaps make units take 10/15

minutes per turn and if they move they loose the digging bonus like Sid Meiers game?

I know it will take a long time to over code this in but I think it would add alot of flavor to a very

classy game!

[Saddletank]

"per turn"? There aren't any turns. The game clock runs in real time.

Turn based games are oldschool, though I suppose a campaign feature might have a use for turns. And fortifications/fieldworks.

Why do people keep comparing this game to Sid Meier's game? Someone even said it was an "unofficial sequel". I see it as a new product standing on its own merits. Just because it was made after a previous game by someone else... To me it stands up in comparison to Histwar/Grognards and CA's Total War series.

[Chromey]

Sorry if I said turns to mean a turn based game. I said turns to mean 'per level of entrenching':whistle:

And yes I would consider this game to be an honorary expansion of Sid Meiers Gettysburg!

At least I would take it as an honor! But that ancient game aside, I still beleive the community

would profit from having some sort of built in digging command for the troops on the move...

Hell! Wasn't the War between the States the birth of WW1 entrenching tactics/strategy?? :side:

Also to further spice up my idea, perhaps units in woods/rocky ground take 10 minutes to set up a basic

level of added protection! Like 10% more protection per added layer!

And units in open ground who got to actually DIG up the earth take like 20 minutes. Yes these

circumstances would be rare in a multiplayer battle but in time with singleplayer support it may yet

come true.

[Brick McBurly]

Why do people keep comparing this game to Sid Meier's game? Someone even said it was an "unofficial sequel".

Probably because the game manual makes a point of saying the Sid Meier games were the first step in the evolution of the "real time command simulation of Civil War warfare", making it the intellectual forefather (if not in fact) of the SOW series. It also states that SOW is the "third generation" in the family tree (with TC being the second).

[Zeke]

Why do people keep comparing this game to Sid Meier's game? Someone even said it was an "unofficial sequel".

Probably because the game manual makes a point of saying the Sid Meier games were the first step in the evolution of the "real time command simulation of Civil War warfare", making it the intellectual forefather (if not in fact) of the SOW series. It also states that SOW is the "third generation" in the family tree (with TC being the second).

portraying troops dug in could be done by adding an additional graphics sprite file to the game for each sprite and a change to the control panel ie a "dig in" command this could be a timed action - like when the command for the artillery to unlimber - it would however take a fair amount of skill in sprite creation and game coding I suspect but I agree it would be an interesting addition.