Things that should be in the first patch...

[Major Damage]

Great game, although it seems only 80% finished when released
I have never played "Gettysburg" so I can't compare the two.

Here are some features I'm really missing:

1. A detailed breakdown of losses/kills for your units after battle.
Who did well and deserves praise,- and who failed and ran for home...
Only getting "X points" without any details, after an hour-long battle with 10.000s of soldiers, is NOT satisfying.

2. A dispatch when important named leaders gets WIA/KIA, and are replaced with generic commanders.
It would be nice to know if my trusted subordinate lies dead in a ditch somewhere, and his idiot second-in-command is about to spoil my cunning plan...

The whole dispatch-system should be used some more,- you should get warnings about units that are about to rout, ammo-shortages, sightings of new enemy units, taking/losing of objectives, etc.
It would be really helpful to get some info on such a big battlefield with so many units, and add a lot of flavour to the game.

Some info about Leader Capabilities is also missing. What exactly does these do?
Leadership & Ability should help with rallying troops, but what about the others? And how much?

Anyway, good game but these features should already be there.

Can't wait for all the mods,- the Napoleonic player-base is HUGE and knowledgeable and can keep this game alive for a long time...
Cheers,

P.S. and all the DLC's! - Ligny, Quatre-Bras, Wavre, Austerlitz, Marengo, Borodino, etc, etc,- Oh My... :ohmy:

[con20or]

Thanks for the feedback.

80% finished is quite harsh! I don't think a score screen and a few additional courier messages constitutes 20% of our development schedule or else the dev team are lying to me about their workloads:) Added courier feedback is my number one on my wishlist but it was not essential for a Waterloo game. Napoleonic AI and a campaign were our priorities and that was 100% what we released.

Courier feedback is a double edged sword however, if every unit reports a sighting or a dead general you get overloaded with courier spam. We changed the courier message window to make this less annoying as we had feedback on that before. You should already get reports on enemy sighted, enemy engaged, etc.

Here is a page from our old game's manual.

When you select a commander, the middle box will show his Attributes.
A commander’s attributes affect how fighting units will respond to him. The
attributes are as follows:
• Experience This very important rating affects the performance of his
units in a number of ways. The less experienced a commander, the less likely
your orders are to be performed by the units under his command. If possible,
Take Charge of a commander with low experience (the “Take Charge from
AI” button is in the Button Rock)—you will have to micro-manage his
operations, but your close oversight will minimize errors on his front. The
Experience ratings are, from best to worst: Elite Veteran, Elite, Veteran,
Regular, Seasoned, Volunteer, Militia, Irregulars, and Untrained.

The next four attributes are rated, from best to worst: Excellent, Very Good,
Good, Competent, Average, Mediocre, and Poor. They are the following:
• Command The higher a commander’s Command rating, the larger his
command radius—that is, the farther he can be from his subordinate unit and
still support its morale.
• Ability The higher a commander’s Ability rating, the quicker a retreated
subordinate unit in his command radius will recover morale.
• Control The higher a commander’s Control rating, the fewer soldiers will
desert routed subordinate units in his command radius.
• Leadership The higher a commander’s Leadership rating, the higher
the amount of morale bonus he gives to a subordinate unit in his command
radius.
• Style A commander’s Style affects how likely he is to attack a nearby
enemy. In order of increasing aggressiveness, the Style ratings are Frozen,
Cautious, Defensive, Balanced, Bold, Daring, and Audacious.

[Major Damage]

Ok, 90% finished if it makes you happy, but you already recieved 100% of my money

I think info are very important with so many units on such a big battlefield. I have only tried playing on Brig. and Div. level, and already I am missing vital REALISTIC info,- on Corps and Army level it must be a HUGE problem.

Ex. 1: In French scenario 2, I lost Brig. Gen. Soye halfway without me being told, and the generic Cmdr. then resumed the attack on Hougemont, pulling units away from the objective that Soye had been ordered to hold!
I only discovered this when units began leaving...

Ex. 2: I discovered 3 units leaving a vital attack because they were out of ammo,- would be nice to know before ordering the attack...

Other games use FILTERS so the player can decide how much info is needed,- rather too much than to little info.

Thanks for the old list of Attributes ratings.
And how exactly do I use it when my leader has ratings like:
Experience 70 - Initiative 60 - Leadership 70 - Ability 60 - Loyality 60?

As I said, not finished...

Cheers,

[con20or]

100%

It really isn't a huge problem - as Army command you are not going to worry about your brigadiers. You can't micromanage everyone.

I do not know Soye'S command stats, but HOLD does not guarantee HOLD if the general is aggressive. We model every general. So say, for example Soye was cautious, you tell him to hold, he holds. His replacement is not cautious, or even audacious - a HOLD order may actually be a PROBE order in his mind, or even ATTACK - so he does that.

Units leave the attack to get more ammo - but the question is, if you are hard pressed and do not spot that two units are running low on ammo are you tying to control too many troops? 40 rounds per man lasts quite a long time. This is what SOW is all about - delegate - and that is what we are good at designing. Keep the ammo wagon close by.

[Major Damage]

And what about the missing conversion to numbers, and two new ratings Initiative and Loyality?

90%

If I am Div. Gen. and my Brig. Gen. just got killed, the game should let me know!

[ColBlimp]

If I am Div. Gen. and my Brig. Gen. just got killed, the game should let me know!

I quite like this idea. The new commander could send you a message stating he is assuming command. Would add to the immersion.

[Pawsy_bear]

<If I am Div. Gen. and my Brig. Gen. just got killed, the game should let me know! >

I dont think anything 'should' happen in command and control depending on the difficulty level

There is a large chance he may not notify his senior commander, confusion on the battlefield is guaranteed. A junior commander, not fully briefed and has to command the unit and send runner to where? I cant see a high chance of it happening. You could ask for his status, if they find him then you might get a reply. I did use the OoB once to find a unit and go to it only to find I was looking down at a pile of dead :-\

[Marching Thru Georgia]

One thing I find really annoying is that an incoming courier message automatically closes the courier message screen forcing me to start the message over. Is this part of MyGui so that I'll be able to fix it if NSD doesn't?

[Jim]

All of the game screens use MyGUI so you may well be able to adjust that specific behavior. It is a powerful but complex system with limited documentation.

-Jim

[Ingles of the 57th]

Rather than clutter up the screen with courier messages,why not include a "text to speech' option to read them out loud ? In real life a staff officer would tell the commander what the message said. He would not peruse every piece of grubby paper himself.

You might get the odd glitch though as at Balaklava. !! Ears can be notoriously selective.

Provision for German,French and Dutch accents ? Upper class through the nose for the British. Lots of scope.

Geoff Laver
Late of Her Britannic Majesty's 57th Regiment of Foot