pre battle deployment

[Ephrum]

I'm not trying to be argumentative, but I don't understand how pre-deployment would help.
If I have to attack, odds are I won't know exactly where the enemy is at the start. Plus I have to take the fight to them, using roads.
And if I'm defending, I won't know at the start where the attack is comming from. That is, what if the pre-deployment has me facing the wrong direction?
Now I've never played Total War, so I may not understand what you guys are refering to. So if I'm missing something, please let me know.
Like I said, I'm not trying to be a smart-alec.

[estabu2]

69th NYSV wrote:

In the TW series before each battle your troops were basically dumped in a pre-determined location. Before the start of the battle you had the ability to arrange your troops in any fashion, basically moving them around within a radius of the dump point.

You weren't playing historical scenarios so troop dispositions weren't set to re-create the situation at the start of the battle and you didn't want to be stuck with the computer deployment. In the context of this game it would be used for OP and MP.

Pretty much how it works is, you are given the troops that you are going to have for the battle, you are given an area of the battle field to deploy them. You position(we will take this game for example), you take your artillery, infantry, and cavalry and put them anywhere you want in the predesignated area and then the battle starts.

[ironsight]

Ephrum,
its just one more option for those who want it is all. One idea is this pre-deployment would be up to the player as to where and how to position their defensive lines, breastworks, parapets, bomb proofs, rifle pits, batteries, etc. for the coming battle.
Also there is some historical precedence for this. The ACW was one of the last gentlemens's wars meaning it was somehow unofficially understood between the sides that they would face each other in a common battlefield to basically mass duel it out. The devil would be in the details of how this would work without making it overly complicated.
Take some of the main battles for example, Gburg, Murfreesboro, Antietam, etc. where both sides initially knew each others positions but chose to attack the 'next' day. This 'next day' thing allowed each side to bring up their entire army and deploy their forces any way they seemed fit before engaging in battle. Of course these tactics changed as the war progressed into Sherman's TOTAL WAR, trench warfare(Petersburg), etc.

As for the other option of letting the game choose the initial positions for an instant battle start, the hope is the game would be smart enough to have the opposing armies facing each other.

69th NY,
thats sort of the way i see it too. The key element is to have the time to deploy a defensive line. I agree this might be more in line with OP but then again what about the third day of Gburg where both armies were 'licking their wounds from the previous day's battles' while glaring at each other from their strong defensive positions?

[Ephrum]

Okay, now I understand!

Thanks ironsight!

[Picton]

Thanks for the detailed explanation Ironsight,I thought most people here new and had played a Total War game.

When playing Total War, you can choose to defend or attack therefore you want more freedom in deploying your army rather than letting the game do it for you. Thus as the commander of the army, you place units where you want them and their formation as well.

I think it would be a great addition to the game.

:cheer:


:cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer:

[Hancock the Superb]

Sounding like a good open play feature to me, not a scenario though.

[estabu2]

It would set up a classic Napoleonic set-piece battle. It would also look really EPIC if someone were to record it and put it on the net.

[Ephrum]

estabu2 wrote:

It would set up a classic Napoleonic set-piece battle. It would also look really EPIC if someone were to record it and put it on the net.

Good idea estabu2!
I'm sure it would drop a few jaws!
Epic indeed!B)

I was thinking about this topic last night, and I think it would be good if pre-battle deployment were an option. I say "option" because I still think it would be fun to have two sides, not sure where exactly each other are. Kind of like how G-burg developed.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not against pre-battle deployment. I'm just thinking it should be an option. Because it's easy to see the fun in both.

[ironsight]

estabu wrote:
It would also look really EPIC if someone were to record it and put it on the net.

Great idea estabu!
And along those same lines is a topic i started a while back on the old forum called "TC2M the Movie". After playing some of these historic scenarios for a while especially on the reb side, its sometimes hard to envision how Lee achieved so many overwhelming victories especially considering he was usually outnumbered.
Using the sometimes confusing 2nd Manassas battle as an example, the 'movie' would be historically accurate and totally scripted out to see not only how that that battle exactly progressed but also how and what tactics the rebs actually used to accomplish their victory.
There would be no user troop movement input as this would technically be an animated movie. However one could still zoom, speed up and wander around the battle field and map with a minimal tool bar which could be U'd in/out and viewed while settin back in an easy chair sippin a cold one. I also envision optional informational notes now and then as to whats going on or if a flag is clicked, would give an idea of what unit it is, its statistics and objectives. Very educational and who knows, it might even interest West Point or better yet, the History Channel!

There wasn't much interest in this back then as i remember, maybe its just me that would like to see something like this.
But with the new game's much much better 3-D graphics this might make even more sense now.
I realize this would probably be a big project in and of itself but if NSD is interested, they could make a little extra $$ on the side and sell these animated battle movies as 'stand alones' or game add-ons.
Just another idea!

[Ephrum]

ironsight wrote:

estabu wrote:
It would also look really EPIC if someone were to record it and put it on the net.

Great idea estabu!
And along those same lines is a topic i started a while back on the old forum called "TC2M the Movie". After playing some of these historic scenarios for a while especially on the reb side, its sometimes hard to envision how Lee achieved so many overwhelming victories especially considering he was usually outnumbered.
Using the sometimes confusing 2nd Manassas battle as an example, the 'movie' would be historically accurate and totally scripted out to see not only how that that battle exactly progressed but also how and what tactics the rebs actually used to accomplish their victory.
There would be no user troop movement input as this would technically be an animated movie. However one could still zoom, speed up and wander around the battle field and map with a minimal tool bar which could be U'd in/out and viewed while settin back in an easy chair sippin a cold one. I also envision optional informational notes now and then as to whats going on or if a flag is clicked, would give an idea of what unit it is, its statistics and objectives. Very educational and who knows, it might even interest West Point or better yet, the History Channel!

There wasn't much interest in this back then as i remember, maybe its just me that would like to see something like this.
But with the new game's much much better 3-D graphics this might make even more sense now.
I realize this would probably be a big project in and of itself but if NSD is interested, they could make a little extra $$ on the side and sell these animated battle movies as 'stand alones' or game add-ons.
Just another idea!

ironsight!! I asked about something along those lines as well, a while back at MMG!!
I for one, would love to see something like that! Your right, it would be very educational. You could sell those in gift shops at various battlefields as well. Many possibilities!