Missile deployment

[felinis]

I know that this has been discussed ad-nausium, but I have just GOT to put in my two-cents:

No unit is going to park, patrol or hover and wait for missiles to be manufactured so that it can fire them at an enemy. So there is no use for "Auto-deployment" of missiles from the factory.

I suggest:

1) Missile types not marked for "Continious" production will not be automatically Autobuilt.

2) Missiles in the missile type list and missiles in the production queue are not to be pre-set for auto-deployment (AD) or launch authorization (LA). All missiles selected to be build get manufactured and are sent directly to the depot WITHOUT LA OR AD.

3) At the missile depot, the player can authorize Auto-deployment for each individual missile batch, or for all of stock, or for continious auto-deployment of all missiles always.

4) No missile will be released from stock with LA. However, each missile will have a user-settable "Locked" attribute, which will PROHIBIT it from being automatically fired. This CAN be set at the depot level, for each batch.

5) The user will be allowed to select multiple units from the deployed platform list to receive a selected batch of missiles.

6) Missiles will only be automatically deployed to a unit if the missile matches the unit's "Roll".

7) Missile platforms will not automatically fire a missile until they receive a "Weapons Free" order.

8) After receiving the "Weapons Free" the platform is free to select enemy targets matching its role and to automatically fire THE MOST APPROPRIATE UN-LOCKED MISSILE on the platform ONE MISSLE AT A TIME. Units capable of tracking multiple targets may fire one missile per track.

9) A second missile will not be fired until the first missile has impacted. If this is not possible for the game engine, then build in a wait period calculated from the missile's speed and the target's distance.

10) If the target tracking is lost, NO MORE MISSILES WILL BE FIRED.

11) Where ever the term "automatically" is used, player intervention is allowed. Locked missiles CAN be fired manually.

12) Special weapons will automatically be locked.

[Balthagor]

Most of your suggestions force player micromanagement of missiles to use them at all. While we want to keep options for players to be able to micormanage, we are already considered "overly complex" for many ppl. We will continue to use default options that make access to missiles as easy as possible for those who don't micromanage but we will review all the controls.

10) If the target tracking is lost, NO MORE MISSILES WILL BE FIRED.

11) Where ever the term "automatically" is used, player intervention is allowed. Locked missiles CAN be fired manually.

12) Special weapons will automatically be locked.

All three of this criteria are already met by the current system. Units only fire at visible targets, users can always fire missiles manually and nuclear weapons always default to LA off.

[felinis]

[quote]Most of your suggestions force player micromanagement of missiles to use them at all. While we want to keep options for players to be able to micormanage, we are already considered "overly complex" for many ppl. We will continue to use default options that make access to missiles as easy as possible for those who don't micromanage but we will review all the controls[/quote]

Yes, you are overly complex: your current approach requires me to micro-manage each missile batch already, since some come out of the depot pre-launch-authorized, and automatically go to in-appropriate planes. I admit that at first I did not fully understand the system, but I do now.

My system allows the free flow of missiles from factory to appropriate platforms without ANY MICRO-MANAGEMENT, or it would if I didn't have to, for instance, micro-manage my anti-submarine planes to tell them not to accept anti-tank missiles.

My suggestions allow you to remove tons of checkboxs thru-out the game. Each unit loses its "Autoload to Match" checkbox. That is hundreds of fewer decisions and a MUCH less micro-managed game.

In the Missile control dialog the "Missile Construction" list loses two checkboxes and the "Currently in Production" list loses three checkboxes.
In the "Available Missiles" list the "Launch Authorize" checkbox changes to "Launch Lock".

The "Weapons Free" order can be granted to dozens of selected units at the same time, as could a countermanding "Weapons Tight" command. A great time-saver. If all selected units are not armed, "Weapons Free" will not appear on the Orders list.

The problem with such a free-flow of missiles to platforms is that they will automatically go to appropriate platforms that you do not want to load.

I neglected to address this - so you would need to retain the "Accept AutoDeployed" unit checkbox on each unit.

Like "Weapons Free", "Auto Accept" would default to false and could be toggled en-mass on selected units from the Orders menu. Currently you have to micro-manage the two auto-deploy buttons in the unit dialig, that interact with each other in a very confusing way.

All-in-all a much simpler system all around.

If these decisions have already been made, please let us know so that we won't waste our time making them.

[felinis]

[quote]All three of this criteria are already met by the current system. Units only fire at visible targets, users can always fire missiles manually and nuclear weapons always default to LA off.
[/quote]

With respect to missile wastage, I frequently forget that we are dealing with battalions or squadrons of units here, not individual units or planes.

If a battaloin or squadron fires at a target, they are going to fire a salvo, not a single missile - correct? And they are likely targeting another multi-unit target.

So, even if I manually "Fire Missile", unless the platform is a ship, I am going to fire a salvo too.

No wonder that we use up so many missiles so quickly. Maybe ground and aircraft launched missiles should be manufactured in batches instead of as single missiles. That would eliminate the single missile entries in the "Available Missiles" list box.

[Balthagor]

controlling how many missiles are in a salvo has already been suggested and is being considered.