Dave O'Connor, President of Panther games likes to answer questions from gamers in public forums. Here are some extracts.
The complete feature list looks impressive and original. Why breaking the best established wargame rules ? What are the advantages ?
"Back in 1995 when Paul Scobell and myself were sitting in my home office designing how this game would be, we wanted to harness the full capabilities of what computers can do and we knew that that was a lot more than just rolling a dice. We also wanted to put the player in the role of a commander. To do that meant we had to simulate a command system. Real operational level commanders do not have the time to manage every unit under their command. They rely on their subordinate commanders for that. So this meant that we had to develop an artificial intelligence ( AI ) that could do a reasonable job in managing subordinate forces. Only then would the player be able to trust it to carry out its orders and free him up from the need to micromanage every last detail.
The benefits of this approach are immense. Obviously players can macromanage like real life commanders do. They can focus on what's really important for their level of command - what is the enemy's intentions, how can I respond, what are my objectives, how can I best achieve them. "
How can the continuous time approach provide a more realistic simulation, if we exclude the time pressure put on the player ?
"[...]it's virtually impossible for turn based
operational games ( those using a turn greater than 10 minutes ) to
effectively model orders delay and the Boyd cycle with the fidelity
required to make it realistic.
[...]
A different paradigm often requires a different perspective. I found
the jump easier from turn based to pausable continuous time ( PCT )
mainly because of my earlier military experience where you do have to
make decisions on the go with action unfolding all around you. I learnt
through that, that you have to accept a certain amount of chaos on the
battlefield. A tactical commander is very much rooted in the present.
His objectives are measured in metres and minutes. An operational
commander, on the other hand, must always be thinking ahead to where you
want to be and where you think the enemy will be.
He thinks in terms of triggers - i.e. what situation will trigger or force me to react or reassess or replan. Napoleon once said that every morning when he wakes up he would review the battle area and ask himself if the enemy attacked from here what would I do and what if he appeared suddenly here, how could I react? Once you make this shift in perspective you start observing the unfolding of the present in terms of past decisions ( yours and the enemy's commanders ) and in terms of triggers for current decisions that will impact on future situations.
You realise the patterns that are unfolding around you - eg those enemy companies reorganising over there are in fact the precursor to an enemy battalion assault. Once you can identify the patterns then despite the apparent chaos you really are in control, your decisions and the timing of them do have the impact to retain that control and you can delight in your opponent losing that control, losing the initiative and ultimately losing the battle. You are not merely a spectator passively waiting for events to unfold but an initiator, a predator waiting for the right moment to pounce. "
How are Bases related to Supply Depot ? How does supply work ?
"Each Base unit has an intrinsic Depot within it. The Depot manages all the supply stuff. So when you select a Base unit you can select the Depot Tab on the Side bar and see all its info :
When Ammunition is delivered to the units it is converted to the individual ammo types. The game doesn't manage the minutiae of ordering and delivering individual ammo items.
The supply transport columns are not shown on screen, though they are modeled in game. This is done in order to reduce the CPU load and clutter on the screen. In place, the supply status of a unit can be seen by looking at the colour of its command line or the colour of the associated Info Box on the unit.
In general units will attempt to use their organic Base unit. However, if unavailable they will draw on the Base supplying their superior and so on up the line until they find one. The player won't be able to specify that unit X draws from Base Y."
How is the supply flow simulated ? We don't see the transport columns, does it means the supply movement is totally abstracted ? Does supply moves instantly ?
" There certainly won't be anything 'sudden' about moving supplies. In the main this is all handled by the AI. Each day there will be two Resupply Determination events - one at 0600 and another at 1800. The scenario designer can restrict a side to only one such event at 1800 to reflect doctrine or the impact of enemy air interdiction restricting the movement of supplies to night only.
At these events the amount of supplies arriving from off map is
determined in accordance with the schedule of daily priorities
specified by the scenario designer. Essentially these specify what
percentage of the side's projected supply requirements will be met.
These are then allocated to the various supply entry points ( SEPs ).
They in turn allocate the supplies to their assigned on-map Bases.
Subject to available transport and handling capacity ( not to mention
supplies ) transport events are scheduled to move the supplies from the
SEP to the Bases. The duration required for these will vary according
to the duration of the on-map route, the move type of the Base ( foot
or motorised ), the off-map move type ( ground or air ), the off-map
road type ( if applicable ) and of course the effects of enemy
firepower along the on-map route.
Also during the Resupply Determination events each Base creates routine
supply requests for those units drawing on it. These are prioritised,
culled and sorted. Each minute thereafter of Game time the Base will
review the list of requests and try and fill the top priority request.
In doing so it checks on a whole swag of factors including if the
proposed supply route is hostile. If it cannot fulfill the request it
is suspended for future review.
If all systems are go, then it creates a transport column from its vehicle pool and along with some drivers and crew and the allocated supplies these are committed to a Supply Transport Event. The duration of the event is based on the duration of the route, loading and unloading times, efficiency of the Base and requesting unit etc.
When the event fires, losses are determined and any surviving supplies are transferred to the requesting unit. The transport column then determines if it can safely return. If not it will "wait around" till it can. otherwise it will head for home and a return event scheduled. Again the duration will depend on the route duration. Upon arrival back at the Base the transport column is absorbed back into the Base and the whole process continues.
So as you can see it's not an instantaneous event but rather a long drawn out series of events. "
Still I do not see why it is so difficult to represent the transport units on screen ?
"What we have done [...] is increase the map size from the 27 x 27km to 40 x 50km and this has had an impact. We've also increased the cpu processing burden with mixed mode movement and resupply.
Every time we add something extra to the game it can increase the load on the cpu - not always but often. Eventually we would like to go to having imperfect friendly intel, but this will mean doubling the force databases and this will add to the burden. We would also like to add in Team Play and this will also add to the load.
Our general approach is to favour those aspects of the game which give the most players the most joy. While regrettable, it is still true that a lot of players don't get turned on that much by watching their supply columns. Most would prefer to see something that "goes bang" if you get what I mean.
Yet we still wanted to add to the realism of the simulation and factor in the effects of a realistic resupply system. I believe our new one is realistic and delivers the right effect even if there is still a level of abstraction in its implementation"
