Scourge of War Boards

I am sure you probably have heard this suggested but I was thinking that if you guys were in the market for making another game, then how about this:

Stick with the American Civil War theme...but instead of large scale conflicts such as those in Gettysburg Scourge of War, how about brigade sized battles.

For instance, one battle could simply be the battle for McPhersons Woods between Archer and the Iron Brigade or Pettigrews Brigade. You could even play as the 76th NY and 56 PA against Davis' 3 MS Regiments. Or, the fight for the railroad cut. Of course, I am just talking about Gettysburg here but this theme could be used throughout any Civil War Era battle.

Now here's the kicker, the sprites would be 1:1 to allow for the management of companies and individual personnel. Sprites are individualized and and non-robatic in nature, each independently operating on their own. Obviously this couldn't be any larger than brigade sized battles because it would get increasingly chaotic to manage anything more than a brigade at this level. 1500 men vs 1500 men on average for each battle.

I think it would be interesting to see how volleys would be implemented, or fire at will commands and particular companies refused to meet impending attacks. The results of devestating close range volley fire and men falling every second, piling up. Morale of course, being a huge issue. Stragglers falling to the rear. Every regiment different depending on experience, man power, and character. Leadership playing a big role. I think strategy at the regimental level would be exceptionally difficult to master but thats the whole fun part of it.

It would be great multiplayer as well, with each player taking a regiment and being able to issue commands to that regiment independent of the rest of the brigade. There can be no more of just rushing column style into a line of infantry blazing away and somehow the infantry in column formation wins the melee, in this game, infantry wont do that. Infantry will receive morale disadvantages when being shot at from behind stone walls, from behind fences, or from high ground. No longer will one sector of ground be able to only hold the sprite of one fallen body, now, bodies will be able to be piled on top of one another.

This whole idea would take lots of work but I believe its doable, and seeing as what a great job you guys do over there, I think you are up to any challenge. Anyways, just thought, in my dreams of course.

- Joe

Hey Joe

Back at you...for our next patch release I'm working on some 1:1SR SP engagements, and possibly an OOB for MP. The engine only needs some minor csv file changes for this to work great...I've submitted them for approval. As far as your sprite upgrades idea, not yet, but those have already been discussed (models) and will be considered seriously for future expansions.

Glad to hear folks like you are anxious for the genuine look and feel of battle...10 or so companies per regiment...real regimental strategy. B)

The main hurtle for these to come off accurately and historical is scaling. Either smaller sprites or larger maps. I prefer the larger maps route...keep squeaking this thread/subject and maybe Norb will get some 10w40 out...

Demand and lots of interest make things happen here, cause we're all about our gamers' satisfaction...battlefield bliss.

No I completely understand and look forward to anything you guys put out. You all do a great job over there.

The 1:1 sprite ratio is a good idea, but would it realistically work on this game engine? I mean if you have lets say, 350 sprites in a regiment, would the regiment be able to function as companies? Or just move as a whole? Would it be able to refuse a flank or make any angles at all?

Also, with the present game engine, I am not sure how the firing and hits % are calculated. Because it seems that when a regiment fires at an enemy line about 60 yards apart, only 3-5 men may fall, while in reality, (according to a good percentage of my readings on the civil war) when volleys were fired at close range, sometimes even less than 60 yds, scores of men would fall and would often send the unit hit by that volley running to the rear. Sometimes half of an entire front rank would fall by an effective volley, kind of what happened to the 2nd Wisconsin in McPhersons Woods when Met by Archers Brigade. They lost upwards of 80-90 men in that initial volley. Also, flanking fire to the sides or even rear was utterly devestating from what I hear. Your chance of a hit when firing into and enemies flank was greatly increased because of the density of the line you are shooting into (almost bound to hit someone even if you miss the guy you are aiming at). I'd like to see flank fire and companies crumble from the outside as a result of this but I just am not sure if the present game engine can handle that.

Anyways, your thoughts?

- Joe

So far with my testing, all the things you mentioned adjust to the different scale admirably...a sprite drops, your count drops, etc. No probs at all making regiments into companies, just a lot of OOB work and looking up regimental commanders' names. Also, I like to include the company names when I can find them, mainly Rebs, Yanks settled for A to K it appears historically. And, maybe down the line, there sure are some really cool and unique company flags...making flags is very tedious for me, but I get great satisfaction when I can design something that adds a more personable/local feel to the ever moving canvas depicting these famous conflicts.

Yeah that sounds great. Can't wait for that mod to come out.