Army unit list panel?

[Imhotep]

Just started playing the game, and it looks well-designed.

One thing I couldn't find, though, is an Army unit list panel, listing all the units in an Army, along with information about units' steps, experience, specialists and maybe also active Movement and Action points.

It could potentially be a small side-panel underneath the Objectives panel that appears when clicking on an Army HQ. Clicking on a unit in the panel would centre the camera on it.

Before a campaign starts, at the conference, one can spend Prestige points on improving Army HQs, but one doesn't seem to be able to see what units an Army contains, which would affect the choices one makes here. The British 8th Army, for example, is much bigger than the US Army in the first Victory in the West scenario. So an Army unit list panel should be viewable here.

[Imhotep]

Here's a quick mock-up:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2405784140
There'd be a scroll-bar on the right. Having the cursor over the panel, one would also be able to use the mouse's scroll wheel to scroll up and down the list.

[TheLastSterling]

I really don't think this is nessessary. Like all the things you want you can get from just looking at the map. And if you want to see what unit is in which Army then you just select your HQ and it will show which units are under command.

[Imhotep]

Originally posted by TheLastSterling:

I really don't think this is nessessary. Like all the things you want you can get from just looking at the map. And if you want to see what unit is in which Army then you just select your HQ and it will show which units are under command.

I think it would be very useful for when things are like this:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2408906561
By clicking on the Army icon on the right and scrolling through a unit list underneath it would mean it would take about ten seconds to get a good overview of all the units in the entire Army Group/Front, as well as how they're organised.

It could be a collapsible panel, so it could be open or closed.

[Haako]

@Imhotep

Very nice proposition. In bigger sceanrios I often find hard to choose correct units from correct army.
I found, whe clicking on reorganizisng infantry steps units from that army are higlighted and other are transpared - I would combine that view with your units list. When list mode is on, all units from that army could be highlighted and other transparent - the view would be much more clear.

[Imhotep]

Originally posted by Haako:

@Imhotep

Very nice proposition. In bigger sceanrios I often find hard to choose correct units from correct army.
I found, whe clicking on reorganizisng infantry steps units from that army are higlighted and other are transpared - I would combine that view with your units list. When list mode is on, all units from that army could be highlighted and other transparent - the view would be much more clear.

The transparency idea, highlighting units under an HQ's command, is also a good one.

My plan has been to play through the three stand-alone scenarios before starting the campaign. I've loaded up the Wacht am Rhein scenario several times now, but still don't understand the organisational structure of my Army, so haven't started it yet.

[3Form]

This would be really useful for conferences as you say. I also think the info you can find on the scenario list - i.e. which HQs will be present in which missions - should be included in game somewhere. At the very least, we can tell if a unit is used in 3+ future scenarios. It would be good to know how many each HQ will be used in & thus where we should be investing our prestige.

[Imhotep]

I tried coming back get to this game today, but can't get past the lack of unit lists - some form of easily-accessible table with the list of units under each HQ and important info about each unit, along with being able to click on unit in table and map centring on that unit. I find it really frustrating trying to work out the command structure on a map with lots of units, when it should be really simple.

[Patton]

I don't understand how your having trouble finding units its very simple. Just click on the HQ directly and it displays a white circle for the units under its command. You can also click on HQ and click on the deploy step button to find what units need pips or specialist steps

[Haako]

Originally posted by Imhotep:

I tried coming back get to this game today, but can't get past the lack of unit lists - some form of easily-accessible table with the list of units under each HQ and important info about each unit, along with being able to click on unit in table and map centring on that unit. I find it really frustrating trying to work out the command structure on a map with lots of units, when it should be really simple.

+1 ... it is sooo painful on cluster maps, like D-Day.

Originally posted by Patton:

I don't understand how your having trouble finding units its very simple. Just click on the HQ directly and it displays a white circle for the units under its command. You can also click on HQ and click on the deploy step button to find what units need pips or specialist steps

Yes, there is a circle when you select HQ, but in when two big armies are in one place, it is often hard to find units (and sometimes units are mixed and not positioned near their HQ). Try to choose HQ, and reorg an infantry step directly from HQ - you will se clearer view (but you still won't see units outside HQ range or out o supply etc).
So, a clear and simply view mode would be very useful. Of course, maybe for you is not very needed or useful, but for sure for others it is and would be helpful. I'm consider myself a veteran of this game and I can navigate through the game easily, but such units list would be not only useful, but it would speed up things ;)

[Imhotep]

Originally posted by Haako:

Originally posted by Imhotep:

I tried coming back get to this game today, but can't get past the lack of unit lists - some form of easily-accessible table with the list of units under each HQ and important info about each unit, along with being able to click on unit in table and map centring on that unit. I find it really frustrating trying to work out the command structure on a map with lots of units, when it should be really simple.

+1 ... it is sooo painful on cluster maps, like D-Day.

Originally posted by Patton:

I don't understand how your having trouble finding units its very simple. Just click on the HQ directly and it displays a white circle for the units under its command. You can also click on HQ and click on the deploy step button to find what units need pips or specialist steps

Yes, there is a circle when you select HQ, but in when two big armies are in one place, it is often hard to find units (and sometimes units are mixed and not positioned near their HQ). Try to choose HQ, and reorg an infantry step directly from HQ - you will se clearer view (but you still won't see units outside HQ range or out o supply etc).
So, a clear and simply view mode would be very useful. Of course, maybe for you is not very needed or useful, but for sure for others it is and would be helpful. I'm consider myself a veteran of this game and I can navigate through the game easily, but such units list would be not only useful, but it would speed up things ;)

I'm glad you can see the issue!

So, it's a two-part issue, as I see it:

1) It needs to be made clearer on the map which units are under an HQ's command. The current white circle around these units is not very distinct, especially on a snowy map. So I would suggest changing this to a brighter colour, like yellow. Perhaps also one could be able to highlight these units even more by toggling all other units to transparency.

2) There should be army list/table listing all units under an HQ's command, including all their important info. This should be viewable at conferences. During battle, it should be toggleable on/off and not obscure the whole screen, the smaller the better, so one can still see the battlefield. Clicking a unit on this list should centre the map on that unit.

I think these changes would bring the accessibility needed to quickly and easily understand one's Army Group's organisation and composition, which is a pretty fundamental need for a game like this.

This isn't a beer and pretzels game in that, unlike most similar games, the makers have at least some understanding of military organization, and have modelled it into the game.

One of the most essential things in military organization is an Order of Battle, and that is what this game lacks:

In modern use, the order of battle of an armed force participating in a military operation or campaign shows the hierarchical organization, command structure, strength, disposition of personnel, and equipment of units and formations of the armed force.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_battle

[FeroKapo]

I am bringing this thread back from the dead because I am now playing the large scenarios in Barbarossa and would really appreciate such a unit list. Looking at the map does not tell you which unit is persistent or close to reaching the next experience level. Both these things are important (for me, at least) to determine where to place specialists or reinforce. Now I have to click on most units on the map (I have remarked on this clickfest already in an earlier thread (https://steamcommunity.com/app/809230/discussions/0/5064850575734289962/)

Related to this, I would REALLY appreciate if the command range restriction could be dropped during the deployment/preparation phase. Since one can't redeploy entire units and also doesn't know where units end up in the next scenario, I have had it several times that specialists were with completely "wrong" units, or that I could not assign newly bought specialists until late in the scenario, because they were always out of range (especially problematic for PzG HQ). I also find it illogical - the preparation phase means that there is a lull in operations and time for reinforcing, so why limit it to the command range? If a scenario is an emergency situation, or if there is no time at all between scenarios, then just skip the deployment phase completely (as it is done in a few scenarios).

Thanks for considering this request in a future hotfix. Cheers!

[Brendissimo]

Something like these very nice mockups by OP would be really appreciated. In a scenario would be useful, but it's really crucially absent in conferences. We have access to the PDF scenario charts to help better plan which HQs to invest in, but those give you no sense of 1) the tactical challenges inherent to the scenario (such as terrain, map size, etc.); and 2) most importantly, which units you will have under each HQ after each conference.

Much like in history, specific units are shuffled around between HQs frequently, with no indication to they player. The "scenarios remaining" count is useful, but a bit simple and sometimes flawed. It's not ideal to spend a bunch of prestige on specialist steps for units, only for them to immediately be transferred to a different theatre. I mean, sometimes it IS ideal, but having an indication would be really useful

And I don't think it's knowledge real strategic planners wouldn't have had. Obviously you can't say exactly when the enemy will do something, and its a bit gamey to rely too much on foreknowledge, but on the other hand its reasonable to be aware of which units will be under whose command in the future, and in which region.