Estimated Time to Repair

[MachNix]

On the chalkboards in the towers, I would like a new column added with the header “ETR” that would display the time for an asset to come back up.

Some examples on how it would work:

Example 1:  Vehicle Hanger at a Small Airfield
This is the simplest example since there is only one VH at the field.  Let’s say the enemy takes the VH down at 9:00.  The chalkboard would display that Vehicles were Unavailable with an ETR of 9:15.  (I’m assuming hangers work on straight time and repair in 15 minuets regardless to when a convoy is showing up.)

Example 2:  Fighter Hangers at a Small Airfield
There are three FH at a small airfield.  Let’s say FH #1 goes down at 9:00, FH #2 at 9:05, and FH #3 at 9:10.  The chalkboard would say that Fighters were Enabled until the third FH goes down at 9:10.  After that the chalkboard would say that Fighters where Disabled with an ETR of 9:15 which is the time for the first FH to come back up.  Now let’s say at 9:17 the enemy takes that first FH back down.  The chalkboard would again say that Fighters where Disabled but the ETR would be 9:20 when the second FH is due to be back up.  Therefore, after all the hangers where down, the ETR would display the soonest time for a hanger to come back up.  (Bomber Hangers at Airfields and VHs at Vehicle Fields would work the same way.)

Example3:  Radar at a Field
Since there is only one radar tower at a field, it looks simple but its ETR is dependent on the status of the Radar Factory and player controlled supplies.  For our example here, let’s say the radar is taken down at 9:00 and the Radar Factory if fully functional.  Chalkboard in the tower would then say Radar is Unavailable with an ETR of 11:00.  (Note – Actual time would be based on when a convoy is due to arrive.  Convoys arrive every 10 minuets.  For our example we will say that a convoy arrive a second before the radar was taken down.)  A player then runs a load of supplies that is assumed to be worth 15 minuets of repair time regardless of Radar Factory status.  The chalkboard’s Radar ETR will then say 10:50.  (Note – The player’s supplies where worth 15 minuets which would have taken the ETR down to 10:45.  But there will still be 5 minuets remaining after the 10:40 convoy arrives.  It will take the next convoy, due at 10:50, to supply those 5 minuets to bring the Radar back up.)  Updating chalkboard’s ETR gives the player immediate feedback of what the supplies did.  Now let’s say at 9:45 the Radar Factory status is taken down below 50%.  Assuming it really works this way, only one truck per convoy would have supplies, and the Radar’s ETR would change to 15:50.  A player then runs another load of supplies and the Radar’s ETR changes to 15:40.  The savvy player then realizes that just running supplies to the field will take too long so decides to get the factory back above 50% first.  So at 10:40 the player delivers supplies to the Radar Factory that brings its status back above 50%.   The chalkboard would then change the Radars ETR to 11:40.  (Is anyone still awake?)

Example4:  Ammo, Barracks, and Fuel at a Field
These bunkers act similarly to hangers and Radar.  The ETRs would display when the soonest bunker would be back up.

Example5:  Factories
Factory status is not shown on the chalkboard.  I think this gives the impression that factories are unimportant in the game.  Factory status should be added with their ETRs reflecting the times that convoys will again run at full strength.  This will also show what impact Cities have on factories.

In conclusion, I know it sounds complicated but the game already tracks this type of information.  The only thing needed is to display that information to the players.  The ETR information can be restricted to the owning Country by only showing the ETRs on the tower chalkboards, or the information can be made available to all countries by displaying the ETRs on the Status Page.  Having that information available would provide immediate feedback to the strategic player, improve understanding of the strategic elements of the game, and increase the perceived importance of strategic targets.

Thank you for your attention.

MachNix

[wooly15]

That would be pretty handy...it's not that unrealistic either...ETR's are always provided for equip casualties, not that they're always accurate.  Usually just to shut the CO up from asking.

[Easyscor]

I've wished for this myself but with the instant side switching, a large squad is going to send a member to the enemy tower while they capture the base. Knowing when it's safe to concentrate on the Town and when you need to cap the field would be too much temptation.

[MachNix]

I've wished for this myself but with the instant side switching, a large squad is going to send a member to the enemy tower while they capture the base. Knowing when it's safe to concentrate on the Town and when you need to cap the field would be too much temptation.

The attackers are in a better position to know when they took down the first hanger and shouldn’t need to send a spy to report the time for a hanger to pop.  Large squads, or mission for that matter, can get the town down and troops delivered within 15 minuets of the start of the attack anyway.  The defenders on the other hand wont know when that first hanger went down unless they where there at the time.  And that first hanger going down is not important until the last hanger goes down.  Unless you as a defender were taken notes, no one on the defense side is going to know.  If you had that information, you could decide if you should wait for a hanger or come from a nearby base.  This is especially true at vehicle bases where GVers are less worried about getting vulched by air cover.

As a side note, I just logged out of Orange Arena where we where defending A137 from 3 carrier groups.  A137’s Ammo was down – as it should have been – but I had no idea when it would come back up.  Should I grab a Goon with field supplies and fly for 18 minuets?  Would Ammo come back up before I got back to A137?  Would the supplies I delivered be enough to bring Ammo up?  A137 is in a Zone we didn’t own and Factory information is not displayed on the Status Page.  What impact does that have on how long Ammo will stay down?  What if that Zone's Ammo Factory is below 50% and we capture the Zone Base?  Does the time to resupply go up or down?  As it turned out, some launched bombers from a nearby base and sunk 2 of the CVs.  The third CV was sunk using a combination of a Shore Battery and a PT boat’s 40mm.  If A137’s Ammo had come up, the CVs would have been sunk by heavy fighters and/or torpedoes from PT boats; and the bomber guys would have flown for 20 minuets for nothing.

[MachNix]

After Murdr set me strait about supplies only taking time off the repair clock, I wanted to take another look at this wish.  I think the wish is still valid even though the times of repair are incorrect in my first post.  The purpose of this wish is three fold:

1.  Provide the player with information when a resource such as Fighters will be enabled after the resource has been disabled.

2.  Provide the player with information so he can determine whether it is worth the time to run supplies to a damaged field.

3.  Increase the perceived importance and understanding of the strategic system by providing feedback when a factory is destroyed.

With these items in mind, here is my vision:


Chalkboard:
The purpose of the chalkboard is to display the condition of the field.  The current old board does not convey enough information to give a true understanding of the field’s condition.  For example, Fighters might be Enabled but there may only be one Fighter Hanger still up that could go down at any second; or the Vehicle Hanger was down but you would have to pan to see if it was smoking to get an idea of when it might be back up; or you would have to go to the Hanger to see if any Manned Acks where functional.  The old chalkboard also did not give enough information to help the player decided if it was worth while to run supplies to the field.  In order to communicate additional information, three new columns where added: Status (STAT), Estimated Time of Repair (ETR), and Convoy (CNVY).

STAT:  The status column list the number of objects still up over the total number of objects for that resource.  An example would be 7 / 8 for Troops & Supplies.  This means that 7 out of 8 barracks are sill up.  Displaying information in this manner give an indication on how likely the field is to loose that resource.  It may prompt a player to run supplies before that resource is lost completely.

ETR:  The Estimated Time of Repair column list the soonest time an object for that resource will repair.  For example Fighters has listed 10:34 as a time for repair.  At that time, 10:34, at least one Fighter Hanger will be up and Fighters will be enabled.  Also, the STAT will change from 0/4 to 1/4 and the ETR will change from 10:34 to the time the next Fighter Hanger is due to repair.  This process will continue until all the Fighter Hangers are repaired and the status is 4/4.  The ETR will then display a dash or be blank.  This type of information tells a player when a resource will again be available and whether it is worth running supplies.  The ETR column will update as player supplies are dropped and when convoys arrive.

CNVY:  The Convoy column lists the convoy’s worth in minuets of reduced repair time of a resource that can be resupplied.  This information makes a direct link to the status of the factories within the field’s Zone which assists the player in understanding the impact the factories have on the repair of the resources.

The chalkboard also has some additional rows:  ETA, AAA-AUTO, AA-MAN, SB, and Town.

ETA:  This displays the Estimated Time of Arrival for the next convoy.  This information is meant to help the player decide if they should run supplies.  If a supply resource of interest is within 30 minutes of being repaired and the convoy is worth 30 minuets of reduced repair time, the player can determine if they have time to deliver supplies before the convoy arrives.

AAA-AUTO:  This displays information about the auto-ack guns.  It is hopped that the there would be two rows to separate the guns that are on the field with those that are located in the town.  Since all the auto-guns have object types of GNG, it maybe too expensive pragmatically to distinguish between those guns on the field and those in the town.  In the image above, all the guns are listed together and somewhat diminishes the importance of this information.

AAA-MAN:  This shows conditions of the soft guns on the field.  The image above indicates that 2 of the 5 guns are operational and at least one of the destroyed guns is due to be repaired at 10:55.

SB:  This displays the status of any Shore Batteries that are associated with the field.  If there are no Shore Batteries, this row can be blank or display N/A for Non-Applicable.  Currently, the only way to tell if a field has Shore Batteries is to look around or go into the Hanger.

TOWN:  If there is a town associated with the field, this row will give information about its status.  In the image above, there are 8 of 59 town objects still up and the first building is due to be repaired at 11:11.  The town may not be visible from the tower, but there should be at least a field-phone between the map-room and the tower that would supply this information.

Status Page:  This page has three sections showing status information for the field, zone, and HQ.  Each section will have ETRs listed but they will only be shown if the resource is owned by the player’s country.

Field Section:  This section just shows the basic field information contained on the chalkboard.  The big advantage is having access to information about the town status without being in the tower or the town.

Zone Section:  This section displays the status of the city and factories contained in the field’s zone.  The ETRs shown can indicate when the next object for that resource is due to be repaired or it can show when that resource will be back above the 50% level and convoys run at full strength.  Knowing when the resource will be above 50% is more important but maybe difficult to program.  The image above shows the way it would look if it followed the same rules as the chalkboard where the ETR displays the time for the next object to repair.

HQ Section:  The status of the player’s HQ is shown in this section.  If each of the counters and radars can be destroyed and repaired separately, the there should be an ETR listed for each one.  The ETR would indicate the time that resource will be enabled.

[Spikes]

Don't need seconds, just say 11M, or something of the like. Otherwise great idea.

[321BAR]

I gotta admit, this is one of the better ideas ive seen..... keep this post rolling and get alot of people talking about it... and the 11:47, etc is the hour and minute spikes, not minutes and seconds... he means when the hangers will be up by....not a countdown

[USCH]

well thought out 

[Spikes]

I gotta admit, this is one of the better ideas ive seen..... keep this post rolling and get alot of people talking about it... and the 11:47, etc is the hour and minute spikes, not minutes and seconds... he means when the hangers will be up by....not a countdown

Ah, wasn't thinking right then. Couldn't have figured, as nothing stays down for 11 hours, but I also didn't think that rhey were just random numbers.

[Tmac7]

I love this idea. It would help alot. No more taking off on vulched fields to check if towns down etc. Great idea 

[SmokinLoon]

My thought is when your an individual on an attack force, you're not going to know WHEN it went down, IFit is being repaired, or how quickly it can be repaired.  All one is going to know is the details on what ever target you hit and or destroyed.  Actually, I'd be willing to bet that unless the pilot saw secondary explosions he didnt know if he hit or not.  He just kept on going.  I know my G'pa said they didnt know until maybe even a month latere when the recon photos can back whether or not his groups bombing misison was succesful (B24's, PTO, mostly in the "Slot").     

I like the fog of war, it does add something to the game.  There is already so much that is rubber stamped.  I say leave it as is.

I'd like to see HTC ad even MORE fog of war.

[Swatch]

SmokinLoon:  I think he's talking about this for the defenders, not the attackers.

I really like the idea, but I think there needs to be a semblance of ambiguity.  How bout just rounding up to the nearest 5 minutes?   For example, when the hangars first go down, it says 15 min til up until there are 10 min left, then 10 until 5, then 5 until they come up.  I agree there should be more information for defenders, but I think you need to keep a bit of estimation in it.

[SmokinLoon]

SmokinLoon:  I think he's talking about this for the defenders, not the attackers.

I really like the idea, but I think there needs to be a semblance of ambiguity.  How bout just rounding up to the nearest 5 minutes?   For example, when the hangars first go down, it says 15 min til up until there are 10 min left, then 10 until 5, then 5 until they come up.  I agree there should be more information for defenders, but I think you need to keep a bit of estimation in it.

Thanks for clarifying.  My answer still stands.    

It creates a fog of war.  The fog of war adds to the sim. 

[trigger2]

I gotta admit, this is one of the better ideas ive seen..... keep this post rolling and get alot of people talking about it... and the 11:47, etc is the hour and minute spikes, not minutes and seconds... he means when the hangers will be up by....not a countdown

Are YOU telling me that I'D have to go out, and LEARN how to tell time on an ANALOG CLOCK!!!??? Are you out of your mind?

Yeah, sounds good to me, + however many I am.

[RTHolmes]

It creates a fog of war.  The fog of war adds to the sim.