An interesting experience

[Hook]

I just watched the replay of a battle through the eyes of three different corps commanders using nothing but the F5 view in full zoom at 20/60 speed.  Since it was a replay and not a battle, I didn't have to worry about giving orders or keeping up with the situation on the entire battlefield, so I could just watch and enjoy.

The first thing I noticed was how attractive the battlefield looked from ground level, and how different the experience was for a local commander compared to managing the entire army mostly from the map or F3 views from high over the action with full freedom of movement.

From ground level, you can only see as far as the next hill, and topping that hill and seeing the enemy arranged for battle in the distance was glorious.  Having enemy cavalry you didn't know were there suddenly appear over the crest of a nearby hill, charging your men, is quite an experience.

The F5 view in full zoom gives a good view of things, unlike the wide-angle of F3.  Since the deployment lines in the orders were fairly short, the units were reasonably close together while still maintaining proper separation from units on either side.  The amount of ground covered by each unit was about the same as scale drawings I'd done at one time, so I think JMM has the scale right.

I moved forward with my men, watched as they halted for artillery preparation, watched cavalry attack and my infantry form square, then move forward again.  I watched both my men and the enemy rout and recover.  I saw some firefights.  I saw units break and run before contact.  I watched my artillery firing at the enemy, and my own units getting hit by enemy artillery.  Some units held up surprisingly well under this.  I saw a square get shot up by artillery, but not break.  I marveled at the bravery of one regiment standing against multiple enemy, although I knew they could not hold.  As we advanced across areas where there had been fighting, I saw numerous dead and wounded, riderless horses and crewless or destroyed cannons.  In short, I saw a Napoleonic battlefield.  This is as close as we'll get to the actual experience.

One thing that struck me the most was, at the height of battle, how orderly everything looked from the ground.  This was quite different from the chaos we see on the 2D map, although all the units were in the same place in both views, map and 3D.  Had I been a general reporting this battle afterward, I'd have talked about orderly lines of troops, as that's what I saw.  Pretty much what we've always read in such reports.  Since no general in Napoleonic times ever had as detailed a 2D map as we have, and there's no way to assemble a snapshot of any given moment in the battle, they probably didn't know how bad it was.  Even when viewing the battle from the top of a hill, things look surprisingly orderly.  Even when a corps got strung out, or intermingled with another corps, it looked orderly.

Try it some time with one of your saved games.  Find a corps commander who will be in the middle of the action, then rewind the replay and watch from his eyes.  See if you don't get the feel for the Napoleonic battlefield.

Hook

[FranzVonG]

This afternoon I fought a battle entirely with the view on F5 as my CiC, relaying only on reports from my corps commanders to give orders (the report interface that I've always found useless became a must, with the corps commanders informing me of where the other corps were, and what enemy troops that they were fighting against). It was an amazing experience, and for the first time I really understood how hard it was to control and command such huge armies on those enormous battlefields.

So, I've a question for JMM  : in the final game, the view distance can be brought (on a decent machine, obviously) to match what the CiC sees in the F2 view? If so, this will be perfect (as it is now, it's only glorious )

[Gunner24]

Hook, I can understand your comments above, I've been finding the game more enjoyable if you view it from the 3d sreen as much as possible, I did as you suggested and watched large chunks of it from the CiC view, looks very nice from the ground level as you say.....I think it's a bit "tough" to use that all the time, but it's a great option.

What I find frustrating is switching from one to the other and not finding on the 3d what I see on the 2d, as you may know from the topic I started the other day.

If you stick with the 3d most of the time, this problem does not arise, but you need the 2d to give the orders.......I can see MP games being played mostly in 2d and then viewed though the replay on 3d.

[Hook]

Gunner24, I was just watching a movie, and it was better than what Bondarchuk produced.

I don't think there will be a way to get around giving the orders on the 2D map.  At least you can watch in 3D view, and there may be nuances there that don't show on the 2D map.

I have no idea how multiplayer will be handled with more than one person playing on a side. 

Hook

[Broadsword]

There really ought to be a "telescope" view that would help a player whose view is locked to the CinC perspective. That way, by pressing the "T" key, for example, the CinC 3D view would zoom in to a "porthole" view of a selected (but narrow) spot on the battlefield.

[Hook]

There really ought to be a "telescope" view that would help a player whose view is locked to the CinC perspective. That way, by pressing the "T" key, for example, the CinC 3D view would zoom in to a "porthole" view of a selected (but narrow) spot on the battlefield.

Press and hold the right mouse button and move the mouse toward the top of the screen.  This will cause it to zoom in.

Hook

[Hook]

Woooooooooooooo!!

I just discovered that you can zoom the standard F3 3D view by holding the control key while moving the mouse wheel.

You can also zoom by holding down the control key and moving the mouse up or down on your screen.

Hook

[FranzVonG]

Great, I'll try it now!   HLG is so full of features, that our questions are already answered in the game. we just don't know it  

EDIT: ah, but the zoom is the same as the right click, and it's not enough (for example, in the F2 view I can see the austrians on a hill, but in F5, even if zoomed, I cannot).

[Montecuccoli]

Just tried a snow battle now, 4 Corps Vs 4 Corps; me French Vs AI russian-coalition.

I put my elite corp in reserve leaving Polish (poniatowsky) and Bavarians (the son of Josephine) defending a large hill, options custom (semi grognards level)....

Beautiful experience just watching my Elite Corp spending too much time making concentration movement and losing time... but seeing Bavarians and Polish defend the hill, losing ground but causing many casualties.

I had just the feeling to give medals to those Poles and Bavarians... GREAT GAME!!