So, OK! It looks like we've got only two choices here for the moment. Either we play with the ON MAP RESULTS option "ON," and put up with those battle replays being too fast, or we play with the ON MAP RESULTS option "OFF," and deal with all the tedious clicking of pop-up windows! Let's consider this thing a little more closely.
First, all that clicking of the pop-up windows... If you're watching the normal replay from an opponent in a major battle turn wherein he's commanding soemthing like five to eight divisions, all on the move, and battling like crazy, you're going to be clicking for a long, long time!<b> <font color="yellow">("General, there's an enemy cavalry brigade coming up on our right, rear flank!" "Don't bother me now, son, I'm clicking!")</font id="yellow"></b> Its a long, aching road to carpal tunnel syndrome!
Thus, the ON MAPS RESULTS option...!
I agree, here, that the on-board replays give us a heck of a lot <i>more</i> battlefield information in a more <i>timely</i> manner than most real Civil War commanders received! For instance, you receive intelligence from the "God Perspective:" that is, you can see the entire map, no matter its size, and simultaneously receive intel from areas more than 6 or 7 miles apart, all in 20 minutes of game time, no matter where you, the commander, happen to actually be on that battlefield! Even under the best of field conditions, it is hard to imagine a dispatch rider zooming from the far end of the field in that length of time to bring the intel that you could not in actuality see by virtue of the <i>commander's</i> line of sight! So putting aside arguments concerning field telegraphs, flag systems and mirror signals, it seems true that we receive much more information much more consistently than an actual Civil War commander. <b> <font color="yellow">("Captain, have all of these notes and dispatches shown to my staff, and then have them correlate everything perfectly for my benefit in the next 15 seconds!")</font id="yellow"></b>
But on the other hand there are also situations with this system that do not nearly parallel the real world battlefield conditions, simply because the intel comes way too fast! For instance, a multiple melee assault delivered against a portion of your main defensive line sustained within a 20 minute time period would of necessity be an event that, you would think, would give the commander, especially if he were within line of sight of the action, plenty of opportunity to observe! But the game zips this info by so fast that you (me, at least!) can only form some vague imprint of what actually occurred.<b> <font color="yellow">("What's that you say, Lieutenant? Did someone just kill me?)</font id="yellow"></b>
Do I sound like a complainer here? Probably yes and no at the same time! And in just a few seconds I'm going to be sounding like a blasphemer! I couldn't be using this forum for discussion if the games were inadequate or unenjoyable, because if that were the case, the forum simply wouldn't exist! But what I am doing is exploring the possibility of incorporating some kind of option or control which would at least allow an additional repeat of the replay if desired. If you accept the premise of the "God Perspective," then there should be no problem with having God running back the replay as many times as he would wish, or slowing it down to his satisfaction! If you're against the "God Perspective," then you should have no problem in supporting some attempt at limiting all battlefield intel to that which only lies within your (the commander's) actual line of sight.
Leaving everything just as it is has some merit for consideration too! I suppose one could make an argument for the one-time, speedo replay as an intentional fuzzy re-inforcement of the Fog-of-War option. Since things happen so fast that you can't really get a good solid count on the actual number of enemy units passing over the top of that hill or that you really can't understand how that lightning assault busted through your carefully crafted defenses, you will be justly exposed to the uncertainty and confusions of a Civil War battlefield! <i><font color="yellow">("MAMA!")</font id="yellow"></i>
So all in all, which would be the easiest, most equitable fix. Leave it all just as it is, provide a repeat option or speed control for the replay, or install limiters for the actual intel available? Or am I just a clutz for bringing all of this up?
Lt.-Col. Jos. C. Meyer,
4th Brg'd, Cav. Div., 14th Corps, Army of the Cumberland
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