American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

If you're a confirmed turn-based player of the HPS series and have been playing in that mode for any appreciable length of time, then you've probably long since become used to conducting your melees before ending your turn. But if you're not so adept at Turn-based play and have been playing in the Phase-based mode, then you may have experienced that exasperating and sometimes crucial mistake of not conducting your melees before hitting that "Next Turn" button!

Do you think that HPS might improve the issue by adding a reminder to the Turn-based play that would appear the first time you activated the "Next Turn" button? Or do you think that anyone who's klutzy enough to not to understand the mode shouldn't be in there in the first place?

_________________
General Jos. C. Meyer, ACWGC
Union Army Chief of Staff
Commander, Army of the Shenandoah
Commander, Army of the Tennessee
(2011-2014 UA CoA/GinC)

The answer is YES to both questions

I almost wish there was a pop-up notice whenever you hit Next Phase button so you would never accidently hit that button (meaning to click on something else) without having the opportunity to hit cancel and continue your turn.

Once you are in-game, there is a toggle under the "Settings" toolbar that does "ask before advancing" to the melee phase and the end of turn. Does that help?

_________________
Brigadier General Richard Simonitch
1st Brigade, 2nd Division
VI Corps, AoS

I have been playing since 1995 and I have never noticed that?!

What other magical settings have I been missing out on?! Where's the one that shows all of your enemies forces?

Haven't found the "Easter Egg" key command for reducing all Yankee fire, melee, and morale ratings by 20% because they are craven cowards?

_________________
General Kennon Whitehead
Chatham Grays
AoT II/1/3 (CSA)

Yes, there is a "Ask Before Advancing" toggle within the "Settings" tollbar that will flash the same message each time the "Next Turn" button is activated, no matter the game mode. That message states: "OK to advance to next turn/phase?"

For an experienced Turn-based player, this is of no consequence, unless he be daydreaming. But for the Phase-based player playing an infrequent Turn-based game, it is still ambiguously deceptive! If he has the option normally toggled as part of his regular setup, he would have seen this same message in all of his normally played Phase-based games, and would ordinarily respond by clicking the "OK" button, thinking that he was going to see his "Melee Phase" notification window. For such a player the message ought to say the following:

"Stop, you idiot! Have you conducted your melees? This is a default Turn-based game!"

You must understand that most Phase-based players, like myself, are incorrigibly simplistic individuals who take things one step at a time! It was something of a mircale for them to even make the distinction that there are two modes of play! God did not grant them the capability of swerving off the known path of life! They cannot correctly perform any functions unless they follow a strict front-to-back or first-to-last format. "Move-Shoot-Melee" is their mantra, their creed, their reason for playing! Their pea brains are incapable of grasping all of the crazy, simultaneous evolutions of a completely wide-open Turn-based mode. They would never have survived on a real American Civil War battlefield, or any other battlefield for that matter! A few of them, again including myself, took the plunge into Turn-based play when HPS offered the OPTIONAL MELEE RESOLUTION, which is the saving grace for such individuals! In point of fact, no Phase-based afficionado should ever play a Turn-based game unless he has that particular option activated! Without it he runs the risk of becoming a victim to his own ignorance. (I suspect that no few club members who regard themselves as Turn-based masters ever play without that option, too!)

Alas, the only good thing about being ignorant is that you can eventually become educated! But who of us here really wish to admit their ignorance about anything or allow a flawed move to stand? I'd like to think that most of us would!

_________________
General Jos. C. Meyer, ACWGC
Union Army Chief of Staff
Commander, Army of the Shenandoah
Commander, Army of the Tennessee
(2011-2014 UA CoA/GinC)

[quote=Alas, the only good thing about being ignorant is that you can eventually become educated! But who of us here really wish to admit their ignorance about anything or allow a flawed move to stand? I'd like to think that most of us would![/quote]

Gen. Meyer, I stand firmly in the camp of those who will admit my ignorance (with a heavy dose of stupidity) and can't count the times I wish I had a "Do Over" button. The "ignosecond" is that fraction of a second AFTER I hit the Next Turn button that I realize I didn't fire, much less melee.

But I can admit it. It's good to be able to laugh at yourself sometimes.

But sometimes I come close to a meltdown.

Deano

_________________
Lt. General David Martin
First Brigade, First Division, First Corps, Army of the Potomac

Ah, yes! The "ignosecond!" We seem to have more of those both when we are very young and when within our sunset years!

_________________
General Jos. C. Meyer, ACWGC
Union Army Chief of Staff
Commander, Army of the Shenandoah
Commander, Army of the Tennessee
(2011-2014 UA CoA/GinC)