So far been playing this semi-regularly and I do have a couple of suggestions to make, particularly in the squad management area.
1) For unequipped squads, IE Squads currently not in the match/battle slots that are equipped, should be stripped of all soldiers.
The reasoning behind this is that having a squad which has been unequipped results in massive amount of waste in and UI clutter of non-used soldiers. As you are not allowed to have “empty” squads, you are required either to fill squads you don’t use with cannon-fodder troopers, or fill in with maxed out solders. In the first case of cannon-fodder troopers, it results in waste of men that you could be using in battle to grind them up in the academy. In the second case of filling in maxed out soldiers, that’s generally just wasteful, even if presuming you have your highest tier soldiers on your main squads. In either case the best way to allow for free usage is to have squads that have been unequipped, be stripped of soldiers, and have said soldiers be sent to the reserve pool.
2) For the reserve list add an default organization feature sorting between each class, and within each class highest to lowest star rank.
Simply put, Organize the reserve by Class A from Highest star to lowest Star, then after Class A soldiers are listed Class B is next, so on so forth. I understand that you can organize it yourself by clicking-&-dragging soldiers in order but it would be more useful just for a more user friendly UI.
3) (This is pulled from my last suggestion post for clarification) Remove from view class soldiers that cannot be equipped in the current squad from the reserve list.
This is another UI optimization/user interface suggestion, Do I really need to see all the drivers in the reserve list when editing the Radio Regiment/49th INF Regiment? Or flamethrower soldiers? This can also be extended further by only showing soldiers in reserve that corresponds to unlocked class types for each squad.
4) (This is pulled from my last suggestion post for clarification) Remove from view weapons that cannot be equipped by the current class of soldier.
Another UI optimization/user interface suggestion, Again there is no need to clutter the UI by including in the weapons tab weapons that are listed as “Not available for X class”. This wastes space and can be misleading for newer players who are still trying to figure out what does what. No reason for say a Radio operator having the entirety of the guns in the game be listed, even though he can’t use a good 4/5th of the list.
This is currently all I have for tonight, I am planning on compiling what I believe might be a better alternative to the current inventory system as listed in my previous post : Concerns & Suggestions on day 1 play test [EN]
Tldr summary of this suggestion : Inventory of a soldier should be 1 Main weapon, 1 Side arm, 1 Melee weapon, 1 Backpack slot.
Backpack slot should determine how much inventory space one can have depending on the backpack, more inventory slot backpacks mean heavier soldier. For specialist classes like radiomen, flamethrowers, engineers, this slot is taken up already by specialist equipment (radio, gas tank, engineer kit). 1 Inventory slot is the base without backpack, up to 5 inventory slots with backpack. Means that Flamethrowers radiomen, engineers can’t be as well equipped as say Troopers or Assaulters and requires more strategic squad compositions + requires thought into weight and speed.
1 Main weapon prevents builds such as PPD + Mosin combos which are too versatile making classes indistinguishable. Also forces player to diversify squad for different scenarios, use different soldiers in different scenarios, and choose what weapon to pick up and drop when you run out of ammo. If this change is implemented the fact that player cannot use say two different main weapons now is offset by the natural increase of higher importance that equipping a side arm has, and brings this class of weapon more relevant rather than being a third weapon to use if you live long enough to run out of ammo for two primary firearms in the current version of the game
Melee weapon slot should be built upon with different weapons, having nothing in this slot means you use buttstock of rifle, low damage medium range, different melee weapons have different weights (and thus slow or speed you up) different attack ranges (knife is short, shovel medium, ax long etc.) different attack speeds (knife quick, shovel slow) and different damages.