I'm loving the changes in 1.13 for ground formations, some of the juiciest bits in what's going to be an especially heavy-hitting Aurora update. In fact, they are so juicy as to give me hope that a few other issues might be considered sooner rather than later.
1. As of fairly recently, ground commanders didn't apply any bonuses to any subordinate formations. [ed: to make it clear, this is not a bug report, merely one of an unimplemented feature] So there's never been much point - aside from role-play - to building a 250k HQ, whether the research cost be 5k or 1.5k, because such a large HQ provides only (expensive) automatic supply distribution and mouse-click reduction. More than anything else, I hope that 1.13 lets us field ground formation hierarchies that actually provide bonuses.
2. Large HQs continue to be extremely expensive to build. Even when fully hierarchical commander bonuses are implemented, we'll still face the problem that, in order to actually field a formation hierarchy, we have to pay for HQs at every level of command, and we still have to up-armor or duplicate HQs, at every level, in order to avoid losing commanders in battle. Once bonuses from superior commanders are implemented, we will also have to avoid breaking the chain of command at any level and thus lose those bonuses. This gets pricey, fast. So, request to either make HQs (especially large ones) a lot less expensive to build, or make them much less like to be targeted and destroyed in battle, or both.
A more radical suggestion would be to remove the HQ type altogether and have the assigned officer, plus (in higher-level formations) a number of generic officers taken from the national pool to serve as staff, provide both the command span and the command bonuses. If the formation type is too small to be commanded by an officer of the lowest rank modeled by the game (by default, a major), and an officer has not been directly assigned anyway, then the simplest thing to do is to just check to see if that formation is in a hierarchy, find the lowest-ranking officer in direct line of command, and apply that officer's full bonuses, treating that officer as though they were also in direct command of each subordinate formation.
This would - finally - get players what many of us keep trying to do: include formations below the size commanded by a major - squads, platoons, and companies - and do so without gimping their battle effectiveness.
3. Aurora 1.13 is going to make some great game balance changes, and so perhaps a few more might be added to those considered:
3a. Several players have requested that heavy weapons get better at targeting suitable opponents. I heartily second these requests for both logical and game balance reasons.
3b. Heavy A isn't only more flexible than light AA, it is also considerably more cost-effective. It kills more fighters per unit cost and unit size. I propose that it should instead be somewhat less cost-effective, and light AA be especially cost-effective for defending a particular formation from air attack.
3c. Infantry armor is a really good buy at present (assuming armor tech is at least equal to the opposition's weapon tech). Consider increasing the cost a little bit, or applying a small disadvantage.
4. Turning to quality of life issues, I'm very glad that managing large numbers of similar formations (of a given template) is to get easier in 1.13. Another change I'd love to see is the ability to set a default field position for each formation template.
5. Finally, turning to the "gotchas" that the current ground formation system sets up for unwary players, I'll make a plea to consider these:
5a. Artillery only fires if the formation it is in is set to support another formation [I think this is still true - apologies if not]. Artillery should fire in any case, or at least it should be clearly indicated that, unless the player does something, it will not fire.
5b. The "Avoid Combat" checkbox is always waiting to trip you up. Do not apply it to AA or artillery; they will both hit in all forms of combat much less often. Request: please remove the "Avoid Combat checkbox and always apply it to, and only to, the appropriate unit types.
5c. Morale bonuses disappear on the next build phase if the formation's commander lacks sufficient Training bonuses. This plays very poorly with automated assignments! Request: please either change the name of this bonus, or have unit morale decrease far more slowly. If the second option is decided on, then I would recommend reducing the power of this bonus by roughly half, because at present it is - as long as the commanding officer is not replaced - considerably more powerful than either Offense or Defence (as it affects both chance to hit and chance to be hit).
Many thanks, Steve, for your continuous improvement of your masterwork. With every version of Aurora 4X and Aurora C#, your ability to recreate Warhammer 40K and other cosmos has becomes more and more impressive, and I've been glad to ride along!