But my absolute favorite is the idea of MP only implementation of minefields. I hope you won't take it against me if I allow myself a bit of thinking-out-loud on this subject
Mine laying could then be added to the list of possible WP actions for a unit, and for simplicity it should be constrained to having 4 such waypoints. MP would then attempt to close such a polygon and create a minefield in it. If the unit is planned for minelaying, the movement between the 4 minelaying points should be limited to a very low speed, so that a unit can't create a minefield in one turn which would be too big. Rather, it would have to finish the minefield within a turn, and if need be do the same in the next turn, on an adjacent peace of land (or sea).
When a plotted path of a unit would intersect with a minefield, as was mentioned before, the path would be truncated, and after the mission analysis, there would be an indication for the planner that the unit encountered a minefield. Then we could have two options: either call in the engineers to that location and when they arrive, assign "mine clearing" action for the next turn. Otherwise, you could order the same unit to move forward, on the previously planned path, in which case it might incur small random losses and the new path would again be truncated to the point of projected exit from the minefield. This would ensure that the said unit looses another turn trying to traverse the minefield with infantry poking bayonets in the ground ahead of tanks, which of course is time consuming. During this turn one could even turn off the ammunition to this unit, so it is not able to defend itself or attack anyone in range (can you fight from the middle of a minefield?). A successful action like this would render the minefield useless to the owning side, since the enemy has found and marked a safe path through it... therefore I suppose it should disappear from the MP for both sides.
As Warg pointed out, the biggest problem with this would be to place these minefields before the campaign. So how about we assign any small object already existing in FMB, and which is not used by the MP, as the corner point of a minefield (let's limit the minefield shape to a rectangle)? So you could either plan a unit in MP to lay down a minefield, after which it would generate this particular object on the map, which would serve as the anchor for the field, or in the campaign template you manually insert 4 of these objects on the map at the desired place to create a pre-layed minefield.
At this point I am wondering how can the MP know which 4 markers are supposed to be connected to make a minefield, when you can have many of these on the map because you want to create multiple minefields. I'll check in the FMB but you guys might already know an answer to this? Is there any automatic naming of objects in FMB? For example if you have 10 small fires, they must be distinguished from each other in some way? Probably by automatic naming by the order of creation?
As for aerial minelaying... Exactly the same mechanism as for recon. Smoke and then a log of coordinates. In the next turn MP logs this place and projects a radius around it. Here I am referring only to maritime operations. If a ship of any kind crosses paths with this circle, its path gets truncated and a simple algorithm with a small random factor calculates a damage. In game, the ship will reach the point of impact and stay stationary. The damage taken by the mine and the damage taken in game are added during mission analysis and the outcome is then recorded for the next turn. Problem with this is that if the planner planes a column of ships, they will all crash into the one that abruptly stops during in-game phase. Solution?
Cheers!
