Report Move Enhancement - reduce chat log spam

One somewhat continual frustration is the spamming of the chat log, when pieces are re-arranged in a single map location. These (almost?) never provide any value or meaningful information to the players.

Example - “Unit A moves from Novgorod to Novgorod”

I was very pleasantly surprised to find a module where this didn’t happen (Operation Battleaxe). The designer found a clever way to do it…

However, IMHO I think this is a sufficiently common use case (95+% of all modules), that it would be a highly useful feature enhancement.

Add a map level checkbox to inhibit move reporting & move flag when movement does NOT change the actual map/zone id.

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Yeah you can design a module to work this way by having the move reporting logic on the units rather than using the “autoreporting” feature which is spammy – I’ve done it in Paths of Glory, Almoravid, All Bridges Burning, FtP. You just have the units respond to the apply-on-move key from the map and give it a conditional of { LocationName != OldLocationName }. Or if you’re using mats then a slightly more complicated one like { ((LocationName != OldLocationName) || (CurrentMat != OldMat)) && ((CurrentMat != OldMat) || (CurrentMat == "")) }

It’s plausible that the built-in autoreporting could be improved to be less spammy though.

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Hi Brian -

I looked at how the module “Operation Battleaxe” did it… It’s certainly possible for me to retrofit this (or other means)…

However, it involves bypassing the standard “Mark When Moved” functionality (i.e., set to NEVER) and implementing a work around.

I think it would be worth implementing a standard way to easily do this, without having to resort to workarounds (and bypassing a standard Vassal capability).

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Note that it’s not just spamming the chat log, but also having the move flag set for trivial adjustment moves that don’t impact play.

Add an additional option to the current Map Level Property “Mark pieces that move (if they possess the proper trait)”:
Always
Never
User Preference
NEW - Only when Map/Board/Zone ID (i.e., location) changes

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