Other Means

Given infinite cash, no. But why not save some and put it towards extra RAM?

Positive:

AIUI, no game works with Quad core, in fact very few applications do. It will make a difference in creating video or some specialised applications but nothing more than that.

Since ~1.03 SF has been multi-core.

I'd like the ability to switch between RT and WEGO, with a save game maybe. I've been playing RT games and released it was getting away from me so I wanted to drop down to WEGO, or play a WEGO game and RT through a boring bit - any chance?

Bless you - my PC blew up and I'm confined to the laptop.

Kippers with a poached egg, single cream and hot sauce - lovely. Not for slapping though.

Mate, use the full reply form and the URL button, you're breaking my browser.

Does it work in operations? There's a large exploit there - if you don't use it then you keep it for next time.

Bumping this for sub-action spots.

Here you go.

Sub action spots!? So now we have 3 tiers of LOS/LOF checking? </font> Action spots that initiate sub-spot checking</font>Sub spots that initiate LOF checking</font>Point to point LOF checking</font> Wow. Just, WOW. I thought that was impossible with current hardware.

So there are only two kinds of contacts(entirety LOS or no LOS) between two Action Spots, right? Are there other kinds of contacts between two Action Spots? For example, two Action Spots have partial LOS between each other, etc. Regard! popllt </font>

I'd like to be able to see my PBEM games and have a password entered on the menu screen rather than typing it in each time. Does that make me the laziest man on Earth?

It's the best game ever. It's hard to get into, it took me a few tries but I kept coming back because there was something...something...and then it clicked and 5 years later and I'm still playing it. I'd say it's ideal for casual gaming because it comes alive when you play other people, and that's over email and the turns are a minute long, so you're firing it up, playing a turn for 10 minutes and then either stop or play other turns. So it scales as much as you want. Of course, you may be thinking /about/ the turns all day

You mean, if a soldier has possible LOS but no LOF, due to concealment? Still a good question One thing I'd like to see is ballistic weapon LOF modelled, so e.g. mortars or grenades could be called in on a spot with no LOS, but with LOF. But I reckon that'll be WWII before we could see it.

Impertinency?

I think of it like this, there is a 2D array specified that is the map: A1 B1 C1 D1 E1 F1 A2 B2 C2 D2 E2 F2 A3 B3 C3 D3 E3 F3 A4 B4 C4 D4 E4 F4 A5 B5 C5 D5 E5 F5 A6 B6 C6 D6 E6 F6 A7 B7 C7 D7 E7 F7 A8 B8 C8 D8 E8 F8 A9 B9 C9 D9 E9 F9 Each element in the map array has values assigned to it that specifies what action spots can be seen from that position: e.g. A1 LOS = B1, C1, D1, E1, F1, A2, B2, C2, D2, E2, F2...etc Therefore if a unit is in action spot A1, he can theoretically see all the units in the action spots specified in his array. Therefore the unit in A1 checks it's array and for an occupied action spot. If one is occupied it starts the LOF calulation, which I think are a lot more granular and include spotting rules etc. So to a great extent the LOS table and underlying "grid" really doesn't matter, it's a shortcut, nothing else. It's a way to stop each individual unit trying to check every single pixel that doesn't have a unit in; they only check LOF when there's a unit in an action spot it could possibly see. In popllt's example the LOS array for each point would include the other point, so a unit in each point would check LOF. If they were in the shaded area the LOF code would return "blocked LOF" and so they wouldn't fire on each other. I reckon.

popllt, the LOS check is a short cut to the LOF check. It's to stop having to check whether every point on the map can see the current position, as this has to be done a lot. So the LOS check in your example triggers the finer LOF check, which would see that they couldn't fire on each other.

I was an information architect in a former life, and designed procedural websites and UI's, so it's not a million miles away from this. I would say the absolute underlying requirement for interfaces is consistency. Using any kind of interface is 90% muscle memory, so you automatically move the mouse or select a key without any concious effort. I'd say the 3*3 grid violated this straight off, and didn't give much feedback of what state was selected. So you'd expect a certain click to give you a retreat order, and you'd end up bailing out or sumfink. Fortunately, the hotkeys brought this consistency back and made the game easy to play again. But still, de gustibus and all that.

At a guess I'd say the LOS calculations are probably done independent of concealment, then the LOF calcs take it into account with a randomiser for accuracy - at least that's one method that *cough* would work. The HE effect meaning a unit can fire "in the vicinity" is a good question - I don't see any reason other than TacAI why it couldn't happen, I'd be interested to see if it does. I guess behind both of these questions is; is the TacAI clever enough to take into account the fact it can hurt without direct LOS but with LOF. Good questions all.

c3k - cool, let me know how you get on. Steve - I'd suggest </font> Crtl Click on the map should always have the clicked point in view, regardless of the height of the camera above the map.</font>Same for tab to unit. Above height 4 you can't see the unit.</font>Increasing speed of pan and movement of camera with proximity to screen edge</font> I just wish I were more persuasive...

I've updated my hotkeys file on the server to my current one, it's just slimmed down to what I use, i.e. the hotkeys.

Umm. Clicking a unit is easier than lassoing a unit, and is a single step process - a click, rather than lassoing which is "set top left point, drag to bottom right point" so 2 step. Apart from that - I get the gist of what you're saying but since re-configuring the hotkeys the command interface has disappeared for me - which is a good thing. I question a lot of the other choices, like 1 AT missile per slot rather than a simple counter, the way ammo is shown etc, but the actual command process is now very slick to me. In fact playing CM1 came as a shock, I kept right clicking everywhere. Try the hotkeys, it really, really helps.

Hold the shift key and lasso your units - what's wrong with that? If you like you can use my hotkeys file: Hotkeys I don't use the camera keys, I just use the mouse, but everything else is, to me, sensible. I've actually moved on from this and will edit this post when I'm not in work, but it's a start: e.g. <E>F // move fast <E>Q // move quick <E>M // move normal <E>S // move slow <E>H // move hunt <E>A // move assault <E>R // move reverse <E>B // blast <E>N // mark mines <E>T // target <E>Y // target light <E>C // target arc <E> // NOT CURRENTLY USED... Do not assign a key to this function! It will eventually be the hotkey for Clear Target, but not yet properly activated <E>O // face <E>I // deploy <E>P // pause <E>U // hide <E>/ // dismount <E>B // bail out <E>- // vehicle open up <E>* // pop smoke <E>G // acquire <E>D // divide teams <E>a // assault team <E>t // antitank team