Moonslayer

Cheers, Dave, and you are quite right, of course; there are many vets still around and most are suffering still. I was referring to WWII vets specifically as one of the two last ones I know personally died recently... only my Grandfather is left now (he was a tail gunner in a Wellington). As for band of brothers I will look out for it on the movie channels (Wouldn't want Normal Dude to quit making mods!).

Never heard of the programme or the guy... but there are precious few veterans left these days so to lose one is sad indeed.

I gave the streets negative terrain modifiers to represent the lack of cover. I also reasoned that while the builings may give some cover to the occupants, the heat-ray would not be stopped by much. In retrospect I could provide more cover from air attack in buildings... this would offset the martian advantage a little.

Many thanks. From what I hear the next patch may help out the AI... maybe even give the computer a chance to win

@Night I think the modifications I am making to the human forces (and slight alterations to the aliens ;p) will reduce this problem a little. Should go up onto cmmods this weekend. Many thanks for the feedback.

I love strategy games but cannot stand chess... that's because it's not strategy imho... it's a memory game (which I hate). Similarly I don't look at the scripts for sc2, I learn by playing not by memorising the scripts. One of the main reasons I am not a fan of playing this game pvp is because I don't want to get a butt whooping because I hadn't memorised all the scripts. That's just dull imho. More randomness is good in my view... the more random the better. War is random and so should games be. The better strategist should have an advantage because they can foresee the consequences of certain random fluctuations but at the end of the day anyone should be able to beat anyone else on the day. As it stands I would not have a chance against certain people (Read: just about anyone on these boards) because I refuse to play the memory game.

Great stuff! Can't wait to see the 'even better' sprites!

Wow, Terif, superb feedback thanks! I had totally overlooked the swamp modifier to combat when I used them as road terrain... poor judgement from me. I may try and change this in the next version. The martians should garrison the objectives as it has been scripted and in all the testing I have done they do garrison. I may have to relook at the scripts to see if I have messed them up somehow. Thanks for the heads up on this. I have decided that I will be adding two further regiments (ie 12 units) to the basic human AI and pvp with an extra regiment per difficulty level (ie 36 extra units at highest difficulty setting). This should help and follows your opinion (for which I have the highest regard). This kind of feedback is just what I need and far more than I could have hoped for... many thanks. @Hubert Many thanks for the kind words... If my mod is any good then it is only because you have created such a fine engine to work with. Now while I have your attention there are a few ideas I would like you to consider... Hubert? Where did he go? Edit: I have found an error in all the Martian garrison scripts... no idea how that got past the proofreader... I'll sack mysel... er... him tomorrow. Apologies to all. I will do a quick update at the weekend to fix this and add in the extra units for the poor ol' humies. If I get time I will have a go at lowering the colour intensity too [ April 18, 2007, 03:50 PM: Message edited by: Moonslayer ]

Sorry about the login requests folks... I didn't realise that linking to the cmmods pic would cause that. I will replace the cmmods pic at a later date but for now it is gone. @FerrisB No idea what could be causing that problem... maybe a cmmods problem? It is hosted there. @Terif Many thanks for the feedback... glad you liked it. The AI is always going to be beatable, I agree. I am surprised even you managed to wipe out the land forces of the martians as they were pretty unbeatable for me and I thought I knew the mod backwards! I guess you are a cut above just about everyone else so I don't expect this to be a major problem The martians are supposed to be technologically superior to the humans so it should not be a fair fight. All the human player can do is slow down the advance sufficiently to make the martians run out of time. There was never any intention for the humans to be able to win militarily (Although it can be done on every level of difficulty except the highest in my experience). I was toying with the idea of giving the human AI more units on higher difficulty levels... I think I shall do that on the first patch. The martian ai gets twice the air units than the 'human' martian player does so I don't think they are a problem in pvp... however I am prepared to be talked round on this and any issue if players actually play it pvp and find the air units too overpowering. Edit: I have just played very aggressively (a la Terif?) as the Martians on highest difficulty and agree that it is a walk in the park with the game being won by 25th June... almost a week early. I will weaken the air units and lower their range as you suggest. I think an extra regiment for the human AI for every difficulty level would be a good plan too. [ April 17, 2007, 01:50 PM: Message edited by: Moonslayer ]

Thanks for the feedback (thus far). The graphics are meant to be a little similar as this is a city it takes place in and there are limited slots to use up. However there are a few spare graphics slots that could be utilised for extra buildings graphics... I will look into this for the first patch. Another criticism of my choice of colours eh? I am seeing the pattern and will change this in the first patch

Cheers for the feedback... always welcomed. Yes I pinched some sounds from waterloo... I should give you some credit in the readme (I honestly meant to but forgot when I wrote it). I will ensure this is done for the first update. Heat rays are devastating once your units are in good supply and you are using the best tripods. One hit is often sufficient to wipe out a unit. I did increase their effect just before releasing it as they were a little weak. The problem is that you need to give the humans a little chance of holding back the invaders to make a game of it I wanted to include the Thunderchild for obvious reasons but didn't want to give the humans too many tripod-busting units. I guess more could be given to the human AI on harder difficulty settings though. I wanted to give the game a bright sci-fi style appearance so the colours are meant to be bright. I suppose toning them down for the first patch wouldn't hurt too much Glad you like it... I wanted to showcase what the editor could do and feel that it sends a message of just how customisable the game can be.

Hey thanks man... glad to see that despite your situation you still have time to post a supportive message to me on here. I just hope that the game meets with your approval more than any other. Cheers for being my motivation on this one.

Yeah... there are one or two new bits in there

No one would have believed in the last four months or so of the twenty-first century that this mod was being written keenly and slowly by intelligences greater than a cactus and yet as interesting as one too; that as Hubert busied himself about his various projects he was scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as Normal Dude with a bitmap might scrutinise the transient shadows that swarm and multiply in a jpeg image. With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire in SC2. It is possible that the players of Hearts of Iron do the same. No one gave a thought to the older members of this forum as sources of SC2 mods, or thought of them only to dismiss the idea of creativity from them as impossible or improbable. It is curious to recall some of the mental habits of those departed days. At most terrestrial men fancied there might be other men upon the boards, perhaps inferior to themselves and ready to welcome a missionary enterprise. Yet across the gulf of cyber-space, minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this game with envious eyes, and slowly and surely crafted their mods for us. *Cue music* Yep, it's here. Had enough of beating up poor old Fascists? Now it is time to beat up on the non-humans. Want to defend Earth from technologically superior enemy? Or do you just fancy beating up on poor ol' peeps? You decide. This mod has taken over four months of my life to create so please download it and give me me your thoughts. I haven't tried it pvp yet so I am particularly interested in hearing how these go. There is a fairly extensive readme included with the files so please read that for extra background. I hope you all enjoy this one... I certainly have enjoyed creating it. [ April 17, 2007, 02:01 PM: Message edited by: Moonslayer ]

That one is easy Kuniworth I keep a bank of single coloured wavy flags which I created from cobbling together bits of the original flags (that was the hard bit as I had to fill in for some missing bits). Now I simply cut chunks out of the single coloured flags and put them together like a patchwork quilt when I want a totally new flag. Fairly swift and paint-shop is my friend

I am certain your English is far better than my French However, if you want a native English speaker to help proof read your translations then I would be happy to help... as, I am sure, would many others on here

Here they are! I have included the mirrored flags as simply reversing these causes the old 'white background' problem... these will solve that . [ April 15, 2007, 07:12 AM: Message edited by: Moonslayer ]

Heh, no criticism was meant, buddy. Your mod is really good and I am sure that when I get time I will create wavy flags to replace the ones in your mod...shouldn't take too long, actually I would really love an English version so I can fully understand all the pop-ups (of which there are many). The game is not spoilt by being in French at all (quite novel really) but I think it would add to the atmosphere even more if there was an English version. I shall get back to beating up the Serbs later on for sure

Looks like I have solved most of my script problems and will be putting this on CMMODS tomorrow with all being well. I will have to await feedback before fine tuning the pvp side of things as noone has volunteered to help me If things get too much to put it on tomorrow I will try to get it up before next weekend. It is, however, likely to be a large download as pretty much everything that could be altered has been altered and my compression software is not the best.

I downloaded this and am currently up to September 1915. The French have surrendered, as have the Russians... those pesky Serbs just won't quit yet! First impressions: 1) Hated the unit icons... too used to 3D ones now 2) Hated the small resource graphics 3) Hated the lack of wavy flags. 4) Loved the WWI scenario idea. However, after having played for a year (of game time, obviously ) I quite like the small resource graphics now... they add a sense of size perspective which makes the map appear much larger than it actually is. The unit icons have grown on me as well; they seemed clumsy at first but after you get used to them they are functional and elegant. The only thing left I don't like is the lack of wavy flags... just seems 'wrong' but I suppose they may grow on me after a while too. Repairing a damaged battleship was a nasty shock too! So far I really like this mod and will definitely play it through to it's conclusion.

Looks really nice. Will look forward to playing this one too.

When opening the edit box there should be an asterisk next to the 'surrender' scripts. Highlight 'surrender' and click 'update' to get more information on the problem. Failing this simply substitute your existing 'surrender' scripts with a blank script and try to move the map again... the problem with this is that you will have to re-write the surrender script locations from scratch (more or less). I strongly recommend NOT doing the second option until you have made a back-up copy of the original files just in case it goes completely mammaries-up! (Read: Bitter, personal experience) Good luck!

Good luck with that I am off to visit grand parents tomorrow but will be back on the case on Friday I, too, hope you aren't the only one interested in this mod either... otherwise this could have been a massive waste of resources (not to mention a holiday ;P)

Another update: Graphics have been fine tuned and completed now Sounds have been tweaked and polished till they shine! Scripting is a real pain but seems to be making good progress. I finally got the Martian AI to beat me on the maximum setting... sadly it only managed to do it once when I purposely avoided a particularly good defensive tactic... we'll see how long it takes people to work it out for themselves ;P The Human AI is a different story. It refuses to follow the garrison scripts and insists on suicide attacks on the Martian cylinders... BIG mistake! I have scripted for Human counter-attacks but only when the time is right. This is the last hurdle to overcome before I can stick this mod on CMMODS. As noone has volunteered to playtest it with me I am having to do hotseat matches with the wife... sadly she is slightly less tactically gifted than my 6 month old son! Unfortunately he does not yet possess the motor functions to utilise the GUI IF anyone would like to try it out in a pvp matchup over this weekend then please drop a note in here or email me over the next day or two and I will send you the files.

@Dallas Leopard The flags don't necessarily come with the unit sprites. Minor countries use the flag_sprites file in the bitmaps folder. The major powers all have their flags already in place on the HQ units, however. Normal Dude is working on a replacement sprite package even as we speak. You can find the thread about that in the main SC2 forum. Terrain sprites are a different kettle of fish. As far as I am aware noone has produced a stand-alone terrain package yet... but many of the scenarios have their own custom terrain sprites which can easily be lifted from them and placed in your own mods. Try CMMODS for some ideas (link is in one of the sticky threads in this forum) Good luck!