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Macisle

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  1. Like
    Macisle got a reaction from PEB14 in More centralised AI-groups for better game play   
    That's not my experience. I've done a lot of testing with arty strikes on my urban map. The safest place to be during arty is hidden on the bottom floor. And, the safest, safest place to be is on the bottom floor of a tall building with connected sections surrounding yours so you have a shield of solid walls between you and any landing shells. Of course, if the occupied section collapses, your team is dead.  Also, I haven't tested with the new patches, but as of current CMRT, arty very often drives AI troops down to the ground level anyway. So, the designer is back to needing a way to get the AI back up to the upper levels without a clusterfrack of AI keystone coppers caused by having too few groups. A human can do this easily. Without having enough groups, the AI can't. This means that, as things stand, the human player simply needs to hit an urban area with arty to permanently flush the AI from higher building positions for the duration of a scenario. That puts the AI at a huge disadvantage when it doesn't have to be and kinda kills the point of having all those tall buildings...
    Exactly. Steve has said that the vast majority of CM is played in SP mode.  So, most players are playing against the AI most of the time. Therefore, it is self-evident that maximizing the SP experience should be a top priority. Having a better, more human-like AI would absolutely enhance the SP experience. However, Steve has also said that AI programming is difficult and quickly produces diminishing returns. So, why not just chuck the "smarter AI" pipe dream and do what can be done now with the tools available now and git 'er done? Just need more groups (32 is just a minimum. Unlimited would be nice 🙂).
    Of course, the SP experience would also be enhanced by many other things like a better AI arty plan system, better AI area fire (optional fire rates), triggered reinforcements, point-neutral exits, objective unlocks and on and on.  And, adding tools for faster map production would yield more maps --which would be great. However, as pointed out, you're still fighting the same AI. The AI is at the core of the experience.
    At this point, nothing would make the AI more human-like than designers being able to apply their creativity fully by not having to worry about conserving group slots. And, unless there is some code issue making it prohibitive, adding the functionality should be straightforward and thus low-cost. Group limit unchained = better AI on the cheap = better SP experience = biggest boost to CM = big happy 😁.
     
  2. Upvote
    Macisle got a reaction from Aragorn2002 in Kharkov Map Sneak Peak   
    Another few adaptions of independent building textures to modular for more variety:

     

     

  3. Like
    Macisle got a reaction from TheFriendlyFelon in More centralised AI-groups for better game play   
    That's not my experience. I've done a lot of testing with arty strikes on my urban map. The safest place to be during arty is hidden on the bottom floor. And, the safest, safest place to be is on the bottom floor of a tall building with connected sections surrounding yours so you have a shield of solid walls between you and any landing shells. Of course, if the occupied section collapses, your team is dead.  Also, I haven't tested with the new patches, but as of current CMRT, arty very often drives AI troops down to the ground level anyway. So, the designer is back to needing a way to get the AI back up to the upper levels without a clusterfrack of AI keystone coppers caused by having too few groups. A human can do this easily. Without having enough groups, the AI can't. This means that, as things stand, the human player simply needs to hit an urban area with arty to permanently flush the AI from higher building positions for the duration of a scenario. That puts the AI at a huge disadvantage when it doesn't have to be and kinda kills the point of having all those tall buildings...
    Exactly. Steve has said that the vast majority of CM is played in SP mode.  So, most players are playing against the AI most of the time. Therefore, it is self-evident that maximizing the SP experience should be a top priority. Having a better, more human-like AI would absolutely enhance the SP experience. However, Steve has also said that AI programming is difficult and quickly produces diminishing returns. So, why not just chuck the "smarter AI" pipe dream and do what can be done now with the tools available now and git 'er done? Just need more groups (32 is just a minimum. Unlimited would be nice 🙂).
    Of course, the SP experience would also be enhanced by many other things like a better AI arty plan system, better AI area fire (optional fire rates), triggered reinforcements, point-neutral exits, objective unlocks and on and on.  And, adding tools for faster map production would yield more maps --which would be great. However, as pointed out, you're still fighting the same AI. The AI is at the core of the experience.
    At this point, nothing would make the AI more human-like than designers being able to apply their creativity fully by not having to worry about conserving group slots. And, unless there is some code issue making it prohibitive, adding the functionality should be straightforward and thus low-cost. Group limit unchained = better AI on the cheap = better SP experience = biggest boost to CM = big happy 😁.
     
  4. Like
    Macisle got a reaction from Commanderski in Kharkov Map Sneak Peak   
    Thanks!
    Yeah, actually that's a big part of the reason I decided to dive into this. Rather than have folks dealing with ports of varying degrees of time and success. Basically, what happened is suddenly, totally unexpectedly, I got complete WWII burnout. So, with the port issue in mind, I decided to do just enough of the map to test combat and see if I wanted to continue.  The result of the test was like, "Oh, yeah..gotta' make this happen."
    Despite the amount of work building from scratch, it felt less intimidating than dealing with the unknowns of porting and would allow me to get a feel for the extra tools in BS. So, I made an elevation overlay of composite screenshots from the RT map and matched all tile elevations across the whole master. Then, I set up a composite file to produce overlays to do the same thing for the general map work. I do a "row" of blocks across the map, a block at a time, filling up a row at a time. Then, I do screenshots from the RT map for the next row. As I go, I am checking Google Map and Street to look for improvement changes made possible by the extra features in BS and opportunity of doing again from scratch. That's mostly building heights and the addition of some flat rooftops. However, there are a couple of future areas that I did on the RT map before I decided to be so faithful to real Kharkiv. So, those might see big changes on the BS map as I make them conform more closely to the RL layout.
    One really nice thing is that the BS map is being made with finalized texture placeholders. So, I can update textures later without having to go back and rework building assignments. The RT map was done with a temporary number system and the textures are all scrambled now. So, I'm going to have to go back and reassign across the whole map. Ugh.
    I'm able to run RT and BS at the same time, so I flip screens back and forth between the 3D views in RT and BS, along with Google Street, to match building configurations to original and/or look for improvements. That also allow me to spot and fix any issues in the RT map, along with doing any spot improvements there as well.
    As for time estimates...
    For the BS map, I'm doing the most time-consuming blocks first. That's the northern part of the map. Those blocks take 1 to 4 hours of concentrated work each. In the row areas worked on to date, there are roughly 28 blocks. All but 3 of them are completed except for flavor objects. The last 3 are placed but I need to go through and format the buildings. They are beasts, though, and that's probably an 8-10 hour job to finish all of them. A very rough estimate of the total number of blocks on the map is 80.
    To be honest, I've long been kicking around asking for help on the textures to speed things up. That's not a strong area for me and is a kind of bottle neck. Also, I had originally considered doing some custom flavor objects (I know there are some interesting threads on that). However, I don't think I should spend any time on those myself.
    From the get-go, functionality has taken top position over everything else. Where visual presentation collides against game function, function wins. Luckily, I haven't really come up against any issues. In fact, I've been super-pleased with how well the Engine is handling the designs I'm throwing at it. Everything works at least as well as stock. My putting some kind of road path pretty much everywhere I possibly can may be part of that. The player just needs to be diligent with waypoint placement vis-a-vis which door entrance he wants and very careful to make sure his waypoint found the right column in a high-rise.
    Anyhoo, long post. I'll leave off here. Thanks again for your long-enduring interest and patience. Your enthusiasm for the project has certainly helped me get through those moments when I realized just how much I had bitten off to chew on! 🤪
  5. Like
    Macisle reacted to MikeyD in Professional.   
    Back-in-the-day a nerdy college friend told me how he once found himself sitting at a table with the publisher of Consumer Reports Magazine at some event. He proceeded to spend the entire time bending the poor guy's ear telling him EXACTLY what was wrong with the magazine and how EXACTLY to fix it. I'm sure the publisher guy reeeeeally appreciated all that valuable input from a random pimply 17 year old.
  6. Like
    Macisle reacted to Erwin in Professional.   
    +100
  7. Like
    Macisle reacted to A Canadian Cat - was IanL in Professional.   
    Thank goodness for that. I hate subscription software - except for things that are actually services (like file sharing, web hosting, email stuff that actually has running costs).
    I have dumped companies when they moved to subscription only. Having said that there would be no where for me to go if you guys decided to do that but I would *HATE* it if you did. ;D
  8. Like
    Macisle got a reaction from Phantom Captain in Unofficial Screenshots & Videos Thread   
    Forward we go once again.

     
    Through the mists, the mighty objective awaits our greatest efforts.

     
  9. Like
    Macisle got a reaction from Phantom Captain in Unofficial Screenshots & Videos Thread   
    Deadly duels and sweet revenge!

  10. Upvote
    Macisle got a reaction from zmoney in Unofficial Screenshots & Videos Thread   
    Forward we go once again.

     
    Through the mists, the mighty objective awaits our greatest efforts.

     
  11. Like
    Macisle got a reaction from Sgt.Squarehead in Unofficial Screenshots & Videos Thread   
    Forward we go once again.

     
    Through the mists, the mighty objective awaits our greatest efforts.

     
  12. Like
    Macisle got a reaction from Sgt.Squarehead in Kharkov Map Sneak Peak   
    Thanks!
    Yeah, actually that's a big part of the reason I decided to dive into this. Rather than have folks dealing with ports of varying degrees of time and success. Basically, what happened is suddenly, totally unexpectedly, I got complete WWII burnout. So, with the port issue in mind, I decided to do just enough of the map to test combat and see if I wanted to continue.  The result of the test was like, "Oh, yeah..gotta' make this happen."
    Despite the amount of work building from scratch, it felt less intimidating than dealing with the unknowns of porting and would allow me to get a feel for the extra tools in BS. So, I made an elevation overlay of composite screenshots from the RT map and matched all tile elevations across the whole master. Then, I set up a composite file to produce overlays to do the same thing for the general map work. I do a "row" of blocks across the map, a block at a time, filling up a row at a time. Then, I do screenshots from the RT map for the next row. As I go, I am checking Google Map and Street to look for improvement changes made possible by the extra features in BS and opportunity of doing again from scratch. That's mostly building heights and the addition of some flat rooftops. However, there are a couple of future areas that I did on the RT map before I decided to be so faithful to real Kharkiv. So, those might see big changes on the BS map as I make them conform more closely to the RL layout.
    One really nice thing is that the BS map is being made with finalized texture placeholders. So, I can update textures later without having to go back and rework building assignments. The RT map was done with a temporary number system and the textures are all scrambled now. So, I'm going to have to go back and reassign across the whole map. Ugh.
    I'm able to run RT and BS at the same time, so I flip screens back and forth between the 3D views in RT and BS, along with Google Street, to match building configurations to original and/or look for improvements. That also allow me to spot and fix any issues in the RT map, along with doing any spot improvements there as well.
    As for time estimates...
    For the BS map, I'm doing the most time-consuming blocks first. That's the northern part of the map. Those blocks take 1 to 4 hours of concentrated work each. In the row areas worked on to date, there are roughly 28 blocks. All but 3 of them are completed except for flavor objects. The last 3 are placed but I need to go through and format the buildings. They are beasts, though, and that's probably an 8-10 hour job to finish all of them. A very rough estimate of the total number of blocks on the map is 80.
    To be honest, I've long been kicking around asking for help on the textures to speed things up. That's not a strong area for me and is a kind of bottle neck. Also, I had originally considered doing some custom flavor objects (I know there are some interesting threads on that). However, I don't think I should spend any time on those myself.
    From the get-go, functionality has taken top position over everything else. Where visual presentation collides against game function, function wins. Luckily, I haven't really come up against any issues. In fact, I've been super-pleased with how well the Engine is handling the designs I'm throwing at it. Everything works at least as well as stock. My putting some kind of road path pretty much everywhere I possibly can may be part of that. The player just needs to be diligent with waypoint placement vis-a-vis which door entrance he wants and very careful to make sure his waypoint found the right column in a high-rise.
    Anyhoo, long post. I'll leave off here. Thanks again for your long-enduring interest and patience. Your enthusiasm for the project has certainly helped me get through those moments when I realized just how much I had bitten off to chew on! 🤪
  13. Like
    Macisle got a reaction from Artkin in Kharkov Map Sneak Peak   
    Thanks!
    Yeah, actually that's a big part of the reason I decided to dive into this. Rather than have folks dealing with ports of varying degrees of time and success. Basically, what happened is suddenly, totally unexpectedly, I got complete WWII burnout. So, with the port issue in mind, I decided to do just enough of the map to test combat and see if I wanted to continue.  The result of the test was like, "Oh, yeah..gotta' make this happen."
    Despite the amount of work building from scratch, it felt less intimidating than dealing with the unknowns of porting and would allow me to get a feel for the extra tools in BS. So, I made an elevation overlay of composite screenshots from the RT map and matched all tile elevations across the whole master. Then, I set up a composite file to produce overlays to do the same thing for the general map work. I do a "row" of blocks across the map, a block at a time, filling up a row at a time. Then, I do screenshots from the RT map for the next row. As I go, I am checking Google Map and Street to look for improvement changes made possible by the extra features in BS and opportunity of doing again from scratch. That's mostly building heights and the addition of some flat rooftops. However, there are a couple of future areas that I did on the RT map before I decided to be so faithful to real Kharkiv. So, those might see big changes on the BS map as I make them conform more closely to the RL layout.
    One really nice thing is that the BS map is being made with finalized texture placeholders. So, I can update textures later without having to go back and rework building assignments. The RT map was done with a temporary number system and the textures are all scrambled now. So, I'm going to have to go back and reassign across the whole map. Ugh.
    I'm able to run RT and BS at the same time, so I flip screens back and forth between the 3D views in RT and BS, along with Google Street, to match building configurations to original and/or look for improvements. That also allow me to spot and fix any issues in the RT map, along with doing any spot improvements there as well.
    As for time estimates...
    For the BS map, I'm doing the most time-consuming blocks first. That's the northern part of the map. Those blocks take 1 to 4 hours of concentrated work each. In the row areas worked on to date, there are roughly 28 blocks. All but 3 of them are completed except for flavor objects. The last 3 are placed but I need to go through and format the buildings. They are beasts, though, and that's probably an 8-10 hour job to finish all of them. A very rough estimate of the total number of blocks on the map is 80.
    To be honest, I've long been kicking around asking for help on the textures to speed things up. That's not a strong area for me and is a kind of bottle neck. Also, I had originally considered doing some custom flavor objects (I know there are some interesting threads on that). However, I don't think I should spend any time on those myself.
    From the get-go, functionality has taken top position over everything else. Where visual presentation collides against game function, function wins. Luckily, I haven't really come up against any issues. In fact, I've been super-pleased with how well the Engine is handling the designs I'm throwing at it. Everything works at least as well as stock. My putting some kind of road path pretty much everywhere I possibly can may be part of that. The player just needs to be diligent with waypoint placement vis-a-vis which door entrance he wants and very careful to make sure his waypoint found the right column in a high-rise.
    Anyhoo, long post. I'll leave off here. Thanks again for your long-enduring interest and patience. Your enthusiasm for the project has certainly helped me get through those moments when I realized just how much I had bitten off to chew on! 🤪
  14. Like
    Macisle got a reaction from Sgt.Squarehead in Kharkov Map Sneak Peak   
    Not yet, alas. But let me give everyone status. I have some minor bad news and some major good news.

    The bad news is that I'm not any further along with my work on the RT project than my last update. The good news is that I have been very active over the summer and the result is...

     

     
    For the Black Sea crowd, "Kharkiveskya" will be coming as "Kharkiv."  Boom!

     

     
    No ETA yet, though. Much work done, but much left to do. I'd expect the next upgrade to hit first. If the upgrade delivers major performance enhancements, that could change what I do with the campaigns. Both the RT and BS versions will be released at the same time.

    I'll let folks know when I'm ready for beta testers. For now, I can say that I've been doing some combat testing in QB form on parts of the new map that are finished (minus flavor objects). And, while I was very pleased with the WWII combat, I'm even happier with how the BS kit is feeling on the map (which is not a port, but a fresh build in the BS Editor).
    So, sincere apologies to those who have been waiting so long for this. It is going to happen. And I think yer gonna' like it! 😀
  15. Like
    Macisle got a reaction from benpark in Kharkov Map Sneak Peak   
    One more post and I'm back off to my cave. From today's combat testing, CM and the RL location:
    My guys are putting fire on an enemy ambush position (1). Later, two squads were dug out of (2) at high cost.

     

     

    The grenade launcher is putting rounds on location 1 in the CM image.
  16. Like
    Macisle got a reaction from benpark in Kharkov Map Sneak Peak   
    Not yet, alas. But let me give everyone status. I have some minor bad news and some major good news.

    The bad news is that I'm not any further along with my work on the RT project than my last update. The good news is that I have been very active over the summer and the result is...

     

     
    For the Black Sea crowd, "Kharkiveskya" will be coming as "Kharkiv."  Boom!

     

     
    No ETA yet, though. Much work done, but much left to do. I'd expect the next upgrade to hit first. If the upgrade delivers major performance enhancements, that could change what I do with the campaigns. Both the RT and BS versions will be released at the same time.

    I'll let folks know when I'm ready for beta testers. For now, I can say that I've been doing some combat testing in QB form on parts of the new map that are finished (minus flavor objects). And, while I was very pleased with the WWII combat, I'm even happier with how the BS kit is feeling on the map (which is not a port, but a fresh build in the BS Editor).
    So, sincere apologies to those who have been waiting so long for this. It is going to happen. And I think yer gonna' like it! 😀
  17. Like
    Macisle got a reaction from danfrodo in Unofficial Screenshots & Videos Thread   
    Deadly duels and sweet revenge!

  18. Upvote
    Macisle got a reaction from dbsapp in Unofficial Screenshots & Videos Thread   
    Deadly duels and sweet revenge!

  19. Like
    Macisle got a reaction from Artkin in Kharkov Map Sneak Peak   
    Not yet, alas. But let me give everyone status. I have some minor bad news and some major good news.

    The bad news is that I'm not any further along with my work on the RT project than my last update. The good news is that I have been very active over the summer and the result is...

     

     
    For the Black Sea crowd, "Kharkiveskya" will be coming as "Kharkiv."  Boom!

     

     
    No ETA yet, though. Much work done, but much left to do. I'd expect the next upgrade to hit first. If the upgrade delivers major performance enhancements, that could change what I do with the campaigns. Both the RT and BS versions will be released at the same time.

    I'll let folks know when I'm ready for beta testers. For now, I can say that I've been doing some combat testing in QB form on parts of the new map that are finished (minus flavor objects). And, while I was very pleased with the WWII combat, I'm even happier with how the BS kit is feeling on the map (which is not a port, but a fresh build in the BS Editor).
    So, sincere apologies to those who have been waiting so long for this. It is going to happen. And I think yer gonna' like it! 😀
  20. Like
    Macisle got a reaction from Lethaface in Kharkov Map Sneak Peak   
    I'll be away from the forum for the rest of the summer. Here's one last pic for the road:
    Some of the new WIP textures on map, with a shot of the same view from the real world.


    Have a good summer, everybody! 🙂
     
  21. Upvote
    Macisle got a reaction from A Canadian Cat - was IanL in Kharkov Map Sneak Peak   
    I'll be away from the forum for the rest of the summer. Here's one last pic for the road:
    Some of the new WIP textures on map, with a shot of the same view from the real world.


    Have a good summer, everybody! 🙂
     
  22. Like
    Macisle got a reaction from waffelmann in Unofficial Screenshots & Videos Thread   
    Forward we go once again.

     
    Through the mists, the mighty objective awaits our greatest efforts.

     
  23. Upvote
    Macisle got a reaction from dbsapp in Unofficial Screenshots & Videos Thread   
    Forward we go once again.

     
    Through the mists, the mighty objective awaits our greatest efforts.

     
  24. Like
    Macisle reacted to A Canadian Cat - was IanL in Unofficial Screenshots & Videos Thread   
    This has been sitting in my capture folder for over year...
    This is from a scenario I played long ago which I'm pretty sure I lost but even in loosing, opportunities for small victories present themselves. Here a squad shows that at least one of them has nerves of steel. Thankfully it was the Javelin operator. He maintained his composure while everyone else was ducking for cover

    and got the shot off

    With the desired results


    Afterwards his squad mates renewed their resolve

     
  25. Like
    Macisle reacted to kohlenklau in The AI in QB maps   
    Good Question!
    These are new maps that are then MADE into QB maps through various steps such as making AI plans, to offer out for use as Freyberg did for CMFI. I am trying to make some as well for North Afrika Desert Warfare.
    This discussion of QB AI issues will be useful for the regular Joe Forumite if he has a map and wants to make it into a QB map -OR- he has a favorite QB map but maybe is disappointed with the AI's defense or attack...
     
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