Talon xBMCx

You may want to sign up for the email list. Very active there. Talon

Just an FYI ... ATF does have a scenario editor. It currently lacks the ability to edit units ... but thats on the way from what I understand. Talon

Jingo, Thanks for posting these ... good stuff for a newbie like me Talon

Good points Sergi. But ... if the AI could programaticly use some form of the above conditions triggers, and events I think we would see an improvement. Now ... not knowing how the "fuzzy logic" works within CM its an easy thing to say ... Im just glad it works as well as it does. All things considered ... it already does a damn good job ... and if it got too good I wouldnt play it anymore cause Id lose all the time Talon

Agreed ... this is probably not the best solution for a QB. ALthough a Strat AI needs to be built on some algorithm ... this might not be a bad place to start. The real problem is that technology still hasnt caught up to the human thought process. We may be asking for more than can be provided for. Talon

OK ... here is an example of what you can do with the Steel Beasts scenario designer. In fact, this is one of the ways you can plan the movements of your units within a scenario ... As you can see ... there are many options ... and with the availability to set random events, triggers, etc, you could really extend the life of a scenario or operation. All depends on how much work you want to put into it. Now ... if we could get the TacOps SOP orders in here as well ... WOW ... what a game!! But ... I think all these features makes it a different game. CM is a tactical game ... adding in features like this is probably out of the projects scope ... but ... maybe a future project??? Talon Edited for HORRIBLE spelling ... lol [ April 10, 2002, 08:41 PM: Message edited by: Talon xBMCx ]

At work right now .... but I will post some screenshots when I get home Talon

This sounds a lot like the scenario builder for Steel Beasts. You can put units on routes with different SOP's, have conditonal routes, variable routes, triggered routes, etc. It does lead to some very good scenarios and depending on the scenario designer, has a lot of replay value because of the variable routes. Something like this would help the Strat AI work as well as the Tactical AI. Talon [ April 09, 2002, 03:40 PM: Message edited by: Talon xBMCx ]

ESC ESC ESC !!!!!

If this were an option, I think you would see a lot of 3rd party campaigns as well. Not only that ... but if varying sizes, locations, etc. All we need is a way to modify unit allocations within a CM mission. The rest is up to the campaign developers. Talon

hmmm ... I see your point on the following of specific characters in the game. I was looking at it from a different perspective. For me its not the individual characters within the game as much as it is my units ability to fight from mission to mission. I was looking at it more from the strategic level. Well ... looks like we will have to wait for the rewrite of the game engine ... or I guess we could always wish for a CMBO SDK? Talon

Dang ... hmmm ... that is a show stopper. A work around could be to have the scenario umpired by a third party ... similar to TacOps. It would be the umpires job to modify the scenario for both parties. That would insure proper unit purchases too. It does leave single players out in the cold ... although I suppose they could be refereed as well ... but definately not as much fun as having an automated process to do it. Talon

Michael, I dont think your suggestions make it any more complicated, just a few additional parameters to work in. Since all this would occur between battles, I dont see any reason why it cant be done. In fact, your idea of "core" vs "supporting" units is exactly the way Steel Panthers campaigns worked. You purchased your core units at the begining and then purchased support units as necessary or specifically for the next scenario . Im sure there was a cost involved ... I think Ill revist that for some ideas. This tends more towards a scripted type of a campaign for sinlge player use ... which isnt necessarily a bad thing ... could have additional options for PBEM ... hmmm ... maybe even work in multiple players for larger engagements ... uh oh ... feature creep ... but I like it. I do think it capitalises on what we can do. Since we cant get the exact results from battle to battle, we'll leave it to the designer to define how unts carry over ... it just may be a little tricky to work in the "supporting" units portion. Hmmmm ... with a little more thought and a few more suggestions, this could get flushed out and become a new project. My wife is not going to like this

Hmmmm ... very interesting idea. Maybe this could be worked in with the Strategic Layer form the other thread. If nothing else, I could make it a little easier to incorporate. Talon

Ill third the nomination for XML. Im in the process of writing a gaming tool for another game using XML on the backend. Im using at as means of storage as well as for front end display. One of the many things going for its use is that it is usable across multiple platforms. Its query-able like a database without all the overhead, its fast, smaller in size ... and less likely to corrupt. Finn has it right. Problems with xml is the developers fault. Talon

Madmatt, Looks like we posted at the same time. Error seemed to have been on my part. Thanks again for the quick attention. I have my confirmation.

MajorH, Seems this is a case of UBD. I just tried resubmitting my order and it worked. Seems the address field didnt like anything more than the number and steet. It didnt like the 'Cir' I appened to the streetname even though there was no punctuation attached. I thought text restriction only applied to the card holder name. Order on the way ... looking forward to the full product! Regards, Ray P.S. UBD = User Brain Dead

Thanks for the speedy reply! I have ordered combat mission in the past without any trouble. Maybe just a server hiccup? I will send them an email as well ... thanks again fot the quick attention. Regards, Ray

I keep getting a 'Parameter Format' error when I try to place my order. I have tried several times with different credit cards and I alwyas get the same result. I checked to make sure I was using no puncutation or middle names .... any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Ray Pankuch

Well dont blame BTS. CM was out long before WindowsXP. Sounds to me like an Nividia driver problem under XP. Talon

Ill bring a laptop ... CM already loaded Talon

Wow ... thats more responses than I figured! OK ... so we are looking for a super manager ... no problem. All suggestions look ok so far including the PBEM features. How about a comment/strategy/notes area? Search functions? Full zip capabilities? I have not done any PBEM games yet but Im sure we could work in a full set of features for that ... any suggestions? We want to move mods in and out without loosing them ... Ill toss a database on the backend then. Zipping the mods/scenarios/etc and storing them for easy retrieval wont be a problem. Do we want a web componant? I have created a similar manager for Steel Panthers in the past ... the file structure and architecture for CM look fairly straight forward ... shouldnt be to much of a problem. Keep the suggestions coming ... no promises on when it will be ready for alpha, I still got to work to feed the kids. Darn little buggers eat to much ;P Talon

What kind of features are you looking for? How about Operations? Make a wish list ... Ill see what I can throw together. Talon