A Canadian Cat
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Posts posted by A Canadian Cat
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AI design is still awaiting its Einstein, someone who has a totally original insight on how to approach the problem that will allow very complex problems to be simplified to the point where your average game designer has a fair shot at producing an AI that will always respond in a human-like way.
Well put. I only have a small amount of experience working on expert systems which are a very simple form of AI and the effort involved is very large. Modern AI experts often don't even consider expert systems to be AI now a days:)
If such a break through is made it will be a very interesting 10 years that follow that.
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I agree with you. If anything, the AI in the game is actually weaker. Because now it requires a good AI plan and has been pointed out.
Without someone crafting a good plan, like in a scenario, the AI basically sucks.
So in a QB, in general, you are not going to get a good battle unless you have the skills to go into the game and craft the AI to work correctly.
<snip>
My previous comments about a well crafted AI in CM2x being better than in CM1x was based on playing scenarios where the AI can be crafted to the units in the order of battle.
I have played very few QBs against the AI - I have played lots against humans.
Just to clarify.
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To Eltorrente - I wish I could write code! And I'm not against H2H on the computer but merely pointing out that H2H was possible with old-fashioned table-top wargames. Yes, the computer can also do all those calculations for you so you don't need your old rulebook, and you don't have to find space and lug all your miniatures around, you don't need an umpire or a third table if you want to include the fog of war, and so on. But you lose something too - the game no longer feels tactile, and whilst you can "mod" images, the enjoyment and skill (and most of the purpose) of military modelling is gone. But my point was that you could do all those things before computers and so the main advantage of the computer for wargaming (the main thing that pre-computer age wargames could not do) is provide an enemy AI.
Interesting point of view. I was just talking with a friend last week about what the greatest advantage to CM was. I would argue that it is the support for fog of war. It is true that you *can* get that feeling with table top or counter based games but only with lots of extra effort and resources. I never had the pleasure to play a table top game with redundant tables and an umpire. I had a hard enough time just getting an opponent to play against. So my previous experience was that you could always tell what the other player was up to at least to some extent.
The beauty of this game is you have no idea what the other guys is doing or what forces you are facing. It is an amazing feeling. And I have grown to believe that it is the most important factor that makes this game so good. Don't get me wrong I love the 1:1 modeling, excellent graphics, WEGO and the tac AI. They all contribute to my enjoyment of the game. But it is the fog of war that sets this apart from any previous war gaming experience I have played.
CM is a prime case in point: I had hoped that CM2 would be more like taking CM1 and putting most of all their new efforts put into improving some of the AI weaknesses, then some effort into improving random maps (to include rivers & bridges, more building types etc). And then maybe adding more of a campaign-mode if possible. And maybe even an option for large-scale battles (with platoons the smallest unit rather than squads). And then just a little time spent on making the graphics and animations less blocky.Again I am not sure I agree. I played CMBB and CMAK while CMBN was in the final stages of development and my impression is that the prebuilt QB maps are better than the generated ones (I have seen some pretty odd environments in the old game). I also think the AI is better - or at least can be better. Because it is not just a generic AI but rather has human input that is specific to the map. The AI can be more challenging when it is programmed well.
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I'm pretty sure I dumped the file - all I have now is a print out that's been liberally added to (with, among other things, the N-S or E-W orientation of each of the crops)
Do you have a scanner? You could scan the page or many scanners can go directly to PDF which would work pretty well for this. Plus you get a back up copy of your reference.
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^This. For modular buildings, there's no excuse, but oh, is it tedious. I cannot tell you (probably because I've blocked it out of my subconscious) how many hours I spent fixing every interior wall in my Palma di Montechiaro map.
Yeah, I cannot even imagine how much work that would be. the QB map I am playing on now has hundreds of buildings and many of them are in rows.
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Yes, and the window only has to be present on one of the walls.
Same for doors too. I was recently fighting a quick battle and wanted to move my FO team next door but was concerned about going outside which on first glance seemed to be the only way. Closer examination of their destination showed that there was a door on the interior wall and even though there was only a window on the wall of the building they were in they were able to go building to building without going outside.
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I like the (first image) saturated look.
+1 there - I have never been into desaturated look not just the game but photos too. Not every one agrees though - clearly.
All your work looks good - everything you produce I download the only thing I uninstalled was the desaturated terrain for CMBN but I use everything else.
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No, I'd be insanely surprised if this was so. Water doesn't 'flow' in game. It's essentially a static graphic. Nor does it affect men's speed, cover or anything else. I've had men crawl or cower underwater for long amounts of time. Also men can pass through it, and vehicles drive through it, at least in the situations posted above. Of course you can drive your tank through a river in most situations.
This is best illustrated by (i forget its name) the DDay scenario that was released about Omaha beach. Actually it was Bloody Omaha. anyways you start out in the water and just walk and drive your men right up. They dont float or swim or even notice the water
I agree there is no flowing water in game. But I believe it does slow both men and vehicles down. That is my impression - a test is probably in order though.
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Did you try alternating elevations along the jagged shoreline?
That can help occasionally, but roads have their own rules. The hill along the road is affecting things as well I am sure.
Looks great!
Thanks for the tip. I will try that. We are already playing on the map as is. My initial experiments showed that the flooded road seems to be treated like a ford.
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Is it possible to have an engineer blow certain land features to cause a flood during a game? Could artillery do this as well?
I do not believe this is possible. Water is not held back by things you can destroy like walls or buildings.
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Ok, I finally spent a bit of time trying out @Srg Schultz's techniques. I did it in CMFI so the full thread is posted in FI's maps and modes forum: http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=107261
To me it looked like to get flooding and the stream look I had to use more of an elevation difference between the water and the flooded tiles.
Here is a teaser screen shot - see the other thread for the full package.
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For starters I have modified 168Meet Small Forest 168.btt which has a nice river through the middle as well as a road running along side it.
I started using @Stg Schultz's river bank technique: first tiles next to the river's edge are one lower than the water. I also used his idea of shallow ford tiles along the river's edge and for the stream. What I found was that I could only flood the road if it was in the first set of tiles next to the river (that seems to be the only part that floods - one tile over). The look of edge of the flooding can be controlled by the elevation. When the tiles next to the river (half the road) are two below the water and the then the flooding covers half the road and has an ugly pointy serrated knife look. But if you drop the elevation of the other road tiles one more level then the flooding covers the road and looks much better. There are still some pointy parts but they are much smaller and more concealed by terrain tile features.
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Based on @Sgt Schultz's work (http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=106965) I have successfully flooded some roads.
I am doing this in CMFI for two reasons. I have been working with the new map editor in FI and because a friend of mine and I are planning a QB using FI and the deal is that we are going to play on this modified map - to see what it is like to play with the flooded road.
Here are a few screen shots (how it is made will be the next post).
Looking from the edge of the map looking down the road past the flooding towards the bridge
From the bridge looking back
Overhead view. With the flooding it is hard to avoid straight edges and pointy bits. In fact in some trials the road looked like it was a serrated knife blade.
View of the Stream form the river. There is a fine line between what looks like a stream and what looks like square puddles. I think the edges are a bit straight but with the marsh tiles and some tress it looks pretty good.
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And I cannot accept that the proper real world usage of AT rockets in urban environments involved running out into the middle of the street to fire them.
Now that I can agree with. Which is why people have been asking for the ability to peek / shoot around corners. It seems to me that in an urban setting the correct thing to do when firing a rocket would be to stay as close to cover as possible so after you let the thing fly you can duck away immediately.
@Erwin's tip about plotting a fast move way point into the middle of the street and another fast move into cover is the closest we have to that but really no one would run at all they would just step out form corner of the house let it loose and then slip back behind the corner.
The other thing I would like to see is firing from balconies. That is out in the open so it should be fair game.
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XO is a position not a rank. Executive officer aka second in command. The Commonwealth forces call it 2IC. The second in command of a platoon will have a different rank than that of a Company or a Battalion but they all might have the same title 2IC or XO.
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So far personally I feel I am getting far more than my money's worth so...
<joking>
Please people stop saying that. The correct thing to say is "So far personally I feel I am getting precisely my money's worth so..."
If you keep saying you are getting more then your money's worth they are going to raise the prices.
</joking>
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I think people are saying the QF Ordnance 17lber has difficulty at longer ranges than that. I'd count 700m as still a short range shot for that class of laser cannon gun.
Oops my bad I read some of the earlier posts wrong. I read @Vanir Ausf B's 2000m as 200m.
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This is interesting. Is the gun in a Fire Fly the same as a 17lbr? I thought that it was. I ask because I am currently playing a scenario where I have Panthers and my opponent has Fire Flys. Those Fire Flys are deadly. He has sliced and diced my Panthers from all directions including the front from ranges between 200 and 700m. I have to treat those as able to kill a Panther with a single shot at any time from any direction.
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Now that that pesky Churchill is taken care of we can begin to move forward: starting with a Panther moving to a hull down position in the field to engage the enemy Churchill tanks on the other side. I also ordered a Panther to move around the left to face that Churchill the Stugs met last turn and the Stugs are ordered to pull back.
Now that the spotting rounds are starting to fall it is time to position the assault infantry so they are ready to go. As soon as the FFE starts the Panthers will lead the advance against the enemy Churchill at the edge of the town and the infantry will begin to move into the buildings once the enemy armor is neutralized.
The last surviving Stug from the ambush on my right flank escaped the Achillies successfully. I have ordered the nearby platoon commander to move into position to call some organic 81mm mortar on to the ridge where the Achilles are hiding.
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The Panzergrenadiers finish off that Churchill. Aim…
Fire…
Over by the bridge the lead Stugs end up facing a Churchill and even with help from units from the other side of the river nothing happens.
The Panther in the field has more luck. It Destroys the Churchill while keeping its front armour facing the enemy across the field.
The armoured car approaching the 5 company in the orchard has disappeared so no more fun for the Stug.
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I'd like to see flame weapons come back for OMG and fall operations as well.
Not to pick on @sigop22 - he was just the last one that mentioned it. BFC has been very clear modules will be restricted to content (new units, order of battle, scenarios, campaigns, terrain) while updates will be the only way to get new game mechanics and features.
There is a pending update 2.0 for CMBN which updates the game engine to add the mechanics and features from CMFI. After which the indications are that we will see the OMG module with the units, order of battle etc for Arnhem etc.
If that is correct that means there will *not* be support for flame in time for the OMG module.
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A while back BFC said CMBN Upgrade followed by new MG Module.
Any chance both at together before Christmas?
Well Steve had been very quiet for the last few weeks. The last time that happened we got CMFI.
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Color me surprised! Hard to believe there hasn't been a single comment on my considerable AAR for "Cats Chasing Dogs.
I am playing it right now, as the cats. So, I have deliberately avoided reading it - and therefore commenting on it.
Might I suggest that for something like that it would be appropriate to start another thread just for that topic?
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The Aris HD Explosions mod folder.
Under my z folder I have a folder named "The Aris HD Explosions mod" and under that are all the bmp files needed to for explosions. Along with lots of other folders with the Aris name in them:)
BigDork vs Tiresias - Seizing the Windmill - German Version
in Combat Mission Fortress Italy
Posted
Glad you guys are back at this. It will be nice to see the resolution of this cliff hanger.