Space for Setups

[GerryCMBB]

Hello:

Some of the missions have small setup areas and the units are really close together. It makes it hard to separate them out into platoons, etc.

Wondering if it an off-map space could be added as a temporary organizing area? One could sort the units here, then place them in the setup, and hit the red button. It would make the initial steps of any mission a lot easier.

Gerry

[Ranger33]

Would probably be a lot simpler to encourage map makers to give us larger setup zones. I don't get why they are so restrictive in some of the QB maps, especially the ones that force you to start from one corner.

[JonS]

I don't get why they are so restrictive in some of the QB maps, especially the ones that force you to start from one corner.

I can't talk to QB maps, but for me when working on scens it goes something like this ...

I endeavour to provide both sides with covered SUZs that are a decent enough size to set up in, and have enough unrestricted lateral routes so that players can switch forces under cover either way depending on how the game goes for them.

I also like to use the corners because that way the scenario map 'opens out' as you advance forward, and generally it means that the available space gets used more fully during play.

However, I also try to minimise the size of the scens so that most of the map is 'unknown' or potentially hostile, especially for the attacker. Enough to set up in, but not so much that a substantial fraction of the map is 'wasted.'

Furthermore, when I do expand the SUZ I generally do it by expanding the overall map size, rather than by encroaching any further into what I think of as the playing area between the opposing forces. But that comes at a cost.

Say you have a 1km x 1km map (125x125 tiles), with a 48m x 48m (6 x 6 tiles)SUZ in the corner. To expand the SUZ means increasing the map on one side and/or the rear edge. Say you want to pump up the SUZ to 72m x 72m (ie, increase the SUZ by 50% in each direction). That can be done by increasing the map to 1024m x 1024m, which is basically pretty simple, BUT, the map has just increased by about 5% overall, and there are now an additional 759 tiles that need elevations, terrain, buildings, walls, hedges, trees, vegetation, landmarks, and flavour objects. If you double the SUZ to 96m x96m (12 x 12 tiles) then the map increases by 10% overall, and there's an additional 1536 tiles that need to be sculpted.

All for a SUZ that gets used briefly (in game terms) then disappears forever. But the additional map space probably won't get used much or at all, and it creates a computing resource drain just by being there.

TL;DR: I like larger SUZs too, but they don't come for free.

[GerryCMBB]

I appreciate the answer. I was thinking of a temporary expansion that would be featureless so no need to add elevations, objects, etc. And then after completing the setup, a click of some button would make it disappear. I don't know if it is possible.

Gerry

[JonS]

I work with the tools I'm given.

[MarkEzra]

1. Of the nearly 100 new CW QB Maps I don't believe there are any that use the corner.

I specifically avoided their use as a direct result of player feed back

2. Map size and setup size have a relationship. Small Maps have smaller setup areas

3. Selecting "Large" units on a "Small" map can be problematic but is not a design error.

4. your idea of having some form of temporary setup area is, while tantalizing, a non starter for any number of code/time resource reasons.

[CM1fan]

Hello:

Some of the missions have small setup areas and the units are really close together. It makes it hard to separate them out into platoons, etc.

Wondering if it an off-map space could be added as a temporary organizing area? One could sort the units here, then place them in the setup, and hit the red button. It would make the initial steps of any mission a lot easier.

Gerry

Using the off-map space could help with the setup problems being discussed on a thread I started a few days ago. It shouldn't be too hard to let us place units there, fiddle with their positions and organization as we like, and then place them back on the map. As CMBN stands now, though, any attempt to position a unit outside the set up area leaves the unit in place and generates a path to your chosen location for it. And, of course, CMBN won't let you choose an illegal position at all.