Map design and houses

[Scipio]

That's something I notice frequently...and yes, I'm aware that the mapdesigner could do something against this, too.

Anyway, I often notice that walls between two adjacent houses have windows, sometimes even balconies. The only realistic thing that you will find are doors...even in Europe. Wouldn't it be a good idea to hardcode this out?

[Holman]

That's something I notice frequently...and yes, I'm aware that the mapdesigner could do something against this, too.

Anyway, I often notice that walls between two adjacent houses have windows, sometimes even balconies. The only realistic thing that you will find are doors...even in Europe. Wouldn't it be a good idea to hardcode this out?

Coding it is probably not worth the effort. Just let policing such things be one of those elements that separates good mapmaking from bad.

Do "interior" windows allow firing between adjacent buildings? If so, there's an argument that they could represent blocked doorways, partially holed interior walls, etc for urban combat.

[MikeyD]

For modular buildings, butting buildings with interior windows could be considered 'designer error.'

Its easy enough (though very tedious) to cycle thought facades to get what you want, whether a blank wall or opposing doors or even an open hole. I've been know to be an occassional nag on this very point. It makes a tactical difference too, whether you storm a building complex with a solid interior wall or open to the next building over. Plus there's the choice of a door to the left, right or center.

Independent buildings - well, they're independent. 'Designer error' again if the scenario designer butts two buildings that shouldn't be butting.

A well crafted scenario map requires a bit of craftmanship sometimes.

[Scipio]

I think it is not a good idea to argue each coding negligence into a feature.

[JonS]

Do "interior" windows allow firing between adjacent buildings?

Yes, and the window only has to be present on one of the walls.

[Bimmer]

For modular buildings, butting buildings with interior windows could be considered 'designer error.'

Its easy enough (though very tedious) to cycle thought facades to get what you want, whether a blank wall or opposing doors or even an open hole. I've been know to be an occassional nag on this very point. It makes a tactical difference too, whether you storm a building complex with a solid interior wall or open to the next building over. Plus there's the choice of a door to the left, right or center.

Independent buildings - well, they're independent. 'Designer error' again if the scenario designer butts two buildings that shouldn't be butting.

A well crafted scenario map requires a bit of craftmanship sometimes.

^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. For the independent buildings, well, it's a problem, since things like the row houses are perfect for urban maps, but they would be butting against each other. I even tried putting high walls between them, but the door coding seems to override the wall coding, so troops still move between the buildings through the abutting walls. I tried to minimize the instances of this, but it's not easy. There are a lot of things a careful designer can do to minimize the issue, and personally I prefer having the option to set up interior walls in as many configurations as possible, not having the code get in the way of some oddball but useful wall/door/window arrangement.

[JonS]

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

Hehe - doing the Ad Dumayr 'Riot' map for CMSF:UK about did my head in. It's reasonably large, and really dense urban, and there were all different shaped houses made from connected modular pieces, so I had to make sure that single buildings were consistent in terms of facade and window styles. Then I moved inside to sort out the internal doors and windows, making sure there were doors where there needed to be some, and none between different addresses. Oh, and at that time I was also varying where the doors went - some on the left, some on the centre, some on the right (and therefore mirrored in the adjoining room) and some walls without a door (but checking that occupants would still ae able to move around inside their house).

Gaaah!

Now I generally just have a central door on each floor

For the independent buildings, well, it's a problem, since things like the row houses are perfect for urban maps, but they would be butting against each other.

The independent buildings have various combinations of walls in use. I have a printout on the wall next to my PC with each of the indep buildings, with arrows through each wall that has a window or door. From that, I can tell that of the top row of houses, the top left small-square two-story building has windows/doors on all four walls, but the next two rectangular two-story buildings have nothing on the short sides (making them perfect for row houses) while the top right single-story small-square also only has doors/windows front and back making it useful for rows too.

Etc, for the other rows, and building types.

[Broadsword56]

Good material for the CM Wiki, seems to me.

[JonS]

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)

[IanL]

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.

[IanL]

^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.

[IanL]

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.

[MikeyD]

Sicilian towns were known fore being VERY dense and tight-packed little fortress communities. There are indi building type in Houses and Commercial meant to be stacked as tightly together as sardines in a can. Narrow front apartments or storefront shops with mini-balconies and big blank side facades for butting together. Its actually kind'a 'wrong' to place them individually.

About tedious fixing building interiors on city maps, been there-done that. For CMSF I once did a full size 'Texas shopping plaza' for a Marine-vs-Army battle. Something like 90 buildings forming a single mall complex. Bloodiest scenario battle I've ever done.

[Bimmer]

Sicilian towns were known fore being VERY dense and tight-packed little fortress communities.

You mean like this?