Soviet MG setup

[miller41]

forgive me if i am missing something, but there is no setup option for the Russian heavy machine guns, do they just automatically set up? And if so how long does it take.

[Vet 0369]

They are on wheels so they don't need to be deployed or broken down as the ones on tripods would.

[MikeyD]

It might be a bit confusing because hauling the MGs around had to be abstracted (for VERY complicated reasons). So they *appear* to be broken down and carried for movement when they aren't really.

[miller41]

thanks for the quick response, was unsure what to do:-)

[Lanzfeld]

They still have a "deploy" time but you don't have to hit a button for them to do it.

[Battlefront.com]

To add a little more detail to what MikeyD said...

Basically the game engine was not written with the thought of a small team heavy weapon that is effectively in one piece and on wheels like a big gun (AT, IG, How, etc) but isn't towed by a vehicle. This meant having to choose between two existing animation, TacAI, and internal coding choices. We could do EITHER:

1. Show the gun being broken down and carried, which allows it to be loaded into a truck and walked through certain terrain types. The gun looks fine when deployed, but when in motion it is broken down and carried like a tripod mounted MG.

*OR*

2. have it be a single piece unit and pushed around the map, but not allowed inside a truck or go through certain types of terrain. This means the gun is towed behind trucks and you can only have one per vehicle (in reality a truck can take 2 easily).

Both had some serious graphical problems, but we always strive for function over form and the way the game has it now gives the player the correct behavior even if it doesn't look as good sometimes as it should.

If there were more weapons that had this sort of characteristics it would make sense to spend the development time making the TacAI and other code changes necessary to have it work correctly in all ways. But in all 5 CM games we've done (Shock Force, Afghanistan, Normandy, Italy, and Red Thunder) this is the only instance. Doesn't seem to be worth bumping other features for what is basically a visual problem.

I'm sure a show of hands here would confirm this is smart thinking on our part

Steve

[Oddball_E8]

To add a little more detail to what MikeyD said...

Basically the game engine was not written with the thought of a small team heavy weapon that is effectively in one piece and on wheels like a big gun (AT, IG, How, etc) but isn't towed by a vehicle. This meant having to choose between two existing animation, TacAI, and internal coding choices. We could do EITHER:

1. Show the gun being broken down and carried, which allows it to be loaded into a truck and walked through certain terrain types. The gun looks fine when deployed, but when in motion it is broken down and carried like a tripod mounted MG.

*OR*

2. have it be a single piece unit and pushed around the map, but not allowed inside a truck or go through certain types of terrain. This means the gun is towed behind trucks and you can only have one per vehicle (in reality a truck can take 2 easily).

Both had some serious graphical problems, but we always strive for function over form and the way the game has it now gives the player the correct behavior even if it doesn't look as good sometimes as it should.

If there were more weapons that had this sort of characteristics it would make sense to spend the development time making the TacAI and other code changes necessary to have it work correctly in all ways. But in all 5 CM games we've done (Shock Force, Afghanistan, Normandy, Italy, and Red Thunder) this is the only instance. Doesn't seem to be worth bumping other features for what is basically a visual problem.

I'm sure a show of hands here would confirm this is smart thinking on our part

Steve

I forgive you for not re-writing the entire game engine to suit one weapon on one front.

[wolf66]

To add a little more detail to what MikeyD said...

Basically the game engine was not written with the thought of a small team heavy weapon that is effectively in one piece and on wheels like a big gun (AT, IG, How, etc) but isn't towed by a vehicle. This meant having to choose between two existing animation, TacAI, and internal coding choices. We could do EITHER:

1. Show the gun being broken down and carried, which allows it to be loaded into a truck and walked through certain terrain types. The gun looks fine when deployed, but when in motion it is broken down and carried like a tripod mounted MG.

*OR*

2. have it be a single piece unit and pushed around the map, but not allowed inside a truck or go through certain types of terrain. This means the gun is towed behind trucks and you can only have one per vehicle (in reality a truck can take 2 easily).

Both had some serious graphical problems, but we always strive for function over form and the way the game has it now gives the player the correct behavior even if it doesn't look as good sometimes as it should.

If there were more weapons that had this sort of characteristics it would make sense to spend the development time making the TacAI and other code changes necessary to have it work correctly in all ways. But in all 5 CM games we've done (Shock Force, Afghanistan, Normandy, Italy, and Red Thunder) this is the only instance. Doesn't seem to be worth bumping other features for what is basically a visual problem.

I'm sure a show of hands here would confirm this is smart thinking on our part

Steve

Hmmmm ................ *raises hand after a short period of thought*

But of course this was the very FIRST thing I checked out after install of the game and I was curious how you solved that one, and I got a bit disappointed ...................... I wanna see them run and drag that damn thing around, becvause it looked so damn stupid in real life ...