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Changing Weather


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Would it be possible for BF to develop a program routine that would allow weather to change during a battle? This might work by the scenario designer steeing a percentage chance for weather to change with branching options enabled.

 

To take a simple example the game could start off as foggy. After a specified amount of time there will be a 40% chance the weather remains this way but a 60% chance every ten minutes that the fog will become mist. Once this happens there will be a 70% chance every fifteen minutes that the mist will clear. Once that happens there will b a 50% chance that the weather is clear. oherwise it wil be overcast. If overcast there will be a 60% chance of precipitation.

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Steve said, I think in the recent Bone thread, that they're not keen to implement more features that only really have a place in the very longest of CM scenarios. Changes in weather are, typically, such a thing. It'd be nice to have a "squally showers" setting, say, where it rains off and on with variable winds throughout the time; that sort of weather feature can easily have a period of less than an hour. But Fog-mist-clear-rain isn't something that generally happens in the approximate 1 hour that Steve says is the focus of their development efforts.

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This sounds like a case of 'be careful what you wish for'. I can imagine people carefully setting up for a battle then 15 minutes into the game becoming very vexed as their spotting ability is cut in half as a storm rolls in. not to mention the plowed fields turning to mud. We already have instances of players freaking out because a cloud shadow passes over the landscape!  :D  ;)

Edited by MikeyD
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This sounds like a case of 'be careful what you wish for'. I can imagine people carefully setting up for a battle then 15 minutes into the game becoming very vexed as their spotting ability is cut in half as a storm rolls in. not to mention the plowed fields turning to mud. We already have instances of players freaking out because a cloud shadow passes over the landscape!  :D  ;)

This actually happens quite a lot in Russia. If you read some of the detailed modern accounts of Kursk you will find sudden torrential downpours can be quite common in that part of Eastern Europe. Because if the soil type this can quickly turn the ground to mud. Having said that we should have logivcal computer program rules such that you don't get precipitation out of a clear blue sky. Before precipitation the sky must be overcast. You can only have mist or fog if there is no wind

 

I also like Womble's idea of a "squally showers seting selectable by a designer who wants chaneable weather conditions. It is not always logical to have constant rain or fog/mist. Even with a scenario lasting an hour or less it is plausile that weather conditions could change during the course of the action which, again, is why I like Womble's idea.

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No! No! No!

 

MORE FIRE. As in BURNABLE terrain.

 

We've been wait a BIT too long for this.

 

Let's PLEASE not distract the BFC and let them get BURNABLE terrain in. PLEASE????

 

:)

 

Once we have this, then, perhaps, your lovely squalls.

 

Maybe we'll even get lucky and the rain can work to put the fires out. Maybe.

 

;)

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No! No! No!

 

MORE FIRE. As in BURNABLE terrain.

 

We've been wait a BIT too long for this.

 

Let's PLEASE not distract the BFC and let them get BURNABLE terrain in. PLEASE????

 

:)

 

Once we have this, then, perhaps, your lovely squalls.

 

Maybe we'll even get lucky and the rain can work to put the fires out. Maybe.

 

;)

 

Yes. Burnable terrain would be great but shouldn't hot weaher make grass fires more likely. Perhaps BF should do both of these together in upcoming upgrades.

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I get the impression that CMBB-esque fire-setting is never going to be included, and flammable terrain isn't going to be released into our sweaty, pyromaniac hands until fire can be constrained to behave as it ought, and to be the occasional, mostly out-of-control influence on the WW2 battlefield that it historically was.

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Lets remember 'weather' isn't just weather. Its spotting distance, hit probability, ground conditions, light levels, even fatigue factors. If most of those parameters are pre-calculated for each action square at startup to allow for continuous gameplay then altering them significantly during gameplay would throw the whole game into confusion. Bear in mind I don't have a clue how the game actually operates under the hood, myself.  :D

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Lets remember 'weather' isn't just weather. Its spotting distance, hit probability, ground conditions, light levels, even fatigue factors. If most of those parameters are pre-calculated for each action square at startup to allow for continuous gameplay then altering them significantly during gameplay would throw the whole game into confusion. Bear in mind I don't have a clue how the game actually operates under the hood, myself.  :D

 

I also don't have a clue about the innards of CM but I doubt that any of these things you mentioned are pre-calculated.

 

Spotting distance depends on who you are, stance and terrain - changes often.

Hit probability - we don't have that.

Ground conditions - change over time.

Light levels - also change. Set up a QB at dawn and wait a while to see the sun come up :)

Fatigue - depends on ground conditions -> see above.

 

Maps can be played with any kind of weather so nothing seems hard-coded. My guess is that it is technically feasible.

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Wow you guys are making variable weather complex. How about just letting us set initial conditions and a second set of conditions at X minutes. Maybe allow a short random interval and maybe allow an optional second transition.

I bet that would be plenty of work :D.

 

Probably. You could set up a weather change in the same way variable reinforcements are set up. Additional variable transitions would be great

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I also don't have a clue about the innards of CM but I doubt that any of these things you mentioned are pre-calculated.

 

Spotting distance depends on who you are, stance and terrain - changes often.

Hit probability - we don't have that.

Ground conditions - change over time.

Light levels - also change. Set up a QB at dawn and wait a while to see the sun come up :)

Fatigue - depends on ground conditions -> see above.

 

Maps can be played with any kind of weather so nothing seems hard-coded. My guess is that it is technically feasible.

Indeed there would be effects on ground condions, the ability to hit and spot, fatigue. I suspect much of that will already be coded in. Changing groud conditions such as deeper snow or worse mud might not be however. These things are more likely to be relevant in our longer games lasting 2 - 4 hours. Howwever I suspect a lot of coding might be required to get this right.

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Changing groud conditions such as deeper snow or worse mud might not be however. These things are more likely to be relevant in our longer games lasting 2 - 4 hours. Howwever I suspect a lot of coding might be required to get this right.

 

AFAIK ground conditions get worse the longer it rains. This has been tested and observed.

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AFAIK ground conditions get worse the longer it rains. This has been tested and observed.

Does it rain constantly for three or four hours though. Probably not usually in the real world environment. It would be more realistic if we could vary the type of precipittion or have it stop raining altogether, go to just overcast and a bit later start rainin again. For clear weather to become overcast and then styart raining/snowing as appropriate. For mist and fog to evenually clear etc. In short for the game weather system o mimic the real word environment (pardon the expressio :) ) a little more realsticly than is possble at present but obviously within certain realistic perameters.

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Does it rain constantly for three or four hours though. Probably not usually in the real world environment.

Yeah. Even 'just' mist/fog is constantly varying. One minute the viz might be 20m, then 30 seconds later it's 100m . . . but only to the NW. etc. I'd really like to see Los limits varying up and down randomly over quite short time cycles.
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Hey @LUCASWILLEN05 this is the second time I have seen you quote someone's post but not actually say anything.  What gives?  Mistake? Secret Code for those in the know?  Repeating the best posts :D

 

Just curious.

He did put something of his own in response to Ian's post. It just got caught up inside the quote box. Have a compare of Ian's post and Lucas' reply. Note the last line in Lucas'.

 

I do not like the markup in this board. It is too difficult to break up a block and address things point by point and too easy to lose the termination of a quote section without good indication that you have. I've looked for a markup help page but not found one and would be happy if someone could point me that way.

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He did put something of his own in response to Ian's post. It just got caught up inside the quote box. Have a compare of Ian's post and Lucas' reply. Note the last line in Lucas'.

 

I see it now - thanks. 

 

OK I agree the WYSIWYG editor makes it slightly harder to navigate at times but on the other hand when you don't get what you expect you can see that too.

 

In the editor there is a light switch like icon in the top left corner of the tool bar.  If you click that it turns off WYSIWYG and you can see the format controls just like the old forum.  Then you can manipulate multiple quotes or break a long quote up to address separate parts.

 

In addition if you turn it off the board sw remembers your setting so you can even just leave WYSIWYG off.

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As in the real world, not all military deaths are from enemy fire.

 

It would be nice if the environment makes it hazardous to both sides, example a big storm, drownings, or slippery ground that may cause non-combat casualties and helicopters to crash. Anything the troops in the real world face and would be feasible to implement in CMBS. I suppose hostile wildlife is too far-fetched, but the more common things can.

Edited by frez13
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In the editor there is a light switch like icon in the top left corner of the tool bar.  If you click that it turns off WYSIWYG and you can see the format controls just like the old forum.  Then you can manipulate multiple quotes or break a long quote up to address separate parts.

Thank you, Ian. This split up quote brought to you by the light switch... :)

 

In addition if you turn it off the board sw remembers your setting so you can even just leave WYSIWYG off.

So have I just had a "light switch moment"? ;) I certainly wouldn't have discovered that any time soon on my ownsome.
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