PanzerShark Posted May 20, 1999 Share Posted May 20, 1999 Hi there, got some questions for ya. 1) I noticed the game beginning in Normandy '44. So will there be an Omaha-beach-type-scenario, or has the landing already taken place and is it my duty to move inland (or stop it when Axis). Hope the first. 2) When i create my own map, will this/these be (a) huge file/files. Or is it possible that it will only be some kb (so it can be mailed easily to one and another). Will home-baked-maps appear on this site? If so will they be reviewed (with shots and story)? 3) Could ya guys post some 3d-accelerated screenshots of a finished tank/inf.squad, so i can actually see the game in all it's glory (the other pics aren't accelerated and the movies are to blurry for me to actually say "Geez, that KönigsTiger certainly looks like it could actually do something to me") 4) Ya guys work with a tile-system. Does this mean my mg-squad won't have LOS when behind a tree since this tree takes up the tile in front of them? This would be rather weird since a mg-squad should be able to crawl under a tree and have LOS. Also if a tile is full, the enemy will immediately know you won't surprise-attack from there since ya don't have LOS. So how does this work? 5) I believe the trees are 2d-bitmpas. Will they rotate when i do, or are they stationary and do not rotate since they're made of more than 1 bitmap? These are the questions i worry about, if ya can positively answer them (and telling the truth ofcourse ) you can expect my pre-order today. Keep up the good work. PanzerShark [This message has been edited by PanzerShark (edited 05-20-99).] [This message has been edited by PanzerShark (edited 05-20-99).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Galanti Posted May 20, 1999 Share Posted May 20, 1999 Well, I think I can at least answer #4... To my understanding, the tile system is only for laying out terrain. The units can be anywhere within a tile. It's continous movement, not discrete. So it's kind of hard to be 'behind a tile'. The unit can be in the center of a tile, a little off to the left, stradlling two (or four) tiles, or whatever... As for trees, the actual graphical image doesn't mean a whole lot (well, except I think the foilage will change with the season ) The engine doesn't take into account specific tree locations, it just generally shows light, medium, or heavy woods. There are more tree images for heavy woods then for light, but each individual tree location is not tracked. So, despite the graphic a unit is never under or behind a specific tree, just 'in light woods'. Finally, I'm not quite sure what you meant by a tile being full, since unit position has nothing to do with tiles...I think I remember there being somewhat of a headcount limit for any specific point. But in general the units can pile up as much as they want. Hey BTS, do you need someone to update the FAQ for ya? [This message has been edited by Ben Galanti (edited 05-20-99).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moon Posted May 20, 1999 Share Posted May 20, 1999 Ok, let's take some workload off Steve's shoulders... 1) No Omaha-type scenarios, i.e. no beach landings. The reason, if I remember Steve's earlier answers to this topic correctly, is that these didn't occur at CMs scope and, frankly, are not quite fun. Seeing your first wave hitting the beach, getting vaporated, then moving in the second makes for a good movie, but isn't really enjoyable from a gaming point of view. In other words, CM starts at the point when the first Allied forces are moving inland. 2) I am not sure about the file size, but CM will have a PBEM option. The rest of the question will have to be answered by Steve... 3) I'll have to pass on that one. 4) Ben is right - the tile system is visible in the map editor only when placing terrain. On the actual 3D battlefield in the game, you will not see the tiles anymore. Squads and vehicles can move freely across the whole map. Also, trees are not blocking LOS completely... the LOS "degrades" by a certain % number if it hits obstacles and is not automatically free or blocked. Certain massive obstacles, of course, block it automatically, like houses... 5)Trees rotate when you do. You don't really notice it, though, because a tree - unlike a person - looks pretty much the same from any direction... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Big Time Software Posted May 20, 1999 Share Posted May 20, 1999 Hey, you guys did a great job doing my job Here are a few further thoughts... 2) file size is very small. It just gets made big once it is read into memory. I have a 700x700 map with a load of terrain, but few units, and it is 14k right now. That should give you some idea about the size of files, though I don't know what a big game in progress would be. But we are talking "k" not "mb" here. 3) Yeah, new round of screenshots coming soon. We will be showcasing some new vehicles with "final" textures, along with other stuff. 4) Trees will block LOS at some point if they are thick enough and the distance through them is long enough. Also, remember that we simulate tree height as well as density. So the tops of trees can be a problem for LOS as well. Anybody that has been on the side of a wooded mountain will know what I mean. 3000ft up, yet you can't see nuttin! 5) The trees are "posters", or single sided images. They do change perspective when you move the camera around, but they don't rotate. Myth uses the same system for much of its terrain because it really saves on framerate. There are so many trees that you won't notice this at all, BTW. So it is a non-issue in terms of game setting and feel. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PanzerShark Posted May 20, 1999 Author Share Posted May 20, 1999 Thx guys for the replies, my life has meaning again And Moon, seeing yer men die in the first seconds of the assault isn't much fun, i undertsand. But when i'm starting a campaign it's, in my opinion,more fun to start at the beginning of it, then after a real big battle. Ofcourse it would be a difficult scenario to create (how many men on each site to make this a playable scenario, for example)but it would be nice. Hey maybe with the editor, right? Thx again. (can't wait for the pics) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Big Time Software Posted May 20, 1999 Share Posted May 20, 1999 You will not be able to do a beach landing even with the editor. There is no support for ocean sized landing craft, beach terrain, of the various environmental considerations (surf, wind, drowning, shells impacting on water, etc). As you suspect, it would take several games to do nothing but hold a couple of meters of beach. They body count would be frustratingly high from the attacker's standpoint, and simply no fun from the defender's side (unless one finds mowing down endless waves of men from fixed fortifications enjoyable). So the extra couple of weeks needed to code up beach landings simply isn't worth it. Also, you most likely misunderstand our campagins. They do NOT take a force from Normandy to Berlin. This is impossible to do from CM's scale. Well, impossible in any meaningful way. Each scenario is only about 20-40m of simulated time, yet most battles consisted of several such engagements even for one day's worth of combat. The choice was to either let you carry out an entire battle over several days, or do one tidbit from many different battles from beginning to end. There is no way the two can be combined do to the human time neeed to play such a system. o Our campaigns simulate a battle over several engagements, perhaps even through night time. This gives you consistancy of troops, maps, objectives, etc. Doing a "full war" system would have tossed all of that out the window because no company sized force made it from beginning to end in such a way (some US divisions had 300% turnover, which includes non-combat troops!). There is, I think, a some earlier threads on this subject if you want to take a check. Thanks, Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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