Questions about CMAK's Dust/Sand Clouds

[mike_in_texas]

I just saw the latest bone Matt through out, and had a few questions about the dust/sand clouds.

1. Does the speed of the vehicle affect the size of the cloud? (i.e., I assume a faster moving vehicle would kick up more dust than a slower one.)

2. Are clouds affected by the weather/ground conditions? (i.e., rainy conditions would preclude clouds versus dry conditions.)

Thanks in advance,

Mike

[JonS]

Can't answer your questions, but one thing I did pick up was that the dust clouds seem to be additive.

If you look at the convoy of tanks on the road, the first one has a very small cloud behind it, hte second tank has a larger plume following it, and so on until the end of the column is totally choked in a thick, tall cloud.

I wonder how persistent they are?

I also wonder if wind stirs them up - much more useful than having waving trees IMHO. Make the wind DO something in game terms, rather than just graphical fluff.

BTW, I'm not talking about khamsin or anyfink -when one of those bad boys turned up the war stopped. Not much of a scenario if you ask me

Regards

JonS

[Michael Emrys]

Originally posted by mike_in_texas:

I assume a faster moving vehicle would kick up more dust than a slower one.

Mmmm, sort of; but it isn't exactly a one-to-one relationship. For instance, a Matilda tank moved very slowly, but apparently kicked up more dust than a fast moving armored car. The reason seems to be, from the photos I've studied, the tracks of the tank scoop up the sand and dust and raise them to the top of the tracks before spilling them all over the place. The tires of the AC disturb a much smaller quantity of dust for the distance traveled. If the AC was traveling fast, it might disturb it more violently, which would mean it might be flung higher into the air and stay suspended a longer time. But the dust cloud from the tank would be denser.

Michael

[ August 21, 2003, 10:10 PM: Message edited by: Michael Emrys ]