CMx2: Whatever happened to real time LOS?

[PeterX]

Admidst the communal thrill over the upcoming 1:1 representation and the slaying of the BORG has been the absence of discussion on some grog preoccupations of the past- RT LOS, for example. You know, shell trajectories would be tracked in real time with results determined at moment of impact, modified by positional changes. No more cases of tanks reversing behind blds only to brew up becasuse the algorythms had already been calculated. Cautious squands would advance down village streets, their flanks protected by tanks. You know, this sort of thing.

Unless, of course, we missed it.

[Redwolf]

Well, these are two different issues:

1) LOS calculated at shot start

2) vehicle don't block LOS

I have to say that I "like" point #1, because CM does not fire early enough at a vehicle coming into LOS (when the shooter was prepared to fire on e.g. that edge of a house), so it is only fair to make good for it by shooting a little longer. Otherwise you'd end up with unrealistic ability to cross short-medium LOS holes.

Number 2) is mainly a TacAI issue, you would have to teach tanks on a MicroAI level to go around the LOS blocker to take a shot. You certainly don't want shooters getting "stuck" idle behind LOS-blocking vehicles. Futhermore, it would require to actually model the shape of the vehicle which is not done at all right now. The fact that you have a 3D model certainly helps but it'll still be some work.

Number 2) will also raise CPU requirements considerably.

[aka_tom_w]

I have asked once already:

aka_tom_w

Member

Member # 1515

posted January 20, 2005 12:23 PM  

                    

I am not sure if the is the right place to ask this

given the 1:1 representation theme/title here...

BUT

Does anyone know if there has been any mention of shooting and getting LOS Straight through Vehicles and bunkers like in CMx1?

In the past (CMxx) infantry units could get NO cover or anything behind a tank because you could shoot and target and get LOS right through it. (its true no need to question this)

Same for AFV's for instance a BIG tank could never cover a smaller tank by being up front because you could get LOS and target right through AFV's UNLESS they are burned out and smoking then the smoke was known to block the LOS. (BUT provide NO cover)

Anyone know anything about this question in CMx2?

-tom w

[aka_tom_w]

A Bone to chew on...

Battlefront.com

Administrator

Member # 42

posted January 20, 2005 11:38 PM         

                

There was a two part problem with CMx1's coding in terms of firing through units. One was the issue with hardware at the time we coded the game. LOS/LOF (they are basically the same thing) is very costly. Shortcuts greatly reduced the bottlenecks with a few trade offs.

The second problem was simply a coding misjudgement in how units were coded. I say misjudgements because with a few years of hindsight there was a better way that things could have been coded irrespective of the first issue. Unfortunately, it was stuff that couldn't be changed without a major part of the code being rewritten (knock on effects of code changes are a bitch!). So we recognized, before CMBO was even released, that next time we'd do things differently.

Steve

Originally posted by PeterX:

Admidst the communal thrill over the upcoming 1:1 representation and the slaying of the BORG has been the absence of discussion on some grog preoccupations of the past- RT LOS, for example. You know, shell trajectories would be tracked in real time with results determined at moment of impact, modified by positional changes. No more cases of tanks reversing behind blds only to brew up becasuse the algorythms had already been calculated. Cautious squands would advance down village streets, their flanks protected by tanks. You know, this sort of thing.

Unless, of course, we missed it.