This map looks familiar :)

[Dulak]

I was checking out gamespot and came across this

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/commandereuropeatwar/screenindex.html?sid=6151497

not much is known about the game (probably in the early stages). But I noticed how the map looked real familiar ...

In regards to SC2

I hope the new patch fixes alot of the AI issues; I havnt played the game since the first week after I recieved it.

[Kuniworth]

Yes I saw about this. Map looks awesome.

[Boron]

Oh it is from Slitherine. I have their old game Chariots of War.

Seems they try a new concept, i just checked their homepage and it seems they did not yet release Legion 2 and i wonder if they release it at all. Maybe they decided to use a different game concept.

Because afaik Spartan and Troy were still almost like chariots of war and legion 1 and my guess would be that they intended to be legion 2 like that too.

I never liked their build model though, it was like civilization but worse.

Since RTW and the addon Barbarian Invasion got released in the time period when they wanted to release Legion 2 i think they maybe thought that Legion 2 will find almost no customers. It would most likely basically have been like RTW but with not as good looking tactical combat which you probably can't influence much neither.

But since all their old games had the same pattern from Legion 1 to Spartan i suspect they can build a good WW 2 game.

Their other game, the Fantasy Warriors game, could be quite nice, but with their WW 2 game i am really sceptic. Doesn't fit for Slitherine.

[Fireball]

I WANT THIS MAP NOW!

This scale is exactly what i want for SC2, Corps Division level. Real manveuvers and encirclements.

Fireball

[Retributar]

Terrain Exchanger Implementer Tool

What i would like to see Fireball is a program by-where you could take a map, just like the one talked about and emplace it into a Paint-Type program . Here, one could then select a portion of the original map for terrain grid/hex transformation or use all of it!.

Now you would have the Map Image infront of you!.

At this point...one could superimpose a crosshatch grid pattern or hexes over it to what-ever scale or size dimension's you desire!. Next, make adjustment's to it so that the crosshatch grid or Hexes are set for best fit...so that for example, mountain's, cities, etc have the best fit/alignment that you can get.

Then...as a for instance, one could associate say for example the available grid tiles in SC2 with specific terrain in the Map Image!. For instance you drag and drop an SC2 Mountain Terrain Piece to a Mountain section of your imported map...and do so the same for all other necessary terrain features as well!. As soon as the correct Mountain Terrain Piece is used once...then perhap's one could designate it as M1 and then click on M1 from Terrain Pallete...then move mouse to all like-wise mountain terrains, click each once [An M1 image will reside there temporarily for now] so that the programme will emplace Mountains in the places that you require them to be!.

Once the desired terrain association's are made...the next step would be to press the appropriate button to implement the terrain exchange process.

Who-La!...now that the exchange is completed, we would now have an instant style SC2 Map without having to build it piece by piece!.

Has this idea have any Merit or Potential???.

-------------------------------------------------

There are of course many detail's that i will not be able to think of immediately,...but will be necessary if this Map-Terrain Tool is ever to become a reality!.

Such as...'COASTLINES',...perhap's an imaging programme could recognize them and be able to adjust Terrain tile segments accordingly, if not, then perhap's tracing the coastline with the mouse [Of course, at the same time leaving a Visible-Trace for the designer] so that the Terrain Converter Programme has an image of it and can use the coastline image to reconfigure the Terrain tile segments might work?.

Maybey this is too complicated an idea???. Oh-Well,... idea's are a 1st step in bringing about a possible reality!...who know's!.

[ May 21, 2006, 06:14 AM: Message edited by: Retributar ]

[anoldman]

Originally posted by Retributar:

...Has this idea have any Merit or Potential???.

Retributor: answer = no

*Just joking!*

I actually didn't follow. Was your idea to make a way to have more realistic underlying maps? I admit that I love maps. And 'satellite' type maps are just plain cool. Just joking above. Probably a swell idea.

I did notice it looked like hexes. I enjoy squares or hexes but I also know from a programming side that hexes are a pain in the arse vs. squares.

One way to get better 'background' maps is to have the map be just a graphic. The game holds each square or hex in a database and doesnt care whats underneath on the image.

Similiar method is used for some well known RPG's: Baldur's Gate series in particular. The map you played on was just a graphic. There is an invisible layer that overlays the map and actually defines where walls are, what you could 'see', etc...

Anyway, my first thought when I saw was that hexes crew would be pleased.

-- AOM

[ May 21, 2006, 09:28 AM: Message edited by: An Old Man ]

[Rolend]

@An Old Man yep that is how I would handle it, the map is just 'eye candy' that allows you to see what the game really uses in the square grid. The the game should not opperate on the map only the suqare grid which is 'overlayed' by the map so the human can see it.

[LampCord]

Originally posted by Rolend:

@An Old Man yep that is how I would handle it, the map is just 'eye candy' that allows you to see what the game really uses in the square grid. The the game should not opperate on the map only the suqare grid which is 'overlayed' by the map so the human can see it.

The only problem I could see with that technique is the underlying bitmap of the game would have to be HUGE in order to have it be at a level of detail that is appropriate.

For example, in SC2, in the standard scenario, I think the map is 139 x 100 tiles more or less. If you wanted to see an underlying bitmap that looked exactly like say a satellite photo of Europe it would have to be:

8896 x 6400 or about 57 million pixels. If we assume 16 bit color, we're talking about 114 meg of memory just to hold the bitmap.

Now, that's not IMPOSSIBLE but it doesn't scale well. Imagine if you wanted a map of the whole word at that scale. You'd need 1 gig of video memory just to hold it.

Tiles OTOH allow for a close fit but take up far less space in memory since only the currently visible portion of the map needs to be rendered.

The map in the above game looks spectactular. But clearly, it is zoomed out to a level that would be unplayable.

It would be interesting to see how it looks when you zoom in close enough to where say France for example takes up 1/2 the screen which would be about the scale you would want during the invasion of France.

[Guest Mike]

There are games with "huge" maps out there - eg Rome Total War has a superb map of Europe at a low level of detail.

It's "tiles" are much smaller than 50x50km too.