Borg Spotting

[Taki]

Hello.

Im looking forward to this Great Piece of Game and have played the CMBB and CMBO (fewer CMAK) for Years. I cant wait to get the Pre-Ordered Game into my Hands.

Is this Borg Spotting (one of the greatest flaws of CM Series so far) gone? U did a realative Spotting for every Unit now and they slowly get Infos to each other per Radio?

[YankeeDog]

Ya, long since gone. This was one of the first things they accounced about the new game engine, IIRC. There's extensive new spotting and inter-unit communications stuff, too. Do a search for posts by Steve, and take a look at the old Battlefront Blog entries, to get some of the details.

[metalbrew]

Yes, the new engine uses relative spotting. The map 'knows' what map locations are visible from any given square. If enemies occupy squares that can 'see' each other, then an additional calculation is done to determine if the individual units have LOS to each other. If they have LOS, then they can attack each other. If the map changes, the pre-built table is recalculated.

So the map table is a way to optimize the software, if units aren't in map grids that can 'see' each other there's no need to do LOS calculation. Only units that have a chance of seeing each other have an LOS calculation done, but when the calculation is needed it's done on a per unit basis (and I believe this is done to the level of the individual soldier and not just squad level).

I remember reading that members of the squad can almost instantaneous relay spotting information to each other. Then the info flows up the chain of command and back down to other units under the same chain of command. So, eventually you get borg spotting but it happens in way that simulates actual battlefield information flow and confusion.

So yes, the system has changed and the ideas I've read sound like they're well thought out. No more borg spotting without a realistic flow of information.

[Vergeltungswaffe]

The grids are a very elegant solution to avoid having to check LOS between every unit on the map constantly.

[metalbrew]

Originally posted by Vergeltungswaffe:

The grids are a very elegant solution to avoid having to check LOS between every unit on the map constantly.

I thought so too.

Additionally, the LOS calculation is done real-time too, so if a unit fires a shot at an enemy and while the round is in the air another unit happens to get in the way then there's a good chance the interceding unit will be hit rather than the original target. Pretty cool.

In CMx1 games the calculations assumed the flight time of the round was instantaneous so this didn't happen.

It's a 1 in 100 event, but when it happens I'm sure it'll give me a chuckle.

[Kineas]

Originally posted by Vergeltungswaffe:

The grids are a very elegant solution to avoid having to check LOS between every unit on the map constantly.

Well, I strongly disagree, if the LOS checks really abstracted out to a grid. A unit behind a wall sees what his squadmate in front of the wall? I probably just don't get it right

[metalbrew]

Originally posted by Kineas:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Vergeltungswaffe:

The grids are a very elegant solution to avoid having to check LOS between every unit on the map constantly.

Well, I strongly disagree, if the LOS checks really abstracted out to a grid. A unit behind a wall sees what his squadmate in front of the wall? I probably just don't get it right </font>

[Kineas]

Thanks, now it's clear, it's some kind of spatial optimization.