What NOT to attempt in CMSF

[MikeyD]

I'm curious. Anybody out there make any real stinker scenarios? any disasters you want to share? There's an old saying, we learn more from our mistakes than from our successes.

My own, i built this BIG ambitious map. An entire suburban shopping plaza with acres of asphalt parking, ninety one building connected together forming food courts and anchor stores, etc. The map was absolutely gorgeous... and unplayable! You may visually be able to create an open mall courtyard look but the AI still treats the open area as individual buildings linked together. Gameplay SUCKED SUCKED SUCKED!

That was my most spectacualr stinker scenario.

Anyone else want to share?

[ChrisND]

Too bad we don't have Zombie units. That map would be perfect.

[Webwing]

MikeyD,

At least your's look nice!

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[Field Marshal Blücher]

My first attempt at a defensive scenario was hilariously easy. There was simply no way to lose. Since it took place in the dead of night, in an earlier patch and against uncons, they simply never saw my troops before getting mowed down. I literally started the scenario, deployed some troops here and there, went off and read a book, and by the time I had gotten back, they had surrendered and I had taken no casualties.

-FMB

[Guest Guest]

deleted per user request

[ChrisND]

Originally posted by Adam1:

Wow, I'd love to try that one, even if it stinks.

Generally speaking CMSF does not seem to model building internals very well at all. It took a company an entire day to clear a hospital in the Gulf. In CM this takes like 30 minutes tops.

Agreed, and I am constantly annoyed at the shooting up and down multiple levels as there were no floors.

[the Fighting Seabee]

"Zarqawi's Last Day" was pretty bad. All you do is call in an airstrike on a building. Then BOOM, you're done. BUT, the map was made to look like the guncam footage of the real occurance. That's probably my worst one yet.

[MikeyD]

"All you do is call in an airstrike on a building. Then BOOM, you're done."

Haw! That's exactly how i resolved my shopping mall scenario problem. I turned it into a 'baked' scenario and nuked it with aircraft strikes!

I really should spruce that scenario up, add some orders and post it to cmmods.com just for unplayable laughs.

[Field Marshal Blücher]

Actually, shouldn't the AI treat that as separate buildings linked together? If you think about it, shopping malls contain dozens of different self-contained rooms, which could function in effect like different buildings. I could actually see the AI working with that . . . The only problem is intrabuilding combat, which in my mind is still a tad broken.

-FMB

[TheVulture]

Originally posted by Field Marshal Blücher:

Actually, shouldn't the AI treat that as separate buildings linked together? If you think about it, shopping malls contain dozens of different self-contained rooms, which could function in effect like different buildings. I could actually see the AI working with that . . . The only problem is intrabuilding combat, which in my mind is still a tad broken.

-FMB

I suspect the problems would be with the large open areas which are mddelled as a whole load of buildings with all their walls 'empty'. It just isn't treated as a single large space. On the plus side, you get the ability to position your guys within the large room (in a single sub-building). On the down side, I have no idea what it does to movement, LoS, LoF and such things - I suspect that is part of what makes it unplayable.

And from a game-play perspective, people can move up and down between floors anywhere, so there is no ability to control all the stairs leading to a particular floor in a large complex building, which is something that would be pretty much essential if you even a vague semblance of realism (which combines with the fact that you can spot and fight through two floors of a building too, which again only is 'realistic' if their is one or more staircases connecting the floors. WHich when modelling a building as a singly building, is probably reasonable).

[MikeyD]

The mall scenario was sorta playable but it was PAINFULLY obvious that while you were looking down an open mall center courtyard the AI was looking at a string of no-wall interconnected buildings. The troops would move as though they were entering and exiting and taking up window positions whether there were windows or not. I doubt the game engine was really designed to string 91 buildings together!

[Field Marshal Blücher]

Oh, I see now. Makes sense, unfortunately. That map does look beautiful.

[Paper Tiger]

woah! I remember when I bought SF thinking 'shame about the era but let me at that scenario editor'. I got to work pretty quickly and my first few attempts were DIRE city, man. While 'cleaning up' my scenario folder a few weeks ago, I found one of those early jobbies hidden away and I loaded it up and laughed out loud. It was hideously ugly. Shame I deleted it as I could have posted a picture.

And the AI sucked big time. I just thought it was really cool to see them following my instructions and bringing my map to life.

That's still one of my great pleasures in SF, loading up a new situation for the first time and watching the troops interacting with the environment.